Will wakes up to the sun glaring in at him through the window. He sits up, stretching, before realizing he's not in his own bed. He's on the floor, and on the bed next to him are Max and Eleven. Max is showing Eleven a comic while brushing her hair. Will rubs his eyes, groaning. He goes to check his watch, but it's not there. He must have left it at his house. "What time is it?"
Max glances at her watch. "Twelve fifteen."
Will jolts up. "What?! Why didn't you wake me up?"
She makes a face at him. "You never told us to wake you. Do you have to be somewhere? "
Will groans. "I was supposed to meet Dustin at the mall at nine, and Mike and Lucas don't know I'm here. Can I use your Supercom to tell them what's going on?"
Max shrugs. "Well, since you're here, what's the rush? You can tell Mike and Lucas after you've explained to us what's going on."
El leans over her shoulder and looks at Will. "You were going to tell us about the Mind Flayer."
Will folds his arms. "But Mike and Lucas are probably wondering where I am. If they go to the mall looking for me, and Dustin doesn't know where I am either, they're going to get worried."
"They can wait," Max insists, boring her eyes into Will's. "I'm not letting you use my Supercom until you tell us what's going on."
"Why not?"
"Because you came here to tell us about the Mind Flayer, and it's your own fault for not telling Mike and Lucas that you're here."
Will sighs, running a hand through his hair before giving in and taking a seat on the side of Max's bed. "Okay, well, I was thinking that maybe the part of the Mind Flayer that was in me last year, somehow got locked out here with us after you closed the gate."
"How do you even know it's here?" Max asks.
"I guess... I sort of get this feeling whenever he's close."
"What kind of feeling?"
"Like... have you ever dropped on a roller coaster?"
"Yeah," Max says.
"No," says El.
"Well, it's sort of like that... like everything in your body is just sinking, all at once. Only this is worse. A lot worse. Your body... it goes cold, and you can't breathe. I... I felt it first at Day of the Dead, then again in the field when we were putting up Cerebro, and yesterday in Steve's car right before we ran into you."
"But how is it here again?" El asks.
Will pauses, thinking. "A part of it attached itself to me, that day in the field at school. My mom got it out of me, and you closed the gate... but what if that part that was still in me is still in our world? In Hawkins."
"I don't understand," Max says. "The demodogs died when El closed the gate. If the brain dies, the body dies. How is it still alive?"
"I can't explain it exactly, but if he's back, that means he'd want to attach himself to someone again. A new me."
Max looks at El who leans forward. "How do we know who it's attached itself to?" El asks.
"Assuming we would even know the person, they would probably be acting different. The Mind Flayer, he likes it cold, so whoever is his new host would do whatever they can to avoid the heat."
Max and El glance at each other knowingly.
"What is it?" Will asks.
"I think we might know who the new host is," El says.
"Really? Who?"
Max puts a hand on El's shoulder. "We don't know for sure."
"If we bring you to him," El says to Will, "can you tell if he's the host?"
"I – I don't know. I guess I'd have to see." Will runs a hand through his hair. He really needs to talk to Mike, Lucas, and Dustin.
El nudges Max who slides off the bed. "Alright, here's the deal." Max reaches under her bed and pulls something out. Her walkie-talkie. She dodges away from Will, turning it off and keeping it out of his reach. "Okay, so I'll let you use this after we take you to who we think the host is."
"What? Why?"
"No offense, but I find it weird that you came here without Mike and Lucas. So just in case you're planning something, like a prank or whatever, I'm only letting you use my Supercom once we've figured out if he's really the host." She sticks a hand up when Will protests. "Hey, if you needed to get in contact with Mike and Lucas so badly, you shouldn't have forgotten your Supercom or at least told them where the hell you were going."
Will groans. "This isn't a stupid prank."
"Okay, good. So this shouldn't be too hard then." Max motions El to get off the bed. "Shall we?"
The three of them get on their bikes – El riding with Max on hers – and head down the street, Will following the girls reluctantly. He was supposed to meet Dustin over three hours ago.
"Who is it we're looking for anyway?" Will asks.
"Max's brother, Billy," El replies.
"Really?"
Max frowns. "We don't know for sure."
When they get to the parking lot outside the pool, they get off their bikes and hide behind a car as they peer through the gate.
"There. On the lifeguard chair," Max says, pointing.
Their eyes lock on Billy, lounging on his lifeguard chair by the pool, decked out in sunglasses and a long sleeved shirt with a towel draped over his legs and an ICEE in his hand.
"What do you think?" El asks.
Will raises an eyebrow. "I don't know. I mean, he looks a bit odd, doesn't he?"
"What do you mean?" asks Max.
"He seems a bit... overdressed?"
Max furrows her eyebrows.
"What I mean is," Will says, "he hardly ever wears a shirt, and it's over a hundred degrees out now, so I don't get why he's got a shirt on, plus a towel."
"Huh..." Max looks back at Billy, analyzing him. "You're not wrong. It is a bit weird."
"You think he's the host?" El asks.
Will crosses his arms, squinting at Billy. There's an echo in the back of his head, like he's feeling the Mind Flayer's presence from a distance. "I can't tell for sure. Have you seen him doing anything else weird?"
Max and El glance at each other. "Well," Max says, "we found bags of melted ice in our bathtub and another lifeguard's bag and whistle in our bathroom."
"With blood on it," El adds. "And I saw... I saw the girl he works with whose bag and whistle it was. Billy was standing over her, and she was screaming... and I saw her again. She told me to help her and got pulled down in a bath of ice."
Will frowns. "Okay, that's definitely weird."
"But he's lounging at the pool," Max says, "which is, like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever."
"Not necessarily. The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like... like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you, you're activated."
"Okay, so we just wait until he gets activated."
Will shakes his head. "No, we can't wait. What if he kills someone?"
"But what do we do then?"
"We need... we need to make sure he's actually the host."
"Yeah, I get that, but how?"
Groaning, Will puts his face in his hands. "I don't know... we need to... Wait, Max, can I use your Supercom?"
"What for?"
Will sighs. "If we're going to figure out if Billy's the host, we'll need help. Seriously, I need to tell Mike, Lucas, and Dustin eventually, so why not now because we really need a plan. And you said I could use it after I come here."
Max rolls her eyes and gives Will the walkie-talkie. "I said you could use it once we figure out if Billy's the host, but alright. Here."
Will turns on the walkie-talkie quickly and says into it, "Dustin! Dustin, you there?"
Static. Then a crackling voice. "Will?"
"Yeah, it's me. Over."
"Will! Jesus, where the hell have you been?" Dustin says. "We've been waiting for you for hours, and Mike and Lucas have been looking everywhere for you. Over."
"Mike and Lucas? They're with you? Over."
"Well, they were, but then they went to Max's to find El, so she can look for you. Max wasn't answering her Supercom. Over."
"Max and El are with me! We're at the pool-"
"The pool? What are you doing there? I told you to meet me at nine a.m. sharp! Over."
"I'll explain later. Just wait at Scoops for me. I'll be there soon. Over and out." Will switches the channels on the walkie-talkie. "Mike? Hello, Mike? It's Will, you there?"
Will jerks the walkie-talkie away from his ear when a shout breaks through it. "Will!" Mike answers. "Oh my god! Where have you been? I mean, where are you now? I – we were worried sick! Are you okay? What's going on? Over."
"It's fine, Mike, I'm okay," Will says, "but it's very important that you meet me at Scoops Ahoy right away. Over."
"You're at Scoops now? We were just there. Over."
"No, I'm on my way. Over."
"Okay, but what's going on? Where were you? Over."
"I'll explain there. Really. This is serious, so can you and Lucas meet me there? Over."
"Yeah, alright. We're on our way. Over and out."
Will tosses Max her walkie-talkie back. They hop on their bikes, riding as fast as they can to the mall.