EPISODE FOUR
the sauna test.

NOVA GOT into bed next to max and eleven, and held up her favourite comic books, wonder woman, and spider man vol 2 as she grinned. "which one?"

whilst max picked wonder woman, eleven just smiled lightly, saying she didn't know. both girls could tell something was wrong with her. "hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?" max spoke.

"it doesn't make sense." eleven sighed, nova sat up, "what doesn't make sense?" she asked.

"heather...the blood. the ice."

"heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now." max spoke, shrugging slightly. "that has to be it. i don't know where that blood came from, but...we saw her. we all saw her. she's totally fine."

"what about billy?" eleven ask quietly.

"what about him?" max asked with a frown.

"he seemed wrong..." this is when nova nodded in agreement, "he's up to something."

"wrong is his default. but it's nice to know he's not a murderer, cause that would've totally sucked." max chuckled as nova smiled lightly, not convinced.

"i've known billy my whole life, i know when he's mad, happy, annoyed, whatever. and he's not right. something is happening with him, i'm telling you." nova spoke up and max sighed, shaking her head.

"who is that?" eleven changed the subject as both max and nova raised their brows.

"see, this is why you can't just hang out with mike all the time. this is wonderful woman. aka princess diana. she's from paradise island, which is, like, this hidden island where there are only women amazon warriors..."

NOVA WAS woken up by a voice talking about a code red on the walkie talkie, she groaned, picking it up. "shut up!" she exclaimed, turning it off and rolling over.

the phone began to ring, and she groaned loudly, getting up, "i said go away!" she exclaimed, about to put it down.

"it's mike!" the panicked voice spoke.

"another reason for me to ignore you." she said before hanging up as max chuckled whilst nova almost screamed in annoyance when the phone rang again.

"fuck off, micheal!" she exclaimed, but found herself smiling when she realised it was lucas. "oh! hi!"

"something happened, something bad. our very lives could be at stake." he spoke and she frowned.

"lucas, i'm not in the mood for d&d right now—" she began tiredly, thinking it was just another one of those games.

"nov im being serious. just come over to mike's house. we'll explain everything. hurry!" before she could argue, he had hung up.

"what is it?" max asked and she turned around to face the two girls with a worried look.

THE THREE girls arrived at mikes house around twenty minutes later, nova sitting down next to lucas who smiled at her, intertwining their fingers.

"i didn't think it was anything at first. i mean, i think i just didn't want to believe it." will began as they all listened with small frowns. "the first time i felt it was at day of the dead."

"power went out that night, too." mike spoke, "and then i felt it again at the field near the nelson farm the next day...and again yesterday outside castle byers." he finished as they frowned.

"what does it feel like?" max asked hesitantly.

"like...it's almost like, you know when you drop on a roller coaster?" he asked.

yeah, sure." nova nodded.

"totally."
"yeah."
"yep."

"no." eleven answered.

"it's like...everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but...this is worse. your body...it goes cold and—you can't breath. i felt it before. whenever he was close." he explained carefully, almost too scared to mention him.

"who?" max asked slowly. will looked up to face them all.

"the mind flayer." everyone's hearts dropped at his words.

"i...closed the gate." eleven spoke up and will nodded.

"i know, but...what if he never left? what if we locked him out here with us?" they all frowned at his words as he got up to explain it better.

he placed a piece of paper down, and drew a dark figure, looking like the shadow monster on it, "this is him. all of him. but the day i'm the field, a part of him attached itself to me." he placed his hand down, the crayon smudging onto his hand and showing them it.

"my mom got it out of me." he wiped the crayon onto the paper, "and eleven closed the gate." he spoke, "but the part that was still in me...what if it's still in our world? in hawkins."

"i don't understand. the demo-dogs died when el closed the gate. if the brain dies, the body dies." max spoke, hoping it wasn't true.

mike looked up. "we can't take any chances. we need to assume the worst. the mind flayer's back."

"yeah...and if he is, he'd want to attach himself to someone again. a new me." will spoke.

"a new host." lucas spoke and nova sat down, a hand going to her mouth in slight shock, as they all looked at her worriedly.

"what's wrong?" lucas asked, crouching down to her height on the sofa.

"billy." she whispered, looking up at them. "how can you tell if somebody is a host?" she asked, and they all shared a look.

THE GROUP biked to the pool where billy was working, to see if he could be a new host from what will described it as, the girls had described all what they and eleven saw. nova was silently praying he wouldn't be.

"he looks pretty normal to me." max spoke, trying to convince herself.

"when have you seen him with a shirt and towel over him?" nova spoke calmly, lucas holding onto her hand and rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

"it's a little weird, i guess." max spoke.

lucas then spoke up, "more than a little. he was in a tub of ice. the mind flayer likes it cold. plus everything else—"

"but he's lounging at the pool, which is, like, the least mind flayer thing ever." max spoke quickly as will disagreed.

"not necessarily...the mind flayer likes to hide. he only used me when he needed me. it's like...you're dormant. and then, when he needs you, you're activated." he explained briefly.

"okay. so we just...wait." nova suggested with a slight frown.

no. what if he hurts someone?" mike shook his head. "or kills someone."

nova frowned again, looking away as she rubbed her face in distress. "we can't take that chance. we need to find out if he's the host." mike told them as he began to walk away.

"where are you going?" eleven asked, mike shrugged,

"i have an idea. boys only." he motioned for lucas and will to follow.

"seriously?" nova scoffed as lucas kissed the side of her head.

"just trust me on this one." mike yelled as the three boys ran off.

THEY SOON came back and explained about mikes sauna test and they began to set up the items they needed to try and capture billy.

nova stayed on watch, sitting on some random persons truck and watching billy, "mike, you there?" she asked on the walkie talkie.

"yeah!" he yelled, as if she had just caught him out on something.

"where are you guys?" she asked, growing bored.

"i'm coming! just...hold on!" she placed the walkie down and looked over at billy with a sad look.

"god, i hope it's not you. i really hope it's not you." she whispered, covering her face with a sigh, trying not to let any tears fall.

the group soon came back, and did their own thing as lucas came and sat next to her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. "you okay?" he asked.

she let out a breath. "yes...no...i don't know." she answered honestly, "i hope we're all wrong about this. even though i fucking hate him...i don't want him to die, i really don't want him to die." she hadn't noticed any tears were falling as he sighed, wrapping his arm around her.

"i know, novs...i know." he whispered, kissing her head as she wiped away a few tears.

lhe's still in there." she said confidently as he looked at her.

"who?" he asked carefully

"billy. the one before my mom left and before my dad started being a douche. i know he is. the billy he is now...it's all an act, i'm sure of it. my brother is still in there. he just needs help finding himself again." she rambled on as he listened, frowning slightly as it was clear she was trying to convince herself rather than lucas.

nova hargrove knew deep down that any ounce of the old billy was long gone. but since everybody else had given up on him, she knew that she just couldn't. she wouldn't stop believing that her brother was still in there until her last breath.

nova😕❤️‍🩹

outfit inspo for this and the next chapter:)