Soon after Lee's body was taken away, Andrew returned to the Northwest Manor. His chest was still aching, but it would magically finish healing over the next few days. The hamadryads had been able to help him before it was too late, and he was very grateful for that.

He greeted a relieved Enoch, then heard from him everything that had happened. He talked to the Symbols, who were sitting quietly together with wet faces, and could instantly tell that they were far too tired to reform the Cipher Wheel and send the township home. That was the next step, but it was clear that they couldn't take that step quite yet.

After consulting with many different people, Andrew decided they would stay here at the Northwest Manor for however long the Symbols needed to recover. Some people would go home, especially the injured who could be safely flown away. Those needing to rest here before leaving, those taking shifts guarding the Northwest servants, and a few others would stay. Gideon offered to help them find blankets, food, and other supplies they'd need.

Gaston, of course, wasn't happy with his home being turned into a makeshift hotel, but nobody gave him any heed.

The next few hours were a flurry of cleaning up from the battle (including moving the bodies of the one servant and eleven allies), getting various guest rooms ready for the Symbols, spreading out blankets in the ballroom for the others, setting up defensive spells around the servants' prison room, and generally organizing everyone. It was tiring, but Andrew knew he wasn't as tired as the Symbols. They were in no state to help, although Gideon and Melody still did anyway — and Andrew didn't stop them, because Gideon knew where everything was, and Melody had a knack for finding things even in an unfamiliar house. Melody offered to help make food, too, but that was where Andrew drew the line. The dryads could take care of that.

The perytons flew off to spread the news of Bill's defeat to the minotaur village, the fairy hollow, and everywhere else in the forest. Some also went with a group of drayds to get the ten servants who were near the Museum and bring them back to the Manor to be imprisoned with the others.

A few perytons went to get Yingtai Chiu from her home and Geneva Northwest from the Museum — the two worried mothers caused no small stir as they sought out their children to make absolutely sure they were okay. Gideon didn't have much time to spend with Geneva before he was called away to help some minotaurs find more bedding, but Candy pulled Caleb over to Yingtai and told a detailed story of the day's battle. Yingtai's horror at the violence and deaths was surpassed only by her relief that her husband and daughter were safe.

Andrew only caught glimpses of the Chius while he was coming in and out of the ballroom for his various tasks. At one point, though, he came in just as Enoch was approaching Caleb. Nephew and uncle talked for a bit — Enoch seemed distressed. But then Caleb said something that made Enoch relax. The two hugged tightly.

Andrew didn't know what they were talking about, but he was glad to see them together. And he was especially glad that Caleb had pulled through and helped the allies in their battle. After a moment of looking at his brother and son fondly, Andrew turned and went back to what he'd been doing.

Finally, everyone had been cared for, fed, and given a place to stay. Things settled down a bit, and Andrew found himself sitting with all of the Symbols in the guest room where Ford and Lee were staying. He had no idea what time it was, and doubted the Symbols did either. Oh, how he longed to be back in his own dimension, with its sun and moon and everything in between! Yes, his ancestors may have come from a different planet in a different dimension, where whole societies of his species lived — but Andrew had never been off of Earth. It was his home, and he wanted to get back to it.

Soon.

"You won't be able to completely rest, I'm afraid," he said to the Symbols. "Before we get home, we need to make plans for what's going to happen after our return."

"What do you mean?" Robbie asked.

"There's a lot to think about," Melody said. "For one, how are we going to get everyone back on the electrical grid? How are we going to reconnect water pipes that must've been sheared in half when we left? Assuming we can fit all these 'islands' back in the space where the town once was, how are we going to repave the roads that were disrupted?"

Andrew blinked. "I. . . hadn't thought of any of that, actually. My village is so self-contained that I forget how interconnected human technologies are."

"We're just lucky that people out here have generators and know how to handle themselves when our amenities go down. But it'll be a huge project to get everything back to normal." Melody frowned. "Wait, if you hadn't thought of that, then what were you talking about?"

"Well," Andrew said, then took a long breath. "We can't get everything back to normal. At least, not for me. Don't you think someone has noticed by now that an entire town disappeared from the state of Oregon?"

It amused him a bit to see the surprise on people's faces. Like they hadn't expected him to know the name Oregon or understand the basic structure of the United States of America. They really had no idea how much time the supernatural creatures had to spend studying human cultures, languages, and societies. It was in preparation for a day like this — a day when the humans would know about them.

"Greg and Janice mentioned this to me," Lee said. "They said there's probably a crater where the town was, and the bus driver who was supposed to pick up Mabel and Dipper would've seen it."

"Soos," Dipper said suddenly.

"What?" said Melody.

"That's his name. The bus driver. Soos."

"How do you remember that?" asked Mabel.

Dipper shrugged. "It's a cool name." Then he frowned. "Melody, what's wrong?"

Melody's eyes were wide with fear. "Soos," she whispered. "Is he okay?"

"Do you know him?" said Dipper.

"I. . . I do. He. . . used to be my boyfriend."

Dipper gave a little gasp. "Really?"

"We broke it off when he had to leave town for his bus driving job." Melody turned to Andrew. "Do you think he's okay? He didn't get hurt when he came and found the town gone?"

"I don't know," said Andrew softly. "I hope he's all right."

Melody nodded to herself. "I'm sure he's just fine," she said, mostly to herself.

"But listen," Andrew said, wanting to get back on track, "if you know this Soos came to Gravity Rises. . . well, that means the whole country would've known about our disappearance pretty soon after we left. Probably the whole world."

Everyone's eyes widened. "So Mom and Dad know we're missing," Mabel said, glancing at Dipper. "They must be so worried."

"If it helps," Gideon said, "they'd probably be a lot more worried if they knew what you two have actually been through."

There was a moment of silence. Mabel and Dipper clearly didn't know how to react to that.

"You said you can't go back to normal," Melody said to Andrew. "Does that mean you think everyone is going to find out about you? About all the supernatural people living here in Gravity Rises?"

"Yes, that's what I meant," Andrew said. "A lot of people are going to want to investigate to find out what happened. Why the town disappeared, why it reappeared — it's going to reappear just as suddenly, when the Cipher Wheel takes it back. They'll want to know, and most humans here saw the minotaurs passing out supplies. The government, the news reporters. . . they're going to find at least my people, and when that happens it won't take long to find the others."

Another moment of silence passed as everyone thought through the implications of this. "So what are you going to do?" Dipper asked.

"An excellent question," Andrew said. "I'm going to need to consult with the minotaur elders and the leaders of the other societies. I do know what we can't do, though. We can't run away."

"I agree, that's probably not wise," said Melody.

"I don't just mean that it's not wise. I mean that we literally can't run away. Ford?"

Ford glanced up at Andrew, acknowledging him but not saying anything. He had said very little since Andrew had gotten back to the Manor. Understandably.

"Thirty years ago, weren't you investigating the origin of all these species?" Andrew wasn't alive back then (he was twenty-nine years old, which put him at about the same maturity as humans in their mid-forties), but he'd learned about Ford's research back in the day, and the worry Ford had caused among the supernatural creatures with his curiosity.

"I was," Ford said. Andrew took it as a good sign that he was responding, though his voice was low and hesitant. "I always wondered why you didn't disperse like most populations do. If you were here thousands of years ago, you should've spread across the continent like the humans did. So why can't you?"

"The barrier around the forest has been here for all that time, in a way," Andrew answered. "But before, it was only there for nonhumans. Or, I should say, for those of us who aren't originally from Earth. So even when the barrier disappears for you, it won't for me. I've never been able to leave this forest."

"I see," said Ford. "Why hasn't that caused problems for your population growth?"

"Xítway told me they had a way to prevent problems," Lee said, "but she didn't say what it was."

"Oh, I know. Caleb told me." Dipper frowned, looking at Andrew. "Was he not supposed to?"

Andrew felt a jolt of surprise, then a faint sting of anger. "No, he wasn't supposed to. But I should've guessed that he did, since you know that he could've been banished."

Dipper nodded. "To another dimension."

Ford turned his head sharply to Andrew. "You have your own form of interdimensional travel? Why couldn't we send people to safety, then?"

"It's not working right now, since part of the township is that we're all trapped here," Andrew said. "And it only works in one direction, anyway. We periodically send groups from every species through the portals to keep the populations down, and they're taken to their dimensions of origin. Since humans originate from Earth, I doubt you could access the portals at all."

"Still, we need to be ready if or when the government finds out about those," Gideon said. "It won't take long for the whole country to be in a panic about invading interdimensional aliens."

"Yes, well," Andrew said, "that will be one thing to plan out before we get home. But we mainly need to worry about what the initial reaction will be to discovering all of the supernatural species. I want to gather the leaders, which we can start doing tomorrow, although we'll have to return to the minotaur village so we can talk with June. . . ."

"June is the leader of the hamadryads?" Mabel asked.

"Not exactly, since the hamadryads share their thoughts when they're inside their trees, and make decisions together. But June is the one with the most experience interacting with other species, so even if the other hamadryads have all the same information, I'm still the most comfortable talking to her. Right now, she's limited to the island with my village on it, so we'll have to go there."

"I'll come with you," Lee offered. "I can represent the humans."

"Good idea." Since Lee was the leader of the Order, he would be a good representation. Really, he should've been representing humans to the supernatural creatures for his entire tenure as Order leader, but he hadn't. Andrew had always wondered why that was, why this Order leader was different from his predecessors. Now he knew that it was because Bill had wanted to keep Lee secret from anyone who might have known Ford.

"What about the humans who have no idea what's going on?" Melody asked. "Should we send someone to talk to them?"

"We can recruit the Order members to do that," Lee said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Gideon said. "I'm pretty sure people have been remembering the things I wiped from their minds. They'll probably be hostile to Order members."

"We could send some minotaurs or dryads," Andrew said, "though that might be dangerous as well."

"There's gotta be some way to broadcast a message," said Mabel. "Like, a magical hologram or something. Right? Then we wouldn't have to send anyone to people's houses."

Andrew considered this. "That's a good idea. I think the kaarum can do something like that."

"The what?"

"I believe Dipper calls them 'unicorn sheep.'"

"Oh, those guys!" said Dipper.

"We can talk to them about it tomorrow," Andrew said. Then he turned to Gideon. "Are you thinking we'll explain everything to the other humans? No more secrets, no more memory wiping?"

"I don't want to wipe any more memories," Gideon said. "It would be pretty useless, anyway, if the whole world is going to find out about this place."

Andrew nodded in agreement.

"It could be a problem, though," Gideon continued. "Like I said, people are getting their memories back. At least, I know Candy Chiu has been remembering things, including the memory sessions themselves. So. . . if everyone remembers me, and the various Order members who brought them down to me, then it'll make them pretty angry. How are we going to prevent a riot?"

"Are you worried for your safety?" Andrew asked.

Gideon looked annoyed. "I'm worried about social unrest. I can defend myself. But this is a small town, and finding out that fifteen percent of the population is involved in a conspiracy will definitely upset people."

"Fifteen percent, huh?" said Robbie.

Gideon shrugged. "More or less." Andrew didn't doubt that he'd calculated it precisely at some point.

"Maybe it'll help if you apologize," Dipper said, "like you did to Candy. Do the broadcast thing and just apologize to everyone."

"First of all," Gideon said, "Candy still punched me after I apologized. Second of all, it's not my fault."

"It's Bill's fault," Lee said. "And he's not here to apologize."

Everyone quieted. It was true. Bill wasn't here. And that should've been such a joyous thing to remember — but with the grief and uncertainty and everything that came after the demon's defeat, it was easy to forget that victory and just worry about the future.

Bill was gone. But even with him out of the way, was it possible to navigate through the mess they were in?

Just how long would it be before things were good again?

"Maybe we can blame everything on Bill, then," Pacifica said. Like Ford, she hadn't been talking much, and her voice was rough. She had her arms around Waddles the pig, who had come with Geneva from the Mystery Museum. Dipper seemed annoyed that the pig was sitting with Pacifica and not him, but it was clear that Pacifica needed the comfort more. Pacifica continued, "We'll say that a demon controlled everyone in the Order, but he's gone now, and the Order is going to be disbanded." She frowned. "Is it?"

"No, actually," said Lee. "Greg and I have been talking. He's going to take over for me as the leader of the Order."

This was news to Andrew. "Really?"

"Yes. I'm sure you know — and Gideon and Pacifica might as well, if they've read certain books in the Order library — that the Order originally fought against Bill."

Andrew nodded. "Yes, it was founded by the ancients who created Bill's prison."

"Wait, really?" said Mabel.

"Bill corrupted it in the mid-1800s, when U.S. settlers came to the area," Lee said. "He was able to turn the settlers to his side in the conflicts with the native tribes. In the end, the native peoples were confined to the Yakama Nation reservation, and Bill had successfully reformed the Order into his own cult."

Gideon nodded along, as if he'd known this, but he seemed to be the only one. Pacifica asked, "Is that when my family started leading the Order?"

"Your ancestors were the first to join Bill," Lee said with a nod. "Along with the Northwests."

"So are you saying that you're going to return the Order to what it originally was?" Andrew asked. "Greg will take over, and he'll start working with us again?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Lee said. For the first time today that Andrew had seen, he smiled. "The Order will help the supernatural creatures, and act as a human intermediary between you and the government. And of course, we'll teach everyone about Bill and how to contain him, to start preparing for when he's a problem again."

"That sounds like a great plan," Andrew said.

"So," said Lee, "to go back to what Pacifica was saying, we can tell everyone that a demon controlled the Order, but he's gone now, and the Order is reforming. And yes, Gideon, an apology might be expected from you. You're the one they'll remember the most, even if you were wiping their memories against your will."

Gideon sighed. "You're probably right."

"Can you give everyone back their memories?" Mabel said. "That would help them trust you and the rest of the Order."

He gave a small frown. "I think I technically could. But I've never done it before, so I don't want to risk messing it up. And it'd be a long process even if I were successful. It's probably better just to let people remember things on their own." Then his frown deepened. "You know, the government is bound to find out about the Order, too. What if they arrest everyone who was part of it?"

Robbie moaned — a sound of frustration and fear. "You guys are mentioning too many problems. Are you saying my parents are going to be arrested?"

"There aren't any laws against wiping memories," Melody pointed out. "Since it's magical and all."

"There are laws against abduction," Gideon said, "and the Order has done plenty of that."

"True."

"I guess we'll have to convince everyone to forgive us," said Lee. "And show the government that we're reforming."

The others nodded, though Gideon looked skeptical.

Andrew took a deep breath, feeling overwhelmed. "Well. It sounds like we have a lot to think about."

At least three teenagers scoffed. "You think?" Robbie muttered.

Lee gave a sudden, huge yawn. "We're all so exhausted. And this conversation is just making it worse. How about we sleep on it?"

"Good idea," said Melody. "Today's been chaotic enough. We can worry about the next round of chaos tomorrow."

"And hopefully mitigate as much of the future chaos as we can," said Andrew.

"Of course."

Andrew got to his hooves. "Good night, then. Or whatever time it is."

"Close enough," Lee said.

"Yes," Andrew said. A wave of exhaustion swept over him. "Close enough."