MARLEY // Max Mayfield

...Perfectly.

The darkness of the sky was all-encompassing, the canopy of leaves and branches above leaving no room for any moon shine to filter to the forest floor. Everyone fumbled along with their torches out, Dustin at the head of them, leading them the way his compass suggested all the while muttering nonsense to himself, Steve and often Eddie calling after him, sometimes telling him to slow down, other times muttering some vague insult about the boy's incorrigible ego. Nancy and Robin had engaged in some quiet conversation behind the boys, inviting Lucas in on the hushed gossip when they had noticed him ambling quietly along behind them. And that left Marley and Max at the back, guarding the rear.

They looked like a shady bunch, moving hunched through the darkness, whispering and throwing furtive glances all around, as if afraid to be caught or seen. And that was a partial truth, though a handful of them felt this way for different reasons. Eddie was in hiding, he could not be seen or heard by anyone besides themselves; Max was on the run, every clink and clank, every noise that bore even a minute resemblance to that of a clock would make her freeze and Marley -- Marley took care in slipping past trees, she took care in analysing those odd shapes that surrounded them, she listened and listened for a chitter or a gurgle, any indication of a Demogorgon out to hunt. The rest were simply on edge, the threat of the entire town hanging over them as those conspiring to keep Eddie Munson safe.

Marley's foot sunk through a branch, a sudden spike of panic flitting through her as Max shone her torch upon the girl's shoe. But here was no slime, no gunk to suggest a rogue rift between their dimensions, it was simply a rotten branch. They continued and somewhere after Marley's fifth brush with a spindly low-hanging branch that reminded her too much of the claws that had once sunk into the flesh of her shoulder, Max had taken her hand and they had continued through the woods conjoined practically at the hip.

"Something's happening..." Dustin muttered up ahead as Marley pushed away a few leaves for Max.

"Dustin? Can you slow down?" Eddie called out, tripping over his own feet, "Dustin!"

"I think we're getting close!" Dustin shouted back and Eddie lunged forward, capturing the boy by his backpack before he walked into the water. They'd finally stumbled upon something, the edge of Lovers Lake.

"Watch your step, big guy," Eddie warned before letting him go, the entire group settling on the shore and looking out upon the body of water.

"Oh man," Steve sighed, breathing heavy, "you gotta be shitting me."

"Yeah...I thought these woods were familiar," Eddie murmured as Marley crouched down to wash her hands in the icy cold water. She had dirt and blood under her nails that she so desperately wanted to clean. She'd been in worse states, of course, but that wouldn't stop her from trying to keep pristine.

"Lover's Lake," Robin said, her voice croaky in a way.

"This is...confounding," Dustin whispered to nobody in particular as Marley shook her hands out like a dog would its fur, returning to Max's side to examine her hands under torchlight. They looked no better than before.

"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max said, her brows furrowed as she started upon the still water. She glanced over at Marley when the girl made a quiet note of distress and rolled her eyes when she realised why, reaching over to tap the back of the girl's hand lightly. They were all dirty, Marley should feel lucky the only dirt she had was on her hands.

"It's like what Marley said earlier," Nancy began, eyes searching, "whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left some temporary opening," she looked back at the group, eyes settling the longest on Marley, "maybe Vecna's the same way."