Chapter Text
The three of them stared at the door, shimmering and wobbling like a body of water. It appeared to be similar to the last door - bright colors shifted around inside, like a portal to a distant dream world. But it was more rectangular, less deformed than the last one.
“Do you think it’ll work?” Luz shifted nervously beside Eda, holding her hand like a scared toddler clinging to their mother.
“Only one way to find out.” Eda turned to rest her free hand on Luz’s shoulder. “Kid, if you want to back down, I’d understand -”
“No, it’s okay, Eda. I was okay last time, and I’ll be okay now.” Luz tied the rope around her waist, stepping forward and turning to look at Eda and King. “Same drill.” A small smile graced her mouth.
“We know.” Eda replied, grabbing the other end of the rope. “Be safe, kid.”
“I will.” Luz nodded, and after only a brief moment of hesitation, stepped through the door.
“Do you think she’ll be okay? She seemed really shaken last time.” King piped up, leaning his head on Eda’s leg.
“Nah, she’s careful. Can’t get herself hurt in just-” Eda gasped, cutting herself off as the rope suddenly tugged. She braced herself, wrapping the rope around her hand and tugging back. “What? I don’t understand- oh!” There was no way Luz was strong enough to pull Eda through the portal, yet the rope pulled with a surprising tenacity. Eda shrieked as one of her hands was thrust through the portal, holding herself back with her other arm and her legs. Balancing precariously, she grunted, trying to pull her arm out. “King, help !” Eda tried to offer him the end of the rope. He tried to desperately grasp at it, bracing his little feet on the ground. But he was no use - he was too weak. Eda grunted, gritting her teeth and trying to pull the rope back with all the strength she could muster. “Come….on…. argh !” Eda put all her strength into one final tug, but the rebound pushed her farther in - without another hand to hold onto the door, both she and King went tumbling through the portal.
Eda screamed, hurtling through the air. She tried to reach out for King, but jerked away in surprise when she hit the ground - and hard. The wind was sucked out of her body, and for a brief second Eda blacked out before her body could regain the ability to breathe. After a few seconds, she sucked in a large breath and sat up, but couldn’t register her surroundings before the bright, shimmering portal several feet above the ground caught her attention. Luz and Eda watched in horror as the portal door shriveled and collapsed into itself. Eda sucked in a breath and grasped at the rope. Instead of tying Luz down to the Boiling Isles, it had anchored them all to another dimension instead.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“No...no, no no!” Luz frantically patted the ground where the portal was, looking around for it. But it was gone, dissipated into the air. “No, Eda, and...where’s King?”
King was high up, somehow tangled in the branches of a birch tree. He wriggled free, landing on Eda’s lap with an oof . “Luz, I’m right here!”
“King!” Luz ran and enveloped Eda and King in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry! How could this happen?”
“Ow, ow - jeez, kid! You’ve gotten a lot stronger.” Despite her words of repulsion, Eda set a firm hand on Luz’s shoulder, leaning their heads together. Luz’s arms trembled as she embraced them, and Eda gently patted Luz’s hair as she spoke. Soft and spiky. “But..what happened back there?”
“I think...maybe the extra Titan blood made the door an actual portal, but it can’t stay open as long as the other one did.” King hopped off of Eda’s lap and scampered over to where the portal was, grabbing at the leaves underneath it. “But...I don’t understand. Luz, why were you pulling on the rope?”
“I-I wasn’t, I swear!” Luz looked panicked at being accused of dragging Eda and King through. “I was too surprised from hitting the ground from so far away, and from my side of the door, it looked like...like the rope was shortening. This never happened with the other door, what did we do wrong? It didn’t even put us in the right spot, either.” Luz stood up and turned around, and Eda could see they were right - instead of the old house and leafed trees Eda was used to seeing, they were surrounded by towering cone-shaped trees. It was beautiful, no doubt - but it wasn’t Luz’s home.
“What...is this place? I’ve never seen anything like this.” Eda stood up, brushing herself off. Even the leaves on the new trees were weird - they were thin and spiky, and Eda plucked one out of her palm. Not impressed.
“We don’t have pine trees here...where are we?”
“I don’t know, kid. I’ve been here and there around the human realm, but I don’t recognize this place at all.”
Luz didn’t respond. When they turned around, their eyes were shiny with unshed tears. “I’m sorry, Eda, King. This is all my fault, I don’t know why the rope kept pulling, and if I hadn’t made you hold onto it, you wouldn’t have gone through, and -”
“And leave you in this weird place all alone?” Eda crossed the clearing and put her hands on Luz’s shoulders. “This didn’t work out the way any of us wanted, but at least we’re all together, and safe.”
Luz sniffed, wiping her tears away. “O-Okay.”
“Alright. Let’s go find out where we are. Man, it’s been a while since I’ve been in the human realm. After the whole Vegas situation about twenty years ago, I haven’t been all that jazzed about having more long-winded adventures here.”
“‘Vegas situation’? You went to Vegas ?”
“Long story. You don’t wanna know.” Been a while since I thought about Vegas . Eda sighed and carefully looked around the clearing, retrieving Owlbert from the ground. At least the familiar grain of the wood against her hand was comforting, even if their surroundings were completely different. “Hm. I’ve got Owlbert, but...sometimes magic is more unpredictable in the human realm. Not like I have a lot of magic to use, anyway.”
“My glyphs don’t work here.” Luz added softly. She wasn’t completely over the disappointment of the door. Slumped shoulders and monotone voice. “Before I saved you from the petrification, Lilith and I got into a fight and she, King and I went tumbling through the portal. She was able to tie King down with vines, but when I tried to fight back, the glyph just...crumbled.” Luz’s shoulders fell a bit, but at least she didn’t sound so discouraged. Eda gently gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
“Hm. Not good for us.”
“I wonder if my voice powers work here. WEH!” King shouted at a young sapling, and it trembled slightly, absorbing the magic. King bounced, pumping his fists. “Yes!”
“Alright. Got that sorted out. Now, which way do you think we should go…?” Eda turned in a circle, pine needles crunching under her feet, looking around the forest for some kind of clue. “It looks like mid-afternoon, we should get somewhere safe before nighttime. Who knows what kind of things stalks these woods at night.”
“We must be up north somewhere...wait! This is the human realm! I can call my Mom!” Luz shuffled through her bag, pulling out her phone.
“While you’re doing that, let’s get a move-on.” Eda gently pushed Luz in a random direction, and followed close behind while they dialed. Hopefully this would make Luz feel at least a little better. Eda tried to focus on looking for signs of life, but was also anxiously listening to Luz while they called.
“Come on Mom, pick up …” Luz sighed and pulled the phone away from their face, pressing on it again. “....ugh! Straight to voicemail! I know she’s probably at work, but for once I’m actually in the human realm and I can't get a hold of her!”
King leaned close to Eda’s dress, tugging on it. “What’s a voice-mail?”
Eda shrugged, scanning the forest again. In front of them, Luz continued to try and call. “Uh...hey, Mom. I’m in the human realm. We built another portal and it worked! ...Except that it stuck us somewhere that isn’t home. We’re trying to find out where we are, I’ll call you when I find out. I...I love you, Mom.” Luz sighed and looked at the phone again.
“Did she pick up that time?”
“No, I left her a message. Hopefully she’ll call me back at some point...oh! Oh my gosh!” Luz stopped in her tracks and turned to face Eda and King, their eyes bright. “I can use the GPS on my phone to find out where we are, and how to get to the nearest town, and...oh. Oh, boy.” Luz cringed, zooming out on her phone. “Oh, this is not good.”
King and Eda looked over her shoulder. Eda wasn’t all that sure what it meant, but it looked like some sort of map. “What does that mean?” King asked, pointing a claw at the corner of her phone.
“We’re in OREGON ?” Luz shouted, forcing Eda and King to jump back.
“Ouch, Luz we’re right beside you!”
“What’s an Oregon?”
“I uh….I live in Connecticut. Which is across the country and about 3,000 miles away from where we are right now.” Luz showed both of them a map, which had a long, snaking line traveling across it.
“Well, uh...no biggie! We’ll just walk there. It’ll be fine, right? ...Right?” King interjected, looking from Eda to Luz nervously.
Eda chewed on her bottom lip, thinking. “Well, when those cops arrested me in New York, they said I’d driven around 300 miles from where I stole that car. And I’d been on the road for a good two hours before they caught me. So…it’s not looking good.”
“You stole a car in New York?”
“Yeah. I needed to get away, what was I supposed to do? Pay for it?” Eda chuckled to herself. King side-eyed her nervously and squirmed up to sit in Luz’s hoodie.
“Hey, there’s a building not too far from here. Maybe they can help us…?” Luz turned around in a circle until the little arrow on the screen pointed to a small intersection of lines. “Okay, this way!”
“Maybe they’ve got something to eat. Or drink. Once I tried this stuff called, uh...I think they called it a latte? It was good, but I got banned for life ‘cause I tried to pay for it with a raccoon I found in the forest.” Eda snorted.
“Yeah, unfortunately, I…heard about that.” Luz squinted and rolled their eyes. “...I wonder how we can get back home.”
“I don’t know. But, we’ll figure it out. I promise. If a human somehow got into the Boiling Isles from the human realm, we can surely get back there. Wait - huh?” Eda trailed off, squinting into the distance. “What’s that?”
“Oh, I think it’s the building!” Luz jogged forward a bit and peered through the trees. It was a tall, rather thin triangle shaped structure. Civilization! “Yeah, it is! Come on!” They started off towards the building, but Luz skidded to a stop. “Uh...wait a second. You guys aren’t exactly passable human realm beings. Eda, people normally don’t have pointy ears here. And uh...can you do anything about that fang?”
Eda groaned. “Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. Been a while since I had to do this...” With a muffled squeaking sound, Eda unscrewed the fang from her tooth and tucked it into her pocket. “And I should have the bandana here somewhere...aha!” Eda rummaged through her hair, pulling out her beloved green bandana and tying it around her head. “Happy now?”
“Good enough. Let’s go, I can handle it. And, King - don’t say anything. You look strange enough, but normally there aren’t any talking animals in the human realm.” After taking a quick precursory look around, Luz stood up from the bushes and beckoned for Eda and King to follow, brushing leaves off her pants. But as they rounded the corner of the strange little house, they saw the building for what it was really worth.
“What is a...Mystery Shack?”
The little building was a weird little shop, probably designed to attract travelers. There was a gigantic wooden sign on the other side that read MYSTERY SHACK. The main porch beckoned visitors to enter the gift shop, and look at the wondrous things inside.
“Huh. It’s some kind of...tourist trap.” Luz stopped in her tracks. “This might be better, actually. They might have maps or something to help us.” They went up the front porch, and squinted on a sign at the door. “Uh...says it’s closed. Maybe someone can still help us, though?”
“Eh, worth a shot.” Eda gently pushed Luz aside and knocked on the door. They were about to knock again when the door swung open.
A short, rather round man opened the door, looking at them curiously. He had a pear shaped face, two rather long front teeth, and a hooked nose, sort of like the Golden Guard. “Uh, sorry dudes, the Mystery Shack is closed today. Got some people coming back to stay for a bit.”
“Actually we’re not here for a...tour.” Luz smiled nervously, pushing her way in front of Eda and King. “Me and my family were hiking and we got lost. Is there some sort of map, or anything to help us…?”
“Uh, well, the nearest town is that way. But I can’t take you anywhere until Stan gets back with the car - oh, there they are!” The man pointed behind them, where Eda saw a somewhat beat up red car pulling up to the house. There were two almost identical-looking men in their early sixties inside, dressed in heavy coats. To be fair, it was getting colder outside, but Eda figured they would have had to go up to a place colder than the Knee to be that bundled up. The one in the passenger seat hopped out of the car, staring curiously at the three strangers on the porch. The one who was driving, wearing a thick red beanie, hadn’t noticed them yet, and was still talking to who looked like his brother. Eda thought they looked mildly familiar, but pushed it aside until she heard the driver’s voice.
“...glad to be back, you know?”
Eda gasped. How in the world could this have happened? Of all the places he’d be? She’d recognize that gravelly, snarky voice anywhere, not just in a flashy casino. And she could see he was the same Stan, just aged around twenty years. Still wearing those rectangular glasses, the teardrop shaped nose, his broad frame - of course it was him.
Luz elbowed Eda. “What? Do you recognize him?” She whispered.
“...You could say that. I kinda...sorta….maybe married and then robbed him blind in Vegas twenty years ago,” Eda added under her breath. “Just...be cool. Maybe he won’t recognize us.” Eda put on an unnaturally wide smile and stepped behind Luz, although it felt a bit naked since her fang was absent. Unfortunately, her supposed ex-husband was approaching the door.
“Hey Soos, I thought you were closing the shack toda- huh?” He stopped in his tracks, staring at Eda with a befuddled expression.
“Uh oh,” Eda whispered.
“YOU!” The man dropped his bags, a furious expression on his face.
“Stanley, what is going on?” The other man looked from Stan to Eda with a confused look. “You know them?”
“Of course I know them - she stole all my winnings in Vegas twenty years ago! And my car!” Stan yelled, pointing at Eda furiously. “You made me lose everything, you old crone!”
“Mr. Pines, what are you-” The man who answered the door - Soos? Did Eda mishear him? - asked before Stan bellowed angrily and started towards Eda. King and Luz yelped and hopped out of the way, rolling clumsily on the porch.
“That’s my ex-wife, Marilyn!”
“Uh - no I’m not! Haha, wow would you look at the time -” Eda nervously answered before vaulting over the porch railing and booking it to the woods.
“Get back here! I don’t care that you’re a woman, I’ll beat you up anyway!” Stan rolled up his sleeves, running after Eda and panting. “Damn, she’s fast!”
“Eda, get back here!” Luz yelled, grabbing King under his armpits and sprinting after the two old people running through the forest. Luckily, the Stanley guy wasn’t as fast as Luz, and they caught up to him, throwing themself in front of him. “Stop chasing Eda!”
“Kid, get out of the way!”
“No!” Luz squealed, pushing against Stanley with all her weight. Because Luz is tall and thin like a young tree, Stanley knocked them out of the way and was about to take another step until he was caught from behind.
“Stanley! What was that all about!” The other man from the car was there, his long jacket flowing behind him while he clonked towards them in his giant stompy boots. He’d grabbed the back of Stanley’s jacket and pulled him away.
“Ugh! Ford! Let me deal with this!”
“That is a child, Stanley! They have nothing to do with this!” The other man - Ford - retorted, pointing exasperatedly at Luz.
“Yeah, well -” Stan tried to retort. “At least I’ve been married.”
“That’s because it was illegal for me to do that until eight years ago,” Ford said under his breath. “Now, stop! It looked like they needed help, and you scared them off.”
Stanley huffed angrily, but seemed to be neutralized. Luz turned around and cupped her hands over her mouth, yelling into the forest. “Eda! Eda, come back! The Stanley guy is….well, he’s fine, I think?”
Eda peeked out from behind a tree, eyeing Stan suspiciously. “You sure? I can still handle myself, old man.” She leaned against the tree, folding her arms and squinting at him.
“Both of you, stop!” Luz exclaimed. “Also Mr. Stanley, I thought your ex-wife was named Marilyn?”
“Yeah, but then she ditched me and stole all my money. Why would she use her real name? I’d use a fake name if I was in that situation,” Stanley commented, raising a thick gray eyebrow at Luz and shifting his gaze to Eda. “Besides, I’d recognize you anywhere.”
“Yeah, same to you.” Eda sneered at the man. Yeah, being rude to the group that could help them was probably not the best move, but he’d just chased her off the property because of something that happened twenty years ago, so Eda was a little bitter. “Listen, Stanford-”
“Ugh. Stanley, you married her under my name?” Ford turned to Stan, an offended look on his face. “You divorced her, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. Just...calm down, jeez.” Stan broke free of Ford’s grip, rubbing his arm accusingly.
“What do you mean, ‘under my name’? What’s that supposed to mean?” Eda pointed a rather disapproving finger at Ford, who simply sighed.
“It’s a very long story. Very...convoluted. Now, tell me - what did you need help with at the Shack?” Ford asked begrudgingly.
“Oh! Yeah! Hi, I’m Luz. This is my….this is Eda, and our….dog, King.” Luz hurriedly introduced the three of them, trying not to linger on King for too long. “We were, uh...hiking, and we got lost, and we just needed to get back to town.” Luz tried their winning smile at the two men.
“In all my travels, I’ve never seen any sort of dog like that.” Ford knelt down, staring at King intensely. He was about to ask another question when Luz cut him off, a little too enthusiastically.
“Hahah, questions are for later! Let’s, uh...let’s get back to that shack and find our way home!” Luz picked up King, shielding him from Stan and Ford’s prying eyes with their jacket. “Come on, Eda, this hike has gone on long enough.”
Eda sighed, shifting her weight from the tree onto her feet and following Luz towards the shack. She adjusted her bandana, trying to be careful not to let her ears show, as a scratchy, accusing voice spoke from behind her. “So…Eda. If that’s your real name. Scammed any other innocent Vegas-goers in your time?”
Eda scoffed, rolling her eyes. She toyed with a lock of her hair as she spoke. “You weren’t innocent, I saw you put gum on the bottom of those dice! And no. None of your junk would fit through the portal door.”
“The what?”
Eda’s heart sank. She could hear Ford’s boots stop clunking as he processed what she’d said. “Uh…” She had never been good at lying, not when it really mattered.
“You came through a portal?” Ford’s voice, previously kind and trusting, had turned...hesitant. “How did you go about acquiring one of those?”
Eda nervously turned around, her eyes anxiously grazing the awkward way his arm was fitting in his coat. Almost like he had a weapon. “...We made one?”
Before Eda could say anything else, King spoke up. “S-Stop! Don’t hurt Eda!” King squirmed to the front, spreading his arms to try and protect Eda and Luz. As he spoke, Stan’s eyes widened considerably, and Ford brandished the weapon Eda knew he had been hiding - some sort of weird, metal rod gun. And it was pointed right between King’s eyes.
“Hurt your family? Jeez, I didn’t think stealing from this dweeb hurt you that bad! I’m sorry, alright?” Eda kept one hand on her staff, but lifted her arms in a surrendering manner. “Just don’t hurt King, and let us go - we’ll leave you alone.”
“He’s never left us alone, not once.” Ford’s voice shook as he directed his next words to King. “Do you think we forgot what happened five years ago? You almost took everything from us, and now you’re back?” Ford’s voice had risen in volume and his hands trembled on the gun. King’s tail swished in anxiety, and Eda stepped in front of him in an attempt to protect him.
King’s voice shook, thick with tears. “I have no idea what you’re talking about! I was with Eda five years ago, I’ve never even been to the human realm!” Every time King spoke, the three newcomers jumped a little, like he had somehow hurt them before. But Eda knew that wasn’t true, and she wasn’t about to let him be harmed. Not on her watch.
“Listen, I don’t care if you’re mad at me for any stunts I’ve pulled here,” Eda growled. They could feel the Owl Beast coming out, she knew this was bringing on her harpy form, but they would do anything to protect King. “But don’t you dare bring him into this. King has been living with me the past eight years, and has never once been to the human realm. I don’t know what you think he’s done, but if you hurt him at all, I’ll-” Eda was cut off, surrounded by a glowing golden light - the familiar ache in her back as her wings sprouted, the expanding of her legs, her eyes changing as her harpy form was brought to life. Stan and Soos gasped, backing away in fear. That’s right . Eda stepped closer, towering over all three of them but not making any sort of direct attack.
“But...he sounds just like-”
“Sh!” Soos cut off Stan. “Maybe he’s like Voldemort and you can’t say his name.”
Ford shook his head. “But...Bill can only be in several dimensions when he’s in the mindscape. To have a physical form he’d have to summon all his essence there. Eda, did ‘King’ disappear five years ago?”
Eda sneered. “No! Like I told you, he’s been with me for eight years.”
Ford frowned, patting his big jacket. “There’s gotta be a flashlight...oh!” He pulled out a flashlight, clicking it on with his pinky finger. “Come here. I can trust you, but you need to show me something first.”
“Fine! Just...put the gun away. Sheesh.” Eda waved a hand at the metal rod gun, which luckily went into the giant coat and out of their sight.
“I need one of you to step forward. I have to...verify something.” He beckoned towards Luz, who looked hesitant.
Eda spread her wings, shielding Luz from Ford. “No. I’m first. If you hurt a hair on their head, I swear I’ll-”
“Eda!” Luz tugged on Eda’s arm from behind, sounding embarrassed.
“Okay, okay, just…” Ford leaned close to Eda, shining the flashlight in each of her eyes. He was tall, around six feet, but Eda’s harpy form was at least seven and a half and so she had to, rather unwillingly, bend down to satisfy them. If she hadn’t settled things with the Owl Beast, it could’ve gotten ugly, but now all it did was give her a slight headache. Whatever Ford wanted to find, it was there, because he looked relieved. “Now, you - what was your name?”
“I’m Luz.” She stepped forward, and Ford, while keeping a hesitant eye on Eda, examined Luz’s eyes carefully.
“Well, thank you, Luz. And now...you.” Ford turned to King, visibly tense.
“Sheesh, alright…” King hesitantly stepped forward, and Ford examined his eyes, taking much more time than with Luz and Eda. Finally, he seemed satisfied, and backed away.
“I apologize for my hostility.” Ford tucked the flashlight into his coat, and brought his hands together apologetically. “We have a...bad history with portals, and we mistook you for someone else. But maybe you’ll understand if we explain it to you. Would you come back to the shack with us? I think we may be able to help you.”
Eda frowned, folding her arms. “Well...you haven’t exactly given us the warmest of welcomes. But part of that is my fault for robbing Stan years ago. I’ve got my eye on you, but if you can help us get home…” Eda trailed off, looking fondly at Luz and King. “We’ll come with you.”
“Excellent! Now, come along.” Ford waved them along with a six-fingered hand, starting off to the shack. As they walked, Eda slowly began to de-transition back into a normal witch. Ford piped up after only a moment of silence. “So, where did you come from, exactly?”
“Well, Luz is from the human realm. But King and I are from the Boiling Isles. I don’t know how common it is for humans to end up there, but-”
Ford was about to grab his bags from the porch when they stopped in their tracks. “The Boiling Isles? I remember it there! Wait, that - that makes so much sense!” They added, turning around. Their eyes were bright with excitement. “I knew you looked familiar! You’re the Owl Lady!”
“I sure am! The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!” Eda chuckled, removing the bandana since she figured it was safe to reveal her pointy ears. “Surprised you know about me. I thought Luz was the only human to end up there in the past few hundred years.”
“I, uh...it’s a long story. But please, come in.” Ford opened the door to a quaint little house, waving them into a kitchen that looked as though it hadn’t been used in several years. Soos diverged from the group, heading into a door where Eda caught a glimpse of what looked to be a sort of gift shop. Ford set his bags down by the door, taking off his long beige coat and hanging it on the coat rack. “We don’t have a lot of space, but go ahead and rest.”
“I’ll, uh...go settle into my room.” Stan announced awkwardly, grabbing his bags and heading up the stairs. Eda raised an eyebrow, but no one commented.
“Thank you, Mr. Ford.” Luz took a seat at the table, holding King protectively on her lap. “This is nice of you to do, but...why were you so mean to King when you first saw him?”
“Yeah! What was that all about? I am a delight to be around!” King exclaimed, crossing his arms indignantly. Eda sat down next to Luz, wiping dust from the table and looking to Ford for a good answer. He couldn’t threaten the life of the only person Eda trusted to have her back over the long eight years they’d known each other without some reason.
“Yes, that.” Ford sat across from them, letting out a big sigh. “It’s...quite a story.”
And it was. They spun the newcomers quite an interesting tale, but Eda couldn’t help but think he wasn’t the type to lie. After hitting a roadblock in his studies, Ford had attempted to build a powerful portal to other realms, hoping to gain knowledge and prosperity. During his trials, he caught wind of a powerful deity, represented by a triangle with one eye. Luz interjected, talking about the one-dollar bill. Eda had no clue what they were talking about, but Ford seemed extremely unsettled and serious - like this had severely damaged his life. Ford said that the deity, who called themself Bill Cipher, had plans to invade the human realm and cause everyone to suffer, but could be stopped if the portal was never opened. While trying to dismantle the portal, Ford was sucked through, leaving the human realm for thirty years. An accident, Ford said with averted eyes. He was vague about his travels between dimensions, but he did explain that he wound up in the Boiling Isles after learning about its proximity to the human realm. Ford used a lot of big words, and Eda wasn’t sure she understood all of it. But the main point was that most interdimensional travel can occur between the Boiling Isles and the human realm, because they’re so similar. Ford traveled there, hoping to return home, but couldn’t figure out how. When he finally encountered a working portal, it wasn’t to the human realm, and he was stuck all over again.
Then, five years ago, something changed. The portal to the human realm, the one that Ford had originally built, was activated again. When they went through, they found their brother, aged thirty years, Soos and some kids named Dipper and Mabel, who he explained were his great-niece and nephew. Ford was glad to be back, but was angry at Stan for reactivating the portal - using it made it too unstable, and created a sort of rift that, if left in the open, would allow Bill to travel through and take control. They’d gone five years without any sign of Bill, until Eda, Luz and King showed up - strange newcomers from an interdimensional portal, and one who sounded almost exactly like Bill - King.
“I...understand this is a lot to process, and it doesn’t sound very believable. But it’s essential to know just how much of a danger he is, and...that’s why we were so hostile.” Ford sighed, finally finishing his explanation. He drummed his fingers on the table while Eda searched for something to say.
“I sorta understand. I had a working portal to the human realm, and sometimes I’d venture out to visit. But after the whole situation with your brother, I stopped traveling that far from the door.” Eda snorted, shifting in her seat and scratching a sleepy King under his chin. “Mostly I just used it to take human junk and sell it, until this one came through one day.” Eda pointed a thumb at Luz, who smiled and waved a hand at Ford. “They decided to stay with me for a few months, but...we had a run in with the Emperor, and the portal was destroyed. Unfortunately, Luz needed to get home to her mom, and so we worked on trying to build another one. But Belos was after the same thing, which is why we had to destroy the portal in the first place. I’m kinda afraid of what he needs it for.”
Ford frowned, mulling it over. “That’s definitely not good. I didn’t like him during my brief time in the Boiling Isles, but knowing that he wants to travel to the human realm…it doesn’t sit right with me.”
“We’ve been trying to make a stable, working portal. Our first attempt led me to a weird mirror canyon thing, where you could travel between reflections. I-I’m not great at explaining it,” Luz added, blushing. “But if you said someone’s name, it would summon this weird cube thing where you could see and talk to people through reflections in whatever dimension they were in. I got to talk to my mom, and...It’s a long, long story, but the portal couldn’t stay open for very long - it collapsed into nothing soon after we made it. After that, we tried our hardest to build an actual working portal - but it sent us here, and disappeared before we could go back through.” Luz frowned, absently tugging at the strings on their sweatshirt. Eda gently ruffled her hair, trying to reassure her. She knew Luz had been secretive about what exactly happened in the portal, but knew this was not a good time to push her.
“I’m sorry to hear that. It’s odd that the portal kept collapsing...what kept your original portal intact?” Ford asked Eda, looking rather excited.
“I’m not sure. I found it in the dirt one day when I was around sixteen. It was a big wooden door, with an eye in the middle -” Ford raised his eyebrows at this information, and Eda briefly remembered the whole triangle with one eye thing, before continuing, “and it had a matching key. You could press it to summon the door, and we recently found out there was a magical substance in the key - titan’s blood. It lets you move between realms. We lost the key, but got the blood from it, and used it for the first door. ” Eda sighed. “On our second attempt, we decided to use more of the blood, thinking it would be a more potent source and would make a real portal. We were right, but…we’re so far away from Luz’s home, what’s the point?”
“Hm. Interesting. Now, how far is Gravity Falls from where your initial portal was located? Do you think you’d be able to travel to your mother?”
Luz piped up. “Well...Eda’s portal was in Connecticut. And no matter where we were in the Boiling Isles, her portal would always lead to that creepy old house in the woods. But this one...put us here.”
“So, Eda’s portal was unique in that it was portable, and that it always led to the same spot. But with any other portal, it sounds like the location at which you build it is relative to the other dimensions. Building it in a different spot in this realm would put you somewhere completely different in the demon realm-”
“Oh, like the Nether in Minecraft!” Luz interjected. Her increase in volume made King jump, but he soon yawned and returned to his nap. “Moving a Nether portal in the overworld would mean you’re at a different spot in the Nether!”
Ford raised an eyebrow, looking at Eda for an explanation. She shrugged, making a questioning gesture with her hands. Ford tilted their head, turning back to Luz. “I, uh...don’t know what that means, but it sounds like you understand. Now, have you tried to contact your mother?”
“I tried to call her, but…” Luz pulled her phone out of her pocket, looking at the screen sadly. “She hasn’t answered me back yet. She’s all the way across the country, and even if I could go back to her, I can’t just make Eda and King stay here forever.”
“Hm. Well, you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need. I used to live here, and then Stanley took over it when I...disappeared. Soos inherited ownership of it when Stanley and I traveled to the Arctic, but we come here between missions to rest and write up our findings. I’m sure this old shack has a room for you three to stay in for now.”
“You went to the Arctic?” Luz asked, her eyes wide and sparkly. “That’s so cool! Are you like, a scientist or something?”
“Well...you could say that. After college, I took it upon myself to study anomalies - which is what brought me to Gravity Falls, actually. After everything was settled with Bill, Stanley and I traveled around, investigating more weird happenings. But that’s quite enough information to process for today. I’ll show you three to my old room - I’ll stay in my private study for now.”
Eda was about to respond when a knock on the door caused all four of them to jump. Ford tugged at the collar of his red turtleneck, going to answer the door. “Who would be here, the shack is-” He stopped in his tracks, staring out the open door with an incredulous look on his face.
“Dipper? Mabel?”