Ṫḧë Ṡöüṅḋ öḟ Ṗëṛïḷ (M. Wheeler)

The Sauna Test (pt. ii)

Hey Guys! Here come the long awaited chapter (on my behalf at least, I'm excited for this)! Lemme just say.... Get ready for a ton of intense shit.

Hope you enjoy :D

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"I don't know—he seems pretty normal to me."

At the moment, the teens were outside the pool boundaries, spying on Billy from a distance. Dylan frowned at his sister—what Max had described as 'normal' was Billy sitting on the lifeguard's chair underneath an umbrella with a long-sleeved shirt on, a towel over his legs, and a hat on his head, idly playing with a lighter with an emotionless demeanour to him; the only normal thing about him was that he was wearing sunglasses.

Everyone else seemed to share his skepticism. "Normal?" Lucas questioned incredulously. "How many times have you seen him with a shirt on??"

Max tilted her head. "I mean, it is a little weird," she attested reluctantly.

"It's completely weird," Dylan deadpanned, still observing his brother. Billy would never give up a chance to flaunt his toned body—and right now he seemed to be covering every patch of skin from the sun's rays despite it being considerably hot outside—too hot for his he was dressed.

Seemed pretty damn out of character to Dylan...

"He was in a tub full of ice, the Mind Flayer likes it cold," Mike added. "plus everything else—"

"But he's lounging at the pool, which is like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever," Max protested.

"Not necessarily," Will mused, causing everyone's attention to move towards him. "The Mind Flayer—he likes to hide," he explained. "he only used me when he needed me. It's like, you're dormant; and when he needs you...." He gazed over to Billy. "You're activated."

Max pursed her lips. "Okay, so...we just wait until he gets activated," she suggested. Dylan sighed inwardly. He could tell that this whole thing was still bugging her out and it was because she cared about Billy more than she recognized. Like Dylan, she wasn't fond of the Mind Flayer being in him—but unlike Dylan, she faced this with skepticism and reluctance instead of acceptance and anger like he did.

Mike shook his head. "No. What if he hurts someone?"

"Or kills someone?" Will added in.

"We can't take that chance," Mike said firmly. "We need to clarify if he's the host."

Dylan would've liked to irritably chip in that he was almost indefinitely the host and that they should be focusing on how to get it out of him rather than the fucking 'what if's', when his attention was caught by Mike walking towards the building.

"Where are you going?" El asked in slight exasperation, sharing the confusion with Dylan and Max.

"I have an idea. Boys only," Mike said, beckoning them, which had Will and Lucas following him immediately.

"Seriously?" Max asked, sounding annoyed.

"Just trust me on this one!" Mike called back to them as they ran towards the boys change room.

Ahh, that's why, Dylan thought as he began to follow them.

"Dyl? You too?" Max asked with incredulity.

Dylan turned back to them and shrugged. "For once, this is justified," he said, giving no further explanation as he ran to quickly catch up with the boys. When he did, Mike was already going over his little plan.