Never in a million years did Sadie Lepley imagine herself in the passenger seat of Steve Harrington's BMW. Every other girl in school fawned over the self-proclaimed King of Hawkins, but she never understood why. She hated basketball almost as much as she hated his arrogance. He did have nice hair, though.

Her navigation led them far from downtown Hawkins—to the forested community surrounding Lover's Lake. She said little else. Worry still resided in the pit of her stomach, evident in the waves of nausea she tried her damndest to ignore. Her heart knew Eddie wasn't capable of murder, but the mind wanted her to believe otherwise. Sense kept her skeptical of how the four danced around their true intentions, almost as if they were withholding information. Sadie ran her palms down the tops of denim-clad thighs.

"Why are all of you so sure Eddie didn't do this?" she asked as Steve drove. Open fields were traded for dense tree cover as the sun set. "None of you were friends with him."

"—wrong, actually. I know Eddie from Hellfire Club." Nestled between Max and Robin, Dustin leaned forward and continued rather matter-of-factly. "Max is his neighbor... She was home when this supposedly happened. She saw Eddie and Chrissy last night."

She saw Eddie and Chrissy last night.

Sadie turned within the passenger seat to face the girl, dark brows raised as she swallowed such ridiculous jealousy. It dawned on her then that the young girl was the stepsister of Billy Hargrove. There was one memory of the arcade in particular—Sadie had just arrived with her brother when Hargrove's Camaro whipped into the parking lot. There was bickering before the redheaded girl exited the vehicle and slammed the passenger door for added effect before Billy drove off. The blended family had just moved into town then.

Hawkins was devastated by what had happened in Starcourt Mall last summer, and Sadie could not help but wonder how Billy's death had affected the family. Enough to earn them a plot of land next to the Munsons in Forest Hills Trailer Park. She felt terrible, at least until the girl opened her mouth.

"What are you staring at?" Max shifted in the cramped seat uncomfortably.

"Sorry," Sadie said. Her eyes flickered to Robin instead.

The short-haired girl offered half an encouraging smile, knowing very little of Sadie's connection to Eddie Munson. "I mean… we don't know anything at this point. Eddie is… weird, but Dustin knows him well. And I don't think he's capable of killing anyone."

"Or you're both wrong, and we're next," Steve suggested. He kept one hand on the wheel as he drove. "Going all the way out here in search of a murder suspect sounds perfectly logical. That's exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday evening."

Eddie is weird. Sadie stared at Robin, not entirely surprised by her perception of the Dungeon Master. While others in town more affectionately referred to him as The Freak, Sadie knew that Eddie Munson had a kind heart beneath an unconventional (handsome) exterior. A kind heart she had undoubtedly crushed to smithereens over the phone several months ago. By Steve's theory, that made her an easy target, didn't it?

She nibbled at her bottom lip nervously, turning back around just in time to spot the familiar wooden entrance sign. "Left," she told Steve. "Rick's address is 2121 Holland Road." In the two years she and Eddie dated, Sadie preferred waiting in the car while Reefer Rick Lipton resupplied his favorite dealer. She had been in the house twice before—once to crash, knowing they were both too drunk to drive.

"So, what's the plan?" Max asked from the back. "What if he's not home?"

Beside her, Dustin grabbed ahold of the backpack between his knees and yanked it upwards. "We'll just have to look around on our own then…" From the largest compartment, he revealed four flashlights, and leaning forward, he offered the first to Sadie with a toothy smile. S

taring at Dustin, she hesitated. Initially, she doubted his friendship with Eddie, but the Hellfire Club consisted of carefully vetted nerds like the boy smiling at her now. Reluctant fingers moved to grasp the cold metal. "Do you always carry this many flashlights in your backpack, Dustin?"

The boy's grin only widened. "I do. Long story, though. We'll get you caught up eventually."

"Oh, come on…" Steve Harrington complained once Sadie had closed the passenger side door. "You don't have to slam it! You're just as bad as the kids."

Sliding Harrington an amused look as the others hurried up the lawn to the cabin ahead of them, she clicked on her flashlight and shined it in his eyes for perhaps a second too long. "The kids?" Sadie mused. "I never pegged you for the fatherly type, Harrington." She also hoped to be caught up on that, eventually. "It suits you, though."

In high school, he was arrogant, but Steve seemed different now. Truthfully, he looked just as lost as she felt. One thing was for sure, he had far more sense than Dustin Henderson.

"—Eddie! It's Dustin! We just want to talk, okay? No cops, I swear!" The boy's yelling carried through the darkness, as did the sound of his fist banging against the front door. He went for the doorbell next. "Rick? Reefer Rick!"

Sadie caught up to him, her elbow connecting with his shoulder in one swift jab. "Stop yelling!" she hissed. "And don't use that name!"

Dustin ignored her, laying on the doorbell three more times before Steve stepped forward. "He's not here! Would you stop?"

"He could just be really high…"

Rolling her eyes, Sadie crouched to shine the flashlight through the windows, and after briefly glancing inside, she followed Max around the side of the quiet lakehouse. She approached the girl slowly and though it was difficult in the darkness, followed her gaze to the boathouse at the bottom of the hill. "It's still his property," Sadie told her. "I can't imagine there's much inside... Last I heard, Rick was locked up."

Max turned her head to Sadie, those steely blue hues searching hers wordlessly. She offered the newcomer no response but called for her friends instead. As they approached, she motioned to the metal boathouse—the small building illuminated by a single light over the door.

"Is anyone home?" Robin was the first to peek her head through the threshold. The others gladly stood behind, fingers tense around the handle of their flashlights as, one by one, they entered. While Sadie was utterly unafraid of Rick Lipton, the idea of sneaking about private property in the middle of the night with a murderer on the loose had her on edge. She checked over her shoulder before entering, the grip on her flashlight tightening until her knuckles paled—as if the battery-powered device would help her in a fight. As if she'd be able to beat Eddie Munson with it. Her Eddie. It was unlikely, even if he was the murderer.

Inside the boathouse, each of them dispersed to inspect the small space. Old floorboards creaked beneath hesitant steps, the sound mixing with the gentle laps of lakewater outside the metal structure.

"What a dump," Steve mumbled.

Sadie pointed her flashlight in his direction, watching as the old King of Hawkins confidently grabbed an oar from its position against the wall. "What the hell are you going to do with that?"

"Relax, Lepley." He twirled the oar around in his hands, inspecting the wood's condition in the darkness. "It's only a precaution. We've been through this a couple of times before..." Steve jabbed at the boat's tarp with the paddle end of the oar, connecting with something solid, making the rest of the group startle.

"What are you doing?" Dustin hissed.

"He might be under here. Ever think of that?" Harrington continued his jabbing motion, slowly bringing the oar up the length of the tarp.

"So take the tarp off!"

Leaving them to bicker, Sadie stepped around the boat and made her way to Robin and Max, who stood leaning over an abandoned workbench where a beer bottle and some candy wrappers were discarded lazily. "Maybe he heard us? Got spooked and ran," Robin suggested. The food was a sign of life, sure. But Rick was known for his weed, not his cleanliness. They couldn't assume Eddie had left those wrappers behind.

Dustin snorted from across the cramped space. "Don't worry. Steve will get him with his oar."

Steve shook his head, his frustration growing more evident with each jab of the oar. "I know you think you're being funny, Henderson… but the fact that everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, I don't find it funny in the sli—"

How Eddie leaped over the side of the boat with a broken bottle aimed for Steve's jugular didn't necessarily help Sadie decide if he was innocent. While she expected nothing less grandiose from her ex-boyfriend, his emergence scared the absolute shit out of her. Like the others, Sadie stumbled backward with sudden commotion. Her back slammed against the nearby workbench, and the empty beer bottle fell to the ground and shattered. The flashlight slipped from her fingers, clattering to the floor and rolling away as Eddie pinned Steve to the boathouse wall.

"Whoa! Whoa, Whoa! Eddie! Stop!" Dustin hurried toward his two friends with wide eyes. "Eddie, it's me! It's Dustin!" Mouth ajar as he watched them, he focused on the broken glass that offered Eddie the advantage. One slight movement and rigid glass would rip into sensitive flesh. "This is Steve…" Dustin's steps forward were slow, and he made an effort to show that, except for the flashlight, he was unarmed. "… he's not going to hurt you. Right, Steve?"

Anyone who knew Eddie Munson understood his knack for theatrical gestures and humor; however, Sadie knew those theatrics had a way of keeping him guarded. Very rarely had she seen this type of fear in his eyes. Both palpable and gut-wrenching—fear revealed itself, not only through his trembling but beneath the thin sheen of sweat that dotted his brow. Despite the threat of violence toward Harrington, Sadie felt herself soften, and her heart sank as the man struggled to function between labored breaths.

She had never seen Eddie like this.

"Let go of the oar, Steve." Slipping between Robin and Max, the boathouse floorboards creaked beneath the weight of black Chuck Taylors. "We're on your side, Eddie…" Sadie murmured as she so boldly stepped forward.

Eddie pulled wild eyes from Steve when Sadie spoke. For a second, he thought he'd imagined her presence in the boathouse—that he'd been so fucking desperate he'd conjured up the memory of his ex-girlfriend. But she was there and speaking directly to him.

He lost count of the number of times he thought about calling Sadie. He lost count of the times he lay awake thinking about her. In the end, it was easier to throw himself into the Hellfire Club and Corroded Coffin than to replay the conversation she had with him over and over in his mind. Those distractions hadn't made it any easier to see her now, her dark brows creased in concern and her small frame outfitted in the same style of clothes she wore in high school. Chemistry had made sense that year. Hell, he had been happy for a while because of her.

If it had been her in the trailer, he would have stayed. If it had been her, he wouldn't have run.

Still, he was wary of her presence. Instead of letting go of the broken bottle, his grip tightened around it. "What are you doing here?" His voice was hoarse, and its echo trembled through the boathouse.

Sadie froze there, her eyes flickering to Steve, who had begun to squirm. "All of us are here to help. Robin, Max, Steve, Dustin... You remember them from school, don't you?" When Sadie moved again, slow steps came to rest beside Dustin. "I overheard them talking at the video store… They were looking for Rick because they were concerned about you." Her voice fell away for a moment, and it was soft when it passed her lips once more. "We want to help you, Eddie… You shouldn't be alone."

Struggling for shallow breath, Steve pinched his eyes shut as she spoke, at the mercy of a murder suspect until the man finally released and pushed away, his head hung in shame. For several seconds, the group waited for what he'd do next. But, exhausted, Eddie only ran a hand over his face and pressed his back to the boathouse wall. He sank slowly, finding a wooden crate that supported his weight on the way down. He didn't bother acknowledging Robin Buckley as she approached, but he did hear her question.

What happened?

If he told them, the concern in their eyes would morph into disgust. Not because of how gruesome Chrissy's death had been—he couldn't capture that either—but because there was no way in hell it could be true. It was the sort of thing that happened in horror films. The Exorcist. Amityville. The Evil Dead. That type of shit didn't happen in reality, and if he tried to tell them Chrissy had been possessed by something that lifted her to the ceiling before breaking all her bones, they would assume he killed the Hawkins homecoming queen.

"You won't believe me." Eddie forced himself to look at Sadie as he spoke. "...none of you will."

The young woman felt herself straighten when he met her gaze, forgetting just how much time had passed since they stood this closely. Their last genuine conversation had been over the phone, and it left her aching for months after. Even when Sadie returned to Hawkins for Christmas, she was too cowardly to acknowledge just how much pain he might have endured. Running away from their issues had been her way of ignoring that she still ached. Looking at Eddie now, seeing the fear etched on distraught features, she felt her chest tighten again. He was innocent. He had to be innocent, right? Sadie had never seen him like this before.

A few glimmers of light filtered in through the window of Rick's boathouse and unspooled on the floor, but otherwise, Eddie's hiding place was dark, dank, and depressing. It was the only place that had come to mind as he hoisted himself into the van's front seat. No one else was on the road as he drove out there, more reckless than someone on the run from the law should have been. Rick wouldn't mind, Eddie told himself. The man still had five years of his sentence to serve—it didn't matter whether he cared or not.

Dustin Henderson looked between Eddie and Sadie as if trying to decide whether there was something he should be telling both of them. Steve wore the same tense expression as he rubbed at his neck, but Robin seemed almost confident. "We've been through some pretty weird stuff," she said. "I mean, they have more times than me. Their stuff was more like tangible monsters, and mine was more like… Russians opening a portal, but the point is we believe you."

Dustin seemed offended by Robin's description, but he nodded anyway. Max did too. Steve sat on an old garbage can with his elbows resting on his knees, having momentarily removed himself from the conversation. Eddie's gaze passed over their faces, and his voice broke their silence. "Fine."

Sadie didn't know what to expect when he began.

Her body just like lifted up into the air, and uh… she just hung there—in the air.

While she frequented the video store's horror section and tortured both friends and family with far too many gory films, Sadie expected something more believable than this. A home invasion, a freak accident, maybe even a fight between him and Chrissy… anything but what Eddie described.

Her bones started to snap.

Her skin prickled—the tiny hairs at the back of her neck standing upright with such awful details. Sadie could not pull her attention from Eddie as his shaken sound filled the boathouse. She shifted uncomfortably, the graphic recount forcing dread to sit heavily in the pit of her stomach. Looking to Steve, hearing nothing from the others, the young woman wondered how they remained so calm.

Her eyes… it was like something was inside her head—pulling.

The worst of it did not seem to phase them, yet Eddie trembled as he spoke and his head shook as if trying to rid himself of the gruesome memories. Sadie watched as his eyes eventually glazed over, fear replaced by what she could only assume was guilt with the admittance that he had run away.

Disbelief would drive another wedge between them, but Sadie could not help the tears that blurred her vision. Confidence in his innocence faded as they dripped down her cheeks. Looking to Dustin, then Robin, Steve, and Max—her delicate features were overwhelmed. "I-I don't understand." She pushed both hands into her hair and fingers tightened around two-toned strands. "None of that makes sense. I want to believe you, Eddie, I do… But what you're saying doesn't… that can't happen, can it?"

All eyes turned toward Sadie as she spoke, and Eddie's jaw tensed, having heard the way her voice trembled. He stared at her for a long moment. "You think I'm capable of murder?" He laughed humorlessly. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. I was such a terrible influence on your life that you just had to get away! All he needs is a phone call, right?" He wanted to be angry, but all he managed to convey was heartbreak.

"I… It wasn't like that…" Caught off guard, embarrassment flushed the color from her face as his assumptions hung between them and the others. Most were probably unaware of the details regarding their breakup, but Eddie had laid out his bitterness for them all to hear. For a brief moment, Steve and Robin shared a look. Clearly, there was more to their situation than previously thought.

Max turned to face Sadie, quite obviously uninterested in their drama. She either trusted them or she didn't—she was in, or she was out. Prominent brows arched as her flashlight stirred at her side, and just as Sadie had done to Steve earlier, Max allowed the light to illuminate the woman's face for a few seconds too long. "We're not bullshitting you, okay?"

Dustin held up a hand to stop Max. While he wished there was a better way, time, and place to explain what they had faced thrice before, Dustin had no other way of reassuring Eddie or keeping Sadie calm. She was right in saying things like that didn't usually happen, but Hawkins was no ordinary town. He took a slow breath, turning back to face Eddie. "I know this is all difficult to take, but you know how people say that… Hawkins is cursed? They're not far off." The boy's gaze fell away for a moment as if contemplating his decision to proceed. His words came slowly. "There's another world hidden beneath Hawkins, and… sometimes it bleeds."

Though they were trained on the floor, Eddie pinched his eyes together, struggling to comprehend Dustin's words. "You mean like ghosts and shit?"

Max had grown distant—Dustin's words triggering painful memories of Billy in Starcourt Mall. Nonetheless, she spoke up. "There are some things worse than ghosts." Ghosts did not poison the mind. Ghosts did not force their subjects to possess and build an army. No matter how much she had hated him, Max knew Billy was stronger than ghosts. But alone, he had not been stronger than The Mind Flayer.

There were indeed things worse than ghosts.

Dustin continued. "These monsters from this other world… we thought they were gone. They've come back before, so we needed to find you. If they're back again, we need to know."

Sadie forced herself to breathe, the grip on her arms tightening with each passing second. "Monsters? You're saying that monsters did this to Chrissy fucking Cunningham?" The young woman pressed a hand to her forehead. Desperate for an answer that made real, logical sense, she looked to Max again and remembered the fire at Starcourt Mall. Flames had killed several, including Billy Hargrove and Chief Jim Hopper. "You've fought them before," she murmured.

It was not a question but an understanding.

"All of us have." Robin watched the group, her eyes shifting from Sadie to Eddie. "That night, did you see anything? Dark particles? It would almost look like dust—swirling dust."

Eddie just shook his head. "No. There was nothing you could see… or touch." He crossed arms over his chest, ringed fingers tucked into his underarms as his gaze fell to the floorboards. "You know… I tried to wake her. She couldn't move. She was in a trance or something."

"A spell," Dustin suggested. "Or a curse."

Eddie swallowed. "Vecna's Curse."

"Vecna?" Steve repeated from behind them, his eyes narrowing as he regarded Dustin between deflated locks of brown hair. In fact, they all stared at Dustin, and those wide eyes darkened as he considered previous Hellfire campaigns.

"An undead creature of great power," he finally said.

Sadie took a slow breath, her eyes landing on Steve in the darkness. Trust them. Trust that there was more to the tragic events that happened ever so often in Hawkins. Breath passed her lips. Why the hell hadn't she kept her mouth shut in the video store? Her gaze need only lift from the floorboards to find the answer sitting just a few feet away from her. Eddie Munson. "So, say this is a spell or some kind of curse…" The words sounded strange on her tongue. "What do we do? The police won't believe us. They won't believe Eddie."

Eddie knew Sadie was right. No one would believe him. He would rot in jail if he didn't get the electric chair. His stomach twisted into knots.

"Well…" Robin uncrossed her arms as she thought aloud. "We need to come up with a plan and figure out what everyone knows. Eddie needs to stay hidden, though. If a few teenagers figured out where he was, I'm sure the cops won't be far behind."

Sadie nodded, however reluctantly. "We need to figure out how much the cops think they know… or how much they've already told the public. The last thing we need is a bunch of hicks scouring Hawkins for their suspect." Turning to Eddie, Sadie proceeded carefully. "I think you're fine here for now. The rest of us could split up. You guys… know what you're doing, right? And if you drop me off at home, I can look for Wayne." Not that he'd be interested in talking to her—and knowing Hawkins police were probably watching his every move, it'd be risky. "...just to tell him you're okay. Unless you'd rather I not." She watched Eddie, waiting for some kind of confirmation. Something other than another uncharacteristically bitter remark.

Wayne Munson had an equally awful reputation in town, but Sadie had been around him enough to know he cared for his nephew and did what he could to make meager ends meet. He would want to know that Eddie was unharmed. But Dustin stood, straightening with his flashlight in hand. "No," he told them. "None of us should be seen speaking with Eddie's uncle. Not with reporters around." He checked the watch on his forearm. It was getting late. "We'll split up, sure… but Sadie and Eddie will stay here. We'll figure something out and bring back food as soon as possible. Just stay hidden. Here…" He pulled a radio from his backpack, placing it on the abandoned workbench for them to use.

"Why her?" Eddie objected. "I don't need a babysitter, man!"

A humorless laugh echoed through the boathouse, and Sadie Lepley strode after Dustin, defiant as the group made their way to the door without her. "Wait, I really don't think that's a good idea! Why doesn't Harrington stay back?"

They ignored her, and Dustin was the first to exit the boathouse, confident his friends would follow. It was Max who turned, blocking Sadie from passing the threshold with her forearm. "Just deal with it, okay?" Thick eyebrows raised as if waiting for Sadie to object again, but the woman only softened in defeat and scowled at the redheaded girl. "Fine."

Steve slipped passed them, a teasing glint in his eye despite his permanently soured mood. "Seems like you two have some stuff to talk about anyway."

On opposite sides of the boathouse, Sadie and Eddie watched them leave.