"So definitely not Russia?" Robin said.
El shook her head. "Definitely not Russia."
"Because of what was on the van?"
El nodded.
"What if it's a trick?" Mike asked. "You know, to get us to go to Alaska?"
"You think this thing, whatever it is, tricked El by putting a van in her dream with 'Best Fish in Alaska' written on the side?" Robin stared at Mike contemptuously. "That seems pretty unlikely, don't you think?"
Dustin sniggered and Mike flushed, feeling the sting of her words.
"Okay, that was stupid, but now what? We all go to Alaska?" He looked at El. "It's not going to happen" he said. "It's at least a 60 hour journey by road and we can't just hop on a plane, can we?" He looked around at everyone, challenging anyone to disagree with him.
"You're right Mike" Dustin said. He took the phone off the cradle and held it out. "But shall we at least try calling the number?"
They were once again in the kitchen and Robin had the newspaper spread out before her. Steve was standing next to Dustin, his fingers poised, ready to dial.
"Are you going to let the child speak?" Robin asked Steve. She cocked an eyebrow and Steve shrugged at her. If he was honest with himself, Dustin would probably get more information from whoever answered the phone, because that was Dustin.
"You might be good at cracking codes" Dustin said, "but I know how to deal with business matters." He glared at Robin. "When you're ready…" He smiled sarcastically.
Robin took a breath. She looked at El. "You ready?" she said.
El nodded. Beside her, Max squeezed her hand. Mike saw and felt a wave of jealousy. He was happy that El and Max had become such good friends, but it just meant she didn't seem to need him as much. He went and sat next to her.
"You okay?" he asked.
She nodded without looking at him. "Do it" she said.
Robin glanced at Steve. "907 is the code" she said. She looked back down at the newspaper and waited as Steve dialed. Everyone else watched, as the dial on the phone rotated slowly.
"907" Dustin repeated.
"622…"
Somewhere in the house, they heard Robin's nana call out for Rodney. Steve swallowed nervously; he would be glad to get out of the house, he could still taste the old lady's smell.
"1117 and you have to ask for…"
"David Samson, I know." Dustin waited as the number finished connecting and then a click and a woman's voice answered. "Can I speak with Mr Samson" he said with authority. "Mr David Samson?" There was silence on the other end of the phone. "Hello?" he said. "Can I speak to…"
His voice was cut off.
The woman's voice filtered from the phone and then they all heard the click as she hung up.
"What did she say?" El was on her feet.
"Shh" Dustin's face was screwed up trying to concentrate. He began to dial again. "907" he said. "622…" He looked at Robin. "Number!" he barked. He clicked his fingers. "Number!"
"1117."
He finished dialing again and waited and then slowly he hung up the phone. He looked at Steve who had been leaning in listening.
"Did you get that?"
Steve nodded.
"Dustin?"
Dustin looked at El. "The number is disconnected."
"What?" Robin jumped up and grabbed the phone. She dialed the number herself and waited and then slowly hung up the receiver. She shrugged and sat back down. "Disconnected" she said.
"Like I already said." Dustin liked Robin, but he was insulted by her lack of trust in him, especially since he had saved her life once.
"So, what did the woman say?" Will was glad that Alaska was so far away, but he was as intrigued as the rest of them.
Dustin closed his eyes and screwed up his face in concentration. "Anchorage... then some numbers... 40, 65..." He opened his eyes. "Did you hear?" he asked looking at Steve. Steve grimaced. Dustin sighed in exasperation and then he prodded the side of his head with a finger. "There was another number, then she said 'Fishguard' and then…" He shrugged. "Something about the weather."
They all stared at him.
Dustin stared at Steve.
"You must have heard something!" he said belligerently.
Steve blinked and then looked at Robin and then back at Dustin. "Something about it being mild out…" he trailed off.
"Are you freaking kidding me!" Max stood up. She looked at Robin. "You should have rung!" Robin nodded her agreement. "Hell, I should've! Even Lucas would have done better than that!"
"Hey!"
Will patted Lucas's arm in sympathy.
"Hang on, hang on…" Dustin sat down. "I'll get there" he said. "I just need to think."
"Now what?" Will said. He was more anxious than ever. It was getting late and his mom would be furious with them all.
"I want to go home" El said standing up.
Will stood too. "I agree" he said, relieved. "Mom will be mad, but she won't be mad, mad. Yet."
El looked at him. "No Will, I mean, my home. Hopper's home."
The room was bathed in silence for a moment.
"I'll go with you" Max said.
"Me too" said Mike taking her hand.
"I'm in" said Lucas.
They all looked at Will and Will shook his head.
"Steve, take Will back to my house" Mike said. He looked at Dustin. "Dustin?"
"I'm staying here, Robin needs me."
"Do I?" Robin pulled a face.
Dustin looked at her pointedly. "Unless you heard the other number, yes, you do." He looked at Steve and then everyone looked at Steve. "You can drop these guys on the way, can't you?"
Steve was leaning against the fridge eating a cookie. He looked back at everyone and sighed dejectedly. He didn't see the point in arguing. He knew better than to argue with girls and Dustin was this strange child man who could get him to do things he didn't want to do. He had a way of making him feel as if he was the child sometimes. He took another bite of cookie.
"Steve!" Dustin clicked his fingers in front of Steve's face. "Come back to earth."
Steve shoved the rest of the cookie in his mouth. He looked at Will.
"You ready?" he said.
Will stood up. He wanted to be with his friends more than anything else, but none of them knew what it was like having that thing inside your mind. Except perhaps El. He looked at her; she was watching him.
"I'm sorry Will" she said, and he could hear the genuine warmth in her voice. He smiled at her. He knew how much she loved Hopper, he could hear her crying at night. He smiled back.
"Let's go" he said to Steve.
As they left Robin's house, they heard the shrill scream of her nana calling out for Rodney.
El pushed open the door and memories came tumbling out. She blinked away her tears and stood there for a moment trying to regain her composure. She had experienced real life and happiness with Hopper in that house, despite it being run down and small and despite its musty smell and Hopper's general untidiness. Out of his space, he had given her a room, let her choose the colours, bought her a bed and furniture, gave her a paintbrush, encouraged her and made her feel safe. It had been her first real home.
She walked over the threshold and the floorboards creaked.
Shafts of diminishing sunlight picked up the dust clouds that swirled haphazardly around like miniature tornados. Apart from that, everything was still. She glanced at Hopper's chair and imagined him sitting there with a can of beer, smiling at her. Despite her best efforts, tears leaked from her eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
She turned around and fell into Mike's arms. He held her as she cried.
"We have to bring him home Mike" El said into his chest.
"I know" he said stroking her hair. "And we will." He closed his eyes. He wouldn't fight it anymore. He realised now, El didn't care about how much danger she might be in, she had to get Hopper back. Mike looked around the small, nondescript house and understood that Hopper had given El back her life and she needed to repay him. "We'll do it together" he said. He kissed her head. "I promise."
"So why exactly are we here?" Lucas asked.
El disentangled herself from Mike's arms. "For this." She walked through a door to Hopper's bedroom. Someone, Joyce probably, she thought, had stripped the bed so that it was a bare mattress. She kept focused; the stillness of the room was unsettling.
She went to Hopper's wardrobe, a great big beast made of dark wood with thick doors that had large, ornate emblems on the front that served as handles. She touched them, uncertain what they were made of, some kind of metal she thought, bronze maybe? Iron? She closed her eyes and remembered Hop standing next to her, telling her how to move the right hand one.
…'there is a little groove at the bottom" he said, '…a little lip, place your thumb in it and then the rest of your hand needs to grip the top and you turn clockwise. It will click and then you can slide it up…'
She had struggled with it. It was stiff and awkward, but he made her do it, several times, until he was happy she knew exactly how to reveal the small space behind it.
She did it now, easily. Inside, was a brown envelope.
"What is it?" Max whispered peering over her shoulder.
"I don't know" El said. "He never told me. He just said, if I was ever in trouble and needed help and he wasn't around to help me, that I should open this and take out what was inside."
She took hold of the envelope gingerly and looked at everyone.
"Open it" Lucas said. He was grinning. "This is so cool." Max rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, but it is! A secret compartment? Hopper has just gone way up in my estimations." He ignored Max's glare and looked at Mike, glad to see from his expression, that he was thinking the exact same thing.
El opened the envelope and looked inside. The first thing she saw was money, lots of it. The second thing she saw looked like a small, blue book. She took it out. On the front it said, 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'.
"It's a passport" Mike said.
"It's a British passport" Max said.
"Cool!" Lucas's grin had grown.
El opened the passport and saw an unsmiling picture of herself and the name underneath, Anna Jane Hopper.
"He's given you a new identity El" Max said.
El nodded. She felt almost overcome with emotion; Hopper had left her probably his whole life savings and a new passport. His only thought, since meeting El, had been to protect her.
She smiled and blinked away her tears.
"Now I can get to Alaska" she said.
It was the right thing to do, but she wouldn't ask the others to come, that would be risking too much. She had to do this alone, but convincing Mike and Joyce would be a problem.
There was a noise outside that made them all turn and stare.
It was a car pulling up. Someone else was at Hopper's cabin.