There was a pile of compasses on the small table in Mike's basement. Dustin flipped them all face up, as everyone else watched. Georgie stood behind her brother, her arms crossed watching the scene. She knew her brother, and how smart he was. She knew he had something.
"What's exciting about this?" Mike said, looking at Dustin.
"They're all facing north, right?" Dustin asked.
"Yeah, so?" Lucas said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, that's not true North," Dustin said.
"What?"
Georgie took a step forward to get a better look. He was right, they were all pointing at something else. And it didn't mean they were broken, they were all facing the same way. It was impossible for that to happen unless they were all picking up something else.
Something like pure, raw energy.
Dustin figured out how to find it.
"I mean exactly what I just said: that's not true north." Dustin pointed at the table. When neither of the other boys said anything, Dustin spoke up again. "Are you both seriously this dense?"
Lucas shrugged.
"The sun rises in the east, and sets in the west. Which means that's true north," he said, pointing.
"So, what you're saying is the compasses are broken." Mike seemed uninterested in this development.
"No," Georgie said, taking a step back. "It would be impossible for all of them to be off the exact same amount. It means something is completely disrupting every single compass on that table."
"Exactly, they can't really break, there's no battery pack on these things. There's nothing on it to break, only bend. Do you even know how compasses work? The needle is naturally drawn to the earth's magnetic north pole."
"So what's wrong with them?" Lucas asked.
"That's what I couldn't figure out," Dustin said. "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 deflects to that magnet."
"And whatever gate we're chasing would have so much power," Georgie said. Turning to look at Eleven, she realized the girl looked worried. But she couldn't tell if it was because of the discovery or because she was always worried.
"Disrupting the magnetic field," Mike said. The other boys were cluing into the idea.
"Exactly," Dustin said, grinning.
"Meaning if we follow the compasses north..." Lucas trailed off.
"They should lead us to the gate." Dustin smirked. Proud of himself for figuring it out. Georgie was proud too, she loved how smart he was.
"So I guess that would settle it," Georgie said, picking up her car keys. "We're going for a road trip. Everybody grab a compass. Anything goes wrong and start walking the exact opposite way of the needle. El and I have to stick by someone who has a walkie. Understood?" All of the kids look at her. "Understood?"
The kids chimed in variation of yes all at the same time. If she was going to let them go hunt down a gate that lets monsters into their reality, then they were going to have some ground rules.
"If anything gets too hairy we leave. If we see one sign of a monster we leave. If I say that it's time to go, then we leave then too."
"Who put you in charge?" Lucas asked, clearly not interested in her rules. Didn't he realize it was clearly for his safety?
"The fact that I have a car, and the fact that if anyone says no then I'll walk right out of here and tell everyone's parents that their kids aren't playing in Mike's basement but in the forest looking for monsters." Georgie turned to El. "But I'd leave you out of it, don't worry."
"You'd protect her and not us?" Lucas asked, putting both his hands on his chest. He has formed some kind of distaste for Eleven. Georgie didn't know why and she knew that asking would probably either make things worse or he would just deny it but she was curious, for sure.
"I'm doing everything I do to protect all of you, including Will. Now," she turned on her heel. "Time to go. C'mon, Eleven. You get shotgun."
"What!?" Dustin shouted.
But Georgie was already up the stairs.
Georgie drove with the music down low so she could hear whenever Dustin told her to make a turn. Finally, they came to a slow stop at the edge of the woods, close to the train tracks. Georgie knew this area pretty well. Her and her old friend Liam used to play out here when she was younger. They'd stopped hanging out when she got too into studying and school. Every time she thought about the danger she was putting herself in, she wondered if it had ever been the right idea to live in her books instead of the present.
Usually, she came to terms with the fact that she was doing what was right for her and her future. But lately she wasn't so sure.
Lately she lonely.
"I guess we walk from here," Dustin said, getting out of the car. Every one filed out, and stood by the edge of the trees. Dustin handed Georgie a compass.
"Remember, exact opposite direction of the needle."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Dustin said, waving his hand at her. "We know." She smacked him on the top of the head. "Hey! You can't hit kids!"
"Actually, you're the only kid I can hit," she said. "You're my baby brother."
"Are we going to find this thing, or what?" Lucas asked, getting slightly irritated.
Georgie went into the woods first, opting to walk on the tracks instead of through the trees. She walked ahead of all of them, but could still make out little pieces of Lucas and Dustin's conversation, but not Mike and El since they were farther behind. Dustin was going on about compasses, and then Lucas commented on El acting weird. That's when Georgie really tuned in, because she also noticed that the younger girl was acting off.
But the topic changed as soon as it started, and they were back to silence.
The trees brought back happier memories then the ones they were making now. She used to love playing in the woods, especially in fall. When the leaves would crackle beneath her feet as she played, not a care in the world. All that mattered then was finding something new, or inventing a new world with Liam. What was he up to lately? She saw him in the halls every now and then, but they'd been strangers for years. Was he different? Maybe he still loved checkers, and maybe his favourite movie was still Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Or maybe he was completely different. Georgie sure was.
She sighed, and looked down at her compass. They were still on the right path, wherever that would lead. The the monster lair. They could not make hunting them any easier for the monster. If it was even hunting them. The line between them being in danger and putting themselves into that danger was so fine that Georgie didn't even know where it was anymore.
The wind blew again, sending a shiver down her spine. She wrapped her wind breaker tighter, wishing she had worn a warmer jacket. She made a mental note: next time they monster hunt, wear at least a jean jacket. If they didn't get pulled into the upside down today, that is.
It was a pessimistic thought. But what else was she supposed to think? For the first time in a long time she had no idea what was going on. She had no answers, and that scared the shit out of her.
They continued walking for a while. Georgie switched between being zoned out, sometimes being scared of what was going on and sometimes thinking about a memory when she saw a place that she'd been before. She hadn't even thought about these tracks in a long time. She glanced down at the compass again. She whistled and everyone stopped walking, their conversations ending abruptly. Without saying anything, she veered off the tracks. It was time to start stomping through the trees.
It was impossible to say how close they were.
"My feet hurt," Dustin said, leaning against a tree. "Let's take a break."
"Then it'll take us longer and your feet won't hurt any less. Let's just keep moving," Georgie said, not slowing down at all. Forcing him to come along as well. He groaned, but said nothing else about it.
As they followed they walked farther, the tress began to get more sparse until finally they came across a clearing. It was a junkyard, with many rusted cars and some kind of farm equipment. Did someone own this land? Who's was this? The grass around was all dead. Because of the season change, not because of monsters.
"Oh no," Dustin said, looking around.
"What's oh no?" Lucas asked, tone in his voice a mix between concerned and agitated.
"We're headed back home," Dustin said, turning around to look at the sky.
Mike asked "What?" at the same time Lucas said "Are you sure?" Georgie put a hand on Dustin's shoulder, looking at the sky and looking around. He was right, and she didn't even notice.
"Yep, setting sun right there we looped back around." Dustin pointed up at the sun.
"And you're just realizing this now?" Lucas asked.
"Why is this all on me?" Dustin asked, also getting irritated.
Georgie took her hand off her brother, watching as the pair of them began to bicker. This wasn't like them, these boys hardly ever fought. It was like Will being gone has cracked everything. Reality. Friendship. It was as if he was the one in the group that kept everyone thinking reasonably, and now, well now they were at each other's throats all day long. One couldn't speak without another one getting annoyed.
"Maybe the gate moved," Mike said, bringing Georgie's mind back into the conversation.
"I doubt that's the case," Georgie said, crossing her arms.
"Maybe it's something here," Mike suggested, pointing at all the junk.
"Nah, it would have to be like a super magnet," Dustin said.
"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 said, raising his voice and pointing at Eleven.
"Lucas..." Georgie started, but trailed off. It was worth asking – he just should have done it nicely.
"Why would she do that?" Mike asked.
"Because she's trying to sabotage our mission. Because she's a traitor!" Lucas flailed his arms. He walked towards her, and Georgie did as well. Not to interrogate her but to step in if need be. Lucas seemed angry still, and she didn't want Eleven to get defensive or Lucas to lash out.
"Lucas, what are you doing?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, maybe try to calm down a bit," Georgie suggested. Lucas kept walking towards her.
When they were face to face, Lucas spoke. "You did it. Didn't you? You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will."
"All right, that's enough." Georgie used her stern voice. Eleven looked as if she was about to cry, so Georgie came and stood on her side.
"Lucas, c'mon seriously just leave her alone," Mike pleaded.
"Admit it, admit it!" Lucas grabbed her arm, and Georgie caught a glimpse of the blood on her sleeve. That's what happened when she used her powers. Lucas threw her arm down. "There's blood. I knew it."
"Lucas! Come on!"
"I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks. She was using her powers," Lucas said, facing Mike completely. At this point, Georgie believed Lucas, but she wasn't mad at El. She was concerned. Eleven knew more about this than anyone. They should've asked her first what she wanted to do. Georgie put her arm around the younger girl and she flinched, but then relaxed. Trust was proving to be hard to build with the girl.
"That's old blood, right El?" Mike asked, looking at her. Her chin trembled more and she didn't answer. "Right, El?"
"It's not..." She paused. "It's not safe."
"El," Georgie said. "C'mon, come over here with me."
Georgie led Eleven towards a rusted old bus and away from the boys who quickly got into a screaming match. She didn't like where this was headed. She wanted to go talk to Joyce about everything, and see if maybe she had any more idea what was going on. She was aligning herself with a bunch of moody preteen boys and the town crazy (societies words – not Georgie's. Georgie liked Joyce quite a bit). But it's what felt right.
As the boys yelled at each other, Georgie tried to talk to El, but the younger girl was focused on the fight. When Lucas called El the monster, Georgie thought it was time to step in.
"That's enough!" Georgie yelled, stepping towards the boys. But before she got there, Mike yelled for Lucas to shut up and the fight turned physical. "God dammit, Dustin stand back!" she yelled, trying to Mike off of Lucas, but when they rolled over she tripped, and cut her leg on a piece of sheet metal lying on the ground. "Shit!" she yelled, grabbing onto her bleeding thigh. Dustin ran over and sat on his knees beside her, no longer caring as much about his fighting friends.
Eleven began to yell, so Georgie and Dustin got dead quiet as they watched Lucas fly back off of Mike and slide into some metal.
"Jesus!" Dustin shouted, getting off his knees and running to Lucas. Both Dustin and Mike tried to shake Lucas awake, but it was no use. He was out cold.
"Why would you do that?" Mike yelled, turning to look at Eleven who looked ready to cry again. "What's wrong with you!? What is wrong with you!?" As her face curled up with sadness, her nose began to drip blood.
Georgie looked down at her leg. Blood had soaked through her pants and coated her hands, and it stung like a bitch. She may need stitches. But she would be fine. Her favourite track pants were ruined though, and if she needs stitches she might not get to play soccer for a few weeks. She really hoped that wasn't the case.
After a few minutes, Lucas slowly got up. Georgie couldn't hear what they were saying so she took her wind breaker off and tied it tightly around her thigh, and then stood up. Feeling a deep sting over the cut. Lucas smacked Mike away and the stormed away from the others. Georgie shouted for him to wait, but he didn't. Mike moved to follow him, but Dustin stopped him. Lucas was too angry to be reasoned with right now.
"Let him go," Dustin said. Georgie agreed.
"Okay kids, party's over. I need to go to the hospital and get this cut looked at. C'mon boys, Eleven. Time to go." Georgie turned around.
"Where's El?" Mike asked, looking around. Georgie did too, but saw no sign of her. Dustin and Mike both started shouting and looking around but they saw no sight of her. "You should go back, Georgie. I'm going to stay and look for her."
"No way, sorry kiddo. You're both coming with me. I'm not leaving you waltzing around the woods," she said, shaking her head. "Let's go."
"What? I can't leave her out here! You let Lucas go," Mike argued, he crossed his arms in protest.
"You're right, and Dustin's going to call and ask for him, and if he's not home I'll call the police. Test me."
"You won't win, Mike. Let's just go, we can look tomorrow." Dustin walked beside his sister, and put an arm around her to help relieve some of the weight.
"I'll drop you two off and then I'm going to head to the hospital," Georgie said, as the trio started walking back towards the car.
"Don't be stupid, I'm staying with you," Dustin said. She had hoped that he would say that.
"Are you sure you can drive? I mean, you cut your leg," Mike said.
"I'm fine, I'm not light headed and it's not my driving leg. It just really stings so I'll take it slow, all right?" Georgie limped along. Everything was going to be okay.