Gravity Rises (S3)

SP: Part Nine

The first thing Lincoln saw when he opened his eyes was Gideon's terrified face. The boy was doing a good job of hiding it, but Lincoln could see through to the hidden fear. Gideon's posture was rigid, and his fingers did a little dance as they brushed against Mabel's.

"Lee? Are you okay?" Ford stood over him and offered a hand to help him to his feet. Lincoln took it, standing with some alarming cracks from his bones.

"Grunkle Lee," said Dipper, "that was terrible."

Lincoln closed his eyes. "I know," he said.

"How?" whispered Mabel. "How could he just. . . take over like that?"

"An old deal," Lee said quietly. "We made a deal years ago that he could take over whenever he wanted."

There was a beat of silence. "What did you get out of it?" asked Dipper.

Lincoln's closed eyes squeezed further together. "I. . . would rather not share."

When no one responded, Lee opened his eyes. Half of the faces in the room looked at him, the other half at the floor. All expressions were pained.

"Gideon," said Lincoln, and the boy flinched at the sound of his name. "Thank you."

Gideon looked up, surprised. "Thank you?" he repeated. "Why? I. . . I thought you'd be angry with me."

"Why would I be angry with you?" Then he remembered: Gideon didn't know about his amnesia. Lincoln often lost track of who did and didn't know. Those who were in the Order before Percy's death knew, and some of their children; but after Lincoln had taken over, the information wasn't widely disseminated. "No," he told Gideon, "I'm not angry. You helped more today than you even know."

Gideon looked confused, but Dipper spoke before anyone else could. "Okay, but why is it dark outside? I thought it was the middle of the day!"

Oh, right. "I'll do my best to explain that," Lincoln said, "although Bill was right when he said I don't know as much as he does."

"Come explain to Melody, too," said Dipper. "She's back in Ford's room with Fidds."

"Fidds?" Lincoln looked to Ford in alarm.

Ford nodded with a sullen expression on his face. "Like Dipper said, he and Melody are in my room. Last I heard, Fidds was unconscious. Melody is taking care of him." He sighed. "Dipper is right that Melody will want to know all of this. It's probably better to explain it to all of us at once."

That made sense, so Lincoln followed Ford from the gift shop. The kids lagged behind; Lincoln noticed that they — Mabel in particular — didn't walk too closely to him. It was a painful observation to make.

When they got to the entryway, Ford took off his trenchcoat and hung it on the coatrack. Then he started down the hall. "What did you say to Cipher," he asked Lincoln, "before he left?"

Lee thought back to that exchange. "After he told me to explain about the time bubble, I told him that he seemed very open with his secrets. That's when he mentioned being confident. Then, I asked him if you could walk with me to the Order tomorrow. You heard him say no." He glanced sideways at Ford. "I'm sorry," he added. "I wish I could've gotten more time. But Bill made it seem like we'd be very busy starting tomorrow."

"Busy doing what?"

"Preparing for his escape," Lincoln replied.

A shudder went through Ford's body, but he didn't say anything else. A moment later, he stopped outside a door and knocked on it.

It wasn't too long before the door opened, revealing Melody. She took in the small group around the door and looked unsurprised to see Gideon or Lincoln. She gave Lincoln a relieved smile. "Welcome home," she said.