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There was a light that came out of the lake at night.
First time he saw it Dipper had written it off as a reflection of the lights from the town, but two, three, four times later he couldn’t deny the burden of proof, every night around nine and lasting until around midnight, a column of shimmery light could been seen bursting up from beyond the trees.
The last time he’d seen it, he’d gone out to sit on the roof. It was too hot to sleep comfortably anyway and that night his body just wouldn’t lie right. Like there was an itch deep deep in his bones he just needed to scratch. His watch made it around ten thirty at night, the air was still thick and warm, there was the occasional hoot of an owl but not much other noise. Dipper felt calm. For the first time in what felt like the longest while, he wasn’t afraid of the dark.
The hatch of the roof entrance opened a crack but not fully. All was visible from where he sat was a patch of brown hair.
“Mmf. Mm- ipper” came Mabel’s muffled voice.
He opened the hatch, and his sister’s head popped up. She grinned at him, well as much as it was possible to grin while holding a flashlight in her mouth. Her hands were both full, she passed him two plastic tumblers and a bottle of milk.
“I knew you’d be up here! I bought ice! And milk, and hot cocoa mix!”
“What for?” he asked.
“Well, it’s too hot for twin-chocolate. So I thought we’d make up a new one. A cold one.”
“Oh- Okay?” Twin-chocolate was what their Dad used to make them when they couldn’t sleep as little kids, especially during thunderstorms which Mabel hated. He’d pinched the name from his own sisters, but Mabel and Dipper had made it their own thing.
He took the tumblers and the milk from his sister and laid them on top of the icebox.
“Can’t sleep either?” he asked. Mabel shrugged, placing down a small shaker of cinnamon and a bottle of Maple syrup next to the other ingredients.
“Not with you tossing, turning and grunting like buffalo, dummy.” She laughed.
Dipper scooped some ice into each cup, “Ugh. I just couldn’t get comfortable for some reason.”
“Pining over Wendy?” she said leaning over so she could elbow him in the ribs. “Huh? Huuh?”
Dipper rolled his eyes with the face of a boy who had been saddled with twelve and a bit years’ worth of tree jokes.
“Ha. Ha. I so do not pine for her.”
Mabel waggled her eyebrows, Dipper flicked an ice cube at her in retaliation.
There was a soft boosh sound from far in the distance. Both twins jumped towards the other, knocking their heads together. They exchanged matching embarrassed looks, bursting out into giggles.
“What was that, anyway?” asked Dipper, rubbing his starry forehead, looking off into the distant dark of the forest.
Mabel took over the iced cocoa production line, adding heaped spoonfuls of cocoa mix into each glass and measuring out syrup in the very scientific measurement of a ‘splort’. Three splorts per drink.
“Sounds like it came from by the lake.” She muttered, her energy focused on her chocolatey saccharine monstrosities. She licked maple syrup off her hand. Perfect.
“Woah, Mabel look!”
She tried to follow where Dipper pointed, to the west just above the tops of the trees. A barely visible column of shining light.
“It’s Beautiful. What is it?”
“It’s the light in the lake, remember Mabel? I told you there was a light that came out of the lake at night!”
Her brother turned around smiling his hair all in curls, ruffled by the warm gust of breeze that shuddered through the pine trees. His eyes were bright and brown like hers. The mysterious light shot out into the sky behind him, a glittering mix of yellows, pinks and greens. Like an oil spill, she thought, or some kind rare and pretty opal. It bathed Dipper’s happy face in supernatural light.
“Yeah you did. I remember.” said Mabel, softly. She held out one of the plastic tumblers to him. Her heart felt warm, things felt like they could be okay, that maybe the gaps in their trust could be filled in with adventures and chocolate milk.
“We should go to the lake tomorrow,” Dipper piped up. “-find out what it is making it!”
That got Mabel’s attention “Yeah!” she cried, grinning. “Like a Mystery Twins thing?”
Dipper clinked his cup with hers as sat back down next her on the roof.
“Yeah sure, like a Mystery Twins thing.” He sipped his drink, milk and cocoa powder clinging to his upper lip. “We could ask Great Uncle Ford to come with us to investigate!”
Mabel took a swig of her cold twin-chocolate. It tasted nothing like the one their father made, but it was still really good. She remembered their last adventure at the lake. All the photos she had in her scrapbook of them and Soos and Stan. The first inkling of a plan formed in Mabel’s head. She smiled back at her brother, the warm sensation of his shoulder leant against hers.
“Maybe.” Was all she said.
She could fix this.
Luckily, for Mabel’s plans anyway, Ford had had a minor incident with a sentient acorn creature that had fallen through the hole in the basement roof (which Soos had promised to fix weeks ago) and landed in radioactive waste. It was now more sentient that before and able to hold basic conversations in somewhat butchered Latin and Ford was trying to mediate its terms for release.
He must have been interested in whatever it was the creature had to say, because he didn’t even react when Dipper mentioned they’d be taking Stan as adult supervision. Mabel, always one for second chances and family bonding wrote him a note saying where they were off to and why. She stuck it to the kitchen table with a starfish sticker and a map.
“So, lemme get this straight kids. You want me to help you go jumping into the middle of the lake to find a pretty light? “ Said Stan when they tried to bring it up.
“We’re investigating, the light." “Said Dipper rubbing the back of his neck. It sounded stupid when Stan said it.
“Kid you ever heard of an Anglerfish? Big mean lookin’ thing with a light bulb head? Lures all the other little fishies into its mouth?’
“Yes?” said Dipper, completely lost as to where this conversation was going.
“Well, News Flash, kid. You’re the little fishies.”
It seemed Stan, was not convinced about the validity of their investigation.
“We need a boat Grunkle Stan, the last one got Gobblewonked and we were thinking you could help us fix it up enough to use.” Mabel looked at Dipper and nodded.
I’ll appeal to the Grunkle, that meant, you handle the Stan.
“I mean, Soos is coming too but he’s only one guy. He can’t build a whole boat by himself.” Dipper added.
Their Grunkle shrugged. “Well yeah, he’s Soos the repairman, not Bob the boat builder.”
“Look Stan, it’s up to you. But if we don’t fix up the boat we’ll have to rent one. At tourist price.” Dipper said, with a knowing smirk at his sister.
“What!? Like hell you will! No kid of mine is gonna get scammed by those no good shark shacks, Hold on I’m gonna go get my fishing vest.”
Stan went powering off upstairs before either of the kids got a word in edgeways. There was a lot of loud noise from him fumbling upstairs.
“That went better than expected.” Said Dipper his eyebrows raised up hiding under the shadow of his hat.
Stan’s voice called down the stairs. “Soos go start the truck!” the rest of him quickly followed down afterwards.
The twins exchanged a sly mystery twin fist bump.
“Good Job, bro!” Said Mabel, finishing her ‘packing’ which seemed to consist of stuffing as many snacks into her backpack as physically possible, with her grappling hook. “Here’s your hat by the way.”
She passed him the khaki fishing hat Stan had made them, she was already wearing hers and she had added a star and a heart to hers since last time. As for his one it looked rather sad, more letters had fallen off since their last excursion, now it just read “Dip”, he looked at his sister now struggling to zip her bag shut.
“Do I-“ He barely even got a word out before she interrupted him.
“-Put the hat on, Dipper.” Said his sister, firmly. “Do it for the mystery.”
With, a scowl and long-suffering sigh Dipper put it on leaving his Pine tree hat on the kitchen table next to Mabel’s note.
“Why are you so set on bringing Stan along with us anyway?”
Mabel looked at her shoes, they were bright red with rainbow coloured laces. She looked up again shyly, not quite looking her brother in the eye.
“Well don’t you think he’s been kind of…sad lately?” she asked.
Dipper shrugged bending down to tie his own shoe. He had noticed, but he was learning there was a way that the men of the Pines family dealt with their feelings and it didn’t seem to be with ice cream and family fun trips.
“He’s always kind of sad, I thought it was just his bitter old man thing.”
Mabel frowned, pink cheeks puffed up with emotion.
“Well I don’t like it. Let’s just include him in this one adventure, okay?” She fluttered her lashes, and when her twin didn’t agree quick enough she jumped at him, tickling him into submission.
Dipper struggled, but trying to protest while laughing uncontrollably was harder than it seemed.
“Ugh, MABEL! Fine, fine! We can use all the help we can get anyway.” He headed out the door to where Soos' truck was ready and waiting in the driveway.
This better be worth it, he thought.
The boat shed by the lake was kind of a mess, the dinghy they had used originally was there, though it was hardly ship-shape. The boat had holes in the body and the wood was splintering in places. If they put it in the lake now it would surely sink.
Mabel stood by while Soos and Stan and Dipper helped move it out of the shed’s doorway and halfway into the light.
The wood by Mabel’s feet had once read “Stan ‘O war” but the wood of the “Stan” was broken in half. She picked it up. Her chest grew tight. She put it on the pile with the rest of the wood scraps, face down so Stan wouldn't see.
“Hey, this isn’t too bad, we can fix this!” Grunkle Stan was saying.
He paced inside and outside the boat shed, surveying the damage like a feudal lord surveying his vast estate. It was obvious he was really into this boat-building thing.
Soos scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I dunno, Mr Pines, is it really going to be safe enough to hold all of us once we’re done?”
“Soos, how many boats have you fixed up in your lifetime?”
Soos rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh do inflatable rafts count?” he asked.
Stan paused mid-pace. “Eh, I’ll give you a half point for an inflatable raft.”
“Then I’ve fixed up exactly…” he stopped to count on his fingers. “-Half a boat, Mr Pines.”
Stan puffed out his chest. “Ha. Well, then I’m the expert here. I know what I'm doing.”
Dipper had set about making an ad hoc drawing table out of a crate for them to make plans on.
He set to drawing up some designs and making calculations on scrap paper in magic marker.
“Okay kid—first of all stop doing math on my drawing board and listen.”
“But we need measurements!” Dipper objected, making grabby hands at the marker his uncle held above his head.
Stan threw the marker back over his shoulder.
“Measurements, Schmeasurements, kid. What we need is nails.” And as if to prove he went off looking for the hammer.
Dipper edged over so he was right next to his sister. He pulled Mabel aside, out of hearing range of Stan and his boat-building dictatorship
“Mabel, you sure this is gonna work? I don't think Grunkle Stan has any idea what he's doing.”
“I know but that's why we bought Soos!” assured Mabel all cheer and smiles.
Dipper looked back Soos had liberated some wire mesh and was using it to reinforce the frame of the boat, it actually looked like a good idea. He sighed.
“Alright but remember why we’re here in the first place, yeah?”
“The mysterious light in the lake. I’m on it bro!” She said. From her skirt pocket she pulled out a crumpled brochure for the lakeside rental shack, on the map of the lake she had drawn arrows from the five locations Dipper had seen the light from, they all pointed to one point in the centre of the lake she’d marked with an X. Also on the map Mabel had drawn several little doodles. One of a boat with cartoon versions of the twins, Soos and both Grunkles happily sailing, behind them Old Man McGucket was riding a dinosaur.
“Woah, Mabel you did this?” her brother asked, impressed.
“Sure did! Though the dinosaurs were artistic licence, I don't actually know if there are dinosaurs.” She narrowed her eyes “I hope there are. I wore my T-rex sweater today.”
Dipper was too busy pouring over her map to comment on the likelihood of there being dinosaurs.
“This is great!” he said. “Now we know whereabouts we should be looking!”
Mabel beamed, her braces glinting in the sunlight.
Stanley interrupted their sweet sibling moment with his pressing need for child labour.
“Kids, come help me with this timber.”
Mabel put the map back in her pocket and the twins went back to boat building.
Mabel wasn't an expert on nautical engineering but she thought they'd done a pretty good job, if she said so herself.
“What should we call it?” she asked Stan and Soos who were busy sanding off the edges of their beautiful creation.
“A boat needs a name!” she added, puffing out her chest, in an explorer pose.
In the back of the boat shed Dipper was busy changing into his swimming trunks and swapping his top for something more breathable in water, Mabel stood in front of her brother with her arms spread wide blocking the others view, a human screen. What else were sisters for, right?
“I propose the “SS Super Stealthy Mystery Ship” offered Soos, after some thought.
Mabel wrote it down on the drawing crate.
“It’s not a ship, though,” called out Dipper from behind her. ”I mean it's a dinghy, it's nowhere big enough to be classified as a ship.”
Soos shrugged “but ship sounds cooler, don’t you think, dude?”
Mabel nodded.
“Yeah, Dipper no shooting down other people’s suggestions unless you're going to offer your own.” She said, scolding.
Her brother blew an audible raspberry and threw his binder at the back of her head. It stuck hanging off her hair, Mabel threw it back so the soft fabric hit him in the face.
“That is not a suggestion.” She added, trying not to giggle.
She turned back to look at the boat and the other men. She remembered her plan from the night before.
“Hey Grunkle Stan, what about the ‘Stan o War’? That’s what this used to be called right?
Stan chuckled a little awkwardly, scratching his head.
“Well yeah, but this was much more of a Pines Family effort, this time around.” he said after a while.
“I know!” exclaimed Soos, a look of pure drama on his round face. “How about: The SS Pines?” He emphasised each word in the air in front of him like he was seeing the name in lights.
Mabel clapped her hands together, stars in her eyes. “I love it!”
“Ehh sure, that’ll do, Soos.” Said Grunkle Stan. Soos straightened his back and perked up at the praise.
“Dipper?” said Mabel looking back over her shoulder. Her brother was struggling with his head stuck in rash vest and made a series of muffled panicked noises. Mabel ignored his plight
“I'm taking that as a yes. SS Pines it is!” she cried, moving to fetch the paint brushes to add the final touches.
The SS Pines— to the pleasant surprise of all her crew— actually floated in the lake. To everyone’s further delight the little boat quite easily took everyone’s weight, and when Stan started the motor it revved into gear.
Dipper cleared his throat. "Ok guys, here's the plan: Grunkle Stan you're our captain-“
“Heh. ‘Course I am, I am the most obvious choice.” Stan said slicking back the hair under his fishing hat.
“Soos, you're… first mate?” he said, glancing at his sister for confirmation. “You answer to Stan,”
“Aye Aye, Mr Pines” Said Soos, with a goofy salute.
“Mabel and I will share the duties of lookout and navigator.” Announced Dipper with a wince as he remembered last time’s incident with the floating island head…thing. He wouldn’t be letting that happen again, no one else was going to touch the video camera.
Stan took to his role as captain like a fish to water. Soon the boatshed was just a little dot on the shoreline,
“What we gonna do when we get to the X?” asked Mabel, looking over Dipper’s shoulder as he took out the brochure map she'd drawn on.
“Y’know. I was just trying it figure out myself. Mabel, you brought your grappling hook, right?”
“You bet I did, brobro!” she cried jumping up holding her backpack over her head like a trophy.
The boat oscillated from side-to-side rather suddenly provoking concerned cries from the others. Mabel sat back down quickly remembering where she was.
Dipper gave her a look. “Don't rock the boat, genius!”
Mabel shrugged. She was enjoying herself, Stan and Soos were working together to steer the boat, and they had yet to dissolve into arguing, or name calling the way she suspected it would have if her great uncle Ford had come along too.
The sun was beating down on them, the lake was relatively calm apart from the odd tourist or two trying out the paddle boats closer to the shore. It was a good day, perfect for Summer Family Memory Making (Oh and solving the mystery of the lake light too).
“So, what do you wanna do with the grappling hook?” she asked.
Dipper pushed up the brim of his hat.
“Well, was thinking we shoot a line down underwater from the boat like an anchor, then I'll climb down with the camera in its waterproof case and try and get some footage. Once we see how deep the source is we can make our next move.”
“That’s it?” cried Grunkle Stan “That's your great plan? Kid the water here gets about 50 ft deep, I don't know how you expect that to work.”
“It's just a thought,” piped up Soos. “But maybe we could rent some scuba gear?”
“No one in this family is renting anything.” Insisted Stan.
Dipper sat in quiet thought for a while. “Hey Grunkle Stan, what was that thing you were saying this morning about Angelfish?”
Stanley furrowed his grey brow. “Anglerfish? They hook you in with their glowing light schtick then they eat ya.”
Mabel and Dipper exchanged worried looks. Soos gulped visibly.
“What if we shoot them first?” posited Dipper, reaching for the grappling hook. “This thing is pretty long, if something alive is making that light, this will at least frighten it up for us to get a look at.”
Mabel’s eyes lit up shining golden against the orange of her sweater.
“I want to shoot it!” she said.
Dipper let her have the grappling hook. “Sure, this was a team effort after all.”
“What do you think about this Cap’n?” First mate Ramirez attempted his best pirate voice.
Stan looked at him, eyebrows raised. “Uh. Well I am always pro-giving children deadly weapons.” He said, scratching his stubble. “I can’t think it’ll hurt.”
“Alright! That settles it!” Mabel pumped the fist that wasn’t holding the grappling hook in the air like her life was a 1980’s teen movie. She took a glance at the map and aimed straight downwards.
“Ready?” said Dipper.
Mabel swallowed, steadying her hands.
“OK FIRE!” her twin cried out.
PTANG! The hook fired.
SPLOOSH
The pull of the wire almost knocked Mabel overboard, but Stan had quickly reached over to her and moved to her side to hold her steady.
After what seemed like forever, there was the distinctive click as the wire ran out.
Mabel looked to Dipper. “So what do we do now?
Dipper was staring straight down into the dark blue water of the lake. “Just, wait a bit. I want to see if anything happens”
Mabel sighed, this was starting to feel less like cool mystery solving/ treasure hunting and more like…well fishing.
Several minutes passed with nothing happening. Dipper looked at his watch and sighed finally.
“Yeah, it’s been five minutes, Mabel.” He said. “Better wind it back up.”
She nodded, disappointed.
Mabel had just finished winding up her grappling hook, when Soos gasped aloud.
“Dudes, look at the water!” he cried pointing into the deeps.
The twins peered over the side, a series of shimmery lights started to play and glisten like scales under the water.
“Woah, cool.” Dipper reached for the video camera. “I’m getting this on tape.”
Mabel paused listening closely. There was a low rumbling, like a pot boiling on a stove.
“Does anyone else hear that?”
Grunkle Stan had opened his mouth to reply, when the lake water just disappeared.
Perhaps disappeared was the wrong word, parted was more like it, like with Moses and the Red Sea except in a perfect circle.
As far as Mabel remembered the sequence of events were this:
The lights showed up, she heard the rumbling, she commented on it, and the lake opened up in a huge circle maybe thirty feet in diameter of air that reached so far down Mabel could make out a labyrinthine system of underwater caves.
Her next memories were more or less terrified glimpses of things. The SS Pines, no longer supported by 50 ft. of water fell away, into the newly created pit, Mabel and the others falling with it. She tipped forwards over the sides of the boat, screaming out for her family. Dipper reached for her but gravity pulled her down, her fingers slipping through his grasp.
At some point mid-fall the water all came rushing back in the exact reverse of what happens when water travels down a plughole, and in a few fractions of a second Mabel found herself in the eye of a giant lake whirlpool. She remembered someones arms wrapping tight around her pulling her up above the cold water long enough for her to take a deep breath, and to catch a final glimpse of Soos pulling her brother out of the current by the neck of his rash vest.
Mabel’s thoughts were fast and fragmented.
Dipper. Help. Soos. Boat. Lights. Pretty. Dipper. HELP. Grunkle Stan. Our Boat! Hold your breath. Arms? Not Dipper? Safe. Cold! HELP! Water. Dip-
There was a light blue phosphorescent glow to the cave’s walls, it reflected off the water, shimmering like the sapphire lights of some long lost underwater city.
They were lucky the pool had dumped them both here. The cavern was tiny and cold but it had oxygen, and the surface water that ran past their feet didn’t seem to be rising,
“I'm sorry, Grunkle Stan.” Said Mabel. She was shivering and her hair was dripping wet. Her T-rex sweater wasn’t supposed to be cold washed, she thought briefly, but this was beyond her control.
Stan let out a gruff noise and took off his fishing vest, which he draped around her shoulders. She clung to it like a life preserver.
“Don't be, kid. You're alright. That’s what matters.”
“But this is all my fault.” She sniffled. “I planned the boating trip. I shot the grappling hook, I asked Dipper to invite you. I- I just wanted to help you to have one of your dreams.”
Stan pulled a face, his forehead wrinkling even more than usual.
“What dream? What are you on about? You hypothermic?” He felt her cold forehead with his hand, then wrapped his arm around her back, pulling her closer to him for some body warmth.
“To build a boat and sail around the world. I know we're not Great Uncle Ford but I thought that maybe we could still do it as a family.”
Stanley laughed, though it wasn't directed at her. It was a wretched wheezing laugh
“Mabel, sweetie. This hunk of junk couldn’t even sail around the lake once, I mean look at it.”
She looked at the splintered remains of the SS Pines and winced. They'd put a lot of work into that.
“Look, kiddo. I appreciate the thought, its real sweet of you. But that's not really part of my life anymore, you know?”
“Why not?” she asked.
“I dunno, people change I guess.” he muttered not looking her in the eye. His face dark and stormy.
And Mabel understood at once.
It was never about the boat, here she was getting hung up on thoughts of the open sea and pirate adventure and Stanley never really cared about the Stan o War as a boat at all. He cared about the future it had promised him, Fame, Fortune, Ford.
It was like how ‘Mystery Twins’ wasn't always about the mysteries or the handshake. The secret of Twin-chocolate likely couldn't be found in any recipe even if their Dad wrote it down for them and the photos in her summer scrapbook would never hold the same magic to others as they did for her and Dipper.
“The others must be looking for us, right Grunkle Stan?” Her heart clenched again, was Dipper alright? He was a strong enough swimmer and she’d seen Soos pull him away from the whirlpool, quick enough.
“No doubt, Soos is gonna rouse the whole coastguard.” He joked. “We just gotta sit tight.”
Mabel tried to smile but it came out as more of a weird alien grimace. She thought about how much fun they'd had building that boat this morning, Stan had enjoyed that at least.
“I did ask him to come too.” Said Mabel, voice uncharacteristically hushed. It bounced off the cave walls in whispers. Neither of them clarified who ‘he’ was, they just knew.
“He was too busy, huh?”
Mabel didn't reply just leant her head against her great uncle’s shoulder.
Stan sighed. He gave his great-niece an absent-minded pat. The closest he really got to outward affection.
“He always was too busy. Too busy for me, too busy for Sherm, I reckon if he'd been here for your old man growing up he’d still have been too busy for him too. He's the most brilliant man I've ever known but with people he just falls to pieces like a complete idiot.” He shook his head with an expression that was so sad and so tired, Mabel snuggled herself closer into the crook of his arm. She no longer knew if she was doing it for her comfort or for his.
“I'm sorry, for pushing you two together, the other day.” She said staring at how her rainbow laces had darkened in colour when they were wet.
Stanley chuckled again, “Don't mention it. You meant well. You're a lot like your Nonna was at your age. You care a lot”
Mabel nodded against him. “I just wanted to try and fix it, Grunkle Stan. So when it happens to us, I know it's not permanent.”
“When it happens to… Oh. Oh, kid.” He paused, fumbling and stumbling all over his words, like his tongue suddenly too big for his mouth.
“Mabel, I need you to realise… What happened with me ‘n Ford? I-it's not like a curse or anything. I told ya before, it's unnatural for siblings to get on as well as you two. You’ll be fine.”
“But you and Grunkle Ford were was close as us when you were our age, and now you won't even talk properly! a-and Aunty Sam and Aunt Miriam were the same and ever since they went to college Miri's all rude and bitter and she's mean to Dipper for no reason! That's two generations of Pines Twins!” Mabel shoved her face in her hands, this wasn’t how her day was supposed to go. Trapped in a tiny blue cave pouring her heart out. She was near tears and freezing. She wanted to be back at the shack safe with Waddles, Dipper and clean clothes.
Mabel didn't say anything for a while, she crossed her arms and rested them on her knees, and then she buried her face against her arms.
“I don't want us to be the third.” She whispered, barely audible. “I love my brother...”
“I know you do, and that's why I know it'll never happen to you two. You're a good person, Mabel, a good sister. I was never any of those things, I was a no good kid, dumb as bricks, and the streets made me a little wiser but deep down I know I'm still no good conman at heart.”
Mabel shook her head with such a vehemence her hair whipped around her spraying lake water in Stan’s face. He wiped from his eyes
“That's not true, Grunkle Stan! That’s not true!” she hissed.
Stanley sighed.
“I appreciate the gesture, Mabel. But I think I’m more than well aware of my own flaws.”
“But remember the time with the zombies? You saved my life and Dippers! And that time at the election you saved our lives again instead of doing your speech! You’re always looking out for us!. You let Soos work at the shack and now he’s part of our family and he couldn’t be happier. Also you treat Dipper like you would any other boy his age, you were calling him boy things since we were like five, way way before our parents even came around to it. I know it’s not something we talk about but you have no idea how much he loves you for that.”
That’s literally human decency, kid if you’re thanking me for that you’re really scraping the bottle of the barrel.”
Mabel sighed in frustration, a low growl curled its way out her mouth.
“It should be but look at Aunt Miriam. She doesn’t even call him his name!”
“Yeah, well next time she tries that, she gets a plague of locusts.” The old man muttered.
“That’s what I’m talking about Grunkle Stan!” Mabel was shouting now, her voice bounced in the tiny cavern, the echoes sounded like a dozen passionate twelve-year-olds were screaming.
“You got Grunkle Ford back even after everything that happened between you. You saved Waddles! You said that I care a lot, but to be completely honest if I could care about something even half as much as you do about this family I’d be ten times a better I person than I am already.”
Stanley blinked, once, twice, three times.
“What?” he said, not sure if he was supposed to laugh or not. Was she joking? Was it a trick?
Mabel leaned back against the cave wall with a loud exhale. She recrossed her arms and went back to sitting hunched over, puffing slightly.
“Look Grunkle Stan I just want to get out of here and see Dipper.” She said. There were tracks on her face that Stan was fairly sure were not from the water in the lake.
“Hey kid, how about you have a feel around on these walls see if there's any hidden doors or somethin’. I'm too tall to stand up in here.”
Mabel looked up to where he was gesturing. The walls were naturally made from these big round boulders, softly glowing blue. Where Stan was pointing was the intersection of two boulders. She hadn't noticed it before, too stressed about the whole situation, but now she noticed in the cracks in between the boulders a faint different coloured light caught be seen, pink and sometimes yellow. Was there another cavern behind this one? She wondered? How deep did the system go?
From what they'd seen through the whirlpool, there were multiple caves, so maybe they were connected somehow.
“Okay.” She said taking a deep breath.
She pushed herself to standing, her elbow was bleeding from a small gash. She poked at it, out of interest then wiped the excess blood on her skirt. Clinging to the slimy cave wall she poked around feeling for any ancient symbols or levers. What would dipper look for? She thought. She pushed around at the meeting of the two stones. Nothing.
“There’s nothing here, Grunkle Stan. But the boulder might move if we both push it.”
Stan nodded. “It’s worth a go”. He slowly pushed himself up to his feet but he had to duck to stop himself from banging his head against the stone ceiling. He shuffled over like a hunchback.
“Okay, kid. On the count of three, we both push, ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be, Grunkle Stan.” Said Mabel laying her hands against the stone, preparing to push.
“Alright” Stanley bent ready to put his back into it.
“One” Mabel bent her knees slightly.
Stan pressed his palms hard against the boulder. “Two”
“Three” they chorused, pushing as hard as they both could managed.
The boulder shifted.
Outside of the blue cave they originally fell into was a long network of serpentine caves, one long one acting as a stone corridor. They wandered the corridor for a bit, trying to follow its path. Eventually the reflection of sparkling lights led them into some kind of central chamber. In the middle of which was the source of all this chaos.
The rock was about twice the size of a football but with the same general shape. It was embedded in the ground in the central cave chamber. The gem looked grey to the naked eye, a white cloudiness to it. From out of the centre of the gem shone the flickering lights green and pink and golden.
“It’s beautiful.” Breathed Mabel. The colours reminded her of an opal ring her Nonna always wore and the Saturday mornings the twins would spend in their grandparents’ house in San Francisco as little kids.
Stanley pinched himself to check he was still awake.
“A gem like that must be worth a fortune” he said, blown away.
“I don't think we should touch it, Grunkle Stan.” Mabel didn't take her eyes of the gem. “I think that's what made the lights and the whirlpool.”
Her uncle chuckled. “Ya’ don't say, kid.”
“Let's look around some more, maybe there will be controls or something here” said Stan after a while, looking around scraping at the green slimy lichen that covered the central
“Hey Grunkle Stan, you can read Hebrew right?”
“Depends who’s asking.” He muttered, looking back at her.
Mabel pointed at a smooth tablet inlaid on the cavern floor by the gem. Stan moved over to examine it, four letters were engraved into the tablet.
אתבש
He frowned.
“Those are just letters, if they mean somethin’ I've never heard of the word before.”
Mabel had an idea. She needed to write some things down though.
“Wait right there, I’ll be right back” She said, rushing off.
“Wait Mabel!”
She disappeared back down the twisting corridor and back into the tiny blue cave they had fallen into, and she grabbed the pointiest piece of wood she could find in the wreck of the SS Pines, and then quickly she returned to where Stan was.
“What ya gonna with that, kid? Stake our way out of here?” he asked.
Mabel shook her head “This is my arts and crafts ingenuity kicking in, we need something to write with so I’ll make one. Now Grunkle Stan can you read those letters out for me, please?”
“Ah sure? Letsee we got Aleph, tav, bet and shin.”
In the thick green moss on the stone of the wall Mabel carved out the letters ‘Atbsh’ the letters weren't the clearest but they were still readable enough for her plan to work.
“Atbash .” she said out loud. “I've heard of that before.”
The two of them said nothing, both repeating the strange word over and over under their breath trying to jog their memories.
“It's a type of backward code.” said Stanley out of the blue. “Shermy once said Ford sent her weird coded messages when she was little and she had to find someone who could translate them.”
“A code?” said Mabel. “Of Course, Grunkle Ford must have been down here when he was doing his research!”
Stan grunted “Oh perfect, now I gotta let Poindexter help us get outta here? Don't I get to do anythin’ for myself?”
Mabel sighed, she didn't know what else to say. “That means we probably need the journal to find our way out, too.” Her heart sank.
“I'm not so sure,” said Stan scratching his head. “I mean I'm not my brother, but I don't think he'd leave the name of a code lying around here without any text to decipher.”
Mabel cheered up, at that. “Let’s look around then!”
In the back of the cave away from how they got in there was a little alcove hidden in the shadows.
There were three separate levers each with a different colour and a coded word above them
hgzmldzi ivgfimglhsliv krmvhdzhsviv
Green Blue. Yellow
Mabel gasped involuntarily.
“Grunkle Stan” she called out.
He hurried over, trying to not slip on the thick green cave slime , on the walls and his close On seeing the levers his face split into a huge grin.
“Haha! Jackpot! Good work, Sweetie.” He said ruffling her still wet hair.
“Now we just need to know how to decipher it.”
“Well I'm no Poindexter, but aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet right?”
Mabel nodded, she and Dipper hadn't been allowed back to Saturday School regularly since they pulled that prank with all the frogs so she never really studied Hebrew but she at least knew the alphabet.
“-and tav is the last letter, you follow? Then the next letter is bet which is the second letter and it's followed by shin which is the second to last.”
“So… you’re writing the alphabet backwards right? The code is contained in the name.” She perked up suddenly back in full Mabel mode, the pancakes she’d had for breakfast giving her more sugar to run on.
“Grunkle Stan you stay there, I'm gonna go write this down on the walls. Then you can read the code off to me, okay?”
“Okay Gotcha.” He hesitated. “Hey Mabel?”
She turned around, curious. “What?”
“Does this make me one of those Mystery things you two are always on about?” he said, joking.
She considered this. “Well you're a twin, I'm a twin. We're solving mysteries, right? I'd say that counts.”
Despite the situation, Stanley actually looked pleased.
Mabel grinned huge and wide.
“I dub you, Stanley Pines, A full member of the Mystery Twins” she said bumping their fists together
“Yeah, yeah mystery twins. Rah rah rah. Go on, get writing, kiddo” he said, smiling.
The process was long and arduous but eventually Mabel had translated the code.
Stan came up behind her, he’d been examining the stone corridor they came from for any exit points. “How's it going, kid the others must be worrying by now.” He said.
On the cave wall carved into the slimy moss Mabel had carved the three words:
STANOWAR RETURNTOSHORE PINESWASHERE
“Hah. Stanowar. I didn't think that nerd remembered that.” Stan said under his breath.
“He must have been thinking about you when he was down here studying whatever this rock is.” She said softly.
“In a dark no-end hole by the water? Probably reminded him of our home in Jersey.” He muttered.
Mabel didn't say anything but she grabbed her uncle’s arm instead, still shivering. She was so cold. Her legs were covered in nicks and bruises. She wanted to go home.
They moved back over to the alcove where the coded message and the levers were.
The blue middle lever says return to shore, let's give that a go. “ Stan was saying. Mabel gave said lever a pull.
The earth beneath their feet shuddered, a low groaning sound likely some kind of mechanism firing.
"Get behind me, Mabel." Warned Stanley grabbing onto her tiny hand. She did as he said.
Finally all the groaning,machinery noises ceased and a door carved into the Rock to the left of the levers, opened the expanse of caves coiling upwards
They climbed through the winding cave system and into the large bit of Pipe the curled upwards for what looked like forever.
"Come on, kiddo." Said Stanley. "We're on the homeward stretch."
The tunnel's exit popped the, out about half a mile from the lake parking lot. Stanley helped Mabel out last because the drop was too sheer for her to jump off.
The walk back to the lakeside felt longer than the crawl up the pipe, it was steep and the midday summer sun was beating down on their already tired and knocked about heads.
Mabel's legs started to falter about a 20 yards from the boat shed, so Stan bent down, his niece fastened her arms around his neck and he carried her to the lakeside.
They could see Dipper and Soos arguing on the pier down by the boat shed. Dipper clinging to Mabel's backpack for dear life.
Soos saw them first, and quite dependably fainted onto the ground, Dipper came running at them, multiple emotions fighting for dominance on his face at once.
“You're both okay? You're alive? Mabel! Is she hurt?" he reached them puffing, still clinging to his sister's bag.
He held it out to her rather lamely. "I saved this for you!" he said.
Stan lowered Mabel to the ground, she flung her freezing soggy arms around her brother’s neck.
“It was awesome, Dipper! You should have been there. There were underwater caves and we thought we were trapped but we found our way into the central chamber and we found the beacon, at least I think it’s a beacon it might be a gem… or an egg! Anyway then we couldn’t find a way out but Stan read the Hebrew and we cracked the Atbash code and we escaped like awesome adventurers,” She ran out of air mid-sentence and had to take a deep gulping breath,
Her brother wrapped her up in another hug.
“Mabel you idiot, here we were panicking over what to do. We thought you’d drowned! We thought a giant sinkhole just upped and ate you both and you were cracking codes?” Dipper laughed incredulously, he didn’t seemed that angry to have been left out for once. For once all was good with the Pines twins. Mabel was enjoying all the shocked affection, it would be back to awkward sibling gestures very soon, no doubt.
“Nah, brobro. I didn’t drown! I did lose my fishing hat though.” She frowned against her brother’s shoulder.
Grunkle Stan put his hand on her shoulder.
“Don't you worry, kid. There's plenty more where those came from!”
As soon as the truck came into the driveway Ford came running out to greet them.
“Mabel! I got your note, I should have told you whatever you do don't approach the beacon from above!”
“Thanks for the warning, Great Uncle Ford.” snarked Dipper, picking lake weed from his sister's sweater while she was struggling with the seat-belts. “-a bit late though.”
“W-what happened?”
“Family Fun Day, Sixer.” Said Stan grinning, still covered in a layer of light green slime “You really missed out this time!”
Ford pulled a face at the nickname, but he was distracted by the state of his niece.
He held her door open for her. “Mabel, what happened to your clothes! Did you fall in?”
Mabel having lived through one Near Death Experience today and survived was currently thriving on a cocktail of sugar, energy, endorphins and sheer joy to be alive, and had been all but bouncing off the walls the entire drive home. She charged out of the truck towards Ford at full speed looking like some kind of tiny lake monster.
Dipper grabbed her by the back of the sweater to stop her from barrelling face-firsr into their great uncle.
“IT WAS AMAZING GRUNKLE FORD! WE BUILT A BOAT AND IT DIDN’T SINK AND WE CALLED IT. THE SS PINES AND DID YOU KNOW GRUNKLE STAN IS REALLY GOOD AT BOAT BUILDING?”
Ford backed away a little from his rampaging niece, trying to avoid the slime.
“It was definitely a team effort.” Added Stanley, “and Kid, I usually don't say this, but you really need a shower and maybe some disinfectant on those scratches.”
Mabel blew him a raspberry. “I AM INVINCIBLE GRUNKLE STAN I AM A CODEBREAKING MYSTERY MACHINE!” she turned and charged into the Shack squealing at the top of her voice.
He shook his head, smiling. “Dipper could you make sure she doesn't clothesline herself on the door handle, again.”
Dipper sighed, “Yeah, sure.” He followed his twin inside.
Stanford gave his brother a sweeping once-over assessment, the wet hair, the disheveled vest and shirt, the green whatever that was on his hands.
“You could use a shower too, Stan.” He said, “What the heck happened out there?
Stanley laughed making his own way into the shack, in step with his twin. “Adventure. Mystery. This gross cave slime.” He shrugged “Nothing we couldn't handle though, right Crew?” he called out the last part.
“Aye-aye, cap’n”. Chorused Soos and both twins, all from different rooms.
“Family Fun Day, Sixer.” Stan said again, on his way upstairs to change. It wasn't much of an explanation
He passed him a scrap of the paper Dipper had used to make the design for the SS Pines.
Ford stared at the paper, Dipper’s calculations and drawings scribbled in marker. Plus a little Mabel drawing in the corner of the twins, Soos and Stanley steering a large pirate ship, with swords.
“-Maybe next time you won’t be too busy.” His brother added, from the stairwell.