Ford was standing beside the door when the key turned in the lock. Finally! He moved right in front of the door, ready to push aside whoever was standing on the other side.

Then the door opened, revealing a nicely dressed woman with a startled expression.

Caught off guard, Ford hesitated in the crucial second that he should've used to push past her. He knew his opportunity was lost. He quickly retreated, hoping no servants had seen him ready to ambush them.

"Hello," he said the woman, trying to pretend that he hadn't been over by the door a second ago. "You must be Mrs. Northwest."

The woman hesitated. Then, "I am," she said carefully, stepping into the room. She was followed by Marcus the servant, who closed and locked the door behind them, heedless of Ford's glare on the back of his head.

"To what do I owe this visit?" Ford asked Mrs. Northwest. The last time Ford had seen Gaston, his servants had taken control and escorted him back to his Manor. It was safe to assume that neither Gaston nor his wife was in control now, and Ford had no problem showing respect to this woman.

"I. . ." Mrs. Northwest paused. "Well, I suppose I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable."

Ford studied her, trying to gauge her sincerity. "I am physically comfortable, thank you," he said. "But my family is in danger, and I really must help them."

Marcus laughed. "Don't appeal to her for your freedom, Stanford," he said. "She's not in control here."

Ford gave a small nod. "Yes, I can see that," he said, looking at Mrs. Northwest as he spoke. "I would assume she feels as trapped as I do, and that's part of why she wanted to visit me."

Mrs. Northwest glanced nervously around the room. "I suppose you're right," she admitted.

"Is that all you wanted, Geneva?" said Marcus. "To sympathize with Stanford? Looks like you've done that. Let's go."

Geneva stood up taller and looked at Marcus imperiously. "I will let you know when I am ready to leave."

Marcus shook his head. "That's not how this works anymore, ma'am," he said. He bowed slightly to her, but his attitude was anything but deferent.

Geneva glanced between Marcus and Ford. "Well, Stanford," she said, "I'm sorry you're being kept prisoner here. Please know that my husband and I have nothing to do with it."

"I understand," Ford said, nodding slightly. "Thank you for visiting."

"Your next meal will be here soon, Stanford," said Marcus. "Let's not wait behind any more doors, hmm? We haven't hurt you as of yet, but we won't hesitate if provoked."

Geneva flinched at this, but Ford kept his face neutral. Inwardly, he cursed himself for not taking the advantage and escaping, regardless of who was at the door.

With a final apologetic look, Geneva allowed herself to be led from the room. Ford was left alone again. He settled himself back onto his bed with a sigh and wondered if he should try to ambush the next person who came to the door. They'd be ready for him, and he'd probably get hurt, but he had to try, didn't he? For his family's sake?

He got into position by the door again.

"Don't say anything, Stanford, but you're not alone in here."

Ford froze and turned around. Where had that voice come from? For a moment, his mind hoped that it was Lee, contacting him from the spirit plane somehow. But the voice was far too young for that.

"You don't want to wait there," the voice said quietly. "Marcus wasn't lying when he said they would hurt you. I can help you escape, but not right now."

Ford moved away from the door, going to the opposite side of the room so that no one would hear him talk. "Gideon, is that you?" he whispered, guessing based on the sound of the voice.

"Yes," came the response. "I'm invisible. I have my amulet back, and I can use it to help you."

Ford's hopes soared.

"Dipper is here, too," Gideon whispered. "He says hi. We came for my amulet, so I can use it to rescue Mabel, but Pacifica told us that you and Lincoln were here, too."

"Can you really use the amulet to save Mabel?" asked Ford.

"I'm not sure," Gideon admitted. "But I hope so. I'm going to try. But first, I'm going to get you out of here."

"And Lee?"

Gideon was silent for a moment. "My mother said that Bill was constantly possessing him. I don't know if we can help him."

"Can your amulet contact spirits, perhaps?" said Ford. "If Bill is in his body, then he'll be around here somewhere as a spirit."

"Of course," Gideon breathed. "Yes, of course! I can perform séances with my amulet."

"Can you do one here? Can I talk to my brother through you?"

"I go into a trance, so I wouldn't be able to talk to you while I was talking to him. And I don't think I could do it while invisible. But. . . I'd rather stay in here with you, because then I could make plans with you immediately after talking to Lincoln. Besides giving you meals, do the servants come in here at all?"

"No," Ford said. "They haven't interrogated me or anything. Maybe they're trying to break my will through boredom before any of that." Not that it would work.

"Okay. We'll wait until after your dinner, and I'll do the séance then."

With that, Gideon was silent. Ford wanted to talk more — it'd been days since he'd had a real conversation with someone — but he knew it was unwise. They'd talked very quietly just now, but anything they said was at risk to be heard by the servants. Ford sighed and occupied himself by thinking of an excuse, in case the servants asked who he was talking to the next time they saw him.

A few minutes later, Marcus returned with a plate of food and set it on the bedside table. "My companion says he heard you talking in here," he said. "Who were you talking to?"

Ford glared at him stubbornly. Then he sighed and said, "My brother. I figured if Bill is possessing him, he might be around to hear me."

Marcus raised his eyebrows, then gave a vindictive little smile. "I'm sure one-sided conversations are very entertaining."

"Yes, very," Ford said stiffly. "Would you like to stay and insult me a bit longer, or may I hold my one-sided conversations in peace?"

Marcus watched him for a moment. "Perhaps one of us should stay in here with you to hear what you're saying to your brother."

"And force me to look at your faces all day? No, thank you." Inwardly, Ford was worried. Would he and Gideon be able to talk at all if a servant came in here? Probably not.

"We would grow tired of your glares, I'm sure," Marcus said. "Well, enjoy your dinner. Don't be surprised if we decide to send someone in here to keep you company."

"The day I'll need your company is a sad day indeed," Ford replied.

Marcus rolled his eyes, then left the room.

Ford let out a relieved breath. He glanced at his food plate, then took it over to the spot Gideon's voice had come from. "Take some if you want," he whispered, then backed away.

Gideon took some food from the plate, and it disappeared as soon as he did. Ford never saw him, but the objects he held disappeared when he picked them up. Interesting. When Gideon was done, the plate disappeared and reappeared on Ford's bedside table. He had probably carried it over.

Ford ate what was left. They waited in silence again until a servant entered and took Ford's plate away. Then, some minutes later, Ford heard a whisper near his ear. "I'm going to try the séance now," Gideon said. "I'll try it while invisible first, but it probably won't work. I'll sit near the door, where they won't see me immediately if they open it. Don't be surprised if I turn visible, and don't try to speak with me."

Ford nodded, then whispered, "Ask Lee where his body is and how he thinks we should rescue him."

"I already know where his body is. But I'll ask him about rescue plans."

More silence. Enough time passed that Ford wondered if Gideon had succeeded in holding a séance while invisible. About fifteen minutes passed, and then Gideon reappeared, sitting beside the wall, behind the door if it should open. The boy's eyes were closed, and his amulet glowed on his collar.

Ford waited patiently on his bed while Gideon attempted to contact Lee.

~~~~~

All sensation was gone. Time was immaterial. Lee had no sense of reality anymore.

Some time ago, Bill had possessed his body and informed him that he wouldn't be leaving. After that, Lee had drifted into a hazy oblivion. He wondered if this was what happened to most spirits after they died. It was hard to remember that he wasn't dead. It didn't seem important.

Then something called to him. Like a beacon of light, the call gave Lee something to move to. It wasn't a sound, but it wrapped around Lee and pulled him up from the ocean of oblivion back into awareness. If the spirit plane were an ocean, then Lee had been sinking; now, this new call brought him to the surface.

Light came into view. Lee could see again. At first, he thought he was in the Order headquarters, due to the firelit lantern that illuminated the room. But this room had a plush bed, comfortable-looking chairs, and an ornate door: a far cry from the rough stone walls of the Order.

On the bed sat Ford. Lee stared at his brother as excited thoughts rushed through him. "Ford!" he called. "Ford, can you hear me?"

"He can't," said a voice. "Only I can hear you."

Lee turned and saw Gideon Northwest, sitting on the floor with his legs forming a circle in front of him. His amulet glowed on his collar. The boy smiled at Lee. "It worked," he said. "I'm holding a séance with you right now. To Ford, it looks like I'm in a trance, because I'm speaking to you on the spirit plane. I'm glad I found you."

"It's good to see you," Lee said, smiling back. "Is this the Manor?" That's what it looked like. But why would Ford be in the Northwest Manor?

Then the memories returned. Lee, captive in the minotaur village. The Northwest servants coming and kidnapping both Ford and Lee. Xítway the minotaur, dead on the floor.

"Oh, no," Lee whispered before Gideon could say anything. "Oh, no. How long has it been? What day is it?"

"It's Wednesday evening," Gideon said, "the sixteenth of January. Pacifica stabbed Mabel with the dagger on Friday, and the township is moving toward Bill's dimension. We're in the Northwest Manor right now. I came here to get my amulet and to rescue you and Ford, and then I'll go to rescue Mabel."

"It's been almost a week?" said Lee. "But. . . I was just floating there for a few minutes, surely. . . ." He paused. "This must be what Fiddleford felt like," he said quietly, "when he got back from Bill's dimension. Ford told me he had no sense of time."

"Some of the ghosts I've spoken to don't even know what year it is," Gideon said helpfully, "so it's not uncommon."

"Am I a ghost?" Lee's incorporeal nature hadn't bothered him since he'd lost awareness, but now he remembered what it was like to have a body, and he longed to be physical again.

"I don't know," Gideon said. "If you're not in your body. . . I guess so. But that's part of why I contacted you. I know where Bill is — where your body is. How are we going to rescue you?"

Lee didn't answer for a moment. Did he know where Bill was? Yes. . . yes, now he remembered what the room looked like. But he didn't think it would end well if Gideon tried to go after him. "I. . . I don't think you should. Rescue me, I mean."

"No?" said Gideon. "Then how are you going to join the Cipher Wheel? Once Ford and Mabel get back to the Museum, we'll have nine Symbols there. I don't know how we're going to get Pacifica to join us, but we have her captive right now. What about you?"

Lee was quiet again as he thought this through. "When I was at the minotaur village," he said slowly, "I talked to Andrew about ways to join the Cipher Wheel. Getting Bill out of my body doesn't really seem to be an option. . . . You could try an exorcism with your amulet, but you'd have to put yourself in unnecessary danger even to try it, and Bill is really strong. He's not just some ghost."

"Right," Gideon said. "What other ways did you talk about?"

"I think. . . I think the best option was to have me possess someone else. I don't know how I would do that, though."

Gideon looked thoughtful. "Maybe I can help you with my amulet. I'm not sure. Will the Cipher Wheel work if you're in someone else's body?"

"I have no idea," Lee said, "but I want to try. It's the best option I can think of. You said. . . you said Pacifica was at the Museum?"

Gideon nodded.

"Then I can talk to her," Lee said. "She can see me when I'm a spirit. I can go to the Museum, get her help, and convince her to join the Cipher Wheel. Then, when you and Mabel get back, you can help me possess someone."

Gideon nodded slowly. "We have plenty of people who aren't on the Cipher Wheel but who are staying at the Museum. One of them might give permission for you to possess them."

"Perfect," Lee said. "I can talk to them through Pacifica, once I convince her to help me."

"Is that it, then?" said Gideon. "We should only rescue Ford, and you'll go to the Museum as a spirit and try to talk to Pacifica?"

Lee nodded. "And you'll go rescue Mabel. How are you going to do that?"

"I don't know," Gideon admitted. "But I will rescue her."

If there was a way, Lee believed that Gideon could find it. "Okay," he said. He glanced back at Ford, who was still sitting on the bed, watching Gideon without seeing Lee. "Ford won't like it," Lee said. "He'll want to get me out of here. You'll have to tell him that I'm already in the Museum as a spirit, and that I'm going to try to possess someone else's body to join the Cipher Wheel. You'll have to convince him to leave without me."

"I'll do that," Gideon said. Then he hesitated. "Lincoln," he said, "has Bill really been in your body this entire time? I keep thinking that everything I say — everything I think — will be heard by him, but he can't hear me if he's in your body. It sounds like he has been for five days."

"He's been in there the entire time," Lee confirmed. "When he leaves my body, I feel a pull to return to it, but I haven't felt that since getting brought here. He can stay in my body for as long as he wants, you know. Even when it's asleep."

Gideon's brow furrowed. "Why would he stay, though? Wouldn't he come out and spy on us every once in a while?" He tilted his head. "The servants say he's 'stuck in human form.' Is he actually stuck in your body?"

Lee frowned, trying to remember. "That doesn't sound right. He. . . he told me when he possessed me that he was going to stay in my body until we got to his dimension. That was right after I woke up here. He didn't say exactly why, but he said he had to be in someone's body. So I suppose he could leave, but there's a reason he's staying. Maybe. . . maybe it's part of the magic of his prison. The ancients who created it had a lot of pieces that were supposed to keep him at a disadvantage, since they couldn't make it entirely impossible for him to escape."

A smile spread across Gideon's face. "And if he can't see into people's minds because he's stuck in someone's body," he said, "that's a huge disadvantage for him. Thank you, ancients."

"Except that he's in the body of one of his Symbols," Lee said.

"Yes. We'll just have to hope that we can find another way."

Lee nodded. Surely the ancients had foreseen a situation like this. Surely they had built in some way for the Cipher Wheel to form, even if Lee wasn't in his body.

Like Gideon said. They could only hope.

"Anything else?" Lee said. "Anything I can do for you before I go to the Museum?"

Gideon thought about this. "What if you went and scouted around the Manor? You could let me know where guards are posted, and what you think the easiest route out of here is."

"I can do that," Lee said. "Contact me again in an hour or so, and I'll tell you what I found."

"Thank you," Gideon said. "I should probably let you know: I'm here with Dipper, and we have two stun guns and a grappling hook to use during the escape, plus two perytons that brought us here. They're on the roof above my parents' room right now. So all of us will be able to fly away during the escape."

Lee nodded. That would change the best escape route, then. It would certainly make the whole thing easier. "So I should look for an escape route close to this room, with few servants and with an exit where you can jump out and mount perytons to fly away."

"Exactly."

"I'll do that, then." Lee smiled at Gideon. "Thank you, Gideon. I don't know if I ever would've come back to my senses if you hadn't called me with your amulet."

"Do you think you can stay focused after I end the séance?"

"I think I will. If not, then you'll call me in an hour anyway."

"Okay. Then I'll end the séance and let you go."

"Tell Ford that you're not going to rescue me," Lee reminded him, though he wished he could tell Ford himself. What he wouldn't give to talk to Ford right now! But, he had to remind himself, he would be able to speak with Ford if they followed the plan. If Ford got out of the Manor, and Lee was there at the Museum to meet him, then the brothers would be together again. Even if Lee wasn't in his own body.

"I'll do that," said Gideon. "Goodbye for now."

With that, Gideon's amulet lost its glow, and he looked away from Lee. It appeared he couldn't see Lee's spirit anymore. He got up and went to Ford, who looked anxious for a report on what had happened.

Gideon leaned down to whisper to Ford. Lee could've gotten closer to hear what they were saying, but it was better for him to go and do what Gideon had asked him to.

Lee still felt a pull to that same state of oblivion he'd been in just a few minutes earlier, but he was able to fight it off. He had a specific mission now, and he would stay focused on that.

He flew from the room, ready to spy on the enemy.