The group all took Nancy's car, since they all somehow fit into it by smushing in the very back of it, to the Creel House that Max had apparently saw in the trance that Vecna had put her under.

She had drew out different pieces of it before Nancy pieced it all together, realizing that she had seen the house before on one of the newspapers she, Robin, and Alicia found back at the library.

So, their next stop just had to be the Creel House.

Great.

They all got out of the car, grabbing some flashlights just in case, before they slowly made their way up to the broken down house.

"Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve commented sarcastically, earning a look from his girlfriend. But she had to agree, it was pretty creepy considering the fact that it had made her stomach drop at the sight.

They made their way further towards the house, having to use a hammer to bring down the plank of wood blocking the door. "What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve questioned as he and Beverly worked to tear off the nails together.

"We're not sure. We just know this house is important to Vecna," Nancy told him from behind.

"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" Steve asked.

"'Red soup mind world'?" Chris repeated under his breath, scrunching his nose up at the odd description.

"Basically," Nancy answered.

"Great."

"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels. And how to stop him before he comes back for Max," Dustin guessed.

"We don't think he's in here...do we?" Lucas slowly asked, making them all feel even more unsettled than they already were.

"I hope not," Alicia breathed out.

"I guess we'll find out," Max spoke up with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

"Ready?" Steve said to Beverly, referring to taking down the wooden plank.

"Yep," she said before the two let go of it, making it fall down onto the ground with a loud thud. "Interesting door," Beverly pointed out, examining the glass rose on it.

Steve tried twisting the doorknob, but the door wouldn't open. "It's locked. Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"

"No need," Robin voiced, making them all look back at her to see she had picked up a red brick. "I found a key."

"Yeah, that could work," Alicia shrugged before she took a step back to give Robin some room to throw the brick. "I suggest everyone step back as well."

"Why? You don't trust me with a brick?" Robin asked in a slight teasing manner.

"I-I mean, it's not that, it's just that—"

"Relax, I was joking. I wouldn't trust me with one either. That's why I'm letting Chris do it," Robin cut her off before she handed the brick to Chris, making Alicia sigh quietly in relief. "All you."

"You know, I haven't played basketball in almost two years. My aim is a little rusty," he told her, even though he started to line himself up with the door.

"Probably better than mine," Robin replied and he shrugged before he threw the brick, smashing the rose window. "See," she said and Chris just shrugged, playing it off cool.

Steve then stepped forward, reaching through the hole Chris created, and opened the door from the inside. He pushed the door open, making it creak loudly before they all stepped inside. Steve whistled at the dusty sight in front of them.

Lucas tried to turn on the lamp, but it didn't work. "Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," he said and everyone took out their flashlights, turning them on.

"Where'd everyone get those?" Steve questioned in confusion.

"Uh, you didn't see us take them out?" Beverly replied, furrowing her brows at him.

"No," he shook his head.

"Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child," Dustin sassed, making Beverly snort.

"Thank you, guys," Steve said with an unamused expression on his face. Dustin hummed in response and Beverly gave Steve an innocent smile.

"You're so very welcome," she replied cheekily.

Dustin then slid his backpack off his shoulder and said, "Back pocket." He handed the bag to Steve, where he took out the flashlight and dropped the bag on the floor.

"Happy now?" Beverly teased.

"Very," he replied, rolling his eyes.

The group then flashed their lights all around, looking at all the furniture and dirty walls. "They just left everything," Nancy pointed out.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value," Robin joked, but no one laughed aside from Alicia and Chris.

"Hey, guys?" Max called out, shining her light on a grandfather clock. "You all see that, right?"

"Yeah," Dustin and Steve confirmed.

"Is this what you saw? In your visions?" Nancy asked and Max nodded in response.

"I mean, it's just a clock...right?" Robin slowly said, although something was off about it. She stepped forward, rubbing her hand along the front of it to get the dust off. "Like a normal old clock."

"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks? Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?" Steve theorized.

"I think you cracked the case, Steve," Dustin said sarcastically and Steve gave him a look.

"All I know is...the answers are here. Somewhere," Nancy ominously voiced. "Okay, everyone stay in groups of three. Robin and Alicia, upstairs." Robin saluted before she and Alicia followed Nancy upstairs.

"Come on, let's go," Max said to Lucas and Dustin, where they made their way over to a different room.

That just left Beverly, Steve, and Chris. Steve smiled at his girlfriend before he sighed, realizing who else he was with. Even though the two were in better terms now, he didn't really like the idea of being in a group with, technically, Beverly's ex.

"Was that a sigh?" Chris asked as they began to make their way up the stairs.

"No, I did not sigh," Steve denied, which made Beverly give him a look.

"Why'd you sigh?"

"I didn't sigh. Just come on, dude."

"I heard you," Chris said.

"So did I," Beverly spoke up, finding the argument rather childlike since neither of them had a reason to be acting like that.

Steve glanced back at her, quietly scoffing. "I just feel like we're always together, okay?" Steve came up with. "Like last year with the Russians."

"What, you have a problem with that? I mean, we used to be best friends, you know," Chris pointed out and Beverly resisted the urge to laugh.

"It'd just be nice to, I don't know, mix it up a bit."

"Does that mean you don't wanna be my partner either?" Beverly asked, although she didn't really mean it.

"What? No! No, of course not. It's just—"

"It's just that he's my ex, and you guys are, like, the phase between ex best friends and friends right now," Beverly finished for Steve once they had reached the top of the steps, making him dumbfounded. "Don't worry, I got it."

Steve turned around and glanced in between Beverly and Chris, feeling slightly embarrassed. "When you say it out loud, it sounds stupider than it is," Steve replied and she shrugged.

"Hold on, is that really the reason?" Chris asked the boy. "Because you know I don't like Bev like that anymore. We've established we're just friends."

"Exactly."

"I know! I know. It's just...I don't know, let's just try to find whatever the hell we're looking for," Steve said, shaking his head rapidly. Steve then turned back around, going into a room. Beverly and Chris shared a look, resisting the urge to laugh at him.

They weren't sure if Steve was jealous about the fact that were actually getting along now or not, but they did find his reluctance to work with Chris pretty funny.

And for Chris, if this had happened any other year before this one, he probably would have been hurt...but he was completely over Steve like he was with Beverly.

But that didn't mean he wasn't allowed to admire their beauty from afar, right?

Beverly and Chris quickly followed the Harrington boy, shining their flashlights around the dusty area. "Hold on, do we even know what we're searching for?" Beverly voiced, furrowing her brows a bit.

"No idea," Steve breathed out and Chris nodded in agreement.

Beverly sighed. "How did I get stuck with the stupidest people in this group?" she questioned, shaking her head.

Steve scoffed at her. "Babe, what? You don't even know what we're searching for either!" he argued, giving her a look.

"Okay, yeah, but I don't need to do everything all the time. You have to do at least something to contribute," she replied, crossing her arms.

Steve gave her a look before he looked at Chris. "Hey, don't look at me. I'm the ex, remember?" Chris said and Steve just rolled his eyes, looking back at his girlfriend.

"How am I supposed to contribute when I'm always stuck on babysitting duty?" he responded.

"You aren't stuck on it now," she pointed out, smirking lightly before she walked off into another room.

Chris let out a snort, making Steve glare at him. "Sorry," he quickly apologized. "It's just you would think that with you two being together now that you wouldn't banter like this anymore."

"Yeah, you would think, right?" Steve said, scoffing lightly since him and Beverly very much still argued like they would have two years ago. "But I guess I'm gonna try to contribute now so..." he trailed off, walking over to find where she had went.

Chris just shrugged before he saw a vent on the ground. Chris shined his light on the vent, realizing something was inside of it. He opened it up and reached his down, picking up a glass canister with a dead spider in it.

He then felt something crawl on his shoulder so he jumped up, dropping the glass on the floor, which made it shatter, and wiping himself as he backed out of the room.

"Whoa, whoa. What? What's wrong?" Nancy questioned her brother since he had bumped into her on the way out.

"There was a spider," he breathlessly told her.

"Okay..."

"It's a black widow," he said before he shut the door. "Don't go in there."

"Oh, oh," Nancy said once she saw something in his long hair that probably needed to be brushed right then. "Wait, just..."

"Something in there? Shit," he said, going over towards the mirror to try and find it since he didn't want any spiders nesting in his hair.

"Wait. Stop moving."

"Okay!"

"Stop. I just...I got it. I got it," she said as she took the spiderweb out of his hair.

"If there's a spider nesting in there, you're never gonna find it till it lays eggs and all the babies spill out," Robin taunted as she and Alicia came up behind them.

"What the hell is wrong with you? That's not funny," Chris replied as the girls laughed. "Robin, seriously." He then watched as they both walked away, sighing, "She's got problems."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Nancy agreed.

"It's cool you two are, like, friends now. It's always nice to be friends with people that your sister approves of," he joked, making Nancy laugh slightly. "Maybe after we find Vecna, kill him, you know, save the world and stuff, we could all be like a trio and hang out. Or better yet, bring Jonathan when he comes back."

Nancy winced lightly at the mention of Jonathan's name, not wanting to talk about the boy at the moment. Alicia and Robin, who had been watching the twins from afar, gave each other a slightly confused look but they didn't want to butt into the sibling conversation.

"You actually wanna hang out with me?" Nancy questioned, not believing her brother.

"Yeah. I mean, I've been hanging out with Mike this whole time, I should make some time for my own twin sister," he told her with a shrug as she continued sifting through his hair.

"What about you and Robin? Would it be, like, a double date?" Nancy prodded, wanting to see if what Robin told her was true or not.

"Me and Robin? No, we're not dating. I told you she's not into me a while ago. She did tell you that, right? That we're not together? Because I know how you can get," Chris said.

"Yes. She made that very clear, I just wanted to make sure," Nancy told him.

"Platonic with a capital P," Robin spoke up since she and Alicia had still been listening to their conversation.

"Yep! Thank you. I mean...I would still date her, but she's...We're just...Never mind. We're friends. We're just friends, trust me," he assured his sister since he didn't want Nancy to bully Robin for thinking Robin had completely broken his heart. Well, she did at first but he just had just gotten over it like anyone else would.

"Yeah, Chris, I know that now." She then finished fishing the spiderwebs out of his hair. "Okay. All better."

"Perfect. Thanks, sis," Chris said, nudging her playfully.

Nancy rolled her eyes. "You might wanna think about cutting your hair, though. It's getting a little chaotic," she told him, knowing it would upset him.

He scoffed. "I worked hard on this, okay? I can't just chop off my hard work," he defended himself.

"Right, yeah, okay," Nancy said as she shook her head, walking away.

✦ ✧ ✦

Eddie had been tossing rocks into the empty Spaghettios can to pass the time while Carmen watched in boredom. She would have thought that by now, she and Eddie would have at least made out or something but...she didn't make the move to after their little moment was ruined.

Neither had he.

And she didn't know why because she was obviously into him, and she had a pretty good feeling he was into her...she just didn't know what was stopping her now. She was going to kiss him before, but now she felt like that wouldn't have been a good idea for some reason; to go that fast.

The sound of the car then neared the boathouse, making Eddie drop down to the ground before he started to peer out the window. Carmen's eyes widened, also getting lower to the ground just in case.

She watched as Eddie ducked as soon as he looked out, making her stomach drop. "What? Who is it?" she whispered quickly.

"Jason and his friends," Eddie told her quietly.

Carmen furrowed her brows in confusion before she realized that Chrissy had been Jason's girlfriend, and that Jason probably thought Eddie had been the one to kill her by what the news was probably saying. Shit.

"Shit, shit," Eddie breathed out, saying what Carmen was thinking. He then made his way over to the other window, looking out of it to see if he could spot them.

"What do we do?"

"I don't know," Eddie replied worriedly.

"Um...the others. Try contacting the others," Carmen suggested, making her way over to Eddie.

He quickly nodded, grabbing the walkie talkie from the table. "Hey, Dustin. You there? Chris? It's Eddie and Carmen. You remember us, right? Hey, uh, if anyone's there, I really think we might be in a bit of trouble here. Okay? Wheelers?" he said into the machine before he smacked it angrily. "Anybody?!"

Carmen took the walkie talkie from him. "Alicia and Beverly, I swear to God, if no one answers us I will tell your deepest and darkest secrets to everyone. I'll do it. I don't care," she threatened, even though she would never actually do that. She just really didn't feel like trying to charm Jason and his basketball friends since she had practically hooked up with every single one of them, apart from Jason. And he had just lost Chrissy, so she guessed he wouldn't be up for any flirting any time soon.

Eddie then got up, moving over towards Carmen to pull her further to the ground. "We can't risk them seeing us," Eddie whispered quietly, his eyes wide. "They're gonna kill me."

Carmen let out a silent sigh. "We're gonna have to stay here, then, and pray that they don't think to look in here."

✦ ✧ ✦

"It's like the Christmas lights," Nancy pointed out as they watched the chandelier lights flicker. Max had alerted them at what she found, making them all come back together to watch the flickering lights.

"The Christmas lights?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, when Will was in the Upside Down, the lights...came to life," Nancy briefly explained.

"That's how he contacted his mother," Beverly added slowly, keeping her eyes fixated on the lights.

"Vecna's here. In this house. Just on the other side," Lucas whispered, making a chill go down all of their spines.

The lights then abruptly turned off, making them even more worried. "Uh...what just happened?" Alicia slowly said, gulping quietly.

"I think he just left the room," Robin joked lightly.

"Did he hear us?" Max asked.

"Can he see us?" Steve queried.

"Can he see and hear us?" Chris questioned, making Dustin give him a look.

"Headphones," Lucas told Max and she quickly put them back over her ears, playing Running Up That Hill like she had been doing over and over again to prevent Vecna from getting her. Beverly had hoped that she didn't need music and that what was going on with her was all in her head.

"Wait, wait. Everyone turn off your flashlights and spread out," Nancy directed before everyone obliged, apart from Steve who was a little bit skeptical.

"We're not gonna be able to see if turn off our flash..." Steve said before he realized everyone had already turned them off, "...lights. Jesus Christ."

"Do you wanna get yelled at by Nance?" Beverly asked her boyfriend with raised brows before she went off into her own part of the house.

He sighed and turned off his own flashlight, going to his own part of the house just like Nancy said for everyone to do.

"I got him!" Robin then shouted after a few moments. "Got him!" The others quickly raced over to her, seeing her lit up flashlight. "I got him," she said again before it turned off. "I-I had him."

Steve's light then turned on. "Oh, whoa." It then began to flicker a bit. "Oh, I think he's moving. He's moving! He's moving." Steve began to walk, trying to keep the light on the flashlight as everyone followed him up the stairs. It then disappeared. "Shit. I lost him."

"No, you didn't," Max spoke, realizing there was another light on in the room next to them. She opened the door, revealing it to be an attic.

"It's an attic. Of course it's an attic," Robin muttered as she stepped inside, climbing up the steps like everyone else was doing.

"Why wouldn't it be an attic? It's just our luck," Alicia replied as she sighed.

"Hold up, guys. What if he's leading us into a trap?" Dustin called out, but no one listened. "Guys! Guys." He quickly followed them, muttering a string of curse words since he didn't know whether this was a good idea or not.

They made it up to the attic, seeing the light bulb flickering before they realized all of their flashlights were doing the same once they were right underneath it.

"Okay, what's happening?" Steve said in confusion as everyone's flashlights began to get brighter and brighter.

"Don't...know," Beverly answered slowly.

It had also become dark out, unbeknownst to the other group since they had been inside the whole entire time searching for clues.

"Dustin? Please. Are — are you there? Chris?" Eddie spoke into the walkie talkie back at the boathouse, but the line was dead. "Never mind." He quickly set the walkie talkie down, going over to the boat.

"What are you thinking?" Carmen quickly asked.

"They're gonna search this place eventually. We need to try to get out here before then, and our only option is this thing," he explained, untying the large boat from the ropes. "Help me."

Carmen quickly went over, helping Eddie untie the boat so it could land in the water below the dock. They quickly pushed the boat out into the water as quietly and stealthily as possible, not wanting anything to creak to alert the jocks of their position.

Eddie then grabbed an oar and climbed inside. Carmen grabbed one and then turned around, seeing Eddie's outstretched hand for him to help her. She quickly took it and stepped inside, helping him steer the boat out into Lover's Lake.

"Come on, come on, come on," Carmen muttered under her breath since they weren't going fast enough. But they also didn't want to make a lot of noise on the water, so they didn't have a lot of options.

"Hey, freak!" they heard Jason call out, making them look over their shoulders with wide eyes. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"Shit," Carmen and Eddie both said at the same time before Eddie tried to get the motor to work since they weren't worried about noise now.

"Come on," Eddie said through clenched teeth as the engine spluttered. "Just come on!"

"Why is not working?!" Carmen questioned, looking back to shore to see Jason and Patrick getting ready to swim.

"Because it's a piece of shit!" he yelled as he tried again. "Come on. You gotta help me out here, man," he said to the engine desperately. "Come on. Come on, you piece of shit! Come on! Goddamn it!" he seethed as it continued not to work. "Nope? Okay. All right. Okay," he gave up, grabbing onto an oar.

Carmen quickly grabbed onto hers to try and get the boat to move faster, but the two jocks were already so close to them. "Carmen Flores?! What the hell are you doing with him?" Jason called out before he kept on swimming.

Carmen didn't answer as she kept on using the oar to push through the water, silently thinking she should have worked out more at college. But, nonetheless, she kept on going, as did Eddie, not wanting to get caught.

Eddie then got up once he realized that Jason would only keep on following them. "What are you doing?" Carmen questioned, looking behind her to see that Jason and Patrick were literally right there.

"Hey, stay back, man!" Eddie yelled, swinging his oar. "Stay back! Stay back!"

The bulbs in the other groups' flashlights began to go out, making pieces of glass fly out of them and for the group to cover their faces.

"Hey, come on, let's go! We almost have him!" Jason told his friend, who had stopped swimming in the water. "Hey, Patrick! Patrick!" Jason shouted. "Patrick!"

Then, all of a sudden, Patrick had been pulled down underneath the water. Carmen gasped out of fright, slowly starting to stand up in the boat to see where he had gone.

"Patrick?" Jason said with confusion and worry in his tone. "Hey, Patrick! Hey, Patrick. Patrick!"

Patrick then rose up from the water at a fast speed, making Eddie's eyes widen as he fell back into the water, accidentally making Carmen go with him.

They fell in, trying to swim back up for air. They both gasped as they got out from underneath the water, seeing Patrick's bones start to crack in the air.

Carmen's breath started to become ragged at the horrifying sight, never seeing anything like it before. She then watched as Patrick's jaw broke and his eyes bled before his body came crashing down in the water.

At the same time, all the bulbs in the Creel House attic had shattered, littering glass all onto the floor.

Carmen shrieked in terror, not knowing if something in the water had done that since she, nor Eddie, had been filled on what the others found out.

She quickly tried to climb back into the boat, almost making the boat tip, but she was able to do it. "Eddie. Eddie, come on!" she shouted, reaching out for him so she could get him out of the water. "Please!"

Eddie blinked, processing what had just happened.

Again.

He quickly took Carmen's hand and she helped back in the boat, where he grabbed his oar so they could get the hell out of there.

She turned around, trying to get the engine started even though it proved to have not work before. But, by some miracle, it had finally worked and they were off.

Carmen felt bad leaving Jason behind, but Jason was on a mission to hurt Eddie and she definitely didn't want that to happen in the midst of everything going on.

authors note
hopefully the pov changes
weren't that confusing since
the light bulbs shattering and
patrick's death were happening at
the same time. anyway i start school
tmrw so that means chapters r prob
gonna take a little longer to come
out so please keep that in mind! thanks
for reading!