MindEscape

Chapter 3

Dipper cried tears of joy when he found out that last summer Stan copied Journal Three. It wasn't the same old pages he used to help himself the previous summer, but it was good enough. Maybe he could see about going back in time or something later to prevent Bill from burning the books, but that was a thought for another day...a very dangerous one at that. He was going to sit down on the couch and happily read it for old times sake, but then remembered it was still dirty, Stan also demanded he clean it and the porch. Luckily the couch and carpet weren't so hard to clean, but the old wood of the back porch was another story. He'd probably have to just replace it. That required Soos to help him out.

Disassembling a porch over thirty years old was dangerous, not to mention it sounded much harder than blasting a monster with a sci-fi ray gun that shouldn't even have existed yet. A project like that would take a long time to complete. Protesting against Stan was just as possible as Waddles running away, not. The best option was to just ask Soos to do it. Soos liked fixing things, it was his job after all.

Now seemed like an appropriate time to kick back and read good old journal number three while he had some free time. The perfect place being the two seater couch on the porch. It was wet from last night's rainfall, but the inside couch was too, so it made no difference where he sat. Besides, it was nice outside. The teen hopped onto the couch and cracked open the book to whatever random page his finger fell on. He was shown the nifty page dedicated to the gnomes. He laughed at the memory while reading the page and the additions applied after they defeated the gnome monster with a leaf blower.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

"But you promised! We had a deal!" The ghost girl cried after processing what Valerie had said. The two girls were tucked away in an alley, and Valerie wasn't looking at Dani, who was in human form, clutching the metal boomerang in her hands. Valerie crossed her arms.

"I know, Dani, but... Your cousin and I don't exactly get along. Plus, a friend of mine went missing, and I want to look into it." She explained. Dani wanted to hit her friend for being so ignorant, but...it wasn't her secret to tell. Daniele sighed and went ghost.

"Fine." She snapped, slightly hurt by Valerie's betrayal. Dani didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. Danny was one of the most powerful ghosts she knew of. He was even able to stand up to Vlad! Yet...someone had managed to capture him, restrain him, and torture him to the point where he was forced to escape and run away from home. What if they came for her next? But more importantly, what if Danny was still hurt? What if he was bleeding to death in some forest in Montana? Or perhaps his crushed and battered body was crumpled at the bottom of a canyon? Dani forced herself to stop imagining such things and floated into the air. "I'll see you around, Val." Dani told the ghost hunter. She drew back an arm and threw the BooMerang as hard as she could. It sped off in a seemingly random direction, but Dani knew that it would take her where she needed to go. Waving goodbye to Valerie, she took off after the spinning metal tracker, Valerie's words lost in the wind that whizzed past the ghost girl's ears.

"Good luck."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"...and that's how me and Dipper met the 8th and a Half President of the United States." A cheery voice explained through the trees. Dipper closed his makeshift book, Mabel and Danny were back! The boy took a deep breath, his leisurely break was over. He straightened his slouch and stood up, smiling as he walked down the rickety porch stairs to greet the two. The stack of papers that represented journal three tucked away into his vest with his other journal.

"Hey, Dipper!" Mabel called as her brother came into view. "We're back." She was holding Danny's hand, it was a subconscious thing. "What have you been up too?" She asked at the two advanced too Dipper's place in the clearing.