~*****~

Juliet sorted through numerous cds as she walked around the store, humming to the song playing in the speakers overhead. The phone rang loudly, and Mr. Garcia picked it up with a hum. "Garcia Music," He hummed. Lifting his head, he angled the phone up. "It's your boyfriend again, Carina." Mr. Garcia chirped.

Juliet hummed, smiling at the affectionate nickname. "Be right there. I'll be done in a few minutes, so I'll close up for you."

Mr. Garcia nodded. "If you're going out, be careful. There's a freak out there killing kids." Mr. Garcia explained. Juliet nodded. She'd seen the news earlier. A girl from Hawkin's High had been killed last night, and it made her queasy. Like what happened with the Upside Down wasn't over. Or something came back. "Be safe, all right, Carina?" Mr. Garcia chirped.

"I will." Juliet hummed. She watched Mr. Garcia amble out with a fond look before plucking the phone up. "Steve, I'm closing up the store in a few minutes, so will you wait a couple minutes or-"

"That girl that died," Steve interrupted me. "It was Chrissy Cunningham." Juliet fell silent, staring up from her position at the counter. "And Max saw her heading into Eddie Munson's trailer last night." Dread filled Juliet's gut, then confusion. No way someone like Eddie Munson killed her.

"I'll be right over," Juliet snapped and set the phone down. Closing up the store, Juliet was kind of glad she didn't drive to work today, and hoofed it across the street, cursing at cars honking at her. Inside the Family Video, everyone was walking around, calling known friends of Eddie Munson to see if they'd seen him around. When Juliet heard Max mention someone named Reefer Rick, she snatched the phone from her hand. "Thank you," Juliet urged and snapped the phone down.

"Julie!" Max chided irritably.

"Relax," Juliet snapped as she leapt the counter and bounced to the computer. "So, if I know anything, it's most of the people in Hawkins with a reputation. Reefer Rick is a known plug around the area and before you ask, yes, Eddie Munson gets his stash from Reefer Rick."

"Do you know where this Reefer Rick lives?" Robin asks.

"No, but I'm sure you guys do," Juliet chirped as she began tapping away in the keyboard.

"Why not just ask the cops?" Steve asked. The others stare in bewilderment. "I mean, if this Reefer Rick is a drug dealer, he's had to have been busted at some point, so the cops'll know."

"The cops?" Dustin echoed. "Really, Steve? That's your suggestion?"

"I mean, I just think they should be filled in on what we know, what's going on." Steve shrugged.

"Hold on, do you think Munson's guilty?" Juliet asked, brows raised in surprise.

"I believe in innocent until proven guilty, all that constitutional bullshit," Steve expressed. "I just, you know, don't think we can rule it out."

Juliet peered up at the ceiling for a moment. "I've seen the guy scream and leap into the air at the sight of a rat." Juliet explained, earning shocked glances from the others. "He's no killer, and there's no way someone like Eddie Munson has it in him to kill someone like Chrissy Cunningham. No way."

"But how do you know that?" Steve asked.

"Because he's been crushing on her since middle?" Juliet shrugged. "All I'm saying is that innocent until proven guilty crap isn't gonna fly right now, because Munson is innocent and the cops are eager to slap cuffs on anyone they deem suspicious, and suspicious is Eddie's middle name. Something else is happening." Max peered at Juliet anxiously. "I feel it. Like how I felt when Will went missing." The group went silent as Juliet turned back to the computer. "Rick Lipton is our guy, by the way."

"How did you find that so fast?" Robin exclaimed.

"Guys like boobies and pot heads love Cheech and Chong." Juliet shrugged. "Twenty-One, Twenty-One Holland Road. Right off of Lovers Lake."

"Middle of nowhere," Max hummed.

"It's where I'd hide," Juliet nodded. The group left the Family Video and piled into Steve's car.

~*****~

Night had fallen by the time the group made it to Reefer Rick's house. Dustin eagerly pressed onto the doorbell, peering into the windows anxiously as if Eddie would pop up. Juliet rubbed at her arms as the chill burned at her skin. Dustin kept pressing onto the button. "Okay, well, that's settled," Steve commented. "I guess he's not here."

Dustin knocked onto the door loudly and shouted. "Eddie! It's Dustin!"

"Great-" Steve sighed. Juliet just shook her head and began looking around, shining her flashlight.

"Look, we just wanna talk, okay? No cops, I swear! We just wanna help! Eddie!" Dustin called out, slamming his finger into the doorbell. "Rick! Reefer Rick!"

"Don't scream that!" Steve hissed.

Juliet nudged at Max's arm. "Hey, come on, we'll look around back." Juliet offered. Max nodded and followed after her.

The two trailed around the side of the house and shined their flashlights onto an old boat house. "Hey, guys?" Max called out as Juliet started towards it.

The group hurried after Juliet with Steve taking her hand and clutching it tight, taking longer strides to be in front of her at all times. Juliet pressed onto Steve's arm as they neared the door and pushed into the door slowly, peering in cautiously. "Munson? You here?" Juliet called out softly. The group stepped inside the boat house, peering around anxiously.

Steve groaned. "What a dump." Steve mentioned. He peered off to the boat and turned to grasp an oar. He suddenly began jabbing at the boat.

"What are you doing?" Dustin asked wildly. "What are you doing?" He asked again in a whisper. Juliet peered over; brows drawn in confusion.

"He might be in there," Steve retorted.

"So take the tarp off!" Dustin hissed.

"If you're so brave, you take the tarp off," Steve retorted.

"Oh, for god sake," Juliet snapped as she propped her hands on her hips. "Will you stop jabbing and just lift the tarp."

"No, no, I wanna see how this plays out," Dustin commented.

"Hey, look at this," Max called out. Juliet peered over at them, flashlight shining over the empty wrappers and beer bottles. "Someone was here."

"Maybe he heard us. Got spooked and ran." Robin suggested.

"Don't worry. Steve will get him with his oar." Dustin mentioned.

"Oh, I know you think you're being funny, Henderson, but considering everyone in this room has nearly died about a hundred times, personally, I don't find it funny in the slight-" Juliet whirled around as Steve gave a surprised shout as someone comes screaming out of the boat. "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Steve shouted. Juliet's eyes widened as Eddie produced a shattered beer bottle and held it up to Steve's neck.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Eddie! Eddie, stop!" Dustin shouted as Juliet raced around the dock with Robin and Max. "Eddie! Eddie! It's me." Dustin urged calmly. "It's Dustin and Julie. This is Steve! He's not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?"

"Right, yeah," Steve gasped, refusing to move his head with the shattered beer bottle at his neck.

"Steve, drop the oar," Juliet ordered softly, holding out her palm. With a loud thud, the oar dropped. "Hey, be cool, be cool," Juliet urged as Eddie's grip tightened drastically. "He's cool, I swear."

"What are you doing here?" Eddie suddenly asked.

"We're looking for you," Dustin stated.

"We're here to help," Robin hummed.

"Eddie, these are our friends. You know Robin, from band. This is my friend, Max. The one who never wants to play DnD. Eddie. We're on your side. I swear on my mother! Right, guys?" Dustin urged gently.

"Yes, yes, we swear." Robin nods. "O-On Dustin and Julie's mother."

"Yeah, their mother," Steve murmurs. Eddie stares at Steve for a moment before he ultimately releases him, causing Juliet to surge forward and palm at his neck, looking for injuries. "I'm okay, I'm okay," Steve urges softly to her.

Dustin trails over to Eddie as he sinks to his butt, peering off in horror. "Eddie," Dustin hums softly. "We just want to talk. Okay?"

Juliet remained besides Steve, hand on his back as he curled his arms around her waist lazily, waiting for an explanation with the others. "We want to know what happened," Robin hummed.

Eddie sniffled lightly. "You won't believe me." He murmured in a horrified tone.

"Try us," Max retorts calmly.

Eddie rubs at his face gingerly, recounting the night in detail. "Her body just, like, lifted up into the air, and, uh... and she just like, hung there. In the air. And her bones... Uh, she..." Eddie trailed off with a terrified whimper. "Her bones started to snap. Her eyes, man. It... It was like there was something, like inside her head, pulling. I... I didn't know what to do, so I... I ran away. I left her there." Eddie shook his head after a moment. "You all think I'm crazy, right?"

"No, we don't think you're crazy," Dustin says softly.

"Don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds!" Eddie shouts.

"We're not bullshitting you." Max hummed.

"We believe you," Juliet said softly. Eddie blew out a breath of air as if he didn't believe them. "Look, what we're about to tell you might be a little difficult to take." Eddie just peered at her cautiously. "You know how people say Hawkins is cursed? They're not entirely wrong. There's another world, hidden just beneath Hawkins. Sometimes, it bleeds into ours."

"Like ghosts and shit?" Eddie asked.

Juliet felt a shiver run up her back as she recalls her first encounter with a Demogorgon. Eddie's brow raised at her horror stick expression. "There are somethings worse than ghosts," Max mentions.

"These monsters from this other world... we thought they were gone. But they've come back before. And that's why we needed to find you." Dustin explains.

"If they're back again, we need to know," Max states firmly.

"Did you see anything that night?" Juliet asked. "Dark particles, maybe?" Eddie shook his head.

"It would look like dust, swirling dust," Dustin clarified.

"No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh... or touch." Eddie murmured. He hung his head lowly. "You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she... she was in a trance or something." Eddie said.

"Or under a spell," Dustin said. "A curse. Vecna's curse."

"Who's Vecna?" Steve asked.

"An undead creature of great power." Dustin explained.

"A spell caster." Eddie murmured.

"A dark wizard." Dustin nodded.

~*****~

The next morning, the group returned back to the boathouse, and upon entering, Eddie gave out a cry of shock, holding up the broken bottle threateningly. "You keep threatening us with that bottle, I'm shoving it up your ass, Munson," Juliet snapped. Dustin rolled his eyes and pushed past her.

"Forgive my sister's horrible attitude, the coffee was taking too long to brew this morning." Dustin chided as held up bags of food. "Delivery service." Eddie went to town on a box of cereal, stuffing it in his mouth hungrily as if he hadn't eaten in days. "So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news. How do you prefer it?" Dustin asked.

"Bad news first, always," Eddie shot back.

"All right, bad news." Dustin nodded. "We tapped into the Hawkins' PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." Dustin explained. "Also, they're uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like a hundred percent convinced." Max chirped.

"And the good news?" Eddie asked.

"Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin hummed. "But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do, too. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie asked.

"Exactly," Robin nodded.

"So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence." Dustin hummed.

"That's all Dustin? That's all?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it." Dustin nodded.

"Look, I know everything sounds delusional, but we've actually been through this before. Remember my truck getting totaled and that rumor I was crying out big bad wolf? Yeah, no, big bad seven-foot Demogorgon tried to eat me. But bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we got this." Juliet explains.

"Yeah, see, we usually rely on this girl who has super powers. But, uh, those went bye-bye, so..." Steve trailed off.

"So we're technically in more of the-" Robin added.

"Kinda-" Steve went.

"Brainstorming phase." Max nodded.

"I say we just fuck 'im up." Juliet retorted, saluting her can of coke and leaning against a support beam irritably.

"There's- there's nothing to worry about." Dustin splutters.

Sirens wailed out, causing the group to flinch. They began hissing at Eddie to hide before they all scrambled to the window to peer out. Dozens of cop cars and ambulances blazed down the road. The group peered at one another cautiously before piling into the car. At the scene, no one expected Nancy to be there, talking to the cops as the paramedics cover a body on the road. Everyone pulled out of the car, staring at her as she caught sight of them. Her brows lifted and a look of dread covered her expression.

~*****~

Juliet didn't know how to feel. On one hand, it was better to have Nancy in the loop, seeing as how she's become a bit of a badass since everything all began, but there was also the nagging feeling in the back of Juliet's head that she's also Steve's ex and it made things awkward, if only for just a moment before Juliet had to remind herself that it wasn't important in the moment.

"So, you're saying this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it's from the Upside Down?" Nancy tried to clarify as the group sat at picnic table in the trailer park.

"If the shoe fits," Steve retorted.

"Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell or a curse. Now, whether or not he's going the bidding of the Mind Flayer, or just loves killing teens, we don't know." Dustin explained.

"All we know is this is something different," Max states. "Something new."

"Doesn't make sense," Nancy murmured.

"It's only a theory," Juliet reminded her.

"No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense," Nancy mentioned. "I mean, why them?"

"Maybe there were just in the wrong place," Dustin hummed. "They were both at the game."

"And near the trailer park," Max added.

"We're at the trailer park," Steve reminded them cautiously. "Uh, should we maybe not be here?" Steve peered around suspiciously.

"There is something about this place. Fred started acting weird the second we got here." Nancy commented.

"Acting weird, as in?" Robin trailed off.

"Scared, on edge, upset," Nancy listed.

"Max said Chrissy was upset, too." Dustin added.

"Yeah, but not here," Max shook her head. "She was crying in the bathroom at school."

"That would explain her recent absences from work, if something was bothering her," Juliet hummed in thought.

"Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?" Robin asked. "So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman-"

"Vecna," Dustin interrupted her. Juliet palmed at the table and peered down at Dustin threateningly. He slumped lowly and grumbled irritably at her.

"Dunno about you, but if I saw some freak wizard monster I would mention it to someone." Steve mentioned.

"Maybe they did," Max hummed. "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you... you wouldn't got to the police. They'd never believe you. But, you might go to your-"

"Your shrink," Robin nodded.

"Then we should probably go see what Ms. Kelley has in her office," Juliet mentioned as she tapped the table. The group padded off towards Steve's car until Nancy took a wide turn to her own car.

"Whoa, whoa, Nance. Nance!" Steve called out. He jogged towards her. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, there's just something I want to check out first," Nancy retorted.

"Something you wanna share with the rest of us?" Dustin asked.

"I don't wanna waste your time. It's a real shot in the dark." Nancy hummed.

"Yeah, okay. Are you out of your mind?" Steve asked. "Flying solo with this Vecna creep on the loose? No, it's too dangerous. You need... You need someone to... Here-" Steve called out, tossing his keys to Robin. "Here, I'll stick with Nance, all right? You guys take the car, check out the shrink."

"I don't think you want me driving your car," Robin commented as Juliet propped up on the hood.

"Why?" Steve asked.

"I don't have a license." Robin shrugged.

"Okay, uh, Julie, you drive." Steve shot back.

"I can drive," Max offered when Juliet shook her head in annoyance.

"No, no! Never again, please." Steve shouted out. "Anybody but you. No."

Juliet sighed irritably and stalked forward, slapping her hand on Steve's chest as she passed. "I'll stick with Nance," Juliet said in a strange tone, causing Steve to backtrack and whirl on his girlfriend, brows furrowed in confusion. "You babysit, Steve." Juliet ordered as she gestured to Nancy to start walking. Nancy held out her keys as Juliet passed, lip puckered in an unspoken question before following after her.

"Uh, I guess us ladies will stick together, then." Robin retorted as she followed after them. "Wait for me! And seeing as how Julie's coming, we don't exactly need protection from a man."

"Be careful!" Steve called out, still wondering when that feeling of dread would lift from his stomach. Juliet couldn't have been mad about his offer to go along with Nancy, right?

"You just gonna stand there and gawk?" Dustin asked.

"Shut up," Steve retorted.

"Why don't we go?" Dustin suggested.

"Shut up and get in the car." Steve snapped again. "Wipe your feet," Steve ordered to Dustin, who then began scrubbing his feet on the carpet of Steve's car. "On the outside, not the inside. Always the babysitter. Always the goddamn babysitter!"

"I think my sister's mad at you," Dustin hummed.

"Oh, no she's not," Steve retorted. "She's just- She didn't have her coffee, remember?"

"No, dude, she's mad," Dustin shrugged.

"Yeah, you totally messed up," Max stated as she looked down at her walk man. "You can't suggest going off alone with your ex." Max explained. "It's like, dating one-oh-one." Steve stared off to the road, scrunching his shoulders in embarrassment.

"Okay, but I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm pretty stuck on Julie. I mean, it's just- Nancy going off alone with Vecna targeting people, it just kinda scared me a bit. She's still my friend, despite the fact we broke up." Steve explained. "And I don't... I don't want to see Julie upset like she was when Will went missing."

Dustin and Max peered at one another before humming.