THEY GOT INTO HOPPER'S CAR and sat in silence as he drove them to the Byers house. Pulling to a stop in front of it, the headlights shining in through the windows and front door opening. Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy flooding out.

"Mike. Oh, my God. Mike!" Nancy says, running towards her brother and hugging him tightly. The party watching in confusion. "I was so worried about you,".

"Yeah, uh... me, too," Mike respond awkwardly as Nancy looks to the others and eyes squint at Eleven.

"Is that my dress?" She asks. Eleven looks to Dustin, who smiles awkwardly and then to Mariella who giggles, nodding.

♧

The entire group sat in the Byers' living room, Mike holding up a piece of looseleaf paper with the 'Flea and the Acrobat' example Mr. Clarke had shown them drawn on it in red marked.

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat," Mike starts, pointing to the tiny stick figure he drew. "Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea," He says pointing his badly drawn flea. "And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding," He adds, pointing to to bottom part of the tightrope. "Mr. Clark said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space," Mike goes on, placing the paper down.

"A gate," Dustin adds.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab," Lucas nods.

"With our compasses because it would mess up the Earths magnetic pull," Mariella finishes.

Nancy, Hopper, Joyce, and Jonathan stare at them in confusion. "Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field and that can change the directions of a compass needle," Dustin explains.

"Is this gate underground?" Hopper asks.

"Yes," Eleven responds, nodding.

"Near a large water tank?" He presses.

Eleven nods again, "Yes,".

"H-How do you know all that?" Dustin stutters out.

"You've been there, haven't you?" Mariella asks. "You've seen the gate? While investigating?" She adds.

Hoops just stares at her. She already knew he was saying yes.

"Is there any way that you could... that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this —" Joyce starts.

"The Upside Down," Eleven finishes.

"Down. Yeah," Joyce whispers, nodding, her bottom lip quivering.

Eleven nods. "And my friend Barbara? Can you find her, too?" Nancy asks. Eleven nods again.

"How?" Joyce asks, looking to the kids.

"She needs a radio," Mariella answers. "We channeled Will at school. But, it has to have a strong range," She adds.

"We can try," Mike says looking at Mariella nodding.

"Yeah. We can try," Mariella agrees.

They find themselves surrounding Eleven who sat at the dining table, eyes closed and the walkie emanating static. The light begins to flicker above them before Eleven opens her eyes and whispers, "I'm sorry,".

"What?" Joyce stammers, eyes wide. "What's wrong? What happened?".

"I can't find them," Eleven says, voice breaking, Joyce shaking and tearing up.

Eleven had been excused to the bathroom to recollect as the group considers their options.

"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak," Mike explains to the adults.

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets," Dustin says.

"Like she flipped the van earlier," Lucas adds.

"It was awesome," Dustin smiles widely.

"That being said, she's exhausted. She needs to rest," Mariella pipes up.

"She's drained," Mike nods.

"Like a bad battery," Dustin finishes.

"Well... Is there any way to make her better quicker?" Joyce asks.

"There isn't," Mike answers, shaking his head.

"She just needs to rest. And then, when she is we can try again," Mariella says.

"Well, how long?" Nancy asks them.

"There's no saying for sure. It's usually anywhere between an hour to a day," Mariella sighs.

"The bath," Eleven says from behind them, all of them turning to look at her in confusion.

"What?" Joyce asks, curiously.

"I can find them. In the bath," Eleven explains vaguely.

♧

After pressing for more answers, they discovered that Eleven meant a sensory deprivation tank. The party knew of one person who could give them answers to that. Mr. Clarke.

They sat in the dining room listening as
Dustin badgered Mr. Clarke for answers, him finally convincing Mr. Clarke for them and sitting himself down at the table while writing down what they needed in order to create one. Mumbling out, "Uh-huh's" and the occasional, "How much?".

He finishes the call with telling their teacher that they'll be careful and that they'll see him on Monday. Once he gets off the phone, he looks to Joyce. "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" He asks.

"I think so. Yeah," Joyce nods.

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it," Dustin says.

"How much is "lots"?" Hopper asks him.

Dustin looks down at his list. "Fifteen hundred pounds,".

"Well, where are gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asks, shaking her head.

"Would melting salt work?" Mariella suggests.

"Yeah, I mean, it's salt," Dustin nods.

"The school has dozens of bags ready for winter," She says with a hopeful smile.

♧

Mariella, Lucas, and Dustin rolled the kiddie pool into the schools gym — getting ready to inflate it. "This damn thing is heavy," Dustin sighs.

"You're just weak," Mariella laughs as they begin to untie the rope which held in a roll and spread it out.

"Come on. It's upside down," Dustin sighs as they flip it over, struggling to be coordinated with one another.

"No, this way," Lucas says, Mariella beginning to pull it open and Lucas flattening the bottom out.

"Okay, um..." Lucas starts.

"How does this even work?" Dustin asks as the sides flop over.

"This is not working out," Mariella groans as they pull it open again. Only for the sides to flop over. Once again.

"Try that side," Lucas suggests.

"Son of a bitch!" Dustin grunts.

"Pull it back. Pull it back!" Lucas says.

"I am!" Dustin retorts.

"Lu, that thingy you threw to the side, maybe that keep its open!" Mariella points to the round wiry thing Lucas had tossed.

"Oh! Right!" Lucas nods, grabbing it and putting it around the pool. It doesn't flop over.

"Thank you, Lord!" Dustin cheers, high-fiving Lucas and Mariella.