When Lee returned to his own mind, he couldn't think at first. He felt overwhelmed by what had happened with the Cipher Wheel.

He remembered it perfectly. He remembered being ten minds at once. Ten minds, one being of great power. But now he was himself again; he only had one mind. It was a jarring change, and he had to process it.

So did the other Symbols, it seemed. Everyone stood there for a moment, still holding hands, still glowing their different colors. But their eyes opened, and they stared at each other, and Lee knew that everyone else was back in their own mind, too. They were all trying to process what had just happened.

"Did it work?" said a voice. Lee jumped, then saw Andrew standing by the stairs. Right. He was here. He must've seen the Symbols' eyes open.

"No," Ford said. "No, it didn't work." His voice had an edge of bitterness to it, but it was mostly full of disbelieving sadness. He let go of Gideon's and Mabel's hands, and the multi-colored glow disappeared.

"What? Why not? What happened?"

The other Symbols released hands, each with sadness in their eyes. They'd all experienced the same thing. They'd been one mind. Lee struggled to wrap his head around that idea.

"What happened?" Andrew repeated when no one answered him. "I felt the power coming off of you. Surely you were able to unite your minds."

"We were," Ford said. "We went to Cipher and found him just where we expected him. But we couldn't get him out of Lee's body."

When Ford said it — said it out loud — Lee felt a sudden weight drop in his chest. It fell to his stomach, which churned with a sickening dread. He suddenly found it hard to breathe steadily.

"Why not?" asked Andrew. "You should just be able to exorcise him the way Gideon did with Greg. Expect with a lot more power."

"We tried," Gideon said. "We really did. We could feel that power, and we used it. But we couldn't separate Bill from Lincoln's body."

"We separated so we could think this all through," Fidds said.

Andrew stared at them; Lee couldn't read his facial expression, but he had no doubt it was a negative one. "Was he fighting you?" the minotaur asked.

"No," Gideon answered. "He didn't have to. His connection with Lee's body was so strong that we couldn't break it."

"It was so dark," Pacifica said quietly. "The connection. . . his power. . . it was evil."

Lee glanced at her. She stood by his side, staring at the floor with a horrified expression on her face. She knew now. She knew that Bill's power could only lead to darkness. It was good that she knew — Lee doubted that she'd ever want to help Bill again — but the look on her face broke Lee's heart.

"The deal," Andrew said. "The dark power you felt — that must've been his and Lee's deal."

"How are we supposed to break that?" said Robbie. "It's way too strong."

The words pulled Lee's attention away from Pacifica. His heartbeat sped up; it was so fast and strong that it seemed ready to burst from his chest.

It was the deal. The stupid deal Lee had made twenty years ago. It was keeping Bill safe.

"Grunkle Lee?" said Mabel. "Are you okay?"

He couldn't imagine what expression he had on his face. He felt a deep horror, one he couldn't name but couldn't ignore. He felt dizzy, too. "I. . . I think I need to lay down," he said.

Melody was immediately by his side. "We can go to Ford's room," she said.

Ford nodded in agreement. "Come join us when you're ready," he told Lee. "We'll need your input."

Lee nodded, though he didn't know what input he could give. It looked pretty hopeless from here. A mistake from two decades ago had already doomed them, hadn't it?

Melody gently took his arm, wanting to lead him, but he shook her off. "Thanks, but I'll go on my own," he told her. She nodded and stepped back.

Lee went to Ford's room in the back of the house, kicked off Greg's shoes, and lay on the bed. He stared up at the ceiling. His thoughts swirled around his head, and he couldn't catch any of them. That was a common feeling when he was a spirit, but this time it was accompanied by physical emotion. The dread pooling in his stomach. The racing heart. The faint feeling that he was going to be sick.

Emotions are supposed to help you figure out your thoughts — they catch them, slow them down, give you a chance to process them. But in this case, the emotions didn't help. Lee's thoughts were moving so quickly that he only caught portions of them. Doomed. My fault. We'll all die, and it's my fault.

Those weren't the only thoughts, but they were the ones Lee could catch. Other thoughts swooped in from his mind, set off his emotions, and then danced away before Lee even knew what they were. And he was too afraid to go after them. Whatever they were, they made him feel awful.

His eyes traced the woodgrain in the ceiling boards. What were the Symbols supposed to do? How were they supposed to stop Bill? Lee asked himself these questions, but then he left them unanswered. He was too afraid.

You know, whispered his mind. You know the answer.

Did he? Not consciously. But that didn't stop the dread. So he did know the answer, somewhere deep in his mind.

And he knew it wasn't a good one.

~~~~~

Mabel watched Lee leave the room. Her body trembled with a shudder.

Why, after everything they'd gone through to form the Cipher Wheel, did it fail to stop Bill?

Her eyes found Dipper's. His face was solemn, but it softened when he looked at her. He opened his arms, silently offering her a hug.

She took his offer. Walking over to him, she put her arms around him and felt his arms around her. It was nothing like the hugs from last night, when she'd first come home — those hugs had been desperate and strong. This hug was quiet and still.

Mabel's mind played through her memories of the Cipher Wheel. The feeling of power. The confident determination to stop Bill. The shock when they'd failed.

Bill's voice. "Goodbye, then." Casually dismissing the people who were supposed to have the power to destroy him.

Mabel laid her head on Dipper's shoulder. She could hear Ford, Andrew, Gideon, Fidds talking about what had happened, what they could do. She tried to ignore them.

"Mabel?" said Pacifica's voice.

Mabel startled so violently that she pushed Dipper away. Dipper recovered immediately, placing himself protectively in front of his sister. There was a moment of silence as Mabel peered around him, watching Pacifica, who was standing a few feet away with tears in her eyes and a faint, sad smile on her face.

Mabel swallowed. "Yeah?"

"You. . ." Pacifica's voice faltered. The way she was staring made Mabel uncomfortable. But there was no evil triumph or glint of madness in her gaze. She took a deep breath and tried again. "Our minds. The Cipher Wheel. We joined minds."

Mabel shuddered again at the way she worded that. Yes, they'd joined minds, but Mabel hadn't focused on Pacifica amidst the other eight people. And once Mabel had given into the magic, she hadn't been thinking her own thoughts. The Cipher Wheel had been thinking for all ten of them.

"We did," Mabel said carefully, not sure where Pacifica was going with this.

"I. . . I saw your mind," Pacifica said. "Before the Wheel completely took over. I looked into your mind."

Another shudder. This was creepy.

"What's your point?" Dipper snapped. "You're freaking her out."

"N-no, don't you — don't you see?" said Pacifica. "I saw — I saw your mind — and — and you're not evil."

The twins stared at her in silence.

"You're not evil," Pacifica repeated, a tear spilling over her eyelid onto her cheek. "You never were. I — I know that now."

Then Mabel understood. Pacifica had looked into her mind, trying to discover once and for all if her delusions about Mabel's evil were true or false. And she'd seen undeniable evidence that they were false.

"I'm sorry," Pacifica said. "I should've seen. . . I never had any proof. . . I should've. . . it shouldn't have taken so long to realize. . ."

"You're right, it shouldn't have," Dipper said.

At his words, Pacifica did something that Mabel never would've imagined her doing. She let out a sob and buried her face in her hands.

The other Symbols turned and looked at them. Wendy and Robbie, who were over by the door with their families. Melody, who stood by Geneva. Ford, Gideon, and Fidds, who had been talking to Andrew.

Mabel felt their gazes, and she wanted to get away from them. She wanted to get away from Pacifica and her sudden show of emotion. She even wanted to get away from Dipper, who still seemed caustic despite Pacifica's obvious regret.

Instead of running away, she took a deep breath and stepped out from behind Dipper.

He grabbed her hand, but she pulled it away. Pacifica. . . Pacifica had seen that she was wrong. And now she needed comfort.

Mabel saw Melody in her periphery, coming over to give that comfort. But the woman stopped when she saw Mabel's cautious steps forward. She took a small step back. Yes, that action said. Yes, Mabel, you can do this. I'll be here if you need me, but I'll let you take the lead.

Mabel could do this. Right?

She crossed the rest of the distance between her and Pacifica. Her brain was screaming at her — get away, get away, danger! — but Mabel kept moving anyway. Pacifica stopped her sobs and looked up at Mabel with an expression of grief and fear and hope.

Mabel wrapped her arms around her.

The others went back to their conversations, but Mabel hardly heard. She couldn't tell which was louder: her heartbeat pounding in her head or Pacifica's sobs in her ear. Pacifica returned the hug and shuddered with staggered breaths.

Had it really been just this morning that Lee had asked them to make up? Dipper had said he wouldn't hug Pacifica, and Mabel had wholeheartedly agreed. Hug her former attacker? No way.

But now she did. And she felt instinctual fear, but she also felt compassion. Empathy. Pacifica was sorry for what she'd done, and Mabel had the opportunity to forgive her.

She didn't know if she could forgive her completely. But she could at least give her a hug. Give her emotional comfort.

"Mabel, what are you doing?" Dipper asked. His voice was both quiet and abrasive.

Pacifica gave another sob. "He hates me," she murmured, quiet enough that only Mabel could hear. "You deserve to hate me."

Mabel did deserve to hate her. At least, it felt like she did. But if Pacifica really wanted to make things right, then. . . wasn't it cruel to hold onto hatred?

A sudden realization blazed through Mabel's mind. She let go of Pacifica — not completely, but enough to turn around and face Dipper. One arm stayed around Pacifica's shoulders. "She's. . . Dipper, she's like Fidds," Mabel said.

She could see the understanding dawn in his eyes, but he quickly schooled it away behind more anger. "Except she tried to kill you less than two weeks ago. Fidds had thirty years."

What was his point? That Lee and Ford had needed thirty years so they wouldn't be as angry at Fidds as they could have been? That Fidds had to be repentant for thirty years before it counted?

Mabel took another deep breath. "Well, I'm glad we don't have to wait that long."

Dipper could see her point, she knew, but he folded his arms and looked away.

"Mabel. . . ," Pacifica whispered. "Can you forgive me?"

Mabel looked back at her. She flinched under Mabel's gaze, not daring to meet her eyes.

"I don't know," Mabel said truthfully. Even if she could forgive Pacifica, she didn't think it would get rid of the trauma. It wouldn't automatically stop the nightmares. But. . . "But I'll try," she promised.

Pacifica nodded, and the relief in her teary eyes said that this was more than she had dared to hope for. "Thank you," she whispered.

Strong emotion threatened to bring tears to Mabel's own eyes. She gave Pacifica another short hug and stepped away.

There were soft footsteps on the carpet beside her. Mabel turned to the sound and saw Fidds walking over to them. He had left his conversation with Ford, Andrew, and Gideon to join them. "Pacifica," he said quietly.

Pacifica shuffled over to him, her movements slow and jerky. He put an arm around her, and she buried her head in his shoulder.

Mabel went back to Dipper's side. He seemed confused, although he was still trying to look angry. Mabel could imagine the contradictory thoughts bouncing around his brain.

"I'm proud of you, Mabel." Melody was still standing nearby, and her encouraging smile washed over Mabel. "You did the right thing."

Mabel nodded. Melody was right. Mabel had done the right thing. And it felt really good, actually. It didn't make everything better — Mabel still had trauma to deal with, and Bill was still out there, and they still weren't home — but at least she had made one step down the road of healing from her experiences with Pacifica. That felt good.

She could hear Andrew's quiet conversation with the others, but she didn't want to listen. She didn't want to think about the Cipher Wheel's failure; she wanted to keep this good mood as long as she could. "Is my food still on the table?" she asked Melody.

"Yes. Do you want to go finish?"

Mabel nodded. The food was cold by now, but so was this whole house. Mabel went back into the kitchen and ate; Dipper followed.

"Were you telling the truth?" he asked. "That you'll try to forgive her?"

Mabel paused with her fork halfway to her mouth.

She smiled at her brother. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I was."

~~~~~

Ford knocked softly on the door. "Lee?" he asked. He opened the door.

The room was dim. The only light came from the false moon, which was visible through the window. Lee lay on the bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He didn't look at Ford.

"It's been about an hour. I just wanted to come check on you. Are you all right?"

Lee still didn't turn his head. Just kept staring at the ceiling. "I have the solution," he said. The words weren't triumphant. They were hollow.

"Oh?" Ford asked warily.

A few seconds passed. Ford was already in a pretty bad mood — his discussion with Andrew and the others hadn't been cheerful — and his apprehension only grew worse with Lee's silence.

"Lee?" he prompted.

Lee's chest rose and fell with a breath. "The day you found me," he said. "We were down in the Order headquarters. Bill possessed me."

"Yes." Where was Lee going with this?

"You asked him if there was any way to get him out of my body. Do you remember what he said?"

A sudden chill washed over Ford. He didn't dare answer.

Lee finally turned his head. He looked Ford in the eyes. "'Short of killing him, no.' That's what he said."

A split second. Then—"No," said Ford. "No. That's not the solution."

"He can't lie, Ford."

"No," Ford said. He said it without thinking. He couldn't think about Lee's implication, couldn't consider it, because it couldn't be the answer. It just couldn't. Andrew had mentioned it a while ago, but Ford had refused to discuss it. And they'd come up with some other ideas. Ideas that could work.

Right?

"He can't lie," Lee repeated. He sounded exhausted saying it.

"Then maybe he doesn't know what he's talking about."

"It's his deal," Lee said. "He knows more about it than anyone else."

"Andrew knows a lot about it, too. And he says—" Ford's voice faltered.

"He suggested it, didn't he?" said Lee, correctly interpreting Ford's hesitation. "He knows what we have to do."

"I won't let it happen. There's another way. There has to be."

Lee took in a long breath, then let it out and pushed himself upright. Seconds passed in silence as he stood up from the bed and walked over to Ford.

He stopped when he was only inches from his brother. Ford found himself uncomfortable to be close to Lee when he was actually in Greg's body. But this was still Ford's brother. Ford couldn't see the color of Lee's eyes in this dim light, but he could hear his voice. "It's the only way, Ford," he said.

The words were quiet, heavy, terrified. Ford's heart twisted.

"It's the only way to defeat Bill," Lee said. "I have to die."