Mike stabbed the piece of paper with a pencil, and El jumped lightly. As soon as we got home from the funeral, Mike wanted to tell El everything we learned, so she could be prepared for what was coming next.

"It's gonna take a lot of energy to build a gate like this," Mike tells her, "But that's got to be what happened. Otherwise, how'd Will get there, right?"

"Right," El said flatly.

"What we want to know is, do you know where the gate is?" Lucas asked, his voice serious. El shook her head lightly, her eyes traveling the three of us, "Then how did you know about the Upside Down?"

El looked down at her hands, not answering the question. A feeling of suspicion filled me, and I realized that things weren't adding up with her. All the facts that we found make sense, well it just explained the supernatural behavior that's going on. But it felt like something was missing from El's story, how could she know about a place but not know about the gate to get there.

Even though nothing that happened over the last couple days made sense, El's mysteries past is the only thing that sticks out like a sore thumb. I had always had my suspicions about her, but after everything that happened like hearing Will when he was supposed to be dead and learning of another dimension, I didn't release the suspicion was growing.

Silence fell between us for a second, and I watched as El turned to look at something. I followed her glance to see she was looking at Dustin, who was walking around the basement like he was drunk.

"Dustin, what are you doing?" Mike asked, breaking the silence, "Dustin?"

"Dustin!"

"Dustin!"

"Dustin!"

Dustin turned to look at us suddenly, and he was wearing one of his goofy expressions. I was starting to think he was actually drunk until he said, "I-- I need to see your compasses."

"What?" I asked, giving him a look.

"Your compasses," Dustin said again, "All of your compasses, right now!"

Me and Lucas looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. I didn't have my own compass so I waited beside Dustin as Mike and Lucas grabbed their compasses out of their backpacks. The three boys dropped them on the table, and I immediately questioned why they had so many of the circle objects.

"What's so exciting about this?" I asked, not understanding why the objects were so thrilling.

"Well, they're all facing north, right?" Dustin said, and I felt some embarrassment from the confusion that filled me.

"Yeah, so?" Lucas said, giving Dustin a look.

"Well, that's not true north," Dustin tells us as his grin widens.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I just said. That's not true north," Dustin explained, "Are you guys seriously this dense?"

Lucas shrugged his shoulders at the comment and I knew I still had a confused look on my face. I didn't know why Lucas and Mike weren't understanding Dustin gibberish, but now I kinda wished I paid more attention when we learned about compasses in history class.

Dustin let out a sigh, "The sun rises in the east and it sets in the west. Right? Which means that's true north."

"So... what your saying is that these compasses are broken and you need to buy seven new ones?" I asked.

"No," Dustin snapped at me, "Do you guys even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack on this?"

"No."

"No, you don't. Because it doesn't need one," Dustin explained, annoyance growing in his voice, "The needle naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole."

"So what's wrong with them," Lucas asked.

"Well, that's what I couldn't figure out but then I remembered," Dustin explained, "You can change the direction of a compass with a magnet. If there's the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power. And I remembered what Mr. Clarke said. The gate would be so power--"

"It could disrupt the electromagnetic field."

I could imagine little light bulbs turning on, and it felt like in this moment, everything was coming into place. The gate was already made, all we had to do was find it and we could find Will. We could finally save him from this unknown supernatural dimension.

"Exactly."

"Meaning, if we follow the compasses' north..."

"It will lead us to the gate," I mumbled.

~~~

I never expected to be back on the old trains tracks but here I was compass in hand and walking beside my brothers two best friends. We were walking in silence, and even when there was talking it was just between Lucas and Dustin. El and Mike were a couple feet behind us, keeping to themselves like they did the last time we walked these tracks.

I always forgot how pretty the forest was bringing the fall. Dustin had given me a compass to keep track off, but I think the last time I looked at it was back at the house. I was too distracted by the orange leaves and the thoughts that were bouncing around in my brain.

Most of the leaves were orange, but I could see that most of them were close to turning brown which meant winter would be returning soon. I didn't realize until this moment that I enjoyed the fall season with it's pretty colors and the warm but cool weather.

I never appreciated the season before, and it was weird that just looking at something closer made me release that I needed to appreciate the little things. Like the changing of leaves, or when the first snowflake hits the ground.

Holy smokes, I didn't release how much I changed since the last time I walked these rusty old train tracks.

I was pulled back to reality when Lucas said, "How much further?"

"I don't know," Dustin tells him, "These only tell direction, not distance. You really need to learn more about compasses."

"I'm just saying," Lucas continues, "How do we know when we get to the gate?"

I turned to look at him and asked, "What kind of question is that?"

"I'm just asking."

"Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is gonna be pretty obvious," Dustin tells Lucas, and I let out a small laugh.

"Oh, shut up," Lucas mumbled as he pushed me lightly with his shoulder. A small smile came onto my lips, and I could see that he was smiling too. But the moment didn't last long, because I watched as he turned to look at Mike and El, who were still walking in silence behind us.

"Do you think she's acting weird," Lucas asked.

Dustin turned to look at the two for a second then said, "You're asking me if the weirdo is acting weird."

"I mean, weirder than normal."

"I don't know," Dustin tells him, "Who cares?"

I turned back to look at the supernatural girl for a second, and the same thoughts from earlier came into my head. She looked normal right now, like the sweet girl that I did a makeover one. She was still wearing the blonde wing and pink dress, like she never wanted to take it off. But she has been asking weirdly even since we started bringing up the gate, ever since we started talking about a way to get Will out.

She knew something, and she was keeping it from us. I didn't want to believe that she would lie to us after everything that has happened. But here we were, and I had the feeling that something was going to go wrong.

"I think we should care because I agree," I say to the boys, "Something off about her today and I think it has something to do with the gate."

~~~

I didn't know how long we had been walking for but my feet were being numb so that told me we had been walking for a long time. We left the train tracks behind a little while ago and started walking up a hill that had random old cars just laying around. It was a junkyard, and I knew that this couldn't be where the gate is.

"Oh, no," Dustin mumbled and I could hear the anxiety rising in his voice.

"Oh, no?" Lucas asked, "What's 'Oh, no?"

"We're headed home," Dustin mumbled.

"What?"

"Are you sure," I asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Dustin muttered sadly, "Setting sun, right there. We looped right back around."

"And you're just realizing this now?"

"Why is this all on me?" Dustin asked, becoming defective.

"Because you're the compass genius!"

"What does yours say?"

The three of us take out our compasses and say, "North."

Dustin let out a sigh and mumbled, "Makes no damn sense."

"Maybe the gate moved," I suggested, trying to help out Dustin, "Is that a possibility?"

"No, I don't think it's the gate," Dustin tells me, "I think it's something else screwing up the compasses."

A thought immediately came to my head, but I didn't want to believe it. She knew that we were trying to find Will, why would she try to stop us from going? It could be to protect us, I guess, but why would she stop us from at least seeing where it was. We needed answers and she was stopping us from getting them. I can't tell if her intentions are good or not, but she still lied and that's what's sticking out to me

"Maybe it's something here," My twin suggested.

"No, it has to be like a super magnet."

"It's not a magnet," Lucas said suddenly, "She's been acting weirder than normal. If she can slam doors with her mind, she can definitely screw up a compass."

"Why would she do that?" Mike asked.

"Because she's trying to sabotage our mission," Lucas said, his voice getting louder and more angry. "Because she's a traitor!"

Lucas started walking toward her but I grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"Lucas, stop," I said to him, "Can we just think about this for a second. This isn't going to help us find Will."

"You're right, this isn't going to help us find Will," Lucas said before he pushed me away, "You're not even supposed to be here. You never cared about Will. You never cared about me. You never cared about any of us, only yourself."

His words were like a slap in the face, and I knew that the emotion of pain was written all over my face. I knew he was lying about me not caring, but that wasn't the part that hurt me. It was the part where he believed that I never cared, that's what stung.

Lucas looked at me for a second before he started over to El. Her body was tense and her face was written with nervousness, like she was guilty. I knew immediately that me and Lucas's theory was right, she messed with the compasses.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" Mike asked before he started over to Lucas, who was now standing right in front of El.

"You did it, didn't you?" Lucas asked, "You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will."

"Lucas, come on, seriously. Just leave her alone."

"Admit it," Lucas said over Mike's warnings.

"No."

"Admit it!" Lucas yelled, making her jump. That's what he grabbed her arm to relieve a fresh blood stain on her jacket arm. "Fresh blood, I knew it."

"Lucas, come on!"

"I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks!" Lucas yelled, turning to look at Mike, "She was using powers!"

"Bull, that's old blood," Mike yelled back at him, "Right, El?"

El just stared at Mike, and it looked like she was about to start crying. I felt bad for her, even though there were so many suspicious things about her. My thoughts always returned to the sweet girl I gave a makeover to. She just needed to tell us the truth, tell us what's really going on, that's all we needed.

"Right, El?" Mike asked again, and this time she shook her head.

"It's... not..." El crooked, "It's not safe."

After El spit out those three words, Lucas exploded and my stomach knotted up tighter every time Mike and Lucas's arguing got louder.

"What did I tell you?" Lucas yelled at Mike, "She's been playing us from the beginning!"

"That's not true," Mike said, his voice softer than Lucas's, "She helped us find Will!" "Find Will? Find Will? Where is he, then?" Lucas asked Mike as he threw his arms around in the air, "Huh? I don't see him."

"Yeah, you know what I mean."

"No, I actually don't," Lucas tells his friends, "Just think about it, Mike. She could've just told us where the Upside Down was right away, but she didn't. She just made us run around like headless chickens."

"All right, calm down!" Dustin said, trying to come between the two arguing boys.

Lucas pushed Dustin's arm away and yelled, "She used us, all of us! She helped just enough so she could get what she wants. Food and a bed. She's like a stray dog."

"Screw you, Lucas!" Mike yelled at him.

"No, screw you, Mike," Lucas yelled back, "You're blind... blind because you like a girl's not grossed out by you. But wake up, man! Wake the hell up! She knows where Will is, and now she's letting him die in the Upside Down."

"Shut up!"

"For all we know, it's her fault!"

"Shut up!"

"We're looking for some stupid monster..." Lucas says as he pushes Mike's shoulder, "but did you ever stop to think that maybe she's the monster?"

"I said shut up!"

That's when Mike tackled Lucas to the ground, and I knew with all the anger that was built up inside them this could get ugly quickly.

"Stop!" El screamed, her face written with sadness.

"Stop it!" I yelled at them.

"Knock it off, you idiots!"

Lucas was able to push Mike off of him, but instead of quitting he was right on top of him.

"Stop it!"

"Guys stop!"

"Mike, get off!"

"Please stop!"

"Stop it!"

Mike was struggling under Lucas, who was pushing him down every time he tried to get open. I thought a punch was going to be thrown when a blooding curling scream filled the air. Lucas was suddenly lifted off of Mike, and thrown onto the ground hard. He slid until he smashed into a metal plate.

I immediately ran over to him, and I could hear Mike and Dustin's footsteps following close behind me. He wasn't moving, that was the only thought that filled my brain.

"Jesus!" Dustin cursed as the three of us flopped on the ground beside him.

"Lucas! Lucas!" I yelled as I started to shake his shoulder.

"Lucas, are you alright?"

"Lucas!"

"Wake up, Lucas, please!"

We continued to shake him but he wasn't waking up. Anxiety was filling me with every passing second, no matter how hard I shook him or how loud I screamed his name, he wasn't waking him.

"Lucas, please," I mumbled as I continued to shake his shoulder.

"Why would you do that?" I heard Mike scream, and I knew he was yelling at El. I couldn't look back at her, I couldn't after what she did to Lucas, after she lied to us. I didn't listen to Lucas before because I always saw a sweet girl, but that girl seemed to disappear the longer Lucas's eyes were closed.

"What's wrong with you!" Mike yelled at El, "What is wrong with you!"

"Lucas..." Dustin mumbled, shaking his shoulder again.

"Lucas, come on."

That's when Lucas's eyes opened, and I felt myself take a deep breath, all the anxiety I had before immediately slipping away. He was awake, he was going to be okay. "Lucas," Mike said lightly.

Lucas slowly sat up straight, taking in slow, deep breaths. He looked pale, and he had a weird look on his face.

I grabbed his hand and said, "Lucas, are you okay?"

"Lucas... Lucas," Dustin mumbled, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Lucas didn't answer, he just stared at the three fingers that Dustin held up in front of his face.

"Lucas, how many fingers?" Dustin asked again after a couple of seconds.

"Let me see your head," Mike said softly

"Get off of me!" Lucas huffed as he slapped Mike's hand away. The action was so sudden that I jumped and let go of his hand.

Mike was patience and soft as he said, "Just... Lucas. Lucas, let me see."

But Lucas got to his feet and slapped Mike's hand away for the second time.

"Get off me," He snapped at us before he started walking away from us.

I got to my feet and started after him, wanting to make sure that he was truly okay. But someone grabbed my arm and I turned to see that it was Dustin.

"Let him go," Dustin said to me.

I didn't want to let him go. I wanted to talk to him, make sure that he was really ok but I knew deep down that Dustin was right. Lucas needed a moment alone, he didn't need me around to annoy him.

I watched as he got further and further away from us, and I heard my brother let out a sigh. I didn't know how he was feeling right now, he just got into a fight with one of his best friends and he got upset at one of his new ones. This situation was probably worse for my brother than it was for me.

"Where's El," I heard Mike mumbled. I immediately turned to look at where I last saw her, she wasn't there.

We all started to call for her, hoping that she would just appear somewhere but I knew that she wasn't coming back for us. This day, this afternoon, turned out to be a disaster. We were no where closer to finding Will and now we lost two members of our party. Lucas was now mad at us, and we had no idea where El went.

I was starting to think that those old train tracks were haunted.