Mabel woke up in the middle of the night when she felt something sharp and cold touch her cheek. The world was fuzzy for a minute or two. She waited her eyes to adjust to the silver moonlight that poured out from the triangular window. She lifted her head and began the search for what had disturbed her sleep. Her hand brushed something that felt like a piece of medal. She dug it out from under her pillow to examine it. It was key.

The key was dull, rusty and had intricate, vine-like patterns carved into its metal. The head of the key was made of two pieces of metal that had been woven together and shaped into an octagon. A triangle rested in the very center of the head.

Mabel glanced at the window. It had the same patterns. The triangle on the head of the key even had an eye, just like the eye of providence.

Too tired to do any further investigating, Mabel placed the key on the nightstand before rolling over to return to sleeping. After a minute or two of tossing and turning, she sat up. She hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep in her uniform.

After undressing and finally slipping out of the chest binder, Mabel felt relief in her lungs. She happily took in a deep breath before digging out her pajamas out of her suitcase. Once she had buttoned the shirt, she climbed back into the bed. The rest of the night was peaceful. In the morning, she wouldn't remember what woke her in the first place.

• • •

"You skipping again or are you actually going to get your butt out of bed this time?" a voice yelled from the other side of the door.

Mabel pulled herself out of bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. She rubbed her eyes and stretched. Her brain suddenly processed that someone was at the door. She couldn't remember whether or not she had locked it after Stan left last night.

"I know you're in there, Dipper," the voice called again. "Are you mad at me or something?"

She hadn't heard someone use her brother's nickname in a long time. Mabel had been the one to coin the name, but she gradually stopped using it once the bond between her and her brother had vanished. It hadn't occurred to Mabel that Mason already had friends at the school. She never realized her brother could replace her that easily.

The doorknob began to turn. Mabel felt her heart race. She leapt to her feet and lunged for the door. She shoved her shoulder against it and quickly turned the key in the lock.

"Uh- sorry!" she shouted. "I'll be out soon. Give me five minutes!" Mabel made a mental note to remember to set an alarm from now on.

The person sighed from the other side of the door but didn't try to argue.

Mabel dressed at a speed that she didn't know she was capable of. After lacing up her leather shoes and grabbing her blazer that had been left on the floor, she opened the door.

The boy that stood there was tall. Really tall. Mabel had to lift her chin slightly just to make normal eye contact. Once she did, she noticed his dark brown hair appeared to have once been dyed black. The hair dye was more noticeable around his ears and tips of his hair. Telling from the color of the roots, he was a natural brunet. The dark color made his fair skin look unnaturally pale. The boy looked half-dressed in a button up shirt that he hadn't bothered to tuck into his pants and a tie that hung loosely around his neck. It was either a fashion statement or he legitimately had no idea how to tie a neck tie.

"Robert," Mabel said, affirming that the student she had read about was in fact the same person that stood in front of her. She had to memorize basic information about all the students in her grade level in order to properly act like Mason Pines. From what she remembered, Robert Valentino was in his final high school year but was taking on courses in the lower levels to make up for low grades. He was in Mason's poetry class.

Robert's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, which made Mabel notice a spot above his left brow as well as one on his right ear that possibly used to have a piercing. Due to the dress code, he looked like a puzzle with missing pieces.

"Uh. . . good morning to you, too. . .Mason," Robert replied. His mouth twitched, almost smiling as if he thought she was greeting him in a joking manner. He stared at her with eyes slightly narrowed. He looked like he was about to ask something but Mabel cut him off.

"Ready to head to class?"

"I guess" Robert replied, staring intently at her as she walked past him. He shook his head as if trying to wake himself up before following after her.

They ended up being late to class. Mabel stiffened when she opened the door to see a crowd of students turning in their seats to get a look at who was about to face the teacher's wrath.

A blonde sitting in the back corner blew a pink bubble, which she popped between her teeth with a loud snap that caused the teacher to turn on his heel. When he saw Mabel and Robert standing in the doorframe, he rolled his eyes.

"Well? Are you going to sit down or not?"

Mabel and Robert nodded in unison before walking quickly to the front row to fill the last two empty desks in the center.

"Next page," the teacher continued. There was a chorus of crinkling paper as textbook pages were obediently turned. "Miss NorthWest, you don't appear to be busy. You read the next page."

The blonde frowned and blew another bubble, as if daring him to ask again.

"Pacifica. Next page," he repeated.

Pacifica looked down at her book and proceeded to read in the most bored, monotone voice Mabel had ever heard.

As Pacifica read, Mabel placed her book on her desk. She stared at the cover, scanning the title Exploring Poetry and Beyond. She glanced at the student next to her until she found the page number, then flipped the pages until she found a chapter titled An analysis of The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.

The passage had footnotes in the margins of the pages. Mabel noticed tiny writing written in pen. It was Mason's writing. Mabel knew that Mason liked to read ahead in textbooks and write his own notes and deductions in them. His notes are what helped her pass most of her classes in middle school.

When she turned the page, she noticed one paragraph in particular had more notes and scribbles than usual.

"I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye -- not even his --could have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all --ha! ha!

When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock --still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart, --for what had I now to fear?"

Mabel stared intently at the paragraph. Dipper normally highlighted potential vocabulary words or significant phrases. None of these notes made sense.

"Mason."

Mabel's head jerked up. "Yes?"

"Read the next page."

The rest of the class was a blur. Even as Mabel read from the book, her mind was elsewhere. She was mostly bored, but more focused on trying to read more of Mason's notes.

Once class was over, Robbie packed up his books and waited patiently beside her desk.

"Did I do something?" he asked.

Mabel shouldered her book bag and stood up. "What? No, of course not. Why do you ask?"

"You didn't respond to any of my texts or calls or emails all summer. I e-mailed you, Dipper. I used e-mail."

"I dropped my phone in the ocean when my family when on a cruise this summer."

"In the ocean?"

"In the ocean," she repeated.

Robert suppressed a chuckle. "Nice."

"Yeah. . . sorry," Mabel laughed.

"That answers most of my questions," he concluded. "And please stop calling me Robert. You sound like a teacher."

Mabel instantly felt like an idiot. She knew all the information about everyone in her brother's class, yet she forgot the nickname of the one person who just happened to be his best friend.

She fake-laughed, hoping that she sounded convincing. "Sorry. . . Robert."

Robbie rolled his eyes and playfully shoved her. "Shut up."

When they exited the room and began to walk down the hallway, they were met with a crowd of students who all were staring at a wall. The hall was filled with whispers and pointing. The assistant principal, Professor Fiddleford McGucket was urging the students to continue walking. Mabel and Robbie stopped to look at what everyone was talking about.

There was something written in what looked like blood. The ink-like substance was beginning to drip onto the floor. The message was a jumble of words.

YBTXOB LC ZFMEBO'P TEFPMBO

"Keep moving," Fiddleford shouted over the noise. "Go on to your next class."

Robbie laughed under his breath. "If you're gonna pull a prank like a that, at least make it something funny. This is just creepy."

"Yeah," Mabel muttered. "Creepy."

"Since you got here late, you missed a lot of other pranks," Robbie said as they continued their walk down the hallway.

"Like what?" Mabel asked.

"Someone keeps drawing triangles everywhere, like the Illuminati thing. On the first day, someone pray-painted 'Bewarb' over the arch of the school gate."

"Triangles? Do they look like the ones in the windows?"

Robbie shook his head. "None of the other dorms have the window like in yours."

That was strange. It was like Stanford had built the dorm specifically for Mason. Had he hoped to have a student to take under his wing from the beginning of the school's establishment? If that were true, Mabel felt even more anger towards her great uncle. He hadn't just taken her brother away, he had it planned from the beginning.

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Mason: "Hello, Robert. Yes, it is me Mason, the boy."

Robbie:

Also: yep that was a Harry Potter reference. Come on, I wrote a story about a boarding school and you expect me to not make a reference?