Mabel Pines sat at the window in the twins' attic bedroom atop a giant crate, sighing and tracing her finger through the vapor that formed on the glass. The weather the past few days in Gravity Falls had run the gamut from gray and rainy, to rainy and gray, and now, to out-and-out rainy-a steady stream had been falling since her and Dipper awoke four hours ago, showing no signs of letting up. And as if that wasn't enough, Grunkle Stan's latest impulse buy was taking up the middle of their room, and she was sitting on it.

"Okay boys, that's far enough!"

The delivery crew dropped the crate in front of Wendy's desk as Stan wiped the rain off the box. The old man grinned in delight as he tipped the delivery guys with the spare change from his pockets and slammed the door before they could complain. "Alright kids, here's my latest purchase! Got it from some guy in Vermont for fifty bucks!"

"What's in there?" Wendy asked.

"The guy said it was a piece of metal that may or may not be haunted. I figured with something like that going for that cheap, I'd have to be an idiot not to add it to the Mystery Shack's collection!"

"You've got that right," Wendy muttered as she returned to her magazine.

"Now, the only question is where to store this thing until I can get a good look at it. Where to go, where to go..." Stan said as he stroked his chin in an exaggerated fashion.

"Why don't you keep it in our room for a little while?" Dipper suggested. "If we put it between our beds, we'll still have room; it's really not that big."

"What's with all those pictures on the box?" Mabel asked. Closer inspection revealed that the design consisted of a St. Andrew's cross with an eyeball in the center of it, resting on top of a tree. Stan glanced at it and said, "Couldn't tell ya, kid. Probably nothing."

"It's pretty, though!"

"Alright, I'll be keeping this in your room for the time being, but under no circumstances do I want you to touch this crate! Do you understand?"

"We understand," Dipper said as Mabel nodded her head.

"Good to know. SOOS! Give me a hand getting this thing up to the attic, willya?"

And now, Mabel was sitting on the crate watching the rain fall. She let out a frustrated groan and whined, "Aww man, when's this rain gonna stop?! We haven't been outside in three days!"

Dipper looked up from his book and replied, "There's a low pressure system that stalled off the coast, Mabel. It should be out of our way by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's too far away, Dipper! I wanna go outside today!"

"So do I, but there's nothing we can do. We'll just have to wait this out."

"Darn." Mabel pouted and sunk back onto her bed when her eyes fell on the crate between them. She grinned and began to tap her finger on her chin in a sly manner, saying, "I think I know something we can do."

A quick peek at her face told Dipper all he needed to know about what her intentions were. "Oh no, Mabel. Uncle Stan told us not to touch this under any circumstances."

"What about a curiosity circumstance?"

"I'm pretty sure that counts as 'under any circumstances.'"

"Well, I'm going over the circumstances, Dipper!" Mabel jumped from her bed and grabbed a crowbar from underneath it. "Desperate times call for desperate measures!"

"Mabel, no-"

Before Dipper could finish his exclamation, Mabel jammed the flat end into the corner of the crate and began to push the lid up. As if on cue, she heard her grunkle's voice from downstairs yelling, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH THAT CRATE!"

"Oh, I'm not touching it," Mabel lied. "I'm just sitting on it!"

"Fair enough! Just don't open the darn thing!"

"Okaaaay!" The young preteen rocked back and forth on her feet with a faux innocence before returning to her efforts to pry open the mystery box. Dipper slapped his forehead and whispered, "For crying out loud, Mabel! You're gonna get us in trouble! What if there's a mummy or an alien in there?"

"What if there's a bunch of sweaters in there?"

"Why would there be a bunch of sweaters in a giant crate?"

"Maybe someone ordered them in bulk?"

"That's not my point!" Dipper grabbed the crowbar and continued: "My point is, sometimes you've just gotta let sleeping dogs lie." Unfortunately for him, as he spoke, he began to lean on the crowbar until it snapped a corner of the box open and sent him tumbling to the floor. Mabel gasped in mock fright and cracked, "Oh no, Dipper! Looks like someone opened the crate Grunkle Stan didn't want us to touch!"

"That's not funny, Mabel..."

"Let's see what wonders await inside!" With a grin, she lifted the corner with surprising ease to get a peek, and when she saw what laid in the crate, she gasped in amazement. "D...Dipper...look!"

"I'm not looking at anything, Mabel. You shouldn't have opened it in the first place."

"No, Dipper...you've got to see this." She left him no choice when she grabbed his arm and pulled him over to her side. Once his eyes adjusted to the form laying in the middle of the packing peanuts, Dipper gasped. "I...is that a...?"

"Yep," Mabel said with a smile. "Just like Grunkle Stan said! It's a giant metal bar!"

Indeed it was. Said giant metal bar was about four feet tall and six inches wide, and as far as Dipper could tell, reasonably thick. Even though every instinct in his body was telling him to leave it alone, Dipper helped his sister lift the lid, making sure to move slowly and not make any noise. Once it was finally removed, the twins stared at the slab, unsure of what to do next.

"So...what does it do?" Mabel asked. Meanwhile, Dipper had grabbed his journal and begun to thumb through it, looking for any clues as to what the object might be. "I don't see anything about this in the journal at all..."

All of a sudden, a gruff male voice rang out behind them, "Well, I see PLENTY!"

On cue, Mabel and Dipper turned around to see the frowning face of their Grunkle Stan, arms crossed and eyes narrowed at the now-removed lid. "You couldn't resist, could you?"

"Oh...uh...we..." Mabel stammered before hanging her head in shame. "We're sorry, Grunkle Stan."

"We didn't touch it at all, if that's what you're worried about," Dipper added.

"I warned you two not to open it, and you didn't listen. The Shack closes at five today, and when that happens, I want you two downstairs and ready to clean up shop."

"What about Wendy and Soos?"

"That's normally their job, sure, but not tonight. This is your punishment, and I don't wanna see you two weaseling out of it, understand?"

The twins exchanged uneasy glances as Stan tapped his foot with building impatience. "I said, understand?"

Hanging their heads, Dipper and Mabel groaned, "We understand."

"Good. Five o'clock sharp-be downstairs and ready to work! In the meantime, I've got a couple of rubes-I mean, customers-to take on a tour." Stan descended the stairs as Mabel put her hand on Dipper's shoulder and attempted to apologize, only to be rebuffed. Stunned, she attempted to do it again, and again, Dipper swatted her hand away and turned his back to her. Frustrated, Mabel asked, "Why are you being such a butt, dude?"

"I'm being a butt because I told you not to open the crate! Now because of you, we're indentured servants to Stan for the rest of the night!"

"Because of me?! You're the one who opened the crate!"

"After you shoved the crowbar in there!"

"Well, maybe if you hadn't suggested he put the crate up here, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Well, maybe if you had listened to me, this really wouldn't have happened!" Throughout their fight, a low hum began to emanate from the crate, the noise going unnoticed as the two traded barbs.

"Oh yeah?!"

"YEAH!" By this point the two were nose to nose, faces red with anger, before they turned their backs to each other and crossed their arms. "Don't expect any help from me down there, fart-smeller."

"I'm not talking to you," Dipper spat as he stomped downstairs. Mabel sniffed and mumbled, "You just did, dummy," starting down the stairs after him. After they left, the humming increased as the metal slab began to levitate out of the box and a ghastly voice murmured, "Yes...I can feel your hatred. Feed...me...more..."