𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙥! 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣

SCENE TWENTY TWO. the shire is burning

"9.27"

"the same time piper fell." robin mumbled looking over to the girl standing staring out into the woods. stood by the same rock steve had promised was hers. she didn't dare sit, had he promised someone else that rock?

"the flashlights too." lucas added remembering how their flashlight had exploded as they tried to coax her from the dream state.

"which means what exactly?" steve questioned.

"that the surge of energy was vecna switching from attacking piper to patrick." nancy explained to the boy, her eyes drifting to piper who was still silently still. facing away. hoping vecna wasn't up to something.

"well we're one step closer. we know how vecna attacks.'' robin repeated nancy's actions, piper's behaviour was similar to hers of last summer. of when she was mentally fighting the mind monster thing.

"and where he attacks from." lucas commented.

"so now we just need to sneak into his lair in the upside down. and drive a stake through his heart." max added, acting as if it were some tv show.

"if he even has a heart." robin called as she walked towards piper, resting her hand on her shoulder. watching the girl flinch before turning to her. piper looked drained, and robin didn't blame her. the girl properly wanted one normal night.

" stake? is he like a vamp? is he a vampire?'' steve questioned, face lighting up as he thought he finally got something right.

"oh my god harington!" she sneered under her breath, grabbing robin's hand. she needed that comfort and robin was always happy to hold the girl's hand.

"it was a metaphor." max rolled her eyes at the older boy, how on earth was he that stupid. how on earth had he lasted this long?

"a bullet should work on him, right?" eddie questioned, shovelling another handful of crisps the group had bought him.

"i doubt it." piper added, tapping her finger against robin's hand to the beat of the uptown girl.

"i say we chop his head off." lucas added.

"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 commented, running her hands over her face in frustration. they weren't getting anywhere and it was really starting to fucking piss her off.

"we need ek to get her powers back."

"everything was way easier. we had this girl. she had superpowers.'' max looked over to piper, remembering something happening in the mall that shouldn't have happened at all. when billy died, his cut to the throat had killed him before the beast did.

and the girl raised from her knees. picking up the glass shard from next to el's head as billy turned to them. the bright flickering lights of the fireworks came to a halt, they were out. the once brightly lit mall filled with a suffocating smoke. it came closer, widening its mouth as it let out the spine chilling roar. the group up on the balcony had hidden as max and mike ran into the main room. watching the sight before them. piper standing up against the mind flayer, billy creeping up behind her. el shuffled behind piper as she lifted her arms, not realising the shards of glass lifting behind her. its second mouth reaching out into the air in front of her, reaching out for her. baring its teeth. but its other arms were faster. one wrapping around her legs. hoisting her into the air as billy went to grab her. it's teeth sinking into her hips as she screamed out a cry. steve, hidden on the balcony, brought his knee into his chest hearing her scream. this was it. she was crying, for him. but he could only sit and cry. the shards of glass exploding around her. glass shattering in the air. el bringing her hands to her face, the shimmering chunks reflecting lights around them. billy crumbling to his knees as a large shard of glass sliced across the bare skin of his neck.

"super powers yeah, you mentioned her. hey, hendersons not, uh, cursed is he?'' eddie spoke as he watched dustin walk back and forth, and bathe and forth. pacing almost, holding the compass out as he did so. his brows curved as he halted to a stop.

"cursed, nah. no, he's fine. mental? absolutely."

"boom! bada. bada. boom." he spoke, voice echoing into the woods around them as he turned to him. his eyes lit up like a kid who just discovered mud.

"i was right, skull rock was north." he spoke again, and steve groaned.

"seriously? are you serious? this is skull rock. okay? you're totally absolutely 100 percent wrong. right now." the boy in yellow, far too defensive on a topic about the location of a rock. which he had apparently brought tons of girls too, including piper herself.

"yes and no."

"i can't with you two." robin cried.

"this compass 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. the compass was."

"so you're using faulty equipment. you're still wrong."

"steve, shut the fuck up." piper moaned. finally sitting down on the rock as she felt herself grow light headed. trying to ignore the fact her vision was blurry and her friends were appearing and reappearing.

"except it isn't faulty. lucas, can you remember what can affect a compass? " dustin questioned, turning to look at his friend standing beside the ginger.

"an electromagnetic field." he mumbled, remembering the whole science lesson they had on it.

"yep."

"i'm sorry i must have skipped that class." robin smiled.

"in the prescase of a strong electromagnetic field. the needle will deflect towards that power. so either theres some super ig magnet around here or-"

"there's a gate."

"but we're nowhere near the lab." nancy recalled, what the fuck where they on about. gate?

"but what if, somehow, there's another gate. a gate we don't know about. it'd have to be smaller. way less powerful."

"snack sized gate." robin questioned.

"how and why?"

"no idea, all i know is that something is causing this disturbance. and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was gate. and i hope it is because then we'd have a way to vecna. and a shot at freeing max and piper from this curse." he spoke before spinning on his heel and heading towards the entrance of the woods.

"where are you going? hey! hey! eddie's still a wanted man, we can't just go hike in the woods." steve cried, stopping the boy from going any further.

"this little steel capsule might be the key to saving max and eddie. and steve, we can save piper too. don't you want to save her?" low blow henderson. she glared at him. ignoring eddie's eyes on her back.

"what says you, eddie the banished?"

"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. but the shire. the shire is burning. so mordor it is.'' eddie informed the group, watching him intently as he spoke. he really knew how to draw people into his words. she was so fucking confused, yet so interested. and dustin doing his little hops of excitement was cute. and they walked off, her following confused as could be.