"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter One-Hundred-And-Eighteen: Party Reunion
(The Bite, Pt. 6)
***
"You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!" Dustin laughed out as he crushed El into a hug, the telekinetic girl grinning as she hugged Dustin just as tightly. Behind him, Rowan's eyes widened at seeing how El was limping, supported by Mike—what had happened to her while she, Dustin, Steve, Robin, Valerie and Erica were trapped underground?
Before she could ask any questions, Rowan stumbled back as Alistair collided into her, hugging her tightly.
"Don't you ever disappear again, Rowan!" Alistair exclaimed, words half-muffled. He pulled back, revealing a glare that was cracking under the wobbly smile of relief. "Are you okay? What happened to you? I thought you were dead! I was gonna raise you up and kill you again and you're okay!"
"I'm okay, squirt," Rowan affirmed as she hugged her little brother back. "I'm okay. Though, that's hypocritical given what you did two years ago."
"I know. It must be karma," Alistair said, the words watery.
Rowan choked out a laugh. "God, I missed you, Al."
"I missed you too," he whispered back.
The siblings hugged each other a few seconds longer before pulling away. But Rowan wasn't spared before someone else barrelled into her, someone with flaming red hair tied into two braids and with enough sarcasm to rival Rowan's.
"Hey, Madmax," Rowan murmured.
"Hey," Max mumbled, her guard lowered in the tight way she hugged Rowan like the older girl might disappear. She looked at her, and that was when Rowan saw the fear. "Rowan, Billy, he's..."
Rowan frowned, big sister instincts flaring, and she looked at her brother, who looked uneasy.
"What's going on? What happened?" Rowan demanded.
"He's back," Alistair whispered.
Rowan froze. Shit.
Before she could ask more questions—and try to confirm the wishful thought of the Mind Flayer still being fucking dead—she heard Erica's incredulous, "Lucas?"
"What are you doing here?" the elder Sinclair demanded.
"Ask them. It's their fault," Erica answered, exposing the five teens.
"True, yeah. Totally true, It's absolutely our fault," Steve confirmed, Rowan resting a hand on Steve's shoulder and nodding to affirm it, while Alistair stood beside her, Max leaving to go stand by Lucas.
"I don't understand what happened to that car," Robin said.
"Or why my sister's ex has a dead bird on his shoulder!" Valerie exclaimed, making Robin turn and see Hugin. Her eyes grew comically wide. Alistair froze, his eyes also wide and Rowan stepped closer to her brother.
