Stan messed with his plate of pancakes, stacking them into a tower with his fork. Theo sat across from him and played with his dinosaurs. Ford and I stood by the table. 

“So you’re telling me,” Stan said, “that that geometric jerk is back? And he’s already messing with our family?”

Ford nodded. “I’m afraid so. And your niece is especially in grave danger.”

Stan took a messy, syrup-y bite of his pancake. “That’s not good.”

“Not at all,” I said. “My dad remade the memory gun just in case he tries possession on me, which he’s already been able to do on Grunkle Ford.”

“Wait.” Stanley wiped his face off. “I thought you did some science junk to your brain to keep him out.”

Ford nodded. “Unfortunately when my body was brought back, it was recreated without the metal plate.”

“And because Bill’s deal with him was never fulfilled,” I added, “that means that he is still fully able to move in and out of his mind.”

Stan scoffed. “I thought having one Ford in the room was nerdy enough. Now there’s two of ya!”

Ford smiled. “Unfortunately, twice the intellect is exactly what we need right now. Especially an inventor as bright as Ria. Whatever Bill is planning, we found that it has to do with building some doomsday device. Luckily, building doomsday devices is something I specialize in.”

“So what do we do?” Stan asked.

“Go hunting for that device,” I said. “We know it has to be in Gravity Falls, because of the natural weirdness magnitude properties of this town.”

“And more likely than not,” Ford said. “It’s underground somewhere. It may take months, even a year or so before we find it.”

Stan scoffed. “I’m not doing that. You two poindexters can go looking for it. I’ll be fishing.”

“Stanley.” Ford put his hand on the table. “We’ll need all the help we can get.”

Stan paused, then nodded. “Alright. I’ll help. But on one condition!”

“What?” Ford asked.

Stan smiled. “We go do something fun first! How about we go to the fair?”

Ford made a sound between a laugh and a sigh. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take a day off from all this mystery stuff.”

“But what about Bill?” I asked. “One day off for us is an extra day for him to gain power in our dimension.”

Stanford shrugged. “We’ll have to keep an eye out. But you can’t let these mysteries turn into an obsession, Ria. You’ll drive yourself insane. Trust me.” He put his hand on my shoulder.

I looked at his hand and nodded slowly.

“I’m glad you’re cautious,” Ford said. “Proud even. But this is your summer, kid. Let’s not waste it on some space demon.”

I smiled a bit and nodded. “Thanks Grunkle Ford.”

He nodded. “Theo? You coming, kid?”

“To where?” Theo looked up.

“The fair!” Stan laughed.

Theo gasped and nodded. “Yes! Can Mary come too?”

“Who’s Mary?” I asked. 

“Mary Truman!” Theo exclaimed. “She’s in the living room right now. She’s my new friend!”

Stanley shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with it.”

“Yay!” Theo ran off to get his friend.

Stan sighed. “Some kid Dip’s got there.”

Stanford nodded. “Speaking of Dipper, I’ll go see if he wants to come too. Ria, make sure you eat something.”

I just nodded. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t feel very hungry at the moment. I was too worried about Bill. But I trusted Grunkle Ford. If he told me it was okay, then I would try my best to believe that it was okay. But some nagging feeling in the back of my mind continuously told me that something bad was about to happen.

Stan parked the car. “Ria, Theo, Mary, Ford? Everyone here?”

Apparently my dad didn’t end up coming. He was too busy building some kind of machine to help track Bill’s device. I insisted on helping him, since I technically was his apprentice, but Ford made me come along with them to the fair.

Theo climbed out with his friend Mary. Mary looked at the fair and gasped. “Look at the size of that ferris wheel!” She wore a llama clip in her red hair. Weird choice of animal, but who’s to judge?

Stan handed the kids some money. “Knock yourselves out. Don’t get kidnapped!”

Theo giggled. He and Mary ran into the park.

Ford pulled me aside, away from Stan. “You’re right about Bill,” he whispered to me. “I say, once we get Stanley distracted, we go searching for this device. I know a way to get underground from here. There’s a hidden bunker that we can search in.”

I smiled. I was glad he was on my side. I nodded. “But how do we get away from him?”

Stan narrowed his eyes at us. I hoped he couldn’t hear us.

Ford thought. “That’s a tough one. The only thing I can think of is finding a way to put him to sleep.”

“How about we tire him out with fun?” I suggested. “Put him on so many rides that he knocks out?”

Ford smiled and nodded. “It’s surely worth a try.”

Grunkle Stan stumbled off of the Hurricane ride. “Holy cow..”

Ford laughed a bit and patted his back. “Dizzy, huh?”

Stanley nodded. He looked pale. “I think I’m gonna hurl-”

“Do you wanna go back to the car?”

Stan nodded. Ford started to walk him back to the car. He glanced at me and smiled. I winked.

Ford met me back over at the ride in a matter of minutes. “I finally got him to sleep.”

I smiled. “That’s good. Now where was this entrance you were talking about.”

“Follow me.” He took my arm and started running. I yelped but quickly started following. We darted quickly around all of the rides and attractions. We got a few looks, but no one stared for long at the two six-fingered freaks running through the fair.

“Here,” Ford said, pulling me behind the water gun game. He got down onto the ground and felt around for the hidden trapdoor. He found it and pulled it open. “Hurry,” he told me. “Before anyone sees.”

I quickly grabbed onto the rope and slid down. Ford followed.

It felt like I was sliding down forever. This bunker was extremely deep. I could feel the heat rising as we got closer to the center of the earth.

I hopped off of the end of the rope and pulled my flashlight out of my satchel. I turned it on and looked around.

Grunkle Ford quickly took it from my hand and turned it off. “You can’t use that,” he whispered. “Bill will know that we’re here. Use these instead.” He handed me a pair of glasses with a green lens. I put them on, and suddenly I could see in the darkness. Ford replaced his glasses with a pair of night goggles as well.

“Sorry,” I whispered. I went back to looking around. The shelves were full of emergency food. There was a whole underground farm. There were animals, but no one was around to take care of them.

Ford walked ahead of me and searched for another secret entrance. “If Bill is here, then I doubt he’d be working on his machine right in front of the bare eye.”

I nodded, agreeing, and helped him search. “Grunkle Ford?” I called. He quickly looked over at me. I pointed to a strange circle of chairs with velvet cushions.

Ford inspected the seats. “This area is teeming with ancient magic. I can feel it…”

 “Maybe it’s haunted,” I suggested.

 “...try sitting in one of the chairs,” Ford said after a moment of thinking.

 “But you just said-”

 “Just try,” he insisted.

 I did what he told me and I sat in one of the chairs. One of the books on the shelf beside me started glowing. Ford sat in another chair. Another book began to glow. 

 Grunkle Ford frowned. “It appears that they are weight-activated. Quick, place my journals on the rest of the seats.”

 I got up and took all 5 journals out of my satchel. I placed them on the empty chairs. There were still two more chairs left. I set my diary on one and sat in the last one.

 All 8 books glowed, then vanished, revealing a small rectangular entrance for us to crawl into.

 Ford smiled. “Hurry before it closes!” He quickly crawled into the entrance. I quickly collected my books and crawled in behind him. The entrance closed behind me, leaving me to wonder how we were going to get out. But that was a future problem. 

 As we crawled through the vent, the air got colder, and harder to breathe.

 Grunkle Ford coughed. “Geez- the oxygen supply here is extremely low. I should’ve brought oxygen masks.”

 I started to heave a bit. We got into the room. I heard Bill’s laugh echo from deep in the room.

 Ford motioned me behind his back. He started to walk towards the sound.

 The workshop looked like it hadn’t been used in a very long time. Wood, metal, and papers were on the floor. As well as shards of glass and mysterious splatters of unknown liquids. I did my best to step over them.

 I heard another laughing sound, but it didn’t sound like Bill. Multiple of them echoed from somewhere behind me. They sounded like hyenas. “Grunkle Ford-” I whispered. 

 “Shh,” he urged me to be quiet. He was focused entirely on finding Bill.

 “There’s something else in here with us,” I warned.

 “Yes. Bill.”

 “No I mean like..multiple other things. I can hear them laughing. I think it's some sort of monster.” I looked around nervously, staying close behind my uncle.

 He took out his blaster. “Then we’ll split up. And protect each other. You go look for the monsters. I’ll go find Bill.”

 I took out my blaster as well and nodded. I backed away from him and looked around. “Come out,” I whispered. “You freaks. I’m not scared of you.”

 The laughing turned to barking. I saw the eyes of the beasts, and I could vaguely see their form. They had a raptor shape, with a round spiky tail, spines on their back, and huge four-fingered claws. Their large fox-like ears were pulled back, in hunting mode. In their eyes existed no pupil; no soul.

 I couldn’t count how many there were. “Grunkle Ford-” I said, holding my blaster in front of me protectively. 

 Ford looked over. “RIA!”

 Bill cackled again, this time right behind me. I screamed as I felt my control over my body fleeting. My own vision went dark.

 I awoke, back at the Mystery Shack. I heaved hard and looked around. What happened? How did I end up here?

 I stood up. “Grunkle Ford!” I cried. My eye was bruised. I winced as I felt a sharp pain come from a scratch mark on the side of my neck.

 I stumbled around to the front door. “Grunkle Ford- Grunkle Ford-”

 Stan kicked open the front door, holding Ford’s limp body up. He covered Ford’s chest with his hand. Blood poured from the wound profusely.

 “G-Grunkle Ford-?” I said again, staring.

 Stan glared at me. There were tears in his eyes. “STOP GAWKING AND CALL THE HOSPITAL!”

 I hyperventilated and quickly ran to the kitchen, grabbing the phone and dialing the hospital. 

 Stan held his brother close. “Keep breathing Ford…you’re gonna be okay.”