It's Where My Demons Hide

Chapter 23

Mabel

There was no turning back.

It was now or never.

She took out the spray can and shook it.  Then she bent down on the ground and started spraying the ground, painting an accurate drawing of the Cipher Wheel she had seen from Dipper's journal.

She had memorized every single detail of the wheel when Dipper had shown her the page. He was rambling on theories of the meaning of the wheel. To be honest, Mabel had no interest in his theories. But she pretended she did, leaning on and nodding all the time, when she was actually just staring at the page.

The wheel intrigued her. It was a zodiac circle with ten symbols around it. A pair of glasses, a question mark, an open bag of ice, a crescent shaped symbol, a pine tree and a crossed, five-pointed star with an eyeball in the center, a hand with six fingers, a llama, a shooting star and a heart with a stitch in the middle.

She thought the wheel was cool and memorized it. Whoever this Bill Cipher was, even though there were many warnings of him, Mabel had thought he would be harmless and cute even. He's just a triangle with one eye. How could he be described as an insane, psychopathic, demon who favors chaos and destruction?

But that was before the demon went into Stan's mind, before he took Dipper's body, before any of this had happened.

Mabel knew this wasn't the best choice, but she had to risk it.

To be honest, she had no idea how to summon Bill. Maybe there was no point in summoning, because he was already in the mindscape. Or maybe not. It was all so confusing to her. It didn't make any sense. Usually it was her brother who did the brain thing.

Mabel had watched movies since she was young, and the one thing she had learnt from it was that dangerous dealings usually needed a sacrifice.

She took out her chocolate bar and put it on the painted wheel. Hope it works.

Then she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Nothing happened.

Disappointed, Mabel sat on the ground and stared at the painting. This had to work. It had to!

Suddenly, the ground shook. The wheel glowed bright blue and a triangle appeared on the center, floating in the air.

Mabel stood astounded, eyes widened at the sight of the triangular demon. She had summoned him! He was right in front of her!

No backing away now.

•••

Bill

One minute he was talking with Pyronica and the next minute, he suddenly found himself somewhere in the forest, facing Mabel.

He was totally confused.

Why am I here?

If Shooting Star had summoned me, I wonder what sacrifice she used for. Bill looked down and saw a chocolate bar was on the wheel. Typical. He rolled his eye, before raising his head to look at Mabel. He noticed that there were tear stains on her face.

"My my, someone's looking desperate," Bill remarked. His last word echoed around the forest, sending Mabel shivers down to her spine.

"Well, Captain Obvious! I want to make a deal with you!" Shouted Mabel, her face showing determination.

Amused, Bill asked, "And why do you want to do that?"

She hesitated before retorting, "That is none of your business!"

"If that was none of my business, was there any need to summon me?" Bill sneered. "Knowing the reasons might make this whole thing easier, you know."

Her face blushed with embarrassment. She bit back a retort and demanded, "I want the old Dipper back! I want everything to be reverted as they used to be!"

"That's too much to ask. I am a powerful being, but I do have limitations. I do not possess the power to revert everything. My powers are not that far stretched, but I can bring 'the old' Pine Tree back."

"Okay!" She smiled.

"But you know that everything comes with a price, don't you?" Bill looked at Mabel who frowned. It seemed like she hadn't thought of this through. "What would I get in return?"

"I-I- I have to think," she stammered. She stared at the ground, lost in her thoughts.

Bill snorted. Humans with their emotions, he thought in disgust. This whole thing was just plain hilarious! Emotions are the biggest weakness, yet humans tend to think they are their strengths. Puny humans. They always entertained him with various ways and he enjoyed it. Watching humans suffer of pain and emotions, was the best entertainment to him.

After a moment of silence, Mabel said in a small voice, "You'll get what you want," though it came out more like a question. Then she realized she had spoke her thoughts out loud, and covered her mouth instantly, hoping that Bill hadn't heard her saying.

But unfortunately for her, Bill had heard it before she had realized her mistake. Being a demon, his hearing sense was very high, giving him a huge advantage when it comes into situations like this.

"You got yourself a deal, kid." He held out his hand and shook Mabel's hand. Blue flames appeared, sealing the deal. Bill couldn't believe how easy this was, and how priceless Mabel's face was. She dispayed an utter shock on her face. Her eyes were widened to the near size of saucers, her jaws dropped. Bill laughed at how perfect her face would be for memes.

"Okay, Shooting Star. I know I'm devilishly handsome and all, but can you please stop gawking at me? It's just so dam creepy."

Mabel mentally slapped herself and was back in reality. She shot Bill with looks of disgust.

"Now let's get back to business, shall we?" He stated, floating next to Mabel. "To get Pine Tree back, I need you to get this snow globe like object for me. It contains magical substance that holds the power of granting wishes. But it needs an incantation to unlock its powers. And luckily, I'm the only guy who knows it."

Mabel nodded and shrugged. "Find a snow globe that can grant wishes? Piece of cake. Can you tell me where it is?"

"Sure," agreed Bill. Then he closed his eye and opened it again, showing an image of the Mystery Shack, an image of Ford's basement, and the image of the "snow globe."

Mabel's face brightened when she finished examining the images "The genie in the lamp was right under our noses all this time!" She exclaimed in surprise. She turned around to face him and said, "Thanks, Bill!"

As Bill watched Mabel leave, he smiled to himself.

The Gullible had finally joined.

Let the games begin.