chapter xiv .
forming a connection
"COULDN'T WE HAVE TRIED A ROAD?" Robin panted as the group crept through the chilling woods. "Or maybe something just slightly less creepy?"
"I think we're getting close," Nancy replied. "We're almost out of here. Don't worry."
The four of them—Nancy, Eddie, Robin, and Val—were hiking in Steve's footsteps, since he was carrying the only flashlight the group had on them. It provided just enough light for each of them to watch where they were stepping, but beyond the small ray of luminescence, they could discern nothing but darkness.
Eddie shivered and rubbed his hands together in a subtle manner, like he was trying to hide it from Val, but she caught it. Her brow furrowed.
"Hey," she said, "do you want your jacket back? I'd be fine without it."
"Nah, don't worry," he assured her, shooting her a smile. She noticed his cheeks were tinted with pink. "I've survived colder than this. Besides... you look pretty damn good in leather. Keep it."
"Hey, Eddie," Steve called, interrupting their conversation. He nodded his head like he was calling Eddie up to talk to him. "Eddie, listen..."
Based on the glance Steve gave her, Val figured she wasn't exactly welcome in the conversation, so she held back and ended up walking by herself. Her eyes were glued to the ground before her—on Eddie's heels—but when another pair of shoes showed up in her peripheral vision and made their way closer to her, she lifted her head. Robin was now at her side.
"Hey," she said. "I don't think we've, like, really met. You know, like, I know who you are and we've been hanging around together a lot—fighting demons and shit—but I never got the chance to, like, properly introduce myself, if that makes any sense. I was going to, on the boat, but then you got cursed and stuff, so it was kinda bad timing, so I—"
"You ramble a lot, don't you?" Val mused, giving Robin a sideways glance. "I know who you are, Robin. I'm not completely out of touch. But thanks for introducing yourself—it's nice to meet you, I guess."
"Wish it were under better circumstances," Robin hummed. A moment later, she tripped over a vine and cursed to herself. She would've lost her footing if Val hadn't extended a hand to help her keep her balance.
Val raised an eyebrow. "You're supposed to avoid the vines. Hive-mind and shit."
"No, I know," Robin said, shaking her head. "I just... am horribly clumsy. Like, when I was a baby, it took me so much longer to learn how to walk than all the other babies."
"I see," Val said flatly, unable to hide her growing distaste for the girl. Nevertheless, she found herself trying to reach out and grow a connection between them, something she never would have caught herself doing before all of this supernatural shit. Vecna must have turned over a new leaf for her. "How long have you known Steve?"
"We worked together last year at the ice cream shop in the mall," she replied breezily. She ran a hand through her hair, expelling a breath through her lips. "And, like, pretty much what's happening to you right now is what happened to me last summer. I had no idea what the hell was going on, and there were evil Russians and a big shadow-monster thing, and there was this girl—"
