"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 Seventy-Eight: The Exorcism Of Will Byers
(The Gate, Pt. 5)
***
A bump in the road jerked Alistair out of the half-sleep he'd fallen under. Blinking his eyes groggily, Hugin cawed at his side and hopped about on his shoulder. Beside him, Joyce was whispering softly to Will, but there was an icy hardness to her face. The Upside Down had taken too much from her tonight, and she's had enough.
Alistair felt the same way as he found himself holding Will's hand again, one of his fingers locking around Will's. He didn't care that Will was like ice to the touch—all he cared about was getting that bastard out of his best friend.
"Hold on a little while longer, Will. We're gonna save you. Just hold on," he whispered, holding Will's hand tighter, not even caring that some of his fingers laced together with Will's. Hoping his words got through to Will.
Hoping that what they would do will work, that they can free Will from the Mind Flayer's grip by burning it out of him. That once he's free, El can close the gate, with Hopper and Aunt Aco watching her back. Alistair hoped it would all work—he can't lose El and Will, not again, and he can't lose his aunt. It has to work.
When the car finally stopped at the end of the road, Alistair gave Will's hand another comforting squeeze before he got out of the car, shivering at the chill in the air. An owl hooted and nocturnal animals rustled in the bushes around them, and in the darkness, Alistair could see the hazy shapes of ghosts, could feel the weight of their judgement upon him for not staying away from Will and the Mind Flayer possessing him like some sort of demon.
Alistair turned away, focusing on what was important right now.
Jonathan got Will out, carrying his little brother as they made the walk to where Hopper said they could go to. After five minutes like the police chief had said, Alistair saw a shape forming out of the darkness and thick woods—a wooden house, almost materialising out of the darkness, easy to miss in the night.
It's a cabin, right in the middle of the woods. A cabin, Alistair realised, must be where Hopper had hid El for all this time. And Alistair had to admit, it's the perfect place to hide someone from the government—no one would think to look for El in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.
Something glinted out of the corner of Alistair's eye and he whispered, "Jonathan."
Jonathan paused, and he, Joyce and Nancy saw the thing Alistair saw—a silver wire, stretched between two trees in front of the cabin. An alarm, Alistair realised, just in case anyone from Hawkins Lab got too close to the cabin.
They all gave each other a look before carefully climbing over the alarm and continuing on to the house. The keys that Hopper had given her jangled in Nancy's hands as she unlocked the door, letting it swing open as they entered inside.
