"Man, wasn't the show awesome?" Wendy said, climbing up onto the counter.

Pacifica glanced at her from the Journal, and only shrugged. She guessed that was the kindest way of saying she felt she was being watched the entire time and that the presenter, Robbie Whatever-His-Name-Was, was a huge liar and fakest person she had ever seen. She had been aware of most magicians lying personalities, but this boy took it to a whole new level.

She turned her attention towards Gideon, who seemed to be purposely ignoring the conversation. She saw as Wendy went on about how good Robbie was, his face would twitch every one in a while, and at one point, she swore she saw his hair frizz up a bit.

She wondered why that was. Maybe a bad experience with psychics in the past? Either way, she realized her shot of getting her to tell him anytime soon was low.

"Of course, you don't get excited about much," Wendy said, crossing her arms.

Pacifica sighed and put down the book she had in her hand. "Wendy, I told you earlier, psychic shows aren't really my thing. And I didn't enjoy Robbie's performance much. But if you want to like it, you can."

Wendy didn't say anything further, but climbed up onto the globe and started spinning. Pacifica looked back down at her book, as Wendy's spinning was making her dizzy.

Her thoughts again drifted to the magic show. Why did they keep going back to that? Pacifica didn't know, maybe because Wendy was making a huge deal of it, but even if Wendy hadn't, that wasn't what she thought was making her head revolve around the show.

Despite dismissing it as a fake show that this town took pride in for some reason, there was something about it that racked her brain.

That eye contact with Robbie.

She had seen him pick up a card from his stack, and look at it for a second, and take a glance at her and Wendy. Wendy hadn't seen it the same way she had. She had grinned at the look, convinced she saw him glance at her again after, but Pacifica saw another look behind his eyes.

A look of fear. Panic. Anxiety.

But why was he that nervous? He didn't seem like a nervous person. Then again, she had only seen his stage personality. Perhaps he was actually quite nervous off camera.

She closed her book, and leaned her head against the wall behind her, glancing around the gift shop. Business seemed slower than usual, which she thought was stressing her Great Uncle Fiddleford. He had seemed to visit the shop more and want to put up more advertisements. Was it due to the Tent o' Telepathy?

She wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason. The people of this town seemed to enjoy scams, or at least be easily tricked into them, and the whole "Place Your Money In The Bag" thing was the biggest scam she had seen yet in this town.

"Off the table, girls, here comes Mister Pines," Gideon said, hearing footsteps approaching the gift shop, which were too heavy to be Candy's steps.

Pacifica slid off the counter, pretending to dust off some of the souvenirs, as Fiddleford entered the room. The bags under his eyes were heavy and dark, noticeable even under his spectacles. and his hair, which usually at least looked somewhat groomed, today looked like he hadn't combed it in weeks.

"Woah, Grunkle Fiddleford, you okay?" Wendy asked upon seeing him. "You look, kind of, uh-"

"Fine fine, fine!" Fiddleford said, his voice getting higher every time he had the word. "But what does it matter? Someday, he'll come for us all-"

Pacifica stared at him, biting her lip and looking concerned. She had never seen him act so, so eccentric, out of it. When he spoke, it was usually mutters about something she could never pick up on, but it always sounded miserable.

He stopped halfway through his sentence, reevaluating what he was about to say. "J-Just please get back to cleaning the displays. It doesn't matter. I-I need to do some work."

He muttered something else, but Pacifica didn't catch it. Fiddleford walked out after that, over to the living room, and the gift shop was silent, until there was a ring of the bell at the door, signalling someone entering, and Gideon, Wendy, and Pacifica all turned to see Candy.

"Well, it's certainly quieter than usual," Candy remarked. "Sorry I'm late. My grandmother wanted me to help her clean off some old heirlooms from the family-"

Candy paused upon seeing the shocked looks on Wendy and Pacifica's faces, and evaluating them to the point she knew what had happened.

"Wait, did Mister Pines have-" Candy started, looking over at Gideon, assuming he knew what she meant.

Was this a regular occurrence? Pacifica thought.

Gideon nodded. "Yeah. . ." He said, looking up at Candy.

Candy sighed, looking somewhat nervous. "He didn't take it out on either of them, did he?"

"We're fine," Pacifica answered quickly. "It's just, why did he do that?"

"Be a little quieter, Pacifica," Candy said in a whisper tone. "See, sometimes your Great Uncle is, well, how do I put it. . ." She started.

Candy went quiet for a minute, trying to figure out the nicest word to use for this situation, though Pacifica knew what words were going through her mind, though she didn't say it out loud.

"Eccentric, let's say, at times," Candy finished. "He goes through these phases, where he just loses it. It's not because he dislikes you or wants to insult you guys, or anyone. It's not your guys' faults."

"Yeah, sometimes he gets like that, and we really have no idea why," Gideon added. "I've seen it plenty of times. Don't take it personal, okay, kid?"

"We won't," Wendy whispered.

"Yeah, he's done it a bunch of times. That time wasn't bad at all, compared to some times. The guys all have a bunch of theories on why he's like that. Some say it's his old age getting to him, others say it's his smarts getting to him, but no one really knows," Gideon said, leaning across the counter.

"Really?" Wendy asked, sounding interested.

Pacifica didn't catch Candy's expression towards that. Though she couldn't imagine her being pleased.

"I think some of the stress of having a rival in business in putting stress on him," Pacifica added. "At least, right now."

"He's changed a lot," Candy said, looking towards the window. "My grandmother says as a boy, he was actually a smart, charming young man."

Charming? That's not the first word she would use to describe her Great Uncle Fiddleford. The first words she thought of when she heard Fiddleford's weren't very pleasant, if she was to be honest. Then again, perhaps it was just old age getting to him overtime.

Or was it really?

Before anyone could respond, there was a knock at the front door, and everyone turned over to see if they could see who was there from the window.

"If we open the door to all, it'll be empty too fast!" Pacifica her Fiddleford say, before muttering something else.

"I'll go get it," Pacifica said, making her way over to the door.

As soon as she opened the door, there was Robbie, who looked the exact same as he had last night at the show, except upon seeing her, he looked nowhere as pleased or happy as he did last night, or just a second ago for the matter

"Do you have a problem, Miss?" Robbie asked, his tone sounding cutting, with no drawl as he had last night.

"Oh! Um, I was just, getting the door since you knocked," Pacifica answered.

"I'm not here for you," Robbie snapped.

"Oh, sorry," Pacifica said, getting quieter and feeling embarrassed. She understood his personality onstage was most likely different from his actual self, but she didn't picture such a wild change.

"I'm here for your, sister, I believe that's who she is to you," Robbie said.

"I'll go get her, then," Pacifica said, closing the door and going over to get Wendy, but inside, she was confused.

What the heck just happened?

Wendy rushed towards the door, before Fiddleford started rambling again. and Wendy saw a boy with a smooth grin and his hair styled perfectly. The same boy who had presented at the psychic show at the Tent o' Telepathy she had seen just yesterday.

"Why, hello, Wendy Pines, was it?" He asked.

Robbie Radiance? What was he doing at her door? What would he need from them? Wendy didn't know why, but she knew one thing, there was a boy with psychic abilities standing on her doorstep at this very moment.

And he was incredibly cute.

"Oh, yeah! I'm Wendy," Wendy said, shaking his hand, fixing her flannel and smiling back at him.

"Wendy," he repeated, flashing that grin again. "It's a nice name."

"Oh, thanks," Wendy replied, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear.

"You were at the show last night, if I'm correct?" Robbie asked. "I remember seeing you there. I believe you and your company sat close to the front."

"Yeah, I was, why do you want to know?" Wendy asked, leaning against the doorway.

"Well," Robbie said. "To put simply, I saw you in the audience, and I immediately liked you. There's something about you I just like. I can't get you out of my head, Wendy, so I was wondering if you and I, could spend some time together."

Wendy stood there, confused. Had Robbie Radiance, the Robbie Radiance, just asked her out on a date? This wasn't a dream, so was she actually going on a hang out with?

She looked back to see Pacifica standing a few feet away from the door, and her face looked worried and confused. Why did she look like that? Was she still paranoid after Oran? Was it the fact she didn't like psychics?

Either way, Wendy was annoyed. Why couldn't she be happy for her? Did she always have to act like their mother, worrying about her every five seconds instead of being her sister?

"Who's at the door?" She heard Fiddleford call out.

"Oh, uh, just Wendy's friend, Great Uncle Fiddleford!" Pacifica called back.

"Thank you, is it," Robbie said, looking at Pacifica.

"Pacifica," Pacifica answered, cutting him off.

Wendy saw his face glower slightly, but before anyone could really process it, he smiled again and looking back at Wendy.

"So, what do you say, Wendy?" Robbie asked.

"Um. . ." Wendy started.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Robbie said, cutting her off and digging into his jacket pocket, and he pulled out a small white ribbon. It was elegant, lined with expensive lace and looked to be made of satin or some other costly material.

Robbie took her hand, tying the ribbon to her wrist gently, and the ribbon felt nice against her skin.

"Just a little present," Robbie said. "But, anyways, what do you say, Wendy?"

Wendy felt herself smile and blush slightly, adjusting the ribbon. It couldn't hurt, he seems pretty awesome, and he's not a bunch of sprites.

"Sounds awesome," Wendy said, putting her hand on her waist.

"Great, let's go," Robbie said, holding out a hand to her.

Wendy looked confused. "Wait, right now?"

"Unless you're busy," Robbie replied. "I've got space we can use to whenever we want, I think you'll like it."

"Sweet, let's go," Wendy said, taking his hand and heading outside the Archives of Mystery.

"Wait!" She heard someone, perhaps Pacifica, call out. She called out something else but Wendy didn't hear, as the door was shut before she could finish.