Pacifica Pines didn't usually worry this much.

Usually, she rationalize things and hid her fears. But ever since her and Wendy arrived at the Gravity Falls bus station, not only did the awkward silence of no one being there, except the voice of the person broadcasting the news of Gravity Falls, and the fact that it had been almost an hour and her Great Uncle Fiddleford had not arrived to pick her and her sister, Wendy up yet, was really starting to worry her.

Pacifica glanced over at Wendy, who was swinging her legs up and down and looking at the floor. She wasn't sure what her sister was looking at, besides the dirt on the floor, possibly.

She looked back over at the window, gazing out of it at multitudes of trees. The small, slow town seemed to be surrounded by an army of them, all circling the town. Pacifica liked all of them, giving it a different feel from the small town of Piedmont where she hailed from.

"Hey Paz?" Wendy asked. Pacifica glanced over at her.

"Yes?" Pacifica replied.

"You don't think Great Uncle Fiddleford forgot about us, did you?" Wendy said.

Pacifica paused a minute before answering. "I don't think he forgot. I think your family members coming to stay with you for summer is a hard thing to forget. I, I just think he's just a little busy."

"What do you think he's like?" Wendy asked. "Mom and Dad talked about him a bit but I never caught what they were saying."

"Wendy, I've never seen him before, not even in a picture, not even close to at least greeting him, I have no idea what he would be like. When he comes to pick us up, I'll tell you then what I think."

"Do you think he'll like me?" Wendy asked.

It was an easy question. Most people liked Wendy a lot, Pacifica included. Her loud, comedic personality made her very likeable. Fiddleford would've had to been an old grump not to have liked Wendy, as those were the people who usually didn't.

"I'm sure he will," Pacifica replied, before looking back towards the window.

She adjusted her headband, nervous. How much longer was the wait going to be until their great uncle arrived? Pacifica wasn't sure how much longer she could sit and wait for him to come. What made it even scarier was they couldn't even contact their parents telling them. The thought made her stomach clench.

"Want to go see if we can find something cool?" Wendy asked. "Maybe we can find a whole wad of money or something!"

Pacifica sighed. "Not right now, Wendy. I'm tired. It's better to stay here anyways, in case Great Uncle Fiddleford does get here, we're in one spot so he can find us easily."

"You're getting nervous, aren't you?" Wendy said.

Pacifica wanted to say yes and tell her about why she was so nervous, but she decided against it, not wanting to get into another long spool about her feelings, so she decided to just shrug slightly.

"Hey, it might help now that there's a car pulling up, and since no one else is here it has to be Great Uncle Fiddleford!"

Pacifica quickly turned her head towards the doors at the mention of someone possibly being a Fiddleford. She looked to see a rusty old car pulling up, but instead of seeing an older man pop out, there was the frame of a young woman. She looked to have dark hair as glasses framed her face. She walked up to the twins, a smile on her face.

"Excuse me, are you two girls the Pines twins?" She asked, her voice quiet.

Wendy immediately got up. "Yup! That's us! I'm Wendy, and this is my sister Pacifica."

Pacifica smiled at the woman, nodding in agreement with what Wendy said. At this point, she was used Wendy introducing her.

"That's great! I'm Candy. I work for Mister Pines, your great uncle," Candy said, smiling back. "He sent me here to pick you guys up, he's a little busy right now with customers."

"Customers? Wait, Grunkle Fiddleford owns a business?" Wendy asked excitedly.

"Yes! I'm an employee there, well, just for the summer, before I have to go back to college," Candy said. "Though I've worked for Mister Pines for years before I graduated high school."

"That's so cool!" Wendy exclaimed. "What kind of business?"

"You'll have to wait and see when we get there," Candy said. "I can help you carry your stuff, if you want, we need to go before Mister Pines starts to worry that I've been out too long."

Pacifica picked up her case, thinking it would be rude to load the weight of that onto the woman. Wendy, on the other hand, seemed to not care and gladly took the help from Candy, quickly handing her her own suitcase.

"Woah, this is heavy," Candy said, taking Wendy's bag. "What did you all pack in here?"

"Probably lots of flannel," Pacifica said. "Wendy loves flannel."

Pacifica knew her sister well enough to know that it almost certainly was mostly flannel. Wendy more than just adored flannel, she wore it almost daily. And she never wore the same flannel more than one day before switching it, never having the same look. Though that wouldn't stop her from wearing socks that really needed to be washed or thrown in the dump very soon.

"Yup! I managed to fit most of my pairs in there and pairs of other clothes so Mom and Dad couldn't bug me about it," Wendy said, a grin appearing on her face again. "Well, for the most part."

That earned a chuckle from Candy as she loaded Wendy's suitcase into the trunk of the car, followed by Pacifica's, whose suitcase was much, much lighter than her sister's.

Pacifica proceeded to hop into the back on the car, but not without noticing the strange license plate on it, that seemed to be missing vowels from words since they couldn't fit it in. It was odd to Pacifica, and she couldn't figure out what it meant.

"Sorry if the ride is a little bumpy, girls. I keep telling Mister Pines he needs to fix his car, but he never listens," Candy told them.

Sure enough, Candy was right. When the car finally started to go after a few minutes of Candy trying to start it and the girls awkwardly sitting in the back, the car finally started, but the ride was very bumpy.

"So, what's your um, major in college?" Pacifica asked, trying to ask a question to break the silence, or at least get to know Candy a little.

"Oh, I'm a music major," Candy said.

"Really? What instruments do you play?" Wendy asked. "At school Pacifica and I are both percussion, though I'm sick at the drums whereas Pacifica plays the piano."

Pacifica wrinkled her nose slightly. 'Playing' the piano was a bit of a stretch, it was more just her trying to figure out the notes her teacher had given her, and by the end of class giving up and reading a book instead. Wendy, however, was decent at the drums. The instrument Pacifica also noticed as well was that it seemed to represent Wendy's personality well.

"That's cool!" Candy said. "My mother taught me to play the piano when I was younger, but I found my calling in the flute when I played it when I was young. I'm also much better at it than the piano."

"Awesome!" Wendy said. "Do you go out to parties? I've seen on tv and heard that college parties are always epic."

For a split second, Pacifica saw Candy look slightly uncomfortable. Though she was sure Wendy didn't notice the expression. "I don't go to parties, I'm not much of hat kind of person, so I wouldn't know."

Pacifica could definitely relate with that one. Even now, she didn't feel any desire to attend people's birthday parties. Let alone college parties in the future.

"Aw," Wendy said. "But is college still fun?"

"You could say college is fun," Candy said. "If you can keep you with all your homework and exams, it's fun."

Pacifica internally questioned Wendy's ability to keep up with her homework now. It would be either interesting or stressful to see what college was like, although she sure her work ethic would improve by then.

Candy stopped the car, and Pacifica caught a glimpse of a wooden building out her window.

"We're here!" Candy said. She stepped out of the car, along with the twins, and gestured to the building. "Welcome, to the Archives of Mystery, the one stop in all of Oregon to see all the mythical things that once roamed the land."

Pacifica took her suitcase out of the back of the car, and looked up at the place. It was a bit of an odd place, if you asked Pacifica. The sign read "MYSTERY" or, perhaps that's what it was supposed to read, since a few of the letters had already fallen off. Although she loved the woodwork of the place and its log cabin feel.

She followed Candy, she she walked up to the door and pushed it open, revealing side what looked like a shop. So he runs his shop out of his home. . .

"Mister Pines!" Candy said, looking at the older man.

She took the opportunity to have a quick look around the gift shop of the attraction. It all seemed like merchandise, really cheap merchandise sold at high prices, at that, but that was the case with almost all merchandise.

"Gideon, be careful with that!" A man screamed. His hair was gray, closer to white. She assumed that was her Great Uncle Fiddleford.

"Sorry, Mister Pines," the boy, Gideon, responded. "Customers come a lot and it's hard to keep track of numbers."

She looked at the boy, who, although his hair was pure white and a bit off, Pacifica still thought that he looked cute. Pacifica noticed the piercing in his one ear, perhaps for him a sign of rebelliousness. Woah, relax, Paz. No need to get a crush, you don't even know what he's like!

"I know, but we could be losing revenue!" The man shouted again.

"Mister Pines!" Candy said again, and again, she was ignored by the older man.

"Fine, Gideon, just again, be more-"

"MISTER PINES!" Candy shouted.

Finally, the man turned around, looking at Pacifica and Wendy, it was an awkward stare, which made her feel slightly awkward as she shrunk into her shoulders slightly.

"Meet your great nieces, Pacifica and Wendy Pines," Candy said.

"Oh!" He said. "Hello, girls!"

"Hey, you're Great Uncle Fiddleford, right?" Wendy said. "I'm Wendy, the one with red hair, the other one is Pacifica who doesn't talk much. People can't usually tell we're twins because of how different we are! Also, can I call you Grunkle Fiddleford?"

Pacifica gave the man a small smile. "Hello, yes, I am Pacifica. And yes, Wendy, I am capable of talking."

Pacifica did talk, but not nearly as much as her sister. Almost any thought she had came out of her and into words. She would speak if she had a point to make, nit for the sake of talking.

She also couldn't help but ponder the word Grunkle, and if she should sue it or if that's strictly a Wendy thing. She decided to still use Great Uncle.

"Uh, I guess you can," Fiddleford said, a smile on his face, though Pacifica didn't think it was fully genuine. "You two must be exhausted. Why don't you go put your stuff in the attic and then come back and have something to eat?"

The attic?

"Wait, we're staying in the attic?" Wendy asked. "That's awesome!"

No, not awesome, Wendy. There's strange things up in the attic, plus it will be dusty and full of cobwebs and who knows what else, and without a lot of air circulation. So not awesome, Wendy.

"A-actually, maybe we could eat now? I'm actually really hungry since we didn't have a whole lot to eat on the way here," Pacifica said.

"Of course, can't have you two working on an empty stomach," Fiddleford replied.

Working?

"Wait, we're working here?" Wendy asked. "That's even more awesome!"

"Yes, you guys are working here. Might as well give you something to do all summer, shouldn't I?" Fiddleford said.

Pacifica didn't say anything. Sleeping in the attic, working at this tourist shop in a sleepy little town, staying with her Great Uncle Fiddleford and being so far away from everything she knew, it left her with one conclusion.

This summer was going to be a disaster.