Dipper glanced over his shoulder to see Gideon Northwest talking to his parents. What was his deal? His and Pacifica's. Turning apologies into games! Now Dipper could see why Mabel had reacted so strongly to Pacifica's attempt earlier. It wasn't fun to have your feelings dismissed so easily.

Jerk.

"Hey, Dipper!"

Dipper looked up at the sound of a deep voice. It was Greyson, skating towards them with Candy by his side. "Hi guys!" said Dipper. "C'mon, Amanda: Come meet my friends!" Putting Gideon out of his mind, Dipper picked up the pace and skated over to his friends. Amanda followed him.

"Woah, Dipper, you're a good skater," Greyson said when Dipper slid to a stop in front of him.

"Thanks! I just learned today. Hi, Candy!"

"Hi," Candy said. Dipper frowned at the lack-luster response. What was that look on her face?

"This is my friend Amanda," he said, gesturing to her. "She's staying with us for a while."

"I'm Greyson," Greyson told Amanda with a smile. He glanced at Candy, who looked away as her face reddened. "And this is Candy."

What was up with her? Candy wasn't one to get embarrassed, was she?

"Hi," Amanda said, smiling. She glanced past Greyson and Candy, and Dipper followed her gaze to see Mabel and Ford, skating out carefully with equipment in their arms. The hole that Dipper, Amanda, and Melody had made earlier was sectioned off by some brightly colored poles and tape, which showed people to avoid the area. Good, then Mabel and Ford should be left alone while they did their work.

"So, how do you know Dipper?" Candy asked Amanda. Her voice sounded forced. Was she angry about something?

Amanda blinked. "Um, we just met this morning," she said. "I'm passing through town, and Mr. Pines offered to let me stay at their house."

"Mr. Pines?" Greyson asked. "Isn't that your six-fingered uncle, Dip?"

"My great uncle, yeah," Dipper said.

"Wait!" Amanda cut in. "Six fingers? He has—" She paused to think. "He does! He has six fingers!" she said in awe.

"Yep. Mabel says it's called—" Dipper stopped. Uh-oh. What was the word? He'd better remember, or else he'd sound stupid. "Polydactyly! That's what it's called. When you have extra fingers or toes."

"That's a cool word," Greyson said.

Amanda giggled. "I wonder if he has six toes, too."

Dipper's face lit up. "That would be awesome!"

Candy muttered something under her breath.

"What's that, Candy?" Dipper asked.

Candy's eyes widened. "Oh, um, I said, yeah, that would be awesome."

Dipper grinned at her, then turned to say something to Amanda. He paused. Amanda looked uncomfortable. What was going on? Dipper was oblivious to something in this situation, and he did not like that feeling.

When Dipper was uncomfortable, he talked. "So guys, you won't believe what I found the other day. It was this stick that was as tall as me, but it was twisted, like, I dunno, a wizard's staff. It was awesome!"

"Did you keep it?" Greyson asked.

"No, Mabel said it wouldn't fit through the door. Wouldn't that be cool if it had magical powers? What kind of powers would you guys want?" He realized a split second later that Amanda did have powers, and he wondered if he should have asked a different question.

"I think it'd be cool to be a mermaid," Amanda supplied. Huh. Well, mermaids weren't too different from selkies — although Dipper thought that selkies were definitely cooler.

"It gets way too cold here for mermaids," Candy pointed out. Dipper and Amanda shared a look: She had no idea.

"I'd want to shrink," said Greyson. "Wouldn't it be awesome to be tiny and see the world that way?"

"Yeah!" said Dipper. "I should ask Ford to build some kind of shrinking ray. Then we could shrink together!"

"Dipper," Amanda said quietly.

"Ooh, and we could take Waddles for a ride around the Museum! I'm sure—" His mouth stuttered to a halt as his brain registered that Amanda had said something.

"Dipper," she said again, this time touching his arm.

"What?" he asked, and she winced. Oops. Was this one of those times where he was supposed to be — what was the word Mabel used — discreet?

Amanda used her eyes to point to a spot over Candy's shoulder. Candy, unfortunately, seemed to think she was looking at her. "Something to say?" she demanded, moving forward on her skates. Greyson grabbed her shoulder. Dipper spared them only a moment of attention, for his eyes had just caught on to what Amanda was gesturing to.

Mabel and Ford, in the middle of the lake, were fighting.

"Um, Amanda and I should go," Dipper said. "Nice seeing you guys!"

"Yeah, nice meeting you," Amanda said, though it didn't sound as sincere. Dipper started skating away, looking back to make sure Amanda was following. She was following, but she left behind what looked to be a very angry Candy, red in the face and held back by Greyson.

What was that all about? He was confused, but he had other things to focus on. As he skated closer to Mabel and Ford, he could make out their words. They weren't shouting yet, but they were definitely angry at each other. Dipper didn't know about an angry Ford, but an angry Mabel was not good. She'd already had an outburst this morning, which should've warned Dipper that she would have another one soon enough.

"Mabel, I've already told you, I'm not going to—"

"But you should! I want to learn from you, Grunkle Ford, and you can teach me!"

"I'm not willing to put you at risk, Mabel."

"Risk! Showing me how a portal works isn't risky!"

"Oh, really?" Ford, who had been kneeling, got to his feet and stared Mabel down. "It's not risky to be near something that could send you to the other end of the country? It's not risky to be near electrical equipment that's inside water? It's not risky to be standing next to a hole in the ice that you could fall into?"

Mabel's face reddened, but she didn't say anything. Dipper did not like how this was going, but Amanda held him back at a respectful distance.

"And even if this weren't risky," Ford said, clearly in control now, "I'm still not going to get started. If I teach you about this one thing, you'll want to know more. And more. Until one day I have to call your parents and tell them that you've been seriously hurt or worse, and it was my fault because I wanted to show you something interesting. Is that what you want, Mabel?"

Dipper couldn't see Mabel's face clearly from here, but her silence and the shade of her cheeks told him that she was trying not to cry. After a few moments of silence, she finally said, "You really think I wouldn't be able to take care of myself?" Her voice was holding back a dam of emotion. Barely.

Ford's eyes widened. Good. At least he knew he had crossed a line now! Dipper stayed back — partly because Amanda held out a hand to stop him and partly because he knew that jumping in would make things even worse — but he was mad. No one was allowed to treat his sister that way.

"That's not what I said, Mabel." Ford's tone was gentler, but definitely not as gentle as he had been with Amanda. "Even the most experienced explorers can get themselves into situations that they can't escape unharmed."

"But you're not even willing to give me a chance."

Ford paused. "No. No, it's too dangerous."

Mabel just stared at him.

"Now, please, Mabel," Ford continued, and his "please" sounded more like a demand than a request. "Go skate with Dipper and Amanda until I can. . ."

His voice trailed off as he suddenly seemed to notice Dipper and Amanda standing there. Dipper didn't know what he looked like; but his face was hot, and his heart was pounding, and his fists were clenched. So, he was pretty sure that Ford could figure out what he was feeling.

Mabel looked, too, when Ford didn't finish his sentence. Her eyes widened slightly, showing Dipper the wetness around them. She glanced between her great uncle and her twin brother in a tense silence before squaring her jaw and skating determinedly towards Dipper. Ford looked like he wanted to say something, but a glare from Dipper kept him quiet. When Mabel reached Dipper, he turned around, put an arm around her, and started skating with her. She tensed at the touch but didn't shrug him off.

One glare backwards told him that Amanda was following and Ford was watching with an unreadable — but definitely negative — emotion on his face.

"Mabel," Dipper said softly.

"Let's go," was all she said. Her voice was low and gravelly; she wiped at her face with her sleeve. The twins and Amanda skated away from Ford. Dipper was silent on the outside but fuming on the inside.

He hardly even registered Pacifica Pleasure and Gideon Northwest talking a few yards away.

~~~~~

Pacifica looked Gidica's outfit up and down and sighed. "Well, you tried."

"Yeah," Gidica said, scowling, "and that's what scares me. Anyway, I went and apologized to Mabel, although she didn't believe me at all."

"Good," Pacifica replied.

Gidica rolled his eyes. "What have you done?"

Pacifica folded her arms. "For your information, I saw Dipper Pines, so I went up and apologized to him. I assumed you had been a jerk to him at one point, and I was right."

Gidica frowned. "So. . . we both apologized to a Pines twin. . . and we're still in these bodies?"

Pacifica's arms dropped to her sides. "Yeah," she said. "I guess that wasn't it."

There was a sobering silence as this fact sunk in.

"We have to switch back, Gideon," Pacifica blurted, unable to keep it in anymore.

"I know."

"I can't stand being you anymore!"

"I know."

They lapsed into silence again as Pacifica realized that he was thinking. Well, she could think too. What was it? What was the answer? What did they have to do?

She gasped. Gidica started at the sudden, loud noise and opened his mouth to rebuke her, but she cut him off. "I've got it! I have an idea!"

"What?" He sounded suspicious, but also desperate. They were both desperate.

"A séance! I conduct séances all the time!"

"And. . . ?"

"And we can use our amulets to summon the spirits who placed the curse! They can tell us what to do!"

Gidica thought about this for a moment. "But the curse clearly says to figure it out ourselves."

"Do we really have any other ideas?"

Another pause. "All right."

"Have you ever summoned spirits with your amulet before?" Pacifica asked.

"Only the ones that I know are nearby. Are you telling me you can call up any spirit?"

Pacifica nodded. "Seems like you'll have to do the summoning with my amulet, since yours doesn't have the right experience. But first we have to get to the Tent of Telepathy."

"Why?" Gidica asked.

Pacifica gave him a look. "Because that's where my séance room is."

"Does there have to be a special room?"

"Yes!" Pacifica snapped. Then she let out a breath. "Yes. My séance room is the only place where I can call up ghosts the way I do. How will we get away from the lake?"

"My parents will hardly notice if you slip away; and if they do notice, they'll assume you have good reason."

"Really? They clearly said this outing was to keep up family appearances."

Gidica snorted. "Trust me, they don't care that much. What about your parents?"

"Daddy will understand if you give him an excuse later. Mom, well, won't notice."

Did Gidica wince at that? "Okay, great. C'mon," he said.

"Wait a second. We've already caught attention just talking to each other. There's no way we're going to be seen leaving the lake together. You stay here — maybe go make excuses for my dad — and I'll leave. Then you follow me a few minutes later."

Gidica rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"Fine. I'll see you at the Tent. Try not to be seen wearing that." With a final disapproving look at Gidica's outfit, Pacifica skated away.