Thirteen's POV

We were riding on the bikes to school. "Wow..." I mumbled. It was so beautiful. I've never seen the trees so beautiful. "Mike, It's so beautiful," I said. "Really?" He said. "Yes," I said. 

I looked around more fascinated. "So, we're going to school?" I asked. "Yes." He said. "What is school?" I asked. "A place where you learn stuff." He said. 

"Oh," I said looking at different things. "What are those big moving things?" I asked. "Cars," he said. "Cars," I repeated. 

We got to the school. He slowed down and went into this thing. "What's that?" I asked. "Bike rack." He said getting off.

 I got off and he put the thing down on it. We walked over to the doors. He opened the door and walked in. 

"Remember, if anyone sees us. Act sad." Mike said walking ahead of us. I turned to Dustin and he made a sad face. I nodded and looked around this school. 

We turned a few times and then Mike went to a door. He tried to open it but it didn't. "It's locked." He said. 

Dustin turned to me. "Do you think you could teleport in there and unlock it?" Dustin asked. I looked over not knowing what to do. "Boys?" I heard. I turned towards the voice frightened.

A tall man showed up. "The assembly is about to start." He said. "We know, we just needed alone time," Mike said. "To cry," Dustin said. 

"I get it. this is a hard time for you, but we should be there for Will. After the assembly though, You can spend as long as you need in the AV room." He said tossing something to Mike.

Everyone smiled except me. I just stood there trying to act normal as they told me to. The man turned to me. "Oh, hello there. I don't believe we met." He said.

I looked up at him. "What's your name?" He asked. I stood silent for a moment. "Thirte-" "Thira," Mike said.

 "She's my Jewish cousin," Dustin said. "Yeah, he has a lot of Jewish families," Lucas said. "She's here for Will's funeral," Mike said. "Oh, well, welcome to Hawkins." He said happily. 

"Thank you...sir," I said looking around. "Uh, where are you from exactly?" He asked. "Uh, Haw-" "Maine," Dustin said. "She doesn't like it there at all," Lucas said. 

The man inhaled. "Should we go?" He asked. "Yup," Lucas said. We all started walking. I grabbed mikes arm and let him take the lead.

We turned to a door and Dustin opened it making it hit the wall. Everyone in that room looked at us. 

I looked around at all the people. The room was gigantic with barely anything in it. "Abort," Dustin said turning around. Lucas pushed him back. They started walking.

I stayed and looked for a moment. Mike turned around. He sighed and grabbed my hand, pulling me. "Come on, Thira..." He said. 

I held onto his hand tightly as we walked up to take our seats. I sat down next to him. Dustin sat next to me. Mike let my hand go. I put my hands in my lap. 

Mike started looking around. This got my attention. "Mike," I said softly. He looked over. "Yeah?" He asked. "Why are you looking around?" I asked.

 "All these people here don't really know him." He's said. "He only was with you three?" I asked. "Mostly." He said. I then heard laughter. I looked over his shoulder. It was that boy that hurt Mike.

I glared at the boy. Mike looked towards where I was looking. "Mouthbreather," I said. Mike turned around and looked at me. He blinked a couple of times. 

I turned away from his gaze and looked to the right. Dustin looked over at me with a straight face. He then smiled at me. I smiled back and looked forward.

I couldn't really pay attention all that much. I was too focused on all the memories inside my head. I looked over at Mike. He looked mad. I put my hand over his. He looked over at me. 

"Are you mad I said mouthbreather?" I asked. He nodded his head. "Of course not." He said smiling a little. " I'm mad at Troy for being rude." He said frowning now.

[Skip To After Assembly]

We all started walking down whatever it was called. I looked over at Mike worried. I grabbed his arm and he gripped onto my hand. 

"Hey! Hey!" He yelled over to the boy. "Hey, Troy!" He yelled. Troy turned towards us. "You...you think this is funny?" Mikes asked him.

 "What do you want, frog face?" He said. I looked at him weirdly. Frogface? I looked at Mike's face. It didn't look like a frog. 

"I-I saw you guys laughing over there. That is a pretty messed up thing to do." I said. "What? It's not sad. Will is up in fairyland now, all happy and gay!" Troy said.

Most of everyone stopped to watch this happen. Mikes grip got tighter. It was almost hurting. Troy started jumping around weirdly. "La la la la la. oooooh." He said. He started walking off.

Mike started walking releasing my hand. I let go of it. I watched him walk fast towards Troy. He put his hands up and pushed Troy down.

Troy went face first to the ground. My eyes were wide for a moment. I quickly relaxed when he got up. I had to be really really quick about this. Troy got up angry.

"You're dead!" He said getting up and running towards Mike. I teleported quickly and kicked him in between his legs. I teleported back to where I was before. Nobody seemed to notice.

Troy fell over holding whatever was there. I don't get why the boys react like that but girls don't. He was screaming in pain. then something was leaking out of his jeans. 

Everyone started laughing. "Troy peed himself!" Someone said. I felt the blood trickling down my nose. 

Mike looked back at me. My glare turned into a small smile. I wiped my nose and walked away towards the room that we were going to. 

I went out into the hallway and waited. They soon came out and I walked with them. we turned a couple of times, then got to the door.

 Mike got the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. We walked in and he turned on the light. He pulled out the seat for me and I sat down.

"Do you think you can find him?" Mike asked. I stayed silent. he turned on everything and I started to focus. I saw him. He was running from that creature. My hands went into fists.

The heathkit was still making the same noise. I closed my eyes tightly. A whimpering sound came from the heathkit.

 "Mom? Mom! Mom? Mom! Mom! Mom! Hello? Mom? Mom? Mom! Mom, it's coming!" A faint sound of the shrieking creature can be heard. 

"It's like home...but dark...really dark! It's so dark and empty. It's very cold! Mom? Mom! Mom, please!" The screeching monster is closer. 

The boys gasp which makes me stop. I'm also very drained. I try to move, but can't. I see I caused a fire trying too hard. The blood was running down both my nostrils and ears. 

I feel arms around me but can't see. I see Mike into view. "Thirteen? You okay?" He asks. I try to speak but nothing comes out. He looks down. "Can you move?" He asked.

He glanced down then back into my eyes. He looked over to Lucas. "Help me pick her up." He said. I feel arms around my waist and arms. They got me out of the chair dragging me.

Dustin came up and grabbed my feet. They picked me up higher and put me up on a moving thing. They put my jacket over my legs and started moving me out of the room. 

We got outside and I still felt pretty dizzy. I tried moving but couldn't. I couldn't have drained so much from that little thing. Everything started to go dark. "Thirteen?" I heard.

[Skip To After Thirteen Woke Up At Mike's Home] 

I fluttered my eyes open when I heard Mike speaking. I could move but was still pretty weak. "Like home," Mike said. I looked towards him. I don't think they know I'm awake.

"And dark," Mike said getting up. "And empty," Lucas said. "Like home, but dark empty and cold. maybe his house." Mike said. "Or Hawkins," Lucas said. 

"Upside down..." I said weakly. They all turned to me. Mike walked over to me and kneeled in front of me. "Thirteen, are you okay?" He asked worriedly. I stayed silent. 

he put his hand over mine. It was warm. "Can you hear me?" He asked. I nodded. He looked down at my hand. "You're really cold." He said. "I know..." I said. 

He let go of my hand and got up reaching over to grab a blanket. he put it over me and I started feeling warm. He then had a weird look on his face.

"Upside down...I think I get it now." He said going over to the board. "Guy's what if this is our world but if you flip it upside down..." He said. "And?" Lucas said. 

Mike sighed. "Do I really need to explain and finish for you guys to get it." He said. "Dustin got up from the stairs and sat next to Mike. 

"I kinda get it. It sounds like the Vale Of Shadows." Dustin said. "What's that?" Lucas said. "Basically an alternate universe of our world but much worse," Dustin said crossing his arms.

"Okay, how do we get there?" Lucas said. "Cast shadow walk," Dustin said. "In real life dummy," Lucas said. "We can't shadow walk dummy...but maybe she can." He said turning his gaze to me.

Mike and Lucas looked over at me. I looked calm since I couldn't move well but on the inside, I was beyond freaking out. I didn't want them hurt. 

"Do you know how to get to the upside down?" Mike asked calmly. "No..." I said lying right through my teeth. Lucas groaned and looked away from me. 

I turned around to look away from them. I was feeling bad that I lied but its to keep them safe. I can't let them get hurt.

[Skip To Next Day After Funeral]

"And then..." Mike poked a hole through the paper. I flinched and my eyes widened. "It would take a lot of energy to build a gate like this, but that's gotta be what happened," Mike said.

"Y-yeah..." I said nodding a little. "What we wanna know is...do you know where the gate is?" Lucas asked. I nodded my head. "Sorry..." I said. Lucas groaned and leaned back in his chair.

"Then how the hell do you know about it?" He asked. I turned away from there gazes. I looked over to see Dustin spinning around. My face went into confusion.

"Mike, what is he doing?" I asked. "Dustin, what are you doing?" Mike asked. Dustin kept spinning. "Dustin? Dustin!" Mike said louder this time. Dustin stopped.

"I need your compasses now." He said. Mike and Lucas got up. They grabbed these compasses. "Now, why'd you need them?" Mike asked. "They're not pointing at true north." He said. 

Mike and Lucas looked at him weirdly. "If a powerful magnet like the gate is near it disrupts what the compasses are supposed to do," Dustin said. My heart picked up in speed. "So..." Lucas said.

"So, if we follow the directing of the compasses...we should be there at the gate," Dustin said. Lucas and Mike smiled and slapped hands together. 

I slumped over. "Thirteen?" Mike asked. I looked up. "Yes?" I asked looking over to see no one else. "You okay?" He asked kneeling down in front of me. I nodded. "Where's?" I asked.

"Oh, they left to get more supplies." He said. I nodded. "I'm going to go upstairs and change, okay?" He said. "Change?" I asked confused. 

"My clothes." He said standing up. He turned around and started walking. I grabbed him and pulled his arm making him stumble. He turned to me.

"Please don't leave," I said. "I'll be gone for a minute." He said. I let go of his hand and he started running up the stairs. "Change his close? Why does he need that?" I wondered. 

I looked at the thing on my wrist. it's been a minute and he's not here. I teleport to his room. I look over and see him at his tiny room door. 

He turned around and gasped. I looked down and saw him wearing something. "Thirteen!" He yelled. His face was really red. "What are those?" I asked. 

He covered where I looked. "My underwear, now please get out." He said. "What's underwear?" I asked. "Can we talk about this later." He asked. I nodded and teleported downstairs. 

Mike soon came down and looked over to me. I sat up straight. "What's underwear?" I asked. His face got red again. "It's...this clothing you wear that for your private parts..." He said.

"Private parts?" I asked confused. "Um...youre uh..." He got closer to me and by my ear. "Down there..." He said. "Down there? You mean where you pee?" I asked.

He put his hand over his face. "Yes..." He said. "I don't have underwear," I said. He looked over. "What do you mean you don't?" He asked. "I never got any," I said.

He looked shocked at me. He put a hand over his mouth and looked over. "Am I suppose to?" I asked. He stayed silent. The room was full of silence for a while. 

I teleported to his room. I looked around for something to distract them so they wouldn't go out. I was completely scared that they might get hurt and it would be my fault.

His door opened and I teleported back to the basement to see no Mike. I wiped my nose with my hand. The door opened to the here. "Thirteen?" Mike asked. I looked over to the stairs. 

"Yeah?" I asked. "Where were you?" He asked coming down the stairs with Dustin and Lucas. "I thought your mom was coming into your room," I said.

 He grabbed my jacket and handed it to me. "Are you ready?" He asked. I looked down and slightly nodded. 

We all went through the door and started walking. I was wishing really hard that the compasses would tell true north as Dustin called it. 

I kept looking around cautiously making sure nothing was near. I felt my nose tickles and wiped it on my jacket. I was confused when I saw blood. I didn't do anything yet...

I kept looking back and at Mike. I looked up ahead to see Lucas staring. I looked down and wiped my nose again. We got on this weird thing on a hill with metal and boards. 

"Mike what's this?" I asked. "Train tracks." He said. "What's a train?" I asked. He looked away from his compass and looked at me. 

"You know how you call my bike a moving thing and cars bigger moving things?" He asked. I nodded. "Well, a train is an even bigger moving this and can't ride on streets." He said.

I nodded again.  He looked back at his compass while I just stared at him for a moment. I don't know why but when I think about him my heart races, but I'm not in fear.

I sighed and looked down. I don't think I can stop them from getting to the gate. I looked around and noticed were not going in the direction where the lab is. 

I started thinking really hard. I kept my eyes open and I thought of Papa. I blinked and could see stuff in my mind. He was walking in the lab. He looked at a man then started talking. 

"Thirteen?" I stopped and looked at Mike. I wiped my nose. "Yes?" I asked. "What are you doing?" He asked. I stopped and grabbed his arm. "Turn back," I said. 

He looked at me. "Why?" He asked. "Tired and thinking," I said. "Were probably almost there, Thirteen. Can you hang on for a little longer?" He asked. I slowed down. I went into a full stop.

I looked back and started thinking of the Demogorgon. It was eating a furry thing close to a cat. My breath hitched and I stopped. I turned to see them not far ahead. 

I teleported next to Mike and wiped my nose. I was thinking about the compass again, wishing it'd change. I kept thinking that and wiping my nose in confusion a lot. 

We soon walked into this place. It had cars but looked terrible compared to the ones in town. I stopped while they walked ahead and stopped not that far away from me.

I looked at everything in confusion. This isn't close to the lab. I turned and looked at the trees. It was so much different. I turned around to see them looking at me. 

"Have you guys noticed that she's been acting pretty weird today. Weirder than normal." He said pointing at me.

 "If she can teleport and mess with things on a radio she can screw with a compass." He said. I looked at him confused. "Now why would she do that?" Mike asked.

"Cause she doesn't want us to find Will. She's a traitor." He said. I breathed out weirdly. Lucas walked towards me. "Lucas? what are you doing?" Mike asked following him. 

Lucas got close to me looking angry. "I know you did it. You just don't want us to reach the gates or to find Will. Just admit it." He said. "I didn't," I said. "Admit it!" He yelled making me flinch.

He grabbed my left hand gripping it hard. "There's blood all over her jacket." He said throwing my arm down. "She was teleporting." Mike defended. 

"Know she did something," Lucas said. I looked down. "I thought of it, but can't do it," I said looking back up. Mike looked at me. "What do you mean you thought of it?" He asked.

"It...not safe. You would get hurt and it would be my fault." I said inhaling a sharp breath. "But I can't move stuff with my mind," I said looking into Mikes dark brown eyes. 

"She's obviously lying," Lucas said. I stayed quiet. "She doesn't lie!" Mike yelled. "Then how come the compasses changed? Huh?" Lucas asked. "I don't know." He asked.

"You don't know when we have a freak right here that can basically do everything a human can't!" 

"Don't call her a freak!"

"But she is! She's just been playing with us since the beginning." 

"No, she didn't! She helped us find Will!" 

Lucas walked away looking around. Mike followed. I walked closer but stayed my distance. 

"Where is he then because I don't see him." 

"You know what I mean." 

"No, Actually I don't know what you mean. Just think about it. She could've told us where Will was and where the gate was, but she didn't."

Dustin walked towards them getting in the middle. "Okay, calm down." He said before Lucas smack him. "No! She used us, all of us!" Lucas said getting angrier.

"She helped just enough so she could get what she wanted. food and a bed. She's like a stray dog." 

I couldn't help but feel sad that he was insulting me and calling me a stuff.

"Screw you, Lucas!"

"No, screw you, Mike! You're blind! Blind because of a girl is actually showing interest back. She's just playing with you so she can get anything from you!"

"Shut up!"

"No! She knows where Will is. Now she's just letting him die in the upside down."

"Shut up!" 

"For all, we know it could be her fault." 

"Shut it!" 

Lucas pushed Mike back making him stumble, but not fall over.

"But did you ever think that maybe she's the monster?" He asked looking over and pointing at me. They all turned to me. I stayed there just thinking badly.

I'm the monster...

"I said shut up!" Mike said grabbing him and throwing him down with him. Mike was on top punching Lucas.

"Stop!" I said. "Knock it off you, Idiots!" Dustin said. Lucas knocked him off and got on top and hit Mike. "Stop it!" I said a bit louder.

Lucas hit Mike in the face making him groan. I felt myself get very angry at this. I stomped my foot closer and screamed "Stop". What I didn't expect was Lucas to be thrown in the air.

He went in a wall that was there and laid there unconscious. I fell to the ground with my eyes widened. Mike and Dustin ran over to Lucas. 

I put my hand over my mouth. I was scared and confused. I didn't know I could do this. Mike looked back at me. "I thought you couldn't do that! What is wrong with you!" Mike yelled. 

I felt tears going down my cheeks while he turned around trying to wake Lucas up. "What is wrong with you?" and "She's a monster!" Filled my head. 

I closed my eyes and thought of the place they found "Will" at. I opened my eyes and saw the water. 

Mike's POV

Lucas woke up and we sighed in relief. We both chuckled a little happy as we knew he was alive. "Lucas, are you okay?" I asked. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Dusting asked.

Lucas put a hand over his head. "Here let me see," I said putting a hand on his head only for him to smack me. "Get off!" He yelled getting up.

"Lucas..." I said. Lucas was holding back tears. He started walking away. "Lucas-" "Let him go, Mike," Dustin said grabbing me. I sighed and looked down a bit.

I looked over and realized Thirteen was nowhere. "Where's Thirteen?" I asked Dustin. My heart started raising and my breathing picked up worse. I looked around. "Thirteen?" I asked.

"Thirteen!" Dustin yelled walking around. "Thirteen!" I yelled looking around the junkyard. She was nowhere. "She probably teleported back to your house," Dustin said. 

"I hope."