Not Just Another Number

Looking for the Gate

Sarah' POV

I lie down on the floor of Mike's basement, listening to him explain everything to El. I watch Dustin walk back and forth constantly, narrowly missing stepping on me. "Sarah already found an opening, but she said it disappeared. Do you know where we can find another one?" Lucas asks, making me sigh. I wonder if the other one is still open. I have no doubt that exited the Upside Down through a different opening.

I look over at Eleven, waiting for her answer, just to see her shake her head. Mike and Lucas groan and I shake my head. Please don't make them ask me now. I just want to sleep! Lucas starts to complain, but I look back at Dustin. He hasn't stopped walking. I sit up and quickly move my hand before he could step on it. "What are you doing Dustin?" I ask, but that doesn't make him stop.

"Dustin? Dustin!" Mike yells, making him stop. He looks up at us, looking serious. "I-I need to see your compasses." I raise my eyebrow, but I stand up to hand him my pocket compass. The others follow suit.

We place them onto a table, Dustin sorting them. "What's so interesting about this?" Mike asks, rolling his eyes.

"They're all facing north, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Lucas asks, not getting the point. What is Dustin getting at?

"It's not true north."

"What do you mean?" Mike asks.

"I mean exactly what I said. It's not true north." He sasses. I look at the compasses and realize he's right. "He's right." I say, crossing my arms. The others look confused. Dustin groans in an annoyed tone. "The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, right?" He asks, moving his arms. The others nod.

"Which means, that's true north." He finishes, pointing in my direction.

"So, the compasses are broken?" Mike asks. What?! Is this boy serious? I sigh and rub my forehead. "That's not how compasses work. They don't use batteries." I explain.

"The needle is drawn to the earth's magnetic north pole." Dustin says, moving a few of the compasses. I cross my arms, but one thing still confuses me. "Well, what changed it?"

"That's what I didn't get either. But I remembered that you can change the direction of a compass with a magnet." He says, looking up at me. "If there's a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power. Then I remembered what Mr.Clarke said. The gate would have so much power-"

"It would disrupt the elctromagnetic field." Mike finishes.

"So if we follow the compass' north, they should lead us to the gate." I say, piecing it all together. Might as well find this thing. We did make a deal. They smile at me, but I look past them. I look over at the couch behind them, noticing that El has been quiet the entire time.

She looks scared. What's going through her mind?

Time Skip

I follow the party along the abandoned train tracks. Lucas, Dustin, and I are in the front while Mike and Eleven are in the back. Maybe they'll bond some more. After all this stuff goes down, she'll be able to live a normal life and spend more time with him.

"How much further?" Lucas asks.

"I don't know. These only tell direction, not distance." Dustin says, holding up his compass. I laugh at his bluntness. I look down at my own compass. It's moving slightly to the left. What the? It shouldn't be doing that, right? I look closer at it, thinking that my mind was playing tricks on me, but it definetly moved.