EVERYONE HUDDLED INTO THE RUINED interior of the Byers home, with those who were new to the deteriorated scene stumbling back in shock. "What the hell happened in here?" Brandy demanded, her eyes scouring the widespread Christmas lights and the painted alphabet. "Homeschooling?"

"Not now," Hopper groaned dismissively, turning to face a distressed Joyce and Jonathan. "Find that radio. We need to get in contact with those kids." He sent them off sternly, watching them file into Will's bedroom. Eli eyed them too, confusion strewn across his own expression.

"What kids? What's going on, Chief?" Eli questioned.

The chief's massive hands sat themselves squarely on Eli's shoulders. "I'll explain everything. But first, I need you to tell me what you know."

And so Eli spilled. Every minuscule detail, from the decayed rabbit, to his nightmares, to their lab research and the mission they had nearly gotten themselves killed for. He constructed the entire narrative in an impressive matter of a mere minute or two.

"I knew you guys went to that place!" Nancy exclaimed once Eli mentioned the other dimension, her bright eyes scanning the gross remnants of their clothes. "I've been there too."

"Did you get your ass almost killed too?" Brandy raised an eyebrow at the Wheeler girl, a sarcastic smile etched onto her lips. Nancy didn't respond, she just simply stared at Eli's sister in vague disbelief.

"So what's going on?" Eli demanded, and just as he did Joyce and Jonathan came pounding back into the room, his mother holding Will's Supercom. "What are you planning to do with that?"

"We need to get in contact with my brother," Nancy explained for the Chief, who had become preoccupied in helping Joyce and Jonathan find the right channel.

"With Mike? Why?"

"It's kinda hard to explain. We think they're in danger."

Eli had been keeping a cautious eye on the three crowding the walkie, noting their frustrations as they fiddled with the knob only to receive various forms of static. "Try channel six," he suggested. "It's the channel Will used to talk to his friends."

Nancy clambered over to them, holding out a frail hand for the radio. "Here, let me. He'll probably answer if it's me." She graciously took the device, assuming a seat and beginning to plea into the speaker for Mike to answer. After a few tries, Eli felt a tugging on his arm and noticed Eve was gesturing for him to speak with her privately.

"We need to leave, Eli," she hissed under her breath once they huddled over to a separate corner of the room. Her amber eyes were flickering with anxiety and concern. "Our parents will kill us if we get involved in this."

"They were gonna kill us if they found out about earlier, too," Eli shook his head, struggling to grasp what his sister had suddenly become so apprehensive of.

"But this is the Chief we're talking about! And apparently Mike is hiding out from the men at the lab?" Eve whisper yelled, her eyes hardening with sincerity. "This doesn't concern us. We should just go home before we get dragged into a situation we don't want. Besides, if our parents discover we're missing, they'll report it!"

"To who? Him?" Eli nodded over at the Chief, who was now grumbling his own pleas into the radio. "And this absolutely concerns us! It's about getting Will back."

"But—"

"There's no going back, Eve," Eli mumbled somewhat apologetically, a song of sympathy swimming in his gut for his scared sibling. "I'm sorry. But we gotta do this for Will."

Eli marched back to the group, his hands fidgeting with hesitation before he grabbed the radio off of the shelf. Apparently the chief had given up on trying to contact Mike, and was eyeing the others for any other possibilities. "Mike?" Eli spoke into the receiver quietly. He suddenly grew nervous again, wary of everyone's eyes on him. "It's...It's Eli. I know you're listening, and we wanna help. Please answer."

He waited, but was only met with the harsh snapping of radio static again. With a heaved sigh, the boy placed the radio back in its place on the shelf. His eyes lowered to the ground shamefully, but he soon heard a blissful ringing seconds later.

"Yeah, I copy. It's Mike. I'm here," he spoke in fragmented phrases, and Eli could sense the nervousness laced in his voice through the speaker. "We're here."

Hopper let out a breathy gasp, taking the radio from Eli's quivering hand and rushing into the hallway again, barking commands for Mike to give him their location. Eli stood their soundlessly, eyeing the empty space in his hand where the radio had been.

Eve padded slowly over to her brother, her arms hanging behind her back with clasped hands. Eli met her twinkling eye with a bewildered look of his own. "He answered."

Eve smiled. "He answered you."

They waited for a gruesome hour or two while the chief drove away mercilessly down the gravel path, heading for the old junkyard near the outskirts of town. While they sat apprehensively in the living room, which had begun to collect dust from its neglect, Jonathan and Nancy explained everything to the frightened group of four.

Apparently they had been the ones at the store earlier, the ones that claimed they were "monster hunting". All because they had a plan to capture the monster since it's led by blood, but the plan was interrupted by a fight between Steve and Jonathan, which led to the Chief finding out about their monster hunting mission.

"So, did you leave a mean one on Harrington's face?" Brandy threw a cocky smile Jonathan's way. She was clearly just trying to make light of a terribly dark circumstance, but everyone could detect the unwavering fear that drenched the room.

"So you actually hurt the thing?" Nancy was gawking at Martha, her blue eyes luminous with amazement.

The Baker girl shook her head humbly with a soft smile, a light pink shade dusted on her cheekbones. "Yeah, but it was no biggie. Brandy got it too."

The room suddenly became lit up with the whiteness of light, and everyone followed the source to two car headlights that were barreling towards the front of the house. Everyone was immediately on their feet and scrambling out of the front door into the brisk night air.

Hopper tumbled out the car, followed by five more kids. Eli counted them off one by one, noting Mike, Lucas, Dustin, a strange girl with no hair wearing a tattered pink dress, and...

"Rene?" Eli and Eve gasped in unison, their incredulous eyes glued to their friend, who was now charging over to them with a icy glare sewn on her face.

"You assholes!" She cursed, shoving them both back slightly with one hand on each. Her red lips were pressed into a thin frown, her cobalt blue eyes drowning with disappointment. "Why didn't you tell me you guys knew about this?"

"Well it looks like we aren't the only ones, huh? What are you doing with them?" Eve demanded.

Eli cast an eager glance over at the others, particularly at Mike and the strange girl. She seemed attached to Mike in a peculiar way, following him at his heels and looking at him for support when she was met with a series of questions from the others. This was the girl the lab men were after, according to Hopper, and she had unusual telekinetic abilities.

"I went over to Mike's because you guys," she poked a sharp finger into their chests once again, "weren't answering my calls. I figured maybe Dustin was there and we could all hang out. But when I got there, they were all running away from these men in dark trench coats. They were after Eleven! I just had to follow."

"Eleven?" Eli repeated wondrously.

"Uh huh," Rene nodded, gesturing to the new girl that hung close to Mike as everyone filed into the house. "You won't believe the things she can do with her mind! She made a van fly right over our heads!"

"You're joking," Eve scoffed dubiously, but Eli almost instantly believed it. With everyone going on, you could tell him the sun was going to blow up tomorrow and he would immediately agree.

"You guys owe me," Rene growled harshly, "like a million free ice cream cones, for not involving me with what you guys were doing."

"How do you even know we were doing anything?" Eli demanded, following the other two girls through the door and back into the interior of the house.

"Well obviously you guys know something, otherwise you wouldn't be here," Rene pointed out smartly.

When Eli stepped back inside the drafty air of the home, he was met with the strangely eager, amber eyes of Mike Wheeler. "Jesus, what happened to you?" The sharpness of his tone, with a faint hint of worry, made the tips of Eli's ears burn.

His lips parted open dumbly, and he failed to craft the words of a sound explanation. He didn't have to, however.

"Upside down," the new girl was quickly back at Mike's side, in a odd, doggish sense. Her dark eyes were following the trails of slime and goo that drenched Eli from head to toe.

Mike's eyes were blazing with alarm. "You've been to the Upside Down?"

It didn't take long for Eli to understand. "That's what you guys call it?"

Before the two boys could catch up, Hopper was beckoning them to a gathering that had formed, demanding an explanation. To Eli's amazement, Mike took control and began sketching something painfully familiar on a piece of paper.

"In this metaphor we're the acrobat," Mike continued to deconstruct the concept of his cryptic illustration to everyone. Eli, being the secret science nerd he was, nodded comprehensively throughout the small lecture.

The Upside Down was another world, but it was just like theirs, and it existed along the same time frame. However, only unearthly creatures, depicted as a flea, could travel to these places. Unless a massive amount of energy combined to form a gate, or a rip in time and space. The gate's location is at Hawkins Lab, which was discovered through the compass work of Dustin. And now Will, the monster, and a friend of Nancy's named Barbara had found themselves trapped in the role of the flea as well, stuck in the Upside Down.

"Wow. You rascals have been busy," Brandy, who never failed to speak out of pocket, smirked at the group of boys.

"Is this gate underground?" Hopper was sat idly on one of the armchairs, a certain shadow created on his face.

"Yes," Eleven, the telekinetic girl, answered softly. Her voice was meek and quiet, and it reminded Eli of himself in some ways. He was ultimately astounded by her sheer existence, and couldn't stop sending curious stares in her direction. Shamefully, and secretly, he hoped to see some of her powers by the end of the night. It was like his fictional fantasies were coming to life.

"Near a large water tank?" Hopper continued gravely.

"Yes."

Dustin's voice was shaky with surprise. "H-How did you know all that?"

"He's seen it," Mike uttered in realization.

Joyce bent forward, her pleading eyes laid on Eleven. There was unspeakable desperation and pain sewn into her voice. "Is there some way you could reach out to Will? In this—"

"The Upside Down," Eleven inputted.

Nancy interjected, "And my friend Barbara. Can you find her too?" The strong determination on Eleven's frail expression was answer enough.

Everyone huddled into the kitchen, while Mike and his friends scrambled to gather the essentials for Eleven, or El, to use her powers to "find" Will. Eli was fascinated by all of it, and he felt like he had descended into a Sci-Fi dream that danced behind his sleeping eyelids.

"You were right all along," Eve patted the dirty shoulder of her brother. Dark bags had assumed under her eyes, and Eli could see the exhaustion she was fighting from the strenuous running and anxiety they had encountered hours ago. Though he himself was tired too, he knew his twin was deeply affected by the claws of that monster. "Will's out there."

"In the Upside Down," Eli nodded.

Brandy hobbled over to them, still swinging the sledgehammer at her side for some unexplained reason. "Man, I'm never gonna doubt you again, little bro. I can't believe you dreamt up the place before anyone even knew."

Just as Brandy murmured those words, Dustin and Rene were passing down the hall. It was enough to make the curly-headed boy stop and gape at Eli. "You dreamt about the Upside Down?" Rene was mimicking the blue-eyed shock on Dustin's face.

"Y-Yeah," Eli stuttered anxiously, somewhat seeking the approval of the boy in front of him.

A wide curve spread on his lips, and Dustin was grinning at him like a cat. "Cool," he replied simply, before ducking back into the dining room.

A light prod in his shoulder made Eli wheel sharply to his right, and was met with an encouraging smile from Martha. "Now they see you," she whispered, referencing Mike and his friends.

Eli shook his head dismissively, praying that looking at the floor with feign interest would hide the burning in his cheeks. But Martha knew, probably better than his own sisters, his constant need for validation. Especially from a group of boys he secretly admired, but hated to admit it verbally or even mentally to himself.

The intense waiting for Eleven, who was now tuning with closed eyes into the static that softly came from Will's radio, filled the entire room. In total, there were twelve other people besides herself in that small room, and Eli was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

Still, the Brooks boy watched with pure anticipation, wondering what exactly the young girl was capable of. The crowd flinched as the light above them flickered heavily, before snapping back on at the same time Eleven opened her eyes. Sadness fell across her face, and she forced out a weak, "I'm sorry."

"What? What's wrong? What happened?" Joyce questioned with a heavily concerned voice, her bony hand clutching tautly onto Jonathan's.

"I can't find them."

Disappointment and grief-stricken worry struck everyone in the group, and Eleven silently shuffled out of the room to presumably clean herself up. It took a second for Eli to look back up again and realize that, strangely, Mike's eyes were on him. Perhaps the Wheeler had noticed the dismay on his face.

"She's just tired," he mumbled sadly, his eyes drifting further to the closed bathroom door down the hall. Eli could already detect a sense of protectiveness towards Eleven that Mike inhabited, and he was unsure if he should be admirable of it or weirded out.

"Yeah, she can only use so much of her power before she gets drained of it," Rene spoke up.

"Yeah. For instance, she flipped the van over," Lucas inputted.

"It was awesome," Dustin commented, earning a giggle from Rene.

"But she's drained," Mike concluded. "Like a bad battery."

Joyce's hands quivered with apprehension. "Well, how do we make her feel better?"

"We don't," Mike answered. "We just have to wait and try again."

"Wait? Like she has to charge? How long will that even take?" Brandy demanded, strangely impatient.

Mike was defeated. "I don't know."

"The bath," Eleven had reappeared the room in the room unbeknownst to everyone, causing them all to spin around again.

"What?" Joyce murmured.

"I can find them. In the bath."

"What does that mean?" Martha shook her head, breaking the silence that had fallen for a few vague seconds as everyone just stared dumbfounded at Eleven.

"At the lab," she continued to speak in a gentle, gradual manner, and Eli considered it safe to assume her grasp of English was to a minimum. Especially since she truly was an escaped lab rat. "I used a bath to help find people."

"Wait," Eli slapped an arm over the back of his chair, maneuvering himself so he could see the whole group. "I've read about this before somewhere," his eyes narrowed in concentration, and he raced about the mental library of all the books he'd ate up recently. "She means...she means...oh! A sensory deprivation tank!"

"What?" Brandy inquired.

"Yeah, yeah! It's one of those floating tubs where you're basically weightless, and there's no light to help you see. You're deprived of all your senses."

"Is that what you're talking about?" Hopper had grown considerably impatient, his eyes flashing back to Eleven.

"Yes," she nodded in confirmation, and Eli tried not to let too much pride swell in his chest.

A few minutes later, and Dustin was on the phone, begging to Mr. Clarke, their science teacher, for instructions on how to build a sensory deprivation tank. His efforts seemed to constantly meet a wall of refusal, which led to the boy growing frustrated and strongly persistent. Eli found the muscles around his lips fighting off the urge to grin at the comical sight.

"Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?" Dustin demanded at one point, and Eli cupped a soiled hand around his mouth to stifle the soft laughter that bubbled out.

"Eli, quit it!" Eve scolded in a whisper, slapping the arm of his coat lightly.

"Hey! I've been running away from monsters all day! Let me live a little," he defended himself quietly, unaware of Mike watching the two in amusement. The Wheeler always had a feeling that past the thick thorns of Eli's stubborn shyness, there was a sarcastic, witty personality.

After Dustin had finished scratching down a messy list of materials and thanking his teacher profusely, his eyes instantly flew to Joyce. "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good. We just need a lot of salt then."

"How much is a lot?" Hopper asked.

Dustin checked his list. "1,500 pounds," he declared, causing the audience as a whole to let out an exhausted sigh.

"Where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy whined.

Hopper's eyes became dark. "I know a place."

"What?" Joyce gazed up at him anxiously.

"The middle school. They store salt for when it snows and the roads become icy," he explained, assuming a seat at the head of the table as he delicately formed a plan. "We're gonna split up. Jonathan, you're with me. We'll get the salt. You two," his pointer finger landed on Dustin and Lucas. "You can figure out the kiddie pool. Mike, Nancy, check the shed at the school for hoses. Joyce, this kid's gonna need some goggles. I guess you can hit up the science lab."

"Wait, what about us?" Rene demanded with her icy expression, gesturing to herself and the four gooey occupants beside her.

"You can go with Nancy I guess," Hopper directed at Rene, eyeing the other four before letting a stressed growl hang from his stubbled mouth. "God dammit, why are there so many of you?"

"How we will even get there? My car's back at the library," Martha fiddled with her hands nervously.

"They can take my car," Joyce offered kindly, looking at Hopper for approval. "The rest of us can all fit into yours, I guess?"

The Chief rubbed at his temples in distress, letting out another groan before caving. "Yes, that's fine. Just...clean yourselves up when you get there, huh? And then maybe find someway to make yourselves useful."

"Rene, you'll ride with us, then," Martha nodded at the younger girl. "To save some space."

"Then it's settled," Hopper stood back up again, and Eli had never seen the man so serious. "We meet back up at the school."

Eli clambered out of his seat, following the mass of people out of the far-too-tiny house for such a group. He followed his sister and Rene into the backseat of Joyce's small car, everyone falling into a rhythmic, focused quietness.

His eyes stayed trained on the shadowy trees that passed by outside, a strong ambition swirling in his guts. Reunion with his best friend was approaching so close, he could almost hear the sound of the boy's laughter again. And for the first time that entire week, he felt the raw urge to pick up a pencil and start writing.

He was already planning a list of new characters to add.