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VALENTINA WISHED SHE COULD'VE BEEN MORE HELPFUL in deciphering Hopper's clicks over the radio. She knew general terminology in morse code, like the sign for SOS or her first name, but that's where her expertise ended. If Will were speaking through Lincos, then she could translate.
The radio clicked three times, drawing everyone's attention toward the paper in front of Lucas and Max that listed out the letters of the alphabets with a series of dots and dashes. Valentina stood next to Steve—per usual—with him leaning over her right shoulder once again.
Their eyes scanned the list of symbols for three dots. Just as Valentina spotted it, Dustin called out, "S!"
Nancy wrote the letter down on the back of a cork notepad. So far, she'd written "C-L-O-S" in red crayon on the board. Valentina noticed the girl's large, frantic writing and hoped she'd have enough room to write all the incoming letters, but she realized it wasn't the time to argue semantics.
"Clostebol?" Dustin wondered, suggesting what word the letters might be leading to. Valentina's upper lip furled, not believing what the boy said was a real thing. It sounded like another D&D term, if you asked her.
"Closure?" Steve suggested. Valentina turned her head at the boy's voice right by her ear. Their eyes locked, forcing a lump to fall down the girl's throat. His throat bobbled until she looked away.
"E!" Lucas said to Nancy after the next series of clicks and pauses.
Valentina looked at the board past Steve's body. It now read "C-L-O-S-E."
"Closet?" she whispered to no one in particular. When the next letter came as a 'G,' she quickly took back her suggestion.
A few minutes passed until the next letter came. No one dared to move away from the walkie talkie, but they grew antsy as the seconds droned on in silence.
Valentina rocked side to side on her heels, itching for something to do—something to break the tension. She ignored the way her arm brushed against Steve's stomach every time she put weight on her right foot. The more her left leg began to ache as the day went on, she figured a little physical touch wasn't so bad. There were worse things for her body to experience. Especially after he'd already carried her halfway across town.
After the 'A' came through, people stopped throwing out suggestions. The room filled with aggressive silence, minus the spontaneous clicks of the radio on the table and the tapping of Nancy's crayon against the table.
When she wrote the 'T' in line with the other letters, most of the group had already figured out what was coming.
Although only Hopper and Joyce were physically there last year, they made sure to fill everyone in on where they found Will—especially Jonathan, who spilled the details to Valentina. She knew what that last letter was going to be before the final click sounded.
