After the incident with Gideon, Bill's nightmares have been less frequent. I managed to get some sleep at last. He was definitely up to something. I just couldn't figure out what. So instead of me staying up because of Bill's torture it was because my mind didn't let me rest until I figured it out.
It was late. Both the twins were asleep but I was up. Thinking. Suddenly something snapped me out of my thoughts. A bright blue light shined in the room for a few seconds. I jumped from my mattress and looked outside. "What the hell?" I muttered quietly trying not to wake the twins up. I slowly pulled off the covers from me and got up to leave the room. As I was heading for the door I heard shuffling behind me.
"Where you goinggg...?" I heard Dipper ask me. It liked he had just woken up considering the fact he could barely keep his eyes opened.
"Going to the bathroom. Go back to sleep before Mabel wakes up" I whispered and quickly left the room. I didn't bother to turn on any lights. I could see pretty well in the dark since my eyes had adjusted to the darkness.
I walked down the stairs to the shop. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I quickly checked the front of the yard. "Guess I am imagining stuff." I shrugged as I walked back inside the Shack. I noticed Stan standing in the middle of the shop. He- he wasn't there a second ago. Was he?
"Uhh kid why are you up this late?" He asked me as I looked around.
"Quick question. Did you saw a bright light come from somewhere. I swear I did" I asked him as he just shrugged. "Well I guess I am going crazy." I said walking up the stairs. As I was halfway up I turned around.
"Wait. Why are you up?" I asked him as he stayed silent.
"I uhh. I heard uhh. A noise. And i thought a burglar came in. Turns out it was you. Yea. Haha" he told me. I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not. It was too late to even bother.
"Alright. Good night" I said making my way upstairs. I slowly walked back in the room trying not to make any noises and went back to bed.
——————
Today was the grand reopening of the Shack. I didn't really want to participate in it but Stan made me. It wasn't like the Shack wasn't working these past few days. But now that I was out of the hospital Stan decided to make it official.
We were standing in front of the Shack with a big crowd around us. "Welcome, to the grand re-opening of the Mystery Shack!" Stan said as everyone cheered. "We're here to celebrate the defeat of that skunk Li'l Gideon!" Stan told everyone as he grabbed a Gideon doll and tore it apart. Everyone in the crowd booed. "Please, please... boo harder!" Stan laughed as the crowd listened. It was actually nice for once that I was the more beloved sibling in the family. "But I didn't catch that porkchop all alone. These three scamps deserve SOME of the glory" he told us as Mabel nudged him and he laughed correcting himself. "Okay, okay. Most of the glory."
"Smile for the camera!" Toby said as he held up a cinder block.
"That's not a real camera. That's a rock" I told him as he sat back down clearly upset.
"Smile for a REAL camera." Sandra Jimenez told us as we all smiled.
"Everybody say 'Something stupid!"" Mabel told us all as we all did it. I noticed everyone did some kind fo unique pose so I decided to just throw a piece sign at the camera.
"And don't forget to come to the after-party tonight at eight." Stan said as everyone started to leave.
"We're doing a karaoke bonanza, people! Light! Music! Enchantment! And an amazing karaoke performance by our family band, Love Patrol Alpha!" Mabel said as I laughed a bit. She has shared her idea about a 'family band' with me. It seemed fun but I didn't think she would actually go through with it.
"I don't know about that." Dipper complained.
"Oh come on it will be fun" I said nudging him slightly.
"I would never agree to that ever." Stan said as Mabel pulled out a sheet of paper.
"Too late! I wrote your names on the list! It's happening!" She said as both guys groaned.
Stan decided to leave us alone since he had other stuff to do. Mabel also ran off somewhere so before I knew it me and Dipper were in front of the Shack. Alone.
"Well. I better get inside" He said as he started to leave but I grabbed his wrist.
"Listen. I wanted to ask you something." I said as he turned around to look at me.
"Well alright" he crossed his arms waiting for a response.
"Back at the hospital. Did you actually get jealous of Mike?" I asked him as he laughed a bit.
"Haha. Wait. What? No. Definitely not. I mean I am shocked that you would even imply such a thing." He said as I shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe I am thinking about it too hard" I said. I acted as if I didn't care but actually I did. Dipper always got angry when I was with other people. More specifically guys. I didn't know what was wrong with him. Whatever it is I had to figure it out. I cared about how he felt towards me. I didn't know why but I did.
"Yea. You are. I just- Well... Uhh nevermind" And with that he ran back to the Shack.
——————
Me and Mabel were sitting in the attic. She was writing something. Probably thinking what song our 'band' should sing tonight. I was on my bed and looked at the various notebooks i found scattered around the house. I still haven't told Dipper about that. I knew he desperately wanted to find the writer but I don't think that would be a good idea. I noticed him running in the room and closing the door behind him. I closed the notebooks carefully and put them behind me next to the other books I was reading. "Why do you look like you've seen a ghost" I asked.
"Girls, we've gotta talk. Almost losing my journal made me realize that I'm halfway through the summer, and still no closer to figuring out the big mysteries of Gravity Falls. Gideon almost destroyed the town to get his hands on this journal. But why? Who wrote it? Where are all the other journals? What was Bill talking about when he said 'everything was going to change'? There's something HUGE going on right under our noses. And it's time we stop goofing around and get to the bottom of it." He told us as I sighed. "And Emma you are our biggest clue at the moment." He told me as I stood up.
"Why?" I simply asked as he opened the journal.
"Well you have had connections with everything that has been going on. First you were with Gideon and everything that he did. Next you tell us you know Bill from somewhere. If there is something you are not telling us that will help. Please" he said as I looked back to my pile of books.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Dipper why don't you spend you summer like a normal kid. I mean look at Mabel. She is having summer romances and living her best life without obsessing over some dumb journal" I smiled at him but he backed away.
"What's gotten to you? You used to be on board with all my ideas and now you are telling me to give up?" He was irritated.
"Listen. I just. We are young we shouldn't be dealing with all of this. If anyone should, that's the fbi or some other secret services" I told him.
"The Mystery Shack is now closed, everybody out! I will not hesitate to use the hose on the elderly!" We heard Stan shout from downstairs. The three of us looked at eachother and rushed down.
"Grunkle Stan, what's happening?" Mabel asked.
"Yeah, you never shut down the gift shop." I said as he was rushing around trying to cover stuff. Suddenly a ring was heard. Stan quickly opened the door.
"Welcome to the Mystery Shack, gentlemen! What can I get you? Key chains? Snow globes? These rare photos of American presidents?" He said as two men dressed in black walked in.
"Wait are those guys like agents?" Mabel whispered. I noticed a big smile on Dipper's face.
"How convenient" I rolled my eyes as Dipper went over to the two men.
"My name is Agent Powers and this is Agent Trigger, we're here to investigate reports of mysterious activity in this town." One of the men said to Stan.
"Mysterious activity? In the Mystery Shack? You gotta be joking!" Stan was feeling awfully uncomfortable. Even a bit scared. I wasn't surprised. It was about time the government found out about his taxes.
"I assure you I'm not. I was born with a rare disorder that made me physically incapable of experiencing humor" The agent said as Stan let out a nervous laugh. I noticed Dipper still around Stan trying to find a convenient moment to talk to the agents "Now if you'll excuse us we are conducting an investigation." They said making their way inside.
"Wait! Wait, did you guys say you're investigating the mysteries of this town?" Dipper asked with a smile on his face. Oh god.
"That information is classified, but yes. Look. Between you and me I believe there is a conspiracy of paranormal origin all connected to this town. We're just one small lead away from blowing the lid of this entire mystery." I overheard the conversation between Dipper and the agents.
"Are you kidding me? I'm investigating the exact same thing with my friend!" He practically shouted as he looked at me and indicated for me to come closer. I sighed as I made my way to the other side of the room over to the agents. I slightly waved not knowing what to say. "I found this journal in the woods which has almost all the answers. If we work together, we could crack the case!" He told the agents who looked at eachother as if they were holding a laugh.
"Well kid. If you have evidence of these claims" he said as he gave Dipper his card "We should talk." And with that they left.
"We could talk right now! Please please. C-Come in! I have so much to show you!" He tried to keep them in longer.
"No no. I am sure you are very busy with work it's all fine" I tried to get them out of here as soon as possible.
"Hehe, I'm sorry agents. The kids have an overactive imagination. And one like, a sweating problem." Stan said looking at Dipper. "Paranormal town stuff is just part of gift shop lore. Sells more tickets you know?" He snapped his fingers.
"We have other spots to investigate. We'll be on our way." They said leaving the Shack.
"Wait! No, wait! We got so much to talk about!" Dipper tried to run to them but I grabbed his writing stopping him.
"Hold it Dipper. Trust me, the last thing you want around during a party, is cops." I told him as Stan agreed with me.
"B-but. Upstairs you said-" He tried to explain mostly to himself my actions.
"I know. I know. But maybe we do it another time." I smiled softly at him as he decided to not go after the agents.
"Fine." Was the only response I got.
"I'm confiscating that card" Stan said out of the blue taking the card away from Dipper.
"What wait you can't do that" I said surprised by his actions.
"Now how's about you two start being normal kids. Flirt, go on dates or steal a pie off a window sill." He said as he walked away.
"But Grunkle Stan! You don't understand!" Dipper tried to argue.
"And don't go talking to those agents." Stan warned him.
"Ugh! That could've been my big break!" Dipper was furious.
"Bro, maybe Grunkle Stan is right. We're throwing a party tonight! Can't you go one night without searching for aliens or raising the dead or whatever?" Mabel said taking the journal away from him.
"I'm not gonna raise the dead. I just need a chance to show those agents my book!" Dipper said snatching the journal out of his sister's hands.
"Trust me Dipper, the only book you'll need tonight is right here: Boop!" She said showing me and Dipper a karaoke book.
"Mabel is right Pines." I said as he spun around. "Right. Dipper. Sorry. Mabel is right. Why can't we leave the mysteries for one night. Just this once be normal kids without doing anything paranormal" I told him.
I noticed his confused expression. After the incident Bill hasn't bothered me. I suppose that because of Bill's nightmares I was drifted towards the paranormal. But other than that. Now that I am 'free' I wasn't so fascinated by it. I was scared that It might bring him back.
"Fine. But just this one night" he said and with that he left.
——————
It was almost time for the party and I was finishing up my outfit. I finally had brought all my clothes from my parents house here so I was having trouble on what to chose to wear. In the end I decided to go with a black hoodie with the Metallica logo. I had also put on a pair of black shorts and boots. I was putting on my earrings on when I heard Dipper calling me. "Emma I need to use the bathroom how long will you be in there for?" He asked as I opened the door.
"I am done don't worry" I told him as he rushed past me and slamed the door. "Jeez" I mumbled as I walked downstairs.
Downstairs Mabel and Stan were talking about something. I decided to go and see how Wendy was doing.
"Check it out! These black lights make my teeth look scary." She said as she turned on the black light "It's like a crime scene in my mouth! C'mon, you love it." She said as I let out a small laugh.
"It does look dope. Sorry If don't look interested enough I just..." I trailed off as I stared at Dipper. "He doesn't understand how dangerous the mysteries of this town can be and he doesn't listen to me. He will get in trouble somehow I feel it" I mumbled the last part but it looked like she heard me.
Wendy started speaking as I focused on her loosing Dipper in the crowd "Look I know it's not my place to talk about this but let him be. I know you care for him but it's only one summer. Afterall about a month or so he will leave this place and go back home where no monsters will attack him. So just go along with his crazy ideas" she said as I froze. Just now I realized that Mabel and Dipper will leave soon. I mean of course they wouldn't stay here forever what was I thinking. Summer will end.
"Yea... I uh I guess you are right. Summer ends eventually..." I said trailing off again still thinking. "You know what you are right. I should go along with his Ideas. Starting now. Thanks again Wendy" I smiled as I quickly ran off to the attic to get all the different notebooks I had gathered. I walked back down. I looked around but I didn't see Dipper anywhere. I noticed that Mabel was dancing with Grenda and Candy. "Hey hey. Quick question. Have you seen Dipper anywhere?" I asked as Mabel shrugged.
"I think he went upstairs but that was a while ago so I don't know. Why do you ask?" She questioned me as I sighed.
"No reason just... nevermind thanks anyways." I decided to check upstairs anyways even though I was 100% sure he wasn't there. And I was right he wasn't.
I walked back to our room to put the notebooks away looking at them one last time. It was not like anything useful was there. But still. I carefully put them away and walked downstairs. The party was going great when suddenly the ground started shaking. "An earthquake?" I asked myself as I went outside as quickly as possible.
I noticed the twins standing outside. Dipper looked awfully guilty. "What's going on?" I asked as Mabel rolled her eyes.
"Dipper. Could you tell Emma the one thing I aksed you not to do tonight?" She said as Dipper let out a sigh.
"Raise the dead" he told me.
"And what did you do?" She asked once again as he repeated himself.
"Raise the dead" he said as I groaned.
I heard groaning beside myself and looked around. I saw a big wave of zombies. Crap. "Everyone run inside" I screamed as the three of us ran in and tried to barricade the doors.
"Don't panic. Maybe they're just a really ugly flash mob?!" Mabel said as one zombie broke the window and grabbed me. Luckily Dipper hit it with a shovel. Thank god.
"You think?" I shouted as I tried to put a chair to the door to block it.
"Hey dudes. Quick question haha. Can I, eat your brains? Yea or Nay? Seeing some Yea faces over here." Soos said through one of the windows.
"Oh no they got Soos that's not good" Mabel whined as I looked around. Come on Emma think think, think. What can you do.
We decided to run to the back of the Shack. Dipper was hitting the Zombies with the shovel as I got an idea. "Quick! The golf cart!" I pointed out the window to the golf cart. Right then the zombies tore it apart. "Uh. Nevermind" I said as I scanned everything around me.
"Hoo, that's a bummer. Good news for me though, ha ha." Soos said as he tried to come closer to us.
"Soos come on!" Dipper said as Soos laughed.
"Sorry, dude, I just really want those brains!" He explained as I grabbed a chair trying to hold some of the other zombies back.
"Stay back!" I screamed as the others stayed behind me.
"What do we do? Where's Grunkle Stan?" Mabel asked as I shrugged.
"Do you think it's important where he is now? If he is not here he is most likely a zombie." I explained as I threw the chair at one zombie trying to come through the window.
"Even if he is still normal. How's he supposed to help? He doesn't even believe in the supernatural!" Dipper said hitting a few zombies with a shovel almost hitting me aswell.
The zombies started to inch closer and closer. "Dipper isn't there something in that journal that can help?" I asked backing away from the zombies.
"Oh so now you think the journal is important?!" Dipper asked as I rolled my eyes.
"Now is not the time just read the damn thing!" I shouted at him as he gave me the shovel and opened the journal.
"NO! THERE'S NOTHING IN HERE ABOUT WEAKNESSES! This can't be happening. I wanted answers so bad I put everyone in danger. Now we're toast, it's all my fault, and no one can save us!" He sighed.
"It's not entirely your fault Dipper. There's something I have to tell you. I uhh-" but I was cut of by the crash of a door behind me.
"YOU THREE ATTIC NOW!" Stan said. His clothes were all torn apart and his hat was gone. We all did as he said. We ran upstairs closing the door behind us.
"Now what?" I asked looking at the twins. Mabel was still holding onto her karaoke machine and Dipper was flipping the pages of the journal.
"I don't know. I DON'T KNOW!" Dipper panicked by the second. Suddenly there was a bang at the door. "No no!" Dipper said trying to put a chair to block the door but luckily when It opened Stan came from the other side.
"Oh! Ow. Everything hurts" he said as he took the chair from Dipper and barricaded the door.
"Grunkle Stan, that was amazing! Are you alright! Heh heh, well, at least you can't deny magic exists anymore, right?" Dipper said as I threw him an angry look. There was no time for jokes.
There was a pause before Stan sighed and stared speaking. "Kids, I've always known." He told us as I gasped.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Dipper managed to ask.
"I'm not an idiot, Dipper! Of course this town is weird! And the one thing I know about that weirdness is that it's dangerous! I've been lying about it to try to keep you away from it. To try to protect you from it!" Stan explained as Dipper looked guilty. "It looks like I didn't lie well enough." Stan said as suddenly a Zombie barged in through the window trying to grab me. Luckily Stan punched it and it let me go.
"Okay that's lovely and all. But what the hell do we do now?" I asked the group as Dipper opened his journal once again.
"Well, normally the journal would help us, but there's nothing in there about defeating zombies!" He paused by a black light and I noticed something. The light shined on the journal and revealed a hidden text "It's hopeless!" Dipper exclaimed and closed the journal as I ran up to him.
"Wait, wait, wait! The text! It's glowing in the black light!" I told him as I took the book from him and opened it on the page about zombies. I walked to the black light revealing the hidden message written on the page.
"What? All this time I thought I knew all the journal's secrets, but they're written in some kind of invisible ink!" Dipper said as he flipped through the pages.
"Invisible ink?" Stan mumbled. What? I tried to get that out of my mind focusing on the more important situation.
"This is it! 'Zombies have a weakness! Previously thought to be invincible, their skulls can be shattered by a perfect four part harmony consisting 2 males and 2 females' Four part harmony consisting 2 males and 2 females, how can we create that? I have a naturally high-pitched scream...?" Dipper said as I sighed.
"I can make noises with my body? Sometimes intentionally." Stan suggested as me and Mabel looked at eachother knowing exactly what to do.
"Boys, boys. I think you're both missing the obvious solution" Mabel said as I giggled at the guys being oblivious as always.
Mabel explained what we have to do to the guys as I crawled out the window to check if the rooftop is safe. I had to knock down a couple of zombies but other than that up here was pretty chill.
"Yea It's fine come up here" I said to the rest. Soon all of us were up. Mabel had set the karaoke machine. Everything was ready.
"Zombies and gentlemen! I'm Mabel, they're Emma, Dipper and Stan, and together we're Love Patrol Alpha!" Mabel practically screamed into the microphone.
"I never agreed to that name." Dipper said as I chuckled nudging him a bit.
"Hit it!" Mabel said as I turned on the song. Mabel decided we should sing Taking Over Midnight. I kinda liked the song.
"Mabel our lives may not be worth this" Stan complained as I rolled my eyes and started singing.
"Friday night, and we're gonna party 'til dawn. Don't worry, Daddy, I've got my favorite dress on." I sang as I saw Dipper looking at me questionably. I simply shrugged as Mabel took over the second verse.
"'Roll in to the party, the boys are lookin' our way. We just keep dancing', we don't care what they say!'" I noticed the zombies started crawling up the roof. "'And all the boys are gettin' up in my face–'" suddenly a zombie grabbed Mabel "Aah! Guys, we have to sing together or it won't work!" She said as I kicked the zombie in the face.
"'Boys are a bore, let's show 'em the door.'" Dipper sang aswell. We all looked at Stan as we got ready for the chores. He had a look of disgust on his face but in the end gave in.
"We're takin' over the dance floor! Oh-oh! Girls do what we like!" The four of us sang together. I noticed a a few zombies fell on the ground. Their heads exploded. Yes!
"Oh-oh! We're taking over tonight! Oh-oh! Girls do what we like! Oh-oh! We're taking over tonight!" He continued singing as more and more zombies fell dead on the ground. Or uhh. Dead-er? I don't know at this point.
"We're queens of the disco! Oh-oh! Girls do what we like! Oh-oh! We're taking over tonight!" We all sang as the rest of the zombies dropped numb down on the ground.
"Takin' over tooniiiiight!" Dipper sang getting way more invested in this than he should have.
"Deal with it, zombie idiots!" I shouted at the corpses on the floor.
——————
I was outside while the Pines were discussing something private as I noticed something moving. I grabbed a near by shovel left from when we were fighting and walked closer to someone. I swung my shovel only to realize it was Soos. "Oh crap" I said as he turned around.
"Oh hi dude" He said as he waved at my and walked closer. He was still a zombie.
"Yea we gotta fix you up." I said as I ran back inside. "Guyyyss! I need help turning Soos back to a human. Is there anything in the journal about dezombifying?" I asked as I walked in and shut the door behind me.
"Well uhh" Dipper said as he opened his journal. "It's gonna take a lot of formaldehyde" He explained as I groaned.
"Alright. I'll go get him you get the ingredients" I said
A/N
Holy- This chapter came out WAYY too long. It's nearly 4500 words. I usually write between 1500-3000. I'm sorry if this one seemed a bit off. This capter didn't have much to be added to. It was overall a lot of action. Still I found it fun writing it. I hope updates will be more frequent now that school is over! Until next time! Bye~~