"What are you looking at?"

Mabel's hand was suddenly jerked away from the Journal, and she looked up at Pacifica, trying and failing to keep her panic from showing on her face. Pacifica's narrowed eyes were full of suspicion, and she stepped down from her stool. "Well?" she demanded.

Mabel stood frozen, trying to decide what to do. Could she bump into the Journal and slide it back in? It was only partly sticking out. Maybe —

Pacifica pulled the Journal from the shelf before Mabel could decide on an action. She frowned down at the cover. "I recognize this," she said. "Gideon has one just like it."

Had, Mabel thought. Gideon's Journal was in her backpack, the one that was still on her back. Her heartbeat sped up as she realized that she had both the missing Journals in the room with her — and if Pacifica took them, all would be lost.

Luckily, Pacifica hadn't searched Mabel's pack — yet. Unluckily, she was holding the first Journal in her hands. "He was looking for this exact book when we took over the Mystery Museum. Said that Stanford wrote them. You're looking for it? Or just coincidence?"

Mabel opened her mouth, but Pacifica cut her off. "No, it couldn't be coincidence. Otherwise why would you pull out that particular book out of all the ones in this library? You must be looking for it. What are you planning? Why do you need it? Was it Stanford's idea? Is he the mastermind behind all this?"

What Pacifica thought "all this" was, Mabel couldn't begin to imagine. But she said nothing.

Pacifica dragged Mabel off to the far side of the library to a desk against the wall. Then she cuffed Mabel to a lantern bracket and went over to set the Journal on the desk. Out of Mabel's reach. Her heart sank.

"We're done here," Pacifica said, reattaching Mabel's handcuffs to her own wrist. "I may not know how to stop your spirit, but I can put that on hold if it means getting you far away from your prize. Let's go."

Mabel dug her feet in and pulled against the handcuffs, but to no avail. Pacifica was stronger than she was, and she simply pulled her off balance. Mabel had to follow, had to watch the first Journal disappear as they left the library.

She had been so close!

She felt like plodding along behind Pacifica, matching her gait to her mood, but she couldn't even afford that luxury. She had to keep up with Pacifica's brisk pace, or else she'd fall on the unforgiving stone ground.

Instead, she set to memorizing the path they took from the library to Pacifica's room. It was no easy task: The tunnels looked completely identical, and there was nothing to use to visually keep track of where they'd been. They passed a couple of guard details, the Order members giving Pacifica a respectful nod, and that just reminded Mabel that even if she could make a break for it, the Order members would catch her long before she got back to the library.

The farther they got from the library, the more disheartened Mabel became.

When they got back to Pacifica's room, Mabel was, of course, immediately cuffed to the same lantern bracket again. Pacifica stepped back once she was finished, frowning. Then she held her hand out. "Hand over your backpack."

Mabel just stared at her.

Pacifica realized her mistake and laughed. "Oh, that's right. You can't. Guards!"

Mabel clapped one hand to her ear, but the cuffs prevented her from reaching the other one. She couldn't even cover her ears from Pacifica's screams! First the panic of almost dying, then finding the first Journal only to get it torn away from her, and now this? And they were about to find the second Journal, too.

This evening felt remarkably like one of Mabel's nightmares.

A pair of Order members came into Pacifica's room. "Search her backpack," Pacifica ordered.

Mabel moved so that the pack was between her and the wall, but that just made the Order members handle her more roughly. They spun her around, one of them holding her in place as the other rifled through her pack. Mabel arched her back to try to lessen the impact of the man's large hands bumping against her through the backpack, but it did nothing to help.

She felt him pull out the second Journal. Her heart wormed its way down to her shoes.

"Basic séance supplies, a set of clothes, and this," he reported, handing the Journal to Pacifica.

Pacifica gaped at it. "This is Gideon's!" she cried. "You stole it from him?"

Mabel shuddered violently to try to throw the Order members off her. "No," she said through gritted teeth. "He gave it to me."

Pacifica let out a shriek of disbelieving laughter. "A likely story!"

"He did!"

Pacifica raised an eyebrow at Mabel and turned to the Order members. "You may go."

They bowed and left. Mabel immediately drew her knees in to make herself as small as possible, trying to escape the feeling of their calloused hands on her bare arms. Why had she agreed to wear this dress? It's not like it had helped any when Pacifica caught sight of her.

"You already had the third Journal, I remember from that day," Pacifica said, and pacing back and forth. "Now you've stolen Gideon's, and you somehow found the first one in the library." She turned to face Mabel head on. "You're trying to collect them. All three of them."

Mabel tried to hold Pacifica's gaze, but she couldn't. She buried her face in her arms and said nothing.

"Why?" Pacifica asked. "What are your plans?"

Mabel was silent. She didn't know what the Order would do if they learned about the portal, but she knew it couldn't be good.

"What are your plans?!"

Mabel jumped at the sudden yell, her head lifting from her arms, her eyes catching a full view of Pacifica's enraged face. She tried to make herself even smaller, pulling her head even further into her makeshift turtle shell. Don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. Please, don't hurt me—

"You want these Journals! Why? What can they do for you?!"

Pacifica screamed at Mabel for a good five minutes, with Mabel trying to disappear into the stone walls. She wished her ears would stop ringing, wished her head would stop pounding, wished Pacifica would stop shouting. She tried to think up ways to escape, but it was hard to think about anything with Pacifica invading her brain with her shrieks.

Finally — finally — Pacifica stopped yelling. It was blissful at first, but after ten whole seconds of silence, Mabel knew something must be wrong. She opened her eyes and peeked out at Pacifica.

The cult leader was looking at Mabel pensively, her expression much too calm for someone who had just been screaming moments before. "I think," she said quietly, "that we need to try something more. . . compelling."

Pacifica stood up, crossed the room to a small bureau in the corner, set the Journal on top of it, and pulled something out of the top drawer. She turned back around, the knife glinting silver in the dim lamplight.

Mabel's heart leapt to her throat.

"P-please," she stammered. "D-don't — I'm not—"

"No harm has to come to you," Pacifica said, "if you tell me what you're planning."

Mabel's eyes locked on the knife, her mind racing. Should she tell her? What would the Order do if they knew about the portal? Try to stop them from turning it back on, probably. Could she risk that? Would Ford be mad if she spilled? What if she spilled the beans about the portal to prevent Pacifica from spilling her blood?

Pacifica took a step closer. "Well?"

"I. . ."

"Spit it out, Mabel." The glint in her eyes matched the shine of the knife.

"I-it won't—" Suddenly her voice stopped working. She licked her dry lips.

Pacifica grabbed Mabel's hand and pressed the tip of the knife into the center of her palm. "Won't what?"

"It won't hurt anyone!" Mabel gasped. "I-I swear!"

Pacifica paused for a moment, then increased her pressure on the knife, her eyes narrowing. "What won't hurt anyone?"

A red spot of blood welled up from Mabel's palm, clinging to the metal of the blade. Mabel's head started swimming at the sight of it. It's okay, Mabel. It's just a little blood. You're fine.

"I could ram this right through your hand," Pacifica whispered. "Tell me. What you're planning."

"I-I don't think I—"

"Tell me!" The crazed look in Pacifica's eyes was terrifying. "Tell me right now, or so help me, I'll—"

Her mouth stopped working.

It just sat there, mid-word. The rest of her froze, too. Mabel wanted to weep with relief when she saw a familiar blue glow appear around the crazed girl.

Gideon was here.

He stepped forward from the doorway, levitating the knife out of Pacifica's hand, away from Mabel. It was eerily silent, since his magic was preventing Pacifica from screaming.

"Mabel!"

Dipper came barreling into the room, slamming into Gideon from behind — and breaking his eye contact. The blue glow disappeared.

Pacifica's reaction was immediate. As soon as the glow was gone, she screamed, "Guards!" and sprang forward, grabbing Gideon by the shoulder and ripping the amulet from his collar.

"What — no!" he spluttered. "Dipper!"

But Dipper wasn't listening, and neither was Mabel. "Mabel — you're okay—" And he hugged her. She wanted to hug him back, but she still was locked in these stupid handcuffs.

"Get away from him!" Pacifica snarled, shoving them apart. From him? Dipper had come to her!

Dipper stumbled back, hitting the wall. He was helped back up to his feet by Melody. Wait — Melody? They'd all come for her? Was Ford here too?

Nobody else came through the door. But Mabel didn't care. Dipper, Gideon, and Melody were much more than she could've hoped for.

Gideon lunged for his amulet, but Pacifica danced away from him. "Nuh-uh-uh," she said, waving a finger at him like he was a naughty child.

"Melody, stun her!" Gideon ordered.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that," Pacifica said. She grabbed the knife from the floor. Mabel's blood went cold as she approached her, grabbed her by the back of her dress, and held the knife to her. But not to her palm, this time.

To her neck.

Dipper gave a strangled noise, and Melody's hand shook on the stun gun. "You could shoot," Pacifica said conversationally, "but then if I fall unconscious to the ground, who knows where the knife will go? It could fly out of my hand, or" — she pressed the knife against Mabel — "it could go right in through the skin."

Mabel whimpered.

"Okay," Gideon said in a placating tone, waving Melody off — though there was no need to, as she had already put down the gun. "Okay, Pacifica. You've won. What do you want?"

Mabel knew he was just saying that to calm Pacifica down, but hearing Gideon say "you won" still made her want to shiver. She shoved the urge down with considerable effort — she wasn't going to move a muscle. Not with. . . not while she was in danger.

"Well I wanted her dead," Pacifica said. "But Bill vetoed that." She must have seen Gideon relax, because she straightened and repositioned the knife. "That doesn't mean it's off the table! Even if killing her does make it worse for me, at least you would be free of her!"

"Okay." Gideon put his hands up. "No need to do anything rash."

A deranged laugh bubbled up from Pacifica's throat. "Trust me: I've been thinking this over for a long time."

"Pacifica," Dipper tried, his voice cracking. "Pacifica, you like me, right?"

Pacifica looked over at him, her posture relaxing. "Of course I do, Dipper dear. This is for your good."

"Mabel is important to me. A-and I know you think she brainwashed me into thinking that, but even if she did, hurting her would still make me upset."

Pacifica's grip on the knife wavered. Mabel closed her eyes. Dipper had better know what he was doing. "The transition to the truth will be hard," Pacifica said. "But the pain will be worth it, Dipper."

"Do you really want to be the one responsible for putting me through that pain?"

Pacifica's hand trembled so much that Mabel was afraid of the knife cutting her on accident. Dipper was giving his former friend a pleading look, the one that few people could resist. There was a tense moment of silence as Pacifica considered her options.

Then she lowered the knife.

Mabel let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. It was all she had time to do before the room exploded into chaos.

Gideon ran forward and ripped the knife from Pacifica's hands, while Dipper wrestled her to the ground. They didn't seem to coordinate their attacks, and it was a lucky coincidence that they didn't get in each other's way.

Pacifica screamed at the top of her lungs, and Mabel's headache — which had taken a back seat to the panic of the last few minutes — came rushing back. If there weren't already guards running to Pacifica's aid, there definitely were now. Mabel would be surprised if Pacifica didn't make them all go deaf.

While the boys fought with Pacifica, Melody rushed to Mabel, pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry," she said, shouting over the noise. "Are you okay? Do you know where the handcuff key is?"

"A-around Pacifica's neck."

Right after she said this, Pacifica's screams came to an abrupt stop. A blue light had appeared around her, and Gideon stood over her, his amulet in hand. "Finally," he said. "Some quiet." He levitated the key off Pacifica and caught it, tossing it to Melody without looking at her. His eyes were fully focused on Pacifica, keeping the eye contact required to use his powers.

Melody set to getting the cuffs off Mabel. "Two pairs?" she murmured. "This girl really, really needs help."

"Tell me about it," Mabel said, though Melody hadn't been addressing her specifically. She rubbed her wrists, even though they weren't hurting too badly — she'd just seen it on TV so many times that it was instinctive.

Dipper came over to give Mabel a real hug, and Mabel accepted it gratefully, throwing her arms around him. "Thank you," she whispered into his hair.

"No way I was going to let Pacifica hurt you," he responded. He pulled back. "And — I brought your grappling hook."

He went and grabbed it from the floor, where he'd dropped it when Pacifica pushed him into the wall. "I-it's not mine," Mabel said.

"'Course it's yours," Dipper said. "Ford gave it to you, and you've done great things with it." He held it out to her.

She pushed it back. "That's really sweet, but trust me, if we have to fight our way out of here, it's better in your hands."

Dipper opened his mouth to protest, but he was cut off by Gideon shushing him. Dipper turned on him, but Gideon put his finger up, as if he was telling them to listen. So Mabel and Dipper did.

The distant sound of feet pounding on stone reached their ears.

"Order members," Gideon said, grimacing. "Quick, give me one of those pairs of handcuffs."

Melody hesitated, but Mabel had no issues with restraining Pacifica. She handed a pair to Gideon, who levitated Pacifica onto the bed and cuffed her to the nearest lantern bracket.

"Guards!" Pacifica screamed as soon as Gideon's magic let go of her. "Where are those idiots? Guards!"

"We dispatched of all the guards we've run into," Gideon said. "The ones that even heard you had a long way to go to get here. Still, they're close, so we'd better get out of here. Mabel, do you still have my Journal?"

She snatched it off the dresser and stuffed it into her backpack. "Yes, but—"

"Good." Gideon grabbed her by the wrist and ran out of the room, pulling her behind him. Melody and Dipper were right on their heels as they tore down the halls. "Melody, keep that stun gun ready!"

No sooner than he said it did the Order members appear. Two of them, with more footsteps thundering behind. Melody raised the stun gun and fired off a shot, but it went wild. Gideon froze one of the guards, but the other body-slammed him to the floor, breaking the spell.

"Tyler, come help me get this amulet off him!" the Order member yelled. Right after he said it, he froze, glowing blue.

Dipper rushed the other Order member, Tyler, but he put his foot out, sending Dipper sprawling to the floor. Melody aimed the stun gun at one guard, then the other, hesitating. Mabel realized she must be worried about hitting Gideon or Dipper.

Tyler joined the fray just as two more Order members came barreling around the corner. Melody tagged one of them, but the other rushed her, wrenching the stun gun from her hands. Melody tried desperately to get it back before the guard turned it on her, and Dipper ran over to help. Mabel just stood there in a panic. What could she do? Would she just make it worse?

"No!" Gideon shouted as Tyler held up the amulet triumphantly. The other Order member hauled Gideon to his feet and pinned his arms behind his back. "If you damage that, you'll have to explain to our leaders just why you got rid of our only way to wipe memories!"

"Wasn't planning on damaging it," said the Order member that held him. "Tyler, go take that to Gideon's father."

Tyler's shoulders slumped, as if dreading the long trip, but then he sighed and took off running.

"You bring that back here!" Gideon stomped hard on the foot of the Order member holding him, trying to get free of him.

"Mabel!" yelled Dipper, pulling her focus to the fight over the stun gun. "Catch!"

And he flung the stun gun to her.

She managed to touch it, changing its trajectory, then catch it as it spun in the air. With the Order member in her sights and a quick plea for accuracy, Mabel fired.

The Order member dropped to the ground.

Mabel let out a huge breath of relief, proud of herself. She immediately handed the stun gun back to Melody, though. She didn't want to be responsible for it.

"Melody, stun this guy!" Gideon called, still struggling against his captor. As he said it, he twisted his body so the Order member was mostly between him and the stun gun.

Melody fired. The shot connected with the Order member's shoulder blade, and he dropped.

On top of Gideon.

Mabel and Dipper ran over to help the Northwest get out from under the guard's unconscious body. "We have to get out of here," he said. "There will be more."

"Wait!" Mabel said. "We can't go yet — we have to go back to the library!" Her rescuers looked confused, but she plowed on. "The first Journal is in there!"

Silence.

Gideon smacked himself in the forehead. "Of course. A library about the supernatural. Of course the first Journal would be there!"

"No," Melody said. "No, it's too dangerous. That already was too close. We can come back for the Journal later. With Ford." She grimaced, and Mabel knew she didn't like the idea of coming back here willingly. Well, neither did Mabel.

"But Melody!" Mabel said. "It's here!"

"I don't know the way to the library from here," said Gideon. "But I do know the way out. We can't risk you falling back into Pacifica's hands, Mabel. We need to get you home safely."

"But — we might not have time to come back! We have to save Stan as soon as possible!"

"Mabel," Melody said firmly, "you are our first priority. Our only priority. We have to get you home."

Mabel wanted to argue, but she had to admit it felt good to hear Melody say that.

More distant footfalls echoed down the stone halls. "This way," Gideon said. He led them to a nearby intersection, then down a hallway that led away from the footsteps. Melody took ahold of Mabel's hand, probably to prevent Mabel from running off and trying to find the library. Don't worry, Melody, Mabel thought sullenly. I'mnot that stupid.

They ran in silence, too afraid of being overheard by their pursuers to say anything. After a while, Mabel started to think of Melody's hand as a lifeline rather than a restriction. It was warm, soft, firm. It made her feel safe.

Gideon asked Melody for the stun gun, and she handed it over to him without argument. They ran into another pair of Order members, and Gideon dropped them with two rapid-fire shots. Soon after, they reached the staircase that would lead the way out of the Order headquarters. Mabel felt it before she saw it. The freezing wind somehow made it all the way down the stairs to bite at the skin on her arms. She shivered, grabbing her jacket out of her pack and shrugging it on over her dress.

Melody came up behind her to rub her arms through the jacket. "Did you walk all the way here without that?"

Leave it to Melody to notice something like that. Mabel nodded. "Y-yeah, I guess I did. I was kind of. . . preoccupied."

Melody gave her a sympathetic look.

"Come on," Gideon prompted.

"Yeah, let's get out of here before any more of those dumb Order members come and see us," Dipper said.

"They're not dumb," Gideon said as they all started up the stairs. "They simply think they're doing the right thing."

Dipper gave him an incredulous look. "Anyone who thinks praising that isosceles monster is 'the right thing' is dumb."

"He's not isosceles, Dipper, he's equilateral."

The boys bickered the rest of the way up the stairs. But about halfway up, Mabel paused, looking back down into the dim light of the Order headquarters.

The Journal was down there somewhere.

And she was just going to leave it.

"Mabel?" Melody asked.

"C-coming."

With a deep breath, Mabel turned away and followed her rescuers back up into the real world.