There were empty chocolate pudding cans scattered all over the table in Mike's basement. Dustin was seated in front of a rapidly diminishing pile of full cans of pudding and with each can finished he was contributing to the equally rapidly growing pile of empty cans on the table. A few had fallen off the pile and rolled under his chair. He didn't pause to pick them up as he reached for another can. "So let's get this straight Will. You saw a girl in the upside down, but a girl that looks like Eleven, but you have never seen Eleven so you can't be sure, but you are not sure if you saw her because she was like a ghost and was there but was not there? Is that right?"

Will flicked an empty pudding can off of the paper he was drawing on and answered Dustin without looking up. "Yep that is right."

"That doesn't make sense. I mean we last saw Eleven in the school when she and the creature disappeared. How is she in the upside down? Did she take the creature back there?" Dustin held up a can of chocolate pudding and tried to fish out the remaining pudding the corners with his tongue.

"Like I said, I am not sure that she WAS in the upside down. It was like she was in-between. That is the best way I can describe it, in-between." Will put down his pencil and picked up a crayon and started adding color to his picture.

Just then the basement door burst open and Mike and Lucas came rushing in. Slamming the door behind him Mike ran to the table and flung himself into the chair next to Will. "I thought we were never going to get out of detention. It has been killing me this whole time. Will, we have to talk about this. Do you really think that you saw Eleven?"

Lucas threw his back pack on the floor and slumped down into the old couch on the side of the room. "Yes, please Will, tell Mike if you saw Eleven. Anyone tell Mike if you saw Eleven. Just so long as I don't have to talk to him about it anymore. One hour detention and all Mike wants to talk about 'Do you really think that Will saw Eleven?' 'If he saw her does that mean she is alive?' 'So Lucas do YOU think that Eleven is alive?' Please somebody else talk to Mike about Eleven!"

Dustin laughed and traded looks with Lucas. They both knew why Mike was so excited but the brotherly code prohibited them from saying so out loud until Mike said it first. They knew Mike liked Eleven, but you didn't call a brother out until he said it first.

Mike turned to Will again. "Come on Will, what do you think? Was it Eleven?"

Will didn't answer. He just held up the picture he had been working on.

"That's her! That's her!" Mike screamed. The other boys ran over to take a look.

"Yep that's the psycho all right." Lucas said. Mike smacked Lucas' arm with the back of his hand. Mike wasn't going to admit his feelings right but he also wasn't going to let Lucas get away with calling her a psycho. "Ouch Mike I was only kidding."

"Well, I guess you can't say that you never got to meet Eleven anymore Will because that is definitely her." Dustin said as he tossed a can to the floor, he had given up on trying to keep them on the table anymore.

"Come on Dustin my mom will freak if she sees this mess." Mike said as he watched the can hit the floor. He turned to Will again. "Now what did she look like, did she look sick, does she need our help?"

Will sat back in his chair and put the picture down. Mike was leaning forward so close to him that Will was feeling a little closed in. "I don't know Mike. Like I said before. I didn't really see her. I only saw a faint wispy her. It was really weird. I couldn't hear what she was saying but I could see her lips moving. She wasn't flying or floating but she also wasn't touching the ground. She followed us for a minute and then we fell out of the upside down. I still can't control how long I stay there very well."

"So do you think it was a ghost?" Lucas asked.

"No, it can't be a ghost. That would mean she is dead and I don't think that she is dead." Mike replied.

"You don't think she is dead or you don't want her to be dead Mike? Those are two different things." Dustin said as he opened another can of pudding. He was had started to feel over full about two cans ago but felt like he had to keep eating to justify taking more time to grab more cans and almost ruining the plan. "We were there when it happened Mike. She disintegrated that creature right in front of us and as the creature disintegrated so did she."

"No! You are wrong." Mike said just shy of yelling. "I know she is alive!"

"OK. Let's say for the sake of argument that she is alive. Then what? What did Will see?" Lucas asked as he sat back down on the couch. His back was tired from standing at the chalk board writing lines for detention.

"What do you think Will? Do you think it was a ghost?" Mike asked.

Will sat and thought for a minute. "I don't know. I have never seen a ghost, but I don't think it was a ghost. It seemed too real to be a ghost, but too faint to be real. Like I said she seemed to be kind of in-between."

"I got it!" Dustin jumped up. He farted a little with the exertion and everyone laughed. He knew it was the pudding, milk product did that too him but he couldn't stop eating. The other boys knew it was going to be a rough afternoon on the nose today. "Remember how the gateway to the upside down was opened by Eleven when she was scared but the creature. Maybe she was able to take the creature into even another dimension. Not here, not the upside down, like an in-between?"

"If she is in another dimension then how could Will see her?" Lucas asked.

Will seemed to be catching on to Dustin's idea. "Think about it Lucas. When I was in the upside down no one could see me but I could make the lights go on and off for my mom. Maybe Eleven IS in another dimension, an in-between dimension, and I can see her in there?"

"Then why can't you talk to her like you did with your mother?" Mike asked.

"Maybe each dimension has different rules. With the upside down I could control lights and electricity. Maybe with the in-between I can see but can't hear. I don't know. There is very little science on the subject so far." Will answered.

"But there is a chance that Eleven is alive? We just have to figure out how to get her from the in-between to here." Mike smiled with hope.

"So how are we going to do that? We are just figuring out how to get Will in and out of the upside down. Now we need to figure out how to get to a whole new dimension too?" Dustin had given up on the pudding now and was sitting back feeling his now growing stomach. The pressure was getting worse and he knew he would have to let it off soon but he didn't want to, it was going to be a bad one.

The boys just stared at each other. Eleven had been here before and she knew how to use a radio find Will in the upside down. Will's powers seemed to be different. He wasn't able to move things with his mind or control other peoples actions. He could just move from one dimension to another. If they were going to figure out how to get Eleven out of the in-between then they had to figure out Will's powers really worked, and how to control them.

"Ok Will. We have a mission. We are going to get Eleven out of the in-between just like we go you out of the upside down." Mile was resolute. "In order to do that we are going to need to figure out how to control your powers. It is going to be tough but we don't have a choice. Are you up to it?"

Will was scared. Will was usually scared, but this was more scared than usual. He really hated the upside down. It was not easy to get over an experience like the one he had. "Ok Mike. She helped me when she didn't even know me. I guess it is my turn to help her. I just hope that when we get her out of the in-between she is really as cool as you say she is because I don't want to do this unless she is one of us."

"Will when we first met Eleven I didn't like her at all. I didn't trust her." Lucas said. "But now if it means that we can get her back even I will go into the upside down to find her."

Will looked at each of the boys in turn, meeting their gaze with courage. "That is good enough for me."

"Then let's get to work." Mike said.