Daisies || Max Mayfield

68: Binoculars

"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh... My walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran." Eddie chuckled, taking a large sip of water.

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy questioned.

"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." He struggled to pull off his watch, waving it in the air and tossing it to her.

 "9:27." Nancy read.  

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey," Robin noted.

"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asked.

"That surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." 

"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks." 

"And where he attacks from," Lucas added.

"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max smiled, dropping her hand. She had her good one stuffed in her pocket, but the broken one was completely damaged. It's swollen a lot, and now the bruises are purple-ish yellow.

"If he has a heart." Robin supplied.

"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve asked. 

"You're a dumbass," I said.

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie muttered. 

"I say we chop his head off." 

"All of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy continued, sitting on a rock.

"We need El to get her powers back," Max added.

"Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers." 

"Superpowers." Eddie cut him off. "Yeah, you mentioned her. Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" 

"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely." 

"Boom!" Dustin's shout echoed through the trees. He giggled, throwing his hands up and pointing at Steve. "Bada... bada... boom. I was right. Skull Rock was north." 

"Seriously? You're serious?!" 

"Mm-hmm." 

"This is Skull Rock. Okay? Mm-hmm! You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now!" Steve exclaimed. 

"Yes. And no." 

"Oh my God." He dropped his head in his hands, shaking it. 

"This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. Correct when we got in the car on Curly. 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." Dustin smirked, holding it up in front of us. "The compass was."

"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong." 

"Except it isn't faulty. Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?" Dustin was waving his hands all over, pointing at everyone now. 

"An electromagnetic field." 

"Yep." 

"Sorry. I must've skipped that class." Robin said. 

"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."  Lucas finished his sentence, smiling.

"But we're nowhere near the lab."Nancy frowned, crossing her arms.