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"I tried to fight it but I wasn't strong enough. I just want you here, but I also wanna be alone. I don't know what I want anymore."

"It's like... I feel what the Shadow Monster is feeling," Will was explaining to Mike after Rowan had led him into Will's room in a rush and told her brother to explain everything to him. Will was sitting on the edge of the bed, covered in a cold sweat and tears in his eyes. Rowan was sitting in the chair right in front of him, chewing on her thumb nail worriedly as she watched him. Her eyes darted passed him to Mike who had been looking the drawings that were taped everywhere over. He met her gaze and gave her the best reassuring smile he could muster. "See what he's seeing."

"Like me to you?" Rowan's eyebrows furrowed.

"Like in the Upside Down?" Mike asked as well.

Will nodded to both, starring straight passed her like she wasn't even there, "Some of him is there. But, some of him is here too."

"Here, like, in this house." Mike asked slowly.

"In this house and..." Will broke off, his lip trembling as he fought off the fresh wave of tears. Rowan felt her heart shatter at the sight, not being able to do anything to help him. "In me. It's like... it's like he's reaching more into Hawkins more and more. And the more he spreads, the more connected to him I feel."

"And the more both of you see these now memories." Mike finished for him. His eyes darted between the twins with worried eyes as he sunk down on the bed beside Will.

Will's voice trembled, "at first I just felt it, in the back of my head. I didn't even really know it was there."

"Like when you have a dream," Rowan spoke up quietly, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "And you have to really think about it to remember it."

Will nodded, his whole body shaking, "It was like that," he agreed easily getting a timid smile from Rowan. "But, now it's like I remember- I remember all the time." Rowan silently reached out to snatch her brothers shaking hand, holding it in both of her. He was cold to the touch, but she didn't let go.

"Maybe, that's good," Mike spoke up after a silent moment, getting an incredulous look from Rowan. "You're like a spy now, both of you. Spying on the Shadow Monster. If you know what he's seeing and feeling..."

"Maybe that's how we stop him," Rowan finished, catching on immediately. Her wide brown eyes snapped to Mike's, getting a nod in response.

"Maybe all of this is happening for a reason." He added, looking around at the drawings taped to the walls. They threaded together like tunnels or a road.

Will snapped his attention to Mike, finally looking at him - looking at someone, "you really think so?"

"Yeah, I do," Mike said, sure of his words and a small smile pulling at his lips.

Will's eyes turned to something passed Mike and both Rowan and Mike snapped their attention to see what he was looking at. In the corner was his original drawing of the Shadow Monster, and just the picture was enough to make the goosebumps rise up on Rowan's arm. "What if he figures out we're spying on him?" Will asked in a small, scared voice. "What if he spies back."

"He won't," Rowan said, sure of herself this time as she forced her brother to look into her eyes. She gave him a reassuring smile, as she took his hand in both of hers. "We won't let him. We're in this together, Will."

Will nodded after a moment, letting out a shuttering breath, "together." He whispered, his fingers tightening around her hand.

Rowan's breathing suddenly picked up as she was hit with this weird sense of fear. Mike was at her side in an instant, resting a hand on her back and trying to call her attention but it was no use. The image of Hopper in these dark tunnels flashed before her eyes, but they weren't just any tunnels - it was like they were alive. And they were attacking him.

She gasped back to life, reaching out instinctively to grab Mike's arm and looking up at him with wide eyes, "what's wrong?"

Rowan shook her head helplessly, looking over at Will, knowing he had to have seen it too. "Hopper..." she whispered. The three of them shared a wide eyed look and were out the door in an instant.

Will was the one to grab his Mom's attention, Rowan standing back beside Mike as she clutched his arm. "I saw him." Will told her with big eyes.

Joyce frowned in obvious confusion, "Saw who?"

"Hopper." Rowan spoke up this time, and Joyce darted her eyes passed her son to her daughter, her eyes going wide at the realization. "I think he's in trouble."

"I think he's going to die." Will whispered, not missing a beat and Rowan felt her heart leap into her throat at the thought, her hands tightening on Mike's arm.

"Where?" Joyce asked, a small panic working it's way into her voice as she stood up. "Where did you see him."

"I can't... I couldn't see it that well, but..." Will frowned, narrowing his eyes as he tried to think back on it. "But, I can show you."

They were back in his room in an instant, the three of them hovering around him as Will scribbled out the drawing. He stopped suddenly, his hand going still as the crayon dropped from his fingers. Rowan grabbed the drawing without a second thought, looking it over, "where is this?"

"Only one way to figure it out." Mike said and slowly they all looked up and around the room. This was going to take a while. The three of them split up easily looking for where in the map Hopper was, but as the minutes dragged on Rowan felt her heart racing in her chest, forcing her to a stop as she clutched at her chest. "Rowan, what's wrong?" Mike touched her elbow, forcing her panicked eyes to snap to him.

"What if we can't find him?" She whispered, shaking her head helplessly as she felt the panicked tears spring to her eyes. "What if he gets stuck wherever the Hell he is and he dies? What am I going to do? He's always- he's always been there for me. I can't loose him Mike."

Mike quickly pulled her into his chest, his hand tangling into her wild curls as he held her against him. "You won't. We're going to find him." He promised her, forcing his words to sound more sure than they really were. His eyes caught something over his girlfriends shoulder and his eyes widened, "Mrs. Byers!" He shouted, keeping a tight hold on Rowan.

Joyce came running into the room and frowned at the state her daughter was in. Her attention was quickly pulled else where when Mike pointed to a spot on the fridge, the pictures matching up perfectly. Rowan sniffled, turning out of Mike's chest and rubbing furiously at her eyes as she watched her Mom lay them up together. Now they just had to figure out where the Hell that was.

The sound of a car approaching was quick to catch their attention, and Rowan was the first to run over to the front window. Her heart fluttered at the thought of it being Hopper, that he was okay, and that it was all just a misinterpretation. Her heart sunk when she saw it was only Bob coming up to the door. "Son of a bitch..." Rowan cursed quietly as her Mom went out to go get him to leave.

Mike easily slipped his hand in with hers, lacing their fingers together, "it's going to be okay, Rowan." She could only muster up a timid nod in response, not being able to push away that horrible feeling knawing at the pit of her stomach.

Joyce didn't actually get rid of him, she did quite the opposite. She brought him inside for his help on figuring out what exactly these drawings meant and what they were supposed to represent without actually telling him too many details. He didn't exactly know the truth of what happened last year. Bob stared at the mess with wide eyes as the three middle-schoolers and the oldest Byers circled around him. "You drew all these yourself?" He asked, looking back at Will who nodded timidly in response. "Why, exactly?"

"I- I told you the rules," Joyce cut him off, holding up a finger. "No questions, okay? We.. we just need you to figure out..." She trailed off as she hurried into the kitchenette where they located Hopper at, and the others were quick to follow here. "Where this is." She told him, drawing a red 'X' in the center of the one drawing.

"That's the objective," Mike jumped in quickly. "Find the 'X'."

"Like a super fun, hands-on math problem." Rowan added, visibly cringing at her own words.

"Yeah? What's at the 'X'? Pirate treasure?" He joked, but none of them laughed - no one even gave him a smile for his trouble.

Joyce tossed him a pointed, impatient look, "I told you, 'no questions'."

"Okay..." Bob sighed heavily, getting down to business as his eyes scanned the pictures that took up practically the whole house. "Let me talk to you for a second." He held up a single finger, silently telling the three middle schoolers to hang on before he led Joyce into the other room. Rowan huffed out an annoyed breath, crossing her arms. They needed to find Hopper and this was just wasting their time - Bob, was just wasting their time.

Rowan groaned, "he's so annoying."

"He's trying, Rowan," Will shot back, making Rowan roll her eyes dramatically.

"I just don't understand, why we need him here." She raised her chin indignantly.

As if he'd been listening in the whole time, him and Joyce came out of the room, Bob's eye lit up with realization "That's Sattlers quarry." He snapped, pointing to a bundle of drawings in the hallway. Rowan's eyebrows drew together as she shared a quick look with her boyfriend and then her brother. "And if you just follow it naturally... it moves to the Eno river."

He started rambling on about nonsense, something about roads and water and a giveaway that had Rowan shaking her head in confusion as she watched him move around the room animatedly. "It's a map of Hawkins." Was the only thing that made sense to her and her wide eyes snapped to the older man, her jaw going slack.

"So, what's that make 'X'?" Rowan was the first one to speak up, shooting up from her chair and starring at him with wide prompting eyes.

"I don't know," he admitted, snapping suddenly and pointing at her. "But, I can figure it out."

Bob was quick to get a map, ruler, and a pad with the measurements written out on it. Rowan was helping Mike and her Mom measure the distance between each of the points that had already been named a labeled calling back the distances to Bob as he graphed them onto the Map. After what felt like forever in Rowan's opinion, Bob had a guesstimate of where the 'X' was, where Hopper was.

"I would say 'X' is..." Bob trailed off, looking down at the map. Rowan leaned up against the table beside Mike, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. "Maybe... half mile, southeast of Danford?"

Joyce gasped, kissing his cheek, "thank you, thank you." She gushed, taking the map from him and rushing off. Rowan shared a quick look with Mike and Will before running off to follow her Mom with the boy trailing just behind her, and Bob as well, who was completely confused on why they were actually going to the 'X'.

The sun had set by the time they started to close in on their destination, blanketing the road in darkness. "There's nothing. There's nothing here." Rowan tapped her fingers impatiently against her knee, she'd been fidgeting restlessly the whole ride. Mike placed his hand over hers, giving it a small squeeze and tossing her a reassuring smile. She smiled back, glad he was there with her. She didn't know what she would do, or what kind of mess she would be if he wasn't.

"Are... are we close?" Joyce stuttered.

"We're in the vicinity." Bob answered vaguely, getting an eye roll from Rowan.

But, it was Joyce who snapped at him with a, "what does that mean? In the vicinity?"

"It means, we're close. I don't know," Bob shrugged helplessly. "It's not precise."

"Make it precise." Rowan snapped, leaning forward slightly to look at him and then slamming her back into the seat out of frustration. Who knew if Hopper was even still alive at this point.

Joyce and Bob started arguing back and forth, but it was drowned out as Rowan gave in to the feeling in the back of her head. She gasped suddenly as the images flashing before her eyes subsided, "turn right." She choked out at the same time Will did, getting wide eyes on them as the Twins shared a quick look. "I saw him," Will was the one to continue.

"Where?" Joyce asked, her eyes scanning the road.

"Not here, in my now-memories." Will snapped and that was all it took for Joyce to jerked car down a road that forked off to the right, picking up her speed. The car jerked as they ran right through a sign and a stack of Hay that had Rowan bracing herself against the front seat before she flew out the window. They came to a halting stop when they nearly crashed right into the back of a Truck. A very familiar truck.

Rowan's eyes widened, "that's Hoppers truck."

"What's Jim doing here?" Bob asked, but his question went ignored.

"I need you guys to stay here." Joyce ordered, already climbing out of the car and Bob did the same.

Will jerked forward to look between the front seats at her, his eyes wide with panic, "no, no, no, no, Mom it's not safe."

"That's why I need you to stay here," she shot back at him, pointing a stern finger at the three middle schoolers in her back seat. "Stay here." The door slammed shut behind both of the adults, leaving the three kids in darkness and silence.

"You think he's okay?" Rowan whispered, starring out the front windshield.

"I know he is," Will said, taking his sisters hand. She looked over at him curiously and he smiled softly at her. "Superspy." He reminded her.

His words were enough to put a smile on her lips, "superspy." She echoed back at him, her eyes turning to Mike as she took his hand in her free one.

After about a good twenty minutes of just sitting there, Rowan's thoughts got the better of her. "I can't take this anymore," she shook her head, reaching across Mike to open the door. She nudged him out first, before scrambling out herself and nearly tripping over her long legs in the process. "Hopper!" She shouted as she neared the hole that she saw her Mom and Bob descend into. "Mom! Hopper!" She called again.

Her foot slipped on the wet dirt, causing a shriek to escape her lips and her eyes to screw close as she waited for impact. It never came. Instead, two sets of hands grabbed her - Mike and Will steadying her on the ground and holding her back from the hole she was half tempted to throw herself in to.

"Do you see anything?" Mike asked, looking over Rowan's head at Will. "I mean, in your now-memories."

Engines rumbling like a stampede of horses and bright headlights caught their attention. Rowan whirled around with big eyes to see about a dozen Hawkins vans pull up and surround them. Will's doctor came over to the kids, telling them to stay back as a group of men in hazmat suits descended down into the hole that her Mom and Bob had previously gone down to find Hopper.

"Do you think they got him?" Rowan asked quietly.

"Yeah... I do..." Mike whispered, his eyes darting around to take in the chaos that surrounded them.

That's when she felt it. It was almost like a burning sensation through the pit of her stomach like when you eat something really spicy. Then it grew, spreading throughout her whole body like she was on fire. A scream ripped passed her lips, her hand reaching out to grab Mike's sleeve as she fell to her knees, her free hand clutching at her stomach. It was like she was being burned alive from the inside out. She could hear Mike calling her name, but it sounded distant, faint with the sound of the blood pumping in her ears over powering it. And then just like that she went slack in his grip.

Mike caught her before she could hit the ground, scrambling back from the boy who was convulsing on the ground; a loud pitched scream echoing out of his mouth. Mike gathered up the unconscious girl, holding her against him as his wide, worried eyes darted from her to the screeching boy, wondering what the Hell just happened.