· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽
˚ ₊ ♡ ❰  𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙸𝙻𝙻𝙴𝚁  ❱ ˖⋆࿐໋ ⋆ ✰
CHAPTER TWELVE ━━
a pirate's treasure

═════ ∘◦ 👻🔦🧸.༄ ◦∘ ═════

THERE WAS AN UNSETLLING FEELING STIRRING deep within the depths of his stomach, swirling, twisting itself inside his very being, like a vines wrapping itself around his ribcage. Like a voice whispering, not audiable enough to understand, yet so close by his ear he knows it is there, buzzing, floating in the air just out of reach.

He hasn't moved, not an inch since the strange man entered te Bryers' residence, it's like superglue has permantly rooted him to the spot. Only his brown eyes, almost lifelessly followed the man's every move. Like the voices try to tell the blonde him, it is him you need to watch. Like the man will commit the evilest of deeds or is in need of help just like Will is. It's a conflict his brain can't resolve and it only brings the boy closer to the edge, nerves rattled and scared.

He can't decide. Is the man danger or in danger? Zero just isn't sure as the man they call Bob moves about the house in such an intriqued way, like whataver is going on looks marvelous to the man as he studies each piece of paper with the utmost respect and curiosity. Like... like it is a simple game to him.

"Hmm, huh, you drew all of these yourself?" The man asked Will, turning his face to look at the boy, there is a hint of wonder hidden but the blonde easily detects it. He was used to picking up on emotions.

Will only nodded, eyes focused on the man, just like everyone else kept their eyes attached to Bob, like they expected him to run for the hills screaming any second and every word they spoke could set him off.

"Why, exactly?" Bob questioned a bit uncertain, eyes flickering to Will, hesitatent upset the fragile child.

"I... I told you the rules, no questions, okay?" Joyce stammered out, a nervous twitch in her hand as she turned to Bob.

"Yeah." Bob breathed out before the strange man then turned to him, like he only noticed the blonde lanky boy now. "Who is he again?"

Zero opened his mouth, ready to give his name but for some reason the group interrupted them. Each one shouting a response to Bob in desperate not need to give away to much about him

"Cousin!"

"Friend!"

Zero blinked, confused and slightly annoyed by Will and Mike, why he wasn't allowed to tell his name.

"Wait? Is he a friend or a cousin, I'm a bit confused." Bon stammered out unsure, eyes flickering from the blonde and back to Joyce.

"Third cousin removed. Not really a cousin but we see him as a dear friend." Joyce tried to explain the mess, wild hand gestures adding to her frenzied state.

Bob only nodded before focusing back on the drawings on the wall as Joyce walked across the room to walk to Will's drawing. "We... we just need you to help us figure out" she halted when she noticed that he wasn't following her. "Bob? Bob!" She motioned the man over. "Over here."

Almost silently, Zero moved behind Mike and Will after Joyce and Bob into the kitchen and to the drawing on the fridge. Joyce was already crouched down with a res crayon in her hand, marking the chaotic drawing with an X. "Where... where is this."

"That's the objective. Find the X." Mike added from behind Bob. His eyes nervously flickering towards Joyce.

"Yeah? What's at the X? Pirate treasure?" Bob chuckles leaning down to take a closer look.

Zero openes his mouth, ready to correct the man for his strange answer. What even was a pirate treasure? "No Hop-"

A hand was clasped in front of his mouth, making the rest of his sentence muffled. With wide eyes Zero looks at Mike in surprise but the boy quickly drops his hand when Bob turns to look over his shoulder at him. "Uh, what did you say?"

"Nothing, he always gets excited and accidantly spoils it." Will stammers out an explanation. "It's a surprise, the X I mean."

Bob nodded slowly, albeit a bit confused as he looked at Zero's emotionless expression that didn't indicate any form of excitement at all.

"Bob." Joyce pressed, eyes still blown with underlaying panic.

The man quickly got the hint before turning back to look around the room with narrowed eyes before he focused back on Joyce. "Let me talk to you for a second. Hang on guys." He drapped an arm around Joyce whisking her away from the kitchen.

Zero blinked, before pushing some stray strands of blonde hair out of his face only to come face to face with Mike. Startled, the teenager took a step back in surprise.

"You can't tell Bob about Hopper." He whisperef harshly. "Or about anything related to the Upside Down alright?"

"Why?" He asked only to by hushed quickly by both boys.

"Because he doesn't know and he doesn't need to know." Mike stated and Zero nodded slowly and a bit uncertain.

"Okay."

The three boys were interrupted however when they heard Bob calling out loudly in excitment. "And if that's Lake Jordan, then you can probably find... yeah, that's uh, Sattler's quarry."

Zero observed the man curiously as he called out unknown places, well to him, the others however showed recognition as Bob turned in circles around the hallway.

"And if you follow it naturally... it moves to the Eno River." Slowly Mike and Will started to follow after Bob and after a second Zero did the same.

"And there it is! That's the Eno, so you see it?" Bob asked happily, pointing at a piece of paper. "Okay, so the lines aren't roads. But they act like roads. And they act like roads 'cause when you follow'em you'll see they don't go over water." He had walked back into the kitchen by now while everyone looked completely lost.

"And that's the giveaway. That's the giveaway. Ha!" He exclaimed excitedly. Don't you get it, it's not a puzzle, it's a map. It's a map of Hawkins." He finished, throwing his arms up and looking expectantly at the others. "Right Will?" He turned to the boy when no one said anything.

The boy didn't say anything, he only looked scared but before Bob could comment on that, Joyce ran out the room to retrieve a map of Hawkins. Within seconds she returned with it, a pencil and a ruler.

With no words spoken, she gave the supplies to Bob who sat down at the table and spread the map put in front of him while Zero say across from his, staring at the man across from him.

"Alright. I'm 3.6 inches, what do you got?" Bob called out.

"I'm not sure. Mrs. Byers?" Mike spoke up loudly and Joyce quickly moved with the measuring tape. "Twenty one feet, four inches." She replied after a moment.

"What about Tippecanoe to Danfors Creek?" Bob asked and Zero watched in awe as the man scribbled down something else.

"Dandord? Where is Danford?" Joyce stammered.

"Dining room!" Mike answered quickly and Joyce quickly measured the distance. "Sixteen feet, ten inches."

"What about Danford to Jordan?" Bob asked calmly.

"Oh, come on. This has gotta be enough." She sighed desperately.

"It's not, it's really not." The man denied shaking his head as the other came to stand arouns the table.

"Okay. Can't you figure it out?" She pressed looking over his shoulder at all the notes he had made.

"Well, it's hard. The ratio isn't exactly one to one." Bob tried to explain. I mean of you were twisting my arm, and you are twisting my arm, I would say the X is maybe a half mile southeasth of Danford?"

It sounded more like a question than a confirmation but it was all they had. And the dread filling up Zero's veins hadn't once dissapeared and it made him wonder why he was concerned in the first place. He didn't know he man, and when he first met him he looked absolutely terryfing to him.

There just was something there, something that little guy from ages ago, locked away in the deepest corners of his mind knew.

"Ha! Thank you! Thank you!" Joyce sighed in relief, pressing a chaste kiss to the man's cheek before she nicked the map and rushed out of the house with the others in tow.

Zero lingered for a moment, seeing Bob's confused look. And he knew what Mike told him, or more explicity told him not to tell.

"You come?" He wondered and suddenly Bob sprang to life and nodded.

And this was only the beginning of the end...

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

A/N

Welp! I'm back from the death. Sorry for the lack of updates but I had my finals this year and had to study my ass off. I have only been updating books with pre-written chapters and sadly I hadn't any for thriller. But I'm back in the buisness with more frequent chapters seeing as Milo/Zero's story is almost over!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬