CHAPTER TEN
THE VALE OF SHADOWS
"THE VALE OF Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection, an echo, of our world." Dustin recited from Mike's 'Dungeons and Dragons' extensive encyclopaedia. "It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters."
"Monsters?" Mabel fearfully squeaked.
The kids each shared unsettled glances as Dustin quietly concluded. "It is right next to you, and you don't even see it."
"An alternate dimension." Mike stated in realisation.
"But...h-how do we get there?" Lucas bewilderingly stuttered, completely shocked at the whole coarse of events that led them all to their current predicament.
"You cast Shadow Walk." Dustin simply answered, earning a perplexed look from Mabel.
"You cast what?" The girl inquired, utterly dumbfounded.
Lucas shot Dustin a deadpanned glare as he redirected the conversation back to its origins. "In real life, dummy."
"We can't shadow walk, but..." Dustin let his voice trail off as he redirected the group's attention to Eleven with a nod of his head. "Maybe she can."
"Do you know how we get there? To the Upside Down?" Mike inquired, raising his eyebrows at the girl, who gently shook her head from her position limply lying across the couch.
"Oh, my god!" Lucas blew out a frustrated, hopeless breath as he slumped down in his seat in defeat.
•
Athena finished tying the ribbon of Mabel's black dress up tightly, then redirecting her sympathetic eyes to meet Mabel's nonchalant ones through the mirror.
Suddenly plagued with the thought of her, Nancy, and Jonathan's theory about Will still possibly being alive forming in the back of her mind, Athena just shifted her attention to the ground momentarily, clearing her throat as she chose to push the thought away for Mabel's sake.
What if the theory was wrong and she had instilled false hope within her little sister? The thought of such a young person going through the incredibly difficult, harrowing process of grief—not only once, but twice—made her stomach churn.
Athena's eyebrows then slightly furrowed in concern as she gently spoke up. "Are you sure you're alright to go, May?"
Mabel successfully concealed her self-assurance and knowledge of everything regarding Will's survival with a faux-somber nod. "Yeah. I'm okay."
Athena nodded in acknowledgment as she gently squeezed her sister's shoulder, the girl gesturing to Mabel's bedroom door as she signified for the two to join their mother and stepfather.
Once they approached the two, Dave blowing out a bored breath as he stared at his watch, Eleanor gasped in pride, the woman holding a hand to her heart as she looked between her daughters, head slightly tilting in admiration. "Girls, you look beautiful."
Athena's eyebrows creased inwards at the compliment. Sure, it was nice to hear, but the funeral in which they were all about to attend was certainly not the kind of function to focus on such trivial matters. "It's a funeral, mom."
Dave blew out a disgruntled breath as he just impatiently checked his watch, consequently catching the family's attention as he grabbed his car keys from the hook they were on and made his way to the front door. "Let's just get this over with."
Athena's eyebrows furrowed deeper in disbelief at the assertion, though she simultaneously expected a similar statement from the man—if she had just met Dave, her jaw would be on the floor out of pure incredulity, but his inability to feel empathy was no longer surprising to either Athena or Mabel.
•
The funeral had gone by surprisingly fast, with Joyce refusing to acknowledge anyone who even attempted to communicate their sorrow for her loss, the kids eagerly strategising in a hushed tone, and Athena, Nancy, and Jonathan sending each other knowing looks.
To anyone else, it appeared as though each of the individuals in question were assumedly waiting until they were home to convey their grief—after all, everyone experiences it in different ways—though nobody knew that they all had their respective plans and considerations in mind.
Neither Ruth nor Joshua showed up to the funeral, to which Athena would ensure to grill them about at a later time, though if she was being fully honest, she was simultaneously relieved at their lack of presence. At least there would be two less people to interrupt her quest.
Once the crowd dispersed, Athena, Nancy, and Jonathan had wondered off, secluding themselves from the rest of the citizens who showed up to the funeral in order to discuss their plan of action.
"This where we know, for sure, it's been, right?" Jonathan turned to glance between the girls beside him as he awaited their confirmation, both of them slightly leaning over his shoulder in order to view the comprehensive map of Hawkins that he was holding.
"And here." Athena affirmed, the girl pointing to the forest near her house and eliciting acknowledging nods from the pair beside her.
"So, that's..." Nancy chimed in, letting her voice trail off in question as she pointed to a specific area on the map.
"Steve's house." Jonathan finished with a nod. "And, like Athena said, that right there is the forest near her house. That's the woods where they found Will's bike, and that's my house."
"It's all so close." Nancy furrowed her eyebrows, Athena slowly nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, exactly." Jonathan concurred.
Athena's eyebrows creased inwards as she shifted her eyes between the map and her best friends. "That's all within a mile, even just over."
Jonathan added with a shake of his head. "Whatever this thing is, it's...it's not travelling far."
"You want to go out there." Nancy suddenly came to the conclusion as she shot Jonathan a waveringly puzzled look.
A brief pause fell between the trio before Jonathan quietly, and uncertainly, interrupted it. "We might not find anything."
Athena slightly shrugged as her eyebrows tugged upwards. "It's worth a shot."
"And I found something. You found something too, Thena." Nancy confidently raised her eyebrows as her gaze shifted between Athena and Jonathan, the girl trying to convince them to carry on their journey, and causing Athena to nod slowly in thought.
Flickering her eyes back down to the map momentarily, Nancy shrugged, awaiting gaze then landing back on the pair a second later. "And if we do see it...then what?"
Another undetermined pause.
Jonathan firmly broke the silence once more with a definitive statement. "We kill it."
•
"What are you doing?" Nancy confusedly questioned as both herself and Athena were currently standing outside of Jonathan's father's car, the boy struggling to unlatch the glovebox with one of Athena's bobby pins in the passenger's seat.
"Just give me a second." Jonathan murmured distractedly as his focus was entirely stuck on his task.
Athena blew out a paranoid breath as she crossed her arms over her chest, the girl turning her head to observe if anyone was watching them from afar. Nancy mirrored her actions, the girl uncomfortably shifting her feet as she restlessly blew out a breath.
As if on cue, Jonathan managed to burst open the glovebox, hurriedly shuffling the contents around in search of whatever he knew was definitively in there.
As he pulled out a small gun after a few seconds of purposeful searching, Athena and Nancy both widened their eyes, the two sharing bewildered looks as disorientation, mixed with immense concern, appeared across their faces.
"Jonathan, what the hell are you doing with-" Athena steadfastly scolded, arms still tightly crossed over her chest as she quickly turned her head to ensure no one was nearby before settling her widened eyes back to Jonathan and finishing her sentence in a hushed exclamation, "a gun?!"
"Don't say that so loudly." Jonathan hissed, mirroring her action of making sure the coast was clear before focusing on the girls once more, simultaneously concealing the gun behind his jacket.
"Athena's right." Nancy glared at the boy in incredulity, unfolding her arms and throwing them out at her sides. "Are you serious?!"
"What?" Jonathan flickered his slightly offended eyes between the pair. "You want to find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?"
Climbing out of the car, Jonathan slammed the door shut, securely stuffing the gun in his jacket pocket, zipping it up to ensure it remained concealed, and hurrying towards the two in slight anxiety that he'd somehow be caught with the weapon.
"This is a terrible idea." Nancy crossed her arms over her chest again.
"I wholeheartedly agree." Athena blew out a breath in concurrence as she looked away.
"Yeah, well, it's the best we've got," Jonathan hurriedly glanced around, and noticing the girls' collective apprehension, the boy then furrowed his eyebrows, "what? You can tell someone, but they're not gonna believe you. You both know that."
Athena opened her mouth to answer, though Nancy determinedly cut in first, the girl slightly leaning forward and widening her eyes for added effect. "Your mom would."
Jonathan sympathetically sighed as his tone slightly softened. "She's been through enough."
"I agree, but Nance is right, Joyce deserves to know about all this." Athena's eyebrows raised, Nancy nodding along in agreement. "Especially if our theory is correct."
Jonathan's exterior stiffened, and he firmly stated. "Yeah, and I'll tell her...when this thing is dead."
•
The following day, Athena and Nancy were practicing to fight the monster they were after, with both girls swinging their respective weapons—Nancy, a wooden baseball bat, and Athena, a heavy frying pan.
It wasn't exactly conventional, though due to its sheer weight, Athena figured it would do some major damage.
As Nancy swung her bat with great force, the sound of Steve panically exclaiming caused both Nancy and Athena to abruptly halt in their movements in surprise, "Hey, woah, woah, woah!"
"Oh, great. It's you." Athena blew out an irritated breath as she looked away and tightened her grip onto the frying pan's handle.
"What are you doing here?" Nancy furrowed her eyebrows as she stepped towards the boy, releasing a sigh as she caught her breath back from the minor shock she just experienced as a result of nearly whacking Steve.
"What are you doing?" Steve's eyebrows creased inwards as his perplexed eyes flickered between the bat in Nancy's hands to the frying pan in Athena's.
"Nothing." Nancy fleetingly lied, shrugging to try and cover up her and Athena's endeavour.
"I hope that's not meant for me." Steve gestured to the bat as he attempted to make a lighthearted joke.
Athena narrowed her eyes in contempt at him from her position, the girl lifting up the frying pan as she earnestly threatened the boy. "The bat isn't, but this will be if you don't leave in the next five seconds."
Steve just shot her a sharp glare at the words. "Shut up."
"I'm not even joking, Harrington, I will hit you." Athena snapped, keeping her harsh gaze on his face as she shot him sharply-edged daggers.
Immediately seeking to change the subject before it could get violent, Nancy just let out an awkward huff that resembled a feigned chuckle—for Steve's sake, of course. "Oh, no, I was just...thinkin' about...joining softball. And Athena was...helping me practice my swing..."
Athena allowed a hint of a smile to grace her features as she glanced down at the ground to prevent Steve from suspecting the lie.
"Oh." Steve raised his eyebrows as his gaze redirected back to his girlfriend, and he moved to lean on Nancy's parents' car. "Listen, I'm really sorry. I mean, even before you threatened me with the baseball bat."
"Oh, now this, I'm curious to hear." Athena unenthusiastically raised her eyebrows as she placed the frying pan on the ground and moved her hands to rest on her hips.
"This is a private conversation." Steve snapped, furiously glaring at Athena once more.
"It's not much of a conversation if you're just grovelling, but sure, call it what you want." Athena sardonically quipped, shrugging nonchalantly as she then smirked at how Steve seemed to visibly get more defensive and frustrated.
"Okay. Enough, you two." Nancy interjected once more, facing Steve after she shot Athena a pointed look to convey her desire for the girl to stop insulting him for one second, to which Athena just rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut for her best friend's benefit.
"I panicked, and..." Steve shook his head disapprovingly at his own actions as he tried to find the right words. "I mean, I was a total dick."
Athena opened her mouth to sarcastically comment, though Nancy had already seen it coming and interjected before she could, though expressing Athena's train of thought, anyway. "Yeah, you were."
Steve just blew out a concurring breath as he stared at Nancy, who then decided to speak up once more. "Did you...get in trouble with your parents?"
"Totally, but...you know, who cares?" Steve casually shrugged. "Screw 'em. Any news about Barbara?"
Nancy shook her head and glanced at the ground sombrely.
"Parents heard from her? Or..." Steve tried again, though Nancy just shook her head once more.
A brief, solemn silence fell between the three before Steve chose to interrupt it and step closer to Nancy, almost entirely forgetting that Athena was just a few steps away. "Hey, listen. Why don't we, uh, why don't we catch a movie tonight, you know? Just kinda pretend everything's normal for a few hours. 'All the Right Moves' is still playing. You know, with your lover boy from Risky Business?"
Nancy huffed a polite chuckle as she just nodded, Steve doing the same at her reaction. "Yeah, I know."
"You know, Carol thinks I actually kinda look like him." Steve drawled, turning his head to the side as he gestured to his own face. "What do you think? Huh?"
As if it couldn't get even more embarrassing for him, the boy began to faintly sing 'Old Time Rock & Roll' by Bob Seger. "Just take those old records off the shelf...I'll sit and listen to them by myself."
Athena cringed at his behaviour, and she shook her head in disbelief, turned around to pick up the frying pan again, and continued her previous act of swinging it around, pretending she was hitting Steve now—without physically doing it.
"I just, I...I don't think I can." Nancy quickly cut Steve off before he could embarrass himself further. "I've been really busy with this whole funeral thing, and Athena, too, with my brother and her sister...it's been really hard on them..."
Athena briefly turned to face them at the assertion, and she just nodded in confirmation as she went back to her actions in an effort to let them sort out their own situation. She was completely happy to help Nancy out with whatever she needed, and if that included omitting the truth from Steve Harrington, then she was more than willing to go along with it.
"Yeah, sure." Steve just nodded in acceptance at the words, discouraged eyes flickering to the ground with evident disappointment before flickering back to Nancy as he attempted to conceal it. "Sure, yeah, yeah."
"So..." Nancy awkwardly let her voice trail off, wordlessly suggesting that he should take off with a gradual raise of her eyebrows.
Steve immediately caught on, and he gestured to the garage door with a tilt of his head. "I should go."
"Aw, what a shame." Athena carelessly called out as she continued her efforts in swinging the frying pan around, earning herself an irritated glare from Steve.
"Sorry..." Nancy blew out a breath as she sympathetically looked at Steve, ignoring Athena's quip. "I'll call you later. Is that okay?"
Steve just nodded as Nancy then pressed her lips to his in a chaste kiss. "Yeah. Yeah, of course."
As he finished speaking, the boy gently touched her arm, beginning to softly sing 'Old Time Rock & Roll' once more on his way out, Nancy just sympathetically looking out after him as he did so.
"He'll get over it, Nance, it's fine." Athena spoke up in an effort to comfort the girl after a moment, causing Nancy to whip her head around and meet Athena's gaze.
"Yeah...it's fine..." Nodding eventually, Nancy just shifted her attention back to her previous task, and she continued to determinedly swing the bat around.
•
"You're supposed to hit the cans, right?" Nancy lightheartedly voiced as her and Athena approached Jonathan, who was practicing his aim on a line of empty cans, the boy now lowering his gun as his attention shifted to the pair.
"You were so close, yet so far, Byers." Athena joked with a small grin, eliciting an amused smirk from Jonathan in return.
"No, actually, you see the spaces in between the cans? I'm aiming for those." Jonathan's humoured eyes flickered between the girls.
"Ah." Nancy smiled, placing the bag that she brought on the ground, Athena dropping her frying pan and Nancy's bat on the ground beside it as the two joined Jonathan.
"You guys ever shot a gun before?" The boy curiously questioned, eliciting obvious scoffs from the two.
"Trust me, if you lived with Dave, you'd learn how to shoot a gun too." Athena's eyebrows quirked upwards as she crossed her arms over her chest comfortably.
"Have you met my parents?" Nancy added in agreement, the two confident responses eliciting an amused chuckle from the eldest Byers son in response.
"Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten." Jonathan stated as he reloaded the bullets in the gun. "My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit."
"A rabbit?" Nancy's eyebrows raised in a mixture of surprise and disturbance, Athena mirroring the expression.
"Yeah." Jonathan released a long breath, completely agreeing with their perspectives. "I guess he thought it would make me into more of a man, or something. I cried for a week."
"Understandable under the circumstances." Athena's eyebrows quirked upwards as she slowly nodded.
"Jesus..." Nancy murmured, overwhelmed with the unsettling undertone behind Jonathan's father's actions.
"What? I'm a fan of Thumper." Jonathan jested, turning to face Nancy as he lightly smirked at her.
Nancy just let out a wholly amused laugh. "I meant your dad."
"Yeah." Jonathan nodded in agreement once more. "I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but...I wasn't around for that part."
Nancy then held her hand out, gesturing to use the gun, much to Jonathan's shock. Athena, spending quite a lot of time with Nancy, already knew everything there was to know about her. Athena already had the advantage of the two being best friends, though she knew that Jonathan was incredibly surprised at the silent request.
"Um, yeah." Jonathan stuttered out as he willingly handed her the gun. "Just, uh, point and shoot."
A brief, comfortable silence fell between the three before Nancy spoke up and consequently broke it. "I don't think my parents ever loved each other."
Athena's eyebrows raised, but she nodded after a moment in silent agreement as she thought back to each occasion in which she had observed Nancy's, seemingly loveless, parents in their own home.
"They must've married for some reason." Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows at Nancy, curious to know more about her.
"My mom was young." Nancy lifted the gun as she elaborated. "My dad was older. But he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So, they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac...and started their nuclear family."
"Screw that." Jonathan scoffed.
"Yeah. Screw that." Nancy closed one eye as she aimed and abruptly shot the gun, consequently firing right into the centre of the can and causing it to fly upwards and spark as a result.
Jonathan and Nancy shared proud and excited grins, while Athena's eyebrows impressively raised, the girl speaking up after a brief moment of silence. "My dad was just an alcoholic asshole, so my mom divorced him and married another asshole, who, surprisingly, is everything but an alcoholic."
Jonathan and Nancy turned towards Athena, and they both just slowly nodded in comprehension of the words.
"Huh." Jonathan hummed.
•
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