"I can't do it," said Gideon.

He, Mabel, Dipper, and Pacifica were standing in the trees, only a few houses away from the edge of town. They could hear the hubbub of the crowd as reporters talked about the town suddenly reappearing, or the border stopping anyone from entering. Everyone was so close — their family members were so close.

"What do you mean, you can't do it?" asked Dipper. "Aren't you happy to see her again?"

"Of course I am!" Gideon said, offended that Dipper would doubt that Gideon was happy to see his sister. "I just — What do you say to someone you haven't seen for six years? And why didn't she try to contact me sooner? I don't think I can do it."

Pacifica scoffed. "Oh, please. You're Gideon Northwest. You think you can do anything."

"Well, not this. It's too much."

He was aware that he was showing a side of himself — an unsure, anxious side — that none of these three had really seen before. But he couldn't help it.

"Come on," Mabel said gently. "We came down together. Andrew sent us down here to be the first Symbols to leave town. He wants us to see our families, but he also wants us to tell everyone that he's coming. So we should do that."

"And I want to see my parents," Dipper said. "You know, the parents I haven't seen for weeks."

Mabel elbowed him in the side.

Gideon took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. I can do this."

"You can do it," Mabel agreed.

Gideon gave her a small smile. Then he rubbed his fingers on the cool stone of his amulet — which was in his pocket, not on his lapel. He didn't think it was a good idea to display his amulet to reporters who would probably be all over the story of the Order once they knew about it.

The group of four stepped out of the trees and onto the road.

The sun was close to setting, and it was shining in their eyes, but they could still see the crowd beyond the barrier. Gideon doubted he was the only one feeling preemptively claustrophobic — there were so many people out there! But he kept walking, and so did the others. They walked down the road, avoiding the ridge of dirt in the middle that stuck up through the broken asphalt.

"Mabel! Mason!"

There were Mabel and Dipper's parents. The twins gasped, then broke into a run. Sam and Camille were pressed up against the invisible barrier, trying in vain to get through to their children. But though they couldn't get through, their voices could. So they called for their children. And the twins answered.

Gideon wanted to break into a run too. . . but he also didn't. In fact, he wasn't quite sure why his legs were still working at all. He scanned the crowd, wondering where. . .

"Gideon! Charlie, I'm right here!"

Without Gideon telling them to, his legs started running. Pacifica ran beside him, crying out for her grandmother, who stood beside Grace. But Gideon hardly noticed Eleanor. He could only see his sister.

Mabel and Dipper reached their parents first. They jumped right through the barrier, as if it weren't there at all — which it wasn't, for them — and landed right in their parents' arms. Sam lifted Mabel and spun her around, and Camille hugged Dipper tightly. Gideon glanced their way, and he was happy for them. He really was.

And then there was Grace.

Gideon ran through the barrier and threw his arms around his sister. The first thing he noticed, weirdly, was how short she was. He almost had to lean down to hug her. What—? But then he realized it wasn't because she was short. It was because he'd grown so tall.

"Gideon." Grace sobbed into his shoulder. "Charlie, it's you."

Gideon thought he'd cried out all his tears when he'd first seen Grace, hours earlier. But apparently not, because he was crying again now. "You're here," he said. "You're really here."

She pulled back enough to look into his face. "Of course I'm here," she said. "I had to come—"

"I wasn't expecting—"

"Oh, Char, I was so worried—"

"I thought I'd never see you again—"

"As soon as I remembered you, I came—"

"Wait." Gideon scrunched up his brow in confusion. "Remembered me?"

Grace frowned. "You know what I'm talking about. Right? You wiped my memory of this place before sending me away. I had forgotten all about our family and this town until I saw the news about your disappearance. Then it all came back."

Gideon was shocked. "I — what? I had no — I didn't wipe your memory."

"You. . . you didn't?"

"No! I never would've done that, not even if they tried to make me! Evi, don't you remember? You came to my room and told me you were leaving, and — and I told you that I was going to act like you were dead — and—"

That's as far as he could get. He broke down in tears again. "Evi. . . Evi. . ."

She hugged him tightly.

"I thought you were dead," he whispered. "I actually convinced myself you were dead. And now you've risen from the grave."

"I'm here," she whispered back. "I'm alive."

They stood there for a moment in their embrace. Then, "But I don't understand," Grace said. "If you didn't wipe my memory, then how come I forgot about everything? I mean, when my memories came back, it was like how I imagine memories that have been hidden by the amulet coming back once they're triggered."

"I. . . I have no idea," Gideon said. "But Grace, do you — do you promise that's what happened? You actually forgot, like it wasn't your fault? You didn't just. . . stay away from me. . . because you wanted to?"

"Oh, Gideon. No. I'd never leave you for so long, not by my own choice. I really did lose my memory, and I thought it was because they made you take it."

That was a relief to hear. "There must be something else, then," Gideon said, though he didn't like that idea. Another method to wipe memories?

"It can't be the memory gun," Grace said, mostly to herself. "That thing destroys the memories entirely."

"The memory gun was shattered," Gideon said offhandedly.

Grace blinked. "It was?"

"Yeah. It's not a problem anymore. Oh! And Lincoln found the Pines!"

Grace gasped. "He did?"

"Yes! I — well, I went to the Pines and told them about him. Bill gave me terrible nightmares for that. But Lincoln and Ford got to spend some time together, and Lincoln turned against Bill, and he and Ford were part of the Cipher Wheel with me. Lincoln doesn't remember anything before he was kidnapped by the Order thirty years ago, though, when they wiped his memory with the gun. Did you know anything about that?"

"I knew about the amnesia, yeah," Grace said. "Gideon, this is amazing! You did what I always wanted to do."

"Why didn't you do it?" he asked.

As soon as he asked it, he knew it was a mean question. Grace's face fell. "I. . . I wanted to. I really did. I didn't even know Stanford — it sounds like you do — but I just wanted Lincoln to know about his family. But Bill. . . well, I'm sure you can guess. Bill threatened to do all sorts of terrible things to you if I didn't hide the information."

"To me?"

"Yes." Grace looked up at him with wet and shiny eyes. "That's how he controlled me — by threatening you."

Gideon hugged her again. "He's gone now," he said. "Bill is gone now. We got rid of him."

Her shoulders shook with a sob. "Oh, good," she said with a broken laugh.

One long hug later, Grace looked up at her brother. "Can I see him? Lincoln. When can I come into town and see him? Or can he come out here?"

Gideon bit his lip. "Evi. . . ," he said slowly. "Lincoln is dead."

Grace gasped again, this time putting her hands to her mouth.

"He sacrificed himself to defeat Bill," Gideon said. He lowered his voice, not wanting anyone else in the crowd to hear what he was going to say next. "He was able to form the Cipher Wheel with us because his spirit is possessing Greg Corduroy's body right now. But I don't know for how much longer. Probably not long."

"So — so I can see him? In Greg's body?"

"I don't think he's planning to come out here," Gideon said. "Apparently there are forgeries in government records that say he died thirty years ago. He doesn't want to come out here in someone else's body but with his own mannerisms, then have Greg in his own body come out here later. That'll just cause suspicion."

"I want to see him," Grace said quietly.

"I bet he wants to see you, too. I'm sure he'll figure something out to meet with you away from prying eyes."

"Sam and Camille Pines will want to see him, too. I told them about his situation." Grace glanced over at the Pines, who were alternating between hugging and talking to each other very fast. "Do you know their children?" Grace asked Gideon.

"Yeah. They're great. And they were part of the Wheel, too."

"Wow," Grace said. "It sounds like you have a lot to tell me."

"Oh, definitely," Gideon said. "But later. There's something I have to do right now. Can you take me to a reporter?"

Grace blinked. "You want to talk to reporters?"

"No, I really don't, but I need to tell them something. You'll want to hear, too."

"Well, okay. But it was all I could do to get them to not crowd around here while we were waiting for you."

"We're not the first people out, are we?" said Gideon, glancing down the street at the nearby houses.

"No, and thankfully that distracted the reporters enough to leave our little group alone." Grace gestured at herself, the Pines, and the Pleasures. Ellie and Pacifica were talking quietly, with their arms around each other.

"Let's go distract them again, then," Gideon said, referring back to the reporters. Grace had managed to get about a yard of space between their group and the rest of the crowd, which Gideon appreciated. But now he looked over the heads of the people, and saw two women, one holding a camera and the other a microphone, talking to a man Gideon knew by sight but not by name.

"Over here." Gideon started pushing through the crowd, and Grace followed.

"The stars were changing regularly, at first," the man was saying. "No sun. Well, occasionally there'd be a bigger star that must've been the closest to us — wherever we were — but we definitely weren't in this solar system."

"We were traveling through other dimensions," Gideon interrupted. "Other universes."

That statement was sufficiently shocking enough to pull attention from the man to Gideon. The reporter turned, then motioned for the camerawoman to do the same. "Would you introduce yourself and then tell us what you mean by that?" the reporter asked. Her calm demeanor was impressive, considering the situation.

"I'm Gideon Northwest."

"Northwest? Are you related to missing CEO Gaston Northwest? Do you know where he is?"

"He's my father," Gideon said, "and he's safe at home. But as I was saying, there are other dimensions. Other universes with their own planets and stars and species. That's where the town was all this time: moving through those dimensions."

"And how do you know this?" the reporter asked.

Gideon shook his head. "There's plenty of time for someone to explain it all. But listen, I have something important to tell you. There are people living in Gravity Rises — and animals, and plants — that are from those other dimensions. They've been in hiding for thousands of years. And today, my friend Andrew is going to come out in the open and talk about things."

The reporter's calm mask was still for a moment as she processed this. "I'm sorry, who's Andrew?" she finally said.

"He's from a species that looks similar to the minotaur of Greek mythology. He's going to represent all the nonhuman species. Is there anyone from a government office here? Even from the county?"

"Governor Warner is on his way here," the reporter said, "but I don't know when he'll arrive."

"Make sure he knows as soon as he comes that Andrew wants to talk to him," Gideon said. Having a state governor here would be good. "Spread the word to everyone, too. We want people ready for this. Well, as ready as they can be."

The reporter looked at a loss for words, and there seemed to be a hint of fear behind her mask. Quietly, Grace said, "You should reassure people that Andrew isn't dangerous."

Gideon blinked. "Oh. Of course. He's not dangerous. He can't leave town, either, the same way you can't get in. But even without that, he isn't violent or anything. He's like us."

"Like us. . . how?" the reporter asked.

"Like us in intelligence, language, all of that. It'll be fine, trust me." Gideon glanced up at Grace. "Well, we'd best be going now."

"Wait! You've left our viewers with so many questions," the reporter said. "Won't you talk to them a little longer?"

"No thanks. You'll get your answers soon enough." With that, Gideon turned away from the camera, waved without looking, and walked off. It probably didn't look as cool as it could've, since he had to squeeze through the crowd and all, but it still felt good.

The reporter was too shocked to chase after him and pester him with questions. Or maybe she was off to tell other people about Andrew.

"Are you going to talk to any more reporters? Spread the news more?" Grace asked.

"No, that woman can handle it," Gideon said. "And the townspeople know it's going to happen, so some of them will probably mention it to people too." It was mostly that he didn't want to talk to any other strangers right now. Not when his long-lost sister was right here.

He could already hear some townspeople talking about Andrew, spreading the word, discussing the magical message Andrew and Gideon had sent yesterday. He could see Melody, who must've just arrived at the edge of town, hugging Soos. He could hear Greyson Gray's deep voice, and some other voices like Lazy Susan's. There was a tinge of fear to those voices, but also of curiosity and excitement. Like Gideon had told Grace, the news would easily reach everyone by the time Andrew actually showed up.

Gideon took his sister's hand and led her through the crowd back to the Pines and the Pleasures. "Come on, Evi," he said. "Come meet my friends."

~~~~~

"Moira. Are you sure?" asked Andrew.

Moira nodded. She and Andrew and Enoch were outside the Northwest Manor, standing beside two giant wolves.

"I want to come," Moira said. "Don't you think they'll be more at ease when they see that we have families, just like them?"

Andrew took a deep breath. She was right, but. . . "And Enoch?" he said, turning to his son. "Are you sure?"

"Not really, but they can't hurt us, right?" Enoch said. "I think. . . I think I should come."

"I haven't been able to be there for so much of this crazy time," Moira said. "Let me be with you for this part, Andrew."

Andrew thought for a minute, weighing the pros and cons of this idea. Moira was pretty set on coming with him, and he would love to have her by his side. Finally, he nodded. "Okay. We'll all go. We'll show them our family. But the young ones shouldn't come with us — I don't want to show them off to the world."

"Of course," Moira said. "Lutsali and Kálux are watching them."

"Good. Then let's go."

Andrew climbed on one wolf, and Moira and Enoch got on the other. The wolves bounded down the hill from the Manor and started toward the edge of town.

Then they reached main street. Go slowly, Andrew telepathically reminded the wolves, though there was no need. The wolves slowed and walked down the street, their steps calm even as their minds were racing. Andrew could sense their worried thoughts, and he tried to respond with reassuring ones. Oh, don't worry about us, the wolves said. We know everything is going to be fine. We're just nervous.

Understandable, Andrew replied. His own heart was pounding frantically against his ribcage.

It wasn't long before the crowd outside of town came into view. If Andrew could see them, then they could see him — or could at least see the giant wolves. Sure enough, there were shocked screams and confused whispers.

The wolves stopped quite a distance away from the edge of town. No need for the wolves to go right up to the people and scare them more. Andrew thanked them as he climbed off; Moira and Enoch followed his lead.

"Let me do the talking for the most part," Andrew said quietly to Moira and Enoch. They nodded, and the group of three started down the street, closing the remaining gap between them and the humans.

The noise of the crowd died down as the minotaurs approached. Silence greeted them — silence and wide eyes. Andrew stopped about a yard from the barrier. Three minotaurs on one side, countless humans on the other.

"Hi, Andrew!" said Dipper. He was standing right beside the barrier with his family.

Andrew gave him a little wave. His nervousness eased up a bit.

Then Andrew turned to the crowd. Multiple cameras pointed at him. Reporters were holding out microphones, waiting for someone to say something.

He swallowed.

"Hi, everyone," he said. "I'm Andrew. This is my wife, Moira, and my son Enoch. It's nice to meet you."