El and Mike were set up in the middle of the basement when I woke up. Will and Lucas were whispering in the corner, and Max sat at the table, scowling.
The radio was blasting static as El's nose dripped on a napkin below her. She was blindfolded, a colorful tie wrapped around her head.
"I found him." She said suddenly.
"Where is he?" Max asked.
"Woods. He's with, Will's mom."
"My mom?" Will muttered, glancing at Mike.
"What are they doing?" Max added.
"Ill-annoy." She said. "They're going to Ill-annoy."
A loud rapping came from the door, and his mom shouted down the stairs. "Mike! Breakfast!"
He whipped around quickly. "Not now mom!"
I jumped a little, still not having gotten used to his shouting.
He turned back to El, who was lifting the blindfold off her. "Illinois? Illinois, the state? The state of Illinois?"
She frowned, then repeated. "Ill-annoy."
"Okay, clearly she doesn't know." Max stood up. "Come on El, let's get you cleaned up."
Eleven nodded, following Max to the bathroom. They didn't acknowledge me on the couch.
"What was that?" I asked, pulling my blanket off.
Will jumped, scooching closer to Mike.
"Jesus-" Mike groaned. "She was finding Hopper."
"And he and Will's mom are going to Illinois?" I found myself a seat in their circle. "Why?"
"We don't know," Lucas explained. "What we also don't know, was what you and Max were arguing about now?" He opened a coca puff box from the table, and began eating them one at a time.
"What?"
"Last night, you almost woke Will up because your bickering was so loud!" He said.
"What bickering?" Mike and Will asked.
"She and Max were talking about something last night after Will went to sleep," Lucas said. "And they were very loud."
"What are you fighting about now?" Mike asked.
"Nothing."
"See, this is why we shouldn't have had more people join!" Mike complained. "This doesn't help the group, with more shit between everyone. We need to find Hopper, which we can barely do, and we need to stop Billy. I mean, something is clearly wrong. I haven't gotten Hopper off my back all summer, and now he's hiking to Illinois with Will's mom. And Dustin's MIA too? I mean-"
"Way to change the subject." I pointed out.
He rolled his eyes at me. "Anyways, Billy is clearly the mind flayer! And what are we supposed to do?"
"It doesn't matter what we do now, we just need to stop Billy," Lucas said.
"And if we do find him?" I asked.
"Then we burn the shit out of it and make sure it doesn't escape this time." Lucas took a handful of cocoa puffs from the box, holding it in his lap.
"And then what?" Mike shouted. "Then what do we do?"
"Then we win!"
"No! No, we don't win! We got the mind flayer out of Will before and he just came right back. We don't just have to stop Billy, we have to stop the mind flayer."
"How the hell do we do that?"
"I dunno."
"Maybe El does." Will said. He nodded to the bathroom door.
Mike turned around, staring at it. "What are they still doing in there?"
Lucas stood next to him, frowning. "I dunno, girls just like hanging out in bathrooms and stuff."
"Why?" Mike asked.
"Girl things," I said.
"They're conspiring against me." Mike crossed his arms.
"That's what you're concerned about right now?" Will asked.
"It's not my main concern-"
"I thought it was already over?"
"It's not over, we're just taking a break-"
"She said she dumped your ass, that doesn't sound like a break!"
"It wasn't!" Max shouted. "You guys do realize we can hear every word you're saying?!" They giggled behind the door.
"Conpiring!" Mike scoffed.
"They're not conspiring." I muttered.
"They might be."
"But they're not."
Another loud rap on the door, and I covered my ears.
"Not now mom!" He shouted.
"Mike! Open the door!" It was Nancy.
"I got it." I groaned, climbing the stairs to open the basement door. I stared at Nancy and Jonathan behind the door. "What?"
"We all need to talk," Jonathan said.
I nodded, turning around and climbing back down the stairs. I knocked on the bathroom door on my way back to the couch, where Max and El exited. Nancy shut the door behind her, tossing a notepad on the table with Jonathan.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's the same thing. The mind flayer." She whispered. "He's back."
"We know," Mike added.
"You know?" Jonathan asked.
"Yeah."
"Fine. This old lady, Mrs. Driscoll, was eating fertilizer and stuff. We sent her to the hospital, and look at this. Her temperatures are way low!"
"He likes it cold." Will nodded.
"Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer-" Mike started
"Mrs. Driscoll."
"Right, yeah, what time was that at?"
"Last night."
"Yeah, but what time last night?"
"Around nine."
"You waited all night to call?" Jonathan asked.
"Yeah, I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests."
"You weren't there?" Will asked.
"Yeah well, I'm here now aren't I?" He shrugged.
"The sauna test," Lucas added.
"What?" Nancy asked.
"The sauna test, with Billy," I explained. "Max's brother is the new host."
"Uh, alright, what time was that?"
"Around nine." Mike filled in.
"Well, then that proves it!" Nancy said. "That proves my theory."
"She's flayed, just like Billy," Mike said.
"Flayed?" Jonathan asked.
"The mind flayer. He flays people. Takes over their minds. Once they do that, they basically become him."
"If there are two flayed-" Lucas started.
"We have to assume there are more." Will finished.
"Heather," El said. "Billy was doing something to her. She was scared. She was screaming. Bad screams."
"What's a good scream?" Lucas asked
"Max said-"
I snickered.
"Doesn't matter!" Max said.
"I'm sorry, I'm lost. Who is Heather?" Nancy asked.
"She's a lifeguard at the pool."
"Heather Holloway?" She turned to Jonathan, and they spoke at the same time. "Tom."
"That was creepy." I stood up, grabbing my crowbar. "Who do I hit?"
"Go to the car." Jonathan said, grabbing the keys from his pocket.
"What?" El asked.
"Where are we going?" Mike said.
"The hospital!" Nancy rolled her eyes, climbing the stairs.
"Seriously?" Mike complained.
"Come on." Nancy left the house, climbing into the driver's seat.
We all climbed in, Lucas, El, and Max in the middle row, and then Me, Mike, and Will in the back. I put my backpack on my lap, full of the supplies from the previous day, and a set of clothes to change into when I had time.
"Seatbelts," Nancy said, pulling back her hair.
I pursed my lips, knowing the back only had two. "Yeah-"
"She'll be fine," Jonathan said.
"Alright-"