CHAPTER TEN — THE DIVE
PART ONE
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THE FOLLOWING morning, they climbed into Nancy's car to make a supply run, per Eddie's request. There was an upbeat song playing on the radio that totally did not fit the mood, but nobody bothered to change it. Jackie sat in the far back, crammed with Dustin and Steve, but did not speak.
There was no point in trying to talk, anyway, not with the two boys munching on their food loudly in her ear. She sat with her arms crossed, and stared out the window for majority of the drive.
"Not to be a wimp," Robin started. "But can I maybe sit this one out?"
"It'll be fine," Nancy assured.
"I just can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't."
"At least he can drink himself into feeling better again," Steve chimed in, waving the six pack of beer he'd just purchased.
"That's what our mom does," Max commented lazily. The mention of their mother put a damper on Jackie's mood, and she shrank further into her seat, not breaking her gaze from the blurring trees that passed by.
"Why don't we just give it a trial run? 'Hey, Eddie. Good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food, and the six pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news is, he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about. And the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. Like, he's entirely shut off to us, so basically, you're screwed. And I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubley, tripley screwed!'"
"Okay, woah," Lucas interjected before Robin could ramble further. "Maybe let's not put it like that."
Jackie winced at a sudden stomach cramp, and pushed herself upright so that she was no longer slouching. Dustin was staring at her like she had grown three heads, but she ignored him.
"We'll tell him we're one step closer to finding Vecna," Nancy said. "That's what we say. That's what's important."
"See, Robin?" Steve wiggled a Pringles chip around. "A positive spin can make all the difference."
"Uh-huh," Robin answered, unamused.
Jackie clutched her stomach, finally looking away from the window to where the others were sat. She just barely managed to miss Dustin nudging Steve's leg, who turned to her, and furrowed his brows at the position she was cradling herself in.
"The hell is wrong with you?" He asked, a mouthful of food. She was used to this type of thing with him, and understood what he was saying perfectly, despite the confused looks Lucas and Max shot him. Obviously they had not been to enough events with him that involved eating, because she'd became an expert at learning a new dialect, the Steve-Has-Food-In-His-Mouth language.
And even though she knew what he had asked her, she pretended that she hadn't heard him, and forward to look at Nancy in the rearview mirror. "Speaking of very important things, Nancy, do you have a tampon?"
"Ew, dude!" Dustin cringed, and Steve smacked the bag of pretzels out of his hands right after the words came out of his mouth, sending them flying in the back of the car. "I'm eating! What the hell?!"
"Yes," Nancy answered. "Just wait until we stop."
"Literally pull over now, I don't care."
"What? Don't tell me you're going to put it on in the woods."
"Gross," Dustin gagged.
It was Jackie's turn to smack the pretzel back out of his hands. "The thing that you are ew-ing, is the same very reason that you are here today, unfortunately for us. So, shut up, and eat your goddamn pretzels."
Dustin snagged the bag back. "I'm trying."
Steve slapped the item to the floor one last time. Dustin held his hands up in frustration. Max gave him a thumbs up. "Nice one."
"What the hell was that for?" Dustin demanded.
Steve shrugged. "Fun."
"Oh, shit," Nancy murmured from the front of the vehicle, and all heads snapped in her direction. The target of her curse, was directed at the line of police cars that were parked outside of where Eddie was staying. There were quite a few civilians crowded around, too.
Nancy put the car into park, and they all hurriedly climbed out. She ushered them behind the news van, coming across Chief Powell making a statement into the microphone.
"—Reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an eighteen year old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney."
Lucas' eyes widened, but he said nothing.
"His limbs, his body, it was disfigured. There was an eyewitness on the scene. We've also identified a person of interest." Powell held up a picture of Eddie. "Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please come forward."
"Oh, man," Steve murmured. "This is not good. This is really not good."
He was right. Things had gone from bad to worse in just the matter of a couple minutes.
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Eddie was at Skull Rock—which they discovered after he called Dustin through his walkie. That was exactly the last place Jackie wanted to go, especially with how things were between her and Steve currently. That place brought back way too many memories, and yet Steve didn't even seem bothered by it.
It was incredibly hard getting a read on him now. She truly couldn't tell if it was his "act like you don't care" bullshit, or if it was genuine.
"Hey," Robin sidled up to her as they trekked through the woods. "So, now assuming you're done you know... PMSing, do you maybe want to talk?"
Jackie shot her a look. "PMS or not, what you and Nancy did wasn't cool."
"I know. And we're sorry, but it was the truth. You are a bad liar, and we could tell you were overwhelmed. I mean... Steve hasn't outright told me, every time I ask he gets all weird and snappy, but I know something happened between you two. Nancy, too. We didn't want to pile too much onto you. Incase you couldn't handle it."
"I think what I can handle is up to me," she retorted, still slightly bitter. "But it's whatever. I'm over it."
"Are you really?" Robin pressed on. "Because it's totally okay if you're not, I would completely—"
"Robin."
"Yes?"
"Be quiet."
Robin exhaled. "So we're cool?"
Jackie nodded. "Yeah. We're cool."
"I'm telling you," Steve was saying a couple of steps ahead. "This is the wrong way."
"Oh-kay," Robin huffed when the two leading boys turned into a different direction. "Guess we're changing course?"
"Apparently," Jackie snorted, hopping off a log. Dustin paused once he saw her, and when Steve realized he wasn't close behind, he stopped too. Robin fell into step with Nancy. "What?"
"Steve says it's that way. Map says it's this way. Do you know what way it is?"
Jackie raised a brow. "Why would I?"
"Because you and Steve..." His words fell off awkwardly. "You know. Just help me out here! Which way?"
Jackie met Steve's gaze. If he wanted to pretend like nothing had ever happened between them then fine, and if he wanted to act like he didn't care, that was fine too. She could play that game and win.
"I've never been out here before," she lied easily.
"You... haven't?"
"Nope. But Steve clearly has a number of times as he continues to remind us, so maybe we should follow him."
Steve looked about ready to agree with her, before he heard the sarcastic undertone to her voice. His hand paused mid-air, and he cleared his throat. "Right. This way."
The rest of the walk was silent, or at least it was on Jackie's part. Dustin and Steve continued to bicker the whole way there, and the only thing she could do was roll her eyes—because the arguing was something so natural between them it almost made her feel at ease.
"Bada bing bada boom!" Steve shouted once the familiar large rock came into view. "Told ya, Henderson! In your face, man. In your cocky little face."
Dustin was appalled. Jackie snorted and patted him on the shoulder before maneuvering around him. It wasn't often Steve was actually correct in one of their disputes, and every rare occurrence that he was it seemed to shake Dustin to his core. He was nearly as stubborn as Steve and couldn't handle when he was wrong.
"Doesn't make sense."
"Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you in the face you can't admit it. You just can't admit when you're wrong, you little butthead."
A branch snapped from behind Jackie, and she whirled around to see Eddie jump from somewhere above. "I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead."
Dustin wasn't insulted, instead he pulled Eddie into a hug, sighing in relief. "Jesus, man. We thought you were a goner."
"Yeah. Me too."
After they all regrouped, Eddie began to explain what exactly had gone down at Lover's Lake the previous night. Jackie was perched on a nearby log, listening to his every word.
"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh, my walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran," he chuckled, dropping the flask he'd been holding.
"Do you know what time this was?" Nancy asked him. "The attack?"
"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was," Eddie answered. Jackie let her gaze flicker over to Steve, then to Dustin, who was pacing back and forth like a maniac, looking at his compass. "My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked."
He tossed his watch to Nancy, who caught it. "9:27."
"Wait," Jackie rose to her feet, stepping next to Nancy. "That's the same time mine stopped working, too. Right after our flashlights shattered."
"Shattered?" Eddie repeated. "What do you mean shattered?"
"They went kablooey," Robin said, mimicking an explosion.
"That means what exactly?" Steve wondered.
"That the surge of energy that happened was Vecna attacking Patrick."
"So the house is kind of like Vecna's tunnels."
Robin blinked, and Nancy turned to her in confusion. "Huh?"
"The tunnels and the Mind Flayer were connected," Jackie told them. "The only reason that thing got out of Will was because we set the tunnels on fire. Maybe it's like the same thing. We gotta set Creel's house on fire."
"I'd really like to not add arson onto my crimes list," Eddie said. "It's already long enough with things I haven't committed."
"I love arson," Jackie said, like she was talking about her favorite candy-bar.
"Well," Robin sighed. "We're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks."
"And where he attacks from," Lucas added.
"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart," Max stated.
"If he has a heart," Robin muttered.
"A stake?" Steve echoed. "Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?"
"Remember when I told you he actually used his brain when you guys are together?" Nancy whispered to Jackie. "This is just proving my point further."
"It was a metaphor," Max told him, annoyed.
"A bullet would work on him, right?"
"I say we chop his head off."
"And I say all of the above, but we can't do any of that until we find a way into the Upside Down."
"We need El to get her powers back."
"We need El in general," Jackie fell back onto the log, the familiar pain in her ankle returning from all of their on-foot travels. "She knows more about this stuff than any of us."
"Everything was way easier," Steve crossed his arms, looking at Eddie. "We had this girl, she had superpowers."
"Superpowers," Eddie nodded. "Yeah, you mentioned her. Hey, uh, Henderson's not cursed, is he?"
"Cursed?" Steve waved him off. "No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely."
Dustin turned and stared into the woods for a brief moment. Jackie was ready to snap her fingers in front of his face to see if he'd just been brought into a trance, but he suddenly spun around with his hands in the air.
"Boom!" He yelled, the sound echoing. He pointed at Steve. "Bada bada boom. I was right."
"Oh, brother," Jackie hung her face into her hands.
"Skull Rock was north."
"Seriously?" Steve demanded. "You're serious?"
"Mm-hm."
"This is Skull Rock! Okay? You're totally, absolutely, one-hundred percent wrong. Right now."
"Yes," Dustin agreed, furthering their confusion. "And no."
Steve scrubbed both hands over his face in frustration. "Oh my God."
Dustin held up his compass. "This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers. It was correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was."
"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong."
"Except it isn't faulty," Dustin argued more. "Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"
Lucas scratched his head. "An electromagnetic field."
"Yup."
"I'm sorry," Robin said. "I must've skipped that class."
"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power," Dustin finally elaborated, getting to the point. "So either there's some super big magnet around here, or..."
"There's a gate," Lucas finished.
"But we're nowhere near the lab."
"What if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful."
"Snack-size gate," Robin mused.
"How? Why?"
"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance. And the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is, because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max from this curse."
"Hey, hey," Steve called as Dustin started to walk off. "Where you going? Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go hike through the woods."
"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the Banished?"
They turned to look at him. "I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But uh, the Shire... The Shire is burning." Dustin started to jump, and Eddie stood. "So Mordor it is."
Jackie glanced between the two of them, brows raised. "Yeah, I've got no idea what any of that means."
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authors note
i love arson! - jackie mayfield, 1986