Summary:
In which Dipper finds a creepy-ass journal and tries and fails to keep it a secret
It was amazing how easily all four kids had managed to forget their original objectives and destinations upon their chance encounter with each other. Steven and Connie had long since forgotten their original intent to go down to the Mystery Shack upon delving into conversation with Dipper and Mabel, and likewise, the twins had all but abandoned their goal of investigating the statue in light of Steven providing them with inside information about the mysterious temple. None of them minded the distraction however; even in the short time the two pairs had known each other, they had already struck up a strong camaraderie, laying the foundations for what would no doubt be strong, long-lasting friendships.
"So, if you guys are twins, which one of you is the older one?" Connie asked Dipper and Mabel inquisitively, both her and Steven sitting with their back against Lion, who was reclining in a lazy slumber on the ground. The twins had taken to sitting on the ground across from them as they continued to converse, with Dipper still being a bit wary of the pink beast after their first somewhat dangerous encounter, even if Mabel found the gentle giant absolutely adorable regardless.
"I'm the oldest," Mabel jumped in with a proud grin, glad to be able to claim that this was one thing she had the advantage in over her brother.
"Only by like, five minutes," Dipper reminded her, knowing that this was a point that she often enjoyed teasing him about.
"Man, you guys are so lucky," Steven said somewhat wistfully. "Being twins must be so cool!"
"For the most part, it is," Dipper said, sharing a warm smile with Mabel.
"Yeah, when we're not driving each other crazy!" Mabel exclaimed mischievously as she playfully pulled the front of Dipper's hat down so it covered his face. Though somewhat startled, he couldn't help but laugh along with her, something that both Connie and Steven couldn't help but join in as well. "But seriously, you sound like the lucky one, Steven," Mabel said once that bout of levity had passed. "I mean, not only do you have an incredibly fluffy, pink pet lion, but you get to live with three mysterious magical women inside an even bigger mysterious eight armed woman! You guys must do all sorts of amazing things!"
"Well… the Gems do," Steven said with a half-hearted smile. "I go on missions with them sometimes, but only when they think it's not 'dangerous'. But most of the time, I just hang out in the temple or around town, or I go down to the Mystery Shack."
"Oh gosh, the shack!" Dipper exclaimed with a frown, realizing that they had wildly lost track of the time as the afternoon sun continued to sink ever lower across the sky. "Mabel, we've got to head back. Stan's going to get suspicious if we're gone for too long."
"Aw, come on," Mabel scoffed with little concern. "We've only been up here for like… an hour or something. Besides, Soos and Wendy are covering for us, remember?"
"If you guys need a ride down to the shack, we'd be more than happy to give you one," Steven offered. "We were headed down there anyway, and Lion can seat four if he really needs to!"
Lion partially opened his eyes upon hearing his name as he sent an annoyed glare the twin's way. Though Mabel giggled in amusement at this, Dipper shifted a bit uncomfortably under the stoic creature's bored gaze, not too keen on the idea of utilizing him as a method of transportation. "Uh… I think we'll be fine walking," he said somewhat avertedly, ignoring his sister's huffy sigh of disappointment.
"Oh! Or—or we could always race down the hill!" Mabel suggested with a daring grin, already hopping up off the ground.
"Yeah!" Steven agreed enthusiastically as he also stood. "First one to the Mystery Shack wins!"
"Wins what?" Connie asked with a laugh as she accepted Steven's hand in helping her off the ground.
Considering they were the main proponents for this impromptu race, Mabel and Steven exchanged a brief glance before somehow reaching the exact same conclusion. "First place!" they exclaimed unanimously, both of them grinning jokingly as they innocently stated the obvious. Connie frowned in slight confusion at this response, but Dipper simply smirked and shook his head as he likewise stood up.
"Honestly, we should have seen that coming," he jokingly said to Connie, who couldn't help but chuckle along with him as they watched Steven and Mabel affectionately send Lion off. The pink beast didn't protest as he slowly rose to his feet and magnificently leapt off, heading back towards the temple and leaving the kids to their race.
"Ok, everybody ready?" Steven asked as all four of them lined up and prepared to race down the hill. "Set… go!"
Upon his word, all of them propelled forward, Mabel and Connie leading the way as they sped down the hill faster than either Steven or Dipper were capable of running. For Mabel, her seemingly endless energy served as a great advantage in this race, though Connie's speed largely came from her own innate physical ability, as well as her growing tennis skills. Thanks to the steep incline of the hill, Steven found that he was doing more falling than running as he quite frequently tripped over his own feet and tumbled down the hill, though he still trailed behind the girls quite a bit, though it was clear he was having fun no matter how many times he fell. Dipper, on the other hand, was carefully trying to avoid falling as much as Steven was by jogging instead of outright running, largely because he was still somewhat worn out from his and Mabel's initial journey up the hill.
"Hey, Dipper!" Mabel called back to her brother with a teasing grin as she glanced behind her to see how far behind he was. Her and Connie were neck and neck for the lead, with Steven still basically rolling down the hill instead of running and Dipper lagging relatively far behind them all. "Looks like you're gonna need my workout plan after all if you ever wanna catch up!"
Dipper didn't call out a response to this amidst pressing onward to keep up, but he did accept Mabel's taunting as a challenge and pushed himself to run faster, throwing his former caution to the wind. However, he had only been sprinting for about a minute or two before his foot caught onto a stray rock positioned on the path, tripping him up instantly. Mabel couldn't help but laugh as she watched her brother inevitably tumble to the ground, though she was quick to turn her attention back to the race when she realized Connie was gaining the lead. Unable to properly break his fall, Dipper rolled down the hill until he roughly collided with a nearby tree a moment later, letting out a gasp of pain and surprise as he did so. He realized with frustrated exasperation that there was no hope in catching up with the others, including Steven, as he used the tree in support for helping him stand up.
However, as he placed his hand against the tree, Dipper couldn't help but notice there was something off about it; its bark felt nothing like wood, but rather metal, as could be deduced from its hard, cold exterior. Confused and intrigued, he gave the tree a tentative knock, listening closely to hear that the tree did indeed make a strange metallic noise. Upon further investigation, he soon discovered that the tree itself wasn't composed entirely of metal, but rather, a small section of it was, as if it were a panel of some sorts. His curiosity getting the better of him, Dipper ran his hand over the metallic surface once more only to discover that there were small, relatively well-hidden hinges on one side of it, as if it were some sort of door. And sure enough, after a bit more probing, he managed to feel out the edges of the panel, and with a little bit of a struggle, he actually ended up prying it open.
The panel creaked open to reveal a small, dust-ridden compartment hallowed out in the tree. It looked as though it hadn't been touched in years, which, Dipper figured, was most likely the point. After all, why would someone go to the trouble of creating putting a secret window in a random tree like this in the first place if it wasn't for the sake of hiding something? And yet, the only thing inside of the compartment seemed to be an outward-facing button, surrounded by a few smaller buttons and what appeared to be letters engraved into the metal walls, though they were completely indecipherable. The button itself was in the shape of a hand, though oddly enough it appeared to have six fingers, and upon its palm was a symbol that looked somewhat akin to a rose, with thorny vines spiraling around it, its deep pink coloration a stark contrast from the stoic grey metal of the hand.
As cryptic as the hand switch was, Dipper couldn't deny that he was now more interested than ever in figuring out what its purpose was. Cautiously, he peeked around the tree to see that Mabel, Connie, and Steven were still racing, all three of them having advanced past the base of the hill as they continued rushing for the Mystery Shack. He couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of selfish excitement about the fact that they hadn't happened upon this secret with him, for whatever mysteries the switch might uncover, he was about to unlock them on his own. And so, with curiosity eating away at him, he reached forward and pressed the button, watching with anticipation as it sunk into the compartment until it wouldn't go down anymore.
Dipper spun around in surprise when he heard a soft rumbling sound behind him, only to see that a piece of the grassy ground seemed to be moving only a few feet away from him. The patch of earth slid back to reveal what looked to be a small dugout, apparently opened up in response to the switch being pressed.
"What the…?" Dipper muttered to himself in confusion as he approached the square hole in the ground, kneeling down so he could get a better look. Much like the tree compartment, the shallow dugout looked as though it had been abandoned for decades, large cobwebs spun in each of its corners and a thick layer of dust resting upon the lone object that rested in the center of the hole: a book.
Raising an eyebrow at the dirt-covered tome, Dipper reached inside the dugout and lifted the withered book out, easily blowing the dust from its cover to reveal more details about it. Despite its apparent age, the book was sturdily bound, with a rugged, somewhat tattered burgundy leather cover and rounded golden corners. However, what was by far the most intriguing feature of the book was the fact that it shared the same design of the six-fingered hand from the switch in the tree, shining in gold against the red leather as a bold number three was marked upon it in black.
Dipper carefully placed the book on the ground as he looked around once more to check for any prying eyes. He wasn't entirely sure why he was suddenly so paranoid about someone else finding out about this book, but at the same time, he believed that whatever it was, it was an important discovery, one that definitely deserved more looking into. He slowly creaked open the front over of the book to reveal a pastedown inscribed only with the words "Property of…" The name of the supposed owner of the book had been torn away, quite possibly intentionally, though there was no way to be sure. Resting upon the first page of the tome was a circular eyepiece, attached to the binding via a cord, which Dipper tentatively picked up and examined for a moment before turning his attention back to the book itself.
Upon turning the page, he found what seemed to be a journal entry, headed with the date "June 18", but oddly enough, there was no year. However, that didn't deter Dipper from reading what was rather elegantly inscribed on the tattered, time-weathered page: "It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began researching the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon." Already immediately intrigued, Dipper quickly skimmed the rest of the page before he began to flip through the rest of the journal, finding that things only got more interesting from there. The browning, crinkled pages were filled with sketches and photographs of all sorts of unheard of oddities, from floating eyeballs to cursed doors to zombies and nearly everything in between. Alongside the detailed descriptions of these anomalies were what appeared to be countless codes and cryptograms, most likely hiding away even more information.
"What is all this?" Dipper asked in bewilderment over the strange contents of the journal as he picked the up and rose to stand. He continued to leaf through it as he started down the hill once more, walking rather than running, not even noticing as the square hole in the ground and the panel in the tree both closed on their own accord, as if they had never been opened at all. He finally stopped flipping through the journal upon coming to a page that was characterized by a message scrawled towards the bottom in frantic, bold letters that simply read "TRUST NO ONE". Dipper frowned in sudden apprehension upon reading this, and, wanting to know the reasoning behind this pointed warning, he read over the upper page aloud. "Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before HE finds it. Hopefully, she'll understand and still be willing to help me."
"Remember, in Gravity Falls, there is no one you can trust."
Upon reading this, Dipper slowly closed the book and silently mused over everything he had seen within it thus far. The journal seemed to very much confirm that Gravity Falls was home to many strange creatures and occurrences, which mirrored his own beliefs about the strange town. Certainly, if he held onto it, then he'd have access to whatever knowledge the author of the journal had uncovered about the mysteries of Gravity Falls, knowledge that, for the most part, seemed comprehensive, almost encyclopedic. And yet, even despite his initial excitement over having made such an interesting discovery, he couldn't help but recall the journal's ominous warning as he headed back towards the shack, wondering if, in light of all of the strangeness that seemed native to Gravity Falls, it held any weight at all.
"No one you can trust…"
The race essentially ended in a tie, with both Mabel and Connie reaching the shack at the same time. Regardless, both girls laughed good-naturedly as they both caught their breath after having ran down the hill nonstop.
"Wow, Connie!" Mabel exclaimed with an impressed grin as they both leaned against the side of the shack to rest. "You're pretty fast!"
"Thanks!" Connie accepted her compliment with a bashful laugh. "I guess all that tennis practice paid off. Oh, look! Here comes Steven!" she said with another chuckle as they both watched Steven trudge his way towards them exhaustedly, his clothes covered in grass stains and his skin sporting several minor cuts and bruises from having fallen so many times. However, he was clearly no worse for wear as he was still grinning brightly, obviously in good spirits despite the fact that he came in third.
"Woo…" he said breathlessly as he stopped and took a much needed rest. "How are you guys able to run so fast? I couldn't keep up with either of you no matter how hard I tried!"
"It's allabout stamina," Mabel said with a playful grin as she pretended to flex her muscles. "And I got oodles of that!"
"So this is the Mystery Shack?" Connie asked as she glanced up at the building her and Mabel were standing in the shadows of.
"Yep!" Steven said with a broad grin. "And it's even cooler inside! You and Dipper must have so much fun working here, Mabel!"
"Eh, it's ok," Mabel said with a shrug. "My only complaint is when Grunkle Stan gets mad at me for trying to give things away for free in the gift shop. I mean, these tourists come all this way and pay so much money for the tour; they deserve a little something extra for their trouble! Speaking of trouble, where's Dipper?"
Steven and Connie both shrugged, neither of them knowing where Dipper was since he had fallen so far behind during the race. Mabel frowned with slight concern for her brother as she glanced towards the path that cut through the woods and led to the hill only to have her question be aptly answered as she spotted Dipper heading towards the shack, completely engrossed in flipping through what appeared to be some kind of book.
"Hey!" Mabel greeted in her usual excitable way as she rushed towards her brother, Connie and Steven trailing not too far behind. "What do you know? Looks like you actually found your way down the hill after all, even if you were way behind the rest of us!" She giggled jokingly as she reached him, before taking notice of the book he was still intently focusing on. "Ooo! What'cha reading? Some nerd thing?"
Dipper's attention was pulled away from the journal as he realized Mabel was reaching for it, but he was quick to pull it away and hide it behind his back out of sudden fear. "Uh, it's nothing!" he stammered, knowing that this was a rather pathetic way of trying to brush the matter aside, but as caught off guard as he was, he had no time to think of a better excuse about the journal.
"'Uh, it's nothing!'" Mabel mimicked as she teasingly imitated her brother before breaking out into a sly grin. "What? You're actually not gonna show me?"
Knowing that he could never get away with hiding anything from Mabel, Dipper relented and held the journal in front of him once more, allowing her to see it better. By now, Steven and Connie had reached them and were able to see the journal in full view as well.
"Wow…" Steven said with curious interest as he looked over the journal, intrigued by the mysterious six-fingered hand upon its cover. "What a cool looking book! Where'd you find it?"
"In a secret compartment up on the hill," Dipper said before he suddenly realized something. "Wait… Steven, you said you live inside the statue… How have you never seen this before?"
"I dunno," Steven shrugged, knowing for certain that this was the first time he had ever seen this book before. "But it sure does look interesting!"
"You have no idea," Dipper said with an excited grin as the others gathered around him to get a better look at the contents of the journal itself. "It's amazing! Whoever wrote this book apparently researched Gravity Falls for several years, and according to them, this place has this whole secret dark side."
"Whoa…" Mabel said in awe as Dipper leafed through the book, showing off some of its varied entries on the hidden secrets of Gravity Falls. "Shut. Up!"
"This is incredible…" Connie mused as she adjusted her glasses. "It's like some sort of encyclopedia about mythical creatures! Does anything in here actually exist?"
"Who knows?" Dipper said, even if he fully did believe that the journal's information was on the mark. "But get this; after a certain point, the pages just… stop, like the guy who was writing it just… mysteriously disappeared."
"Maybe he died?" Connie suggested, basing her guess off of the fact that the journal did look like it was pretty old.
"Or maybe he was abducted by aliens!" Mabel offered with a dramatic flair.
"Or maybe he's still be out there somewhere!" Steven said optimistically, already as completely caught up in the mystery of this journal as Dipper was. "But then… why would he hide his own book, especially on the hill? I wonder if the Gems know anything about this… We could always-"
"There you kids are!" Stan's gruff voice called out from the Mystery Shack as all four kids turned to see the proprietor of the Mystery Shack standing upon the back porch with his arms crossed and his expression impatient. Dipper was quick to tuck the journal away in his vest upon Stan's arrival, not too keen on the idea of wanting to share the discovery of it with anyone else. Not that he thought Stan would do anything but pass the journal and its content off as mere nonsense. "You two have been gone for almost two hours! I was starting to think that you both had fallen off the face of the earth."
"Hi, Mr. Pines!" Steven greeted Stan with an enthusiastic grin as he run up to him, the others following not too far behind.
"Oh, geez," Stan said with a sigh of annoyed exasperation, having gotten accustomed to dealing Steven's overt cheerfulness. "Just what I need: more hyperactive childhood innocence. As if Mabel didn't have enough of that." Coincidentally, Mabel happened to prove Stan's point as she attempted to chase after Gompers the goat, only to trip and fall flat on her face, though she was quick to pick herself up off the ground and let out a hearty laugh all the same.
"Mr. Pines, this is my friend, Connie," Steven said, still smiling as he introduced Connie, who had come to stand next to him. "I brought her here so she could experience the wonders of the Mystery Shack for herself!"
"Nice to meet you, sir," Connie said with a polite nod.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Stan said dismissively as raised an expectant eyebrow at Steven. "But you remember what I told you about coming around here without any money, right kid? You know I don't give free tours for anyone, not even those two goofuses," he said, referring to Dipper and Mabel.
"It's true," Dipper affirmed caustically. "When we first got here, he charged us both ten dollars before we could even step inside the shack."
"Hey, be grateful," Stan said as he shot a warning look towards his great nephew. "I gave you both the family discount. But for you, Universe, it's full price of admission. Same goes for your friend."
"Oh, don't worry!" Steven exclaimed, setting Connie's sudden worry over having not brought any money with her to ease. "I remembered this time!" After a moment or two of digging through his pockets, he produced a crumpled wad of money and handed it to Stan. "Here you go, Mr. Pines! I saved all that up by helping my dad out at the car wash!"
Stan was hardly listening as he quickly counted through the small pile of cash before deeming that it was indeed sufficient. "Ok, fine," he relented, stepping out of the way as he tucked the money into his suit. "You two can go on in. But don't touch anything you can't afford to buy!"
Steven and Connie shared an excited grin at this as they both rushed into the gift shop. However, Stan was quick to sidestep to stand in front of the door before Dipper and Mabel could follow. "Alright, you two; spill it," he said with knowing suspicion as he gave them both a sided glance.
"Spill what?" Dipper asked with a frown of confusion.
"Where'd you two run off to for two hours?" Stan rephrased the question, briefly glancing up towards the statue as a guess as to where they might have gone. "I couldn't get the information out of Soos or Wendy; guess you kids were smart in getting them to cover for you after all."
Dipper and Mabel exchanged a sudden nervous glance upon hearing this, both of them thinking that Stan was already well aware of their unauthorized adventure. As to how they might have been busted when both Soos and Wendy had remained confidential was beyond the twins, but even so, neither of them were too keen on the idea of getting in trouble over something that they saw as completely insignificant.
"Uh, we didn't go anywhere," Dipper lied as casually as he could, which, in fact, wasn't very casual at all. "We… we were just hanging out around here."
"Yeah!" Mabel chimed in. "We totally didn't go up towards the statue of the giant woman even after you told us not to, if that's what you're thinking." She continued to smile innocently upon saying this, not even noticing her brother face-palm in exasperation over how she had just completely and thoughtlessly shattered their cover.
"Do you two knuckleheads really think I didn't know you wandered up there against my orders?" Stan asked, his tone still as sardonic as ever. "I mean, the fact that you bumped into that Universe kid is proof enough."
"Wait… so you knew Steven lives up there?" Dipper asked, puzzled over why Stan might have claimed that the hill was dangerous when it seemed to be quite the opposite really, save for the fact that the journal had been secreted away there. "Then why'd you insist that we stay away from it?"
"Yeah, there wasn't anything dangerous up there at all!" Mabel said with a befuddled frown. "Only Steven and his adorable pet lion!"
As if on cue, Steven poked his head out of the door to the shack, sporting his usual bright grin. "Hey, aren't you guys coming in?" he asked, ignorant to the fact that he was breaking up a conversation.
"You bet!" Mabel said with a smile as she blissfully began to head inside, not heeding the veil of tension that still seemed to hand between her brother and her grunkle.
Knowing that his pressing questions wouldn't be answered now even if he tried asking them, Dipper followed after Mabel and headed into the shack, but not before casting one more glance behind him at Stan, who simply urged him on inside with his usual stoic scowl. Obviously, he knew more than he let on about the statue, but whatever he did know, he was insisting on hiding it under a layer of cynicism and dismissiveness. Based on his mysterious avoidance on the whole matter, Dipper couldn't help but wonder for a brief moment if Stan knew anything about the journal, but he quickly brushed such overly suspicious thoughts aside. After all, Stan ran a tourist trap that was founded upon the very principle of false hoaxes and faux mysteries. He was clever, true, but only really when it came to swindling unsuspecting travelers. Even if the oddities written about in the journal were all true, he would be the kind of person who would either brush them off with skepticism or ignore them altogether. Certainly, Dipper reasoned, Stan couldn't possibly be harboring any hidden knowledge about the true nature of Gravity Falls.
Right?