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Once everyone got back to the Byer's home, Hopper helped Joyce to her room, telling her to get some rest while the rest of them figured out a plan. Steve, Nancy, and the party sat in the living room, all of them filling Mike in on what happened to them at the junkyard while Jonathan and Kendall sat by Will, who they laid down on the couch.
Jonathan had not left the boys side since they got there. And Kendall hadn't left his side since either. She remembered what it was like when Marcus went missing. What it was like for both of them. So she stayed with him, leaning up against his living room cabinet as she ran a comforting hand up and down his back.
"He's gonna be okay." Kendall muttered reassuringly. Jonathan watched his brother for a couple seconds before he slowly nodded his head. "He was okay last time, he'll be okay this time." He muttered.
Jonathan turned to look at Kendall and broke into a smile when he was met with her own. He looked down and noticed one of Kendall's hands close to his own. He looked back up at Kendall and keeping his eyes on her, he reached out and grabbed her hand. Instantly, Kendall squeezed his hand.
Ruining the small moment, the sound of Dustin's yells and loud footsteps, echoed through the home.
"Kenny! Move!"
Kendall turned her head at the sounds of Dustin's yells. The boy was practically steamrolling towards her and she had no time to process or follow his words before he pushed her out of the way, revealing the drawers to the cabinet she was leaning against.
Jonathan grabbed her hands at the boys harsh push as she glared at Dustin, who opened one of the drawers and pulled out Will's dungeons and dragons book
"Dustin!" Kendall screamed, but the boy barely gave her any of his attention, closing the drawer and running back into the kitchen. "Sorry! This was important!"
As Dustin ran away, Jonathan stood up, his hands out to help Kendall up. "You okay?" He asked quietly as he pulled Kendall up. The girl sighed, nodding her head as she brushed off her clothes. "Yeah, I'm okay." She muttered back, watching as Dustin slammed the book down onto the kitchen table and started to flip through the pages.
Kendall and Jonathan started to walk towards the table, everyone circling it. When Dustin reached the page he was looking for, he sighed, and slammed his finger onto the image of the creature.
"The mind flayer." Dustin said, looking up from the page of his book to the group huddled around the table with him. The party all looked at Dustin with dropped jaws while Max, the older teens, and Hopper watched him with confused looks.
"What the hell is that?" Hopper asked from directly across the table from him. Dustin looked back down at the book and pointed at the small description of the creature, summarizing it for the others. "It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home. Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."
