I still didn't know how to explain what we'd witnessed this whole phenomenon. This was something you'd tell people and they'd put in an asylum. But that had already happened. To Victor Creel. I was glad that Max was the latest victim, but who was. "Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car? For this visit 'cause this is gonna totally and royally suck." Robin said to Nancy. We were currently on our way to check on Eddie. I was hoping he was ok.

"It'll be fine." Nancy said to her. I was currently sat in the back of car with Steve beside me. We were sharing Pringles with each other and Hunter and Dustin as well.

"I can't stand to see those doe eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't." Robin said to us and Steve looked to the front.

"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve said as he held up the six pack. How I wish I could drink one.

"That's what my mom does." Max said to us all.

"Why don't we give it a trial run? '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, that we told you about and the gates closed, so we have no way of getting to him. Like he's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed, but not your doubly, triply screwed.'" Robin said practicing it all. Maybe she should stay in the car.

"Wait. Maybe we don't put it like that." Lucas said to her.

"We should try another approach." I said to her and I looked at the front.

"'We're one step closer to finding Vecna'. That's what we say. That's what's important." Nancy said to us and that was a lot better. Steve have me a chip before he got another one out.

"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." Steve said to her and that was true. Positivity was key in these situations.

"Uh-huh." Robin got out.

"Oh shit." Nancy said and that's when. I saw the police. Something had happened here. We then got out the car. "Come on. This way." Nancy said as we snuck over to the news van.

"As many of you may know by now the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight...reporting a homicide out here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney. His limbs, his body, it was disfigured...there was an eyewitness on the scene...we have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please come forward." The new Chief Powell said but it wasn't Eddie and I wish I could shout that out.

"Oh man." Steve got out and that's when the reporter started to clamor.

"Holy shit, this is bad." I got out. This was not good.

"This is not good. Really not good." Steve said and this was never getting good for Eddie.

"You've got a lot of questions, and I'm going to answer as many as I can. Two o'clock at town hall, where anyone from the Hawkins community is welcome. But right now, I've got some work to do, and I appreciate your understanding." Powell said before he started walking away. I then looked at Hunter. I wonder how he was doing. His teammate had died.

"Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler? Solace?" Eddie said over the radio and I was so glad he was ok. I let out a sigh of relief. We then started walking back to the school.

"Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?" Dustin asked him and he probably wasn't. He might have witnessed another person due.

"Nah, man. Pretty...pretty goddamn far from okay." He said and he'd witnessed it again.

"Where is he?" Robin asked Dustin. Hopefully he was close by.

"Where are you?" Dustin asked him.

"Skull Rock. Do you know it?" Eddie asked and I looked at Steve. Our old make out spot.

"Uh, yeah. That's near Cornwallis and- -" Dustin started and Steve cut him off.

"Garrett, yeah. I know where that is." Steve said and we went towards the car.

"Looks like we're taking a trip down memory lane." I said to him and he smiled at me. It wasn't exactly on the best circumstances but it was needed. We then took our driver to forest. We were walking the rest of the way. Dustin and Steve were ahead and I was walking with Hunter.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him and he looked down.

"Thinking about Patrick. I don't get why it was him. It had to be him." He said to me and I looked at him putting a hand on his shoulder.

"There will never be an explanation as to why he was picked. But we will get justice for him. Maybe not today but soon." I said to him and hopefully we would find him soon.

"For now, I'd rather hope that your boyfriend doesn't get us lost." He said and I looked at him with a smile.

"Remember Dustin's with him as well." I said to him and he smiled. It wasn't long until we made it to the clearing. When I saw Eddie I hugged him.

"Munson, you scared me. I'm glad you're ok." I said to him and I pulled away. I saw the look that Steve was giving me. He wasn't impressed at all.

"I'm glad your came, Solace." He said to me and then Hunter hugged him. I went over to Steve he put his arm around me immediately. Like he was staking his claim. He didn't need to be this way, Eddie was just a friend. A friend. "When I got to shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh...my walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uhm I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran." He said with a chuckle. He was telling us about what happened last night.

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asked, this could be the same time our torches blew.

"Yeah, no, I...I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie said as he took his watch off. Throwing it to Nancy. She caught it and then looked at the time.

"9:27." She read out.

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin said, this all matched it.

"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asked us and I looked at him. Was he forgetting what had happened yesterday.

"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." Nancy said to him.

"We found his main hub or whatever for all these attacks. He gets the most energy from there." I said them all. I don't know how I was getting so smart.

"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks." Robin said to us, but we didn't know when it would happening next.

"And where he attacks from." Lucas said, we just had to get to the Upside Down.

"So no we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max said, just like if he was a vampire. But who knew if he even had a heart.

"If he has a heart." Robin said and I saw Steve. He had a look on his face.

"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve asked and he was overthinking now.

"It was a metaphor." Max said and probably not the right thing to say around Steve.

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asked who knew, we'd never seen anything like this before.

"I say we chop his head off." Lucas said and how would we even get close enough for that.

"All of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy said and I looked at her.

"Exactly, we don't even know if there's a gate open. For now, we're stuck." I said to them all. We needed to find somewhere. A place that we could get to the other side.

"We need El to get her powers back." Max said and that would be so much easier.

"Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers." Steve said but we'd brought her up a couple days ago.

"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her. Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" Eddie asked and I saw him walking back and forth.

"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely." Steve said to him with a nod. He was mental indeed.

"Boom!" Dustin shouted and we all looked at him. "Bada...bada...boom. I was right. Skull Rock was north." Dustin said, did that really matter now. That was his and Steve's last argument.

"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve asked him and I was thinking the same thing.

"Mm-hmm." Dustin hummed in response.

"This is Skull Rock. Okay?" Steve said as he motioned to the rock.

"Mm-hmm." Dustin hummed again.

"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now." Steve said to him and we were here.

"Yes. And no." He said but he was wrong. This was a simple one answer question.

"Oh my God." Steve said before putting his head in his hands.

"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car on Kelley. But it started to slip the further East we went. Now it's way off. When I was landing us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was." Dustin said as he held up the compass.

"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong." Steve said to him and Dustin really needed new equipment.

"Except it isn't faulty. Lucas, Hunter, remember what can affect a compass?" Dustin asked them and I looked at Hunter.

"An electromagnetic field." Him and Lucas said at the same time. So did that mean there was a gate.

"Yep." Dustin said and I saw that Robin looked confused.

"Sorry. I must've skipped that class." Robin said and I think I did as well.

"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...." Dustin started and that's when Lucas continued it.

"There's a gate." Lucas said to us, we'd hit a jackpot.

"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy said to us, the lab was far away.

"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." Dustin said and I looked at Hunter.

"But powerful enough to stay open." He said and that was true enough. We could get through it.

"Snack-size gate." Robin said and that was perfect enough.

"How? Why?" Steve asked and I looked at him. I wanted to know as well.

"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max from this curse." Dustin said and he started walking away.

"Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go for a hike in the woods." Steve said and he was right about that.

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the Banished?" Dustin asked and I looked at Eddie.

"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...the Shire is burning." Eddie said and that's when Dustin started jumping up and down. Eddie stood up and went over to him. We all followed.

"What is Mordor?" Steve asked and Hunter looked at him.

"It's a fictional place." He said and Eddie went back for his stuff.

"Get your stuff, dude. Let's go." Eddie said as he went ahead. Nearly slipping over.

"Be careful for Christ sake." I said to him. And that's when we kept walking. Hopefully we could find this gate and soon. We were led to the lake.

"I think we're getting close." Dustin said to us all. I saw Eddie stop him.

"Watch your step, big guy." Eddie said to him and that's when we neared the waters edge.

"Oh man. You gotta be shitting me." Steve said and this was not ending well there was no way I was swimming.

"Yeah. I thought these woods were familiar." Eddie said to us and looks like we were going swimming.

"Lover's Lake." Robin said and I looked at her.

"I didn't take Vecna as a romantic." I said to her and I saw Steve look at me confused.

"This is confounding." Dustin said to us all.

"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asked and it seemed like. This placed popped up everywhere.

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna's the same way." Nancy said and that made me think.

"His making holes where his attacks happen." Hunter said beating me too it.

"Yeah, only one way to find out." Steve said and we followed Eddie. He knew of where a boat might be. Those would be our helpful transportation to find the gate. Is there was one. "Easy. I...I said easy, man." Steve said to Eddie as it went in the water.

"Sorry, dude." Eddie said and I got in the boat with Nancy, Eddie and Robin. We were all going.

"Here you go." Steve said as he passed us an oar. His old weapon.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna do that. Thank you." Robin said as she got on.

"Yeah, that works too." Steve said to her and Nancy then got on. "Good, you got her." Steve said as Nancy got on.

"Wheeler." Eddie said as he helped her on.

"Thanks." She said and that's when Dustin tried to get on.

"Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?" Eddie said to him and I was glad I was on it.

"It's better this way, okay? You guys stay with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble." Nancy said and I looked at them.

"Look out for each other and fight if you need to." I said to them all and Dustin looked at us.

"You keep an eye out and fight. It's my goddamn theory." He said to us and that didn't matter to us. He needed to stay ashore. This was for the older ones.

"You heard Nance and Y/n." Robin said and he looked at her.

"Who out them in charge?" He asked her and I looked at her with a smile.

"I did." She said to him with a smile.

"Compass." Nancy said while having her hand open.

"Dustin, hand it over now." I said to him calmly and he passed it to her.

"Hey, there you go." Steve said as he passed a bag Dustin. He then got in the boat with us.

"You said four." Dustin shouted at him.

"Sorry." Steve said to him in a whisper and I smiled.

"Bedtime at nine, kiddos." Nancy said and I smiled. "Miss you already!" She added making me smile again. I was so glad that Steve was here.

"No let's find this gate." I said with a hint of worry. I never thought we'd seeing another opening to this world. Eddie and Robin kept rowing as Nance was looking at the compass.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Slow down, guys." Nancy said and that's when Eddie and Robin stopped. The compass was going crazy.

"Whoa." Steve got out.

"It has to be near or even here." I said to them all.

"Guys, what's going on? Come on, guys talk to me. What's going on?" Dustin asked over the radio.

"Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'Aa!'" Robin said and I started looking at Steve. Who was taking his shoes and socks off.

"Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy asked him.

"You better not be doing the crazy thing I think your doing." I said to him and he looked at me.

"Somebody's gotta go down and check this out. Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-Captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then...it's gotta be me. No complaints, all right?" He said as he kissed me before standing up.

"Just be careful and don't make me come in there after you." I said to him. Taking my jacket off just in case.

"Hey, I'm not complying. I do not wanna go down there." Eddie said as he emptied his bag. Steve then proceeded to take his shirt off and he passed it to me. For safe stealing. I mean safe keeping. Eddie then passed Steve the flashlight in a bag. "Hey. Good luck." He said to him. Finally they were getting along.

"Thanks." Steve said and Eddie lit a cigarette.

"Gross." Robin said before she threw it overboard.

"Steve? I love you." I said to him and he looked at me.

"I love you too." He said before he dove into the water. I let out a worried sigh and Nancy put her hand on my arm.

"He'll be okay Solace. You don't need to worry." Eddie said to me reassuringly. We were all nervous.

"Where we at, Wheeler?" Robin asked her and Nancy checked her watch.

"Closing in on a minute." She said to him.

"Okay." Robin exclaimed.

"Come on, Steve." I said in a whisper. I've never been more stressed over a boy. There was then a splash before Steve reappeared.

"Oh Christ!" Eddie shouted as we all jumped.

"I found it." Steve said to us, it was real. We could get to Vecna.

"You found it?" Nancy asked him as he swam back to the boat.

"I found it. Yeah. I found it." He said while panting. We needed to get him on the boat.

"Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate- -" Robin said but nothing. Maybe something was happening on shore.

"It was pretty wild. It's more a snack-gate than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big." Steve said before he went back under. For a split second. He then went under and we all yelled. He was being dragged down.

"Steve!" Robin and I shouted and I stood up. "Steve! Steve!" We all shouted again.

"No! No! What the hell was that, man?" Eddie asked and I looked at them.

"Nancy, Y/n, really, what happened?" Robin asked and I looked at them.

"I'm going in after him. He was getting pulled back down." I said to them and Eddie looked at me.

"Jesus!" Eddie said and I hated this. I then jumped straight in swimming down. I didn't even let anyone stop me. No second thinking. I had to get to him. No matter what it would cost me.