On the other side of town, the Mystery Museum heaved a sigh.

Inside, a fire blazed, and all was quiet save the rustling of books and the tapping of nails on glass. Pacifica Pleasure sat at a table, which she'd moved across the room to be closer to the fireplace, and impatiently dragged her fingers across her crystal ball as she did her hourly search of the town. Behind her, Gideon Northwest intently searched an old bookshelf, pulling books down one at a time.

The town was dark and quiet, as usual, and Pacifica was getting increasingly frustrated. It had been three days since she had seized power over the Mystery Museum and forced Stanford Pines out of his home. Stanford had gone to ground, presumably taking both of the twins with him. Pacifica had been hoping for Dipper to show up, ready to take his place as her king; but he was nowhere to be seen. So she was left scouring the town every hour or so through her crystal ball, searching for the people whose house she now occupied.

With a frustrated sigh, she moved the crystal ball's view past the local grocery store.

Wait!

She moved back, her nails clicking against the glass. Could that be. . . ? She zoomed in closer. Yes! Yes, it was! Dipper and Mabel stood outside the store, talking to a woman with reddish-blonde hair. "Gideon! Gideon, I found them!" Pacifica turned around, expecting him to jump up in excitement and congratulate her.

The boy only grunted. He didn't even turn around.

Pacifica gave an offended gasp. "Gideon, I just found the Pines twins. I've been looking for them for three days! Aren't you happy for me?"

"Ecstatic," was his dry response. "But considering that I still haven't found what I'm looking for, which, if you recall, is a Journal with secret information about Gravity Rises, forgive me if I'm not jumping for joy."

That's exactly what he was supposed to be doing. Inconsiderate snob.

"You know," Pacifica pouted, "all this Journal business has made you unbearably grumpy. Maybe you should just give it up."

Gideon finally turned to her. "Did I tell you that," he snapped, "when you decided to summon a dream demon to do your dirty work? No, I told myself, I have to be supportive of Pacifica, because we're partners. So you can just be supportive of me now and help me find this stupid Journal!"

A toxic attitude, that was. And when she had just found the Pines twins, too! Pacifica shook her head at him in pity. "You must be very frustrated," she said in a tone reserved for a difficult child. "I was too — before I found the twins, of course."

She glanced back at the crystal ball to gaze fondly at Dipper when she saw that they were leaving — they were almost out of the ball's view! She gasped and immediately went to follow them, moving the view with her fingers. Her manicured nails clicked as they repeatedly hit the glass.

After a few minutes, Gideon gave an annoyed moan. "Could you stop that, Pacifica!"

"I'm following them back to their hideout," Pacifica said, not taking her concentration off the crystal ball. "I have to know where they've gone. Go look for the Journal somewhere else if it's bothering you. I'm sure there's somewhere you haven't ruined in your search."

Gideon grunted at her again, and she looked over her shoulder at him. He appeared to be combing the bookshelf for secret compartments. Books lay strewn at his feet as he pulled them down to look behind them. What a mess. They may have stolen this house, but it should still be kept orderly. The rest of the place wasn't much better after being searched by the impatient Northwest.

Turning back to her crystal ball, Pacifica continued to follow the Pines twins. They each carried bags with groceries as they walked through the cold night, huddled close to one another. Pacifica felt her fingers curl as she stared down at Mabel Pines. "Get away from him," she hissed.

There was the sound of a book being set down. "What did you. . . ? Oh, never mind."

Pacifica ignored Gideon, her eyes locked on her crystal ball. If Dipper and Mabel didn't have flashlights, she wouldn't be able to see them at all in the darkness. As it was, she watched them as they made their way back to their hideout. Finally, they stopped at a large tree. Pacifica squinted as she thought she saw Dipper bend down, pick up a rock, and hurl it upwards. Pacifica couldn't see where it landed; but the tree started to shake, then descended into the ground.

Pacifica zoomed in, intrigued. As her view got closer to the twins, the crystal ball started emitting sound as well. She could hear the tree rumbling as it slid beneath the forest floor; she could hear Mabel saying, "Nice aim, Dip."

The tree stopped moving. In Mabel's flashlight beam, Pacifica watched as wooden planks slid out from the soil and formed a spiral staircase. Below, a door built into the tree opened.

"Clever," said Gideon's voice at Pacifica's shoulder. When had he come over? "I'll bet Stanford has had that place for years." He looked at Pacifica with wide eyes. "Maybe the Journal is in there!"

"Maybe," Pacifica said, dismissing the image on her crystal ball. The ball filled up with fine grey mist. "But what's in there for sure is my Dipper. Why would he hide underground with them, Gideon? Why hasn't he come running into my arms?"

Gideon groaned. "Maybe because they're family?"

"But it was the perfect plan," Pacifica protested. "I would take the Mystery Museum. Mabel and Stanford would have to be out in the streets or the woods with nowhere to go. Dipper would realize how pathetic they were and come be with me. It was perfect. But it looks like Stanford took the twins to some sort of bunker of his, and now they're hiding out underground. What is there to do about it, Gideon?"

"I'm sure you'll tell me," was the irritable response as Gideon went back over to his books.

"I must go to him," Pacifica declared. "Stanford and Mabel must be holding him captive! He must want to come to me, but he can't, because they won't let him! He's trying to be reunited with me, he must be! Yes, I'll go to him, and once the two of us are here together, he'll see that I'm the only one he wants to be with!"

Gideon raised an eyebrow at her. "You're going to kidnap him?"

"He might think it's kidnapping at first, but he'll change his mind before long," Pacifica said decisively.

"Pacifica," said Gideon, exasperation lacing his voice, "are you planning on torturing every member of this family?"

Pacifica gasped in shock. "Torture? I would never torture my dear Dipper! How dare you suggest such a thing!" She started fanning herself, feeling faint.

"Cut the theatrics, Pleasure," said Gideon with a roll of his eyes. He bent down to pick up some of the books and continued, "Have you ever noticed that these plans of yours go in circles?"

"No, I haven't," Pacifica said, wiping her eyes to clear away tears that weren't there, "and I can't believe you would insinuate that I of all people would hurt poor—"

"Yeah, we already got to that part. Don't you get it?" Gideon straightened, pushing his armload of books onto the bookshelf. Then he turned and looked squarely at Pacifica. "You're obsessive."

Pacifica gasped indignantly again, but Gideon wasn't done. "Obsessive with the Pines family," he continued. "Obsessive with hating Mabel and loving Dipper, or whatever you can call it. Every time you think you've accomplished something, you've just made another round in the circle! You stole their house, and while I would thank you for it if I could find the Journal anywhere, that did absolutely nothing. Now they're just hiding, hating you more. Before that, you were going to hurt Mabel or worse at that warehouse, while Dipper was standing right there—"

"You stopped me that time!" Pacifica screeched. She couldn't believe he was saying all this. How dare he—

"No, I didn't!" Gideon shot back. "Mabel was about to smash your amulet, if you recall! I saved you that night, although I'm seriously starting to regret it now!"

The two stared each other down in a battle of glares for a long, tense moment. Pacifica refused to look away first. She refused to give Gideon any knowledge about just how much that last comment hurt.

She had almost lost her amulet that night. She'd been terrified of losing it ever since.

"Mabel almost ruined me that night," Pacifica agreed quietly, "and I thank you for your help in defeating her. But if I don't do something, she'll strike again, and this time she might just succeed."

A look crossed into Gideon's eyes, one that Pacifica couldn't decipher. "Paz. . . you attacked her that night," he said softly.

He clearly had his facts wrong. She had been stopping Mabel from doing any more damage that night. She shook her head at him. "Fine. You stay here and search for your precious Journal. Meanwhile, I'll be out in the real world searching for something that's actually precious."

With that, she turned back to her crystal ball, touching it with her nail. The mists swirled until the picture reformed, showing Dipper Pines walking down the stairs to the Pines' hideout.

She smiled down at him. Soon, Dipper darling, she promised. Soon.