JANUARY 21, 2013

The living room of the Mystery Museum was dim, cold, and crowded. The electricity was running on generators at half-capacity, which meant low lights and little heat. It was certainly better than nothing, though. And the room was starting to warm up as more and more people entered, filling up the space.

Gideon Northwest glanced around. Currently in the room were Gideon, Geneva, the five Valentinos, and the three Corduroys. Andrew, Ford, and Fidds were in the basement, and Melody was gathering Pacifica, Mabel, and Dipper. Lincoln, the final Symbol, was a ghost somewhere in the Museum. Gideon didn't know where.

This was it. If Gideon could use his amulet to help Lincoln possess Gregory Corduroy, then the ten Symbols could finally form the Cipher Wheel. They could finally stop Bill.

If Lincoln successfully possessed Greg, that is. If the Cipher Wheel accepted a Symbol in someone else's body.

Those were some pretty big uncertainties. Gideon could feel the pressure mounting. Could he do this? Would his experience with exorcisms allow this possession to take place?

It was an unusual situation. Greg, who worked under Lincoln in the Order of the Crescent Eye, had agreed to let Lincoln possess him. In other words, he'd agreed to let Lincoln's spirit inhabit his body in place of his own. But humans couldn't just pop their spirits out of their bodies whenever they wanted; something had to force them out. Gideon might be able to force Greg's spirit out with his amulet, but. . . well, he'd only pulled spirits out of bodies or objects when they weren't supposed to be there. He didn't know if he could pull a spirit out of its own body.

"Gideon?" asked Greg, who was sitting on the couch. His wife, Janice, stood behind him, her hands on his shoulders. Robbie, their son, hovered nearby, looking uncharacteristically anxious.

"Yes?" Gideon replied.

"How will this. . ." Greg swallowed. "How will this work, exactly?"

"Yeah, is this going to be super creepy?" asked Robbie.

Gideon rolled his eyes at Robbie's question. "It shouldn't be," he said. "Greg will just sit on the couch, and I'll pull out his spirit and give Lincoln a chance to take over his body."

Everyone was silent.

"You obviously don't know the definition of 'creepy,'" Robbie said.

Another eye roll. "That's what's going to happen," Gideon said. "I'm not going to sugarcoat it."

"Yes, but — how will that work?" Greg asked.

"I'm not sure what you're asking," Gideon said.

"What'll it feel like? Is there something I need to do, or will your amulet do it all?"

"I don't know what it feels like," Gideon said. "You'd have to ask Lincoln about that. And no, I don't think there's anything you can do, except try to relax, I guess."

"'Try to relax,'" Robbie scoffed. "Sounds easy."

Gideon was about to retort, but another voice spoke before he could. "It'll feel uncomfortable," said the voice. Gideon turned to see Pacifica standing by the staircase. "That's what Lincoln says," she continued. "That it'll feel uncomfortable. Like. . . like. . ." She glanced to her left, probably at Lincoln's spirit, which she could see without magical assistance. "He doesn't know how to describe it," she finally said. "Just that it's really uncomfortable, especially the first time."

Greg shivered. "And. . . what if there are complications? What would those look like?"

"I don't think there will be complications," Gideon said. "Either I can pull you out or I can't. And Lincoln won't enter your body until you're completely out of it." He turned and looked at the same place Pacifica had, though he couldn't see Lincoln himself. "All right, Lincoln? Don't try to get into Greg's body while he's still in there."

A few moments passed. "All right," Pacifica said, speaking once more on Lincoln's behalf.

Gideon looked at his friend. The fact that Pacifica was out here. . . that was a good sign. Last Friday, she had been fully working for Bill. She'd attacked Mabel and sent her to her death. Gideon had saved Mabel, but he didn't know how Pacifica felt about that. Was there a chance that Pacifica had changed her mind? That she no longer wanted Mabel dead? That she'd come to join the Cipher Wheel?

Only one way to find out. Gideon went over to her. "Hey, Pacifica," he said.

She met his eyes and attempted a smile. "Hi."

"Are you going to join us?"

Pacifica glanced at Lincoln again, then over her shoulder. "Yes," she said, looking back at Gideon.

She didn't sound very sure of herself, but at least she'd said the word. Gideon felt a rush of relief. "That's great," he said.

She dropped her gaze, embarrassed. But then she looked back up at him. "Thanks, um, for talking to me last week. About all this."

Gideon assumed she was talking about the days before Gideon had left to save Mabel. He'd spent a lot of time with Pacifica, talking to her, trying to convince her to switch sides. It looked like it had paid off. "You're welcome," he said, smiling.

A few moments passed in silence. Then, "You don't hate me, right? For what I did?"

"No," he replied. "Especially if you're going to help us."

She nodded, though she seemed distracted. She kept glancing over her shoulder.

Footsteps sounded behind Gideon, and he turned to see Ford and Fidds enter the room. Ford carried the three Journals in his arms. Andrew the minotaur followed behind the two men.

"I'm going to talk to Andrew," Gideon told Pacifica. She nodded again, and he crossed the room to the minotaur.

"Any luck?" he asked, addressing the question to Andrew, Ford, and Fidds. The three of them had been in the basement with the interdimensional portal, consulting about whether it was possible to reprogram it to transport people back to their home dimension.

Ford shook his head. He looked resigned. Well, Gideon hadn't really expected it to work, anyway. He still felt a bit disappointed, though.

"We'll continue with the Cipher Wheel," Andrew said, "and this possession."

"About that," Gideon said. "Is there anything you can do to help? Or is it up to me and my amulet?"

"Your amulet will certainly be the most efficient method," Andrew said. "Its access to the spirit plane and the mindscape is strong. But yes, I'll help. I'll cast a spell that allows me to increase your power by lending you some of my energy. Then you can try exorcising Greg the same way you'd normally exorcise spirits."

"Don't use that word," said Robbie. Gideon turned to see the teen shudder.

"What, exorcise?" Gideon said. "It's the word for what I'll be doing. Your dad agreed to this, Robbie."

"I know that, but 'exorcise' makes it seem like he's some kind of evil spirit."

"But he's not." Gideon didn't see the problem. Besides Robbie being overdramatic, that is.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and flinched. It was Andrew's hand; the minotaur didn't move it away. "Try to be a little sympathetic, Gideon," the minotaur said gently. "He's frightened."

Robbie's face reddened. "Freaked out, maybe," he muttered, looking at the ground. Apparently he didn't like the word "frightened" either.

Gideon let out a quiet sigh, then twisted away from Andrew. "Look," he said, "I'm here to exorcise — yes, exorcise — Greg from his body so that Lincoln can take over. That's probably the only way we'll be able to form the Cipher Wheel. And it might not even work, but there's at least a chance. So instead of worrying about feelings, let's focus on doing this job."

Robbie glared at the ground and didn't say anything.

Gideon noticed Melody come out of the hallway; Pacifica followed the woman to the back of the living room and to Ford, who was placing each Journal on the living room table. Gideon watched them for a second, then looked at Andrew. "So how will this booster spell work? Will you cast it before I start or after?"

If Andrew disapproved of Gideon's comments a moment ago, Gideon couldn't tell. The minotaur blinked his big black eyes and said, "I'll do it right before you start. You'll be able to draw on the power as you need to. Do you need to contact Stanley beforehand and give him any instructions?"

He could do that, but it might be simpler to just. . . "Pacifica, is Lincoln still in here?" Gideon asked.

Pacifica glanced over. "Yeah, floating right next to you," she replied.

Gideon thought he heard Wendy Valentino (who was standing by the fireplace) mutter something about how creepy that was, but he ignored her. "Thanks," he said to Pacifica. Then he turned to where he thought Lincoln was and added, "I don't know if I really have instructions. Just wait for Greg to be completely out of his body, like I said. But be ready, because that could happen at any moment, and I don't know if I'll be able to keep him out for very long."

"He says okay," Pacifica said after a moment of silence.

"Tell me more about your experience with exorcisms," Andrew said to Gideon, "so I can get a better idea."

Well, Gideon didn't really know how to describe it, but he did his best. He and Andrew talked for a few minutes about exorcisms, the magic of the amulet, the magic Andrew would use to boost the amulet, and so on.

During the conversation, Mabel and Dipper entered the living room and came to stand by the other Symbols. Gideon glanced at Mabel and smiled at her. She looked nervous, likely because Pacifica was nearby. But Pacifica wasn't doing anything more than standing there, avoiding Mabel's gaze.

Gideon and Andrew spoke for a moment more. Their conversation ended when Ford cleared his throat and addressed the whole room. "I have an announcement to make. Sadly, we're not going to be able to reprogram the portal."

Andrew nodded. "I don't have the information they need, at least not in the numerical form they need it," he told everyone. "The Cipher Wheel is our only hope. But we already knew that."

Gideon knew that, yes. But it didn't stop the nervousness in his chest. The Cipher Wheel was the only hope, which meant that Gideon's skill with his amulet was, by extension, also their only hope. If Gideon failed, and Lincoln couldn't possess Greg, then the Cipher Wheel failed, too.

"Well," Andrew said after a moment of silence, "we're all here. Let's get started."

Greg let out a long, shuddering breath. "Okay," he said, more to himself than anyone else.

"Janice, Robbie, would you mind stepping aside?" said Andrew.

Neither of them looked happy about that, but they did as requested. Greg stood, gave his wife and son hugs, and attempted a reassuring smile. "It's just until we stop Bill," he reminded them. Robbie and Janice nodded, then crossed the room and stood near Mabel and Dipper.

Though his anxiety was steadily increasing, Gideon tried not to show it. "All right," he said as Greg sat back down on the couch. "Pacifica, is Lincoln ready?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Wait," Mabel blurted.

Gideon turned to her.

She looked up at Andrew. "If. . . if this works, and Lee p-possesses Greg, and we defeat Bill, then. . . then what? How will we get home after that?"

"Good question," Andrew said. "The Cipher Wheel is foretold to defeat Cipher and to guide the township back home. I imagine that once you accomplish one, you'll know how to accomplish the other."

"We'll just magically know what to do?" Ford asked.

"Something like that."

"Will it take the same amount of time to get home as it did to get here?" asked Dipper. "Nine days?"

"With ten of you lending your energy to fuel the township, rather than one, I imagine it'll be quite a bit faster," Andrew assured him.

"You mean — you mean I have to give up more of my. . . my life force?" said Mabel, her voice small.

Andrew knelt down so he could look her straight in the eye. "It'll only be a tenth as much as you've already lost," he said gently. "The Cipher Wheel needs you in order to work; this is how it has to be. But you won't be in any danger, and you'll be able to recover your energy easily. Is that all right?"

Dipper took his sister's hand. Mabel nodded. "Okay," she said.

"Good." Andrew got back to his feet. "Gideon, are you ready?"

As ready as he'd ever be. Gideon nodded.

"Then I'll cast the spell." Andrew began to speak unfamiliar words, making motions with his hands as if he were offering something to Gideon. Gideon couldn't see or feel any evidence of magic, but the spell seemed to work. After a minute or so, Andrew said, "All right. Go ahead."

Gideon sat on the ground, forming a circle in front of him with his legs. He could perform an exorcism standing up if he needed to, but this position would concentrate his power.

He activated his amulet. The world became greyscale. Gideon could still see Greg, sitting nervously on the couch, and all the other people in the room, but they were in black and white. The only person in color was Lincoln, whose spirit had appeared beside the couch. "Hello, Gideon," he said as their eyes met.

"Hello."

"Thank you for doing this."

Gideon nodded absently. Now that he was using the amulet, he could feel the effects of Andrew's spell: like an extra reserve of strength, lingering in the back of Gideon's mind, ready to be drawn upon if necessary. That would be useful.

"Okay, here goes," Gideon said. He looked at Greg, and his amulet flared. To everyone else, it would look like Gideon was simply sitting on the floor with his eyes closed and his amulet glowing softly. But in the spirit plane (or the mindscape; the two weren't the same, but they were closely linked), Gideon's eyes were focused on Greg, and his amulet shone brightly with blue light.

Light appeared around Greg as well. Not his body — his spirit. Gideon's power reached through the spirit plane and surrounded the man, preparing to pull him out of his body. This was how it always was during exorcisms. Target the spirit, pull it out of the body, break whatever connection had formed.

Except that the connection between Greg's body and spirit was strong. Stronger than Gideon had ever dealt with. This wasn't surprising — after all, this was Greg's own body. The connection was natural; it had never been broken.

Gideon had to break it.

So he pulled.

He couldn't quite describe what he was doing. But some part of his mind — the part connected to his amulet — willed Greg's spirit to separate from his body. It was similar to how he controlled people when he levitated them, except that Greg's spirit was putting up quite the resistance. Not because Greg was trying to resist, but because he couldn't help it. His spirit wanted to stay in his body. An annoying tug from Gideon's amulet wasn't going to pull it free.

But Gideon kept tugging. He could see the discomfort on Greg's greyscale face; he could hear the concerned questions from Robbie and Janice. He couldn't let those things distract him. Greg glowed blue as Gideon's amulet tried to pull him from his body.

Slowly, a second Greg appeared, this one in color. That was his spirit. It rested on top of his body like an overlay. Gideon kept pulling, but the spirit refused to move.

This was exhausting. Gideon quickly reached the limits of his power. But he kept going, drawing on the reserve of energy Andrew had given to him. He may not be able to pull someone's spirit out of their body on his own — which was probably a good thing — but he would do it now. With Andrew's help. He couldn't afford to fail.

He pulled on Greg's spirit. It was like pulling on a cat that had its claws sunk into the couch. The connection wouldn't be broken easily. But Gideon, using both his and Andrew's energy, tried to overwhelm Greg with sheer force.

The amulet glowed so brightly that Gideon could barely see.

Greg's spirit slowly slid away from his body. Gideon pulled it out partway, but the connection was only strained, not broken.

Come on! We have to form the Cipher Wheel!

With a final burst of power, Gideon yanked the spirit out of its body. The connection broke.

There was an ethereal tearing noise, and Greg screamed—but only Gideon and Lincoln could hear. On the physical plane, Greg's body slumped over as its spirit left.

"Lincoln, now!" Gideon said through gritted teeth. Greg's spirit was still fighting his amulet, still trying to get back to his body. Gideon had to hold him back while Lincoln took over.

Lincoln flew into Greg's body. The eyes opened.

It had worked.

Gideon released Greg's spirit. Exhaustion washed over him. But he'd done it.

Greg instinctively flew back to his body, but he couldn't get inside. There was another spirit in there now. Greg stopped, looking lost.

"Greg?" Gideon asked carefully.

Greg turned. Some clarity returned to his expression, though it was underscored by a faint horror. "That was terrible," he said.

"I know," Gideon said. He couldn't imagine the discomfort Greg had felt as he'd been slowly severed from his body. Something primal had taken over Greg, something so concerned with staying in his body that he hadn't seemed like himself for a moment. He'd seemed more like a panicked animal.

"I'm sorry, Greg," said Lincoln. While possessing Greg, he'd be able to see into the spirit plane, much like Pacifica could. He looked at Greg with sympathy in his eyes.

His eyes. Gideon deactivated his amulet, returning to the physical plane. The world returned to color, and Gideon looked at Lincoln's eyes. Sure enough, they were blue-grey, like Lincoln's body, rather than brown like Greg's. You could always spot a possession by the eyes.

"It worked?" said Andrew.

"It worked," Lincoln said. "I'm Lee. Greg is floating beside me."

"Lee," said Ford in relief. He crossed to the couch, helped Lincoln to his feet, and gave him a hug.

"That's so weird," said Robbie. "I don't like it."

Poor you, Gideon thought, though he didn't say it. He was too tired.

Andrew stepped in front of Gideon and offered a hand. Gideon took it and got to his feet. "Thank you for your help," he told the minotaur. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"That took a lot of power," Andrew said. "I felt it. You did well."

Gideon accepted the compliment with a nod.

Lincoln turned to Gideon, giving him a look of gratitude. It was strange seeing Lincoln's expressions on Greg's face — it reminded Gideon of seeing Pacifica's expressions on his own face, that one time they had switched bodies for a day. "Thank you, Gideon," Lincoln said.

Gideon nodded again.

Pacifica came over, and Lincoln gave her a hug, too. He seemed very happy to be physical again. That was unsurprising, seeing as it had been over a week since Bill had possessed Lincoln's own body.

"Mabel, Dipper," said Lincoln, turning with one arm on Pacifica's shoulder. "Would you come over here?"

The twins looked at each other nervously. Dipper shot Pacifica a glare. But they did as their great uncle asked.

Lincoln stepped away from Pacifica to give Mabel and Dipper each a hug of their own. Then he put his arm around Pacifica again and faced the twins. "If we're going to form the Cipher Wheel together, it'll be best to do it with no hard feelings. Can you three make up?"

All three of them recoiled: Dipper with anger, Mabel with fear, Pacifica with embarrassment. "Make up?" said Dipper. "She tried to kill Mabel!"

"I'm sorry," Pacifica whispered.

"'Sorry' doesn't cut it," Dipper snapped. "She almost died. If she had, your 'sorry's wouldn't have meant anything, so they don't mean anything now."

Mabel looked too afraid to say anything, but it looked like she silently agreed with her brother.

"I know," Pacifica said, her voice small. "I know it doesn't mean anything. But I. . . I was wrong, and I know that now. I want to stop Bill."

"Why?" asked Mabel. She didn't seem to believe that Pacifica could change her mind.

Pacifica looked even more embarrassed. "He was. . . he was using me. He played along with. . . with my stupid fantasies, just so he could use me." She didn't meet Mabel's eyes as she said it.

The twins stared at Pacifica. Gideon couldn't help but stare at her, too. "Stupid fantasies"? She could see her delusions for what they were?

"Can she join us, then?" Lincoln asked Mabel and Dipper. "Will you be okay?"

Dipper looked away sullenly. "I'm not hugging her like everything is all better now."

"You don't have to."

Mabel looked at Pacifica with a mixture of fear and distrust on her face. Gideon could understand that, though he really did think Pacifica was sincere. She wouldn't be able to pull a charade like this, not if it involved pretending to regret her actions.

"Mabel?" asked Ford, who was standing behind Lincoln.

She looked up at her uncles. "If we can stop Bill," she said, "then I'll work with Pacifica." Her voice was shaky but determined.

Pacifica smiled in relief, though she tried to hide the expression a second later. Mabel didn't notice; she was deliberately not looking at Pacifica. Dipper noticed, though, and he shot the girl another glare.

Come on, Dipper, thought Gideon. We need her, or else we won't be able to stop Bill. Grow up.

"In that case," Andrew said, "let's form the Cipher Wheel, shall we?"

Ford picked up the second Journal and rifled through it. "We'll need to be in the same order as shown in this picture, yes?" he asked, holding up the page with the drawing of the Cipher Wheel.

"Yes," Andrew said. "Let's move this couch so there's more room."

"I'll help with that," Lincoln said.

Andrew and Lincoln moved the couch from the living room into the gift shop, and everyone moved out of the way. "Where's my dad?" Robbie asked Gideon. "Do you know?"

Before Gideon could respond, Pacifica spoke up. "He's right there." She pointed at the table with the Journals on it.

"I can't see him, not with my amulet deactivated," Gideon told Robbie. "But Pacifica can, and so can Lincoln. If he has anything he needs to say to you, they can tell you."

Robbie nodded unhappily.

Since it would take a minute to move the couch, Gideon decided to leave the other Symbols and approach his mother. "Hello," he said. He was sure he sounded stiff, but, well, he couldn't think of another greeting.

Geneva smiled at him. Before this week, he'd never really seen her smile. It was strange — but good — to see. "You did it," she said. "I knew you could."

Geneva had never seen his exorcisms, not that he knew of, so he figured she was probably just saying that to be encouraging. It still felt good, though.

"All right, Symbols," Andrew said, coming back into the living room. "Ford, Lee, if you would stand on opposite sides of the room. Then we'll form the circle around you two."

Lincoln stood next to the fireplace, and Ford stood opposite him, where the couch had been.

"Dipper, if you'd stand on Lee's right, and Pacifica, on Lee's left," Andrew directed. "Gideon, you're on Ford's right, and Mabel is on Ford's left." He instructed the rest of the Symbols on where to stand. He seemed to have the order memorized; he didn't need to consult Ford's Journal, so Ford went to put it back on the living room table. Gideon wondered how Andrew knew which person was which Symbol, but he figured Ford had probably shown him the paper where he'd drawn the Wheel and labeled each Symbol with a name.

Before long, all ten Symbols were standing in a rough circle. Andrew stood on one side of them, by the foot of the stairs, and Janice, Geneva, Danny, and his sons stood in the entryway. Gideon noticed that Waddles had also joined them; the youngest Valentino boy held the pig in his arms.

Starting from Ford and going clockwise, the order of the Symbols was Ford, Mabel, Robbie, Melody, Dipper, Lincoln, Pacifica, Wendy, Fiddleford, and Gideon. Gideon stood facing Dipper; he wondered how Mabel and Pacifica felt, facing each other.

"Wonderful," said Andrew. "Now, this is the moment of truth. If you all grasp hands, the Cipher Wheel might activate. Or it might not, if the magic doesn't recognize Lee in Greg's body. So." He took a deep breath. "Go ahead and take each other's hands."

They did. Gideon took Ford's hand on one side and Fiddleford's on the other. Wendy hesitated, then took Pacifica's and Fiddleford's hands. Robbie took Mabel's and Melody's hands, but he kept glancing over at Lincoln.

Nothing happened at first. Everyone held their breath. Was that it? Was it not going to work?

Then the Symbols' hands started to glow.