Pacifica had a big smile on her face.

This was going perfectly.

She sat perched on the couch of Ford's living room, keeping her posture perfect even though no one could see her. Who knew her amulet could make her invisible? She hadn't found that power before she went to Portland. Her amulet could do so many amazing things, and Pacifica had barely begun to discover them.

She forced herself to stay still as Mabel stomped past, oblivious of her enemy's presence. Not yet, Pacifica, she told herself as she glared at the girl. Attacking now would ruin all your perfect plans.

These things had to be done with finesse, after all.

Ford's project and a chunk of his money sat in her lap, shielded by her power. She didn't need the money, but she figured taking some would make the robbery less suspicious. Plus, the look on his face when he realized it was gone was priceless. It made up for the fact that she had to stay invisible. She didn't like the idea of doing something awful to someone and not even being able to take credit for it.

She listened as Mabel walked up to Stanford after the Corduroy boy left. "Grunkle Ford, I want to stay and help you with the robber."

Hmm, this was interesting.

"You're going on the camping trip, Mabel," Stanford replied, sounding tired.

Mabel stiffened. What was she thinking? Pacifica's amulet flared up as a habit, only to remind her that these two were immune to her mind-reading.

She smirked. Not for long.

"Grunkle Ford, I can help! I know you said it was dangerous last time, but you'll be here to protect me, right? And if it really is a ghost—"

"It's not a ghost."

"—I know everything about ghosts! In fact, I thought I saw a shimmer over there by the couch just now."

Pacifica sat very still.

"A trick of the light. I make sure my house is ghost-free, Mabel. I make very sure."

Interesting. . . The old man really did know his way around the supernatural. Gideon claimed he was some sort of expert, with that strange Journal of his. Pacifica, for her part, thought that reading up on these things was a waste of time when you could just be experiencing them.

"You're going on that trip," Ford continued.

"But Grunkle Ford—"

"Mabel," Ford cut in firmly. "This isn't just a way to get rid of you. Think of this as an opportunity to spend time with your brother and with Robbie. To make new friends."

"I already have enough friends," Mabel said, "but I don't have enough knowledge about the supernatural!"

So whiny. Pacifica nearly shook her head, then decided against it in case she created any more shimmers.

Ford shook his head for her. "You'll find that if you spend time researching when you could be spending it with other people. . . well, you miss out on things."

That quieted Mabel.

Pacifica rolled her eyes. He was wrong, of course. People were simply there to be used by those who had the power to use them. Spending time with them never did anything for you.

But the old man's errancy wasn't what was important. People were wrong all the time; Pacifica didn't let that bother her. What was important was that Mabel would be out of the picture this weekend — leaving Stanford completely unprotected when Pacifica sent Bill after him.

Not that Mabel could have done anything anyway.

The creature on Pacifica's lap bumped against its tank, sloshing the water around. Pacifica bit back a yelp. If this thing got her wet—

Time to go, she decided. The sooner this little wet pink thing was used as her sacrifice to Bill, the better. She couldn't even tell what it was, just that it was Stanford's pet project. Or maybe literal pet. Either way, it would suffice.

Pacifica stood up carefully while she balanced the tank and the money in her arms. She couldn't levitate them until she was out of sight, so she had to hold them against her chest. Good thing she was wearing solid black clothing rather than her normal outfit. As much as she loved that style, it was impractical for sneaking around.

Pacifica waited until Mabel went through the Employees Only door before following through the temporary gap. It wasn't until she made it out of the gift shop in a similar fashion that she breathed a small sigh of relief.

Time to go summon a demon.

~~~~~

"Ready to go?" asked Robbie.

Mabel would rather be crushed by the weight of all this gear than get in Robbie's truck and drive off to the campground.

She still couldn't believe that this was happening. The second those teenagers saw her, she would be dead meat. Dipper would somehow make them all love him — or, at least, he would get them to leave him alone — but she wouldn't be safe. She'd be a target. Especially if she did something stupid like try to sound smart.

So, no, she was not ready to go.

"Yep!" Dipper said. Mabel could tell that her twin was determined to be cheerful despite her own anxious mood. Robbie looked like he couldn't even tell how she felt.

Mabel still wasn't sure why she found that relaxed ignorance so attractive.

No, she told herself. No fawning over Robbie. Especially when you're about to be murdered by his friends as part of some teenage ritual.

"All right, hop in! We're picking up Wendy, so you two are in the back. The rest of the crew will meet us there."

Wendy? Oh, this just keeps getting better and better.

Dipper got in first, squishing against the side of the seat to fit his gear in the middle. Mabel breathed deeply and took one last look at the Mystery Museum. I hope catching that robber is worth it, Ford, she thought, because I'm never coming back.

"Mabes, come on!"

She got in the truck.

She had to sit right up against the window, since the stuff between her and Dipper took up all the space available. It was a tight fit, but fairly comfortable — she could probably fall asleep here. How long would this drive take, anyway?

Robbie got into the driver's seat, and the truck roared to life. Mabel sighed.

Goodbye, cruel world.

~~~~~

Pacifica looked around the little clearing and smiled to herself. Short rock walls surrounded most of the area; they were only about twice as tall as she at their highest. Trees growing alongside the cliff edges provided shelter, which left most of the ground snow-free. The entrance to the area was a small slope in the back, giving the valley the shape of a teardrop.

Or, Pacifica thought with a thrill of satisfaction, a drop of blood.

Her sacrifice was at her feet. She had drawn the Cipher Wheel on the forest floor with white spray paint (which she'd told her father to buy for her without explaining why) and placed her candles evenly on the outside edge of the circle. Over Bill's single eye was the peach-colored axolotl; the red contrast of its blood was rather ghastly. It rested on top of two six-fingered gloves, which Pacifica had snatched from Stanford's table as an afterthought. The money was there, too: propped up around the gloves, with drops of blood on some of the bills — just in case the demon had any interest in money.

It looked perfect.

The whole set-up only needed one more thing — and he was fashionably late, as usual.

Pacifica sighed, leaning against a smooth patch of rock. She could wait for a bit longer. Gideon had made her promise not to summon the demon without him, since he supposedly had more expertise with these things than she did. And, more importantly, she and Gideon were partners. So she waited. He had told her about this Cipher demon in the first place, after all.

In the low lighting of her hidden valley, the white spray paint on the dead grass almost seemed to glow.

~~~~~

By the time Wendy Valentino got into the car, Mabel had all but buried herself under the camping gear in an attempt to make herself look as small as possible. The slight discomfort was a small price to pay for the prospect of going unnoticed.

"Hey, Robbie," said Wendy, pulling the door closed and getting settled in her seat.

"Hey," Robbie replied. "Ready for this?"

"Sure am."

Mabel breathed quietly as she flattened herself against a duffel bag. Maybe Wendy wouldn't notice the twins at all.

Wendy started talking to Robbie, oblivious to the presence of the twins. So far, so good. So help me, Dipper, thought Mabel, if you say anything. . .

"So I told him, 'I'm not going to put up with—'" Wendy stopped midsentence as her eyes caught a glimpse of something in the rearview mirror. She slowly turned around.

I'm not here, Mabel told herself. I'm hidden. I'm invisible.

"Hi, Wendy!" said Dipper.

"Robbie, what is he. . . ," Wendy trailed off as her eyes scanned the back seat.

I'm invisible. I'm invisible. I'm—

"What are they doing here?"

"They're coming along," Robbie said casually. "Ford needed a weekend to himself, so I offered to bring them on our trip. It'll be fun, right, guys?" He looked over his shoulder at this, and Mabel stifled a gasp as he took his eyes off the road. Wasn't he supposed to be driving and all?

"Right!" Dipper replied, grinning. Mabel moaned quietly to herself and sunk a little further into her pile of stuff.

"Wrong," Wendy shot back. "I didn't agree to come babysitting."

Mabel thought she saw Robbie roll his eyes in the rearview mirror. "These kids are cool, Wen."

"Babysitting is a weird word," Dipper chimed in. "I mean, nobody actually used to sit on babies, did they? Was that, like, some barbaric way to stop them from crying?"

Mabel silently screamed at her brother to shut up. Wendy simply groaned loudly and put her head back against the headrest.

Robbie laughed. "I don't think so, Dip. Probably just one of those weird words. See, Wendy? These guys are smart. Like, Mabel back there does scientific stuff with this—"

"Smart doesn't equal fun, Robbie," Wendy snapped. "I'm not going camping with some kids that'll annoy the heck out of us." She didn't actually say heck, but Mabel quickly translated the word in her head. She hated hearing people swear. It made her feel all gross inside.

"Annoying is relative," Dipper said. "To some people I'm the funniest guy around!"

"Shut up already!"

Mabel nearly emerged from her hidey hole to defend her brother, but he simply shrugged and sat back. Somehow, he could just let comments like that roll off. It was one skill that Mabel had no idea how to attain. This conversation alone, she knew, would stay with her for hours in a dark thundercloud of hurtful words.

"You hiding under all that gear, kid?"

Leave me alone, she pled silently. Leave me—

"Hey," Dipper said. "You can be rude to me, but don't talk to my sister like that."

Mabel couldn't help but smile a bit at his words. If only she could stand up for him like he did for her.

"Something to smile about?" Wendy asked. Mabel wiped the smile off her face immediately.

Dipper's eyes narrowed. "I meant what I said."

The car suddenly jerked as Robbie slammed on the brakes. This time, Mabel's gasp escaped, and her hands shot out to brace herself against Wendy's seat. Wendy swore violently, fueling Mabel's shocked anger that much more.

The car immediately sped up again as if there were no problem. "Now that I have your attention," Robbie said from the driver's seat, "how about you stop being jerks to each other? You especially, Wen."

Wendy gave an offended scoff. "Don't you brake-check me, Robbie!"

"Don't get into my car and start insulting my passengers," Robbie replied, sounding much calmer than she. "We're going to be spending all weekend together. I don't know about you, but I came to have a good time with my girlfriend and my coworkers. Who else did?"

"Me!" said Dipper, back in his happy mode. Mabel knew he was still ready to pounce on Wendy if he needed to, though.

Mabel, for her part, was preoccupied with something Robbie said. She sunk deeper into her lair and buried her head in the duffel bag, even though she had to crane her neck at an awkward angle to do so. She wanted to stay under this mountain of stuff for the rest of her life.

Was Wendy really Robbie's girlfriend?