thirty

-

EVERYBODY WAS sleeping in the basement as eddie kept calling dustin's name through the walkie.

nancy eventually heard it and woke up, answering it.

"hey, it's nancy."

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

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

eddie started talking to nancy about her getting him a beer so he could drink, while in hiding.

"hey i'm gonna have to call you back." nancy says, and turned off the walkie.

nancy goes up to y/n and shakes her awake.

"y/n!" nancy calls. "aren't you supposed to be on max watch?"

y/n tries to wake herself up. "yep."

"then, where is she?" nancy asks.

"she's right there." y/n points, but sees no max. "a second ago.. i swear, i just dozed off for.. an hour."

y/n, dustin, and nancy go upstairs to look for max, just to find max with holly, with her headphones in.

"morning, guys." karen cheerfully says. "everything okay?"

"yeah." nancy replies. "yeah, everything's okay."

max turns around to face them, and smiles once she sees y/n.

"i think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this." karen compliments.

"could try sticking together at a different house for a change." ted backhandedly says, as he looks up from his newspaper.

nancy and y/n walk up to max.

"you know you're welcome here anytime." karen tells dustin with a smile.

"totally. you're like family." dustin says, then he points to the pancakes karen made. "may i?"

"absolutely." karen replies.

"yeah, why not?" ted asks. "take us for all we're worth."

dustin looks at ted with a smile.

"okay." dustin sweetly smiles as he takes the pancakes.

nancy and y/n sat next to max.

max saw y/n, and immediately turned off her music, taking off her headphones.

"hey." max quietly says to y/n

"hey." y/n replies.

"you okay?" nancy asks max.

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

nancy and y/n laughed at max's joke.

"but holly let me borrow some of her crayons." max added. "we've been having a fun morning, right, holly?"

"mhm." holly responds as she was focused on her lite-brite

nancy and y/n looked down at max's drawings, which was max drawing what she saw when she was in vecna's world.

"is this what you saw last night?" y/n asks.

"i mean, it's supposed to be." max replies. "i thought it'd be easier to draw it out then to explain it, but.. not so much."

"is that..?" nancy asks as she pulls up a drawing of chrissy and fred's dead bodies.

"it was like they were on display or something." max explained. "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?" y/n asks, as max started to rest her head on y/n's shoulder.

"with billy? yeah." max confirms. "but when i made it here.." max pointed to a drawing. "i dunno, something was different. he seemed surprised almost. like he didn't want me there."

"maybe you infiltrated his mind." dustin suggests. "he invaded your mind, right? is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his? like freddie krueger's boiling room."

"freddie krueger?" holly confusedly asks.

dustin sighs. "he's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers." dustin explained. "and he kills you in your dreams."

"dustin!" nancy warns. "seriously?"

dustin realizes, and instantly regretted what he said.

"sorry, it's a movie. it's not real." dustin apologizes to holly. "just.. think about it. what if you somehow unlocked a back door to vecna's world? like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. god, we need will."

"yeah. no shit." max insults.

"but i tried them again this morning, and it's the same busy signal." max adds.

nancy picks up a drawing. "is this a window?" nancy asks.

"yeah." max replies.

"stained glass with roses." nancy realizes.

"see? max's not so terrible after all." y/n tells dustin.

"yeah, well, it helps that i've seen it before." nancy admits.

then nancy starts to fold up the papers, putting them together.

"it's pieces of a house." max realizes.

"not just any house." nancy says, and places a piece on there. "it's victor creel's house."

nancy gets up, and started walking away.

"where are you going?" dustin asks.

"waking the others." nancy responds.

-

they stopped the car at victor creel's house, as max had headphones in her ears.

"yeah, that's not creepy." steve sarcastically says.

they walk up to the door, and nancy and steve were focused on removing the boards from the door.

"what exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" y/n asks.

"we're not sure." nancy replies. "we just know this house is important to vecna."

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

"basically." nancy confirms.

"great."

"maybe it holds a clue to where vecna is." dustin suggests. "why he's back. why he killed the creels. and how to stop him before he comes back for max."

"we don't think he's in here." lucas speaks up. "do we?"

"guess we'll find out." max says.

nancy and steve takes the board for the door, and steve tries to open the door.

"it's locked." steve announces. "should i knock, see if anybody's home?"

"no need." robin intervenes, and holds up a brick. "i found a key."

robin throws the brick into the glass part of the door, which shatters the glass.

steve reaches his arm inside the door, and unlocks it, then opens the door.

"looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill." lucas jokes.

dustin holds up a flashlight.

"where'd everyone get those?" steve asks, in confusion.

dustin turns to him, with frustration.

"do you need to be told everything?" dustin harshly asks steve. "you're not a child."

"thank you." steve jokes.

dustin takes off his backpack, and hands it to steve. "back pocket."

they explore around the house, walking around.

"they just left everything." nancy says.

"i guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value." robin remarks.

"hey, guys?" max calls, looking at a clock. "you all see that, right?"

"yeah." everyone replies.

"is this what you saw?" nancy asks max. "in your visions?"

max slowly nodded her head, recalling what she saw in the school, and at the grave.

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

y/n steps closer to the clock, and wipes the dust off of it.

"like a normal old clock." y/n adds.

"why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" steve asks. "maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?"

"i think you cracked the case, steve." y/n sarcastically jokes.

"all i know is," nancy speaks. "the answers are here. somewhere. okay, everyone stay in groups of two. robin, upstairs."

nancy and robin go upstairs, splitting up.

"come on, let's go." max instructs lucas and y/n, as she grabs y/n's hand.

-

y/n, max, and lucas walked around the room, as running up that hill played through max's headphones, but then the music turned off.

"i wish we had a longer loop." y/n comments.

"forty-six minutes isn't bad." max replies with a small smile, as she messes with the tape. "i think there are bigger concerns. like.. what if, by listening to this over and over, i get sick of it, and suddenly it's not my favorite song anymore?"

"will it still work?" max asks. "or will kate bush, like, lose her magic power for me or something?"

lucas shakes his head.

"kate bush?" lucas asks. "never."

"you're a kate bush fan?" max asks with surprise.

"uh, yeah. now i am." lucas replies with a small smile.

"really?"

"yeah, mega-fan. besides, we're not on this creep's tail. we're gonna find vecna and kill him before he even thinks about messing with you again. all right?"

max went over to y/n, and stood next to her.

"in fact," y/n adds, playing along with lucas. "i bet if we hit these suckers in the right combo, we might just open a door to his secret lair." lucas jokes as he goes to the piano.

max started laughing at what y/n said.

"i missed that." y/n says, out of the blue.

"what?" max asks, curiously.

"your laugh." y/n responded, as she stared into y/n's eyes.

max started slowly leaning towards y/n, already knowing what she was going to do.

but then, max's tape began playing again, causing max to pull away from being startled.

max instantly calmed down, just realizing it was her music.

"all done." max comments. "work your magic, kate."

just as y/n was going to question what happened, and max was gonna put her headphones on, they saw the lights flickering in the distance.

"i promise i'm gonna stop asking this," max begins as she looks at the flickering lamp. "you're seeing that, right?"

"yeah." lucas replied as y/n and max walked closer to the flickering lamp.

y/n was gonna touch it, but then it turned off completely.

"look." y/n points.

they walk out of the room to see lights flickering, and hearing electricity buzzing.

-

the group got back together, and they looked at the chandelier, flickering on and off.

"it's like the christmas lights." nancy says.

"the christmas lights?" robin asks.

"yeah, when will was stuck in the upside down, the lights.. came to life." nancy replies to robin.

"vecna's here." lucas realizes. "in this house. just on the other side."

then the lights turned off completely, confusing all of them.

"i think he just left the room." robin remarks.

"did he hear us?" max asks.

"can he see us?" steve also asks.

"headphones." y/n reminds max.

max immediately put her headphones on, listening to y/n.

"wait, wait." nancy speaks. "everyone, turn off your flashlights, and spread out."

then they started walking upstairs. they went to the attic, and the electricity in there was buzzing, and the lights were flickering.

"flashlights." dustin speaks up.

they took their flashlights and pointed it at the light, which started going brighter, and brighter.

"okay, what's happening?" steve asks.

then suddenly, the light bulb broke, along with their flashlights, causing all of them to cover their heads.

-