I was paranoid the rest of the day. I anxiously waited hopelessly to get possessed by this demon chick from another world. Eddie watched me like a hawk which got annoying really fast. It seemed pointless for him to watch over me if there was nothing I could do to stop it. I never wanted a goddamn tape so bad. Never in my life did I think Queens would save me from satan. Of course Vecna's not satan but—he's worse and he's actually coming for me.
"Jade." I heard Eddie call. I shot my head up.
"You okay? You've been staring at nothing for like ten minutes."
"I don't know Eddie. A demon made of flesh vines is coming to kill me. You tell me."
"Enough with the attitude. If we're gonna be stuck together I don't want you bickering with me all the time."
"What attitude?" I say without emotion.
Eddie gets up and leaves the boathouse. I sat in silence, confused. Did he just... leave? After about five minutes he came back with a glass of water. I denied it and he didn't say anything but I knew he was pissed.
Suddenly we heard a car outside. Multiple doors opened and closed. We both jumped up and looked out the window. Jason and his crew were out looking for Eddie. They looked like they just came from a funeral.
"Shit." I whispered.
Eddie ran to the walkie talkie and tried to notify Dustin or anyone but they weren't replying.
"Hey." I called. Eddie stayed trying to get someone on the walkie. "Hey! The boat."
Eddie quickly ran to the boat and started untying it and taking stuff out of it.
"Are you gonna help out or just stand there and gawk?"
"You were the one gaw-." I rolled my eyes started to untie the boat with him. Soon we were in the water but I couldn't get the engine started.
"How long is that engine gonna take Miller!"
"You try doing this!" I slammed my hand down onto the boat in frustration. Eddie sighed behind me. I didn't have any trust in the boat, it rocked like crazy.
"Hey freaks!" We heard from the boathouse. Jason walked toward us with a few of his guys. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Jade. Jaden Miller I'm gonna need you to start that engine sweetheart or else this is not going to end well." Eddie laid a hand on my shouder and spoke into my ear.
"Well maybe you should start paddling so that were not right on the shore!"
Jason started taking his blazer off and got into the water, soon joined by his friends.
"C'mon Jade!" Eddie yelled. "I really need you to start this thing man!"
"Shut up!" I snapped. "God, this piece of shit!" I kicked the engine in frustration but it still didn't budge. "Eddie, paddle." He sat there staring at me. "EDDIE!"
"Yeah, okay okay." He quickly picked up an oar and started paddling and I joined him.
It didn't take long for Jason to reach us. He was right under us before he stopped for a sec. Eddie got up and swung his oar around like a maniac.
"Hey, stay back man! Stay back!" He swung it back and forth but Jason stayed where he was.
"Eddie stop! You're rocking the boat!" I yelled at him in a panic.
"Hey, c'mon we almost have him!" Jason yelled at his friend. He seemed to be looking at something.
"Hey, Patrick! Patrick!"
He didn't budge. I started paddling faster, no thanks to Eddie. Suddenly I turned around and Patrick was gone. Jason called to his friend but none of us knew where he was. Just then, he shot out of the water and hung in mid air. Eddie looked up, losing balance and the boat rocked.
"Eddie! Eddie EDDIE!" I plunged into the water along with Eddie. I didn't know how to swim. What I worried about more was that Patrick was just killed by Vecna and I'm probably next.
Eddie wrapped his arm around me so he wouldn't lose me. When I looked up, Patrick's arms and legs were twisted in weird ways. His jaw snapped and he plunged into the water. Eddie and I swam across the lake and hid out until morning.
When it was finally light out, I stayed where we were which was a skull shaped rock and Eddie went out to get something. I sat alone, cold, and in fear of what I saw the night before. He soon came back with a new walkie and called for the others.
"Eddie? Where are you?" Dustin came from the walkie.
"Um— a sort of.. skull shaped rock? And um— Jade's been getting visions ever since yesterday. We don't have anything that could help. Bring something please. Anything." Eddie sounded more desperate and his voice cracked when talking about my visions. It seemed like he was more scared than I was. I was starting to just accept it.
"Hii, Jade here, uh— a beer would be really helpful right now by the way."
"No. Jade are you okay?"
"Doin' swell." I sat back on the rock, waiting.
After about an hour or so, I could hear Steve and Dustin coming from a bush.
"Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you right in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit that you're wrong you little butthead." Steve gazed at the rock.
"I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead." Eddie dramatically jumped down from the rock and I just came from around it.
"No beers?" I whined.
"Jesus, we thought you guys left." Dustin hugged Eddie and I before everyone else came from the bush.
Dustin gave us a few snacks, a ton of tapes, and a silver flask of something. I took a sip only to find out it was water. The tapes were a mix of Nancy and Max's. I found Bohemian Rhapsody and shoved it into my pocket. I also found that Nancy did not have good music taste.
"When we 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. Heh." Eddie explained while I took a coke.
"Do you know what— time this was? The attack?" Nancy asked.
"Yeah, no I-I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie tossed his watch to Nancy.
"9:27."
"Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin added.
"Which means what, exactly?" I asked.
"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." Nancy turned her focus to me.
"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks."
"And where he attacks from." Lucas joined Robin.
"So, now we just sneak into his lair in the upside down and drive a stake through his heart." Max suggests.
"If he even has a heart."
"A stake? Is he like a vamp?"
"Is he a vampire?" I ghasped at Steve.
"It was a metaphor." Max furrowed her brows at Steve and I, causing me to frown.
"A bullet should work on him right?" Eddie suggests.
"I say we chop his head off."
"Yeah— I say all of the above, but we can't do any of that until we find a way to get into the Upside Down." Nancy pointed out.
"We need El to get her powers back."
"Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers."
"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her." Eddie interrupts. "Hey uh— Henderson's not uh.. cursed, is he?" Everyone looked over and stared at Dustin who was pacing back and forth, looking for something.
"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely." Steve nods.
"BOOM!" Dustin yells suddenly. "Bada.. bada.. boom." He whispers. "I was right. Skull Rock was north."
"Seriously? You're serious?"
"Mhmm."
"This is Skull Rock. Okay?"
"Mhm."
"You're totally absolutely 100% wrong right now."
"Yes. And no."
"Oh my god." Steve puts his hands over his face.
"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheeler's. 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 dude. You're still wrong."
"Except— it isn't faulty. Lucas do you remember what can affect a compass?"
"An electromagnetic field."
"Yep."
"I'm sorry. I must've skipped that class." Robin says in confusion.
"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here or-"
"There's a gate." Lucas concludes.
"But— we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy states.
"But what if— somehow, theres another gate? A gate that we dont know about. It has to be smaller. Way less powerful."
"Snack-size gate." Robin chuckled.
"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 and Jade from this curse."
"Wait— Jade— you're cursed?" Steve turned to me and suddenly all the attention was on me.
"Um— well.. I mean.. I kinda just relived some childhood trauma less than 24 hours ago. Heh." I chuckled nervously.
"Did you find a song?" Max asked.
"Yeah I did."
"So why are you acting all freaked out?"
"I don't have anything to play the tape." I clicked my teeth.
"Here." Max handed me her walkman.
"No. No! You're way closer to Vecna killing you than I am. I'm not taking that from you." She stood still with the walkman in her hand.
"No! Let's find this gate—thingy yeah, Dustin?" I started following him away from Skull Rock.
"Where are you going? Hey. Heyheyhey! Eddie's still a wanted man. We cant just go for a hike in the woods!" Steve protested.
"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving Max, Jade, and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the Banished?" Everyone turned to Eddie.
"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if im totally straight with you, I think it's a really bad idea. But uh... the Shire.. the Shire is burning." Dustin started hopping up and down and we both high fived eachother in success. "So Mordor it is."
Mordor it is, Eddie.