JUNE 15, 2013

"We're almost there," Dipper said. He was looking at the window and bouncing in his seat. "We're almost there."

"I know, Dipper," said Mabel. She sounded annoyed. Which made sense. Dipper had been repeating himself for the past few minutes. But he couldn't help himself. He was just too excited.

Four months. Well, more like four and a half months. But still. Four months of recovery, of TV interviews, of therapy sessions, of makeup homework. . . Dipper still hadn't graduated middle school. And neither had Mabel or Gideon. But they were all on track to finish up over the summer, so they could all go to the same high school in the fall.

Anyway. Dipper wasn't going to think about makeup work. He was too busy thinking about going back to Gravity Rises.

He watched out the window as the scenery sped by. The morning sun led them onward. Trees lined the road like a welcoming committee.

They were almost there.

He sat back and grinned at Mabel. "I'm going to see Waddles again," he said happily. "I can't wait."

"I know," she said again. Oh, but he saw that little smile on her face. She was excited, too.

"I'm so excited to see Waddles," he said. Then he paused. "And Lee, and Ford, of course."

"Of course." Mabel rolled her eyes. But her little smile got bigger.

Dipper looked out the window again, waiting to see the town. And then — "There it is!" he shouted, jamming his finger against the window, pointing at the "Welcome to Gravity Rises" sign. "Mabel! We're here!"

"I see it!" said Mabel, all annoyance gone from her voice. She couldn't see the sign out her window, but she could probably see a few buildings.

"We're going straight to the Mystery Museum, right, Dad?" said Dipper.

"Yep," said Sam from the passenger's seat.

"This place is beautiful in the summer," said Camille.

"It was pretty in the winter, too," said Mabel, "but yeah. I like how sunny it is."

Dipper pressed his face against the window, trying to see everything. The town looked great: The roads and buildings had been repaired, with no evidence of the ridges that had been left after the township. People were out on the street, walking around or chatting with each other. Dipper didn't see any supernatural creatures, but that was okay. He would soon.

The Pines' car pulled into the Mystery Museum driveway — and Dipper jumped out before the car had come to a complete stop. "Come on!" he said to his family, jumping up and down as he waited for them to join him. "Let's go!"

Mabel, not wanting to get too hot, took off her navy blue knit hat: the one Dipper had made for her during the township. She wore it a lot, which made him happy. And speaking of happy — he grinned down at his shoes. They were just one pair of his vast collection, but these shoes Dipper had painted (with Mabel's help on the design) just for this visit. They were sunset orange, just like the color of Dipper's part of the Cipher Wheel. One shoe had a minotaur head on the side, and the other shoe had a peryton head and feathery wings. He couldn't wait for his family and friends to see them.

Finally, Mabel and his parents were all out of the car. Camille started to say something about getting their luggage, but Dipper wasn't paying attention. He made a beeline for the Museum's front door. And Mabel ran after him.

Dipper knocked on the door, but he didn't wait for someone to come get it. "We're here!" he called, pushing the door open and stepping inside. "Ford! Lee! Are you—"

Then he froze.

Pacifica Pleasure was sitting on the couch.

With Waddles in her lap.

She looked at Dipper with wide eyes, then jumped up, pushing Waddles off her. Her shoulders rose as she cringed, and she didn't say anything, just stared at the twins.

"Um, hi, Pacifica," said Mabel.

Pacifica didn't reply. Besides the startled expression on her face, she looked pretty good, actually. Her long blonde hair was French braided over her shoulder. She wore a nice blouse and a knee-length skirt. Dipper had to admit, she looked normal.

But this was Pacifica. Dipper wasn't taking any chances.

He did his best to ignore her. "Waddles! Hi!" he called to the pig. And Waddles perked up at the sound of Dipper's voice. With a happy squeal, the pig jumped off the couch and ran to Dipper's side. "Hi, buddy," Dipper said, crouching down to hug him. "I've missed you so much."

"Hey, Dipper!" said a voice. A deep voice.

"Greyson!" Dipper stood, grinning at his friend, who had just come into the living room from the gift shop. Greyson came over and gave Dipper a hug, which Dipper gladly returned. "I didn't know you were going to be here!" he said.

"Well, I had to bring Waddles over to see you," Greyson said. "So I figured I'd stay to see you, too."

"Awesome."

Sam and Camille came into the Museum, making the entryway feel crowded. Dipper picked up Waddles and went with Greyson over to the carpet, where they sat down. He was aware of Pacifica standing there, but he didn't look at her.

"Um," Mabel said. "How are you, Pacifica? How's Portland?"

Her voice was hesitant. Dipper was surprised she was talking at all. He knew for a fact that Mabel still had nightmares about Pacifica sometimes.

"It's pretty good," Pacifica said, also hesitant. "I actually, um, left the hospital just a few weeks ago. Now I'm living with my grandmother. Which is nice."

"Congratulations," Camille said.

"Thanks. I still have a lot of doctor's appointments. But my grandmother and I were still able to come for Lincoln and Ford's birthday. We got here yesterday. So. . . yeah."

The room fell into an awkward silence.

"Speaking of which," said Sam, trying to sound lighthearted, "where are the birthday boys?"

"Ford's out in the forest, leading a tour," said Pacifica. "And Lincoln—"

"Hi, everyone," said another voice.

Dipper looked up. It was Fidds, standing in the hallway. He still had a bald head, an eyepatch over his right eye, and a short, soft beard. His thumbs were hooked in the belt loops of brown overalls, which he wore over a light blue shirt. Or. . . was this actually Lee? It was Fidds' voice, and Fidds' brown eye. But maybe it was Lee, and it just seemed to be Fidds because Dipper didn't know about the possession yet.

The rest of the Pines were also unsure. "Hi," said Sam. "Are you. . . um. . . ?"

"Not like that," Pacifica said. She smiled. "I'll show you." She went up to Fidds, then asked, "How's the weather?"

Fidds smiled, too. "Rainy," he said.

What? Dipper glanced out the door's diamond-shaped window. It was perfectly sunny outside, just like it had been a minute ago.

"It's a code," Pacifica said. "You ask how the weather is, and if it's Fidds, he'll say rainy. If it's Lincoln, he'll say cloudy. So this is Fidds right now."

Sam nodded slowly. "Smart," he said. "Well, hi, Fidds."

"Welcome," Fidds replied.

"Lincoln went with Ford on the tour," Pacifica explained. "As a ghost."

"He's going to swap with me when he gets back, for the birthday celebration," Fidds said.

"Do you guys swap a lot?" Mabel asked.

Fidds shrugged. "Fairly often, I guess. Sometimes by the week. Other times by the day."

"That's really generous of you," Camille said.

"It feels normal by now," Fidds said. "We don't even need exorcism magic anymore. We can just swap on our own."

Pacifica nodded, like Fidds had already told her this. "I've never heard of that happening before," she said eagerly, "and I'm excited to see what happens."

"Does that mean. . . you can still see into the spirit plane?" Mabel said.

"Yeah," Pacifica said. "Grandmother says she doesn't think it'll go away. It's just. . . an ability I have now."

So even if her doctors helped her not be crazy anymore, she'd still be able to see ghosts. Good for her. Dipper resisted rolling his eyes.

"Cool," Mabel said, her voice overly casual.

"While we wait for Ford and Lee to get back," Camille said, "we should bring our stuff in from the car."

"Good idea," Mabel said immediately.

They didn't ask Dipper to help, thankfully. He stayed there on the floor, hugging Waddles. He and Greyson started talking, too — they had a lot of time to make up for, after all.

"Okay, I think that's the last of it," Sam said about ten minutes later, coming in with some luggage, Camille and Mabel following behind. "Still no Ford?"

"Nope," said Fidds.

But just as he said it, the Employee's Only door swung open. "Is that you, Sam?" said Ford.

"Grunkle Ford!" Mabel cried. She ran over and gave him a hug.

He laughed. "Hi, Mabel."

"Happy birthday," she said.

"Why, thank you."

"How'd the tour go?" asked Sam, leaving the luggage at the door to be dealt with later.

"It was good. We went to go see the perytons, which the tourist group loved. Now they're with Melody and Soos in the Hall of Mysteries."

"Soos is here?" said Dipper.

"Indeed he is," Ford said. "He quit his bus driving job to work here. And to be around Melody, of course." He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Don't tell Melody I said this, but you might be able to expect a wedding invitation in a few months."

Dipper gasped.

"Grunkle Ford," said Mabel, her tone surprised but happy, "you're in a really good mood."

"Well, it is my sixty-fourth birthday," Ford said. "I think that's a good day to be in a good mood."

"I think it is, too," Sam said. "Thanks for inviting us."

"Of course."

The conversation fell into a lull. Dipper could now hear Pacifica talking. "And Nurse Hannah says I can direct the next one. I would visit the ward three times a week, and. . ." She trailed off, realizing people were watching her.

"Sorry, don't mind us," Ford said. "I think it'd be great for you to direct a play."

Pacifica turned a little pink. "Thanks."

"Her psychiatric ward put on a play that she starred in," Fidds explained to the Pines. "We all went out to see her. She was excellent."

Pacifica's blush deepened.

"I'm guessing you were talking to Lee just now?" Ford asked Pacifica.

"Yeah. He says he's ready to swap." She glanced at Fidds.

"I know," Fidds said. "I can see his ghost now. It's part of us swapping so often."

Ford looked a little jealous, Dipper noticed. But just a little.

Fidds went over to sit on the couch. "I feel awkward doing it in front of so many people," he said. "But if you say so, Lee."

Fidds closed his eyes. The others stepped back, just in case.

Dipper watched. But nothing seemed to happen. Fidds just sat there.

"Woah," Pacifica said suddenly. "That was so cool. How'd you do that?"

Fidds opened his eyes. But the visible eye was blue-grey now. It was Lee. "I don't know," he said to Pacifica. "We just can."

Dipper didn't know what Pacifica just saw on the spirit plane. But it didn't matter. Dipper grinned at Lee. "Hi, Grunkle Lee!"

"Hi there," Lee said. He took off the eyepatch and blinked a few times. "That's better."

"Wait," said Mabel, "you don't need it anymore?"

"Oh, no," Lee said. "June healed this eye months ago. But Fidds still likes to wear the eyepatch sometimes. It's a visual marker that he's the one in the driver's seat, if you know what I mean."

Dipper supposed that made sense. He grinned at his uncle.

Lee grinned back, then crossed the room to Ford. The brothers hugged. It wasn't a clinging, desperate hug like the ones four months ago. It was quick, and light — but still strong.

The brothers turned, their arms around each other, and smiled at their guests.

"Happy birthday to both of you," Sam said.

"Thanks," Lee said. "I'm feeling pretty lucky. Not every dead man gets a birthday party."

Dipper saw a few uncomfortable looks on people's faces at this reminder that Lee was, in fact, technically, dead. But Ford didn't look uncomfortable at all. Well, it made sense. Four months of a brother making casual comments about being dead would probably desensitize anyone.

Lee didn't seem to mind that he'd just made things feel awkward. "So, where's Gideon?" he asked.

"Up at the Manor," Pacifica answered. "He and Grace stopped by about an hour ago, but they left again when they saw you were out."

The Pines hadn't seen Gideon and the Prewitts for about a week, but Dipper knew they had come up to Gravity Rises, too. "Just wait until you meet Grace's daughter, Grunkle Lee," Dipper said. "She's adorable."

"Oh, I've seen her," Lee said. "Grace sent us some pictures. And I check in on you all sometimes; you'd be surprised how fast travel is as a ghost. But yes — I'm very excited to hold her."

Huh. Dipper hadn't known Lee had been visiting as a ghost. But that made sense. "Cool."

"Do you know when Gideon and Grace will be back?" Ford asked Pacifica.

"They said they might be here for lunch," Pacifica replied. "But they didn't know."

"While we wait," said Dipper, "can we go to the minotaur village?"

"Ooh, yeah," said Greyson.

Ford and Lee shared a look. "Well," said Ford, "the party is going to be there this afternoon. So we weren't planning on it yet. We were hoping to show you our tour routes, and things like that."

"We can do both," Lee said. "The hamadryads have their roots reconnected at this point; they can get us places if we need them to."

"Woah," said Mabel. "Aren't those trees hundreds of years old? And after being forced apart, they reconnected in only four months?"

Lee shrugged. "Magic."

Mabel grinned. Dipper could tell she was just as excited to be back in this forest as he was. Maybe more.

"Yeah," she said. "Magic."

"Well," Dipper said, standing up and lifting Waddles, "let's go, then. Let's go see some magic."

Ford smiled. He opened the door to the gift shop, then gestured to his family. "Right this way," he said.