ᴍᴀɴɪᴀᴄ, ᵐᵃˣ ᵐᵃʸᶠⁱᵉˡᵈ ⁺ ᵉˡᵉᵛᵉⁿ ʰᵒᵖᵖᵉʳ

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⎯⎯dark closets!

Mike wandered into the classroom, spotting Dustin and Lucas already in their seats. He grinned, dropping his backpack to the floor at the desk beside Lucas and plopped himself into the seat.

"Where's Morgan?" Dustin asked, fixing his curls when they fell into his face.

Mike side eyed the other people in the classroom before leaning forward, the three huddled together. "She's back at my place with El," he answered.

Lucas made a face. "She's what?"

Dustin's jaw dropped. "Holy shit, she's alone with a stranger in your house." He grabbed at his hair, stressed. "Oh my god, what if she's in danger? What if something happens to them while we're gone?"

"Dustin's right," Lucas added, frowning at Mike. "We know nothing about that girl—"

"El," Mike interrupted.

"What?" Lucas deadpanned.

"Short for Eleven," Mike continued.

Lucas rubbed at his forehead, looking completely done with everything.

Dustin slowly nodded. "It fits her."

"We're not going to talk about how her name is a number?" Lucas sputtered. "Do you know how insane that is?"

Mike scowled at him. "It's not insane. She can't help it."

But Lucas didn't seem to be paying any attention to him. "What if that girl—"

"El," Dustin chirped in.

Lucas slapped his hands on his desk. "I don't care what her name is!" he exclaimed, hysterical. He pointed at Mike, who was staring at him as if he was the crazy one. "What if Morgan is in danger right now and we can't help her? What if El or Eleven — or whatever her name is — is a danger to her?"

Mike pursed his lips. He highly doubted Eleven would be the one to be a danger to Morgan. Hell, he would bet that Eleven would be the one protecting Morgan when it came down to it. The two were soulmates. Bonded together by the universe. They — and their third soulmate, whoever they were — were made for each other.

Everyone knew how soulmates acted when one of their own was in danger.

But Mike couldn't tell them that. It wasn't his secret to tell.

So, he only shook his head at them. "I don't think that'll happen," he answered honestly.

Lucas didn't seem convinced as he turned away from his friends. "Whatever. I just want the psycho gone, shipped back to the nut house so we can continue looking for Will."

Mike scowled at him and looked the other way. Eleven wasn't a psycho. She was just a lost, little girl scared of the world around her. People — bad people — were apparently hunting her. Mike wouldn't let anything or anyone hurt her. Eleven was Morgan's soulmate, which made her a member of the Party by default.