When the Lonsdale girls were merely children, their mother would read only one story at bedtime. It was a beloved story, one that used to fill their dreams with imagination and colour. It was a story about a girl falling down a rabbit-hole and finding herself stuck in a weird, but beautiful land. Daisy used to believe she was like Alice and would draw pictures about the talking cat or the screaming queen. Those childhood stories faded from her mind with time though, because all little girls had to grow up eventually. Never in a million years, did that young thoughtful girl imagine that that very bedtime story would mean something more to her at the age of sixteen.

"Wait, you think Marigold is leaving clues?" Steve Harrington blurted out. There was almost a laugh in the tone of his voice. Daisy Lonsdale turned away from his questioning eyes and watched the night blur from the car window. She knew it had been a stupid mistake in telling him about the mixtape or the numbers imprinted in the drawing. "What kind of clues?"

Daisy huffed out a sigh. "You really don't have to get involved."

Steve let his attention drift from the road for a second to glance across at her. Her golden hair was braided down her back, her soft eyelids dusted with dark makeup. Everything about her screamed darkness and suggested she was filled with such rage. Everything but the simple ring on a finger, the only remaining figment left of the girl who was once sweet and innocent. He knew the ring belonged to Marigold, he had seen it countless times before. He noted Daisy suited it better though, even with her fuck the world attitude. "Look, I screwed up last year and it's not something I'm proud of and trying to bury it didn't work. But maybe I can make it up to you, and to Marigold."

Daisy glared across at him and although she wanted to tell him politely, to screw himself, she did not because there was a little reminder singing in her head that he might deserve a second chance. Weirdly, Marigold had chosen this rich kid as somebody to trust and maybe, tonight that was enough for Daisy too. With a little movement in her tense shoulders, her mouth opened, but snapped shut when she realised where they were. Hawkins High looked eerie at nighttime and when Steve cut the engine, he was sending her a grin. "Why are we here?" Daisy snipped out. "You were supposed to take me home."

Steve was pushing open his door. "It's just a little detour." Daisy watched as the boy wandered around the front of his car, very still in her own seat. The looming building of school towered over her and with the moonless night, it looked haunted. When Steve yanked open her own door, he gave her a look. "Follow the clues, right?"

With a little groan, she slipped from the car and waited in the dark carpark with him. The mixtape was shoved into her jacket pocket, the thing feeling a little too heavy. "You know, we could have checked out your locker tomorrow." Daisy noted quietly as the two teenagers hurried across the carpark and the dried grass and stopped at the double doors that opened up to the main corridor of lockers and classrooms.

Steve sent her another smile. "Where's the fun in that?"

He pushed on the doors, but nothing happened. A frown was already working on his pretty forehead and Daisy was pushing him aside with her hip while yanking two bobby pins from her hair. Steve was rising his eyebrows with question and admiration as the girl jimmied the door open, the click of the lock turning loud to their ears. When the door finally edged open, Daisy waved him through. "Breaking and entering would look really classy on your college applications." Steve hummed out as they moved through the dark hallway.

"Shut up, Steve."

A chuckle sounded from his lips. "I'm serious. Where'd you learn to do that?"

Daisy was quite pleased with how impressed he actually was with her little trick. "Believe it or not, but there is more to life than getting drunk, hooking up with random girls and partying with your groupies. A girl can learn a few things when her mind isn't full of high school drama bullshit."

Steve frowned. "I don't hook up with random girls." Daisy was already rolling her eyes, not very interested in his attempt to cover up his mostly mundane life. She knew all about boys like him. High school was his time to shine and within a few years, he would most likely follow his father's footsteps with the family business and marry some simple and pretty girl who wanted children and that white picket fence life. He would become Hawkins royalty, never leaving the dead end town. "For your information, there's only one girl I've been kissing."

"Nancy, right." Daisy faked a yawn, "Pretty, smart and mildly boring, Nancy Wheeler."

They came to a halt at his locker, the tension growing thick around them with the mention of his girlfriend. Steve was already growing defensive. "Nancy's not boring. She's actually really great." Daisy gave him a bored look. "What do you have against her? Wait, are you jealous?"

She scoffed. "Why would I be jealous of Nancy?"

Steve unlocked his locker effortlessly, the door moaning in the quiet corridor. A few random books fell from the messy locker, which apparently, Steve didn't keep organised. Daisy helped pull a few odd bits of rubbish and broken pens from his locker, not quite sure what they were looking for. "Because Nancy gets to kiss me."

"Your ego's getting a little big, Harrington." Daisy muttered quietly while the taller boy yanked out an overdue fat textbook, some dust filling the air around them which made Daisy sneeze. But that wasn't what snagged her attention because another smaller novel fell free from the textbook pages, almost like somebody had hidden it in another book.

Bending down, Daisy retrieved the novel and found her breath hitching up when she flipped it over and found a very familiar blonde girl meeting her gaze. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol. "That's not mine." Steve commented when he noticed the book in her hands.

"Our mum used to read this to us all the time." Daisy was saying quietly, her fingertips brushing the cover art before opening the book and flicking through the stiff pages. "It was our favourite." she added after a moment, her heart feeling a little too heavy in her chest right now. Suddenly, something was dropping from the book and Steve was retrieving a key.

He held it up for Daisy to see. "I'm assuming she left this too."

Daisy eyed the key, having no idea what it opened. When her gaze finally moved back down to the familiar book in her hands, questions danced in her mind. "Why would Marigold leave these in your locker? If she was leaving clues for me, why not leave them in my locker?"

Steve shrugged. "Maybe she thought it was safer to keep them in somebody else's locker, you know? Hopper searched her locker when she left town, hoping to find a lead." he paused, staring back at his messy locker. "Maybe she knew they'd never check my locker."

Marigold was clever, always three steps ahead. "Okay, that makes sense. But why your locker? She could have left the book and key anywhere, why drag you into it? Also, why put the mixtape in your car that night? Why get into an argument? Unless, the entire argument was done on purpose. You mentioned it came out of nowhere, right? Maybe she planned everything before actually running away."

"Damn it, she's good." Steve breathed out.

There were too many questions in her mind and although she had found another clue, it didn't offer much on what to do next. A key that opened something and a book they used to love when they were children. What was the connection? Suddenly, Daisy was reaching for the key that sat in Steve's palm still but he yanked it out of her grasp. "Give me the key, Harrington."

He shook his head. "If I give you this key, you win."

"This isn't a fucking game—"

Steve shoved the key into his pocket. "I know it's not a game, but Marigold clearly wanted me a part of this little treasure hunt. So, I'll keep this little key and you get to keep me around until we solve the riddle." Daisy was clicking her jaw with anger, but Steve just sent her another smile, actually thanking his missing friend for giving him a chance to win back Daisy's trust. "Come on, let me drive you home."

Daisy weighed her options. She could either march out of school, without the key and forget all about the clues her sister had left in her disappearance, or work alongside a boy she had come to hate and get her sister back. She didn't actually have an option, that was very clear in her mind as she followed behind Steve Harrington.

***

Darkness danced around Dottie Fields, the cool air nipping at her exposed skin. She was huddled on her back porch, hands wrapped around her waist as she waited for Butterball, their somewhat dopey Golden Retriever. He was sniffing at some grass without any intention of coming back inside soon. "Butterball, come on!" Dottie called out.

Her eyes scanned the thick tree line and was almost convinced something was watching her. Chills ran down her spine, the overhead light flickering slightly. When the backdoor slammed open, a yelp was falling from her lips as Micky stood there, grinning like an idiot and holding a bowl of soup. "Fiddlesticks, you nearly scared me half to death!" she snipped across at her little brother who slurped on his spoon.

"What are you doing out here? It's bloody freezing." Micky asked, noticing how the light flickered again, leaving the two of them in a spot of dreadful darkness for a second.

Dottie pointed out into their backyard where she spotted Butterball by the oak tree now, sniffing away still and blind to his surroundings. "He was crying to go out, but he's apparently very picky about where he does his business."

Micky snorted. "Just leave him out here."

"I'm not leaving him out here," Dottie hissed in her little brother's direction. "It's not safe." She didn't mention the nosies she had heard a few nights ago in these trees and didn't mention she was actually quite terrified standing on the back porch right now.

Her brother hitched an eyebrow up. "Why wouldn't it be safe? He's stayed outside before—"

Suddenly, something broke through the eerie silence. Dottie was tumbling towards her little brother, arms circling around his shoulders and holding him close. A weird scream sounded through the trees again, the very same sound Dottie had heard before. The sound set her nerves on edge. The light above them switched off completely, leaving them in darkness and when their eyes finally adjusted, something peered at them through the trees. Dottie was frozen still with fear, a scream dying in her throat with the looming figure standing tall. Little Micky was the one wiggling from her tight embrace and hollering for Butterball.

The screaming stopped suddenly as Butterball, now sensing something was wrong, ran towards the two kids. Dottie was dropping to her knees and pulling the dog into her arms, tears blinking in her eyes. Micky was hastily pulling on his sister's arm, yanking her back inside with a new found courage. When the backdoor was locked shut tight, the sound from the television filling the house, he swung back to face his sister. "Holy shit, that was the Demogorgon."

Dottie frowned, Butterball trotting away from her, completely as ease. "What are you talking about? You've seen that thing before? You know what it is?" Her questions came flying out of her mouth, her body trembling still with witnessing a monster without a face. Micky's face caved and his sister realised he was indeed hiding something. "Spill the beans, Micky. What the hell do you know about whatever that thing is?"

While the monster without a face blended back into the darkness, little Micky Fields went against a promise to keep a little girl, a new friend, safe and told his sister everything about what he knew about the Demogorgon.