Will's eyes still stung from the pepper spray. "Did you get a good look at the car?" Jim asked. "Or the people?"

Will sat in the police station. On his left, Jonathan sat beside him. Joyce was on his right. Jonathan had chosen to stay in town for college, at least until he figured out what he wanted to do. "I didn't get a good look at the car," Will confessed. "Or the two people."

"Don't you think it's a little early for questioning?" Joyce asked.

"You know how important the first twelve hours are in any abduction," Jim explained, "and your son is the only eye witness."

"Mike told me he felt like he was being watched," Will said. "I thought he was just being paranoid. We've all felt paranoid since the earthquakes."

Will had to censor his dialogue for the other officer in the room. However, Jim understood what he meant. "Officer Kelson, how about you get Mr. Byers a glass of water," Jim requested. "He's still pretty shaken up."

The other officer, now known as Kelson, left the room. "Do you think Mike's abduction is Upside Down related?" Jim whispered.

"I don't know," Will said. His voice stuttered. "It was people."

"Brenner still has buddies going about," Jim explained. Kelson soon came back with a glass of water for Will. "Well, if that's all you know, you can go now. If you remember anything, please give us a call."

Joyce helped Will up. The party didn't last long after the attack. Lucas went looking for Will and Mike. That's when he found Will, still trying to get the spray from his eyes. Will explained everything in an almost illegible ramble.

Will's friends were already out of questioning. Several other people from the party were also there. "I think we need to talk outside," El said. Will nodded. He and his friends went outside.

"I think that weird cult is behind this," Max whispered.

"I wouldn't call them a cult yet," El said.

"I've seen them around town," Lucas whispered. "They're definitely a cult."

"I had a feeling too," Dustin said. "That they're a cult and that they're the ones behind this."

"What would they want with Mike?" Will asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Max said.

"They might've noticed that we're always at the center of all the Hawkins weirdness," El said.

"Does anyone know where they have their meeting?" Lucas asked.

"No clue," Will said. "We need to figure that out if we're pursuing them as suspects."

"There's going to be a search party tomorrow if he doesn't show up," Max said. "Let's regroup then."

Nothing had technically happened yet, but it already felt like torture.

At some point in the drive, they decided to blindfold Mike. They also gagged him. Mike put up a fight, but they managed to bind his ankles, along with tying his arms behind his back. They bound his wrist with rope as well.

Mike assumed it had been a few hours since they arrived at their destination. They had dumped him onto a twin-sized bed. They hadn't removed the blindfold, gag, or ropes. So, Mike could barely move an inch.

He heard the door open. "Are you sure this is him?" someone asked. The voice didn't belong to one of the people who attacked him, nor did it belong to the van driver. Mike had heard many voices since he got here. Mike hadn't heard this voice yet.

"I know it is," another voice said. Mike recognized this one. It was the man who had dragged him to the van. "We've been watching him for weeks. His mother is the Creel girl."

Mike almost chuckled at the comment. His mother being related to Henry Creel? There was no way. "Is he asleep?" the first voice asked. Mike assumed the voice belonged to a woman due to the tone.

"I don't know," the second voice responded.

"Well, remove the blindfold and gag," the woman explained. "You're probably giving the poor boy a heart attack."

If you didn't want me to have a heart attack, why did you send a stalker van after me? The man complied, removing the blindfold first. Mike blinked to adjust his eyes to the new light. The room was windowless. The bed was the only piece of furniture in the room.

Then the gag came off. "Let me go," Mike demanded. He started trying to break the rope.

"We can't do that," the woman responded. She patted his head. "You're too important for our plans."

"What plans?" Mike demanded.

"You'll find out soon enough," she promised. "Anthony, get the boy something to drink. The gag must have dried out his mouth."

The man, now identified as Anthony, left the room. "We're not going to hurt you," the woman explained. "You're going to be part of something beautiful. Your uncle has big plans for you."

"I don't have an uncle," Mike denied.

"I see your mother has kept secrets from you," the woman chuckled. Anthony returned from with the water.

"Thanks," Mike said. "But you know, I can't drink with my hands behind my back. Mind helping me with that?"

"We're keeping you like this until we can trust you," the woman explained.

"There isn't much I can do," Mike said.

"You are your uncle's nephew," the woman argued. "I don't know what you're capable of."

"For the last time, I don't have an uncle," Mike snapped. "My Mom is Karen Wheeler. Her maiden name was Childress. I heard you say she was that Creel girl. The girl you're looking for is Alice Creel, and she's dead."

The woman laughed. "It's funny was naive you are about your own family."

Another woman entered the room. "Sister Lisa, the police are at our front door."

"I will deal with them," Lisa said. She then turned to Mike and Anthony, who was now at his bedside. "Help him finish the water, then put the gag back on. We don't want him alerting the police about our special guest."

Mike had been kept in a small basement. Lisa had it built when her late husband first had visions about the tree man. The tree man had told him he was the creator, and her husband told her. Then, they collected followers.

The basement was hidden in a storage closet. Lisa climbed up the ladder and shut the trap door. She made her way to the front door, where Police Hopper was waiting for him. "Good morning, madam," Chief Hopper said. "Last night, a teenage boy was abducted from a party."

They should've killed the witness. "I just want to take a look around," Chief Hopper said. "You're a part of that new church, right?"

"I'm very involved," Lisa said. "My husband was the leader."

"Well, the witness said the boy was being stalked by someone from the church," Chief Hopper said. "Can I have a look around?"

"Do you have a search warrant?" Lisa asked.

"I do," Chief Hopper said. He showed her the paper warrant.

"Then, by all means, look around," Lisa said. Chief Hopper entered the home. Lisa had a few friends over. She wasn't dumb enough to have the people involved in the actual abduction there. She just had enough people in case Mike broke out.

"You have a very nice house," Chief Hopper commented.

"Thank you," Lisa responded. The chief stopped at a painting. It was a painting Lisa painted herself. On the top half of the painting, it was the tree man. On the bottom, it was a young girl with red hair floating in a cemetery. There were other people with her.

"What's this?" Chief Hopper asked.

"It's just something I painted," Lisa answered. She knew she had to be secretive about the truth. She had been informed the people of Hawkins would fight against her. However, everything had to happen in Hawkins.

"It looks very interesting," Chief Hopper said. Lisa recognized the tone of his voice. She knew he knew about the tree man. Lisa knew this could and would mean trouble.