The next day, all of us are in Nancy's car, as she drives us out to Reefer Ricks to bring Eddie some food.
"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car for this visit? 'Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck." Robin says from the passenger seat.
"It'll be fine." Nancy says.
"I just can't stand to see those doe eyes of Eddie's break again."
"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve says next to me, with a mouthful of Pringles that we're sharing with Dustin.
"That's what my mom does." Max says from the seats in front of us.
"Why don't we give it a trial run? "Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Only the bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. He's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed." Robin explains.
"Wait. Maybe we don't put it like that." Lucas says.
""We're one step closer to finding Vecna". That's what we say. That's what's important." Nancy says.
"See, Robin?" Steve says as he holds up a chip. "Positive spin can make all the difference." Steve says popping it into his mouth.
"Uh-huh."
"I can find him." I speak up as I rid my hands of the salt from the chips by wiping them on my pants.
"What?" Robin says from the front.
"I've been thinking about it this entire car ride. I can find Vecna, the same way I found Max."
"Yeah, but wouldn't you be alone if you found him?"
"...Yeah. I guess I would be."
"Yeah, nope. No, no." Steve protests beside me. "I don't like your idea. Going to Vecna alone is a no-no from me. Absolutely not." He says before throwing another chip in his mouth.
"Oh shit." Nancy says before I can respond to Steve, gaining everyone's attention.
We look forward, out the windshield, only to see news reporters, police cars, and a large crowd of people. Nancy parks her car on the side of the road and we all file out.
"Come on." Nancy says to us, once we're all out. "This way." She says and leads us to the other side of he news van so we can get a closer look to what Chief Powell is telling the reporters.
"As many of you know, the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight, reporting a homicide here on the lake." Powell says causing all of us to share looks. "Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney. His limbs... his body, it was disfigured... there was an eyewitness on the scene. We have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson." Powell says as he holds up a picture of Eddie. "We encourage anyone with information to please come forward."
"Oh, man." Steve says from next to me as we listen to Powell. "This is not good. Really not good."
"You've got questions, and I'm going to answer as many as I can. Two o'clock at town hall, where anyone from the Hawkins community is welcome. But right now, I've got work to do, and I appreciate your understanding." Chief Powell finishes.
"Dustin, can you hear me? Dani?" Eddie's voice comes from Dustin's walkie from his backpack.
Dustin quickly takes it off and pulls out the walkie. He walks away and pulls up the antenna. "Eddie. Holy shit." He speaks into it. "Are you okay?"
"Nah, man. Pretty... Pretty goddamn far from okay." Eddie chuckles, sarcastically.
"Where is he?" Robin asks Dustin.
"Where are you?" Dustin repeats into the walkie.
"Skull Rock. Do you know it?"
"Uh, yeah. That's near Cornwallis and-"
"-Garrett, yeah. I know where that is." Steve cuts Dustin off as he slaps him on the shoulder and takes my hand, pulling me with him back to Nancy's car.
"Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming." Dustin speaks into his walkie.
**
"Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way." Steve tells Dustin as we follow him.
"It's north. I'm positive. I checked the map." Dustin says as he looks down at his compass and holds up his map.
"You should listen to him Dustin." I tell him as Steve and I hold hands, trailing close behind him.
"Oh, yeah? And why's that Dani? 'Cause last time I checked, I'm the one with the map."
"You do realize Skull Rock, it's like a super popular make-out spot?" Steve asks Dustin.
"Yeah. So?"
"So... you're going the wrong way. Steve and I used to come here all the time." I smile at my brother cheekily as he looks at me disgusted. "We're heading in the wrong direction." I say and take a left turn, going down hill as Steve follows me.
"Dani, Steve. Where are you going?" Dustin calls after us.
"Stop whining. Let's go. Trust me." Steve says back to him as he takes the lead.
"You know." I say to Steve. "I think before we move to Indianapolis, we should come to Skull Rock, one last time." I smile, watching the ground as I walk, so I don't trip over a rock or something.
"Are you trying to make a move on me, Danielle Henderson?" Steve smiles.
"Maybe, I am?" I flirt, looking back up at him. "What are you going to do about it?" I smile, as we come up to some bushes.
"Well, looks like you'll just have to wait until our next visit to Skull Rock, won't you?" Steve winks at me before letting go of my hand and starts to part through the bushes. "Bada bing, bada boom." He says walking into the clearing on the other side of the bushes. "There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. "
Steve holds his hand back out for me to take, which I happily accept, as he helps me out from the bush.
"In your face, man." Steve says as he pulls me with him up to the giant rock. "In your stupid, cocky little face."
"Doesn't make sense." Dustin says from behind us.
"Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit that you're wrong, you little butthead."
"I concur." Eddie says from behind, scaring us, causing Steve and I to let go of each other's grasp. "You, Dustin Henderson, are a... total butthead."
"Jesus, we thought you were a goner." Dustin says, walking over to Eddie, hugging him.
"Yeah, me too, man." Eddie says as he hugs him back.
He looks at me over Dustin's shoulder and I give him a small smile, to which he returns. "Me too." Eddie says, pulling away from Dustin.
Nancy, Robin, Lucas and Max, join us and Nancy hands the brown paper bag over to Eddie.
"Here, you go." She says handing it to him.
"Thanks, Wheeler." Eddie says, taking it from her and walks over to the rock, sitting underneath it.
"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh..." Eddie Stops what he's saying to take a drink of water from the flask. "My walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently." He smiles sarcastically as he closes the flask. "I ran." Eddie chuckles.
"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asks Eddie.
"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked. " Eddie says, taking it off his watch, tossing it to Nancy.
"9:27." She reads off of the watch.
"The same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin confirms.
"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asks, confused.
"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." I speak up.
"Exactly." Nancy says as she tosses Eddie's watch back to him.
"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks." Robin says.
"And where he attacks from." Lucas says.
"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max says.
"If he even has a heart." Robin says.
"A stake?" Steve asks confused. "Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve asks Max.
"It was a metaphor." She says.
"A bullet should work on him, right? Eddie suggests
"Probably not." I say to Eddie.
"No?"
"Yeah, no. 'Cause when we fought the Demogorgon, it didn't really do much when Nancy shot it. And from what we've gathered, a bullet won't mean shit to Vecna."
"I say we chop his head off." Lucas speaks up. "Or Dani can light his ass on fire."
"Yeah, I'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy says.
"Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" Eddie says looking past us and to Dustin.
"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely." Steve tells Eddie.
"Boom!" Dustin suddenly shouts loudly, causing us to turn our heads at him. "Bada... bada... boom." He whispers, pointing at Steve and I, stepping closer to us. "I was right." Dustin says, making Steve groan. "Skull Rock was north."
"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve shouts at him.
"Mm-hmm." Dustin smirks at him.
"This is Skull Rock." Steve shouts, gesturing to the giant rock. "Okay?"
"Mm-hmm."
"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now."
"Yes. And no." Dustin says.
"Oh my God." Steve says, covering his face with his hands.
"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car on Kerley. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was."
"So you're using faulty equipment. Dude, you're still wrong."
"Except it isn't faulty. Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"
"An electromagnetic field."
"Yep."
"I'm sorry. I must've skipped that class." Robin says, confused.
"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or..."
"There's a gate." I speak up, understandingly.
"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy says.
"When we were hunting the Demogorgon with Jonathan, you and I went through a gate. It wasn't near the lab either. The Demogorgon must've created it somehow."
"So there definitely has to be another gate around here somewhere." Dustin says. "It would be a gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful."
"Snack-size gate." Robin states.
"How? Why?" Steve asks.
"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because, other than Dani being able to use her powers to find Vecna in the void, we'd have a way to him. And can come up with a better plan to free Max from this curse." Dustin says and walks down the hill, away from us.
"Where are you going?" I call after him.
"Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey." Steve calls to Dustin, getting him to stop and turn around. "Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go for a hike in the woods."
"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the Banished?" Dustin says to Eddie causing the rest of us to look back at him.
"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think it's a really bad idea." Eddie says to Dustin. "But, uh, the Shire... the Shire is burning."
Dustin starts to hop up and down excitedly, gaining our attention.
I look at Eddie as I point back to Dustin, "I'm assuming that means you're going to follow him."
Eddie smirks at me and stands up, "Mordor it is." He says walking to Dustin, who begins to walk down the hill, with everyone following.
"What is Mordor?" Steve asks me.
"The Lord of The Rings, you wouldn't understand." I shrug, following after Dustin, nearly bumping into Eddie as he runs back up the hill.
Eddie rushes back to the rock and picks up his walkie and flask.
"Get your shit, dude. Let's go." Steve says to Eddie as he holds my hand.
**
It's dark out now as Dustin leads us through the woods.
"Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?" Eddie calls after him as we try to keep up.
"I think we're getting close." Dustin says, looking back.
"Whoa." Eddie says as he quickly catches Dustin before he can walk staring into the lake. "Watch your step, big guy."
"Oh, man. You gotta be shitting me." Steve says once we catch up to Eddie and Dustin.
"Yeah, I thought these woods were familiar." Eddie says as we all look out at the open water.
"Lover's Lake." Robin speaks up.
"This is confounding." Dustin says.
"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asks.
"Dani was right. Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna's the same way." Nancy says.
"Yeah, only one way to find out." Steve says.
"This way." Eddie says as he leads us to a different spot along the bank. We eventually come to a stop and Eddie pulls a tarp off of his boat. "Harrington, give me a hand." He tells Steve.
Steve goes to the back of the boat with Eddie and they push it into the water. "Easy. I... I said easy, man." Steve says as the boat splashes into the water.
"Sorry, dude."
Robin moves next to them to step up on the boat.
"Here you go." Steve says, holding out his hand for her to take.
"Yeah..." She says holding onto both his and Eddie's heads instead as she steps in. "...I'm just gonna do that. Thank you." Robin says sitting in the very front corner of the boat.
"Yeah, that works too."
Nancy steps in and sits in the middle. Eddie gets in after and helps me get in as Steve holds the boat still. Before I have a chance to sit down, Eddie holds his hand out to stop Dustin from coming on board.
"Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?" Eddie tells him.
"it's better this way, okay?" I tell him, noticing the hurt look on his face. "You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble."
"You keep an eye out. It's my goddamn theory."
"Oh, I'm sorry, but can you do crazy shit with your mind? Can you shoot fire from your hands? No, I don't think so."
"You heard your sister." Robin says, backing me up.
"Who put her in charge?" Dustin says offensively.
"I did."
"Compass." I say, holding my hand out.
Dustin pouts a little and reluctantly hands the compass over. Once it's in my hand, I sit down in the back of the boat.
"Hey, there you go." Steve says tossing Dustin's backpack to him before pushing us out, away from the bank.
"Ow." Dustin says, catching the bag.
Steve steps into the boat, sitting down next to me and Dustin shouts at him, "You said four!"
"Sorry." Steve whispers as Eddie and Nancy start paddling us out.
"Bedtime at nine, kiddos." Robin shouts as we go out further on the lake. "Miss you already!"
"You know, in a different circumstance, this would be romantic." Steve says to me so the others won't hear.
"Looks like you'll just have to save it for future reference." I smirk, turning my head to look at him.
"All right, you lovers, may I remind you there are others in the boat. No need to make googly eyes at each other." Robin says looking at us from the front, causing Steve and I to look back at the compass in my hand.
We keep getting further out into the open water, when suddenly, the compass goes crazy.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down." I say to Nancy and Eddie as Steve pulls out a flashlight, shining it on the compass. "Slow down guys."
Nancy and Eddie stop rowing and sit the oars back in the boat before turning back to Steve and I.
"Whoa." Steve says noticing the needle on the compass spin fast.
"Guys, what's going on?" Dustin's voice comes in through the walkie. "Come on guys, talk to me. What's going on?"
"Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital "aah!"." Robin says into the walkie.
"Steve, what are you doing?" I say, noticing him begin to take off his shoes.
"Somebody's gotta go down there and check this out." He says taking off his socks too. "Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then... it's gotta be me."
"I was made it Hawkins Lab, I think I can handle some swimming." I argue lightly.
"Not up for discussion, all right." He says to me before standing up.
"Hey, I'm not complaining. I do not wanna go down there." Eddie says as he grabs a plastic bag, wrapping the flashlight in it so it won't get wet.
I watch as Steve takes off his shirt, tossing it down to me, making it land in my lap. I look away from Steve, adverting my gaze to the shirt in my lap, when a certain someone catches my attention.
Nancy is staring at Steve's naked back, completely unaware that I'm now staring at her. I let out a fake cough, gaining her attention, as she looks at me wide-eyed.
Cat got your tongue, Nance?
I raise my eyebrows at her, in question as Eddie hands Steve the flashlight.
"Hey." He says holding it up for him to take. Steve takes it, causing me to break eye contact with Nancy. "Good luck." Eddie says and I stand.
"Steve?" I say, causing him to look over his shoulder at me. "Be careful." I say as I take careful steps towards him and place a kiss on his cheek. "I love you." I whisper loud enough for everyone to hear.
"I love you most." He whispers back, smirking.
"That's my line." I smile a little, stepping back, giving him enough space to jump into the water.
I sit back down and look over the edge of the boat. I watch the glow from the flashlight descend deeper and deeper into the water until I can't see it anymore. "How deep do you think that is?" I ask out loud, peeling my eyes away from the water.
"At least fifty feet, maybe more." Eddie says.
"Perfect. Makes me feel so much better." I sigh.
"Where are we at, Wheeler?" Robin asks Nancy, who's keeping the time.
"Closing in on a minute."
"Okay."
More time passes as we sit in silence, waiting for Steve to emerge.
"How long?" I ask Nancy this time.
Before she can answer, Steve emerges out of the water, scaring us half to death.
Perfect timing, though.
"Oh Christ!" Robin screams.
"I found it." Steve says as he treads water.
"You found it?" I ask, surprised and lean on the edge of the boat.
"I found it. Yeah. I found it." Steve says as he swims over to the boat, grabbing the edge.
"Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate." Robin speaks into the walkie.
"It's pretty wild." Steve says to us, still in the water. "It's more of a snack-sized gate than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big." He finishes before getting pulled underneath the water.
Steve pulls himself back up, still hanging on the ledge as he looks up at me worried.
"Steve?" I squeak.
Suddenly, he is roughly pulled under the water, causing us all to scream.
"Steve!" I scream standing up and away from the ledge.
"Steve! Steve!" Robin, Nancy, and I shout.
"No! No! What the hell was that, man?" Eddie yells.
"Dani, really, what happened?" Robin shouts at me.
Quick, Dani think. Think.
I stare down at the water and place my foot on the edge.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Eddie stops me. "You're not going int there, are you?"
"Just wait here." I say.
"No, Dani!" Robin shouts as I dive in the water.
I swim as fast as I can, following the red glow at the bottom of the lake. I get closer and closer to the bottom, running out of air very quickly. I finally reach the gate and reach my hand into it, pulling myself through.