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chapter nineteen the precipice
"EL!"
"ELEVEN!"
Their desperate cries echo around them as they tow their bikes through the woods. It is more likely that El is hiding somewhere in these woods, where the trees are dense and the shadows consume living creatures at night than it is that she is hiding somewhere in town. In the woods, you can hear things for miles. The dangers that lurk in the shadows have a better chance of stealing you away if you hide in the open. The sun is setting, and the November wind bites at any part of exposed skin, but it's too late for them to turn back now.
"Eleven!"
"El!"
Alex pushes a stubborn tuft of her hair from her eyes. Her throat feels raw from screaming El's name, but she's not about to give up this quickly. They need El. They need her more than ever, now that Lucas wants to find the gate alone. The girl is still nightmare fuel, but Alex is going to have to push her fear aside because right now, all that matters is finding Will and making sure that Lucas stays safe. Time is running out for them, it's been steadily slipping through their fingers since Will had disappeared. Time has never been their ally.
"El!" Alex calls.
The only response is the ragged sounds of her companions' breathing, and in the distance, the sound of their voices echoing back at them. Alex watches as their breath billows out of their mouths. She feels like they're alone in this universe with nobody to hear their cries. The expansive woods threaten to swallow her and her companions whole.
A branch snaps behind them.
Mike throws up a cautioning hand and Dustin and Alex stop in their tracks. "Hey, stop, do you hear that?" Alex nodded, eyes bright with hope. Perhaps they weren't so alone in the woods after all. Perhaps El had gravitated toward their cries. "El! El?"
Alex whips her head in the direction of the footsteps that reply to Mike's cries. Her heart thuds as the footsteps draw closer and the blood drains from her face. The hand is back around her heart. squeezing incessantly because there is not one set of footprints. There are two. She was right. They were not so alone in these woods, the thought of this company fills her either queasy dread. Whatever they have attracted is not El. Whatever they have attracted could be far, far worse.
Troy Walsh and James Dante crest the small hill and Alex feels her heart plummet into the depths of her chest. They wear their hoods over their heads, but they do not mask the malicious grins as they approach the three. Alex supposes that the hoods give them the courage to do what they normally would not. It only takes a mask for someone to do something they normally would not. The anonymity protects them from persecution. Alex takes another step backward as the two boys draw closer and closer, exchanging a glance with Dustin. They are animals trapped in a cage. Troy and James are here to collect them, but not before they take the trophies back home.
