Robbie was out warning people about the gravitational anomalies when the first one happened.

He and his mom were out handing out pamphlets, like yesterday but without the Northwests, and trying to get people to listen to them. No one did. Robbie honestly couldn't blame them — as far as they remembered, they'd never seen anything out of the ordinary, and now a crazy family comes out and claims that the end times are coming. Robbie wouldn't listen either.

"Good job, Mom," he said bitterly, as the sun switched from ascending to descending, "your fun little group that keeps people safe has done such a good job that nobody will listen when they're actually in danger."

Well, that didn't go over well. They bickered for a while — usually, Dad was the go between that kept Robbie and Janice from exploding at each other. But he was out with a bunch of other Order members, trying to stop the Pines from getting fuel for their portal. The idea of his own father going up against Mr. Pines freaked Robbie out. What would happen? Who did he want to win?

Eventually, the need to hand out all their pamphlets and spread the word as far as possible overcame Robbie and Janice's argument. They went back to the drudgery: walking around town, pulling people aside, trying to keep their attention as long as possible as they explained the gravitational anomalies. Word had spread fast — but not about the gravitational anomalies. No, the word that had spread was the Corduroys going crazy.

When the sun had nearly disappeared entirely behind the mountains, Wendy Valentino showed up with a scowl and some hot cocoa. "I've decided that you're crazy," she declared, holding out a thermos.

"Yeah, well, so has everyone else," Robbie grumbled. He accepted the thermos but didn't drink from it. "But I'm not crazy, Wen."

"That's what all the crazy people say."

He raised his eyebrows and shrugged a little. "Can't argue with that. And there's a chance it might not happen, but I'm pretty sure it'll happen. Today, probably."

"What's 'it,' Robs? My little brother told me you were spouting off about gravity going all weird."

Robbie didn't ask which little brother. Wendy had three, but she hated talking about anything to do with her family. Robbie was her escape from them; he wasn't supposed to bring them up. "Well, yeah, that pretty much sums it up," Robbie said. "Gravitational anomalies. Gravity disappearing or changing directions. We have a pamphlet — it'll explain what you need to do when they start." He held one out hopefully.

She gave him a cynical, judgmental look. But, to his relief, she took the pamphlet. Probably just to be a good girlfriend. "Thanks, Wen," he said. He took his first sip of the hot chocolate in his hand. "Oh, that's really good."

"Don't think this means I believe you," she warned. "Not unless these gravitational animals or whatever actually. . . What was that?"

Robbie felt it too. Suddenly everything was. . . lighter. The soreness in his feet lessened, and it felt like he was about to float away.

He fought down the urge to freak out. "This is it, everyone!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Don't panic! Stay as still as you can! It should be over soon!"

His admonition to not panic came too late, though — people were already panicking plenty. In feeling weightless, people had thrashed around in alarm, and in null gravity, the smallest movement sent them floating up from the ground.

"Robbie! Robbie, do something!" Wendy was slowly floating upwards too. Robbie wanted to grab her, but what if that sent him flying too? He just had to ride it out. He hoped it'd be over quickly.

Luckily, it was. He felt his weight returning gradually, and people started to gently fall back down, plopping into the snow. It only took about a minute for gravity to go back to normal. The first gravitational anomaly was over.

Now people wanted the Corduroys' pamphlets.

"Stay inside," Robbie said over and over as he handed them out. "Turn off your heat, your electricity, your water — this will only last eighteen hours, so if you bundle up and get some jugs of water, you'll be fine. You just have to make it through the night. Get loose things tied down or put somewhere safe. You don't want anything hitting you during an anomaly. This pamphlet will explain, too. Tell everyone you know how to get through this!"

A lot of people asked the Corduroys why this was happening. Robbie could tell his mom wanted to tell them — maybe she was thinking an angry mob would stop the Pines — but thankfully, she didn't. Robbie didn't either. When he wouldn't explain how he knew about it, people started accusing him of causing the anomalies. "It's not me," he said. "I'm just lucky enough to know about them." That wasn't really convincing, but people were too freaked out to stay outside a minute longer than they had to, and they didn't push him. Most of them just took a pamphlet and scurried away.

The pamphlets went quickly, and the street cleared out. "Congratulations," Wendy said, "you're not crazy. I'm going to go hide under the covers all night."

He grabbed her arm before she could leave and pulled her into a quick hug. "I'm sorry," he said. "Just eighteen hours, mmkay? You can make it. I know you can."

She gave him an unhappy look and headed off to her house.

Someone grabbed Robbie's arm. He turned in surprise to see his mom, her eyes wide with fear.

"Mom? What's wrong?" he asked.

As they'd handed out the pamphlets, he'd noticed her looking worried. He'd thought it was just fear of the anomalies. But now, now that she didn't have to hide it anymore, he knew it was much worse than that.

"They failed," she said.

Oh, right. She thought the Pines were going to doom the world. "Mom, it's okay, really. They're not going to—"

"No, Robbie!" she snapped. "Don't you get it? If those anomalies are happening, then the Order couldn't stop the Pines. Your dad is still out there at the UFO."

The blood drained from his face. "I-it's okay," he repeated. "I'm sure he's fine. The Pines don't hurt people. Just stun them."

"Stun them and leave them outside to freeze?"

Robbie felt a chill that had nothing to do with the winter cold.

"We have to go find him," Mom said.

Robbie didn't disagree, but after that first anomaly, he did not want to be out in the forest for a second one. "If gravity changes while we're out there, we could get hurt." The look Mom gave him was so pained that he hurried to qualify his statement. "You're right, you're right, we have to go find him, I'm just saying!"

She took him by the wrist. "Well, you can 'just say' on the way to your father. He could be bleeding in the snow, and you just want to stand here arguing."

That wasn't fair. Robbie wanted to go make sure Dad was safe, too. He trusted the Pines enough to believe that Dad wasn't bleeding in the snow, but being unconscious out in the cold wasn't good either. He wanted to scream at his mom for implying that he didn't care about his dad.

But the panic on her face was so evident that he knew she didn't really mean it. She was scared for her husband, and she took it out on Robbie.

The Corduroys tromped through the snow, Janice leading Robbie to the UFO. He worried that she didn't know the way, but she seemed to be confident in her directions.

He tried to banish his fears for Dad. The Pines wouldn't hurt him. He was fine. The Pines were doing what they had to so they could rescue Stanley. Dad was fine. The Corduroys had succeeded in protecting the town, and the first gravitational anomaly hadn't even been that bad — it was short and gentle, and no one had gotten hurt.

As Robbie hurried through the forest, he could only hope the anomalies would stay that way.

~~~~~

The eighteen hours of gravitational anomalies had begun.

Most people stayed in their homes, following the instructions in the pamphlet and praying for mercy. That Corduroy kid had said eighteen hours, right? With sunset at about four P.M., that meant it would all be over at ten A.M. tomorrow. A lot of people had an early dinner and went straight to bed, hoping they could sleep through it all.

But every time gravity changed, it would send their bodies into free fall and wake them up all over again.

The anomalies spread out around the town and through the forest. Blind Lincoln felt them as he stared at writings on the cave walls. Intriguing. The feeling of the earth's hold lessening was something he had never felt before, not even in his flying dreams. He could see why Bill would keep him inside — occasionally, gravity would pull up, though gently, and he'd be trapped on the ceiling of the cave for a few minutes at a time.

Back at the Order headquarters, Pacifica was terrified. The anomalies only meant one thing: The Order had failed. The Pines were going to destroy everything! Bill offered little to no help as he ranted about the incompetence of his own cult before declaring that the Pines were asleep and disappearing. With Bill gone, Mabel's spirit tormented her and mocked her. You can't stop me, she'd whisper. I've won. I'm finally going to destroy everything. I'm finally going to destroy you. Pacifica screamed at the spirit to leave her alone, throwing things across her room only for them to pass right through Mabel's ghostly body. Nothing worked. Mabel never left. Eventually, Pacifica curled up on her bed, feeling so alone as she endured Mabel's gloating. If only Gideon were here, she found herself thinking. He'd tell her that she was being stupid. She wished she could hear him say that.

But Gideon was locked in his room, thinking up escape plans. The anomalies helped with the pain from his punishment — when gravity lessened or disappeared, the natural pressure on his wounds diminished as well. But unlike gravity, the pain never truly went away.

Robbie and Janice found Greg and the other Order members at the UFO at about the time they started waking up — at least, those who had been stunned. So many others had been wounded. Robbie felt sick. The conscious Order members explained about the minotaurs, so at least the Pines hadn't hurt anyone directly, but they'd still condoned injury.

Greg was a little out of sorts when he awoke, but he told Janice about his conversation with Stanford. She shuddered at the man's deceptions, though a part of her — a small part — forgave Robbie for falling for it: Stanford sounded quite effective in his lies. Janice was just figuring out how to get her husband up the ladder in this state when Robbie called down and told her about the minotaurs. Apparently they'd come back to help. Hot anger coursed through Janice — How dare the Pines use the creatures of the forest for their plans! — but after a minute she had to admit she needed help. The minotaurs came down the ladder and carried Order members back up, offering to take them home as well. Janice hesitated, but Robbie thought that was a great idea. "After all," he said, a note of bitterness creeping into his voice, "aren't you people just going to wipe these eighteen hours from everyone's heads anyway?"

As the minotaurs helped the discombobulated Order members home, the Pines shut down the house. After treating Ford's injuries, Melody made an early dinner — cold, since they had to turn the electricity off. The twins came in after Dipper told Mabel about his day and showed her all his pictures, and the family ate together. Well, ate as best they could — a gravitational anomaly kicked in halfway through the meal, and attempting to eat in reduced gravity sent food flying around the kitchen. To make matters worse, a slash gee then started pulling towards the wall, splattering the food sideways and sending the Pines that direction as well.

Nobody ended up eating as much as Melody had hoped they would. The prospect of sleep wasn't much better, either — with the electricity and heating off, it was freezing. Melody grabbed extra blankets for everyone. Then she helped Ford to his room and strapped him to his bed at his request, to keep him in place. She offered to do the same for the twins. Dipper declined — he was upset that he'd have to sleep through the "most awesome weirdness ever" — but Mabel agreed. So Melody helped tie her down, too, feeling monstrous for restraining her friends to their beds. Mabel whispering, "Thanks, Melody," helped, though.

Once everyone was settled, Melody kissed the twins on the foreheads and rubbed Waddles' ears — Dipper was clutching his pet to him so that the pig wouldn't go flying around the room during the night — before going back downstairs. Almost immediately, she could hear moaning from the gift shop, and her heart fell into her shoes. The Order members. How had they forgotten about the Order members?

Shetook a deep breath, entered the gift shop, and explained to the bound cultists what would be happening for the next eighteen hours, making a herculean effort to be polite. These people had attacked her just hours before, after all. But she made no mention of that as she explained their choices: She could let them go, and they'd have to make it to their homes by themselves in the midst of the gravitational anomalies, or she could leave them tied up and shoot them again. "If you choose the first option, you would need to leave," Melody said. "I would need to watch you walk away." On the one hand, she wanted them gone. She doubted she'd be able to sleep at all if she knew these people were tied up in the gift shop. But on the other hand, could she really condemn seven people to be outside during these anomalies, if only for a few minutes?

The captured Order members made her decision for her. They wanted to be home with their families — they were terrified. Melody's heart throbbed as she saw just how much fear the Pines were causing with the portal. She tried to explain that they weren't destroying anything, but the Order members didn't trust her. They just kept pleading to be released.

"All right," Melody said. "But if you don't leave immediately, I'll have to shoot you again. We changed the passcode on vending machine, so don't think you can get down there, either." She hated being so blunt and cold with people who were obviously scared, but she had to protect Ford and the twins. She kept seeing an awful situation where the Order members dragged Ford from his bed and forced him to let them into the basement.

The Order members agreed with her hurriedly. "We just want to go home," a woman whispered. "My kids must be terrified."

Melody untied her first.

She saw the Order members out the door, holding tightly to the doorjamb in case a gravitational anomaly went off. Please stay normal, she silently pleaded with gravity. At least until these people get home.

When the Order members were out of sight, Melody breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door, locking up the house again. Then she left the gift shop and went into the kitchen.

Food was everywhere.

Splattered on the walls, the floor, even the ceiling — when the Pines had tried to lift their utensils in less than one gee, the force of the movement had sent their food all over.

Melody stared around the kitchen at the mess. You had better be worth it, Stanley, she found herself thinking. We're going through so much for you.

She had to clean up. But she couldn't bring herself to move. She just stood there in the doorway, an overwhelming feeling of helplessness washing over her.

Melody sank to the ground and started to cry.

She wasn't the only one crying that night. Pacifica, sobbing in fear as Mabel's spirit tormented her; Gideon, lying in the darkness, wishing desperately he could confess what he knew to the Pines; the Order members, believing that everything they knew would be overturned and destroyed; and the rest of the community, confused, desperately wondering how this was happening and what they did to deserve this.

Through all this, gravity continued to fluctuate, heedless of the fear and panic that swept through the town of Gravity Rises.