Gravity Rises (S2)

GL: Part Five

Twenty-four hours later, Mabel was rested, cheerful, and able to think about something other than what Ford was hiding from her. She stood in the entry way, holding a stack of photocopied party invitations and waiting for Dipper.

"Grunkle Ford, we're leaving!" Dipper shouted across the Museum as he ran up to join Mabel. He had his arm through one sleeve of his sweater, the rest of it dangling beneath.

"Where's Melody?" Mabel asked.

"Cleaning up and decorating," Dipper said. "She said we can go without her."

Mabel pulled the door open, shivering as the cold rushed into the house. She zipped up her orange sweater and tugged at the knit white gloves Melody had given her to make sure they wouldn't fall off. Only then would she brave the outdoors.

The sun was shone brightly over the snow-covered path, but it gave little warmth. Mabel shivered again as she closed the door behind her and Dipper.

"So what's our story?" Dipper asked as he bounded down the porch steps.

"Huh?" Mabel replied. She fell into step next to her brother, and they started briskly down the driveway toward the town of Gravity Rises. The way the Museum was situated, the front open on the town, but as soon as you went to the backyard it felt like the Museum was the only building within miles and miles of forest. Mabel liked that about it.

"Well," Dipper said, "we just disappeared off the face of the earth for three days. The Museum was closed, and we were hiding out in the forest. So now that we're back, and we're holding a party, what do we tell people? We can't exactly tell them 'town darling Pacifica Pleasure' stole our house and tortured Ford and kidnapped me. The only person who knows what really happened is Robbie. We should go to him first, I think."

"Hold up," Mabel said. "Give me a second to think."

They walked in silence for a minute.

"We'll just tell them we went camping. I mean, we kinda did." Granted, they started out on an innocent camping trip and then went into hiding in an underground bunker, but both were technically "camping."

Dipper nodded. "Sounds good. Although now that I think about it, Robbie's friends were all there when Ford showed up at the campsite. I guess we'll have to explain a bit more to them." He stopped, looking around and frowning. "Wait, which one is Robbie's house?"

"It's back in the woods," Mabel replied. She remembered Robbie telling her at some point. "That road, I think."

The road, which was little more than a path, wound through the forest under a thin layer of packed snow. Knee-high piles pushed to the side created boundaries of the path, so it easy to tell where they needed to go. After a few minutes of walking down the road, sheltered by white-capped pines, the twins rounded a bend to see a modest log cabin nestled into the trees.

"I think this is it," Mabel said. "But I'm not sure."

Dipper shrugged. "If it isn't, we can give whoever lives here an invitation anyway!" He started towards the house.

Mabel decided not to argue with that, since it was Dipper's party in the first place.

She followed her brother up the steps, catching up just as Dipper knocked firmly on the wooden door. He stepped back, then started bouncing up and down in the cold. Mabel shivered, but just stood there.

The door opened, and Mabel let out a quick sigh of relief. It was Robbie. His black hair lay at awkward angles on his head, and he wore a red sweatshirt underneath a Hard Rock Café tee. His eyes widened as he saw them.