CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Victor Creel's house.

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"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asked as they pulled up in front of the Creel's house

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"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asked as they pulled up in front of the Creel's house. "We're not sure. We just know this house is important to Vecna." They took two hammers out of Dustin's backpack. "Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" They started to take the nails out of the plank, that covered the door. "Basically." She shrugged. "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." She explained. "We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas asked. "Guess we'll find out." Kate shrugged. 
"Ready?" Steve hummed and they dropped the plank, revealing the door. Kate noticed Max's discomfort. "You okay?" Max nodded and grabbed Kate's hand, interlocking their fingers. That's when Kate realized everything that happened. She has a boyfriend in Lenora. And she dissapeared, without telling him. And now she was holding hands with her ex-girlfriend. 


Kate made a deal with herself to solve everything, when this is all over. "It's locked." Kate snapped out of her thought. "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?" He joked. "No need." Kate said and nodded her head, making the door open. "Voilá."

"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill." Lucas joked and everyone took a flashlight. "Where'd everyone get those?" Kate heard Steve as she walked away. "They just left everything." Nancy furrowed her brows. "I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value." Kate said and Max tugged on her hand. 

"Hey, guys? You all see that, right?" They all nodded. "Is this what you saw? In your visions?" Max nodded and Robin walked over to it and wiped the dust off. "I mean, it's... just a clock. Right? Like a normal old clock."
"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?" Kate looked at him in disbelief. "I think you cracked the case, Steve." Kate chuckled. "All I know is the answers are here. Somewhere. Okay, everyone stay in groups of two. Robin, upstairs."
"Come on. Let's go." Max took Kate to a different room. "I wish we had a longer loop." She sighed. "Forty-six minutes isn't bad. 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 anymore? Will it still work? Or will Kate Bush, like, lose her magic power or something?"
"Kate Bush could never." Kate denied. "You're a Kate Bush fan?" She raised her brows. "Yeah, of course. I got multiple tapes in Lenora. My friends have shown me her and I love her ever since. Plus she kinda saved your life, so she's even better now."
"Really?" Kate nodded. 'Besides, we're hot on this creep's trail. We're gonna find Vecna and kill him before he even thinks about messing with you again. All right?" Kate glanced next to her and saw an old piano. 


"Oh my god, I always wanted to play one." She pressed a few keys and noticed how false it was. "You're such a dork. I thought you're one of the cool kids now, when you're friends with popular kids in Lenora." Max chuckled and Kate put on a look of fake offended. "Am I not cool?"

Max laughed. "I've missed that." Max looked confused. "Missed what?" Kate looked down. "Your laugh. You." Max's tape was done rewinding, so she put her headphones back on her head. "All done. Work your magic, Kate. I promise I'm gonna stop asking this, but... you're seeing that, right?"
"Yeah." They called everyone to look at it. "It's like the Christmas lights." Nancy realized. "The Christmas lights?" Kate asked. "Yeah, when Will was in the Upside Down, the lights... came to life." She explained. "Vecna's here. In this house. Just on the other side."


"I think he just left the room." He announced. "Did he hear us?" Dustin asked. "Can he see us?" Steve added. "Headphones." Kate turned to Max, who nodded and did as she was told. "Wait, wait. Everyone, turn off your flashlight and spread out." Kate nodded and grabbed Max's hand as they walked away. 

"I got him! Got him! I got him." Robin called out and they ran to her. "I... I had him." She looked down, until Steve's flashlight shone. "Oh, whoa. Oh, I think he's moving. He's moving. He's moving. Shit. I lost him."
"No, you didn't." Kate said as she opened a door. "It's an attic. Of course it's an attic." Robin said. Dustin kept saying something, but Kate was too far away to hear him. They saw a light shining in the middle of the room and circled around it. Their flashlights shone. "Flashlights." Dustin said. "Okay, what's happening?" Steve asked and as if on cue, their flashlights busted, one by one. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car? 'Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck." Robin compained. "It'll be fine." Nancy tried to calm the girl down. "I can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't."

"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve picked up the cans of beer. "That's what my mom does." Max raised and eyebrow. "Why don't we give it a trial? Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. He's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed."

"Wait. Maybe we don't put it like that. We're one step closer to finding Vecna. That's what we say. That's what's important." Nancy said. "See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." Steve agreed with Nancy, who pulled up to Reffer Rick's house. 

"Oh shit." Kate said as they all exited the car. "Nothing to see. Just step back a little. All right. As many of you know, the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight...reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney. His limbs...His body, it was disfigured...There was an eyewitness on the scene...We have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please come forward."

"Oh man. This is not good. Really not good." Steve shook his head. "You've got a lot of questions, and I'm going to answer as many as I can. Two o'clock at town hall, where anyone from the Hawkins community is welcome. But right now, I've got work to do, and I appreciate your understanding."

"Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler?" Eddie spoke through the walkie-talkie. "Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?" Dustin hid behind the car. "Nah, man. Pretty... Pretty goddamn far from okay." He replied. "Where is he?" 

"Where are you?" He repeated Kate's question. "Skull Rock. Do you know it?" Dustin thought for a second. "Uh, yeah. That's near Cornwallis and..." He trailed off. "Garrett, yeah. I know where that is." Steve said for him. "Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming."


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