[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗔 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗝𝗘𝗖𝗧]

"DUSTIN, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" EDDIE asks from the walkie. "dustin?"

nancy shoots up from her spot on the floor then hears eddie talking from the walkie-talkie. the teen gets up from the floor and walks over to the device, pulling the antenna out, and replying to the munson adult.

"hey, it's nancy,"

"wheeler! hey. um, i'm gonna need a food delivery, like real soon, unless you want me going out into the world." eddie responses.

"no. no, no. don't do that." nancy tells him. "just stay where you are, and we'll be there as soon as we can."

"yeah, yeah, yeah. listen, um . . . can you pick me up a six-back? i know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."

nancy, while listening to eddie talk, looks back at the couch to see max was missing.

"hey, i'm gonna have to call you back," nancy tells the munson adult. "no, don't you da — wheeler? wheeler?"

"dustin!" nancy shakes dustin. "wake up,"

"what?" dustin mumbles, opening his eyes to look at nancy. "aren't you supposed to be on max watch?" the eldest wheeler said.

"yep. yep, yep, yep." dustin told her in reply while rubbing his tired eyes. "sorry,"

"okay then where is she? and where's my sister?"

"they're right there . . ." dustin says, pointing to the empty couch. "a second ago. i swear i dozed off for . . ." the henderson teen looks at his watch and sighs. ". . . an hour,"

nancy gives dustin a look before grabbing him by the shirt, pulling him up from the floor, and dragging him up the basement stairs.

the two teens walk around the house before walking into the kitchen, seeing max and sage at the dining table together with holly.

"morning, guys," karen says with a smile as nancy sighs in relief. "everything okay?"

"yeah," nancy says with a nod. sage, hearing nancy, looks over at her sister. "hey, nance," sage says and takes a bite of her pancake. "hi. yeah, everything's okay." nancy replies.

"i think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this," karen says to her eldest daughter as max looks over at the adult and teens. "could try sticking together at a different house for a change," ted says making karen glare at her husband before looking at dustin.

"you know you're welcome here anytime," karen informs the henderson teen. "totally. you're like family." dustin replies with a soft smile then points to the pancakes. "may i?"

"absolutely,"

"dustin, they're amazing," sage tells her friend with a smile as she takes another bite of her pancake. the henderson teen chuckles. "yeah, why not? take us for all we're worth." ted tells the teenager making him smile.

"okay," dustin says cheekily.

sage lets out a small laugh at dustin's response before feeling a tap on her shoulder. sage looks over to see holly pointing at her lite brite. it was a purple butterfly with hearts on the wings.

"that's pretty, holls," sage tells her younger sister with a smile making holly smile at her and continue to add more details. "hey," the wheeler twin hears max catching her attention.

"hey," nancy replies with a small smile. "you okay?"

"just couldn't sleep," max replies. "people kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason,"

nancy chuckles making sage let out a small smile as she continues to finish up her breakfast.

"but holly let me borrow some of her crayons. we've been having a fun morning, right, holly?" max says. "mhm," holly hums in reply with a smile as max chuckles a little.

"sage, here, has been stuffing her mouth with pancakes,"

"they're amazing! here try some."

sage takes a piece of her food off her plate and makes sure the syrup doesn't drip as she feeds her food to her girlfriend. max smiles softly and opens her mouth, taking a bite of the food.

"is this what you saw last night?" nancy asked the mayfield teen, looking over at her. max nods as sage wipes some syrup away from her mouth. "i mean, it's supposed to be," max replies after she swallows her food. "i thought it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but . . ."

"not so much,"

"is that . . .?" nancy asked as she brings the drawing of what looked like fred and chrissy hung on the wall. "it was like they were on display or something," max tells her. "and then there was this red fog everywhere. it was like a dream. a nightmare."

"do you think vecna's just trying to scare you? and why do you have painful headaches with nose bleeds each time someone . . ." nancy asks her sister and max. "with billy? yeah." max replies and waits for sage to answer.

"i don't know, nance. but each time it happens i feel weak. sometimes when i try using my . . ." sage does a hand motion of fire because holly was next to her and she didn't want to say it out loud.

"they're not strong enough,"

nancy nods and allows max to continue. "but when i made it here . . . i dunno, something was different. he seemed surprised, almost. like he didn't want me there." the red-head tells her.

"maybe you infiltrated his mind," dustin told the mayfield teen. "and maybe he's trying to take them away," his eyes went to sage. "he's invading two minds, right? it is that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his and how your, you know what, aren't strong enough?"

the wheeler twin furrows her eyebrows as dustin continues.

"like freddie krueger's boiler room,"

"freddie krueger?" holly asked, looking over at dustin. "he's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers," the henderson teen informs holly. "and he kills you in your dreams,"

"dustin," sage warns, covering holly's ears.

"seriously?" nancy says.

"sorry," dustin apologizes as sage removes her hands from holly's ears. "it's a movie. it's not real. although, sage had nightmares about —"

"dustin!"

"sorry. just . . . think about it. what if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to vecna's world? like, maybe the answer we're looking for is," dustin picks up a drawing. "somewhere in his incredible vague drawing," the henderson teen says sarcastically. "god, we need will,"

"no shit," max agrees. "no, no, her drawings are amazing. i can perfectly make out what she drew." sage told her friend. "but i tried them again this morning and it's the same busy signal." max said to dustin after smiling at sage.

nancy reached over to the drawing dustin had and looks over it.

"is this a window?" nancy asks. "yeah," max replies. "stained glass with roses,"

"yeah. see? i'm not so terrible after all." the red-head tells dustin. the henderson teen gives her a sarcastic smile. "yeah, well, it helps that i've seen it before," nancy says and begins to fold the piece of paper as the three teens watch.

sage hands her a paper and nancy takes it, folding it before putting it together. the wheeler teen takes a sharpie and begins to outline the drawing.

"it's pieces of a house," max says in realization.

"not just any house," nancy tells her. "it's victor creel's house," she declares after she put the door on the drawing.

nancy picks up the full drawing and gets up from the chair.

"where you going?" dustin asks the eldest wheeler teen. "waking the others," nancy replied before walking away.

the henderson teen gets up along with sage and max. sage kisses holly's head.

"the butterfly is beautiful, love the hearts, keep doing what you're doing," sage says quickly as she throws on her red jacket. dustin reaches over the counter and takes two cookies. "sorry, fuel for the road. thanks, mister wheeler!"

   NANCY PARKS THE CAR IN FRONT OF victor creel's home, everyone getting out of the vehicle.

sage stands next to max, hand hovering over her back as her dark brown eyes stare at the old house. the wheeler twin felt a sense that something was not good about the house. like if it something was meant to happen inside.

"yeah, that's not creepy," steve commented.

the seven teens walk towards the house, steve somehow finding a hammer and taking the nails off the board that was covering the door.

"what exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" steve asked nancy. "we're not sure. we just know this house is important to vecna." the wheeler teen replies.

"because max saw it in vecna's red soup mind world?"

"basically,"

"it could be important, steve," sage tells him. "plus, i don't like the way i feel around this place. it's creepy."

"maybe it holds a clue to where vecna is. why he's back. why he killed the creels." dustin speaks up. "and how to stop him before he comes back for max, and continues to take sage's powers away,"

"we don't think he's in here, do we?" lucas asks.

"guess we'll find out," max tells him.

"ready?" steve asks nancy. "mhm," she hums before they both drop the big board.

max looks at the door, the memory of her being in vecna's world appearing in her head.

steve tries opening the door, "it's locked. should i knock, see if anyone's home?"

"why would someone be home in this . . . basically abandoned home and lock themselves in?" sage asked the harrington teen.

he stayed quiet.

"no need," robin said, showing them a brick. "i found a key,"

"hey, no," sage told her, pointing a finger at her then the brick. "put it down,"

robin groans and puts it down on the floor.

"i'm here!" sage tells the group. "ohh, right," steve says along with the others making sage roll her eyes, and mentally facepalm.

the wheeler twin faced herself to the door, the others moving to the side. sage focuses on the door and feels her nose begin to bleed as she tries to open the door. her eyebrows furrow when she flicks her head, but the door doesn't open. sage lifts her hand to the door and begins to pant heavily. it was so simple, but nothing was happening. the wheeler twin flicks her hand and hears a lock come undone. she sighs, bringing her hand back down.

steve opens the door once he heard the lock and walks in. the harrington teen whistles when he walked inside. sage wipes the blood off her nose with a napkin that was in her pocket as she walks in the house with the others.

"looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," lucas comments after he attempted to turn on the lamp next to the door.

dustin lifts up his flashlight, turning it on.

"where'd everyone get those?" steve asked when he saw dustin with the flashlight. the henderson teen turns to steve. "do you need to be told everything?" he asked. "you're not a child,"

"thank you," steve replied. "huh," dustin mumbled before taking his backpack off, handing it to steve. "back pocket,"

the harrington teen takes the backpack, grabbing a flashlight while eyeing down dustin. he drops the backpack and turns on his flashlight.

sage feels a liquid drop down her nose. both of her nostrils. the wheeler twin puts a hand up to her nose, touching the blood with furrowed eyebrows. she just stopped the bleeding. why is her nose bleeding again.

"they just left everything," nancy says as she looks in the living room. "i guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value," robin said before looking at nancy.

"hey guys," max spoke up.

sage immediately turned to her girlfriend, covering her bloody nose.

"you all see that right?" the red-head asked, pointing her flashlight at the grandfather clock.

"yeah," dustin replies along with steve.

"that's what you saw?" sage asked max. "in your visions?"

max nodded in reply.

sage felt a hand tap her shoulder. the brunette turned to lucas to see him holding a napkin. sage gave him a soft smile, taking the napkin and putting it to her nose as lucas rubbed her upper back for comfort.

"i mean, it's . . . just a clock," robin said. "right?"

the buckley teen walks over to the clock and wipes dust off of it.

"like a normal old clock," she tells them, turning to look at them. "why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" steve asked. "maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?"

"i think you cracked the case, steve," dustin tells him sarcastically. "way to go, harrington," sage gives him a smile.

steve gives dustin and sage a glare.

"all i know is the answers are here," nancy informs the group. "somewhere,"

"okay everyone stay in groups of two, three," nancy tells them. "robin, upstairs,"robin gives nancy a salute before following the eldest wheeler up the stairs.

"come on. let's go." max tells her girlfriend and lucas, tapping them gently. "yes, ma'am," sage whispers, pulling her hand back to check if her nose was still bleeding. it wasn't.

dustin stays back with steve, smiling at him. steve looks down at him before signing, walking up the stairs. dustin's smile falls as he watches steve.

"was that a sigh?" the henderson teen asked. "no, i did not sigh," steve replied as dustin began to follow him. "why'd you sigh?" dustin questioned his friend. "i didn't sigh. just come on, dude,"

"i heard you,"

"w . . . we're just always partners, okay?"

"what? you have a problem with that?"

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

"so what, i'm boring you? is that it?"

"no, the opposite . . ."

as sage walks with lucas and max, she looks down at her hand. the brunette lets out a deep breath, focusing on her hand as she tries to light it on fire. sage closes her eyes, still walking before she feels a slight warmth on her hand. the wheeler twin opened her eyes to see her hand on fire, but it wasn't as bright as it normally would be.

her powers were weak and she was slowly losing them.

"hey, you okay?" max asked her girlfriend. "my powers . . . they're getting weak," sage replied, staring down at her hand with a frown. "hey, we won't let vecna take them, okay?" lucas told the wheeler twin.

sage looked over at lucas and nodded as she put the fire out.

"yeah . . ."

AUTHORS NOTE //

HI. I LOVE YOU.

say it back, please —

bee <3