***

The group sat in Mike's basement. Earlier, they had found out that Will was in a place called the Upside Down. The Upside Down was a place like Hawkins, but darker. The boys had just come back from Will's funeral and were slightly dressed up. Mike sat on the couch in front of the girls with a piece of paper and a pencil. The girls jumped back when Mike stabbed the paper with the pencil.

He leaned closer to them, "It would take a lot of energy to build a gate like this. But that's got to be what happened. Otherwise, how'd Will get there, right?"

Ten nodded while Eleven replied, "Right."

"What we want to know is, do you know where the gate is?" Lucas asked. The girls shook their heads. Lucas leaned back into his seat, "Then how do you know about the Upside Down?" Neither of the girls answer. They just look away from the boy and find something to distract them from his gaze. El looked over at something and the other three followed her gaze. Dustin is walking around with a compass in her hand.

"Dustin, what are you doing?" Mike inquired, "Dustin? Dustin!"

"Dustin!" Lucas exclaimed.

Dustin stopped and looked over at the others, "I... I need to see your compasses."

"What?" Mike looked at him in confusion.

"Your compasses. All of your compasses, right now!" Dustin ordered. Lucas and Mike shared a look of confusion but did as he said. They got all of the compasses and put them on the table. Dustin moved them around a little.

Mike was still out of the loop, "What's exciting about this?"

Dustin looked at Mike, "Well, they're all facing North, right?"

Lucas shrugged, "Yeah, so?"

Dustin pointed at the compasses, "Well, that's not true north."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked.

"I mean exactly what I just said. That's not true north," Neither of the boys understood what he meant. Dustin looked between the two of them in surprise, "Are you both seriously this dense?" Lucas shrugged, "The sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west. Right? Which means that's true north." Dustin pointed to the wall behind Mike.

"So what you're saying is the compasses are broken." Mike tried to understand.

Dustin let out a sigh, "Do you even understand how a compass works?" He picked up a compass and turned it around to the back, "Do you see a battery pack on this?"

Mike shook his head, "No."

"No, you don't. Because it doesn't need one. The needles naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole." Dustin set the compass back down with the others.

"So what's wrong with them?" Lucas questioned.

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

"It could disrupt the electromagnetic field." Mike continued.

Dustin nodded, "Exactly."

"Meaning, if we follow the compasses' north..." Lucas trailed off.

"They should lead us to the gate." Dustin finished. Ten and Eleven looked at each other. They shared a worried look and they looked back at the boys. This was not good. A lot of stuff could go wrong if they went looking for the gate, and knowing them, they will go looking for it. What were they going to do?

***

The group is back out in the woods to find the gate, much to the girls' dismay. Dustin and Lucas walked in front while the girls and Mike walked a little behind them. The girls had been taking turns using their powers to mess with the compasses. They did not want the boys to find the gate. It wasn't safe. Ten wiped the blood away from under her nose, making sure that no one saw. El decided to step in while Ten talked with Mike.

Ten grabbed Mike's arm, "Mike."

Mike glanced at her, "Yeah?"

"Turn back." Ten told him.

Mike looked at her with a puzzled expression, "What? Why?"

"I'm tired." Ten lied.

Mike sighed, "Look, I'm sure we're almost there. Just hold on a little longer, okay?" Ten stopped, along with El, and they shared another worried look. They started walking again, but at a slower pace. They both caught up with Mike again.

The group continued walking until they made it to a junkyard. There were plenty of old and broken cars lying around. There was also an old bus there, too. It was now less bright than it was before. Dustin stopped and seemed concerned, "Oh, no."

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

Dustin turned back to them, "We're heading back home."

"What?" Mike was surprised.

"Are you sure?" Lucas inquired.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Dustin pointed behind them, making them look, "Setting sun, right there. We looped right back around."

"And you're just realizing this now?" It was obvious that Lucas was annoyed at his friend.

"Why is this all on me?" Dustin asked him.

"Because you're the compass genius!" Lucas exclaimed.

Dustin gestured to their compasses, "What do yours say?"

Both Lucas and Mike checked their compasses and said, "North." Lucas sighed.

Dustin looked around, "Makes no damn sense."

Mike sighed, as well, "Maybe the gate moved."

"No, I don't think it's the gate. I think it's something else screwing with the compasses." Dustin stated. The girls grew more worried when he said this. They would be mad if they found out that they were messing with the compasses.

"Maybe it's something here." Mike shrugged.

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

Lucas looked at the girls and pointed, "It's not a magnet. They've been acting weirder than normal. If they can slam doors with their minds, they can definitely screw up a compass."

"Why would they do that?" Mike asked.

"Because they're trying to sabotage our mission. Because they're traitors!" Lucas started walking over to them.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" Mike inquired.

Lucas stopped in front of them, "You two did it, didn't you? You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will." The girls didn't say anything. They tried to keep their faces blank so they wouldn't give themselves away. It wasn't working that well, though.

"Lucas, come on, seriously, just leave them alone!" Mike told him.

"Admit it," Lucas demanded.

Ten shook her head, "No."

"Admit it," Lucas yelled. The girls flinched at his booming voice. Lucas grabbed their arms showing the blood on their sleeves, "Fresh blood. I knew it."

"Lucas, come on!" Mike shouted at him.

Lucas pointed at Ten and looked back at Mike, "I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks! They were using their powers!"

"Bull! That's old blood. Right, guys?" They didn't answer Mike's question, "Right, El, Ten?"

"It's... Not... It's not safe." El's voice was shaky. Both girls looked like they were ready to burst into tears at any moment.

Lucas looked at Mike with an 'I told you so' look, "What did I tell you?" They are facing each other and Ten and Eleven moved a little ways away from them and their fighting, "They've been playing us from the beginning!"

"That's not true. They helped us find Will!" Mike told him.

"Find Will? Find Will?" Lucas walked away from them a little and looked around them, "Where is he, then? Huh? I don't see him."

"Yeah, you know what I mean," Mike said.

Lucas walked back over to him, "No, I actually don't. Just think about it, Mike. They could've just told us where the Upside Down was right away, but they didn't. They just made us run around like headless chickens."

Dustin tried to step in between them, "All right, calm down."

Lucas pushed Dustin's arm away, "No! They used us, all of us! They helped just enough so they could get what they want. Food and a bed. They're like stray dogs."

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

"No! Screw you, Mike. You're blind... Blind because you like that a girl's not grossed out by you. But wake up, man! Wake the hell up," Lucas yelled in his face, "They know where Will is, and now they're just letting him die in the Upside Down."

Mike continued to shout at him, "Shut up!"

"For all we know it's their fault," Lucas remarked.

"Shut up," Mike said, again.

"We're looking for some stupid monster..," Lucas pushed Mike slightly, making Mike step away, "But did you ever stop to think that maybe they're the monsters?" The boys look back at the girls. They still looked like they were crying.

Mike tackled Lucas to the ground, "I said shut up!"

"Stop!" El exclaimed.

"Knock it off, you idiots," Dustin called to them. They rolled around on the ground, continuing to fight each other. It's like they couldn't even hear them yelling at them to stop.

"Stop it," Ten yelled at them. They continued to fight as the others continued to yell at them. Ten yelled, "Stop it!" And screamed. When she did this, Lucas went flying back into one of the cars. He was knocked unconscious and the boys ran over to them. Ten's eyes were wide as she looked at what she did.

"Jesus!" Dustin said in shock.

"Lucas! Lucas! Lucas, are you all right?" Mike tried to shake him awake, "Lucas," They kept calling his name to wake him up, but he wasn't waking up. Mike turned to Ten, who was definitely crying by now, and asked, "Why would you do that? What's wrong with you? What is wrong with you?" Mike went back to trying to wake up Lucas with Dustin. Ten stood frozen for a minute before she grabbed El's hand and they ran away from the boys.