Gideon left without getting any hot chocolate.

Dipper and Melody came out of the lab not long after he left. "Did Gideon leave, then?" Melody asked.

Mabel just stood there and stared at her.

"Woah, Mabes, what's wrong?" Dipper asked. "Was he being a jerk to you again?"

"What? No!" Mabel recoiled from Dipper as he reached out to touch her. "Dipper, he saved me!"

Dipper put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay." He looked shocked at Mabel's violent reaction, but she didn't care. "Let's. . . let's get to bed, Mabes."

"Good idea," Melody said. "You two can have your hot chocolate some other time."

Mabel's eyes widened. "The hot chocolate."

"Mabes?" Dipper asked.

She went over and sat numbly at the base of the stairs. "He didn't get any hot chocolate," she murmured.

"Well, no, I guess he wanted to leave as soon as possible to go get his amulet back," Dipper said. "But hey, more for us, right?"

Mabel shot him an incredulous look. How could he be so rude? Gideon was going back to the Manor, back to his father, and Mabel wasn't able to stop it! She couldn't even make sure he got hot chocolate before he - before he-

She broke down in tears.

She cried for lots of reasons. For herself - for the terror she'd gone through tonight. For Ford - after all that, she couldn't even rescue the first Journal. For Gideon - he ran away to save her, and she couldn't even do anything to repay him. He was going to get the brunt of his father's fury - for her.

Dipper sat down next to Mabel and put an arm around her. "It's okay, Mabes," he whispered. "You're safe. Everything's okay now."

No, it's not! She wanted to scream it out, but she couldn't. She couldn't even whisper it. She could only cry. Her shoulders heaved as Dipper held her close.

Melody came and sat next to them, joining in on the hug. The three of them sat there, with Mabel enveloped in Dipper and Melody's arms. It took a long, long time, but eventually her tears slowed, her breathing evened out.

"Let's get you two to bed," Melody said gently.

So Mabel got shakily to her feet. Melody gave both twins a hug and bade them goodnight.

Dipper took Mabel's hand. "C'mon, Mabes, let's go."

The two of them ascended the stairs, and Mabel glanced back at the door one last time before it disappeared from view.

~~~~~

Mabel woke up with rays of sunlight streaming merrily through the attic window. She'd been tossing and turning all night, plagued with nightmares. But now, with the sun brightening the room, the nightmares were swept to the corners of her memories, and she couldn't tell you specifics from them if you asked. She felt, mercifully, rested and ready to face a new day.

The sound of pounding feet came floating through the door, then stopped as they came closer. The door opened silently, and Dipper peered into the attic.

When he saw her sitting up in bed, he pushed the door open wide. "You're up! Sweet! How do you feel?"

Mabel swung her feet over the side of the bed and stood up, stretching. "Better."

"Awesome! Hey, Melody made waffles! She says it's to celebrate your safety, but I'd take waffles any day."

Mabel smiled. "Melody definitely likes to celebrate with food. Not that I'm complaining, no way."

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome," Dipper said. "So you'll be down in a minute, after you get dressed?"

"Yep."

Dipper shot her a grin before turning and racing away.

Ten minutes later, Mabel came down the stairs, welcomed by the wonderful smell of hot waffles. When she got to the kitchen, Dipper was sitting at the table, staring hungrily at a plate stacked high with the breakfast food. "Hi, Mabel!" he said when he saw her. "Melody's gone to drag Ford out here to eat with us."

"Good luck to Melody, then," Mabel said as she pulled out a chair.

The twins waited a few minutes for the adults. Mabel was impressed that Dipper managed to refrain from snitching; she was pretty hungry too. Eventually, however, Ford turned into the kitchen. "Mabel. Melody says you have information about the first Journal?"

Abrupt as always. Mabel opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by Melody hurrying after him. "Not until after breakfast, Mabel. Which I told Ford as well." She shot a pointed look to her charge. "Can't we just have a normal family breakfast without worrying over things like that?"

Ford gave a disgruntled sigh and plopped into a chair.

"Thank you," Melody said, taking the final chair. "Mabel? How are you this morning?"

"Okay," Mabel said. "Definitely better now that I get waffles."

"You definitely deserve them. Eat up!"

The waffles were delicious. Dipper drowned his in syrup, but Mabel decided to try the strawberry sauce Melody made. That turned out to be a great decision.

Melody led the conversation, with Dipper joining in happily and Ford just grunting whenever he got asked a question. It was just about run-of-the-mill things, like the weather and the food and interesting experiences running Mystery Museum tours. Usually these topics grated at Mabel's patience, but today they felt like a welcome distraction. All her traumatic memories floated at the edges of her consciousness, blessedly driven back by discussing the simple, mundane instances of life with her family.

Eventually, Melody stood up to clear their dishes. Ford immediately sat up straighter and braced his hands on the table. "So? What's this news I've been so cruelly kept from?"

Melody came back to the table to grab his plate, rolling her eyes. "Oh yes, so cruel. Served a wonderful waffle breakfast while surrounded by family. Terrible torture."

Ford rubbed the bridge of his nose, exasperated.

Melody insisting the conversation be kept away from the Journals had been nice, Mabel had to admit, though she knew she would be just as frustrated as Ford if she was in his situation. She opened her mouth to tell him what she found last night, but closed it again as she realized - he didn't even know what happened yesterday! He didn't even know she'd been abducted!

"Well?" Ford demanded.

Mabel took a deep breath to calm her rising indignance. It didn't really work. "A lot happened yesterday," she said. "And you don't even know about any of it because you've been hiding out in your lab."

"I've been trying to find the Journals!" Ford said. "I've been scouring the forest with my cameras, and trying to remember anything that might give me clues. Yes, I haven't been around. But Stanley needs me! And to help him, I need all three Journals!"

"Well, no need to keep looking, because I found both of the missing ones yesterday."

Ford's eyes widened. "Both of them? Then where's the first one?"

Dipper jumped in. "No 'congratulations'? No 'thanks, Mabel, you're amazing'? She only got you one of your Journals back. From Gideon Northwest, no less. And she found the other one too! The least you can do is act grateful!"

Ford waved an impatient hand at his grand-nephew. "Mabel, where's the first Journal?"

"Don't answer that, Mabel," Dipper said, folding his arms. "Not until he gives you the respect you deserve."

Mabel understood why Ford was so impatient, but it that didn't make his failure to thank her hurt any less. She kept her mouth firmly closed.

The kitchen was silent for a minute, save for the sounds of Melody cleaning up breakfast. Then, finally, Ford let out a deep, ragged sigh. "Fine. Thank you, Mabel, for doing so much to help me save my brother."

"Thanks," she said. "I-I mean, you're welcome. Um. . . yeah. The first Journal is. . . well. . . Do you know anything about the Order of the Crescent Eye?"

Ford frowned. "Never heard of it."

"It's. . . it's a cult. It's a cult with an underground lair here in town. And Pacifica Pleasure just got made leader."

"A twelve-year-old?" Ford asked incredulously. "Can't be a very dangerous cult if they have to entrust it to a child."

Wrong thing to say.

"Of course it's dangerous!" Mabel exploded. "Pacifica has a bunch of minions now to replace her amulet! She can talk to - to that demon even when she's not asleep! She kidnapped me last night, Grunkle Ford! She was going to-"

She stopped. The words wouldn't come. That would mean reliving the terror.

Dipper put a hand on Mabel's shoulder. "It's okay, Mabes. You're safe now."

Mabel took a deep breath. "She took me down to their lair. And that's where I found the Journal."

"We weren't able to take it," Dipper added, "because there were a bunch of Order members between Pacifica's room and the library - where the Journal is - and we couldn't risk it. It's a good thing we at least got to take the second Journal back from Pacifica, though, otherwise I don't know if we even would've been able to give you that."

Ford rested his elbows on the table. "So we need to go back and steal it? What kind of cult is this Order, anyway?"

Dipper answered for Mabel, because she wasn't able to say the name. "They worship Bill."

"And wipe everybody's memories of the supernatural," Mabel said.

Ford frowned. Melody came over to wipe down the table. "But we know about the supernatural," she said. "Did they just miss us?"

"No. . ." Mabel hesitated. "I don't really know how to explain, because I don't really understand myself - a ghost told me, and I was pretty distressed at the time. But. . . there's this thing, called the Cipher Wheel? And we're all on it? There are ten people total, and if they work together they can. . . do something to stop Bill from escaping this dimension."

"What does this have to do with keeping our memories?" Dipper asked.

"Well. . . being on the Wheel somehow keeps us safe from the Order," Mabel said. Although not safe enough to prevent last night's kidnapping.

"That sounds vaguely familiar," Ford said. "Wait just a moment."

He hurried out of the kitchen.

Melody put the rag down and sat at the table. "So. . . we're part of a magical group of people that are somehow immune to getting our memories removed?"

"Something like that," Mabel said.

Melody sat there pensively for a minute. Then her eyes widened. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "So that's why my friends seemed to forget! About watching Ford go adventuring as kids. Because they actually forgot."

"And the Order missed you because you're on the Wheel," Mabel said. "But. . . but Ford forgot. He completely forgot about Stanley, and even now that he's trying to save him he can't remember things like Shifty being down in the bunker. So. . . ?"

Ford came back into the kitchen, holding the second Journal. "That is a good question," he said, apparently having overheard Mabel. "I guess the Wheel doesn't completely protect us."

He put the Journal on the table and opened it. "I haven't gotten to look through this yet, because someone made me go to sleep last night before I could." He glanced at Melody. "But the Cipher Wheel. . . I think there might be something about that in here." He started flipping through the Journal. "Either that, or the first one. But I think it's the second. . . a-ha!"

He flipped the Journal around so all of them could see it. On the page was a picture of Bill - Mabel shuddered - surrounded by a circle of seemingly random symbols. Ford pointed to the six-fingered hand. "That's me. It's even the same style as the one on the front of this cover. And that's Melody, the question mark, and Mabel, the pine tree, because those are on your favorite shirts."

"Well, the question mark shirt is my work shirt," Melody said. "But yes, I do like it."

"Hey!" Dipper said, pointing to the shooting star. "Didn't Bill call me Shooting Star when we went into Robbie's mind? And there's a star on my shirt, too."

Ford turned the Journal back around so he could study the Cipher Wheel. After a moment, his eyes went sad. "Stanley," he whispered.

Mabel had seen it too. "That triangle looks an awful lot like the portal," she said quietly. "Do you think that's him?"

Ford shook his head and closed the Journal. "It might be. All the more reason to save him, if we really need all ten people to do anything to stop Bill. So the Order is in possession of the first Journal?"

"Yeah," Mabel said. "Their lair is beneath the town library. And the Journal was in a different, underground library, but Pacifica may have moved it after we found it. I don't know how much she knows about the Journals."

"Gideon brought yours to the Museum when Pacifica took over, so she probably at least knows about them," Dipper said. "I dunno if she cares, though."

Mabel shuddered. "She could very well want to use them to find new ways to terrorize us."

"Yeah, she - oh!" Dipper exclaimed. "Oh! I'm an idiot!"

There was a beat of silence. Melody opened her mouth, probably to assure him that he wasn't, but Dipper plowed on.

"When Pacifica kidnapped me - huh, we have that in common now, Mabel - Gideon came in with the third Journal, and I got up and yelled in his face because it was not okay - but I didn't see the second Journal! I mean, I'm sure I did see it, I just didn't commit it to memory. I should have. Later, Gideon told Ford and me that he only stole yours because he'd heard of them, and I thought that sounded fishy, but I didn't know why. Turns out he lied to us. Big surprise."

Melody reached across the table to put a hand on his arm. "You were stressed out that day, Dip. Not remembering details like that is completely understandable."

"That is not something I would have wanted to have in common with you," Mabel said, rubbing her arm. "But yeah, I figured he had one, otherwise how could he have known about the importance of mine? I should've realized earlier, but I just thought of it when we were at his mansion and asked if he would return it to its author."

"Let me guess, he got all offended and compared it to his outright thievery of yours."

Mabel chuckled. "Yeah, he did. How did you know?"

Dipper shrugged. "I read people."

"So," Ford said, bringing the tangent to a stop. "We need to go get it. I'll put the two Journals we do have together and see if that gives me the information I need to get started, but I'm not going to get far without the first one. I'll go and start planning-"

"Nope." Melody stood up. "Well, you can plan all you want, but it's gonna have to be while you're working. The Museum is going to open soon, and you haven't helped out in a while, even though it's your business. Come plan while you work. It does wonders for your creativity."

When Ford gave her a noncompliant look, she put her hands on her hips and stared him down. "You know where your Journal is. You don't need to hole up in your lab anymore. The next step is planning, and nothing is better for planning than doing mundane, repetitive work. Trust me, Stanford Pines, I would know. Come on."

She left the kitchen.

Ford raised an eyebrow at the twins. "Well, I guess she means business if she's calling me by my full name." He stood up. "Don't leave me to suffer alone, kids. Come work to earn your waffles."

Mabel and Dipper shared a look - those waffles were a celebration gift, but fine, Ford, whatever you say.

When they got out to the gift shop, Melody was looking around with arms folded. "Where is that Robbie?" she said. She turned when she heard the footsteps of the three Pines, and smiled. "Wonderful! The twins can get started on cleaning - I've been giving you a break, Mabel, since that. . . event, and Dipper isn't as thorough of a cleaner as you are. But if you need to rest at all, just tell me. And as for you, Ford. . ."

Mabel grabbed a spray bottle and made sure to position herself near Dipper, so they could talk while they worked. Usually she would prefer working in solitude, but she didn't want to give herself any thinking time, not after what happened last night. That, on top of her trauma with Bill. . . she would just keep herself too preoccupied to dwell on it.

Because if she didn't. . .

Well, best not to think about that.