𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

thirty-eight

when the car pulled in front of the creel house, sam was already getting a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. she was fine with most things, but house that held demons trying to kill her family and friends were not her thing.

"yeah, that's not creepy." steve said from next to her, and she nodded her agreement but led the way up the steps nonetheless.

steve and nancy then began to pull the nails from the plywood that held the door closed, and he paused for a moment to look at her. "what exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?"

"we're not sure. we just know this house is important to vecna." nancy explained.

steve nodded. "because max saw it in.. vecna's red soup mind world?"

sam thought for a second. "i mean, basically. and this is where his first attacks were, so maybe there's a deeper connection than we think. and i'll take any chance so he doesn't come after max again."

the two of them dropped the wood, revealing the stained glass door that max had drawn. "it's locked." steve groaned after trying to open the door. "should i knock and see if anyone's home?"

"no need." robin said, holding up a brick. "i found a key."

the stained glass window crashed as steve tossed the brick through it, and he then hesitantly reached his hand down to open the door through the inside. sam followed close behind him as the door opened with an ominous creak. "looks like every killers hideout ever." she said, looking around at the dust and cobwebs that surrounded her.

lucas attempted to turn on a nearby lamp, but then chuckled. "looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill."

sam shook her head, shining her flashlight around the entire place. it looked like the had quite literally left everything here.

"wait where'd everyone get those?" steve asked as dustin turned on his own flashlight.

the boy turned to look at him, incredulous. "do you need to be told everything? you're not a child."

"he spends so much time with you all, that maybe it's rubbing off." sam taunted, though her gaze remained focused on the artifacts of the room.

steve was silent for a second. "definitely helping." he then said sarcastically, taking a flashlight from dustin's backpack.

"hey, guys?" max asked. "you all see that, right?" sure enough, a grandfather clock stood proudly by the stairs.

"is this the one you saw?" sam asked, though she was certain she already knew the answer. max nodded.

robin walked over to them. "i mean, it's.. just a clock. right?" she moved closer to it, wiping her hand over it to clear some of the dust. "like a normal old clock." she added when nothing happened.

"why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" steve asked.

sam shrugged her shoulders. "maybe he's a firm believer on punctuality." she remarked.

steve looked down at her. "punctuality?"

"yeah, punctuality. it means to-" she began explaining, steve cutting her off. "i know what punctuality means."

she then nodded. "i was just making sure."

steve shook his head. "thanks, sam."

"maybe he's a clockmaker." he then suggested.

dustin turned to him. "i think you cracked the case, steve!" he said sarcastically.

"all i know is, the answers are here." nancy said. "somewhere. okay, everyone, two groups of two, one group of three." she immediately claimed robin, and it was pretty obvious then that max and lucas would go together.