FEVER DREAM , stranger things

𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 , the flea and the acrobat

Dustin's eyes lit up, "Like the Vale of Shadows." He suggested to the boys.

Kennedy sat up straight in her chair. "The Vale of Shadows? What's that?" She asked as she looked at Mike and Lucas.

Dustin climbed out of his chair, rushing over to a binder on a shelf. It was obviously heavily used and old. It was Mike's. Dustin flipped through some pages about Dungeons and Dragons before opening up to a larger page. He began to read what was there. "The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death." Kennedy looked across the table at Mike, who seemed just as freaked out as she was. "A plane out of phase. A place of monsters." Dustin slowly looked up from the book, saying the next line in a quieter tone. "It is right next to you, and you don't even see it."

"An alternate dimension," Mike mumbled.

"But," Lucas stuttered as he looked towards Dustin, "How do we get there?"

"You cast Shadow Walk."

Lucas rolled his eyes "In real life, dummy."

Dustin shrugged, "We can't shadow walk, but," Dustin looked over at the space between Lucas and Mike, "Maybe she can. Maybe both of them can." Lucas and Mike looked over at Kennedy.

The girl with auburn hair frowned. "What?"

"El said you're connected to the bad men. Maybe you have powers like her!" Mike suggested as he moved his hands, gesturing toward the girl in the wig.

"I think I'd know if I have powers, Mike." Kennedy countered as she rolled her eyes.

Mike shook his head. "Would you?" The teenage girl frowned in confusion. "You weren't with her and the bad men, were you? So maybe you never learned how to use your powers!"

"Mike, this is insane." Lucas cut in as he waved his arm.

The Wheeler boy turned in his chair, looking at the blond girl. "Do you know how we get there? To the Upside Down?" Eleven looked at them all, slowly shaking her head. The three boys sunk in their seats in dismay.

Kennedy started gathering her things. "I'm gonna start walking you guys home." She said. Lucas and Dustin chorused in disagreements. "Boys, come on."

Steve Harrington was waiting outside Lucas Sinclair's house when she got there.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Kennedy called out to the boy. He waved her off, rushing to his front door. Tomorrow was Will's funeral. Steve unlocked the doors to his car, letting the Theroux clamber inside. "Hey, thanks for coming to get me."

"Carol is worried sick about you. I had to make sure she wasn't hiding in my trunk." Steve joked. Kennedy tried to laugh, but she couldn't. The last 24 hours had been so weird. The last week had been even weirder. It was like she couldn't organize or even fathom the thoughts and the things she had learned. None of it made sense, she couldn't even make it make sense to her if she tried. And she did. She tried a lot.

Kennedy looked over at Steve with pursed lips. "How did you know?" She blurted. Steve stared at her blankly. "About me and Jonathan?"

Realization wiped over his face. "I saw you and him talking after Nancy went to class." He began. "I was confused. But then I started thinking about the weird stares he always gave you, how you acted around him, compared it to how you act around me and Tommy," Steve explained quietly. He moved his hands as he spoke, one of them falling into his lap while the other was on the steering wheel. "I just put two and two together." His brown eyes moved back toward Kennedy. She had an expressionless face and she nodded. Maybe she wasn't as good at hiding things as she thought.