Chapter Eighteen: The Return Of An Enemy

(The Sauna Test, Pt. 4)

***

Cami watched Will as she sat on the floor next to Max, dread churning through her and replacing her usual optimism at the look on Will's face, even more than it already did when she saw Mike's, Alistair's, Lucas' and Will's faces when she, Max and El had arrived, as they now waited for Will to begin speaking.

He hesitated for a moment before he finally said, "I didn't think it was anything at first. I mean, I think I just didn't want to believe it."

Will paused, and Alistair bumped his knee against Will's, a gesture of comfort. Will smiled at him, and in any other case, Cami would be thrilled. But she could only feel that dread, that intensification of her feeling of something wrong, as Will breathed in and out and continued.

"The first time I felt it was at Day of the Dead," Will revealed.

A shiver crept up Cami's spine as Alistair bit his lip and Mike realised, "Power went out that night, too."

Now Alistair looked at all of them, as they all knew one thing. If Rowan wasn't responsible for affecting the power—and Cami wondered if Rowan was powerful enough to cause a town-wide blackout—then it could only mean one thing.

The Upside Down.

"And then I felt it again at the field near the Nelson farm the next day," Will continued. "Then yesterday at Castle Byers."

The shivers multiplied as Alistair revealed, "The ghosts have felt something too. They... they've been trying to warn me, like they did last year when Will was possessed. But because they're cryptic as shit, I didn't know what it was until last night, when Will felt it."

Silence filled the room as Cami looked at Alistair, concern for him filling her, knowing how much he hated when the ghosts tried to attract his attention. He looked away, until Will's knee bumped against his and Alistair looked at Will, before giving him a grateful smile, appreciating the comfort, before he looked away. Cami watched it, staring at Alistair as a million questions burned inside her, but they could wait, especially as Max asked Will,  "What does it feel like?"

"It's almost like..." Will began, before he paused and instead questioned, "You known when you drop on a roller coaster?"

"Sure," Mike said.

"Yeah," Max affirmed.

"Of course," Cami replied, memories of the Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island playing in her mind.

"No," El murmured.

"It's like... everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but...  this is worse. Your body... it goes cold and... and you can't breathe," Will explained, his face twisted as Cami shivered at his words. Alistair leaned against Will, silent support, as he continued, "I've felt it before, whenever he was close."

"Whenever who was close?" Max asked before Cami could.

Will looked at them and answered gravely, "The Mind Flayer."

Horror froze Cami, her eyes growing wide with it. She didn't need to look to know it was reflected on her friends' faces. If Will was right, if the Mind Flayer was back and that was what he and the ghosts only Alistair could see were feeling...

Puta madre.

"I closed the gate," El said, reminding them of it, of the fact that if everything that had come through the gate—the tunnels, the Demodogs, the Mind Flayer—were cut off from the hive mind in the Upside Down, they should have died when the gate had closed, thanks to El.

The Mind Flayer should be dead.

"I know, but... what if he never left?" Will replied, his face as serious as the grave. "What if we locked him out here with us?"

New horror chilled Cami at the implication, as they now all gathered around the table, a piece of paper in Will's hand and a black crayon in the other as he drew the Mind Flayer.

"This is him. All of him," Will said. "But, that day on the field, a part of him attached itself to me."

Cami frowned, remembering that day. She'd thought that was the most terrifying thing she'd seen. She'd been proven wrong when only days later, she was trapped in a rickety bus and saw the face of a monster open up and stared into four-sectioned, toothy death.

Cami looked over to Alistair, seeing him bump into Will as Will seemed to relax a fraction, before he brushed his hand over the drawing, holding up the black imprint left behind—symbolising the Mind Flayer possessing him. 

"My mom and Al got it out of me, and El closed the gate," Will went on. "But what if the part that was still in me, what if it's still in our world? In Hawkins?"

He turned the paper over and slammed his hand down, leaving behind a shadowy handprint. The shadow of the Mind Flayer, still in Hawkins.

Cami shivered, dread and horror fully permanently lodging herself in her, as Alistair hissed, "Shit."

"I don't understand. The Demodogs died when El closed the gate. If the brain dies, the body dies," Max pointed out.

"And even if it did, without a gate, it would have to be because of Al, and I don't think he did that," Cami reminded, before she looked at her person and asked him, "Right, Al?"

"My powers don't work on anything from the Upside Down," Alistair revealed, and Cami's eyes widened at hearing that, as all of them looked at Alistair in shock, not expecting that as he went on, "And even if they did, I would never raise the Mind Flayer. I would rather put this bastard back in its grave again and make sure it stays dead."

"Exactly. So how can the brain survive but the body doesn't? Especially without a gate connecting it to the rest of the brain?" Cami questioned, frowning. Don't get her wrong, she definitely knew it was a possibility—especially since it would explain her feeling—but Cami was skeptical because of that fact, even as it terrified her of how the Mind Flayer could live again without an open gate.

"We can't take any chances," Mike said, his face serious. "We need to assume the worst. The Mind Flayer's back."

"Yeah. And if he is, he'd want to attach himself to someone again. A new me," Will added, face just as serious as what he'd just said.

"A new host," Lucas realised.

Tense silence filled the room as El asked, "How can you tell if someone is a host?"

"Well, I guess the big thing is that the Mind Flayer likes it cold," Alistair said, arms crossed as he eyed Will.

Everything in Cami froze. Likes it cold.

Billy... the ice bath...

"Right. Anyone the Mind Flayer would get would try to stay cold—and hate being in the heat," Mike agreed, but his words seemed to be white noise as Cami looked at Max and El, saw their eyes go wide as horrified realisation slowly dawned.

"That will be hard. It's summer. It's hot all the time," Lucas pointed out.

"That's what makes it easier. The Mind Flayer will probably make the host do anything to stay cold," Mike argued.

"Like having an ice bath?" Cami asked, her voice shaky.

The boys looked to her, Max and El, as they shared a look.

"Yeah, probably," Mike agreed, before he frowned. "Why?"

Again, they looked at each other before Max turned back, her face conflicted as she revealed, "We think we might know who the new host is."

***

Hehehheheh!!!

Yes, Cami now knows she was right in feeling something wrong, even though she is a little bit skeptical of the Mind Flayer without a (supposedly) open gate. But yeah, the supernatural elements are happening, and Cami's summer is not gonna be normal again...

And now, it's time for them to stake out Billy—and prepare to do an exorcism via sauna...

Spanish translation:

Puta madre: Holy fuck

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!