"And what exactly were you all doing at the lake?" Powell asked as he stared at the four teens on the couch, Cassie looked to her Dads.

They were all silent. Cassie tapped her foot. "Well, I took a tumble into the earths bath."

"She did, because she tripped." Lucas added. "And I gave her my jacket."

"That was nice of you." Jenson, one of Cassies dads, smiled.

"She tripped while we were going for a walk." Max nodded her head.

"A walk? At 9:00pm?" Callahan asked, Cassie laced her hand in Lucas'.

"To the lake." Dustin explained, his voice grew higher. "We were gonna-take a little swim. Little night swim."

"Dusty." Mrs.Henderson gapped at her son. "Someone was just murdered there."

"We hear your terribly, heart wrecking, concerns. It was painfully irresponsible of us to not remember such a painful thing!" Cassie nodded her head quickly.

"That's my kid." Terence, Cassies
other dad, whispered back to Karen to rub it in.

"But that's why we didn't actually swim." Lucas added in quickly.

"And Nancy, was she with you at this night swim?" Karen leaned forward with worried eyes.

"No." "Yes."

"Yes and no." Cassie attempted to cover for them.

"We're not sure." Lucas went on.

"She left." Dustin cleared
his throat, "It's all a little confusing."

"It is, if you use your lovely eyes balls to take a glance out the window, how deeply dark the sky is." Cassie agreed.

"Are you saying we can't use our eyes?" Callahan asked her in disbelief.

"She didn't mean it that way." Terence cut in. "That's just how she talks."

"Well, it sounds like the way she talks is mocking." his words made Cassie frowned, Lucas wrapped an arm around her, because this wasn't the first time he said this to her.

"Well it isn't." Terence stood up a little
more as Jensom patted his arm, Ted rolled his eyes at the pair.

"Oh, is there a problem?" Lucas' mom mocked him.

"I just think there's more important matters here." Ted motioned to the kids.

"And patting his husbands arm takes away from that matter?" she shot back.

"So, Nancy Wheeler left." Powell brought the story back.

"That's when you guys came." Lucas exclaimed with fake enthusiasm to the police.

"Right. And then they dared me to say what I said about the killer." Max forced a laugh.

"Haha." Cassie said it rather then actually laughed.

"You're lucky you didn't get shot." Ted pointed out to them.

"Have you had any contact with Eddie?" Powell looked at the four again.

"That psycho...freak killer?" Dustin glared in disbelief. "God, no. Nope. Absolutely not."

"No. We haven't heard from him." Max added.

"We barely know the guy." Lucas agreed.

"I've racked through my thoughts and I can't seem to find him in any location." Cassie tapped on her forehead.

"Who?" Dustin added.

"Oh, that's a bunch of bull." Erica stepped forward with a cross of her arms.

"Erica!" Mr and Mrs Sinclair scolded her.

"I mean, you realize they're lying." she tossed a hand toward the four. "The whole couch is on fire."

"Erica!" they scolded her again.

"Just the facts." she shrugged in response.

"Are you lying to these policemen, Dusty?" Mrs.Henderson looked down at her son.

"No!" his scream was high-pitch.

"Lying to cops is a crime, son." Mr.Sinclair nodded at Lucas.

"I'm not lying!" Lucas explained.

"Cas, you're telling the trust, aren't you?" Terence nodded to his daughter.

"Whole heartingly." she nodded.

"The fire is consuming us." Erica exclaimed.

"Threaten them with a little jail time. Maybe that'll loosen their lips." Ted nodded to the pair of cops.

"Okay." Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Have a lot of knowledge about jail time, Mr.Wheeler?" Cassie smacked a hand over her mouth when she said it.

"Cassie." Lucas gapped, not expecting it.

"You wanna send our kids to jail?" Lucas' mom looked his way in disbelief.

"He didn't mean it like that." Karen defended her husband.

"What else did he not mean because he seems to be heavily hinting at a lot of things tonight." Jenson cut in in disbelief.

"They need to take this seriously." Ted explained. Each and every one of them began to yell, getting louder and louder.

"Shut up!" Powell shouted loudly. "We're gonna try a more civilized approach. One at a time. You first."

"Why me?" Max scoffed.

"Follow me." he encouraged.

"I'm not even in the Hellfire club." Max laughed in disbelief.

"Do I need to cuff you?" Callahan pointed a figure at her.

"For not walking into a questioning room with an officer, despite her parents not being here?" Jenson asked him in disbelief with a cross of his arms. "Come on, sweetie. I'll go with you."

Cassie gave Max a small nod as the redhead followed one of her Dads, leaving Lucas and Cassie to exhale loudly on sync.

"Apart of me feels like my Dads are glad we're finally getting ourselves involved in trouble." Cassie gave a small laugh, sitting on the Wheelers counter while Lucas stood next to her.

"Probably so." he hid a laugh. "Guess this is something you could write about when we go back to school."

"I believe a story about Vecna painfully ending the lives of teenagers would be terribly inappropriate, Lucas." she tilted her head slightly.

Lucas smiled as he leaned next to her. "I meant the police."

"Oh." Cassie gave an embarrassed smile. "Suppose your thoughts have once again been correct."

"I just know you." he tapped on his head. "Hey, Cas?"

"I know what you're gonna say." she stopped him. "And the answer is, well, my mind isn't entirely positive on what the sun of this is. At Dustin's house, when I kissed you, I did enjoy it. A terribly large amount of enjoy, actually. But, I also do not wish to ever ruin our friendship, because that would be as painful as ripping your soul in two and t-"

He leaned in and kissed her again.

Cassies eyes widened, not expect it, especially not expecting to be cut off with a kiss. But, as she stated, she enjoyed it. A terribly large amount of enjoy. The sound of footsteps approached made them pull away, Lucas leaned next to Cassie as they looked up to see Dustin walk in. "Anything?"

"Ooh." he moved out of Hollys way, going to the pair. "Nothing."

"You don't think they went through.." Lucas trailed off.

"Through Watergate?" Dustin asked in disbelief. "Without us? Without a plan? Without weapons? They wouldn't be that stupid."

"Maybe they possibly made the decision to lay low, considering the law captured us." Cassie tilted her head with a nod.

"The law?" Erica mocked as she walked into the kitchen. "What is this, Gunsmoke? The Stupid and the Ugly? Should I round up the posse? Saddle the horses?"

"Erica." Lucas scolded her in annoyance. "Please, just go away."

"Here's the deal." Erica leaned in." Tell me what's going on or i'll tell Dustin and Cassie what I found under your bed."

"Please, no." Lucas panicked with begging eyes.

"Something accompanied under your bed?" Cassie looked over.

"Spill your guts, cowpuncher." she leaned in closer to her brother.

"What'd she find under your bed?" Dustin gapped at Lucas.

"Nothing." he shot back quickly.

"Is it gross?" Dustin looked at Erica, who nodded. "Scale of 1-10?"

"A hundred." she said in return.

"Gasp." Cassie gasped.

"A hundred?" Dustin asked Lucas in disbelief.

"The serial killer is a dark wizard from the Upside Down. And we've been looking for him, but he's in the Upside Down, which we can't reach. At least we thought we couldn't, until we found a gate at Lover's Lake." Lucas spoke fast as Erica sipped her juice box. "That was the reason why we were there, but these stupid cops grabbed us. And if you tell anyone about this, that's including Mom and Dad and Tina...especially Tina, I will smother you in your sleep. Do you understand?"

Erica stared as she leaned forward. "Hmmm."

"Erica?" Lucas leaned forward some too. "Do...you...copy?"

"The smothering in my sleep part, but not much else." she stood up more. "Why would they open up a gate at Lovers Lake?"

"What?" Lucas asked in disbelief.

"The commies." Erica gave them a dumb look.

"The commies didn't do this." Lucas gave her a weird look.

"Then who did?" she rolled her eyes.

"You have no idea what you're talking about." Lucas rolled his eyes back.

"No, she doesn't. But She raises an essential question." Dustin cut in.

Cassie looked over. "Her words have struck something inside of Dustin's thoughts."

"How did Watergate open up?" Dustin asked, ignoring her. Only two gates have opened, so far as we know. One by El, one by the commies. But it's not the commies or El this time, so it...Holy shit."

"Holy shit what?" the Park girls eyes widened.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Dustin explained quickly.

"Wait, wait, wait, what?" Lucas sat up.

"There's one thing we've never understood." Dustin stated as he looked around at them. "Which is why Vecna's killing people. What's his motive? Killing teens? It's always just seemed too random. Too prosaic. On top of that, how does the Mind Flayer figure into all this? Maybe this is it. This is the answer."

"What is the answer?" Lucas asked in annoyance.

"W-" Cassie started.

"You sure you just want water?" Karen walked into the kitchen with the officer close behind. "We have Coke, Sprite, Dr.Pepper."

"Coke works. Thank you." he said in return as she grabbed the can. "Cassandra Park? You'll be next."

Cassie shared a look with Lucas as he rubbed her back, encouraging her to follow him.

"I don't think sheriff Powell understands my words." Cassie sighed as she walked into Eddie's trailer with Lucas. "Perhaps I should start saying words like...yeah, and, cool."

"God, please don't." Lucas shook his head at her with an arm tossed over her shoulder.

"That's butt ugly." Erica stared at the gate.

"So, we just...break in?" Max gave an odd look.

"A broom?" Lucas grabbed one from the corner, passing it to Dustin as he started to cut through the gew.

"Painfully disgusting. my brain being transformed into nothing type of disgusting." Cassie cringed up at it as Dustin dropped the broom.

"Oh my god." Dustin gapped in disbelief as he giggled up at the gate. Cassie and Lucas shared a look, walking forward while Max and Erica follow. Staring back at them were their missing friends.

"Greetings." Cassie smiled.

"Keep an eye out?" Nancy teased.

"Pull them out?" Max suggested.

"Landing pad." Dustin agreed as Max and Lucas hurried to get Eddie's mattress. Dustin encouraged Cassie and Erica to help him tie bedsheets together in order to pull them out.

"Those stains are, uh..." Eddie trialed off as Max and Lucas dropped the mattress below the gate. "I don't know what those stains are."

"Not quite sure how these physics work." Dustin said honestly as he took the tied bedsheets and looked up at the ceiling. "But, uh, here goes nothing."

"Is your soul and body prepared?" Cassie asked Erica.

"Ugh, yeah." she shrugged as they threw the sheets at once, having them go to the other side.

"And if my theory is correct..." he trialed off, letting the sheets go as they stayed still. "Abracadabra."

"Holy shit." Max grinned in fascination.

"All right, pull on it! See if it holds!" Dustin called to the group. Robin did so, laughing as it held.

"This is the craziest shit i've ever seen in my life." Erica exclaimed as she smiled widely. "And i've seen some crazy shit."

Dustin held his hand up, getting a high five from her.

"Would anyone like to volunteer to hoist themselves first? Cassie suggested. "Steve?"

"Ugh, no, no. Thanks though." he said in return as Lucas reached forward to pull Cassie back.

"Guess i'm the guinea pig." Robin latched onto the sheets first, grunting as she crawled up.

"All right, let's clear the landing pad." Dustin encouraged as they all stepped back, giving Robin space to flip from the ceiling hole and flop onto the mattress.

"Oh, thank god." Robin laughed as she sat up with a smile, standing up and getting out of the way.

The trio stared before Eddie nodded. "All right, I guess i'll go."

Cassies eyes widened as he fell harder then Robin, taking her hand to pull himself up.

"That-" he sat up with a breath. "-was fun."

"See you on the other side." Nancy looked at Steve.

"See you on the other side." he agreed.

Yet, absolutely nothing was happening.

"Nancy, Nancy! Stay with me!" Steve began to panic.

"Nancy?" Cassie feared, trying to walk
forward as Lucas held her back.

"Steve, what's happening!" Dustin called in fear.

Max stared. "Vecna."

•

kylie speaks

don't miss us too much while
you wait for the 1st!