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_________ c h a p t e r s i x t y
Now at a gas station somewhere in Nevada, Bianca leans against the wall with annoyance on her face as she listens to Jonathan try and fail to book a flight to Indiana.
"No, no, like I said, I-I've tried everyone. Yeah TWA, PanAm, Eastern... No, it doesn't have to be a one-way. I'll take one seat, if you have it. I mean, please, there has to be something you can do."
She shakes her head at the clear no he was receiving, glancing over at El, who was staring at a billboard in the distance.
"One of our family members is really sick, and I don't know if she's gonna make it through the night. Is there any way you could just... No, no, no. Like I said before, I've tried them already," he continues. "Okay, well, is this anyway I could speak to a manager?"
He keeps going back and forth before eventually hanging the phone back on the hook.
"What happened?"
"Earliest is tomorrow."
"No, that's way too late," Mike frowns.
"Yeah, El said she saw them making a plan this morning. We need to be there in the next four hours," Bianca argues.
"Hey dudes, plus dudette," Argyle calls over. "Ask 'em if we can ride in the baggage compartment."
"The baggage compartment?" she furrows her eyebrows.
"Yeah, dudette, you could definitely fit," he responds, making her look to the side in disbelief.
"Not the issue here."
"We'd suffocate."
"Dogs ride in there all the time, man. They don't suffocate."
"I have a way," El interrupts, and you can practically hear the rest of the group cheer internally. "A way to protect Max. From here."
"Do tell, Wonder Woman," Bianca looks up in intrigue.
She then guides them over to the van, using the dust-covered window to illustrate her idea.
"This is Sam. When One attacks, he'll be in her mind. But I can do that, too. I went into Mama's mind, into Billy's. I can go into Sam's. She can carry me to Vecna. I can piggyback. I can protect her, from One. Fight him from here."
"Mind fight. Righteous."
"Wait, so you actually think this could work?" Mike eagerly questions.
"A bathtub would help."
"Yeah, gotta be clean to enter the mind."
"Oh, my God," Bianca whispers to herself, hand over her face. "It's a sensory deprivation tank, not a bubble bath."
