𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝟱. 𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚

𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚

It had been a solid ten minutes now that James and Max had been waiting in the hallway. Mike had insisted, insisted, that they stay outside while he, Dustin, Lucas, and Will talked inside the AV Club.

"Members only," he'd said, making sure neither of them crossed the threshold before slamming the door right in their faces.

If James had the patience of a saint for a boy his age, Max absolutely did not. She was now pounding on the door with both fists.

"Hello? Hello! Guys, come on! Can we come in yet?"

The only answer was Mike yelling from inside:

"No!"

James let out a long sigh, sitting slouched against the hallway wall.

"You're wasting your time," he said, now clearly annoyed with Mike. "He's not gonna let us in."

"That's just not fair!" Max snapped, looking back at her stepbrother.

James looked at her, took a breath, then shrugged. Losing patience himself, he muttered:

"We should just leave. It's pointless."

Max scowled, she was done.

"No way. I'm going in."

She crouched down, ripped her backpack open, and rummaged through it. After a few seconds she pulled out a small pin, unfolded it, and immediately started working on the lock.

James blinked, genuinely impressed.

"You know how to pick a lock?"

Max didn't answer, fully focused.

A couple seconds later, click, the lock gave, and she pushed the door open.

But the door didn't open onto the boys, it opened onto D'Artagnan. Or at least what used to be D'Artagnan. Now it had four legs and burst toward the doorway with high-pitched chirping noises.

Max froze.

"What the—"

James shot to his feet just as the creature bolted past them into the hallway.

"Holy shit!"

Max barely had time to react before Dustin barreled out of the room, trying to catch Dart, only to crash straight into her. The two collapsed in a heap, and Lucas tripped over both of them immediately after.

"Where'd he go?!" Lucas shouted, panicked and scrambling up.

Max, dazed, looked around.

"What was that?"

James quickly helped her to her feet, checking her over to make sure she wasn't hurt.

Mike, scanning the hallway for the creature, spun around sharply.

"Dart!"

James stared at him, wide-eyed.

"What? Did he mutate or something?!"

Mike jabbed a finger toward Max.

"You let him escape!"

"Don't yell at her!" James snapped back instantly, protective without even thinking.

Dustin rounded on Mike, furious.

"Why did you attack him?!"

Mike groaned, running down the hall. "Come on, we have to find him!"

"Don't you hurt him!" Dustin yelled after him as he took off.

James looked from Lucas to Dustin to Will, none of them looked any less stressed or confused.

"What the hell happened in there?" he asked, not understanding any of this, and definitely not liking it.

The boys exchanged looks before Lucas finally spoke up. "All you need to know right now is that we have to find Dart. Like, right now."

"All we need to know?" Max shot back, fed up with all this stupid secrecy. "Are you kidding me?"

"We'll explain later. I promise, okay?" Lucas insisted. "Just for now we really need to find him."

Max exhaled sharply, and James spoke before she could argue. "Okay, I'll help."

"Fine, me too," Max added.

"Perfect," Dustin said, energized. "Let's search the whole school. He can't be far. Mike went east, so I'll go west, Will south, Lucas north, and you two can check the gym!"

Everyone nodded, and the group split up, leaving only James and Max behind.

They headed to the gym just like Dustin instructed, searching under the bleachers, in the janitor's closet, every corner of the place but no sign of the creature. So they moved on to the locker rooms. Girls' first, empty. Then the boys'.

James was crouched under one of the benches when a sudden, violent blow struck his right shoulder.

"Yah!" Mike shouted, swinging a broom like it was a weapon.

James barked out a cry of pain while Max gasped in surprise. Both turned toward Mike.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Max yelled, immediately reaching for James. "Are you okay?"

James pushed himself up, kneading his shoulder with a pained grimace. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he lied through clenched teeth.

Mike, who had clearly expected Dart, froze, caught off guard, but instead of looking embarrassed, he just got angry.

"What are you doing?" he snapped, uncomfortable but defiant.

"Looking for Dart," Max shot back.

James muttered under his breath, still massaging his bruised shoulder, "Don't apologize, or anything..."

Mike ignored him. "You should go home. Both of you." His voice was cold. He dropped the broom and stalked out of the locker room.

That was the last straw for Max. She hurried after him, just as furious.

"Why do you hate us so much?" she demanded.

"I don't hate you," Mike replied without turning around. "How could I hate you? I don't even know you."

James followed them out into the gym, letting out a bitter laugh. "Weird way of showing it."

"But you don't want us in your party," Max said.

"Correct," Mike answered flatly.

"Why not?" she pushed, annoyed.

Mike whirled around, temper fraying.

"Because you're annoying," he snapped at Max. Then pointed at James: "And you're shady. And we don't need any more party members. I'm our Paladin, Will's our Cleric, Dustin's our Bard, Lucas is our Ranger, and El is our Mage!"

"El?  Who's El?" Max asked, confused.

They'd never met anyone named El. They'd never even seen another kid hanging around with the boys.

"Someone. No one," Mike muttered, irritated.

James crossed his arms. "You gotta pick, no one or someone?"

Mike sighed sharply, frustration leaking out. "She was in our party a long time ago. She moved away, okay?"

He said it tense, defensive, clearly a sensitive topic. But honestly...what wasn't a sensitive topic with Mike?

Max's curiosity sparked. She set her skateboard on the floor and rolled slowly around Mike and James, circling like a shark around her prey.

"She was your mage? So what could she do? Magic tricks or something?" She shrugged. "Well, I could be your Zoomer."

She stopped in front of Mike, who rolled his eyes.

"That's not even a real thing."

"It could be," Max argued. "And James could be your Guardian or something. He's good at that."

She pointed her chin toward her stepbrother, smiling as she tried to persuade Mike.

Then she pushed off again, skating slow circles around him. "See? Zoomer."

Mike watched her and sighed dramatically. 

"Mind-blowing," he said with full sarcasm.

"Come on, you know you're impressed."

"I don't see any tricks. You're just going in circles," Mike said.

James lifted a brow. "Because you think you can do better?"

"If it's so easy, you try," Max challenged.

"No!" Mike barked immediately.

"Why not?"

"I don't know how."

James smirked. "What a surprise."

"So you admit it's kinda impressive," Max teased.

Mike scoffed. "I think if I spent, like, all day practicing, I could do that."

James let out a laugh. "Yeah, sure."

"I'd give you a hundred bucks if you could," Max said.

Suddenly, Max was yanked violently off her board, thrown even, and hit the floor with a grunt, a sharp gasp escaping her.

"Max!" James and Mike rushed to her at the same time.

"Jesus, are you alright?" Mike asked, helping her sit up while James grabbed her skateboard and checked her over, worry written all over his face.

"Yeah...yeah, I think so," Max said, rubbing her elbow.

"What happened?" James asked.

"I don't know... it was like a magnet or something grabbed my board. I know that sounds crazy."

James handed her the skateboard and the moment Max touched it, Mike suddenly bolted toward the hallway doors, like he'd just realized something. He stopped right in front of them, searching for something that wasn't there.

James stared at him. "What's wrong with him?"

Max lifted her shoulders. "No idea."

Before James could respond, a burst of static crackled from Mike's walkie-talkie, snapping him out of whatever trance he had been in. He grabbed it off his belt just as Will's voice came through:

"Guys, I found him."

Mike spun toward the siblings, and they hurried to his side.

Dustin's voice followed through the walkie: "Where?"

"In the bathroom, by Mr. Salerno's," Will answered.

Mike pressed the button. "Copy that."

One quick look passed between the three of them, and instantly they were sprinting down the hallway.

The school was nearly empty now, their footsteps echoing as they tore through corridors. They nearly collided with Lucas midway.

"Let's go!" Mike shouted, pointing. "Down here!"

"Coming!" Lucas yelled back, falling in behind them.

They rushed into the bathroom Will had mentioned but instead of finding Will or Dart, they found only Dustin, standing in the middle of the room. Alone. 

"Where is Dart?" Mike demanded.

"I don't know. Not here." Dustin shrugged.

"What?" Mike muttered, immediately checking every stall, pushing doors open in a frenzy.

"He said by Salerno's, right?" Max asked.

"Yeah. Maybe Will has him," Dustin said.

"And where's Will?" James added, scanning the room.

Mike turned back toward them after checking the last stall, his face pale. "Will. We have to find Will."

He looked exactly like he had on Halloween, scared, worried. Something was wrong. And this time, James felt the urgency settle in his gut like a stone.

The group bolted out of the bathroom, splitting up instinctively to cover more ground. James ended up with Max and Dustin.

"Will?!" Dustin called out, voice cracking. "Will!"

"Dustin!" a woman's voice echoed from down the hall.

A woman in her early forties hurried toward them, meeting them at the corner. Her expression was frantic, breath sharp.

"Mrs. Byers?" Dustin asked, startled.

James immediately understood, Will's mom. And she looked even more terrified than Mike had minutes before.

"What's going on?" she demanded. "Where is Will?"

Before anyone could answer, the rear exit slammed open. Lucas burst out from outside, panicked, pointing behind him.

"The field! Hurry!"

They didn't hesitate. All of them sprinted after Lucas, bursting into the open field behind the school. And there standing dead center were Mike and Will.

Mike was crouched slightly toward him, talking fast, waving the others over.

"I just found him like this!" Mike shouted to Mrs. Byers. "I think he's having an episode!"

James slowed as he approached, dread crawling up his spine.

Something was wrong with Will. Deeply wrong.

Will stood unnaturally stiff, back perfectly straight, his eyes shut tight, unmoving like a statue. Even as Mrs. Byers reached him and seized his shoulders, shaking him with trembling hands, nothing changed.

"Sweetie, wake up!" she cried. "It's Mom! Will—wake up!"

Her voice was thick with panic, her fingers digging in as if she could pull him back into reality by force.

The fear in the air was suffocating. James felt it pressing into his chest. He'd never seen anything like this, never seen a kid just... frozen, lost somewhere unreachable.

"Will, please!" Mrs. Byers begged, her voice breaking. "Wake up!"

Then, suddenly, Will's eyes flew open as he gasped violently for air.

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