Nancy omitted some of the squickier details from the story, focusing mainly on just letting her brother know the important parts without just grossing him out.

Mike rubbed his nose where his glasses pressed against it. "We need to be sure about this," he said. "I don't want to get Jane's hopes up over nothing." The girl they'd all been calling Eleven for so long had preferred to go by her birth name for a while now. "Did this girl have a number on her arm?"

Nancy shrugged. "She ran off right after the light bulb exploded, so I didn't get a chance to look."

"But you were in gym class, right? So you were all in short sleeves, and I'm sure you would have noticed it there."

Nancy thought a bit. "I guess so. But maybe she puts makeup on it, so no one will find her."

"Yeah, I guess that could be it. But did she get a nosebleed after it happened?"

Nancy shook her head. "No. I definitely would have noticed that."

Mike looked hard at her. "So just how sure are you that it wasn't just a coincidence?"

Nancy frowned; her brother had managed to dismantle her excitement quite effectively. "I've never heard of anything like it just happening in that school before. They have the budget to keep things like that safe. And it happened exactly when she got really upset. You had to be there; the timing was just too perfect."

Mike paused a bit to think things over. "Well, I don't think we should bring Jane into it quite yet. You think you could bring her over here, just as friends?"

Nancy nodded. "Sounds good."

Nancy kept her eye out upon getting to school the next day, and quickly spotted Carrie. She waved, but after a single glance the girl turned her gaze to the floor and turned away. Nancy frowned and ran over. "Hey, Carrie. I didn't actually get to introduce myself yesterday. My name's Nancy."

Carrie didn't look up. "Mama says I'm not supposed to talk to you anymore."

"The same mother who didn't tell you anything about periods?" Carrie winced, and Nancy regretted getting so heated. "Sorry. It's just something I can't wrap my head around. Why doesn't she want you talking to me?"

That did get another look right in the eyes. "She says you put ideas in my head, and the Devil is going to get in if you do it any more."

Nancy couldn't quite cut off a laugh at that. "She can't be serious."

"She's always serious."

Every new thing about Carrie's mother kept throwing Nancy for a loop. But she still saw an opening: "You're still talking to me, though."

Carrie shrugged. "Just trying to be polite."

"Yeah, well, I hate to think what she said about that light bulb." And just as she hoped, Carrie got an expression Nancy was quite familiar with from her own dealings with her parents: "You didn't tell her, did you?"

Carrie made no response. She kept going, figuring she had to broach the subject sooner or later: "Did you make that happen?" Suddenly the girl's face was warped into pure horror. It lasted just a moment, but now Nancy was sure she was right about this. "Have you ever done it before?"

Carrie stopped walking. "No. Never before."

Nancy picked up on the emphasis. "But after?"

The girl took a brief look around, then whispered, "That boy Tommy was saying some bad things to me while I was going home. Then I felt kind of funny in my head, and he just fell over."

Nancy smirked. "He must be getting used to it by now. Listen, I like talking with you. Would you like to come over to my place after school?"

Carrie frowned. "Mama wouldn't let me."

"Yeah, I could see that one coming." She sighed, and decided to just go for it. "But maybe what she doesn't know won't hurt her?"

Carrie gasped. "I couldn't."

Nancy put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know anything about what your life's been like, but from what I've heard so far, I think this could be good for you. Do you want to just listen to her your whole life?"

Carrie glanced around again. "Okay, I guess so. She goes to sleep pretty early. Maybe I could come around 9?"

Nancy smiled. "Great. Let me tell you how to get to my house."

Karen Wheeler had been a bit put off by Nancy having a friend over so late (Ted, as Nancy had come to expect, didn't seem to care at all), but finally she was convinced and Nancy led Carrie upstairs.

"This is my brother Mike," she said as they entered Mike's room. "I've been telling him about you."

Carrie suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Mama wouldn't like me being in a strange house with a strange boy."

Nancy put on what she hoped was a disarming smile. "But she doesn't know, does she? Besides, I can be your chaperone, if you really want."

Mike stood up and extended his hand. "I'm already spoken for, anyway." Nancy cringed as she waited to see how Carrie would take that, but luckily she shook the hand after some hesitation. "I've heard some neat things about you."

Carrie gave Nancy a questioning look, and she threw her hands up. "Hey, it's not every day you meet someone who can do what you do," she said, keeping to herself that it was a little less rare in Hawkins.

Mike, ably playing the excited newcomer, went on with, "So how big a thing can you move?"

"I don't know. I haven't really tried."

Mike took a quick look around, then pulled an old board game out of the closet. "Try to lift that."

Carrie took on a look of intense concentration, and Nancy and Mike both watched avidly. She strained more and more, but the box remained still. "I'm sorry," she said to them.

Nancy said, "Don't worry about it. If this thing is real, I'm sure you can learn how to control it. Let's meet tomorrow at school and-"

She was cut off by a furious knocking at the door, loud enough to hear upstairs. Then came the sound of one of the Wheelers opening it, and then a bellowed "WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?"