Lyn was sitting on the couch in the Wheeler's basement with Eleven's head in her lap. She held an ice pack to the younger girl's forehead, hoping it would help her cool down.
"What was Will saying? Like home but dark?" Mike got up from the couch to pace.
"And empty," Lucas recalls Will saying that.
"Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?" Dustin looks to his friend to see if he was remembering right.
"I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out." Lucas curses the radio under his breath.
"It's like riddles in the dark." Dustin sighs.
"Like home. Like his house?" Mike continues to pace in front of them.
"Or maybe like Hawkins." Lucas points to Mike like he was onto something.
"Upside down," El whispers.
"What'd she say?" Lucas asks the boys like he couldn't ask her.
"She said upside down." Lyn glared at Lucas. He didn't have to treat the girl like she was a freak.
"What?" Lucas narrows his eyes like she was speaking a different language.
"Upside down. When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember? Upside down: Dark, Empty." Mike sat down at the table to flip the board over like she did. The boys join him at the table.
"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas turns to Dustin.
"No, but Lyn was saying something like that this morning." He told them. They glance over at the teenager that was focused on the younger girl.
"Guys, come on, think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?" Mike hope his friends would see things his way.
"Yeah, and he wasn't there." Lucas reminds him.
"But what if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side? What if this is Hawkins…" Mike flips the board over to show the side that had the game on it to represent Hawkins. "…and this is where Will is? The Upside Down" He flips it over to the blank side to represent the upside down.
"Like the Vale of Shadows." Dustin got up to grab their Dungeons and Dragon binder. Lyn slides out from under a sleeping El and sat at the table with the boys.
"What's going on?" She asks them.
"We think we figure out what the meaning of upside down," Mike told her.
Dustin flips through the binder, stopping on a page and read it out loud. "The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death, a plane out of phase, a place of monsters. It is right next to you, and you don't even see it. It's an alternate dimension."
"But how do we get there?" Mike ponders the next hurdle in their way.
"You cast Shadow Walk." Dustin beams that he seems to be solving the puzzle.
"In real life, dummy," Lucas glares at his friend.
"We can't shadow walk, but maybe she can." Dustin nods his head to El. She was awake from her short nap and staring at them.
"Do you know how we can get there? To the Upside Down?" Mike asks. El didn't react at all. She gave them a blank stare. They collectively let out of frustrated sigh. As patience as Rosalyn was trying to be, this was getting unbearable. She could at least tell them if they were on the right track or not.
"We'll figure it out, with or without El's help." She pulled the binder from Dustin to read every article on the Valley of Shadows.
Lyn was standing behind the boys at Will's funeral with a yellow rose in her hand. While the body in the coffin looked identical to Will, it didn't move Lyn to feel anything like Will's real dead body would. The priest was talking not that any of his words were registering with her. Her mind was running a mile a minute on how they could get to the Valley of Shadows. She did some research, but everything seemed impossible.
"Just wait till we tell Will that Jennifer Hayes was crying at his funeral." Dustin cheers, making Lucas and Mike smile. Mrs. Wheeler shh him while Lyn slaps him in the back of the head.
"Frown and stare at the floor. You're supposed to be sad." Lyn whispers in his ear.
After the priest stops talking, the casket was lowered into the ground. Everyone form a line and drop their rose on top of the casket. In the Henderson family, Dustin went first, followed by Lyn, their mom, and their dad who fly in to come to the funeral. His son was happy to have him there. His daughter was on the fence about it, she wanted to resent him but she enjoys the man company. Lyn was sure she could stay mad at him for this weekend visit, but all it took was him pulling her out to the garage. She was like a kid again, passing him tools as he changes the oil and tune-up Darling. They exchanged stories about their lives.
"Come on dear, we have to give our condolences." Her dad puts his hand on her back and guides her over to Will's parents.
When Lyn saw Joyce's face she couldn't help but cry out of guilt, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Byers. I should have been there that night to pick him up." She wanted to add on whether he's dead or not she should have been there. But, she kept that to herself. When they get Will back, they'll explain everything to her. There was no need for hope when it could be false.
"Oh babe, it's not your fault." Lonnie was quick to pull the teen into a hug. He put his hand on her upper back to push her chest into his. She tenses up in his arms as he rubs her back and whispers soothing words into her ear. To say that Lonnie Byers gave her the creeps would be an understatement. The few time she saw the man, he commented on her growing body. The sly guy seems to always find a way to touch her that seems innocent. It felt anything but innocent to her.
Dustin grabs his sister's arm and pulls her out of the man's hold. "I'm sorry for your loss. We'll see you at the wake." He waved to his friend's parents as he dragged his sister away. Their mom and dad follow them to the car.
"Dustin that was very rude." His mom scolds him when they were all in the car.
"He was holding her for longer than appropriate." He defends his actions.
"The man is in mourning." Mrs. Henderson hiss at him.
"He hardly ever came to see his son," Dustin yells back. The car went silent as the three Hawkins residents eye the driver seat where Mr. Henderson was sitting.
The man clears his throat and backs the car out of the parking space. They sat in awkward silence on the short ride to the wake that was being held in the building across the street from the cemetery. Lyn and Dustin jump out of the van as soon as it stopped to hurry inside. "I shouldn't have said that." He scolds himself.
"Hey, you didn't say anything that wasn't true. If he took those words personally then he should visit more." She hugged her brother. He hugs her back, thankfully for her.
"Get off me the guys are coming." He pushed her off when he saw the Wheeler and the Sinclair families come in. The boys made eye contact and were quick to make their way to each other.
"It's good that they have each other." Lyn jumps and turns around not wanting her back to be to Lonnie. She scolds herself for not watching the door. "Do you have anyone to go to for comfort?" He trails his fingers along her arm.
"Dustin and I have each other." She took a step back to be out of arms reach.
"A child can't relate to you as an adult can." He took two steps forward, so they were closer than they were before.
"Hey Lonnie, I haven't seen you in a long time. What have you been up to?" A man came up to slap him on the back.
Lyn took this opportunity to walk away. She went over to the boys who were on the other side of the room. "Lyn, we need you to ask Mr. Clarke the questions about the upside down." Dustin turns to her as soon as she reaches the group.
"Why do I have to ask him, he's your teacher?" She leans down to whisper to him.
"If we ask him, he'll think we're going to try something crazy. If you ask him, he'll think a pretty girl talking to him and not care." Lucas points a finger at them and then her.
"I just escape an older man, now you want him to throw myself at another one." She glares at them for treating her like the Daphne Blake of the group.
"Ew, no, don't throw yourself at him. No one wants to see that. Just talk to him." Dustin grimace.
Lyn rolled her eyes as she walked over to Mr. Clarke at the refreshment table. The boys were on her heels. "Mr. Clarke?" She tapped his shoulder.
"Oh hey," He smiled brightly at her before remembering where he was. He dropped his smile and look over at the boys behind her. "Hey guys, how are you holding up?"
"We're in mourning," Lucas said robotically.
Dustin shoves a cookie in his mouth. "Man, these aren't real Nilla Wafers." He groans. His friends glare at him while his teacher looks confused.
"I was wondering if we could talk. I have a few science questions." Lyn spoke to bring the man's attention back to her.
"I'm always up for talking about science with curious minds." He nods. The boys were quick to lead them over to an empty table.
"What's on your curious young mind?" He turned to her. She wishes that Lucas has not implied that the science teacher thought she was pretty, now she couldn't help but notice his eyes travel along her body.
Dustin nudges her, making her jump. "It kind of embarrassing but I can't get it out of my mind. Did you watch Carl Sagan's Cosmos?" She asks him.
He nodded his head. "Sure I have, it quite fascinating."
"Yes, it is. I can't stop thinking about how he speaks about other dimensions. The thought of something being beyond our world is quite exciting to me." She smiles coyly as she stares at him from under her lashes. The kick her brother gave her let her know she was laying it on too thick.
"It's all theoretically." Mr. Clarke shallows the lump in his throat as he loosens his tie.
"Right, theoretically." She bit her lip, wondering how to get out of this awkward space she put them in.
"So, theoretically, how do we travel there?" Lucas took over the questioning.
"You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation, haven't you?" He looks them over.
The boys share a look of confusion having never heard of it before. "Yes, we have." Lyn beam at the man.
He blushes and clears his throat before speaking, "Well, basically, there are parallel universes. Just like our world, but just infinite variations of it, which means there's a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened."
"Yeah, that's not what we're talking about." Lucas shook his head.
"Oh." The teacher looks bum. He thought he was really being there for them in their time of need.
"We were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin told him.
"You know the Vale of Shadows? An echo of the material plane, where necrotic and shadow magic." He gave them the definition they already knew.
"Yeah, exactly," Mike nods his head. "If that did exist, a place like the Vale of Shadows, how would we travel there?"
"Theoretically of course," Lyn smiles at him.
He took a clean plate out from under his dirty plate and pulls a pen from his jacket pocket. "Well, picture an acrobat standing on a tightrope." He drew a stick figure under two lines. "Now, the tightrope is our dimension. And our dimension has rules. You can move forward, or backward. But, what if right next to our acrobat, there is a flea? Now, the flea can also travel back and forth, just like the acrobat." He draws flea and arrows to indicate how the subjects could move. "Right?" He looks up to make sure they understood.
They nod their heads, "Right."
"Here's where things get really interesting. The flea can also travel this way along the side of the rope. He can even go underneath the rope." He draws some more arrows.
"Upside down," They were excited to be getting somewhere with this theory.
"Exactly," He smiled, happy that they were getting it.
"But we're not the flea, we're the acrobat." Mike points out the next problem.
"In this metaphor, yes, we're the acrobat." He nodded his head.
"So we can't go upside down?" Lucas seeing the same problem that Mike did.
"No." He shook his head.
"Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?" Lyn leans in like she would be able to hear Mr. Clarke's words better that way.
"Well, you'd have to create a massive amount of energy. More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space and then…." He folded the paper plate and pokes a hole through it with his pen. "... You create a doorway."
"Like a gate?" Dustin asks for clarification.
"Sure. Like a gate. But again, that is all..." Mr. Clarke wanted to make sure they weren't going to do something crazy.
"Theoretical." Lucas finishes for him.
"But what if this gate already existed?" Mike asks, seeing as the monsters seem to be snatching people and taking them back to the Upside Down.
"Well, if it did, I think we'd know. It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment.
Heck, it might even swallow us up whole. Science is neat. But I'm afraid it's not very forgiving." He smiled weakly at them.
They were back in the Wheeler's basement. Mike was showing El the flea and the acrobat demonstration with a sheet of paper. "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?"
"Right." El nods her head. Lyn wasn't sure if she really understood. Everything about this girl was a mystery. Did she know how to read and write? Could she even do simple math? If she didn't know the basic then how could she understand a complicated science theory?
"What we want to know is do you know where the gate is?" Lucas leaned forward in his seat to ask her. She slowly shook her head. "Then how do you know about the Upside Down?" He throws his hands in the air.
El turns her head to stare at Dustin making them turn their attention to him. "Dustin, what are you doing? Dustin?" Lyn stares at her brother. He didn't look up from his compass as he paced the floor. It took Lyn, Lucas, and Mike yelling his name for him to look up.
"I need to see your compasses." He told Mike.
"What?" Mike stares at him.
"Your compasses, all of your compasses, right now!" Dustin yells. Being that the boy never gets that serious often, the group got up to gather all the compasses the Wheelers had and dump them on the table.
Dustin smiles as he laid the compasses side by side. "What's exciting about this?" Mike stares at his friend.
"Well, they're all facing north, right?" He points at the compasses.
"Isn't that what they're supposed to do?" Lyn raises an eyebrow.
"Well, that's not true north," Dustin told them.
"What do you mean?" Mike look even more confused.
"I mean exactly what I just said. That's not true north. Are all three of you seriously this dense?" He gasps at their stupidity.
Mike and Lucas shrug not knowing where he was going with this. "Watch yourself. I might not know compasses, but I know how to stop your allowance." His sister reminds him.
He rolled his eyes and continues to explain. "The sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west. Right? Which means that's true north," He points in the direction of north.
"So what you're saying is the compasses are broken." Mike still didn't know what he was talking about.
"Do you even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack on this?" Dustin picks a compass up to show them there was nowhere to put a battery.
"No." Mike sighs wishing he would get to the point.
"No, you don't, because it doesn't need one. The needle's naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole." He explains to them.
"So what's wrong with them?" Lyn asks the million-dollar question.
"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 the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power. And then I remembered what Mr. Clarke said. The gate would have so much power..." Dustin was finally able to get them on his train of thought.
"It could disrupt the electromagnetic field." Mike stares down at the compass.
"Exactly," He nodded his head.
"Meaning, if we follow the compasses' north…" Lucas smiles that they found a way to the gate.
"They should lead us to the gate." Dustin smile in triumph.
"Yes! Yes! We're one step closer!" Lyn pulls the boys into a hug. They scream and jump around in celebration.
They didn't notice, El sitting on the couch with a freak out look on her face. She knew the real danger that they were foolish trying to take on.
"Let's go." Mike grabs a compass. Each of them put on their backpack and grabs a compass and head out the door.
They end up walking along the old train tracks. Lyn, Lucas, and Dustin were in the front with El and Mike a couple of yards behind them.
"How much further?" Lucas turns to Dustin.
"I don't know. These only tell direction, not distance. You really need to learn more about compasses." Dustin had a self-righteous tone as he shook his head.
"I'm just saying. How do we know when we get to the gate?" Lucas asks.
"Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is going to be pretty obvious." Dustin scoffed.
Lucas looks back at El and Mike before turning back to the Henderson siblings. "Do you think she's acting weird?"
"You're asking if the weirdo is acting weird." Dustin raises an eyebrow.
"I mean, weirder than normal?" Lucas stared back at her. El was taking a lot of deep breaths as she looked around the forest.
"I don't know. Who cares?" Dustin shrugs.
"She's not being weird. She scared. If she is frightened with those powers of her, then I would say we should all be scared." Lyn walks ahead of the boys.
She understood their annoyance with El. She didn't seem to want to help at all. She was content with sitting in the Wheeler basement for the rest of her life. Even, Lyn found herself getting angry with the girl. She had to remind herself that El had a completely different up bring than them. She was probably abused and isolated. She didn't know how to interact with people.
The compasses lead them to the junkyard. "Oh, no," Dustin gasps.
"Why, did you just say oh no?" Lyn glare at her brother's back. Her feet were screaming, if all this was for nothing she might strangle him.
"We're headed back home." He told them.
"What?" Lyn and Lucas scream.
"Are you sure?" Mike asks.
"Yeah, I'm sure, setting sun right there. We looped right back around." Dustin points behind them to the sun. Lyn groans realizing that he was right.
"And you're just realizing this now?" Lucas glares.
"Why is this all on me?" Dustin whines.
"Because you're the compass genius!" Lucas yells at him.
"Hey, calm down! Yes, Dustin was being an ass early with his compass knowledge but it is not solely his fault. Any one of us could have realized that we were heading back home." Lyn defuses the situation.
"What does your compass say?" Dustin asks them.
"North," They replied staring down at the compass in their hands.
"Makes no damn sense," Dustin looks around. He knew he did everything right. They should be at the gate right now.
"Maybe the gate moved." Mike look around too.
"I don't think a portal to another dimension can move around with ease." Lyn shook her head.
"I think it's something else screwing with the compasses," Dustin told them.
"Maybe it's something here." Mike was about to suggest searching the area.
"No, it has to be like a super magnet. It's not going to be some random object." Lyn dismissed his idea.
"It's not a magnet. She's been acting weirder than normal. If she can slam doors with her mind, she can definitely screw up a compass." Lucas points a finger at El.
"Why would she do that?" Mike put his hands on his hips.
"Because she's trying to sabotage our mission! Because she's a traitor!" Lucas walks over to her.
"Lucas, what are you doing?" Mike follows him in concern for El.
Lyn was about to walk over there, but Dustin grabs her. "They need to work this out." She grunts but nods her head.
"You did it, didn't you? You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will." Lucas got up in her face to accuse her.
"Lucas, come on, seriously, just leave her alone!" Mike pleads with his friend.
"Admit it." He demands. When she didn't say anything, Lucas grabs her sleeve. "Fresh blood, I knew it."
"Lucas, come on" He pushed his friend off the girl.
"I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks! She was using her powers!" He turns to Mike.
"Bull! That's old blood. Right, El?" He looks at El to tell Lucas that she wasn't doing anything. She didn't say anything. Tears were running down her face. "Right, El?" He asks her again.
"It's not… it's not safe." She shook her head crying. Lyn gasp, she couldn't believe that she would do something like that.
"She's been playing us from the beginning!" Lucas glares at Mike for letting her in. With things heating up Lyn took a step forward in case she had to break anything up.
"That's not true. She helped us find Will!" Mike defends his crush.
"Find Will? Find Will? Where is he, then? Huh? I don't see him." Lucas mockingly looks around the junkyard.
"You know what I meant." Mike glare, tired of dealing with Lucas's attitude towards El.
"No, I actually don't. Just think about it, Mike. She could've just told us where the Upside Down was right away, but she didn't. She made us run around like headless chickens." Lucas points out that El was making them figure most of everything out themselves.
"Alright, calm down!" Lyn moves to push them apart, but Lucas pushes her back.
"Don't take our anger out on her." Dustin stood in front of his sister to glare at Lucas.
"Why can't you guys see that she used us, all of us? She helped just enough so she could get what she wants: food and a bed. She's like a stray dog." Lucas screams at them.
"Screw you, Lucas!" Mike got in his face to yell at him.
"No! Screw you, Mike. You're blind because you like that a girl's not grossed out by you.
But wake up, man! Wake the hell up! She knows where Will is, and now she's just letting him die in the Upside Down." Lucas points out what he believes to be the hard truth. It sunk in for Lyn too. She was sure that El had her reason for fearing the monsters that live there. Whether it was to protect them or herself, Lyn didn't know.
"Shut up!" Mike snaps.
"For all we know, it's her fault." Lucas points at El.
"Shut up," Mike repeats himself.
"We're looking for some stupid monster but did you ever stop to think that maybe she's the monster?" Lucas glared at the girl still wearing the pink dress.
"I said shut up!" Mike tackles Lucas down to the ground.
"Stop!" El yells.
"Knock it off, you idiots," Lyn screams at them. The three from the sidelines were yelling for them to quit it as they wrestle around.
"Mike, get off!" Dustin yells. As he said that, Lucas was able to get the upper hand and flip them over. When he did, El let out a scream sending Lucas flying across the junkyard. He hit a piece of scrap metal and his body went limp.
"Lucas! Lucas!" Lyn, Dustin, and Mike ran over to him. They kneel down to be by his side.
"Lucas, are you all right?" Mike tried to shake him.
"Lucas, come on!" Dustin calls to him.
"Lucas, wake up! Lucas!" Lyn reaches over to check for a pulse. She let out a sigh of relief when she felt that he had one.
"Why would you do that? What's wrong with you? What is wrong with you?" Mike turns around to scream at El. She stood there crying as she stared at Lucas. She didn't mean to do that.
"Please Lucas. Please get up." Lyn pleads with him. Lucas opens his eye and slowly sat up. "Mike, he's up. He's up." She pulls the boy's attention from El to his childhood friend.
"Lucas, you okay?" Mike bent down to ask him.
"Lucas, how many fingers am I holding up? Lucas, how many fingers?" Dustin held up three fingers. Instead of answering him, he's main focus was sitting up.
"Let me see your head." Mike reaches over to try and touch him.
"Get off of me!" He smacks Mike's hand away from him. He stood up slowly with Lyn's help.
"Lucas, just let me see." Mike tried again.
"Get off of me!" He smacks his hand away and walks off.
"Lucas, come on." Mike went to go after him, but Dustin pulls him back.
"Let him go. Man, let him go." He knew that Lucas needs time to cool off.
"Where is El?" Mike looked to see she wasn't frozen in that one spot anymore.
Lyn looks around to see that she wasn't anywhere. "El? El! Eleven! El! Eleven! El! Eleven!" They went around the junkyard screaming for her because despite everything the girl was their friend.