"Max and Adira said that Chrissy was upset too," Dustin recalls, looking over the table at the two girls
"Yeah, but she wasn't upset here. She was fine while she was here with Eddie, when we came back here together she was cold, but she was comfortable," Adira spoke up, causing Steve to look over at her with an annoyed look
"What do you mean when you came back here together? What the hell where you doing in Eddie Munsons car with Chrissy and Eddie?" Steve exclaimed, annoyed that his sister didn't happen to fill him in on that part
"Having a threesome," Adira said seriously, looking over at her brother with a blank face. Steve went red in a matter of seconds while everyone else at the table blinked a few times, their mouths hanging open, "I was joking, chill out Jesus," she told them with a grin, raising her hands in defence. Steve looked like he was about to get in his car and drive back to the boat shed where Eddie was
"Chrissy wanted some... weed," she lied, she wasn't going to tell them that Chrissy was after something stronger than that, that part was none of their business, "and I was with them at their stupid hellfire game-"
Dustin interjected, "hey! Hey! Hellfire isnt stupid," he told her with a small glare
"Sure mate, whatever you say. Anyways, before Dustin 'kindly' interrupted me, I was at the STUPID hellfire game and I was going to Maxine's house so Eddie offered me a ride," Adira explained to her brother, clearly still amused with her previous joke as she looked at her brothers frustrated look with a cheeky grin.
"Well if it wasn't here that she was upset, then where was it?" Dustin asked in confusion, he had expected Adira to know that she was upset but not Max, he had never seen Max or Chrissy even look each other's way
"She's been really upset and jumpy over the last few days, she was telling me that she was seeing things... her mum and stuff, only it wasn't really her mum. And she had been having nightmares," Adira explained to them, "I told her that she could stay over with me but she said she couldn't because her mum needed her home to watch her brother because they're on a business trip."
"She was crying in the bathroom at school," Maxine spoke up as she thought back to when she had walked into the bathroom after talking to Lucas.
"Serial killers stalk their pray before they strike right?" Robin spoke up, "so maybe Chrissy and Fred saw this Vec-man-"
"Vecna," Dustin corrected Robin, receiving an annoyed look from the short haired girl
"Seriously Dustin, does it really matter? We are literally naming this thing after a fucking fantasy game, for all we know it's name could be like cupcake, or pumpkin," Adira interjected, "or it could be like some lab experiment gone wrong. Lab specimen 420," Adira added, trying to defuse the tension. They were all practically shitting bricks, they were the main targets at the moment and they were just sitting there like big red targets
"I don't know about guys, but it I saw some freaky weird ass wizard monster thing, I would probably mention it to someone..." Steve said, scratching his chin softly, imagining in his head what he thought Vecna would look like. He was thinking about a big snot like monster with a wizard hat on his head.
Adira on the other hand was expecting it to look like a tall golem like monster he was a dark grey colour with vine like veins all over his body, he would tower over her, he was massive and his eyes were sunken back into his nose. He didn't have a nose, but had large nostrils. She had the picture of him perfectly painted in her mind. She had seen him before in her dreams, and not just her recent dreams, she had been seeing the monster in her dreams for as long as she could remember.
She didn't know where she had seen him for him to be in her dreams, maybe he was in a tv show that she had watched when she was younger, or maybe a picture from a book. Either way, that was how she imagined this monster to look
"Maybe they did..." Maxine quickly said as she began to connect the dots of her knowledge, "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you wouldn't go to the police, there is no way that they would believe you... but you might go to your-"
"Your shrink," Robin said, agreeing with what Max was saying. Max nodded her head.
"Come on let's go. This case isn't going to solve itself. We should get a head start on this now before someone else dies," Adira muttered out and stood up from the table, "Max, can I uh... talk to you for a quick moment please," she asked the red haired girl who nodded her head and stood up, she was pretty sure she knew what Adira wanted to talk about
"Hey hey, no where do you two think that you're going? You can't just wander off, especially not here, you do realise we need to stick together right? This thing is dangerous and we have more luck surviving if we stick together," Steve quickly said, not wanted something to happen to either of them
"Don't worry Stevie, we are just going over there, we will stay in eye distance," Adira told her brother and then her and Max walked away out of ear shot. They could still see the others, but they wouldn't be able to hear them.
Steve and the others were all staring over at the pair intently as they were all on edge, worried that something would just suddenly jump out and grab them. They tried to listen to the conversation between the pair but they couldn't hear anything, but it was clear that it was a serious conversation. The looks on their faces said it all.
"We are next, aren't we Addy?" Max asked Adira, she didn't need Adira to answer it, she already knew the answer
Adira nodded her head with a sad smile, "yeah... I'm not going to let anything happen to you okay? As long as I'm around, you're going to be safe..." Adira said sternly, looking directly into Max's eyes, "you're my little sister and it's my job to protect you."
Maxine shot forwards and wrapped her arms around Adira, "I'm scared Addy, I- I'm not ready to go get... my mum needs me," Maxine sniffled into Adira's shoulder
Adira wrapped her arms around the younger girl protectively, "you don't need to worry about that okay, you're going to make it through this. I'm going to make sure of it," Adira told her with a firm voice
"You can't promise that," Maxine said, and both of them knew that she was right. But Adira was going to use every bit of her mind, heart, soul and body to stop anything from happening to Maxine
"C'mon Maxie, I'm always right aren't I?" Adira tried to joke.
"Yeah... yeah you are," Maxine muttered out. Max knew that Adira was extremely protective and she was scared of how far Adira would go to save her life. She didn't want Adira to do anything that could risk her life in order to save her.
"Why us Adira?" Maxine asked her, her voice was soft and scared as Adira pulled away from the hug
"I don't know for sure... but I think he is choosing people with guilt or trauma," Adira muttered out to Maxine
Max looked at Adira in surprise and confusion. It made sense. "Wait, why didn't you tell Dustin or Steve that?" Maxine asked in confusion
"Because once Steve knows that I am a target, I think he will become one too," Adira explained to Maxine. "If my theory of this thing going after the guilty is correct and Steve finds out I have become a target... he's going to feel guilty because he is going to think he didn't do enough to look out for me... which is wrong, he's the best brother I could have ever asked for... but it wouldn't be the first time he has doubted his role in playing the perfect big brother."