The new girl in Gravity Falls; by Joona Irene

The Mystery Hunting continues

By Joona Irene

~~Lilac POV~~

Dipper wasn't kidding when he said the tunnels could get narrow. At one point we all had to shuffle and hold our breath because Soos forgot to wear deodorant. I lingered behind, struggling with my eyes. Normally in daylight or on a night with the full moon I didn't have to worry about my eye-shine. But now that we were in a dark, confined place, they were supposed to glow. I covered my eyes, shutting them, doing anything to prevent them from glowing a bright blue.
That energy core inside me? The thing that was made of plasmatic, dissolving, goo? That stuff glows bright, and it sticks out like a sore thumb (another expression I'd learned) in the middle of the dark, like a flashlight.
If Dipper or any of the others noticed, what would they think of me?
Anyways, Wendy and I let the string fall behind us. Mabel and Dipper led the way.
"Are we close to the end?" I asked, my eyes still shut. I had to feel with my hands, and thankfully Wendy didn't seem to notice.
"Almost!" Dipper said. I could hear excitement in his voice.
"So, Lilac," Wendy said. "What do you think is at the end of the tunnel? A treasure chest? Monsters? I was thinking a super creepy vampire's lair."
"I was thinking water." I said honestly.
"Water? That's...pretty lame." she tried to say nicely.
"Well, think about it." I suggested. "The walls here are smooth. The ground is damp underneath this dusty top layer. Some places are tight, some places are narrow. This tunnel was carved by water, so it'd make sense if there was a pool or a river at the end. That doesn't mean there can't be anything else though," I added. "I wouldn't mind fighting vampires." Wendy laughed at that.
"You know, for a little kid you're pretty smart." she said.
"Thank you." I said. Are children typically not smart? Maybe I should be careful about that.
"Hold up guys." Dipper said, and I almost bumped into Wendy. "There's a drop."
"A drop?"
"It looks pretty steep bro." Soos said, peering down. "I don't know if we can just walk down that."
"And we don't know what's below." Dipper said. I could hear Wendy pushing to the front to get a look.
"How much yarn do we have left?" Dipper asked.
"We're covered dude, don't worry." Wendy said.
"Let's just go for it!" Mabel said. "Last one in is a rotten egg!" I heard a swooshing sound.
"Mabel NO!" Dipper cried. "Wendy, wait-" another swooshing sound.
"Dipper, it's okay!" I could barely hear Mabel from below. I walked up to the edge.
"Soos is going in!" I heard Soos grunt and another swoosh. Now it was just me and Dipper.
Should I be scared? Nobody else but Dipper is. I'm not that much older than Dipper. Should I act scared? Yeah, okay. I made myself tremble.
"Dipper I'm scared." I mumbled. After a moment he grabbled my hand.
"It-It'll be okay." he stuttered. I could feel his grip tighten. "We'll jump together. It's like a slide."
"A slide." I echoed. What is a slide? Are we doing a slide-
Before I could finish my thought Dipper was jumping, so I jumped too. We landed hard on a steep incline, and our bodies slid downward. I yelped, Dipper panicked a little, and then we tumbled out of the chute onto a dusty floor.
"Ack!" Dipper coughed. I waved my hand over my face.
"A tie?" Mabel cried out in dismay. "Well, I guess you BOTH are rotten eggs!"
"Dipper, that was so fun!" Wendy said. I heard a crunching sound.
"Yeah, totally. Om nom." Soos said. Oh, right. The snacks.
"So where are we?" I asked.
"Close." Dipper said. "Alright everybody get into the formation. We are almost there."
So we fell back into formation. I got back in the back, still keeping my eyes shut, feeling my way against the wall. Suddenly it curved to my right, and I couldn't feel the left side anymore. I reached but it was gone.
"Whoa." Mabel said.
"Dude, like, wow." Wendy said.
"How far up does this go?" Dipper asked. "Mabel, you can turn that off now."
I heard Mabel smack her light-bulb sweater. I opened up my eyes.
Yup, it was light. Everybody was staring in awe at the huge empty room. The roof seemed to reach up like another sky. I looked to the far edge of the room and saw that there was, in fact, water. Just like I predicted. But no vampires...Wendy must be disappointed.
"The map says that this place was safe." Dipper read. "But safe from what? And why?"
"Maybe the Author needed a back-up hiding spot?" Soos suggested. I was surprised that he was the first to offer that possibility. But Wendy and Mabel were nodding in agreement.
"Author?" I asked, looking at the Journal.
"Yeah," Wendy said. "Like, what if that first bunker got broken into or something? He'd need another place to go. This place could totally work."
"First bunker?" I asked. What are they talking about?
"It doesn't really matter." Dipper said quickly. "But if he was planning to use this place as a back-up, then wouldn't he have left something behind?"
"Let's search!" Mabel said, arms in the air. She ran off. Everybody else split up. I just shrugged. Whatever mystery they were solving, it was clear they've all been at it together, and for quite a while. I figured it'd be easier to let them have their fun and not ask questions. As to what I was searching for...well, I didn't know. I just wandered along the edge of the huge room, looking for something different, weird, maybe a shiny bit of something.
"Guys! Guys!" Mabel said. She was near the water. We rushed over.
"What? What is it?" Dipper asked. Mabel held up a piece of paper.
"Look!" she said. I did look, and it was really small. Like a corner of something had been ripped. "It matches the same paper in the journal!" she exclaimed, eyes wide.
"That's proof!" Dipper said, taking the bit. He opened up the book and compared the piece to a page. "The Author was here!"
"Awesome dude!" Soos said.
We continued searching but found nothing. Wendy looked on her digital watch at the time.
"Guys it's getting late." she said. "It's already past dinner at my house. We can't find anything else; how about we go home?"
"Okay." Dipper said. We went back, following the string, until we came to the slide.
"Uh..." I said. "I don't know about you, but I can't climb this thing."
"Me neither!" Mabel said, attempting. Her foot slid and she flipped, landing on her stomach and causing a puff of dust to rise. She coughed, dusting herself off.
"Are...are we trapped?" Dipper whispered. I giggled, the answer obvious.
"No silly." I said. "The water."
"The water?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah." I responded. "It must lead out somewhere. Don't you guys have a lake nearby?"
Everybody exchanged knowing glances.
"Good. Then what do you say we go for a swim?"
And before I knew it we were back in the huge room. Dipper and I were last to jump, again.
"How long can you hold your breath?" Dipper asked shakily.
"I could hold it forever." I said, smiling. "Let's go." I jumped, and instead of trying to swim I let the current drag me through. After a couple of seconds I could see the surface of a lake. Okay, so I guess I wouldn't need to hold it very long. I could see Soos and Wendy and Mabel above me, swimming.
But I hesitated in the water. I didn't need to breath, I didn't need to hold my breath. I didn't have lungs at all. I felt relaxed in the water, calm in the water. I didn't sink-I didn't float. I just hovered in the middle of the lake, relaxing. I felt...peaceful. My hair was being played with by the currents, fish started swimming near me.
Then I saw Dipper come out of the tunnel. He was struggling with swimming, and his face was red and pinched. Quickly I swam over and dragged him up to the surface with lightning speed. We broke, him gasping, me pretending to cough. Together we swam to the shore.
"Thanks." he said, his face still red, his clothes dripping. I was dripping too, but not as much. Water rolled off me easily.
"Not a problem." I said, as if I was out of breath. He wearily smiled at me, and I smiled back at him.