I bolted upright with a gasp, struggling to catch my breath as I came out of the vision.

I didn't really know what to expect of my surroundings, but it certainly wasn't what I found. I looked around worriedly, only to find that I was alone in a hospital room. My ridiculous pink suit was folded in a pile on the chair beside me, and I was instead wearing a hospital gown.

I quickly remembered that before I had passed out, Hatch had just blown our cover, so I shoved the blankets off of me and tiptoed towards the door. With any luck, I hadn't been out that long and the police hadn't shown up to identify me yet.

I slowly pushed the door open, peering out into the hallway of the hospital. Dr. Hatch was at the end of it, standing with a Doctor and Chief Powell. He was pointing down the hallway, gesturing wildly, so I slowly pushed my door closed again and bolted over to the window, pushing it open and shoving the screen out of place. I didn't bother grabbing Nancy's clothes, because luckily my gown wasn't the kind that ties in the back, and my time in the Upside Down had taught me to memorize the entire layout of Hawkins, so I knew how to get back to the Wheelers without being spotted.

I climbed out the window, taking off barefoot across the parking lot as I tried to ignore the dull ache that was still lingering in my head.

It made total sense why I'd passed out though...at least It did after Max's whole ordeal with Vecna. Both with Max and with Victor Creel, I had access to their memories. All it took was one touch of Victor's hand, and I was walking among his memories of the stories he was telling, and for Max...I suspect that I was already inside of her head, meaning this ability gave me access to all of her memories, rather than just the most prominent ones.

It doesn't make total sense, but its the only conclusion that I can come to that explains what has been happening to me the past few days...

I have superpowers.

Victor was the first vision I've had that was not created by Vecna, so after two whole days of being forced into visions, and then actually being able to craft one of my own, it obviously took a physical toll on me. That much was obvious by how exhausted I felt.

I tried not to think about that as I ran towards the entrance of the parking lot, only for a car to whip around the corner and squeal to a stop mere inches before it collided with me. I stopped, looking at the driver with wide eyes, only to see that it was Steve's car, with Steve Harrington himself sitting in the driver's seat. He rolled down his window, poking his head out of it.

"What the heck are you doing?!" He exclaimed.

I ran over to the passenger seat, ripping the door open and diving inside.

"No time to explain, get me out of here before they notice I'm gone." I told him.

"You passed out, and now you're running across a parking lot-"

"Scold me later Mom, just drive!" He hit the gas, peeling around the curve through the exit and speeding back in the direction of the Wheeler's house. I let out a sigh of relief, leaning my head back against the seat. I turned to look at him. "Max is ok, right?"

"Yeah, she's fine," He said, glancing over at me, "Thanks to you guys."

"Hey, you were the ones who executed it," I pointed out, "We saw you guys, in the graveyard. This big hole opened up-"

"Yeah, Max told us," He replied, "She also mentioned something about you having superpowers? She said you manipulated her memories or something?"

"Something like that," I agreed, "Its kind of a lot, so I'll explain once we're all together."

"Are you ok?" He asked, taking a hand off of the wheel to put it on my knee. I nodded, putting mine over his.

"I think so," I answered, "I'm pretty drained and I have a headache but...I think its because of these powers. If that is what they are, they're progressing extremely rapidly. It happened at the asylum too. I touched Victor Creel's hand and it was like I was inside his memories. I could see what happened to his family in real time as he recounted it to us."

"What?! That's insane!" He said. "Do you think you can do it again?"

"I don't know," I told him, "Let me get some rest and then...I guess we'll find out."

~~~

As soon as we got back to the Wheeler's, I changed back into my clothes in the basement bathroom and then came out to join the others and explain what was going on.

"It was weird, it was like...It was like I was standing inside of a slide projector," I told them from my seat on the floor between Steve's legs, my back leaning against his chest, "I could see all of Max's happiest memories like the slides in the wheel all around me and I could just pick one and send it to her."

"With every movement a new memory entered my mind, but I could tell that it wasn't me bringing them up," Max continued, "It was like, I could feel her pulling them out of me."

"And that happened with Victor too?" Nancy questioned.

"Not exactly," I told her, "With him I didn't choose what memories I was seeing. There was no slide-projector thing it was just one touch and I was standing in his memory. It was just like when I go into Vecna's nightmares only I couldn't touch or talk to anyone. I was just witnessing his memory, like I was there in the room."

"We think the Upside Down somehow altered her brain chemistry," Steve explained, recounting our conversation from before, "Like, because she was in there so long, while he brain was still developing, it like...mutated somehow. And now...she can do this...whatever it is."

"So you basically have superpowers?" Lucas asked.

"She's basically Professor X." Dustin said, his face lighting up with the possibilities of it.

"I don't know if I'd go that far," I told him, "I can go into people's minds, see their memories, and force them to recount them. I'd hardly say that makes me Professor X. Not to mention the fact that I don't even know if I can control it."

"Well, give it a shot. Make one of us remember something." Robin suggested.

"Guys, come on. She's already passed out once today, she's clearly exhausted. Give her a break." Steve defended.

"We could all probably use some rest." Nancy agreed. "We need to take shifts for Max watch though, just to make sure Vecna doesn't come after her again."

"I'll go first." Lucas volunteered. "I'll just pick someone else when I get tired."

I nodded, putting a hand over my mouth as I yawned, moving to lay down on the small patch of blankets that Steve and I had been sleeping on, positioned right beside the couch. Max laid down on the couch, and I laid down on the side closest to her so that I was facing her. She reached down, grabbing my hand.

"Thank you," She whispered, "For everything. Seriously." I smiled.

"No problem, kid." She smiled back and I let go of her hand, turning on my side to face Steve. He yawned, draping an arm over my waist.

"So...I have super powers," I stated, "That's really the theory we're going with."

 "It makes the most sense, as insane as that sounds," He pointed out, "And seriously, Barbie...this is cool and all but...I'm really just glad you're ok. That's all I really care about." I nodded.

"I'm ok." I whispered, pressing myself closer to him.

"Promise?" I nodded, burying my face in his chest. He wrapped his one arm completely around my waist and used the one that I was laying on to comb his fingers through my hair.

Just as I began to drift off to sleep, Steve's hand brushed against my arm, sending me into an unexpected dream.

I was standing in the hallway of Hawkins High School. Steve was sitting on the floor, his back pressed up against the lockers, and Tommy H. and Carol were sitting on a bench across from him. I wrinkled my nose in disgust, instantly wishing I were awake rather than having to see those idiots again.

"What are you freaking out about, Harrington?" Tommy asked. "You're the king of Hawkins High. Hopper's literally a nobody. If her dad wasn't the Chief of Police, no one would know who she was."

"I don't care, dude!" Steve said, frustrated. "What I said to her? Making a joke about the fact that she went missing? That's terrible. I mean, none of us have any clue what happened to her and I just...got frustrated and blurted that out."

"She probably just went and shacked up with some trailer trash freak like Eddie Munson." Carol said through a mouthful of gum. "Who knows, maybe she got herself pregnant and they had little freaky babies together."

"Please, like Eddie the Freak could land her," Tommy said, "She may be a freak herself, but there's no denying she's way too hot for Munson."

"Ew, you think she's hot?" Carol asked.

"Do I have eyes?" He asked. "Steve, back me up here. If Riley Hopper wasn't such a basket case, you would totally have tried to tap that by now."

"Dude, don't talk about her like that." Steve snapped.

"Dude...why are you defending her? You don't even like her, nobody does."

"We don't even know her, Tommy," He argued, "She hasn't said a word until today, since ninth grade. How can you dislike someone you haven't talked to in three years?"

"Its easy," Carol chimed in, "She's all silent and weird and she has that dead-eye stare thing going on, and she dresses like a homeless."

"I bet she's not afraid to get dirty though-"

"You two are a couple of scumbags, you know that?" Steve asked them. Carol scoffed.

"If you like her so much, why don't you go hook up with her instead of pencil neck Wheeler?"

~~~

"Hey Dustin, this is Eddie the banished. You there? Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin. Earth to Dustin."

I woke up to Eddie's voice coming through the radio and untangled myself from Steve's arms so that I could crawl over to it, holding it up to my mouth.

"Hey, Riley here." I answered. 

"Hopper, hey, um I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world."

"No, nope, definitely do not do that," I told him, rubbing my eyes tiredly. "Just stay where you are and we'll get to you as soon as we possibly can."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, listen, um...can you pick me up a six-pack? I know its stupid as heck, drinking right now, but uh, a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."

"Yeah, Eddie, I...can't even blame you. We'll get you whatever you need." I glanced up, raising my eyebrows as I saw that Max's couch was empty.

"Yes, thank you. You know, I always knew you were cool, but this is like, top notch-"

"Eddie, I appreciate that, I really do, but I need to call you back."

I put the radio down, crawling over bodies to get to Dustin, who was sleeping with his back against the TV stand.

"Dustin!' I shook his shoulders, causing him to wake up. "Aren't you supposed to be on Max watch?"

"Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Sorry."

"So you know where she is?" I asked.

"She's right there," He gestured to the empty couch, "...a second ago, I swear, I just dozed off for," He looked down at his watch"...An hour."

"You could've woken someone up!" I pointed out, jumping over everyone to get to the stairs with Dustin not far behind me. We both strode into the Wheeler's kitchen, fearing the worst, only to find Max sitting at the kitchen table with Holly while Mrs. Wheeler stood in the kitchen and Mr. Wheeler sat at the counter reading the newspaper. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Morning guys," Mrs. Wheeler greeted, "Everything ok?"

"Yes," I said, turning around to smile at her, "Everything is good, thank you, Mrs. Wheeler."

"Oh, Riley, honey, you have blood on your face!" She put a hand on the side of my face and I reached up, feeling the nosebleed that had dried on my face. I scrunched my nose in disgust.

"Oh, its nothing. Just allergies. Pollen gives me nosebleeds." I lied easily, grabbing a paper towel and wetting it in the kitchen sink before washing the blood off of my face.

"I think its so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this." Mrs. Wheeler told us, scooping pancakes onto a plate.

"Could try sticking together at a different house for a change." Mr. Wheeler said dryly. I forced a smile in his direction.

"And miss out on your morning enthusiasm, Mr. Wheeler? I wouldn't dream of it." I said sarcastically. He just looked at me with his usual dry expression.

"You know you're welcome here anytime," Mrs. Wheeler told us, "And I for one, am happy to see Riley here. I feel like its been ages since you and Nancy had a sleepover."

"My junior year at least." I told her, walking over to the table to sit beside Max.

"You're like family," Dustin pointed out, gesturing at the pancakes, "May I?"

"Absolutely." She handed him a plate.

"Yeah, why not? Take us for all we're worth." Ted grumbled. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

"Ok." Dustin said, piling pancakes onto his plate.

I slid into the chair beside her, looking at the table to see that she had paper and crayons and was in the middle of drawing what appeared to be the red landscape that we had ended up in with Vecna. I could still hear 'Running up that Hill' through the headphones of her Walkman. She paused it, taking them off.

"Hey."

"Hey." I greeted, leaning my chin in my hand. "You ok?"

"Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears for some reason." I chuckled, looking down at the drawings on the table. "But, Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We've been having a fun morning, right Holly?"

"Mm-hmm." Holly said, not bothering to look up from her lite bright. I smiled, glancing at the little girl.

"You're growing up fast, aren't you?" I asked. The sound of my voice caused her eyes to shoot up and then a giant smile appeared on her face.

"Riley!" She exclaimed.

"Hey there, Hol. Long time no see, huh?" I asked. She giggled, nodding her head and looking back at her Lite Bright again. Holly had always liked me a lot when she was younger, and this surprisingly didn't' change, despite the fact that I didn't physically speak for an entire year that she'd known me. Nancy used to get annoyed because she'd want to steal me away to play whenever I came over.

I averted my eyes to the drawings again.

"Pretty spot on." I pointed out. She nodded.

"I thought it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but...not so much." I bit my lip, pondering the drawings.

"This red fog, the bodies on display...that didn't happen with Fred and Chrissy." I pointed out. "It started out normal, with Vecna using Billy to try and scare you, but..."

"Something was different about this place," She agreed, "He seemed surprised almost, like he didn't want us there."

"Maybe you infiltrated his mind," Dustin suggested sitting at the table too, "He invaded your mind, right? And we know that Riley can do it, so is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his? Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room."

"Freddie Krueger?" Holly asked.

"He's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers, and he kills you in your dreams-"

"Dustin!" I warned, nodding in Holly's direction.

"Sorry, its a movie, its not real," Dustin assured her, "Just...think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna's world? Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is...somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. Gosh, we need Will."

"Yeah, no duh," Max told him, "But I tried them again this morning, and its the same busy signal."

"Yeah, well, you know how these things work," I pointed out, "Even all the way in California, these things have a way of dragging all of us into seemingly separate messes that all form one bigger picture. Its unlikely to believe that they're just in California having a grand old time. But that doesn't really matter right now, because I know exactly where this place is."

"Seriously?" Dustin asked.

"What? How?" Max questioned. I reached over, picking up one of the drawings that had the rose door on it. I folded the page so that only the door was visible. Max caught on, and we began going through all of the drawings, folding them to hide the empty space and leave only the images of the debris. Once those were visible, I lined them up, grabbing a marker and drawing in the spaces that still needed to be filled. "Its pieces of a house."

"Not just any house," I reported, putting the rose door in place, "This is Victor Creel's house. The exact same house that I saw in his memories, and in Chrissy's nightmare when she died."

I stood up, walking back in the direction of the basement. 

"Where are you going?" Dustin questioned.

"Waking the others." I replied.