Gravity Rises (S3)

MV: Part Nine

It took a while for Geneva to come back. The boys didn't dare wait in her room, in case somebody else came by. But even with their coats and gloves and heat mushrooms, it was really cold on the roof, and Dipper soon convinced Gideon to go inside and get some blankets. Fortunately, Geneva kept a stack of blankets in her closet (she got cold easily), and Gideon grabbed a few of those.

Sitting on the backs of the perytons, huddled in their blankets, Dipper and Gideon couldn't do much but talk. "I wish there was something I could do," Dipper said. "I know you said on Sunday that you probably couldn't make me invisible, but still. I don't wanna sit out here in the cold for hours."

"Sorry," Gideon said. Once he had his amulet, he'd use it to turn invisible and search for Ford and Lee. He didn't think there was anything useful for Dipper to do except wait with the perytons until they could all escape. "If it makes you feel any better, it's not going to be any fun when I'm sneaking around."

"More fun than sitting in the cold," Dipper muttered. Then he patted Marigold's neck. "Not that I don't want to spend time with you, Marigold."

Marigold ruffled her wings. Even on the open rooftop, the perytons didn't seem the mind the cold as much as the boys did.

"Hey, Gideon," Dipper said after a moment of silence. "I've been thinking since you told me you could turn invisible with your amulet. Is that how. . . Well, Mabel told me that she saw you down in the bunker. The day Shifty died. Did you follow us down there, invisible?"

Gideon glanced at him, then nodded. "Bill sent me. He led me to believe that the first Journal was in the bunker, and I could take it from you and trap you down there."

"You came down to steal another Journal from us?"

Gideon stared at Rowan's fur. "I don't know. I don't know what I would've done if the Journal was there. But it wasn't."

"You saved Mabel from Shifty, didn't you?"

Another nod, this one uncomfortable. "I saved all of you from Shifty," Gideon said softly. "I switched the guns so that Ford would accidentally kill it."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah. Shifty was going to steal the Journal and trap you in there."

"Just like you were?"

Gideon hesitated. "Well, that's what Bill wanted me to do," he said. "But I didn't do it. I gave Mabel her Journal back when I had a chance to take it. And I didn't try to trap you."

There was a moment of silence. "I'm glad you didn't," said Dipper. "I don't think you had to kill Shifty, though."

Gideon was quiet. Technically, Ford was the one who had killed Shifty, but Dipper probably didn't want to be corrected on that point. Gideon still thought killing it was the right thing to do: If Shifty had gotten out, its shapeshifting abilities could've caused even more chaos than was already present. But Gideon didn't say as much to Dipper.

More silence. Gideon shivered and drew his blanket tighter around him.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Dipper asked, "How long have you had a crush on my sister?"

Gideon blinked in surprise. For a moment, he thought of denying that he had a crush at all — but Dipper would probably see through that. So he decided on the truth. "I don't know," he said. "I think it started somewhere between when I took her Journal and when I followed you guys down to the bunker." He hesitated. "Is it obvious?"

"To me, yeah," Dipper said, shooting a mischievous grin Gideon's way. "To her, probably not. She doesn't really think about that sort of stuff."

"She doesn't?"