"No, i'm serious. Be quick, Ankle Bitter." Steve spoke as they pulled up at Cloves house.

"She shouldn't go alone. Just incase." Nancy looked up. Just incase was her way of saying just incase Cloves time came, incase her trauma from being flayed last year, dealing with undiagnosed depression for fifteen years, and loosing El was enough for Vecna to come after her next. Clove considered it, but she wasn't going to let it consume her until she knew Max was okay.

"I'll go with her." Max spoke up, unbuckling her seatbelt.

"No, no." Lucas shook his head. "I'll go."

"Better idea." Robin agreed.

"I will also go." Dustin opened the door as the trio crowded together. "You don't think Vecna is, like, in your house or anything?"

"I'd hope not." Clove wrapped her arms around both their waist as they tossed arms around her shoulders. "Only one way to find out."

"There's the spirit." Lucas took a breath as they walked up to the house. Clove took the key off her neck and twisted it until pushing the door open. They all looked around. "Where are your parents?"

"I don't know." Clove gave an odd look. "Dad!"

"Mom!" Dustin called, getting a dumb look. "Stel?"

Buttercup came running from Levens office, Clove smiled. "Buttercup."

"Hey." Lucas held up a note from the counter. "I think I know where your parents are."

Clove frowned her eyebrows, taking it from him as she stared down at it. "Dear Baby, be safe with your friends. Joyce really needed our help and we couldn't turn her away. It was last minute, we wish we could have said goodbye. We love you and will be home soon. Do you father a favor and don't stay home alone, see if it'll be okay to stay with the Sinclairs for the break. If not, Nonny and Pawpaw are just a few towns over. We'll explain everything soon. -Mom"

"At least we know why the Byers aren't answering now." Dustin pointed out.

"And that if Mike, Will, El, and Jonathan are with them, they're safe." Lucas nodded his head as Clove stuck the note in her pocket.

"I wish they were here. Mike and Will." Clove admitted with a tiny grin. "El too, of course, but the five of us-"

"We have a deeper bond." Dustin nodded. "I mean, we knew each other longer then Max and El."

"A lot longer." Lucas agreed. "Do you remember how Mike and Will made me go up to you because they were scared?"

"And you pulled my hair?" Clove gave a small snort. "How can I forget? My Mom had a serious talking with yours."

"And I gave you my bike as an apology." Lucas nodded his head. "But then Mike said-"

" 'Only way you get the bike is if you become our first woman friend' " Clove laughed as they said it on sync, Dustin grinned, despite not moving to Hawkins by then. She shook her head. "And Will just sat there, looking terrified."

"But, you became our friend anyways." Lucas shrugged. "Best friend."

"Best friend." she confined. "Then, I had to pull Dustin's hair and offer him my bike."

"It's a tradition, honestly." the Henderson boy said honestly before Steve blew his horn. "I'll grab your medicine."

"Grab the red lipstick too!" she called as her ran up the stairs. Clove smiled at Lucas. "That day when you pulled me hair?"

"Yeah?" he nodded.

"That was the best day of my life."

"Yeah, that's not creepy." Steve stared up at the house.

"Your drawing is so spot on." Clove held Max's tapped together drawing. "My little artist strikes again."

"It looked like shit." Max gave a small laugh as she looped their arms together.

"I mean, what exactly are we suppose to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asked honestly while beginning to remove the nails from the board.

"We just know this house is important to Vecna." Nancy took a breath as she yanked her hammer back. "Clove do you have a smaller one."

"Yeah." she stood behind Dustin, unzipping his backpack and handing her the smaller hammer.

"When'd you put that in there?" Dustin gave the blonde an odd look.

"More importantly, why do you carry around a hammer?" Robin gave a snort.

"Well, Max and I went camping once-" she started.

"An owl attacked her." Max cut her short.

"And owl attacked me." Clove agreed with a nod of her head.

"Is that why you bleached your whole head? To keep it away?" Lucas rose his eyebrows.

"Something like that." the Reyes girl nodded her head.

"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels." Dustin looked up at the house. "And how to stop him before he comes back for Max."

"We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas stared wearily.

"Guess we'll find out." Max inhaled as she looped her arm with Cloves again.

"Can I pull it?" Clove suggested as she watched Steve and Nancy grab the board.

"Go ahead, it might be-" Steve started, stopping as the blonde yanked it down. "-heavy."

"Nice." Max smiled to her, a fist bump to go with it.

"It's locked." Steve pulled one the door knob. "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"

"No need." Robin announced as she hoisted a brick into the air. "I found a key."

As the glass shattered, Steve stuck his hand through and unlocked it. Max walked in first as Clove trailed close after, taking the little hammer she gave Nancy not too long ago.

"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill." Lucas attempted to turn on the lamp.

"Can't imagine that'll work much either." Clove stared over at the little radio. Max passed her the flashlight.

"Where'd everyone get those?" Steve looked around in faint shock.

"Do you need to be told everything?" Dustin asked in disbelief. "You're not a child."

"Thank you." Steve simply stared.

Dustin passed him the backpack. "Back pocket."

"They just left everything." Nancy spoke as Clove looked over the fully furnished home.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value." Robin shook her head.

"It could probably sale for a good price if someone came in, cleaned it up, gave it a little remodel." Clove said honestly as she looked around. "If you pretend people didn't die here, it's kinda pretty."

"Very pretty." Robin agreed as they looked to the fireplace.

"I promise i'm gonna stop asking this, but you see it too, right?" Max's voice made Clove turned back quickly, nearly giving herself whiplash.

"No curse today, we all see it." Clove walked over, pausing suddenly as she looked around. "You guys do see it, right?"

"Right." Lucas agreed.

"Is this what you saw?" Nancy looked to the redhead. "In your visions?"

"I mean, it's just a clock. Right?" Robin tried to make the situation better by rubbing her hand across the dust. "Just a normal old clock."

"Why's this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve looked around the walk way. "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?"

Clove rolled her eyes as she shined her light down the hallway. "We're not gonna find anything quickly if we're all together. And for the record, i'd rather not stay in here longer then we need to."

"Clove is right, there's answers here." Nancy looked around. "Two groups of two and one of three?"

"You remember how the french did their hair? Like in that swirl with a bunch of gel? Back in the 50s, I think?" Clove looked over at Max, making the swirl. "And they wore massive feathers on the other side of their head?"

"Why are you asking me this?" Max rose her eyebrows in amusement.

"I was thinking about a Friday Theme Night over at the restaurant." the blonde grinned. "The first one can be 50s night, or whatever era that was. So, when Vecna is dead, you wanna be my date?"

Max had to grin. "Sure."

Her tape stopped, making her hit rewind. "Forty-Something minutes passes kinda quick."

"Forty-Something minutes is too short." Clove looked around the room. "But, I guess Kate Bush does make it worth it."

"I'm worried i'm gonna get sick of it, listening to it over and over." Max exclaimed honestly with a small nod of her head. "Like, suddenly it's not my favorite song?"

"Running Up That Hill has got to be one of those songs you can listen to over and over and just not get sick of." the blonde nodded with a confident look. "I mean, I play it constantly when I count all the names on my petitions before going to humiliate Mr.Carter infront of the office ladies."

"You've been listening to Kate Bush?" Max gave a small snort.

"Psh, yeah. Kate and I are like-" she held her hand up, crossing her fingers . "-we're hella tight. BFF's."

"You and Kate Bush being BFF's makes a lot of sense." Max had to laugh.

"You're two favorite people." Clove gave a fake gasp.

Max's face fell as she looked at the flickering lamp. "Do-"

"Yeah." Clove cut her off as they stared at it. Max rose her hand, inching closer before the lamp shut off. Clove turned her head when the light in the hallway flickered on, she ran after it.

"Clove!" Max ran after her, but the lamp shut off.

"Shit." the blonde huffed.

"I got him! I got him!" Robins yells scared Clove as she jumped, her and Max hurrying to run up the stairs to see Robin looking discouraged at her dim flashlight . "I had him."

"I had him downstairs." Clove nodded. "He's moving fast."

"Really fast." Max agreed with her.

"Oh, woah." Steve bucked up some as he held his flashlight out. "Oh, I think he's moving. He's moving."

"What'd I tell you?" Clove asked as she ran after him, the group following as they headed up the stairs, the light going dim again. "Gone."

"Not gone." Max reached past her and opened the door.

"God, I hate attics." Clove looked up the stairs. "I'll lead."

"Yup." Steve agreed, letting her go first.

"It's an attic. Of course it's an attic." Robin panicked slightly.

"Hold up, guys. What if he's leading us into a trap?" Dustin spoke up, only to be ignored. "Guys, guys! Clove! Shit."

"Look." Clove paused, making Max run into the back of her. She stared with wide, almost memorized eyes, at the flickering light bulb. "He's here."

"Flashlights." Dustin spoke quickly after they stared for a few moments.

They crowded together, flipping their lights on. Clove gave a little laugh as hers lit up bright before traveling to Max, then Lucas, then Dustin, Nancy, Robin, and Steve. He gave a nervous laugh. "Okay, what is happening?"

"I think we found our guy." Clove gave a mini smirk on his direction.

•

kylie speaks

FUCKKKK MAX IS SO LUCKY
BRO IDK WHAT IT IS ABOUT
CLOVE BUT JUST PICTURING
HER TALKING THIS CHAPTER
HAD ME IN A CHOKE HOLD