Symmetrical Stranger Things Book Two

Chapter 4: Will the Wise

Will and Celeste are on the field, their bodies being invaded by the Upside Down monster. Joyce makes it to the school to find the AV club empty, but it's not long before she runs into Dustin in the hall. Lucas runs in frantically to tell them he found Will.

As the group run out to them, They're both frozen in place, eyes rolling back in their heads. In the Upside Down version of the football field, tendrils of the shadow monster enter Will and Celeste's nostrils and mouth as their bodies are frozen in a silent scream. Joyce calls to him repeatedly while Mike calls to Celeste, but Will does not respond neither does Celeste. Everything cutting intermittently between the real world and Will and Celeste's living nightmare on the other side. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, the monster releases his grip and their eyes fly open wide.
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Time passes as Will goes home Mike also takes Celeste to the nurses office and soon their mother picked her up taking her home the thought of knowing somehow Celeste's connected to all of this too frightened Mike. "Maybe it is True Sight."

Lucas' words seem to echo in the fabric of this entire ordeal. Back at home, Joyce does her best to seek out some truth, as well. Will tells her he doesn't remember anything. She shows Will the shape she sketched out from his Halloween videotape. "What is it," Joyce asks. "What does it want?" Will doesn't know.

"It came for us and I tried to make it go away. But it got us, Mom," Will tells her. "I felt it everywhere. I still feel it."

It's emotional for Joyce to watch as Will describe what it is exactly what they're saw, not knowing how to be sure. But she's dedicated and never gives anything up without a fight. So she's determined to keep both of them safe Celeste's parents don't even know about any of this. She can't tell them otherwise they'll think she's crazy.
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Meanwhile with El. After her walkabout, She returns to the cabin to find Hopper smoking a cigarette on the porch. Eleven knows he's angry. With everything she's been through, it seems like she's never received the tough love Jim Hopper was about to dole out.

"Friends don't lie," Hopper says, using Mike's words against Eleven. He presses her for answers on where she went on her field trip. She says she went to see Mike at the school but assures him she wasn't seen. But Hopper's point gets made when he informs her the mother and daughter she came across called the cops. It's that type of visibility that will get Eleven caught, or worse. And while it's clear Eleven need Hopper to fulfill his promise to let her leave, it looks like she'll be quarantined to this prison for an undetermined amount of time.

"You lie," Eleven yells, doing her best to escalate the argument. But unfortunately for her, she's still a child and Hopper knows this. Having a police officer for a father must be quite challenging. "I don't lie," he replies. "I protect and I feed and I teach." Furious, he grounds Eleven for a week no Eggos and no TV. The punishment quickly grows to two weeks, then a month. Threatening to take away TV privileges sends Eleven over the edge. This is her main conduit to the outside world, and revoking her privileges sends her reeling. How will she connect with Mike?

"You've got to understand, there are consequences to your actions," Hopper tries to explain. Instead, Eleven begins using her powers to throw a book at Hopper. A couch soon follows. She slams the door with her psionic abilities and lets out a scream that shatters all the windows in the building.
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Joyce attempts to call Hopper but he's not in the office. As she hangs up, Will walks into the kitchen in his pajamas. She asks if he feels any better. According to Will, he still feels weird. But in the Byers household, it seems that weird is relative.

She checks for a fever and the thermometer comes back with a temperature below 96 degrees. She asks if Will feels cold. He just feels a little out of it. Instead of taking him to the doctor, she opts to run him a warm bath to help him feel better. It probably won't, though. If Dart's disdain for light and heat is any sign, it's that Will's contact with the shadow beast in the Upside Down has begun to change him.
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