CHAPTER FOUR.
LIGHT ENERGY.
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LEE COULDN'T REMEMBER the last time that she had smelled roses.
While she was still trying to remember the names of the flowers, she understood the meaning behind them. The man she had seen at the train station in Kentucky greeting his significant other. The father at the market buying a pink flower for his toddler daughter. The woman picking the flowers in her garden with a smile, collecting them to bring to a neighbor. They stood for love or joy, often given to a significant other.
However, this was the first time Lee had seen them used as a way to say sorry. Steve's hands were gripped tight around the steering wheel, a bundle of roses placed in his lap, muttering words of apology under his breath, as if he were rehearsing for something.
She nearly envied him, watching as he carelessly threw words around, never worrying about stuttering or finding the correct word. She wondered if she would ever be able to do that.
Lee shook the thoughts away, furrowing her brow as she watched Steve from the backseat. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why?" she asked suddenly. Steve's eyes to flicked to his rearview mirror and caught hers.
"Why what?"
"Back here?" she questioned, pointing to herself.
Steve sighed, slowing down to turn left. "I already told you this," he said. "My girlfriend and I had a fight." His words to her were slow, nearly patronizing. Lee clenched her jaw, but chose not to speak as she saw how stressed he was. "And I really don't like fighting with her. So, I'm going to go apologize," he stated, motioning to the flowers. "And I'm not sure how seriously she's going to take me when I have another girl in the car with me. So, I'm sorry, but you're in the back for right now."
While Lee thought that was the most backwards logic she had heard in three years, she kept her mouth shut. Instead, she reached for the notepad beside her, etching a question into the paper. Then why wouldn't you leave me in the basement?
When she showed this to Steve, he shrugged. "We're going to try and talk to Nancy's brother about you."
"Why?"
"There was a rumor that Mike had some girl with powers like yours in his basement," he explained, the car rolling to a slow stop outside of a half-brick, half-white house. Lee widened her eyes. "I never asked Nance about it, but you know, it couldn't hurt."
Lee nodded, biting the inside of her cheek. She wasn't sure how she felt about someone else knowing about her abilities. That was dangerous. She couldn't afford danger.
Steve looked at her, evaluating her for a moment. He sighed as he was able to see how nervous she was about this. He couldn't push her too far. "Listen," he began, "stay in the car. If things go well, I'll come back to get you. Okay?" Lee looked at him skeptically. "I'll be back in like, five minutes, tops."
She dropped her shoulders, nodding once more. "Okay," she whispered. She watched as Steve gave her a small smile, before opening the door and exiting the car. Her eyes followed him as he ran a hand through his hair, mouth moving as he recited whatever speech he was making earlier.
Lee kept watching him until she felt eyes on her. She shifted her gaze to a younger boy looking at her in confusion, a hat sitting upon his head and a backpack hanging from his shoulders. She looked away quickly, making sure not to make eye contact again.
This changed as soon as she heard the boy shout Steve's name.
She watched as the two spoke, Steve slightly taken back by whatever he was telling him. The boy suddenly stole the flowers from his hand, walking toward the car with them. Steve's eyes flashed to her, obviously unsure of what was happening. The boy was talking, but Lee could truly only hear him when he opened the car door.
"Do you still have that bat?" he asked Steve, brow furrowed as he looked at Lee.
"Bat? What bat?"
"The one with the nails," clarified the boy, waving the flowers around.
Steve scrunched his face up. "Yeah. It's in the trunk of my car. Why?"
"I'll explain it on the way," he replied, getting into the car.
Steve sent a worried look to Lee, suddenly running as he asked, "Now?"
"Now!" the boy shouted. As Steve rounded the car, the boy turned to Lee in question. The driver's side door opened and he glanced at Steve. "Why is there a girl in the back of your car?"
There was a slight panic that ran through Steve as he looked back at Lee, unsure of whether or not to tell him the truth. He wasn't sure how much of what he had heard was true, and whether or not the boy knew about it. Lee seemed rattled by the question, still not wanting too many people to know about what she could do.
"She's a, uh, friend," Steve stammered, lips pulling down as if he were satisfied with the answer. Lee looked to him momentarily, nodding hesitantly as she went along with it. "From out of town. Her family is thinking about moving here."
The boy's lips thinned to reveal a wide grin, hand raising in a wave. "I'm Dustin," he told her.
Lee returned the smile timidly, nodding toward him. "Lee," she replied.
The smile on his face faded, Dustin's eyes flitting from Steve to Lee. "Um, Steve?" he said, as Steve started the engine. He flicked his lights on, as it had begun to get dark. Steve raised his brows in response. "You might want to drop your friend off for this."
"What?" he questioned, confusion taking over his features. "Why? What the hell are you doing?"
Dustin sent an uneasy smile back toward Lee, as if he were hiding something from her. "Remember what you used that bat for last year?" the boy asked. Steve nodded slowly. "It's something similar."
The car squealed as it came to the stop sign, Lee pushing her hands out in front of her to stop herself from being thrown up against the backseat. "What?" Steve's voice was a quiet hiss, outrage laced within his words.
"Exactly," Dustin answered. "That's why I'm not sure if we want Lee involved with this?"
Steve nearly laughed, fully knowing that Lee could handle herself against whatever thing Dustin had for them. He could still feel the place on his hand where she had shocked him. He caught Lee's eye from the rearview mirror. "I'm pretty sure she'll be okay," he said. While Lee was still confused about the situation, the idea that Steve had some sort of faith in her was comforting.
Dustin's eyes widened. "Steve," he said, face blank. "She wasn't here for last year. She doesn't know what this is."
"I don't even know what this is!" Steve exclaimed, one hand coming off the wheel in exasperation. "Why don't you explain to the both of us what exactly I'm going to be hitting with a bat."
Dustin sighed heavily, shoulders dropping, obviously defeated. He turned to Lee, arm leaning on the seat, resting his head on the back of his hand. "So," he began slowly, attempting to figure out where to start. "Some crazy shit went down last year. Some stuff you wouldn't believe."
Once again, she met Steve's gaze through the mirror. She smiled softly, simply saying, "Try me."
So, Dustin simplified the story of how their friend went missing, only for his body to have been found days later in the middle of a lake. A body that wasn't actually his and was just planted there by the government. In reality, he was in this place they called The Upside Down after being taken by the 'Demogorgon', a creature affectionately named after a monster from the game Dungeons and Dragons. Whatever that was.
"We found Will in The Upside Down and brought him back," Dustin said, looking at Steve as a Queen song began playing on the radio. "We thought we had killed that Demogorgon. Well, we thought our friend had." There was a slight somberness in his tone as he clarified. "And I mean, we had. I think we thought we had gotten rid of them for good. But I guess that was just the tip of the iceberg."
"What do you mean?" Steve asked, hoping that he would finally get to the answer of the question he had asked originally.
Dustin looked at Steve from beneath his hat. "I mean that I think that my new pet may be a Demogorgon."
"What?" questioned Steve.
"I didn't know what it was!"
"How could you not know what it was? Its cousin almost killed you!"
"It was a baby! It was cute! It was alone and scared in my garbage can! I wasn't just going to leave Dart out there!"
"Oh my god, you named it. You named the monster."
"Dart's not a monster!" Dustin defended, a small pout forming on his lips. "I don't know what he is! All I know is that when I found him he was tiny, and now he's bigger than my neighbor's dog."
Steve was quiet for a moment, seeming to take this all into consideration. Lee tried to imagine whatever creature that Dustin was talking about. She frowned as she couldn't, looking at the boy in question as he turned to her. "Where's..." She paused, attempting to recount the name carefully so she wouldn't waste a word. "...Dart?"
Dustin nodded, a smile tugging at his lips as she remembered. "He's in my basement," he answered. "I trapped him down there." He didn't seem to be proud of it.
The same silence came over the car once more. The only thing that could be heard was Steve's radio playing that Queen song softly. Steve opened his mouth to speak, quickly closing it, looking unsure of what to ask.
The words came to him, and he looked at Dustin. "Wait a sec," he began. "How big?"
Dustin held his hand out, using his thumb and index finger to show the size of his pet. "First it was like this," he said. His other hand then popped up, showing a much bigger space. "Now he's like this."
"I sweat to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?" Steve replied.
The boy shook his head in protest. "It's not a lizard."
"How do you know?"
"How do I know if it's not?"
"Yeah, how do you know if it's not just a lizard?"
"Because his face opened up and he ate my cat," Dustin stated, looking for Steve to challenge him.
The driver did not. Instead he pursed his lips and raised his brow as if to say, 'Yeah, okay, you got me there'.
The car was silent again. Steve's hand tapped softly against the wheel to the beat of the music, looking to the backseat every once in a while to check on Lee through the dark.
The leather seats squeaked as Dustin turned to Lee. "You don't talk much, do you?" Dustin suddenly realized the bluntness of his words and quickly backtracked. "Not that that's a bad thing. It's actually pretty cool. You kind of remind me of my friend--" He stopped suddenly, swallowing harshly. Lee cocked her head to the left. "But she, uh, moved away last fall. I think you guys would have gotten along well."
Lee couldn't help but smile at the ramblings of the younger boy. She looked at Steve as he took over for her. "Lee's sick. They think it might be strep," he repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"That sucks," Dustin said as the car turned the corner. He shrugged. "I'm sorry I'm dragging you all the way out here when you're sick."
Lee shrugged, shaking her head kindly. "No problem," she replied. It really wasn't. She had nothing better to do. And besides, this did sound interesting.
As the car slowed to a halt, Lee squinted to see through the dark. She was able to make out the shape of a house, illuminated by the street lamps outside. Steve unlocked the car and the three exited, moving quickly toward the back of it. He then unlocked the trunk, the door swinging up and open, revealing the bat Dustin had been talking about. Steve spun his keys around his finger, grabbing the bat and holding it up, looking toward both Dustin and Lee.
The three then moved to the backyard, Dustin handing Steve a flashlight as a subtle way to tell the older boy to lead the group. Steve rolled his eyes but didn't argue, walking quickly as both Lee and Dustin followed behind him. They came to a storm cellar, Steve shining his light on the doors.
All was quiet as Dustin ushered Lee toward the door, both teenagers listening for whatever animal Dustin had spoke of. The two exchanged a glance, turning to the boy.
"I don't hear shit," Steve stated.
Dustin looked toward Lee expectantly. The girl shook her head apologetically.
"He's in there," Dustin pressed.
Steve moved an inch closer to the doors, bat lightly hitting the handle once. Lee looked at Steve blankly. Steve shrugged. "What?"
"Do much?" she questioned, pointing to the doors. Steve nearly glared at her. He inhaled heavily, begrudgingly winding up with one hand and slamming the bat down upon the metal.
He gazed back at Lee. "Was that good enough?" he asked.
Lee frowned as she recognized his sarcastic tone. She nudged him with her elbow, as she had seen a girl do in a movie once when she was frustrated. Steve returned the blow softly, a small smile on his face.
The smile fell as he listened for a sound longer, turning to Dustin. "All right, listen kid. If this is some sort of Halloween prank," he began, shining the light in his eyes, "you're dead."
"It's not," Dustin responded.
"All right?"
"It's not a prank," Dustin almost whined. "Get that out of my face," he complained.
Steve didn't budge. "You got a key for this thing?"
Dustin sighed, nodding. He told the two that he would be right back, and took off for his back door. When they heard the door shut, Steve turned to Lee.
"Do we tell him?" he asked her.
Lee tilted her head. "About what?"
"About you," he said, motioning up and down her. "About how you might be able to protect us from whatever the hell this thing is?"
Steve watched as she visibly deflated. Her eyes flicked from him, to the door, and then back toward him. "No," she answered softly. "Risk."
"You think Dustin's a risk?" Steve asked. Again, his voice wasn't mocking, just genuinely curious. "Why?"
After a moment, she answered, "Everyone is."
Steve seemed to take this into consideration. While she had a point, he truly couldn't see the harm in telling the Henderson boy the truth, especially after what had happened last year. He would be able to believe anything after that.
He didn't want to push her, though. Even though Steve didn't believe he knew a lot, he knew he was going to have to be patient with Lee. She was too shy and timid for her own good. While she had been exposed to the world for three years, she still hadn't become too comfortable around people. He had to take things slow if he wanted the outcome to be positive for her.
"Okay," he said slowly. Lee raised her brow. She was bracing for a longer reaction. "But," he began, looking at her as the door Dustin had entered slammed shut. "If for some reason, we get into trouble, you have to help me. Use those abilities to fight off this thing."
Lee nodded after a beat. "Deal," she said. She quickly turned to Dustin as she heard the jingle of keys behind her. The boy through the keys to him and Steve bent down, unlocking the doors below. They swung to the sides, resting on the grass below. Lee joined Steve as he looked into the basement, Dustin slowly making his way toward them with the flashlight in hand.
Steve reached behind him to grab the light. "Let me see that," he muttered, taking it in his grip. He shone the light to the floor of the basement, not seeing much of anything.
"He must be further down there," Dustin insisted.
"You're sure?" Lee asked skeptically.
Dustin nodded. "I'm sure," he said. After a beat, he added, "I'll uh, stay up here in case he tries to... escape." Steve glanced back at him with narrowed eyes, but Dustin didn't seem to care. He wouldn't give in. Instead he looked to Lee. "She can stay up here too. You know, just in case."
"Yeah, no," Steve argued, shaking his head. "She's coming with me." There was no way Steve Harrington was going down in that cellar alone when there was an electrically charged girl just outside.
Lee nodded, realizing this was the better idea. Dustin turned to her, waiting for her answer. "I'll go," she agreed. Dustin nodded slowly, shoving his hands into his pockets.
The two stood at the top of the stairs, looking down into the basement with a slight trepidation leaking into their bones. They looked at each other for a moment, Lee sending a nod of encouragement his way. Steve sighed, gripping the bat tighter in his hand. They then descended down the stairs, the bat raised in his hand, Lee following close behind, preparing her hands for whatever was thrown at them.
The basement was dark, even with the flashlight. A chill went down Lee's spine as she followed Steve, looking around the area carefully. She spun around slowly, attempting to look for the creature with a churning stomach. She had become accustomed to not fearing too much, but the unknown? The unknown made her skin crawl.
She nearly yelped when she bumped into something in front of her. Lee raised her sparking hands level to her chest, but soon relaxed as she realized it was Steve, who was quietly shushing her. He placed one hand on hers, pushing them down.
"It's just me," he said, shining the flashlight on his face. There was a hint of a smile on it. Lee shut her eyes for a moment, nodding as she reopened them.
"Sorry."
Steve shook his head. "Don't apologize," he told her. "You're fine. There's a light down here, but it's busted. Can you fix it?"
He shone the small stream of light on the dangling bulb with a pull-string that hung down before them. Lee nodded, moving Steve to the side to get a better view of it. He continued to shine the flashlight on it, watching as Lee formed a ball of light between her hands, one similar to what he had seen the first night they had met. She the top hand, the bottom raising the ball up into the air and sending it off toward the bulb. The energy circled it, seeping through the glass and seeming to fill it. The white light floated through the small space, illuminating the area around them.
Steve turned to her, nodding. "Not bad," he praised. Lee let herself smile, looking away from him.
Lee froze when she looked below her, eyes widening at whatever it was that she saw. "Steve," she whispered.
He tore his gaze away from her and moved it to the pile of, what looked like skin, at their feet. He poked at it with his bat, moving it under the skin to pick it up. It rested upon the nails as Steve raised it to the light, inspecting it further. Lee looked at Steve expectantly, suddenly worried as he met her gaze. There was something in his eyes that threw her off.
"Maybe it's not a lizard," he said, a slight twinge of fear in his voice. He then looked to a space beside her, eyes getting even bigger. Lee looked toward it. There sat a hole in the foundation of the bricks, looking as though it went for miles. She felt her blood run cold.
"Oh no," she said, inhaling shakily. Oh no indeed.
They could hear Dustin calling for them above. Steve nodded toward her, moving his head in the direction of the stairs. The two moved to them, shining the light in Dustin's direction.
"Get down here," Steve ordered.
They watched as Dustin cautiously came down the stairs, eyes widening at the skin on Steve's bat. "Oh shit," he said, shaking his head. Steve shone his flashlight toward the hole. "Oh shit!" Dustin yelled, walking over to the new exit. Steve and Lee followed behind him as the three crouched down in front of the hole, the dim light of the flashlight showing just how far the hole went, right up until the first curve.
"Do you think he escaped through there?" Dustin asked, obviously too shocked to ask cohesive questions.
Steve put the light in his face again. "Where else would it have gone?"
Dustin moved Steve's hand, taking the flashlight away from him. "Oh no," he mumbled. "Oh no, oh no, oh no." Before he could panic too much, Dustin noticed the change in the color of the light around him. It was brighter and whiter than usual. He glanced up at the dangling bulb, inspecting it carefully. "What the hell?" he questioned. His eyes narrowed as he watched the energy Lee had created flow through the glass like water in an aquarium. He looked back toward Lee and Steve. "Does that look weird to you?"
For what felt like the hundredth time in a day, Lee and Steve exchanged a glance. They quickly came to a silent agreement, choosing to say 'no' in order to avoid explaining it to Dustin and to get out of the cellar faster.
They then practically pushed Dustin up the stairs and shut the cellar doors tight, unsure of what could enter through that hole and reside in Dustin's basement. "We've gotta find him," Dustin seemed to be saying to himself. "We've gotta find him! I can't be responsible for this!"
"How the hell are you gonna do that?" Steve asked. "That thing just dug a hole into your brick wall that could possibly run for miles. It could be anywhere by now."
"But we've got to find Dart," he insisted. "My friends can't know about him. They can't know I broke party rules." With this, Dustin was sent into a frenzy of panicked words. Steve attempted to calm him down telling him to 'chill out' repetitively, ensuring the boy that they'd find him. "How?"
Lee bit the inside of her cheek. "Trap," she said suddenly, drawing all attention to her.
"What?" Dustin asked, looking for her to elaborate.
"Set trap," she said, pointing to the doors. Steve and Dustin seemed to get what she was saying, as they started nodding in agreement.
Steve threw one hand up in the air. "How are we going to set a trap for whatever that thing is?"
"It's a carnivore," Dustin began, the gears in his head turning. "It eats meat. So we give it what it wants."
Steve's head whipped toward him. "We're not using ourselves as bait, right?"
Dustin narrowed his eyes at Steve. "Yeah Steve, that's exactly what we're doing," he deadpanned. The boy quickly shook his head. "No! We're going to go get the cheapest shit we can find from the store and make a trail to the trap."
"Lose the attitude if you want my help, Henderson," Steve countered. Dustin apologized quietly, stuffing his hands in his pockets once more. "Okay," Steve said after a beat, nodding. "We'll do it." Dustin grinned, eyes lighting up. Steve held a hand up. "Tomorrow." Dustin deflated. "When we can actually see when this thing is going to eat us."
"Deal," Dustin said eagerly, smile as radiant as he had when he had greeted Lee.
And so that was that. The three made their plan of attack, promising to meet each other early in the morning to pull it off. Dustin bid Steve and Lee goodbye, waving to them as they walked back toward their car. When they had turned their backs, Dustin looked around the area cautiously, sprinting back into his house and locking the door tight.
Steve glanced at Lee for a moment, eyes trailing her. "You alright?" he asked before she could get in the car.
Lee nodded. "Yeah," she replied. Steve looked at her blankly. She shrugged, looking back at the house. "Weird."
Steve chuckled. "That's an understatement," he muttered. "But you're okay?" She nodded once more. "Because that's some freaky shit, especially to someone who's never seen something like that before." He huffed. "I fought one of those assholes last year and it still freaked me out."
"Steve," she said, stopping his ramble.
"Yeah?"
"I'm okay," she assured, smiling softly at him.
He looked at her skeptically. "You're sure?"
Lee's smile widened, her shoulders dropping as she laughed. "I promise," she told him. She was in fact okay. She could remember some 'freakier shit' that had occurred in the labs. She had decided that it would take a lot more to throw her off.
Steve finally nodded, rounding the front of his car to open the driver's side door. Lee followed in suit, settling into the leather seats in the front of the car, this time. The two sat there for a moment in silence. Lee turned to Steve who appeared to be in deep thought.
He spoke abruptly. "Where the hell am I going to get twenty pounds of raw meat?"
Lee laughed softly, biting her cheek as she thought about it. She reached into the backseat, grabbing the pad of paper and pen, scribbling an answer into the lines. Her hands circled each other, creating a small ball of light that floated over the pad and shone onto her writing. She met his gaze as she looked up, showing it to him.
Would the grocery store get suspicious if all their meat went missing?
Steve furrowed his brow. "What are you thinking, Lee?"
The girl shrugged, writing her answer onto the paper. Drive into town early tomorrow morning. I have an idea. He looked at her in question, but started his car nonetheless.
And so, the two drove off into the night, only to awake the next morning with a protest from Steve, standing outside of the grocery store, as Lee proposed a rather preposterous idea, hands sparking in preparation.
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if you can tell, i had no idea how to end that chapter
jfc i got so carried away with length of literally who am i
but yeah! thank you for 18k? what the fuck? you guys are crazy? thank you so much for all the love you're showing for this story and for the steve + lee story. i think you'll all enjoy the next couple of chapters.
love you all tons!
-mags