Finally updated! Sorry it took so long! Thank you all for supporting this book!
not edited!
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The group swiftly walked inside the Byer's house and gathered around the coffee table. The only light was coming from a lamp and illuminated everyone's face with a soft glow. The group of boys and El sat at one end of the table, and everyone else sat on the couch or the lazy boy to the right.
Natalie was seated next to Jim and was looking at all the lights strewn about the house. It was sort of pretty in her opinion.
"What do you guy's know?" Jim asked them.
"Okay," Mike began and grabbed a stray piece of paper from the ground and a pen that was on the floor. He scribbled down a drawing and showed it to everyone, "so, in this example we're the acrobat." he pointed to the person on the line, "the acrobat can only go two ways, forwards and backwards in time and space." he then pointed to the flea on the line, "The flea, that's Will, Barbra, and the monster. They can forwards, backwards, up, and down in time and space."
Mike looked at everyone to see if they understood, and they all nodded for him to continue, "Okay, so this," he pointed to the bottom half of the paper is the Upside Down where Will is hiding. Mr. Clark said the only way to get to there is through a tear in time and space."
"A gate," Dustin added with a nod.
"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab, with our compasses." Lucas said.
Dustin spoke up, "Okay, so this gate has a really strong electromagnetic field that can change the direction of a compass needle."
Jim raised a eyebrow, "Is this gate underground?" he asked the kids.
El looked at Jim with wary eyes, "yes," she said quietly.
Jim leaned forward with interest, "near a large water tank?"
El nodded, "yes."
"How do you know all that?" Dustin stuttered.
Mike looked at Jim with a knowing look, "He's seen it."
Joyce took a shaky breath in, gathering the attention of everyone. Her large brown eyes landing on El, "Is there any way that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in the Upside Down?" she asked gently, but a sense of urgency was laced in her words.
El tilted her head, "The Upside Down?"
"Yeah," Joyce nodded.
Nancy looked at El too, "And my friend Barbara? Can you find her, too?"
El nodded again and looked at Mike. Natalie fought off the small grin that was making it way on to her face when she looked at the two of them. She could tell they both cared an awful lot about each other.
"What are you smiling about?" Jim asked her, while Mike gathered a couple of walkie talkies for El to use.
Natalie shrugged and looked at Jim, "I think they're cute, you know? Mike cares for her a lot." she told him as she watched Mike pull out El's chair for her.
Jim's lips puled up into a soft grin and he patted Natalie knee before standing up and walking over to the table, where El was seated.
Natalie stood up too and stood next to El and tilted her head at the walkie talkie's, "so you can find them through the radio?" she asked her.
The girl nodded, "yes."
Natalie smiled, "That's amazing." she in a awed voice.
El looked up at her and gave her a small grin, her teeth just barely showing. She then looked at the table and shut her eyes. The group glanced at each other and waited for something to happen. Suddenly, the light flickered above them and everyone let out a small gasp. Soon, El, opened her eyes and looked down at the table.
"I'm sorry." she whispered her eyes staring to water.
Joyce leaned forward in alarm, "What's wrong? What happened?" she asked.
El scrunched up her face in frustration, "I can't find them,"' she stuttered.
She quickly stood and walked to the bathroom, Mike's dark eyes following her every move. Natalie frowned, she felt really sorry for El. She was doing all that she could. She slowly slunk away from the group and leaned against the wall outside of the bathroom.
El opened the door and jumped back in surprise her brown eyes wide with shock. Natalie shook her head, "Hey, sorry I scared you." she said quietly.
El looked down at the ground, "I couldn't find them." she said again.
Natalie squatted down a little so she could reach El's height, "It's okay. You did amazing out there, that." she paused, "that, was really amazing, you don't need to apologize. Everyone knows how hard you're working." she told her with a soft smile.
El nodded and wiped her eyes again.
Natalie inhaled, "Is there anything else that could help you reach them?" she asked her and then pondering on a thought for a second before speaking, "It seems you need a stronger connection?" she said.
El's eyes widened and she glanced back at the bathtub in the the bathroom, "the bath." she said quietly and quickly walked back to the group, Natalie following close behind.
"The bath." El said.
Joyce looked back at her, "The what?"
"The bath," El repeated, "I can find them."
Dustin promptly stood up, "a sensory deprivation tank!" he exclaimed loudly and started pacing before walking over to the phone, and then paused, "Ms. Byers can I use your phone?" he asked.
She nodded. Dustin rapidly dialed the number and a grin broke out on his face when whoever he was calling picked up, "Hello, Mr. Clark, It's Dustin."
Dustin nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I just have a science question..." he looked back at the boys who urged him on with a wave of their arms.
"Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks?" he paused, "specifically how to build one?" he asked quickly.
"For fun." Dustin replied back with a smile on his face.
Dustin suddenly stood on his toes, "uh, you always say that we should never stop being curious, to alway open any curiosity door we find!" he shook his head, "why are you keeping the curiosity door locked?" he questioned the person.
Dustin frantically flapped his hand around for a piece of paper and a pencil. Johnathan gave it to him and Dustin wrote down what he was hearing with the occasional 'uh huh' he finished writing and nodded, "yes, Mr. Clark. Definitely, alright see you Monday, sir" and he hung up the phone.
He looked at Joyce, "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" he asked.
Joyce shrugged, "Yeah, I think so?" she looked at Jonathan who nodded.
Dustin grinned, "Good. Then we need salt. Lots of it."
Jim looked at Dustin, "How much is 'lots'?" he asked.
"fifteen hundred pounds." he answered slowly.
Natalie's jaw dropped, "Where are we going to find that much salt?"
Jim looked at her and narrowed his eyes, his typical thinking face. He stood up abruptly, "The middle school."
YOU ARE READING
Smoke -- Jim Hopper
Fanfiction"Jim," Natalie whispered as she clung to his jacket. Specks of who knows what floated around them as they walked deeper into the upside down. She tugged again on his jacket, "Jim." Jim Hopper wrapped a heavy arm around Natalie and pulled her close...
