[ Location: The Junkyard ][ Time: 5:15 PM ]
"Vans!" Lucas screamed, skidding his bike to a halt near the bus. "East entrance! They're coming!"
I scrambled down from the roof of the bus. My heart hammered against my ribs.
'Right on schedule. The Bad Men aren't subtle.'
"We have to go!" Mike yelled. "Vivan, let's move!"
We mounted our bikes. I felt the familiar weight of exhaustion, but adrenaline is a hell of a drug. We pedaled hard, weaving through the towers of crushed cars.
Behind us, tires crunched on gravel. Sirens wailed.
"They're blocking the exit!" Dustin shouted.
"Go off-road!" I commanded. "Through the woods! Cut to the street!"
We crashed through the underbrush, branches whipping our faces. We burst out onto the main road, legs pumping furiously.
But they were waiting.
A white van screeched around the corner ahead, blocking the lane. Another one roared up behind us.
We were boxed in.
"No, no, no!" Dustin panicked.
We skidded to a stop in the middle of the road. The lead van accelerated, heading straight for us. It wasn't slowing down.
'They're going to run us over. They don't care.'
I reached for my power, my head throbbing. 'I have to try. Even if my brain melts.'
But before I could focus, El stepped forward.
She looked at the oncoming van. She didn't look scared. She looked furious.
She let out a scream that tore through the air.
BOOM.
The van hit an invisible wall. Its rear wheels lifted off the ground. It soared—actually soared—through the air, flipping over our heads in a slow-motion arc of metal and glass.
CRASH.
It slammed into the asphalt behind us, blocking the path of the other pursuing vehicles.
Dustin's jaw hit the floor. "Did you see that?! Van went flying!"
"Go!" I yelled, snapping them out of the trance. "Ride!"
We pedaled past the wreckage, leaving the stunned agents behind.
[ Location: The Junkyard - Perimeter ][ Time: 5:45 PM ]
We stopped deep in the woods to catch our breath. El collapsed against a tree, wiping blood from her nose.
Lucas dropped his bike. He walked over to El.
"You..." Lucas panted. "You flipped a van."
El looked up, wary.
"That was..." Lucas shook his head, a grin breaking through his fear. "That was awesome."
He looked at Mike. Then at me.
"I'm sorry," Lucas said, extending a hand to me. "I was wrong. About everything. You guys were right."
I took his hand. "We're a team, Lucas. Friends fight. But they don't leave each other behind."
"Friends," El whispered, smiling weakly.
Suddenly, a twig snapped.
"Stay back!" I warned, raising a hand, ready to fire off a weak telekinetic push.
A figure stepped out of the shadows. Tall. Police uniform. Cigarette dangling from his mouth.
Chief Hopper.
And behind him, Joyce Byers, Nancy, and Jonathan.
"Chief?" Dustin squeaked.
Hopper looked at us—dirty, bleeding, and terrified. He lowered his gun.
"Found you," he grunted.
[ Location: The Byers' Residence ][ Time: 7:00 PM ]
The house was a disaster zone of Christmas lights and painted letters, but right now, it felt like the safest place on Earth.
We sat around the kitchen table. Joyce was hugging Will's photo. Nancy was bandaging Mike's scraped elbow.
"So," Hopper paced the room. "You're telling me this... kid," he pointed at El, "flipped a van with her mind?"
"Yes," Dustin said proudly. "She's a mage."
"And you," Hopper turned his gaze to me, eyes sharp. "Do you know how worried your parents are? You said you didn't know where Will was, and now suddenly you do?"
"It's Vivan," I said, nursing a cup of water to soothe my headache. "And I am sorry. But even if I told you what I saw that night, you and my parents would probably have called me mad and taken me to a psychiatrist."
Joyce looked at me with a mix of anger and helplessness. "Still... you should have said something. At least we..." She trailed off, looking at the lights.
Then Joyce looked at El. She noticed the tattoo. "Jane," she whispered. "Terry said her name was Jane."
"Jane Ives," Hopper nodded grimly. "Taken from the lab."
"We need to find Will," Mike interrupted. "He's in the Upside Down. El saw him."
"We know," Nancy said, exchanging a look with Jonathan. "We saw the monster too. It... it has no face."
"The Demogorgon," Dustin supplied.
"Can you find him again?" Joyce asked El, her voice desperate. "Can you tell us where he is?"
El looked at the radio on the table. She shook her head. "Weak."
"She needs a boost," I spoke up. "Like a sensory deprivation tank. Water. Salt. Darkness. It amplifies the signal."
"We can build one," Dustin said. "At the school. Mr. Clarke has a kiddie pool. We just need salt."
"Loads of salt," I added. "1,500 pounds of it."
Hopper crushed his cigarette. "I can get the salt."
[ Location: Hawkins Middle School - Gym ][ Time: 10:00 PM ]
We broke into the school. While Hopper and Jonathan hauled bags of salt from the storage shed, we set up the pool in the gym.
"Vivan," Mike whispered. "You okay? You look pale."
"Just... conserving mana," I lied. My head was still ringing.
"Here," I said, looking at the mountain of salt bags Hopper had dumped. "Let me help."
I didn't carry them. I focused.
'Grind time. Precision training.'
[ Ability Active: Telekinesis. ]
I lifted the salt bags, two at a time, floating them over to the pool and ripping them open mid-air with a mental tug. Salt cascaded into the water faster than anyone could pour manually.
Nancy watched me, eyes wide. "You too?"
"Just a little," I winked, wiping a trickle of blood. "Side effect of hanging out with the mage."
[ System Notice: Telekinesis Proficiency Increased. ][ Current Mastery: Level 1 (48%) ]
Thanks to the telekinetic assembly line, the tank was ready in record time. It was practically half-built by the time Dustin finished checking the temperature.
"It's ready," Dustin announced.
El took off her wig. She looked at me.
"Safe?" she asked.
"Safe," I promised. "We're all here."
She stepped into the water and floated. We turned off the lights.
Silence fell over the gym.
"Is she... is she okay?" Joyce whispered.
"She's searching," I said, closing my eyes.
'Remote Viewing.'
[ Ability Active: Remote Viewing. ]
I dove into the void with her.
It was dark. Empty.
Then... a shape.
"Barb?" El whispered in the real world.
I saw her. Barb. Or what was left of her. Covered in slime. A slug crawling out of her mouth.
'Dead. like original.'
"Gone," El whispered. "Gone."
Nancy let out a sob in the darkness. Jonathan held her.
"Will?" Joyce asked. "Is Will there?"
El drifted. I drifted with her.
We saw a structure. Wood. Fabric.
Castle Byers.
But it was rotting. Covered in vines.
Inside, a small boy lay curled up. Shivering. Pale as death.
"Found him," El whispered. "Castle Byers."
"He's alive!" Joyce cried. "Where is it? Where is the gate?"
I snapped back to my body. "The Lab," I gasped, wiping blood from my nose. "The main gate is in the basement of the Lab."
Hopper stood up, checking his revolver. "Okay. We're going."
"We're coming with you," Mike said.
"No," Hopper barked. "You stay here. You stay safe. Let us handle this."
Hopper and Joyce grabbed their gear and ran for the exit. Nancy and Jonathan exchanged a look.
"We're not staying," Nancy whispered to Jonathan. "The monster... it's hunting. We need to kill it."
"The traps," Jonathan nodded. "We need the gear."
They grabbed their bags.
"Wait," I stopped them. "You're going to the police station first?"
Nancy blinked. "How did you—"
"To get your weapons," I said. "The ones you bought. You'll need them. Fire works best."
They nodded, not questioning how I knew, and ran out the back door.
The gym was quiet. Just me, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and an exhausted El.
"So," Lucas said. "We just wait?"
"We wait and set traps here," I said, sitting down next to the pool.
[ Location: The Upside Down - Castle Byers ][ Time: Unknown ]
Will hugged his knees. It was so cold.
Scritch. Scratch.
Something was outside.
The vines on the door moved.
ROAR.
The wood shattered. The Demogorgon tore through the makeshift wall of the fort.
Will screamed.
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