Elijah Brooks's life is turned upside down when his best friend Will Byers goes missing one night. Teaming up with an unlikely group of friends, Eli finds himself transforming from a quiet bookworm to a courageous adventurer willing to do anything f...
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BRANDY WAS TREMBLING as she inched further into the awaiting darkness, a bone-chilling sensation washing over her skin. The soil underneath her fingertips even seemed to shift as she entered the unearthly realm, rotting and blackening.
"Woah," Brandy breathed in slight amazement and complete fear, taking a moment to draw in everything from her surroundings. She noted how the tree branches seemed to hang limply like crooked fingers, and how the sky had grown dark blue like night.
"Brandy!" Martha called out, but her voice was distant and bounced around the forest. It seemed like she was coming from all directions, and it was enough to make the Brooks teenager wince and cover her ears. "Brandy, what do you see?"
"Well, Eve wasn't kidding," Brandy replied, kicking at dead foliage that sat at her toes. "It certainly feels like another world."
"Okay, just get her and get out! Who knows if this tree will close too?" Eli commanded, worry laced in his tone and making him age five years.
"Don't worry, little brother," Brandy cast a wry smile at the tree, noting how she could see their shapes moving around past the light. "I'll be back soon."
She descended further into the trees, trying to ignore the faint gurgling sounds coming from the edges of the undergrowth. Although she seemed to be alone, she couldn't help but feel like something was following her, waiting to pounce at the perfect moment.
"Eve?" Brandy called out, quietly at first. "Eve!"
On the other side of the tree, Martha Baker paced frantically, running a frustrated hand through her curls. "What is going on right now?"
"I don't know," Eli responded darkly. "But I think it has something to do with Will."
"Will?" Martha reeled back, stopping in her tracks and gaping at the younger boy. "You think Will is in there?"
"I don't know, I—" Eli cut himself off, recalling his dreams and the strange growls he heard a few nights ago. "It's possible. Maybe. I don't know."
"You know something, Brooks?" Martha inquired, wheeling around and sliding her back against the bark side of the tree. Her chocolate eyes bore into the preteen's, begging for answers.
"Not really, just," Eli paused, contemplating on if he should tell the Baker girl. "I had this nightmare, about a monster. And it made the same noises I heard a few nights ago from the woods behind my house while I was feeding Winnie."
Martha took this new information in, playing with her fingers as she began to theorize. "You sure it wasn't just your mind manifesting those sounds into your dream?"
