Northwest-Pines Mystery Hunters

Twenty Eight-Northwest's Second Deal

***

Gideon made his way down the dark hall. The sun had barely risen and cast long shadows at Gideon's feet. He didn't mind waking up so early, it had become second nature to him. And he knew that Preston would already be awake.

"You're earlier than usual." Preston greeted as he entered his study. "What brings you here?"

"You know very well. What will you do to Mabel if we fail to defeat the spirit?" Preston closed his eyes as if he were deep in concentration and smirked.

"Ah, Gideon. Always one to skip the formalities." He looked at his son. "As you know, your lessons are at stake here. I feel as though you've been avoiding them, and when you do complete them you show much resistance. You've been spending all of your time fighting mysteries and using your amulet, showing that you don't need any more lessons. Therefore, it seems that the only way to see if this is true is to test you." Gideon shifted uneasily.

"What do you mean?"

"Well to put it simply, this spirit will be a test for you. If you can defeat it, I'll discontinue your lessons. If not, I plan to teach you a new one. One that will stop you from disobeying me indefinitely." Gideon's eyes shot wide open with realization.

"You're going to force me to enter Mabel's mind!" Preston began to laugh. It started as a chuckle then became a hearty laugh.

"Even worse! All the lessons, all the training, it's been leading up to this! The moment when you finally can have complete control over a person's mind and body!" Gideon shook his head.

"Mabel should be left out of this!" He narrowed his eyes. "This is between the two of us."

"Is it? Or did you drag her into this yourself?" Preston questioned. "Don't you know I can tell? I'm not an idiot, Gideon. This girl is here because you've fallen in love. It sounds almost unbelievable, that a loner such as yourself would take solace in the company of such a girl." Gideon gritted his teeth and stepped up to his father's desk, facing him eye to eye in a challenge he'd never before dared.

"I don't care what happens to me. You can throw me out. Arrest me. Have me killed. But if you so much as touch Mabel, you're dead."

***

I woke up at around noon and stretched, trying to remember what had happened the night before. After Gideon said he loved me, everything was a bit of a blur, but I knew I was at the Shack. I made my way downstairs and started getting myself a bowl of cereal, completely ignoring Ford at the table.

"Good morning Mabel." He said passive aggressively. 

"Oops. Hey Ford." I said, still focused on my cereal.

"Are you going to finally tell me what happened last night?" I froze. Honestly, I was a little embarrassed. "With Preston Northwest?" I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, yeah. I guess I bet my life that Gideon and I could defeat an evil spirit in Northwest manor by the end of the party without hurting anybody." I replied casually. Coffee dripped out of his mouth.

"Are you serious? Do you realize what I'll have to go through when I have to tell your mother and father that you've died because I let you bet your life against a man who wouldn't hesitate to make the task utterly impossible?" I pouted.

"Well if that happens, you can tell them it's their fault for not calling to check in on me." Ford went to say something, but paused.

"I can't really find much of a flaw with your logic... but it is strange that they haven't called once since you've arrived." I shrugged and kept eating my cereal.

"It's not like they'd believe anything we said anyway. They think that Dipper and I just have overactive imaginations. That's why they thought that spending time with you would help smarten us out." Ford sighed.

"Mabel, I understand how you feel. Just promise me you'll be safe tonight?" I nodded and hugged Ford.

"I love you, Grunkle Ford."

"I love you too, kiddo."

After getting dressed I walked to Gideon's house. It wasn't really a house, it didn't feel like one, but reminding myself that it's where Gideon grew up reminded me that I wasn't doing this for Mr. Northwest, I was doing it for Gideon.

"Hey Gids, it's me!" I called, pressing the intercom. The gate opened and I could see Gideon open the driveway and walk to meet me. We met about halfway up the driveway in silence. Gideon fell into step beside me as we walked.

"Mabel, if we should fail-"

"We won't fail." I reassured him.

"But if we do. My father plans to do something terrible to you." I stepped closer to him and squeezed his hand.

"We'll be fine." I smiled, and so did he.

When we finally got inside, his parents were waiting for us.

"And so they've arrived," Preston said, prestigiously.

"Aw, don't they look so darling?" His mother commented.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you, I'm Mabel." I greeted politely, holding out my hand. She simply stared at it, her expression not changing, so I awkwardly retracted that.

"Let's skip the pleasantries. The first guests will be arriving in just under an hour, so you'll have until then to discuss your tactics amongst yourselves." Preston said. "Oh, and Gideon? We're having respected guests here, so please find her something to wear that isn't so..." He looked at my jacket, t-shirt, and jeans. "...casual." Gideon nodded and led me upstairs.

"Welcome to the life of high society." He muttered.

(A/N) Hey guys! Sorry, I'm totally alive I've just been having trouble finding time or motivation to write. I've actually had up until Mabel tells Ford about the deal written for about a week now, but I've felt like since tsaatr has to line up somewhat similarly with real-life events that updating that was slightly more important. Sorry for the wait!