chapter forty-two
bite me, brenner
alt: the best day of
steve's 1985

🖤

THE NIGHT CLOSES WITH RUBY making yet another phone call to her grandfather, desperately hoping he'd sort his shit out and show up in Hawkins. "Please, I need some help!" she pleads through the phone, trying to be quiet so the other kids staying in her house don't figure out who she's speaking to. But, she figures if he does return, they'll all know he's alive anyway.

Steve being the newest prey is what's freaking Ruby out. That night, she swaps her mom's bedroom for the sofas downstairs again, this time keeping a close watch on Steve, not Max, figuring the rest are looking after her. But no one else is looking after him, she thinks, miserably...

... She wakes up the next morning with her head on his lap. She isn't sure how that happened, but as she sits upright, prodding him awake, he gives her a funny look.

"What now?"

"Are you... well?"

Steve rolls his eyes. "No, some idiot just woke me up by giving me a bruise on my thigh—"

"Let's get breakfast," says Ruby. Steve groans, and Ruby grabs his hand, pulling him off the sofa. The rest of the kids seem to be asleep still — all except for Nancy and Robin, who have been waking up before the others, to quickly go to their respective homes to shower and change. It means that Ruby and Steve have to babysit, but then, when are they not?

"You don't need to babysit me," says Steve, rubbing his eyes.

Ruby gives him a look. "Yes, I do."

She grabs the box of pills her grandpa gave her, and gestures for Steve to open his hand out. He does so, and she drops a mountain of pills into it. He raises an eyebrow.

"OK, to stop any funny business from Vecna, your mind and body need to be in their best condition," says Ruby. "So, I'm sorry, but you're going California Girl."

"No."

"Yes."

"Actually," says Steve. "I've been working out, so I'm already in my best shape."

Ruby crosses her arms. "OK?"

"I'll show you, if you want," he says, defensively.

"OK, and I've been doing Pilates — what do you want us to do, compare abs?"

Steve pauses for a second. Ruby rolls her eyes.

"Isn't it, like, illegal to distribute your own prescription?" he says.

Ruby shrugs. She throws her pills for the day into her mouth, followed by a swig of water. Before she swallows, she says (gargles), "I got these illegally anyway, so..."

Steve's head tilts, confused. "Did you rob a CVS?"

"Nope." Ruby takes the pills off of him, since he seems so ethically against them. She puts them back into their container, and opens the fridge, grabbing the milk and fruit so she can make their porridge. She lets out a sigh, and thinks, eh, what the hell? "I've... had help. Whether I like it or not, it's my job to fight this monster..."

"Did the lab guys find you, or something?"

"No... Uh..."

"Like, that guy from a couple years back? The one that took us out of school, with Nance and Jonathan?"

Nance takes Ruby by surprise, admittedly — she feels transported, funnily enough, to a couple years back, when Ruby was still dating Billy. When Ruby was bitterly jealous of Nancy for being with Steve, even if she didn't admit it to herself; God, Ruby wished she could be like Nancy back then, even if it was to be normal. And look at me now, Ruby thinks miserably, after two years of possession, dead ex-boyfriends and aunts and dads, and resurrected grandfathers.

But, Steve isn't talking about her grandpa. He means the guy that took over the lab. Rowen? Cohen? Owen? ... Owens, she thinks. She remembers breaking herself out of the lab, and telling them she'd kill them if they touched Steve — at the time, an ex-best friend she wasn't even speaking to. The point still stands, Ruby thinks, looking down at herself, making oatmeal to keep Vecna at bay.

"No, uh, someone else..."

"Who? The... The FBI?"

Ruby looks at Steve, unsure what to say. There is an answer, but she isn't supposed to say it...

... But then, Steve's always kept her secrets. Out of everyone in the world, he's the person she trusts most. They haven't even spoken in six months, and yet, she trusts him still, knows he won't spill her secrets.

"OK." Ruby turns to him. "If I tell you this, you cannot tell a soul. Not even Dustin. Or Robin. I'm—I'm putting both of our lives on the line, by saying this."

Steve looks incredulous. "That's a bit dramatic, Rubes."

"No it's not!" she says, trying to ignore Rubes. Now is not the time to fantasise and swoon over that. "I mean it..."

"OK," says Steve. "I won't tell anyone about whatever this is — and you won't tell anyone about that vision yesterday."

Ruby blinks. "But what... what if you see something again?"

"Tough shit," says Steve. "Do we have a deal?"

"Fine — I am gonna have to keep an eye on you, though. Like, attached-to-the-hip."

Steve shrugs. "I'm never gonna complain about that."

Ruby pauses for a second. Was that... Was he flirting with her? Does that even count as flirting or instead, like, a frank statement of romantic interest? What the fuck? And why is she getting this worked up anyway? She's dated so many boys, especially since they broke up — why is this making her feel like a fifteen-year-old that hadn't so much as seen a boy's—?

"So?"

He looks at her, raising his little finger to pinky-promise.

"Fine," says Ruby, with a grumble.

Their little fingers lock together for a second. Ruby looks up at him; she had forgotten how pretty his eyes are, hazel-coloured that look radiant in the sunlight. He smiles softly at her, and she feels as if her heart could melt. Ruby forces herself to look away, too many thoughts swimming around her brain.

"OK, so... My grandpa's alive, and he's been training me to kill whatever monster's in the Upside Down. I think he knows more about its origins, but I think he wanted me to focus on my powers first... All of this California Girl bullshit is his idea — he says that a well-fed body and mind will help my brain and my powers, and whatever."

Ruby turns away, pouring the oatmeal into two bowls.

She asks, "Would you like strawberries or raspberries?"

"I'm not eating that shit—"

"What did we agree upon? You're eating this, Steven."

Steve crosses his arms. "Hang on, hang on. Your grandpa...?"

"Is alive," says Ruby, adding a spoonful of fruit into both bowls. She eyes her bags of green tea, and thinks, one step at a time. "I don't know how he survived, but he found me last summer, after everything happened... And it's been helpful. I should've had more time, before any of this happened — that's why I didn't want to come back to Hawkins — but whatever. I guess I'm strong enough to kill Vecna."

"When... When did you see him again?"

"He called, just after we—" she gestures to herself and Steve, "—broke up. I've been seeing him as often as I can, since being in California."

"Did he have anything to do with us...?"

"No, but he thought it was a good idea..." Ruby passes one of the bowls to Steve, and she starts to shovel the oatmeal into her mouth. "No one knows. Obviously the government doesn't like him, for accidentally outing their funny business... I don't know, his whole regime is a lot. I miss McDonalds."

Steve has a spoonful of his breakfast. "Rubes?"

"What?" she says.

"This is shit," he says.

Ruby's mouth opens in shock. "But it's good for you! For your brain!"

Steve shakes his head, and takes the bowl from her hands. He opens the trash can, and before she can protest, the oatmeal she had spent three whole minutes making falls into the trash with a lousy thud.

"Uh, yeah, if someone that can actually cook makes it—"

Ruby opens her mouth to argue back, but instead, she starts to laugh.

"You're so annoying, Harrington," she says, with a smile.

"Bite me, Brenner," he says with a grin.

🖤

CUT TO TWO HOURS LATER; the entire group of them hauled into the Wheeler's station wagon, driving through jittery Hawkins towards Eddie's hiding spot. Ruby's ended up sitting in the back with Steve and Dustin, the two boys inhaling a tube of Pringles each. Steve tried to share them with her, but she gave him a dirty look, telling him he already ruined her breakfast.

"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car?" says Robin, from all the way at the front of the car. Ruby wishes she won shotgun, instead of hearing her ex-boyfriend shovel salt-and-vinegar Pringles into his mouth. "'Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck."

"It'll be fine," says Steve, through a mouthful of food.

"I can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again," says Robin, shaking her head. "I really, really can't."

Steve holds up the pack of beer they bought. "At least he can drink himself into feeling better."

"That's what my mom does," says Max.

"Why don't we give it a trial?" says Robin, unconvinced. "'Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. He's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed—'"

"Maybe we don't put it like that..."

"And, actually, one of us can get to Vecna..." says Ruby, frowning. "It's just that Vecna also happens to be the dickhead that possessed me last year, so we need to be smart and not run straight into danger..."

"I'd like everyone to know this is Ruby Brenner, saying this," says Steve.

Ruby nudges his side lightly. "Suck my dick," she says, scowling.

Steve opens his mouth, and Ruby's eyes widen. Dustin shoves a Pringle into Steve's open mouth, shutting him and the quip on his tongue up.

"We're one step closer to finding Vecna,'" says Nancy. "That's what we say. That's what's important."

"See, Robin?" says Steve. "Positive spin can make all the difference."

Robin's clearly unconvinced. "Uh-huh."

Next to Robin, Nancy goes, "Oh, shit..."

And they're quick to see what she's talking about. As they pull up to Reefer Rick's, they're greeted with a swarm of cop cars, and locals parked, nosing around. Ruby feels a tightness in her stomach, feeling nervous. Did they — did she — miss a murder last night? Did Vecna find Eddie, maybe?

Steve swings the trunk door open, jumping out. Dustin scrambles past him, but Steve extends his hand, helping Ruby get out. She smiles awkwardly, then steps around him, to get a better look at the crime scene.

The grass around Reefer Rick's house and boathouse is sectioned off with police tape, locals stood around it, trying to get a look at what happened. Ruby looks around, trying to spot her dad's stand-in, as they all move closer to the police tape.

"What... happened?"

Ruby finds the new chief. "Give me five minutes."

Steve turns to her, confused. "Ruby, you're not allowed—?"

But she's already ducked underneath the police tape, walking towards the new chief. Another police officer shouts at her, but she waves her hand dismissively, and calls back, "My dad was Hopper, I'm allowed here!"

Chief Powell sighs when he sees Ruby.

"You're not allowed here—"

Ruby shrugs. "Maybe I can motivate you."

"... How?" he says.

"Give me a cigarette and a coffee, and I'll be reminding you of Dad in no time," says Ruby, putting her hands on her hips. "Then you'll work even harder to solve this case, because the ex-chief is watching what you're doing — and then, you'll be even quicker to realise that none of this could be possibly done by a loser that plays D&D..." Ruby looks past Powell's shoulder, towards the lake. There's a flurry of forensic scientists, gathering evidence. "So... what happened?"

"I can't tell you, Chief," says Powell, unimpressed.

Ruby pouts. "Pretty please?"

Behind the police tape, Steve crosses his arms, his attention drifting from whatever reason the cops are here, to his ex-girlfriend, unabashedly demanding answers. Robin's standing next to him, and she prods his shoulder, smirking.

"I know this is horrible timing, but you seem to be getting along nicely..."

Steve rolls his eyes. "It's not like that."

In a sing-song voice, Robin goes, "OK..."

Before he can say anything else, Dustin's Walkie-Talkie scratchily announces it's presence, a familiar voice speaking. Dustin's eyes widen, and Steve realises it's Eddie — wherever he is now. Steve glances over at Dustin runs off, so no one can overhear them talking; the others move to listen in, and Robin pauses for a second, waiting for Steve.

"Uh, no, you go — I'll tell Rubes where you've all gone."

Robin raises her eyebrows, looking hopeful. "Rubes?"

Steve waves his hands, to try and shoo Robin away. Robin puts her hands up in defence, but smiles victoriously, before she jogs away to catch up with the others.

He crosses his arms, waiting around. There's a small voice in his head that wonders if he should even be on his own, right now, but he reassures himself, Ruby's right over there, it's fine. He tries to be cool about it, though, instead looking around at the rest of the crime scene. He can see police officers closer to the lake, taking evidence. They're searching through the house and boathouse too, officers walking around holding bags of drugs and evidence of Munson crashing. Shit, Steve thinks.

Then he looks over. Next to Reefer Rick's house, Steve swears he sees the old chief. He blinks, and Hopper's standing over there, talking to someone. But, the boy next to Hopper turns around — his eyes are hollowed out, his mouth cracked open-wide. The boy drops onto all-fours, and starts to scramble towards—

"Do I look like I'm wearing a swimsuit?"

Steve blinks; the boy's gone, and instead, Ruby's standing in front of him.

"What?" he says.

"My leotard," says Ruby. She's wearing a baggy shirt, with a tighter top underneath, tucked into jeans; she moves the shirt to show off the other top, one that does shine like a swimsuit would. "Powell asked if I was here to go swimming."

"It does look a bit like a swimsuit..."

Ruby rolls her eyes. "It's for Pilates! I was meant to be back in LA by now, I'm running out of clothes," she says, with a sigh. "Thank God my dad left so much shit at my mom's when they were dating..." She trails off, frowning. "Uh, are you OK...?"

"I thought I saw something," says Steve.

His ex-girlfriend pauses for a second, trying to figure out what to say. Eventually, she picks up his hand, and squeezes it. Steve feels like he's been hit by lightning. "Well, I'm here now," she tells him, before she drops his hand. "I think we need a code-word, if you see anything around the others... Like, look at that... bush..."

Steve gives her a funny look. "I don't think that'll fly."

It takes Ruby a second, before she smirks. "OK, OK... Any ideas, pretty boy?"

Ruby has no idea where that came from. She wants the ground to swallow her whole — no, screw that, she wants Vecna to kill her, right here and now. Because why the fuck would her mouth slip that out? Calling her ex-boyfriend pretty? She isn't wrong, but still — pretty boy? What the fuck?

Steve, however, thinks, This is the greatest day of 1985.

"Hey! Shitheads!"

Steve and Ruby turn around; behind them, Dustin is waving them down, looking pissed off.

Ruby sighs. "What's with the aggression?"

"I know, right?" says Steve. "He's worse than you."

She gasps. "Woah! Mine is justified!" she says. Her eyes are fixed on the rest of their friends, though, only just noticing they weren't next to Steve. (But then, when does she notice anyone when he's there?) "Why are they over there, anyway?"

Steve shrugs. "You-Know-Who's called. I thought I'd wait for you."

"Oh, that's nice of you," says Ruby. She moves to start walking towards them, but as she does, she lightly holds onto the sleeve of Steve's sweater, pulling him closer. His heart pounds in his chest for a second, until he realises she's only doing this to talk quietly. "There's a body — it's one of the jocks that were after Eddie. Apparently they found him in Chrissy's boyfriend's arms, and he was super freaked-out..."

"They told you all that?" says Steve, enjoying the closeness, in spite of the situation. (He knows, he knows, that this is ethically wrong and selfish of him to think — but silver linings, you know?)

"I can be super-persuasive sometimes," says Ruby, and she winks. "It's like I've got superpowers."

He feels like he's going to melt.

They reach the others, just as they all stand up, ready to go somewhere. Steve and Ruby exchange a look, confused; he puts his hands on his hips, trying to show dominance over the kids.

"What's going on?" he says.

"We need to go to Skull Rock," says Dustin. Steve and Ruby exchange another look, a far different one of the last one — Ruby cannot count the amount of times they went there, back when they were together. "But we have no clue where it is... Do you guys—?"

Without another word, Steve and Ruby start walking.

"This way!"

🖤

"OH MY GOD, THEY'RE SO adorable. I just wanna squeeze 'em, you know?"

Forty minutes later, and Ruby finds herself unhappily hiking through the woods surrounding Hawkins. Thank God she wore sneakers today, or else her feet would be wrecked. She had spent the first twenty minutes walking with Steve, but noticed a few too many smirks from Robin and Dustin, and so fell back. Now, she's walking with Nancy and Robin, listening to Robin gush over the apparent cuteness of Max and Lucas.

Robin continues, "If I'm permitted to see a silver lining in this end-of-the-world doom and gloom, it would be the rekindling of old flames that never should've been snuffed out."

Ruby raises an eyebrow. "I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean...?"

"I didn't mean that as a hint or anything," says Robin. Beside her, Nancy and Ruby exchange a funny look, knowing exactly where Robin is going. "But if I did mean it as a hint, would that be so terrible? To wish for happiness for my friends?"

Ruby shrugs. "I don't know, I think Nancy and Jonathan are super happy..."

"That's not what I meant—"

"Well, apart from Max and Lucas, that's the only couple I know about within this party," says Ruby. She glances ahead at Dustin, who's walking alongside Steve — but her gaze is on Dustin, dear reader. "I mean, apart from Never Ending Story girl... Are they still dating?"

"Last I heard," Robin nods. "But you're changing the subject!"

"What subject? We were talking about Nancy and Jonathan," says Ruby, shrugging again. If she just refuses to acknowledge Robin's point, then there's no conversation to have. No what's going with you and Steve? Because Ruby isn't allowing that conversation to start. "So, Nance..."

"Did he ever tell you, why he couldn't come?" Nancy blurts out, looking at Ruby.

Ruby's eyes widen. "Uh..."

"It's just that — he was supposed to be here for the break, and then he backed out at the last minute for some vague, mumbly Jonathan reason." Nancy's talking faster than Ruby's ever heard her go before, as if racing through all of the thoughts trapped in her head. Ruby and Robin share a look, as Nancy continues. "And, to be honest, I'm not that surprised because I've been feeling him pulling away. And I don't know if it's because we're two thousand miles away or if he met someone new or what—"

"He hasn't met anyone new," says Ruby.

Nancy turns to Ruby, upset. "How do you know that?"

"Because, unless a girl is hanging out at the bottom of his grinder, he doesn't care," says Ruby. She thinks back about her choice of words, and back-tracks. "OK, obviously he cares about you — but he doesn't give a shit about any girl in California. I don't think he even knows any. He just... smokes pot with his friend. That's literally it. That's all he does. I'm not even exaggerating."

"But, still," says Nancy, frowning. Ruby wonders how long she's had this anxiety bottled up inside of her. "Why didn't he come for spring break?"

"I... don't know," says Ruby. "He was worrying about college, but apart from that..."

"What do you mean, worrying?" says Nancy. "Did he get into Emerson?"

"Uh... I think he was waiting for the letter still," says Ruby.

She looks ahead at Steve, and begins to wish he'd call her over. She knows she shouldn't be hoping for him to get another vision, but Ruby would love any reason to walk away from this conversation with Nancy. Ruby doesn't know enough — and even if she did, she feels weird, being close with both Nancy and Jonathan... What side does she pick? Her best friend, or her brother?

"But what if—?"

"Steve, did you say something?" Ruby calls out.

Steve turns around, and frowns. "Uh—"

Ruby glances at Nancy. "He's needy, what can I say?"

As Ruby rushes to catch up to Steve and Dustin, she hears Robin speak in a sing-song voice behind her, "My point exactlyyyy!"

Ruby chooses to ignore this. Like, there's no funny business, going on between her and Steve. They were together — and in love and she thought they were going to get married and have babies — and now they're not. And that's manageable. It's realistic. Who stays together with their high school boyfriend, anyway? Well, apart from most of the adults in Hawkins... but that's because they never left!

Anyway, this is steering away from her point. The point, the reason why they broke up in the first place. Ruby Brenner was put on this earth to stop the monster from the Upside Down — and that's what she's going to do. But Steve's connection to her is putting him in danger; she knows him getting these visions is Vecna's twisted way of getting to her, and it's working. But that's precisely why they can't be together. If Steve were to die because of Ruby... she thinks she'd die, too.

"I'm being interrogated about Jonathan," says Ruby, catching up to Steve and Dustin.

Steve frowns. "Why?"

"He was meant to come for spring break," says Ruby. "And he didn't — and I don't know why, all I know is that Nancy's upset about it... Rightfully so, I mean."

"I guess long distance isn't for everyone," Steve says with a shrug.

Ruby and Dustin look at each other, confused.

"How... would you know?" says Dustin.

"Shut up, shithead," says Steve. "Henderson doesn't think I know where I'm going, he's been grouchy since we left Rick's."

Ruby snorts. "Harrington invented this place, Dus."

"Well, that doesn't mean he can be wrong—"

Steve lifts up a low-hanging tree branch, letting Ruby through. She tries not to react oddly, remembering him doing the exact same when they were dating; he'd lift up that branch and go, "Ladies first," and she'd joke about how many girls she'd said that to. "Many, but you're in a good shot for favourite," he told her, the first time they came up here. Ruby made a remark about how Billy was, and Steve grabbed her by the waist, picking her up and telling her, "You're all mine!"

So, forgive her for feeling a little melancholic, right now.

Ruby ducks underneath the tree branch. The woods open up into a small clearing, leading up to a huge rock, abstractly resembling a skull. Skull Rock lifts up from the ground in the middle, revealing a muddy bed perfect for horny, desperate teenagers (Ruby and Steve, once upon a time). She puts her hands on her hips; on the tree closest to the skull's eye-holes, she can see a cluster of initials carved into the bark. Her gaze fixates on the S + R, enclosed with a heart.

"Bada bing, bada boom," says Steve, victorious. "Skull Rock. In your face, Henderson. In your stupid, cocky little face."

Dustin looks down at his compass. "It doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, yeah... Even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it." Steve looks around at the place. Ruby glances across at him, wondering if he's checked for their initials in the tree, too. "Can't admit you're wrong, you butthead."

"I concur."

Ruby turns around. Standing on the slope above them, Eddie looks down at them. He jumps down to the clearing, walking over to Dustin with a slight swagger. Ruby isn't sure if he's trying to be cool, or if that's just how he walks.

"You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead," he tells him.

Dustin rushes over to Eddie, hugging him. "Jesus, we thought you were a goner!"

"Yeah, me too, man," says Eddie.

Over Dustin's shoulder, Eddie looks at Steve and Ruby, who both smile awkwardly... Well, Ruby tries to be polite, but she figures Steve looks unimpressed Dustin has another grown-up friend.

The others catch up to them, the group eventually filling out the clearing. Lucas and Dustin unzip their backpacks, revealing the food they bought for Eddie earlier — sans the pack of beer, which was too heavy and risky for them to carry into the woods, past the entirety of the Hawkins police department. Ruby and Steve stand next to each other; she decides not to question it, her subconscious moving her closer to him.

As Eddie ploughs through the box of Eggo's, he explains what happened the night before — with Patrick, Ruby learns, the guy from the basketball team that was killed. Apparently, Patrick and Chrissy's boyfriend Jason chased Eddie out of the boathouse and into the lake, where Patrick was lifted into the air by Vecna, and killed. Ruby does the mental maths, realising that the murder must've happened around the time they were at the Creel house, last night.

"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh... my walkie was busted," says Eddie, tipping the last of the water bottle's contents into his mouth. "So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran." He laughs uncomfortably.

"Do you know what time this was?" says Nancy. "The attack?"

Eddie glances down at his watch, and smiles again, as if smiling through the pain. "I know exactly what time it was... My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked."

Ruby crosses her arms, impatient. "And...?"

He undoes the watch from his wrist, and tosses it over to Ruby; she catches it, but knows her powers have something to do with it, the watch floating an impossible curve, landing in her hand.

"9:27," she says. "Wasn't that when...?"

"When our flashlights went kablooey," says Robin.

Steve frowns. "Which means what, exactly?"

Ruby tosses the watch back to Eddie, as Nancy says, "That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick."

"Well, we're one step closer," says Robin. "We know how Vecna attacks."

"And where he attacks from," says Lucas.

Max looks around at them all, her headphones hanging around her neck. Ruby can make out the quiet vocals of Kate Bush from where she's standing. "... So, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart."

Robin scoffs. "If he has a heart."

"A stake? Is he like a vamp...?" Steve trails off. He glances at Ruby, his brows knitting together. Ruby remembers them sneaking the original Dracula on VHS into his basement when they were kids... Steve left with a fear of vampires, and Ruby bats, making the experience traumatic, to say the least. "Is he a vampire?"

Ruby shakes her head. "No, you're good."

Max gives him a dirty look, as if he's stupid for asking. "It was a metaphor."

"A bullet should work on him, right?" asks Eddie.

"I say we chop his head off," says Lucas.

Ruby sighs. "Guillotine, maybe, gun... it might just slow him down," she says. "What we need is to burn the bitch... But we can't go in, all guns blazing. Vecna's too smart."

Nancy nods in agreement. "We need to find a way into the Upside Down," she says. Ruby opens her mouth to go, Uh, actually, but Nancy preempts that. "For us to get in, so Ruby isn't on her own."

"We need El to get her powers back," says Max, and Ruby doesn't know if she agrees or not. It would make things easier for her, sure, but to gladly let her little sister walk straight into danger again, when Ruby knows how bad this guy is...?

"Everything was way easier," says Steve, to Eddie. "We had this girl. She had superpowers too."

"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her..." Eddie pauses. He looks past them all and at Dustin, who's pacing, glaring at his compass. "Hey, uh, Henderson's not cursed, is he?"

"Cursed? No, no, he's fine." Steve shakes his head dismissively. "Mental? Absolutely."

"Boom! Bada... bada... boom." Dustin turns to Steve, mocking his words from earlier. "I was right. Skull Rock was north."

Steve groans. "Seriously?"

Dustin nods, triumphant.

"This is Skull Rock, OK?" Steve waves his hands around wildly, frustrated. Ruby steps to the side, thinking she's about to get whacked by mistake. "You're totally, absolutely, one-hundred percent wrong!"

"Yes... and no."

Steve covers his head with his hands, groaning. "Oh my God."

"This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'... Correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off." Dustin holds the compass up as he proves his point — whatever his point is. "When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was."

"So you're using faulty equipment," says Steve. "You're still wrong."

"Except it isn't faulty." Dustin turns to Lucas. "Remember what can affect a compass?"

"An electromagnetic field," says Lucas.

Dustin nods. "Yep."

Robin looks around, confused. "Sorry. I must've skipped that class...?"

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or..."

Lucas finishes, "There's a gate."

Nancy frowns. "But we're nowhere near the lab."

"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful..."

Robin remarks, "Snack-sized gate."

"How?" says Steve. "Why?"

"That makes sense," says Ruby, looking up. "Sometimes, someone with my abilities can tear through the dimensions — if Vecna is killing people from the Upside Down, that's a lot of power... So it must be leaving a mark. It must be creating a gate."

To herself, she questions, Why are Vecna's powers so similar to mine? But she doesn't say that out-loud, choosing not to open that bag of worms just yet.

Ruby turns to Eddie. "Did you say Patrick died in the lake?"

Eddie nods. "Yeah, but they'll be cops swarming the place..."

"Yeah, but they'll go home after dark," says Ruby, shrugging. "And besides, what's the better option? Going back to the trailer park? What are you gonna do?"

"Well, if you guys had brought those beers I asked for..."

Ruby rolls her eyes. "So the lake it is."

She walks towards Dustin, the two ready to hike back towards lover's lake. But, before they can run off, excited by their theory, Steve calls out after them.

"Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go hike in the woods—"

Ruby groans. She marches back to Eddie, holding onto his hand; he starts to protest, but she squints, imagining the two of them invisible. Through the mirage, she says fo Steve, "Can you see him now?"

"No?"

Ruby lets go of Eddie's hand, and shrugs. "Then we're good."

Eddie's bewildered still — the rest of them too, having not seen Ruby do that before. She shrugs. "How do you guys think Steve got past Dad all of last summer?" she says.

There's a collective, "Ohhhhh..."

All except for Eddie, who goes, "I'm still confused."

Ruby pats his shoulder, before walking away. "Well, lucky for you we've got a whole day to kill!"

No one else moves. Ruby looks behind them all, and Dustin sighs, looking impatient.

"This might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie," says Dustin. And Steve, Ruby thinks, miserably. "What say you, Eddie the Banished?"

"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire..." Eddie pauses for a second, watching Dustin jump up and down with anticipation. "The Shire is burning... So Mordor it is."

"What is Mordor?" says Steve, as the others start moving, ready for their second hike of the day.

Ruby waits behind for him; he looks up at her, as if she'd know the answer. She gives him a funny look.

"I know about the Upside Down, not nerdy shit. Get real, Harrington."

"Bite me," he says, rolling his eyes.

I wish, Ruby thinks, wistfully.

i forgot i wrote this a month ago.... so....... have a present lol next chapter soon xxx