Meanwhile, Steve sat in his car, parked down some empty lane as he tried to real in his anger. He was so angry. At Carol, at Tommy, at Jonathan and Nancy... But most of all he was angry at the world. He saw Nancy before they took off with the cops. Her face had been fine. She'd been fine the entire fight. Inside, Steve had been secretly hoping that maybe Nancy was his soulmate. It was clear now she wasn't, but... If he could get her back- and boy was he going to try- he didn't give a damn if she was his soulmate or not. He was happy with her, and he knew he could make her happy, too.
So with a lighter heart and some mad determination, he started working on his plan to get Nancy Wheeler back.
We rushed home to find Will's walkie-talkie to contact the boys. I was close behind Jonathan and Mom as they rushed into the house and down the hall. We all started searching the room, before Mom called "I got it!"
Nancy started talking into the walkie, saying over and over "Are you there, Mike?" After a good few minutes of that, Hopper snatched to walkie and spoke into it.
"Listen, kid, this is the Chief. If you're there, pick up. We know you're in trouble, and we know about the girl." Jo shook her head and rolled her eyes. He knew nothing about these kids. But she just might.
"We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over." Hopper sighed and set the walkie down, where I snatched it up.
"Hey, you little shits. It's Jo. That's right, you heard me. I'm not like Nancy, and you know me better than the Chief. I've run with you hooligans before, so believe me when I say we just want to help. You know I'd never Lando you, so please, please! Pick up the damn walkie!"
It was silent for a split moment before it crackled to life.
"It's Mike. I'm Here. We're here."
As soon as we heard wheels pull up, the four of us flew up off the couch and out the door. Nancy enveloped Mike in a hug, which surprised me slightly. Nancy and Mike had never been very close. Usually, they hated each other. She pulled back and took in the other children.
"Is that my dress?"
The boys looked at the girl with the shaved head, and said, "We can explain."
I walked over and grabbed Dustin and Lucas by their shoulders.
"Come on, squirts. Let's get this figured out." Everyone else followed behind as we made our way to the kitchen, taking seats left and right. Mike hurriedly grabbed a paper and red marker, drawing a line across the paper and then a stick figure. Dustin filled us in a little about the girl with the mind powers.
"Okay, so in this example, we're the acrobat," Mike explained. "Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the upside down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space." I made a face, wondering how the hell that happened.
"A gate," Dustin said.
"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab," Lucas added.
"With our compasses!" Dustin threw in.
"You fools did what? How?" I asked in disbelief. The absolute lack of self-preservation these kids had!
"Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the direction of a compass needle," Dustin explained.
"Is this gate underground?" Hopper asked suddenly.
"Yes," the random girl whose name we had learned was Eleven said quietly.
"Near a large water tank?" He asked again.
"Yes."
"H-How do you know all that?" Dustin asked.
"He's seen it," Mike said in awe.
Mom leaned forward, asking, "Is there any way that you could... That you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this..."
"The Upside Down," Eleven supplied in her quiet voice.
"Down. Yeah." Eleven nodded.
Nancy piped in, "And my friend Barbara? Can you find her, too?"
The look Elven gave her was all the answer we needed.
"So, how do we do this?" I asked, hands on my hips.
We were all crowded around Eleven who sat at the head of the table with pictures of Will and Barbara and a walkie talkie radio, turned so that only static could be heard.
We all waited with baited breath as the static increased, and then suddenly decreased again. The lights flickered, causing me to jump.
"I'm sorry," Eleven said tearfully.
"What?" Mom asked, holding Jon's hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong? What happened?"
Eleven's voice broke as she spoke. "I can't find them."
I sighed, not realizing I had been holding my breath. "That's... That's ok. We'll find another way, right?" I received sorrowful looks in return. But we were so close, we couldn't simply just give up, not now!
Mike led Elven to the bathroom and I took a seat at the table, letting my head fall into my hands. When he came back, he said,
"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak."
"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets," Dustin explained further.
"Like, she flipped the van earlier," Lucas said.
"It was awesome." Leave it to Dustin.
"Hold up, she flipped a van? Why didn't you guys say that earlier?" I asked.
"Yeah, it wasn't important. But she's drained now," Mike continued.
"Like a bad battery."
"Well, how do we make her better?" Mom asked, stuttering.
"We don't. We just have to wait and try again."
"Well, how long?" Nancy asked, echoing my thoughts.
"I don't know," Mike said.
"The bath." I turned to look at Eleven who was standing in the doorway/
"What?" Mom asked.
"I can find them. In the bath."
We stared at her in confusion, not understanding.
"What do you mean in the bath?" I asked softly. I could tell this poor little girl was scared. I could see it in her eyes and stance. Whatever happened to her, was some bad shit.
"It's quiet. And dark," She explained.
"Like... Sensory deprivation?" Dustin asked.
"Sensory deprivation?" I repeated.
"Yeah, where you take away all outside stimuli to focus better on something else. They use these big tanks and fill them with saltwater. I just don't know exactly how."
"I know what it is, dipshit," I grumbled. I just didn't know how that applied to this.
"So... If we put her in one of these tanks, she'll be able to reach them better?" Mom asked.
"Yes," Eleven said.
"Ok, so how the hell are we supposed to figure out how to make one of those?" I asked, still unsure why that of all things would work. I suppose it would help her concentrate on that other world instead of this world?
The room was silent for a moment before the boys looked at each other and exclaimed, "Mr. Clarke!"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course." Those boys were obsessed with Mr. Clarke. I couldn't blame them, though, the man was like a God to all nerds.
"I'll call him!" Dustin exclaimed.
He rushed over to our phone and started dialing numbers, putting the phone up to his ear.
"Mr. Clarke? It's Dustin."
I chewed on the corner of my nail as we all sat and listened to his one sided conversation.
"Yeah, Yeah. I just, I... I have a science question." A pause. "Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?"
I covered my mouth with a hand to hold back a laugh. This poor teacher, I could only imagine what he was picturing as to why Dustin was asking about this in particular.
"You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find. Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?" Dustin demanded. Damn, the kid was laying it down harsh. He suddenly came and sat down at the table, grabbing the paper and a pencil and scribbling down on it while occasionally saying, "Uh-huh."
"Yup. Alright. Yeah, we'll be careful. Definitely. Alright, Mr. Clarke. Yeah I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke. Bye." He hung up quickly and looked to Mom. "Do you still have that kiddy pool we bobbed for apples in?" He demanded.
"I think so. Yeah." Mom said as Jon and I chimed in too.
"Yeah."
"Good, then we just need salt. Lots of it."
"How much is "lots"?" Hopper asked.
"1,500 pounds," Dustin said after checking his notes.
"Well, where are we gunna get that much salt?" Nancy asked, as if it couldn't be done.
"The school," Hopper declared after a moment of thought.
I clapped my hands and stood, newfound hope rising. "Alright, nerds. Let's do this shit."