Everything after Max was a blur. Steve somehow got us all in the car and drove us back to Nancy's. We made sure all the kids were good and then Steve and I were cuddled up on the arm chair. We talked for a little bit, trying to get a hold of everyone in California in case they had any ideas and waited for Nancy and Robin to get back. When they were back, we filled them in on what happened with Max and they let us know what happened with them. After the long discussion we all thought it was best if we went to sleep and regain our energy.
"Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?" I hear through the walkie talkie. I groan and little and shift on my chair, which was Steve's lap. He groans as well but I shush him and quickly get off. "Dustin, can you hear me?" I hear again through the walkie. I look over to Dustin to find him still sleeping. I shouldn't wake him. He really needs his sleep. "Dustin? Earth to Dustin?" Eddie says again. I quickly pick up the walkie and move over to the table. "Hey, it's Y/n," I whisper, hoping he doesn't just ignore me.
There's a small break of static before Eddie says, "Hey, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, real soon, unless you want me going out into the world." I panic a little and quickly reply, "No, no, please don't leave the house Eds. Stay there and we'll be there as soon as we can." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, um... can you pick me up a six-pack? I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves," Eddie asks. I look behind me and notice that the couch is empty. "Hey Eds, I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to call you back," I rush and turn the walkie off. "Nancy! Nancy!" I yell, shaking Nancy's shoulders. She groans and glares up at me. "What the hell do you want?" She asks. "Aren't you meant to be on Max watch?" I ask her. She rolls her eyes but nods. "There where the hell is she?" I ask her, getting more annoyed. "She's right there. A second ago. I swear, I just dozed off for..." She says but realises that Max is no longer laying on the couch. She looks down at her watch and her eyes grow in shock. She looks back at me and whispers, "an hour."
I groan and we quickly stand up, heading up the stairs. We head into the kitchen and find Max still at the table with her headphones on. I sign in relief and walk over to her. "Morning guys!" Karen greets us. "Everything okay?" She asks us after we don't answer her. "Yeah. Yeah, everything's okay." Nancy replies. "I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this," Karen says, putting some pancakes on a plate. "Could try sticking together at a different house for a change," Ted says. I roll my eyes but don't say anything, walking over to Max on the table. I sit down next to her and see a bunch of coloured drawings all over the table.
Max notices me next to her and stops the tape, pulling her headphones down. "Hey," She whispers. "Hey. You okay?" I say back, moving a little closer to her. "Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason," Max tells me, looking down at her drawings again. I chuckle a little and she continues with, "But Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We've been having a fun morning, right Holly?" We look over to Holly but she continues what's she's don't and says, "Mmmm-hmmm." I look back down at the table and ask Max, while moving one of the drawings closer, "Is this what you saw last night?" "I mean, it's supposed to be. I though it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but... not so much." Max explains to me. "Is that...?" I start to ask, moving another drawing that seemed to be of Chrissy and Fred in front of us both. "It was like they were on display or something. And then there was this red fog everywhere. It was like a dream. A nightmare," Max explains to me. "Do you think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" I ask her. "With Billy? Yeah. But when I made it here..." Max tells me, pointing at the drawings. "I don't know, something was different. He seemed surprised, almost. Like he didn't want me there." Max continues to explain to me.
I look confused as Dustin, who randomly moved to the table with Nancy, says, "Maybe you infiltrated his mind. He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his?" I look at him and nod, thinking about everything that we are learning about. It is weird though. How did Max end up in his mind if he didn't want her there? "Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room," Dustin adds on. "Freddie Krueger?" Holly asks Dustin confused, causing me to laugh a little. "He's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers. And he kills you in your dreams," Dustin explains to her as child friendly as he can. "Dustin. Seriously? Nancy snaps at him. "Yeah, not like that Dustin," I whisper to him, looking over at Holly's scared face. Dustin looks at her and realises and says, "Sorry. It's a movie. It's not real." "Just... think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna's world?" Dustin asks, looking back towards the three of us. He picks up a drawing and continues, "Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. God, we need Will."
"No shit. But I tried them again this morning, and it's the same busy signal." Max explains to us. Nancy seems to get idea and reaches over to grab a drawing. "Is this a window?" She asks, showing Max the drawing so she can answer. "Yeah," Max says. "Stained glass with roses," Nancy tells us. I look over and see that exact description on the drawing. "Yeah. See? I'm not so terrible after all," Max sasses to Dustin. "Yeah, well, it helps that I've seen it before," Nancy tells us, ruffling a few of the drawings around. She starts to fold a few of the drawings and move them around until it starts to builds a house. "It's pieces of a house," Max stats as Nancy starts to draw a black outline onto all the papers. "Not just any house," Nancy tells us. We all looks confused at her while she places the last piece of paper down. "It's Victor Creel's house," She tells us, standing up from her chair. "Where you going?" Dustin asks around a mouthful of food. "Waking the others," She says, walking towards the basement door. I quickly get up and run after her as well.
We walk down the stairs to find everyone down there still very asleep. I walk over to Steve but Nancy beats me over there. I scoff quietly but move over to Robin instead. I gently shake her and move a piece of hair out of her face. She groans but opens her eyes. "What time is it?" She asks as she goes to wipe her eyes. "No clue, but we need to go." I tell her, helping her still up and stand. "Where are we going?" I hear Steve ask loudly. I look over to him to find him looking at me in questions, rather than Nancy who is standing right in front of her. "We need to go to the Creel house," Nancy says, seeming to be slightly annoyed. He nods down at her but looks back at me. I smile at him and nod, motioning to the door. "Why don't we get everything ready and head out when we can?" I suggest. Everyone nods, and we gather what we can for the journey.
Sometime later
"This place is so creepy," Robin whispers as I pull up to the Creel house. I look out the window and say, "Yeah." We get out of the cars and start making our way up the stairs that lead to the Creel house. "Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve says, all of us stopping and looking at the house. "Let's get this over with," I say, grabbing Steve's arm and dragging him up to the door. When we get to the door, Steve starts to pull nails out of the wood. I stand on the other side to get the nails out as well. "What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asks as he throws a nail behind him. "We're not sure," Nancy replies. He looks at me for conformation and I nod. "We just know this house is important to Vecna," Nancy continues for him. "Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" Steve asks. "Basically," I say, getting a "Great," in response.
"Maybe it holds a cluse 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 adds on. Steve and I look at Dustin but then turn to each other a little more worried again. "We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas asks, looking at all of us. Max answers him, "Guess we'll find out." I shiver a little but continue to help get more nails out of the door. "Ready?" Steve asks after a second, getting ready to get the board down so we can enter. I nod and we both let go of the wood, it falling and almost hitting the kids, Robin and Nancy who are behind us. As the wood falls, we find ourselves face with an old door with a glass stained window in the middle of it. "Well, this is it," I whisper to myself as Steve tried the door. "It's locked," He whispers after shacking it a little. "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?" He asks us. "No need," Robin yells, causing Steve and I to turn to her confused. She stands all smug and holds up a brick saying, "I found a key." I laugh and move out of her way so that I don't get hit.
Robin throws the brick right in the centre of the window, leaving behind and almost perfect hole. Steve looks through the hole and then carefully puts his hand through the glass and unlocks the door so that we can all come inside. He pulls his hand out and pushes the door open, causing it to screech. "God I hate that noise," I whisper to Steve, getting a nod in reply. Steve steps into the house first, whistling but the rest of us walk in almost straight away. We all slowly walk through the start of the foyer, looking around to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. "Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," Lucas mumbles to us after trying to turn on of the lights in the doorway. We all start to turn our flashlights on as Steve asks, "Where'd everyone get those?" Dustin looks at him confused and gives him attitude while asking, "Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child." Steve looks at him in disbelief while I softly laugh at the interaction. "Thank you," He sarcastically says while I pull out another flashlight from my pocket. "Here you go Stevie," I whisper and pace it over to him. He smiles at me and takes the flashlight slowly from me.
I start to make my way around the house like everyone else but don't get far before Steve is grabbing onto my arm to stop me. "What?" I ask him, confused why he would stop me. "Go with Robin," He tells me, nodding over to where Robin is. I look at him confused and ask, "Why can't I go with you?" He smiles at me and steps a little closer. "You know Dustin. He'll probably start to start something again. I don't want you to have to deal with it if it can be helped. I nod, still confused why he'd not want me with him, and move over to where Robin and Nancy are starting to head. Nancy looks at me confused and annoyed but doesn't say anything. She turns back around and we start to make our way through the house.
"They just left everything," Nancy says as we look into one of the many rooms in the house. "I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value," Robin say back. "Yeah, wonder why," I say before starting to walk further into the house. "Hey guys," Max calls to all of us. We all turn towards her as she asks, "You all see that right?" In front of her stands an old grandfather clock. The grandfather clock that Max saw when she had her visions. Nancy walks away from us and walks closer to Max to ask, "Is this what you saw? In your visions?" Robin and I walk behind her as well, taking a closer loo at the clock as well. "I mean, it's... just a clock. Right?" Robin says, looking between Max, the clock and I. With no response, Robin moves past Max and cleans some of the dust from the clock glass. She turns back to us all and says, "Like a normal old clock." "Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve asks us all and adds on, "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?" I smile at him trying to work it out but Dustin sarcastically tells him, "I think you cracked the case Steve." I lightly smack him in the back of the head which causes him to glare at me while Nancy says, "All I know is the answers are here. Somewhere." "Alright, we need to split up. Make sure you all have a buddy, no one walk around this place alone," I tell everyone, all of us starting to split up and walk around the house.
