They tell Eddie about the bat the day after his birthday, which predictably does put him in a terrible mood. "Why couldn't I feel it?" He asks, eyebrows furrowed. "I should be able to feel them if they're here. Can you guys?"
"I didn't notice anything until I saw it from the car." Max says. "Now...I think I can feel them. It's been harder to feel anything distinct after the leaking stopped, just this constant feeling of—"
"Dread?" Will finishes.
"Yeah. Dread."
Eddie nods. "I know a thing or two about that. El?"
"I can not feel him like I could." She says, shaking her head. "I know he is there, but it's like he is...nowhere. Or everywhere."
Mike winces. "So what do we do?"
"You're not willing to go into the Upside Down, right?" Nancy asks.
"Nope. Nuh-uh." Eddie confirms. "If Vecna's planning shit I don't want to deliver any of us wrapped in a bow."
"He didn't do anything the last time you were there." Robin points out.
"...That we know of." Jonathan says, squinting at him like he's trying to figure out if there's something wrong with him from his face alone.
"Come on, don't say that." Steve says, watching Eddie's face go all tight in stress. "Eddie just slept the whole time."
"So, really, anything could have happened and he wouldn't have known about it." Vickie says. She frowns when Steve glares at her. "What? I'm just being pragmatic!"
"Somebody has to be." Nancy says. "If we're not going in then we have to wait it out until we can figure out his next move, then figure out what to do in response to that move. We have to get to him before he can plan it, though. Especially if he's sending scouts. He's not as weak as we thought."
"We've dealt with enough visitors showing up that we know the signs." Lucas says.
"You guys have to tell us everything, okay?" Nancy says, directing her words to Eddie, Max, El, and Mike. "You're our links. A single weird feeling or strange dream or vision from him and you come to us immediately, okay?"
Steve sneaks a glance at Eddie. He nods with the others, but he looks pale, his eyes darting to the side.
After that, they all get stuck in a sort of limbo, falling into the same routine almost every day: Robin and Steve work, Lucas, Mike, and Nancy try to convince their parents not to move, Eddie hides inside all day until Steve shows up with a movie for them to watch on the days where they can't get everybody else together. When they can it's mostly just them sitting around and giving updates on their lack of updates, checking out the windows like they'll get a sign of life from Vecna at any moment. There isn't much else to do, not in the absence of any real input from the Upside Down. Steve can tell it's weighing on Eddie, making him withdraw, making him slightly less... him than he usually is, less prone to dramatic outbursts and irreverent jokes and long rambles about the things he's nerdy about.
What isn't obvious is whether it's just the anxiety of knowing something's coming and feeling powerless to stop it or if it's something more, something that could mess him up the way Will and El have been in the past, a window in the back of their skulls that leaves them vulnerable. He tries to make Eddie feel better, to hang out with him as much as he can so that he doesn't go crazy every time he flips on the news and sees his face still staring back at him, every time he wants to do something small like go to the store or go visit Steve at work or go pick up some records but he can't. The guitar seems to help, at least, and Eddie spends most of his time strumming on it or making more mixtapes or working on the campaign he's writing. Keeping busy.
