Phantom Falls

Chapter 14

Dipper, Mabel, and Danny got up at the crack of dawn the next day. Dipper and Mabel wanted to see a demonstration of Danny's abilities, but Danny thought they should be looking for Bill.

"You can't really find Bill," Dipper said. "Not if he doesn't want to be found. He lives in the Mindscape, and only reveals himself on his terms. At least, as far as I can figure out." He shrugged.

So Danny resigned himself to a presentation of his powers. They retreated far enough into the woods that no one would hear them, and made sure that no one had followed them. Then Danny dazzled the twins with his powers. It was really very fun for all of them, and Dipper and Mabel were a very good audience. They gasped and screamed as he disappeared, flew through trees, and duplicated himself. Mabel almost died laughing when Danny overshadowed Dipper.

As Danny exited his body, Dipper shuddered. "Okay, that was weird. You can do that to anyone?"

"Yeah," Danny replied, "And they usually don't have much memory of it either, unless they already know what's going on. I used that one to get myself out of detention once." When Dipper and Mabel looked confused, he added, "I overshadowed my dad. Probably shouldn't have done that, but I was just figuring things out then." He smiled good-naturedly.

They laughed.

For most of the day the trio wandered through the forest, exploring. Danny's powers came in handy when dealing with the creatures they encountered, at least, with Dipper's direction.

"Confuse it!" Dipper shouted from where he was crouching behind a tree with Mabel. Danny was in ghost form, fighting a particularly aggressive Gremloblin. "But don't get it wet, and don't look into its eyes! We need a reflective surface!"

Danny nodded and darted around the monster, blasting it with his ghost ray. It swiped at him, but he went intangible and avoided its razor sharp claws. He duplicated himself and three Dannys zoomed around the creature, confusing it, while a fourth created a reflective shield in front of its face. It looked into the mirrored surface and screamed, running away into the forest.

Danny reformed as one person and changed back to human form. "That was insane!" He said, slightly out of breath. "I fought one of those my first night here, but you made it so much easier." He grinned at Dipper, who was emerging through the trees.

"That fight was awesome!" Dipper said. "I'm telling you man, we make the perfect team!" They high fived.

Mabel laughed self-consciously, feeling like she was intruding."That was amazing, Danny. Can I keep one of your clones for myself?" She laughed, just managing to keep the uncertainty out of her voice.

Dipper and Danny laughed too, but Danny didn't reply. The two boys continued to walk through the forest, talking excitedly about all the different anomalies they could check out with the help of Danny's powers. Mabel trailed behind them. She wasn't used to feeling so left out.

Mabel followed the boys around for an hour or two, but after a few more monster fights and failed conversation attempts, she went back to the Shack.

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Dipper and Danny were laughing, stumbling slightly as they headed back to the Shack. They had stayed out all day, and it had been dark for at least an hour now. Dipper had taken a particular interest in Danny after the sun had gone down, observing the otherworldly glow that surrounded him. Dipper had filled out an entire chapter in his journal already with new info on Danny.

They opened the front door a bit louder than was strictly necessary at that time of night. Danny laughed again and shushed Dipper. They were both giddy from their fun-filled day. Dipper grinned and waved goodnight, heading upstairs. Danny stretched and yawned as he made his way down the hall to Soos's break room (the nice one, not the heater cupboard).

When Dipper entered the attic bedroom, he found that Mabel was still awake, sitting upright on her bed and facing away from him.

"Oh, hey Mabel," he said with a yawn. "I thought you'd be asleep by now."

Mabel shook her head silently. Dipper tilted his head in concern, worried by her odd behavior.

"Mabel?" He asked cautiously.

She didn't answer.

"Mabel, what's up?" he approached her and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to him, and he saw a sheen of tears on her cheeks. Dipper was shocked. "Mabel, are you okay?"

Mabel pulled her sweater up over her head. Dipper climbed onto her bed and sat next to her. "Mabel, what's wrong?"

She mumbled into her sweater, "Like you care."

Dipper pulled back, shocked. It was very unlike Mabel to act like this. "Of course I care! What's up?"

Mabel pulled her sweater off of her face. "It's just... you and Danny are suddenly such good friends and now you're leaving me out. You didn't even care when I left today!"

Dipper rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. He hadn't really noticed when Mabel had left, he'd been so absorbed in Danny. "Mabel, I'm sorry. I-"

She interrupted him. "You're my best friend, Dipper. You can't just leave me because you found some weird new thing to study!"

"Danny's not a thing," Dipper said irritably, "He's my friend. Don't forget that he saved our lives, Mabel. You can't be like that about him!"

"I wanted him to be my friend too!" Mabel's voice was rising. "But neither of you have paid any attention to me. What's the point of me even being here?"

Dipper was really angry now. "You know, maybe there isn't any. If you're so mad at us, why are you still hanging around?"

Mabel was crying again, but she didn't back down. "I'll leave you alone then. It's obvious you don't want me around."

"You're right, we don't! Not if you're going to act like this!" Dipper shouted.

"Fine!" Mabel turned away from him and pulled the blankets over her head.

"Fine!" Dipper said, stomping over to his own bed. He didn't go to sleep for a long time.