Luz, very carefully, very quietly took the book p to her room. If it was potentially dangerous, so she didn't want her friends getting caught up in it if it was.
After making sure there was no one in the bedroom, carefully set the book on her work desk and began scanning it with every oracle spell she could think of that might reveal some hidden danger but... No. Nothing. No death hexes, no memetic hazards, no brainwashing spells, no curses, no jinxes, no ghosts, no eternal ancient grudges, and no ax murderers hiding in the pages. Luz wasn't sure why there was a spell specifically for detecting hidden ax murderers and didn't want to think about the reasons why it'd be an introductory oracle spell, but she knew it and she might as well use it.
After running through every spell she could think of to check it for danger... Then a quick illusion piercer just to be safe, and with it coming up clean every time Luz carefully opened the book and flipped through the first few pages, before hitting an entry that seemed to be an introduction.
"June 18, It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began researching the strange and wonderous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregan."
"Hearing a lot about that place, lately," Luz noted. Flipping through a few more pages she saw entries and illustrations for a variety of... Was that the portal door? No, no, the eye was in the wrong place... Regardless she noticed several different handwriting, names or words crossed out, a few pages were missing, what were clearly coded messages, and...
She went through her desk drawers, looking for something—a handheld blacklight from her CSI phase. She had a hunch that a book full of coded messages that all seemed to use different codes would probably have things hidden in other ways, too, and a quick click revealed further writing in invisible ink.
"Okay, so... Clearly Cipher's scheming something and it involves this book... He wants me to read it, but if I don'tread it I'm not gonna know what he's up to... Catch-22... I think, I never actually read that book. Whatever," she finished as she closed and hid the book. She'd think on it more, maybe loop in her friends, once she'd come up with more ways to check if the book was safe or not. Or maybe she could call... Doctor Strange had already helped her so much and her time was valuable but... The Pines were from Gravity Falls, weren't they? Maybe they'd know something about this?
Whatever, going through all that had gotten her fully woken up and she was hungry. She got back to the living room just as Gus was getting up and after nodding to him Luz walked into the kitchen.
Inside, she saw Hunter and Willow helping to set the table for breakfast while Amity and Vee were at the stove with her Mom supervising. They were just finishing up plating some pancakes as Luz entered.
"Hey everyone," she greeted, and everyone greeted her back.
"So, Luz, I know you said to remind you to ask Camila about pancakes for breakfast but... Nobody wanted to wake you so I asked about it myself," Amity declared. "And then I got to thinking about the conversation that led to that and one thing to lead another..."
As the main plate of pancakes was set, Luz noticed what were unmistakably pieces of bacon cooked into them
"You actually did it. You absolute mad witch, you actually did it," Luz joked. "You actually made bacon pancakes."
"Technically they're bacon wheatcakes," Vee noted.
As Gus came in and breakfast was served a phone went off in the kitchen... It took Luz a few minutes, and a few bites, to realize it was hers. She must have left it there after recapping the fight with her Mom yesterday. She got up to answer it, stopping only to note who it was.
"Hey April, what's up?"
"So My Dad's spidey-sense went off a little bit ago... And then he got calls from my uncle Ben and uncle Kaine, whose spidey-sense both went off at the same time... Apparently, someone has tampered with my Great Aunt May's ancestral wheatcake recipe. Since your sister got the recipe a few weeks ago at a clone Anon meeting, well..."
Luz then turned around, looked at her sister and girlfriend, and then set her phone to speaker. "Care to repeat that for the room, April?"
Luz's fellow hybrid did so, and Vee's response was immediate. "Yes, I admit it! And I'd do it again!" Followed by quite a lot of maniacal laughter.
"I was also complicit in this experiment and I am incredulous that this pinged on your family's extra-sensory abilities," Amity added.
"If I'm lying I'm dying and well, haven't done that yet," April swore. "But yeah. The recipe is, quote, 'Serious Business, capitalize both words,' end quote. Apparently... Dad said something about a 'trial by fire' and 'renting out the place from Iron Chef'."
"Can you ever afford that?"
"Dad has a lot of rich friends who owe him favors," April replied. "I don't think anything's gonna come of this but don't be surprised if Vee Amity gets called upon to prove the value of their contribution to the recipe in a live, televised cooking duel sometime in the next few months...So what did you do, anyway?"
"Added bacon," Amity quipped.
"...Is it good?"
"Well, you kind of interrupted breakfast but the first few bites were delicious," Luz responded.
"Okay, well, I'll clear up what's happened and try to get the three grown men to calm the heck down and... Oh God, Mayday and Annie are in my dorm room and they look mad." April then hung up with a click.
"So that happened," Luz noted then sat back down with her friends and family to finish breakfast.
Afterward, Luz volunteered to clean up. While washing dishes with her Mom. her Mom asked. "So are you alright?"
"Yeah, Mom. I'm fine," Luz replied. "Feel great right now, depression's not acting up... every day I feel a little bit better, you know? Weird dream last night, we can get into that later," after Luz had some time to run more tests on the book, "but right now I'm feeling good. And well rested, which is important because it's an exercise day."
"That's good," her Mom replied.
"Maybe I should get up early and cook breakfast sometime," Luz mused. "Amity was teaching me how to cook back in the demon realm and I've cooked with her a couple of times here and I think I can recreate some of the things Eda made for breakfast with earth ingredients... won't be as good with chicken eggs but I'll manage."
"You really like these griffin eggs, don't you?" Her Mom asked.
"I cannot begin to describe how delicious they are," Luz responded.
Once the dishes were finished and the table was wiped down, Luz went to get change for the day when there came a knock at the door. Answering the door revealed that the knocker was Masha.
"Hey Masha, you here for Vee?" Luz asked. Then the thought occurred to her that since her sister's theyfriend could cast The Third Eye of Agamotto she could ask them to check out the book.
"No, as much as I'd love to see moya prekrasnaya zmeya right now," Masha noted, "I'm actually here for you."
Luz assumed what she assumed to be an aloof and demure pose. "Oh, I'm sorry, but even if I could stand to inflict such heartbreak upon my dearest sister, I am a happily taken woman."
Masha laughed, as was Luz's intent, and continued "Okay, side note, when you talk like that I'm kind of starting to side with the girls from your support group on the whole proposal thing."
Luz briefly glared. "Okay, but seriously what do you want?"
"Can I come in?" the enby asked and Luz let them in.
Everyone was already in the living room and Vee immediately slithered up to nuzzle Masha upon seeing them. "Hey, Masha. What do you need?"
"Hey. Boo," Masha replied back. "I'm here to ask Luz about the thing."
"Oh, the thing," Vee noted. Gus, Willow, and Hunter all sat up straighter at that but Amity looked confused.
"What's the thing?" she asked.
"Oh, we forgot to tell Amity about the thing," Gus noted.
"Should I be worried about the thing?" Luz asked.
"No," Masha insisted. "Well, maybe but this isn't happening if you're not okay with it so not really."
"I'm just gonna be worried about the thing," Luz concluded. "So what is the thing?"
"Well, All Hallow's Eve is fast approaching and that means the Halloween Festival which I, as the current manager of the Gravesfield Historical Society, have a bit of sway with organizing and contributing to," Masha began dramatically.
"Those are all true statements," Luz replied.
"And tradition involves that some variation of the Legend of the Brother's Wittebane be presented," Masha continued. "A performance, the ghost story during the haunted hay ride, something... We have an opportunity to tell everyone the truth and fill in all the fuzzy details that were distorted with time or built with guesswork, bring the story to a close after centuries, and reveal just what kind of a monster Philip really was... If you're comfortable with it," Masha finished. "I'd like you all to volunteer with the society and, well, do that... I was waiting for a good time to ask you, Luz, but we're getting up to the deadline where we have to finalize this stuff."
"And you're all okay doing this?" Luz asked looking at her friends.
"Yes," Hunter replied. "I feel like it'd be a good way to wrap everything up and leave Belos behind for good." Gus and Willow nodded
"This is the first I've heard about this," Amity replied, "but... If you're okay with it, I'm okay with it."
Luz thought about it... Part of her didn't want to. to... Even after everything part of her didn't feel ready to tell the whole world what had happened but... Another part of her wanted to just be over Belos already. Ready to confront it or not, she was sick of letting him have this kind of power over her even though he was dead and, and, well she'd be thinking about closure last night. "I'll um... I'll do it."