Starfall

Chapter 30 - Trace

Mabel listened to Dipper and Pacifica for a minute or two, making sure they were preoccupied before she slinked back into the house silently. Mabel was confident that Dipper and Pacifica would be able to ameliorate their differences and finally talk openly with each other. It sounded like they already were she thought with a smile. Closing the door behind her silently she turned to look into the dimly lit rustic wooden house. She could hear Grunkle Stan's gruff voice accompanied by Grunkle Ford's more even-keel and tempered voice as they talked. She could only hear bits and pieces as they murmured. She could just make out their outlines in the dim kitchen light.

Ford sighed. Grunkle Stan shrugged, "You have to stop blaming yourself, Ford. You're not all-powerful, you couldn't stop her from her fate." Ford shook his head. "No, it's only my fault all our offspring perished," Grukle Ford said with distaste. Stanley shook his head, "You got two choices sixer. One, you mope about and do nothing about it...Or you can stop blaming yourself for what you could have done and start preparing for what you can do."

Mabel, still listening, began to look around the living room of the sprawling house. The wooden themes and rustic furniture gave the house all the cozy presence of a log cabin. The layers of dust accumulated on everything added to the rustic atmosphere, though that was unintentional she was sure. It had been years since Ford had been here most likely. Mabel loved her Grunkles. She didn't want Ford to blame himself any more than Stan wanted his brother to blame himself. He had a chance to meet his daughter face to face now. Surely that was all that mattered now?

She looked at the fireplace. It was once used but now all that remained was gray ashes and black charred wooden remains. Above the fireplace were two swords crossed decoratively, their hilts extravagant and flourishing in detailed artisanship and finesse. She looked at the mantle and saw decorative carvings were hewn into the brick surface. Part of it looked like a family crest complete with a shield, all hewn into the brick face delicately. Mabel ran her fingers over the crest reveling in the tactile feedback from the surface. As she did one of the symbols pressed into the stone every so slightly. As she pulled her finger away it sprang back as if nothing had ever happened. Experimentally she pressed the symbol of the eagle. The brick-hewn symbol receded into the stone surface as a very small-sounding click was made.

Mabel looked around behind her. Her grunkles were still talking quietly. She decided a little snooping was in order. She pressed it again. Nothing happened. She frowned. She pressed one of the other symbols, the griffin with its claws outstretched. It clicked softly, but nothing happened. She now noticed there were other symbols around the crest crafted more subtly into the brick surface. Each symbol was a slight indent with detail in a circle almost like an embossed wax seal had pressed it into the brick. She looked over the symbols taking them in. Many of them she was not familiar with.

Then her eyes darted to a symbol she knew well. It was the symbol from Grunkle Stan's Fez, the Gravity Falls zodiac symbol for Stanley! Ford must have created it! She pressed it. The symbol depressed slightly and made a soft click like before, but this time one of the bricks near the mantle popped out halfway. She went to pull the brick further out only to find it was securely set in place and would not budge. Only a quarter of it stuck out and could not be forced out. She looked closer inspecting the brick. To her surprise, she saw symbols on the top protruding border of the brick. She was just barely tall enough to see the symbols. Ford after all was a lot taller than her she mused. There were ten numbers on the top border of the brick one through ten. Each looked like a tiny finger-sized key. Together it resembled a numbered piano keyboard.

Mabel puzzled it over. What could the ten numbers mean? Which one was she supposed to pick? Think Mabel! She sighed, Dipper was always better at this. He would be pulling out his silly book trying to decode the numbers into a language or something. Most of the time the solutions turned out to be simple. What simple thing had ten numbers? The vending machine only had six, or eight if you counted the asterisk and the pound key. Think Mabel! Think like Dipper! Mabel sighed, the only thing with ten numbers was the phone. She sighed quietly in resignation as she eased down into the dusty couch. It creaked softly but the dust absorbed most of the noise. Ford and Stanley continued to talk unperturbed by the noise.