Gideon Northwest tromped through the deep snow in a foul mood.

He'd agreed to help Pacifica summon Bill, yes. He was on his way to her now: He had the Journal with the instruction, and there was no way he would let her do it alone. But he didn't want to do it at all. Bill was bad enough when he showed up on his own; never once in Gideon's life had he invited the demon to come. He didn't want to see that stupid eye of his any more than he had to.

He kicked up snow with his shoe. Gideon was helping Pacifica in the hopes that he could keep things under control — or, at least, more control than would be possible without him. But as soon as Bill showed up. . . well, Cipher ran his own game. Gideon was kidding himself if he thought that he could attenuate the demon's chaos.

Still, he went. He'd agreed to this, and Pacifica was counting on his help. He could turn around and keep the incantation to himself, stopping Pacifica's plans in their tracks — but then she would bother him about it until he gave in. Besides, Bill probably wanted to be summoned by her. He hadn't shown up in Gideon's dreams and tried to put a stop to it.

Gideon groaned and rubbed at his eyes. "Get ahold of yourself, Northwest," he muttered to himself. This was probably a terrible idea, but far be it from him to get in Pacifica's way. It's not like he could stop her from meeting Bill, not if she — or Bill — really put their minds to it.

He sighed one last time and continued on his way to the rendezvous.

A few minutes later, he ran down the sloping hill to the tiny valley. When he came to a stop, backpedaling a bit to get his balance, he could see Pacifica in front of him with her summoning circle at her feet. The light was considerably lower down here: The sun was about to set, and the pine boughs created a natural ceiling over the valley. Gideon activated his amulet; Pacifica had done the same. He wondered if he'd seen her without her amulet activated since she came back from Portland.

"I had hoped you would grace us with your presence soon," Pacifica said sarcastically.

Gideon ignored the jibe. "Last chance, Pacifica. You can still back out of this."

Her eyes flitted down to her sacrifice — what kind of creature was that in the center, anyway? — and back up to Gideon. "No. I'm doing this."

Gideon sighed.

"Do you have your Journal?"

Gideon pulled it out, flipping to the page on Bill. It made him feel a little more in control to think that Pacifica wouldn't have the incantation without him. . . but only a little. "Here it is," he said. "Say this spell here, and he should come. If he doesn't, well, we're lucky."

Pacifica rolled her eyes as she took the book and read over the spell. "All right. Seems easy enough." Her eyes were intent on the words as she worked out their pronunciation.

As she read, Gideon took in her set-up: the Cipher Wheel, spray-painted on the dead grass and framed by candles; the small pyramid of money that surrounded a pair of six-fingered gloves; and, on the top, the dead pink thing. "Where'd you get all this?" he asked.

"Hmm?" she said without looking up. "Oh, just a robbery."

Just a robbery. Why was he letting this girl summon a demon, again?

Before he could think of an answer, Pacifica took a deep breath and started chanting. "Triangulum, entangulum."

Here we go, thought Gideon.

"Vene foris dominus mentium."

The candlelight flared up as she chanted.

"Vene foris videntis omnium!"

She shouted those last words and threw out an arm for style. Count on Pacifica to make a simple summoning spell into a performance.

Suddenly, Pacifica fell to her knees, chanting louder as her eyes glowed purple. "Jassem sdrawkab," she babbled. "Jassem sdrawkab, jassem sdrawkab, jassem sdrawkab!"

The candles flared higher, then went out. A sudden, unnatural wind blew through Gideon's hair. His amulet went out, along with Pacifica's. The pine boughs above waved back and forth, throwing dappled light onto the scene below.

And the world turned to grey.

Gideon felt himself slip into the mindscape. Even though he knew it would happen, it still startled him. He'd heard of what happened when one formally summoned Bill, but he'd never experienced it himself. His mind was now on another plane: the same plane he visited each night while dreaming. As far as he knew, his body wouldn't collapse, only close its eyes and stand still.

In front of him, a triangle shape appeared in the air, formed by tiny yellow flames. The flames grew larger, blurring together into a solid line, and turned from yellow to black. It was a bright black: a black that glowed. The area inside the triangle took on the same shade of black, but with swirling tendrils of intensely bright color that punctured the surface.

A single eye appeared. A deep, multi-layered laugh filled the clearing. With the eye came the outline: Bricks. Tiny arms and legs. A bowtie. A top hat.

Bill Cipher popped into existence.

"Ooh, a formal summoning," he said, and his voice had seemingly infinite layers of sound to it. "Those are exciting." The demon's black outline filled with a bright yellow hue, and Gideon resisted shielding his eyes. "Oh, look, it's my favorite Lone Wolf," Bill said to Gideon. "I don't think you've ever summoned me before."

"I didn't," Gideon replied. "She did."

"With your help," Bill pointed out. Before Gideon could answer, he turned to Pacifica. "Hello, Crescent Moon! It's so nice to see you again."

Pacifica, who had been standing with her mouth open in awe, immediately closed it. She looked shocked. "How do you know me?" she demanded. "I've never met you before!"

Gideon grimaced. Mistake number one: Don't let Bill see when he surprises you.

Bill's form flashed a brighter shade of yellow as he laughed. "No, you haven't. But I have."

Gideon rolled his eyes again. Great. Now he was working with two drama queens.

"Why did you call me Crescent Moon?" Pacifica asked.

"Your symbol," Gideon cut in before Bill could reply. "That's his name for you because that's your symbol on the Wheel."

Pacifica glanced down at the Cipher Wheel. The crescent moon symbol was right next to her feet. She looked flustered, which was something Gideon rarely saw and which he found amusing — less amusing with Bill around, but still amusing. Pacifica spluttered a bit before saying, "Listen to me, demon! I have a job for you."

Mistake number two: Never treat Bill like a pawn.

Bill ignored Pacifica's words, but he floated closer to her. "Hey, look what I can do." He gestured to Gideon, who immediately felt a pull on his jaw. No way. Gideon put his hand over his mouth, glaring at Bill; but his teeth just passed through it, flying out of his mouth and hovering around Bill's hand in a clump. It didn't hurt very much, not in this dream body, but Gideon did not appreciate being Bill's circus act. "Here! Rich kid teeth," said Bill, dropping the teeth into Pacifica's hands. "For you, kid."

Pacifica stared up at him. "You're insane!" Where most people would've said this with concern, Pacifica said it with a smile on her face. "I like your style, demon." Any of her earlier uncertainty was gone.

If Bill had a mouth, Gideon was sure he would've smiled back. "And I yours, Crescent Moon. Just remember who really has the power here." He waved his hand again, in a circular motion, and the teeth flew back into Gideon's mouth. Gideon immediately started yelling at Bill, but no sound emerged from his throat. Bill laughed. "And I'll always be powerful enough to shut him up."

Pacifica laughed, too. "I'll keep that in mind. Will you do a job for me, then?"

Gideon couldn't believe them! He was the one who made this meeting possible, and they were dismissing him like some bystander! He stomped away to the cliff wall, leaned against it, and glowered at Bill and Pacifica.

"Sure thing! What do you need?"

"I need you to enter the mind of Stanford Pines and tell me the location of the deed to his property."

Bill's eye narrowed. "No can do," he said regretfully.

"Excuse me?" Pacifica demanded.

"Stanford Pines is a smart guy," Bill said, "for a human. He happens to have a metal plate installed in his head around his skull. It keeps me from accessing his mind."

Gideon perked up. He hadn't known this. There was a way to keep Bill out?

Pacifica looked incredulous. "You mean you can't get into his head at all? Even though he's on the Wheel?"

Bill looked down at the Cipher Wheel that Pacifica had spray-painted on the forest floor. "That? Even my Symbols can evade me, kid, if they try. At least. . . for a while."

His Symbols. Gideon hated that he was on the Cipher Wheel, sometimes. Especially when Bill talked about it like it made him his possession. Gideon wasn't anyone's possession — especially not Bill's.

Pacifica stomped her foot and curled her hands into fists at her side. "Well, now what?"

"Good question," Bill said. "You summoned me, Crescent Moon. Had an animal sacrifice and everything, which I appreciate, by the way. You have to make some sort of deal with me now."

Pacifica put a hand to her chin, thinking. Gideon sighed. This was why he'd never formally summoned Bill before: because he would then have to make a deal with him. Deals with Bill were never what they seemed.

"I could invade somebody else's mind," Bill offered.

Pacifica looked up and grinned. "Yes, you could. Hmm. . . We still need to get our hands on that Museum. Who else would know where the deed was?"

One of the symbols on the spray-paint Cipher Wheel started to glow. Pacifica didn't seem to notice, but Gideon looked over. It was the Ice Bag.

"I've got it!" Pacifica said. "That employee, the one going on the camping trip with the Pines twins. I hoped they wouldn't be around to suspect anything, but it'll have to do."

"If we play our cards right, they won't suspect a thing," Bill assured her. Gideon narrowed his eyes. Why did he feel like Bill was being ironic?

The moment he thought that, he could have sworn he heard a rustling sound above him. Still, he didn't dare take his eyes off Bill.

"Bill, could you search the employee — Robbie, I believe — for information about the deed to the Museum? If it's in a safe, what the code is, stuff like that."

"Sure can! Robbie Corduroy, huh? I haven't explored his head much."

"So you'll do it?"

"Absolutely, kid. What will you do for me in return?"

Pacifica frowned. Gideon had told her about the deals, but he didn't know if she'd paid attention. "I don't know," she finally said. "What do you want?"

Bill shrugged. "We can work out the details later, if you want."

Bad idea! That was a very bad idea! Gideon stepped forward and started to yell again, but he was still on mute. Pacifica, he silently pled, for once, please see how bad of an idea this is!

"Deal," Pacifica said with a smile.

Gideon ground his teeth. Mistake number three: Always make sure the terms of a deal are clear before shaking.

Bill stretched out his hand, and it lit up with blue fire. Pacifica hesitated only a second before shaking. "Well," said Bill, "time to invade Robbie's mind! This should be fun!"

"Wait! How will I know when you've gotten the information?"

"I'll show up in your dreams tonight," Bill said. "That's how most people meet me, like Lone Wolf here. I do like it when I'm summoned, though. It means I get to make deals." He rose higher in the air, glowing brighter as he spoke. "Well," he said, and his glow was almost blinding, "I'll see you tonight, Crescent Moon!"

With a final flash of yellow light, he disappeared.