Chapter Seventy-Three: The Return Of A Friend

(The Mind Flayer, Pt. 5)

***

The harsh, telling ring of the phone cut through the suddenly silent, suddenly tense Byers residence as Dustin stood up, so harshly his chair almost fell over, and he raced to the mounted phone and slammed it against the holder, cursing, "Shit. Shit!"

For a few, heart-stopping seconds, the phone was silent. Rowan thought it would remain so, that they managed to get away with it...

... Until it began ringing again.

Dustin made to grab the phone to slam it against the holder again, but Rowan was already there and slamming a hand against it, short-circuiting the phone—she would apologise to Joyce tomorrow, when they weren't about to die—and silencing it. For good measure, Nancy ripped it off the wall when Rowan lifted her hand and slammed it against the floor, quieting the damn phone quite sufficiently.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max questioned, fear clear in her face if Will had.

"It's just a phone. It could be anywhere. Right?" Steve reasoned, but he looked as unsure as he sounded. Rowan's mouth twisted, electricity whirring uneasily inside her.

"Don't be so certain on that, rich boy," Aunt Aco muttered. She snatched up her crossbow and loaded it. "We have to be prepared if he did."

The kids looked at each other nervously as Aunt Aco marched up to the front door, crossbow trained on it, but Rowan walked up to them and said firmly, "Hey. Nothing's gonna happen to any of us, okay? I'm not gonna let it. And neither are Steve, Nancy and my aunt."

Some fear seemed to bleed out, but it came racing back when a chorus of unearthly shrieks sounded. Rowan whirled, fists raised and crackling as Steve held his bat tighter, the both of them moving in front of the kids and each other almost instinctually.

A heartbeat later the back door slammed open and it was all Rowan could do to keep from shooting lightning at whoever opened it.

"They're coming!" Jonathan yelled, as Alistair and Mike peeked out from behind Jonathan. They ran in along with Joyce, who clutched a newly unconscious Will to her, and Hopper, carrying the rifle from the lab and a gun the Byers had. Jonathan hurriedly locked the back door as Joyce carried Will to Jonathan's room while the kids scurried off to the living room. Rowan turned and gaped to see them at the front window, peering out through the curtains.

"Holy fucking shit, are you gremlins mental?" Rowan yelled as she hurried into the living room with Steve, Jonathan and Nancy, right as her aunt screeched, "Hey! Kids, get the hell away from the windows!"

All six kids blinked owlishly at Aunt Aco, but they didn't move away—that was, until Hopper barked, "Hey!"

At once, the kids turned as Hopper, who was still holding the two guns, yelled, "Hey, listen to Aco and get away from the windows!"

They did so obediently, with Aunt Aco more or less dragging Alistair back and hissing, "Where's your common sense, kid?"

As Aunt Aco chastised Alistair, Rowan looked to see Hopper turn to Jonathan, holding one of the guns out as he asked, "Do you know how to use this?"

Jonathan stared at the gun like it was a poisonous animal, stammering, "What?"

"Can you use this?" Hopper pressed, but Jonathan was only staring and Rowan remembered last year, shooting cans and him being a horrible shot, and knew he wouldn't be able to use that.

"I can."

Every single eye turned to Nancy, jaw set, confidence in her being. Hopper didn't question her before he tossed the gun to Nancy, who cocked it and raised it to her shoulder, sighting through it as everyone gathered with the ones holding weapons standing in front of the more vulnerable members of their Party—Aunt Aco, crossbow raised and aimed for the windows, Rowan with her fists clenched and veins blue and eyes glowing and spitting sparks and traces of lightning crackling over her hands and arms, Steve next to her and holding the nail bait in a white-knuckled grip as Dustin stood behind them, Hopper and Nancy with their guns, Joyce and Jonathan behind them, Lucas standing protectively in front of Max with his wrist rocket aimed and ready, Alistair with eyes flashing white and Hugin on his shoulder, a deathly chill in the air as he stood in front of a wide-eyed, but not as scared as she'd been before Cami, Mike with a... candle holder? For improvised weapons, it could work.

All of them staring at the window and door as the growls and screeches grew louder, coming closer.

"Where are they?" Joyce whispered.

"Can they get inside?" Max asked, eyes wide with fear.

"Don't know. Stay quiet, kid," Aunt Aco ordered, and Rowan remembered that she wasn't the only one to confront the monsters on their home turf—her aunt had traversed the rotting, twisted plane of the Upside Down with Hopper and Joyce to bring Will home, and while she hadn't faced the Demogorgon, she knew its home dimension, and would know the danger. 

But Max stayed quiet, and almost imperceptibly, Rowan shifted until she was in front of the girl as well, protecting her alongside Lucas. She also noticed Alistair shifting closer, mouth tight, white appearing more in his eyes than brown, the cold growing icier as Rowan's veins burned hotter with crackling heat, a metallic charge in the air. Rowan felt her hair stand up on her skin, and saw Steve move closer to her, the two teenagers almost pressed together. Ready to fight and protect each other and the kids.

Outside, the monsters' growls grew louder, and shapes darted about on the curtains. It wouldn't be long before they were upon them.

A noise like thunder—or a battering ram—came, shaking the house and causing Rowan's heart to beat a few seconds faster, electricity seizing in her body. She couldn't tell if anyone else had similar fright, but Rowan wouldn't be surprised if they did. She also wasn't surprised to see Steve look at her in concern before turning back to the window, and had moved a fraction of an inch in front of her.

But despite the attempt to ram into the house, the Demodogs didn't make another attack, as if they were taunting them. But why?

"What are they doing?" Nancy whispered and Rowan could only shrug, everything in her too tense and crackling to do otherwise.

Snarls erupted outside and the shadows shifted, before a choked, whimpering sound came. Rowan frowned as a grating screech sounded, serrating at her eardrums with rusty blades, before it... stopped.

Rowan barely had time to process before the sound of shattering glass came. On instinct she spread her arms out in front of Alistair, Cami, Max, Lucas and Dustin as her aunt moved to cover her as well from the shower of glass when they'd all backed away and a large blur flew through it and crashed into the wall before sliding down with a thump, the shattered glass mixing with the screams that had exploded from everyone.

When the split-seconds of movement ended, Rowan's eyes widened when she saw the blur was a Demodog. It didn't look like it was moving, but Rowan wouldn't put it past these creatures to play dead and trick their prey to come closer to their fanged, four-petalled jaws of death.

"Holy shit," Dustin whispered as they all stared at the creature. Alistair, Max and Lucas moved forward to touch it, but Aunt Aco shot them with a glare and a hissed, "Stay back. We don't know if it's just playing dead."

They obediently moved back as Hopper and Aunt Aco advanced, while Rowan, Steve, Nancy, Lucas and Mike kept their weapons up, all eyes locked on the unmoving monster in the house.

"Is it dead?" Max questioned as Hopper tapped it lightly with the butt of his gun, before he rolled its limp head over. It didn't spring up and tear Hopper's throat out. It was dead.

But what could have killed it? 

However, before they could process—or even begin to ask—that question, the doorknob rattled.

Instantly all attention was zeroed in on the door, guns, crossbow, bat and wrist rocket pointed at it as Rowan's veins flared and the air crackled as the temperature dropped and the floor rumbled and Alistair's eyes flashed white. The doorknob gave another rattle until, before their eyes, the locks began sliding out, at an almost casual speed. Rowan kept her gaze trained on it, every muscle tense, not trusting it even as she wondered who could open it—did the Demodogs actually learn how to open doors? And yet, there was something almost human about it...

When the last of the locks fell, the door creaked open.

And Rowan saw a ghost enter the house.

She'd changed, a blocky grunge blazer on her, dark makeup around her eyes, hair that had grown out from a buzzed scalp slicked back. A trickle of blood dripped from her nose, but Rowan would recognise the girl before her anywhere, the girl she thought was dead, that she'd failed, the girl who sacrificed herself to stop the Demogorgon a year ago.

It was El.

***

AHHH THIS CHAPTER WAS SO SHORT BUT SO FUN!!

Aco Graveswood with a crossbow?? We love to see that 😌 (as much as we'll love seeing her someday with her sword 😉) And Rowan and Steve being protective of the kids/each other and Nancy being an absolute girlboss with that "I can" and the gun?? We also love to see that

AND EL'S BACK!!! I missed my girl and I'm so, so glad to write her back into the story!! (and trust me, there will be many happy reunions between El and the Graveswood siblings)

Also, we're onto the last episode of s2!!!! I'm literally so excited, I cannot WAIT to write it and all the moments, even as I can't believe we're almost at the end!!!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!