"What did you see?" Roland asked as soon as El removed her blindfold. "Did you find the turtle?"

El had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Roland was nice enough when you ignored the fact that he could be an obsessive pain. He had a bug up his ass about talking to the turtle. If he was anything like he was concerning the turtle in regard to the tower then El wasn't sure if she could stand it. She didn't' deny the allure that the tower had. The mystery it possessed. It seemed like a mystery she wasn't meant to solve, though. Her issue was elsewhere with It and the mind flayer. Suddenly, more than ever, she wished she was back home.

"No," El said curtly. "I didn't see Maturin. I saw my sister, though."

Richie, who had been half asleep and eating perked up at this. "You saw Sara?" he asked. "How did she seem? Is she okay?"

"Sara is fine," she said shortly, not wanting Richie to get his motormouth running. "She said that we shouldn't go to the Dark Tower and that it's dangerous."

"We know it's dangerous, but we're still going," Eddie the elder said, crossing his arms securely over his chest.

"Not you," El retorted. "The kids from Derry and Hawkins. She said we need to get back. She also said that we've only been missing for about an hour and a half."

"What?" most of the Derry and Hawkins exclaimed at once.

"That's impossible!" Eddie the younger said. "We've been here for ages and ages and ages! I'm about to lose my fucking mind because of how long we've been here!"

"Settle down, sugar," Susanna said. "Time works different around here."

"Works like a junky detoxing on adderall," Eddie the elder said.

"How can a junky be detoxing if they're on adderall?" Richie asked.

"Exactly," Eddie the elder said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Frankly, Eddie's explanation somehow cleared up some confusion while causing some more. Jake, wanting to get off the topic, asked, "Did your sister know anything about the turtle?"

"She said he couldn't help you," El said. "Said that what you need to worry about is the Crimson King."

"The Crimson King?" Max asked incredulously. "Are you kidding me? God, this is like one of the boys's stupid Dungeons and Dragons games only it makes less sense and there's no pizza."

"Pizza!" Eddie the elder and Jake both exclaimed excitedly.

"Man, I have missed pizza," Eddie the elder mused.

Trying, and failing, to hide his annoyance, Roland said, "And how would your sister know about if the turtle can help

"She knows him," El answered. "I've met him. He called her his friend. I'm not sure that he has many, living in the Inbetween and all. At least I think he lives there."

"Bill's met the turtle though," Eddie said thoughtfully.

This caught everyone's attention. "It's true, he told us," Richie added. Stan and Bev nodded in confirmation. "He and Nina had a very lengthy discussion about it in the club house."

"Like 70 hours long," Eddie muttered.

"You weren't even there for most of it," Ben scoffed.

"Because my mom's a psycho and would kill me if I got home late," Eddie declared.

"That would be the worst," Eddie the elder said. "As a hypochondriac, I'm sure you're aware of how bad dying can be for your health."

"He told Bill about the Ritual of Chüd and how to kill the monster in Derry," Bev said before Eddie could rise to his own defense or someone else could crack a joke.

"Ritual of Chüd?" Roland repeated, aghast.

"It obviously didn't work," Max said. "That thing's back with a vengeance."

"Maybe someone smarter than It needs to be the one to do the ritual," Richie countered. "I volunteer. I'm clearly better than you dummies."

"Couldn't this turtle do this...rutial?" Susanna asked, shifting in her wheelchair.

"The turtle couldn't help us," Stan said, the suddenness and forwardness of his words stunning all of them into silence. It was a truth that applied to all of them. The turtle couldn't help them with Pennywise. The turtle couldn't help them with the Mind Flayer. The turtle couldn't help them with the Crimson King or the Dark Tower. The one thing that the group had in common was an affiliation with monsters, and now Maturin.

"Who's the Crimson King?" Roland asked once the reality of Stan's words settled into them, slipping into the bones of all who heard them.

El shook her head, "I don't know."