Forest of Riddles (Reverse Falls, S1)

FF: Part Five

It had taken Dipper and Mabel less than ten minutes to put all the books back on their respective shelves and sections. The pencil went back to the front desk and the piece of paper was folded up and shoved into Dipper's pocket.

The two left the library in better spirits than when they had entered, Dipper especially. What luck that the code had helped them on their journey! It might've been a little coincidental, yes, but luck was on their side today - Dipper could feel it.

It took them almost fifteen minutes to walk across town to the history museum. They stepped inside the museum, each bought a pass, and, as an afterthought, Dipper grabbed a map of the museum. He hadn't been in here for a long time, and neither had Mabel.

He quickly unfolded the map. "The pioneer exhibit is on the second floor," he said, pointing to the second level. "Near the back."

"Can we look around the museum first?" Mabel begged. "Please please please?"

"What?" Dipper gave her a look. "We have a case to solve -"

"I know, but I haven't been here in forever!" Before Dipper could catch her, Mabel took off down the museum's hallway. "C'mon, Mason!" she called over her shoulder.

Dipper gripped his map, breathed deeply, and tried to calm down. Mabel using his full name didn't help (she acted like it made everything fine- it really didn't), but he knew better than to argue with her. He didn't want her to leave in the middle of the case, after all, so he reluctantly followed his sister into the first floor of the museum.

~

The clock read three-forty-five as Dipper dragged Mabel into an elevator and started for the second floor. The first floor of the history museum was about American history and world history, and the second floor was solely Oregon history - which included the Gleeful exhibit.

The elevator on the second floor slid open to reveal the twins in the middle of an argument. "We're on a time crunch, Mabel!" Dipper reminded her, rubbing his forehead in exasperation.

"So we can't take some time off and actually visit the museum?" Mabel whined.

"You wasted nearly half an hour down there!"

"And I'll waste even more time for this stupid case! What's Father going to do to us, anyway, if we don't figure this out? And why today and not tomorrow?"

He pulled out his map and tried to figure out where they were. "Tomorrow I'm busy."

Luckily, Mabel didn't say anything more as he led her to the exhibit. He hadn't visited the museum recently, but he remembered the exhibit from when he was younger, so when he arrived at said exhibit, he almost felt nostalgic - there were painted portraits of his ancestors hanging on a wall with a few of their things that hadn't disintegrated yet lying in a glass case, standing proudly under the portraits, and a few other things in the exhibit.

Dipper eyed his ancestor's journal that lay in the glass case, under its owner's portrait. He obviously couldn't touch it, but that journal would probably have the answers to if they were a scam or not.

"Alright, we're here." Mabel crossed her arms; they were the only people in the exhibit at the moment. "What's the point of coming?"

"The point is we're trying to find out if we're a scam or not." Dipper glanced at the portraits - they were adults in these pictures, but he couldn't tell if Sefton had an amulet.

Did they even have the amulets back then?

His train of thought was interrupted by Mabel sighing loudly. "There isn't even much in here," she complained.