Chrissy was dead. Found in Eddie's trailer. Eddie had run, terrified of whatever had happened inside. Belle couldn't believe that he had done anything, least of all to Chrissy who always tried to be nice to people when she could. Chrissy, who, she knew there was something up with.

But drugs? She couldn't believe it of the cheerleader. Least of all going to Eddie when Belle guessed there were other dealers around. Though, perhaps friends would have been worse, and Eddie Munson was the closest and safest social link.

Yet there was a tiny part of her that wondered if perhaps she hadn't been wrong. How much could have changed while she'd been away? Could Eddie have turned into a killer in that time? Was the person she thought him to be nothing more than an act?

No, she couldn't believe that. She needed facts, needed to find out exactly what had happened. But facts were the one thing that she couldn't get hold of.

Unless they found Eddie.

'Clary!' Axel's voice was loud and yet she knew it hadn't been spoken in her mind. Her eyes snapped open; he jogged a little to reach her, attention skimming to Family Video's window as he hurried past. 'It wasn't you.'

He dithered in front of her for a moment, as if wondering about hugging her, before hastily putting his hands in his pockets.

Belle squinted at him. 'You know what happened.' It was an accusation more than a question, but Axel shook his head.

'I had nothing to do with it.'

'But you knew,' she said, moving to prod him in the chest. 'Oh my god, that's why you wanted me out of here.'

'Clary, I…' he started, but he shook his head. 'OK, yes.'

'You need to tell the police.' She went to grab his arm, but Axel took a step away from her.

'It's not that simple.'

'Really?' She chuckled bitterly. 'What do you know, Axel?'

'I… It's complicated.'

'Somebody is dead!' she snapped, not caring that a few people idling in the street turned to face her. She took a breath, forced her emotions in check. The last thing she needed was people thinking she was breaking again. Shattering because something bad had happened.

'And I'm trying to make sure you're not next.'

'Why would I be?' she challenged.

Axel opened his mouth, but quickly closed it again. He looked resolutely at a spot over her shoulder.

'Axel,' she pressed, taking a step closer. But he moved away.

'I need to go. Just…' He looked back to her, his eyes almost black in the light so she couldn't easily read the emotion behind them. 'Stay away from all this, Clary.'

He headed off in the direction he'd come from. Belle went to go after him, but the door of Family Video was pushed open. She turned to see Robin hanging out of it, her attention glancing over Axel before she spotted Belle.

'We might have found something,' she said. 'You coming?'

Belle watched Axel's retreating back for a moment before nodding at Robin. She just hoped she might get the chance to question Axel about everything the next time she saw him.

Belle had contemplated taking her bike instead of squeezing into the backseat of Steve's car, but he'd been adamant they all stuck together and she couldn't be bothered with the time delay of an argument. The others had agreed, but there was a tension in the air that she found it difficult to ignore. Steve's attention kept shifting to the rear-view mirror, checking up on her in a way she was beginning to find more irritating than comforting. Beside him, Robin fidgeted, but that was nothing unusual.

Robin shifted so she was facing Belle, and the younger teens on either side of her seemed to relax a little. 'So, where to begin?'

'Begin?' Belle asked, glancing briefly in the rear-view mirror. Steve's attention swiftly moved back to the road. 'Are we not going to Reefer Rick's?'

'Oh, we are,' said Robin, attention slipping briefly to Dustin. 'But, it's just, with Eddie and everything that's happened. And with –'

'Other stuff's been happening in Hawkins,' Dustin said, moving beside her in the hopes of creating a little space so he could look at her properly. 'Stuff that's weird.'

'The fire?' Belle guessed, glancing between the two of them.

Steve chuckled, more an expelling of air than anything else. His eyes snagged on the mirror once more, and Belle could have sworn there was something like pity behind his expression. 'It wasn't just an ordinary fire.'

'OK,' Belle said, dragging the simple word out as she looked to Robin. She could always rely on Robin for the truth. That was part of what made it so difficult lying to her; why her insides always squirmed when she didn't admit that she'd been hearing voices, about having been in hospital before moving to Canada.

'Hawkins isn't the only... Hawkins,' admitted Robin, her brows pinched ever so slightly with concern. Belle had the uncomfortable realisation that Robin was worried this might just make her run again; that telling her the truth in this instance had been a last resort. 'There's another version that sometimes, um –'

'Bleeds into this Hawkins,' Dustin said as Belle blinked slowly at her best friend.

'Darker?'

'Yeah,' Dustin said, uncertainty obvious behind his voice.

Belle released a soft chuckle. Concern flashed bright behind Robin's eyes, and she quickly tempered her relieved reaction. 'Slightly twisted. Feeling of foreboding?'

'H – how do you know about the Upside Down?' Robin asked, shifting in her seat once more, hand gripping the headrest so she could better look at Belle.

'I...' She glanced around at the others before closing her eyes, pretty much addressing her next admittance to her knees. 'I have nightmares about it sometimes. It's called the Upside Down?'

'Yeah,' Dustin said softly, and she felt his knee nudging gently against her own.

She took a breath, tried to figure out how to feel about it all. Axel was somehow linked to the Upside Down, that much she was certain of. His voice had been there the first time, a comfort of sorts that drew her out of it. And now she'd seen him there. Seen him facing off against something that lingered in the darkness. But how to admit all that without dredging up the past she was so desperate to leave behind?

She slowly opened her eyes and looked towards Dustin. There was an almost sad smile on his face, a look of understanding that broke her heart. He knew about all this; had somehow managed to rationalise it all. And she knew they'd have questions, but right now their focus was Eddie.

'It's real.'

Releasing a long, slow breath, Belle glanced back to Robin. Her best friend's eyes were wide, concern shadowed her expression. And a hint of guilt that gnawed at Belle's insides. They always promised to tell each other the truth, and she'd never admitted to Axel. To just how much the death of her grandmother had affected her.

'So,' Belle said softly, briefly glancing around at the others, 'what else can be blamed on the Upside Down?'

By the time they pulled up outside Rick's house, the sun had set and Dustin was the first to scramble out of the car. He hurried up the steps to ring the doorbell. When his first attempt elicited no immediate response – no movement from inside that they could hear – he kept going.

'OK. Well, that's settled. I guess he's not here,' Steve practically sung.

Dustin knocked instead. 'Eddie! It's Dustin.'

'Great,' complained Steve.

'Look, we just wanna talk, OK?' insisted Dustin.

Belle tugged her jacket a little closer around herself as she followed Robin away from the front door.

'So,' Robin said softly, attention on the window, her flashlight vaguely illuminating the interior of the house, 'you've seen the Upside Down.'

'Seems so,' Belle admitted. 'Didn't know it was an actual place though.'

'Just some creepy horror show?'

Belle chuckled. 'Could you imagine Tey's reaction? He'd have a field day with all this.' They wandered around the side of the house, Dustin's calls for Eddie dulling to background noise. 'When'd you get roped in?'

'Last summer. Scoops Ahoy. Russians…' Robin let out a long breath. 'It's a long story.'

'One for when we're trying not to get caught at a drug dealer's?'

'Exactly,' Robin said, a small smile dancing on her lips. 'I didn't want to tell you, but with Eddie... I just mean... I think...'

'Robin,' Belle said softly, resting a careful and on her arm, 'it's fine. Honestly.'

Relief crashed over Robin's face as she offered Belle a small smile.

Belle dropped her hand and turned her attention to the back of what she guessed was a boathouse, given the lake that extended beyond it. The forest around seemed to gate the whole thing in. A single light illuminated the doorway.

'Who hides and leaves the light on?' Belle asked, just as a twig snapped behind them. Max stood there, her flashlight shining in their direction.

'Someone scared,' Robin suggested as Max called to the others.

Belle didn't wait, she hurried towards the door, hearing the uncertain footsteps of Robin behind her; her torchlight bounced as she moved. Belle tried the door, wasn't sure if she should be worried or not that it pushed open with ease.

'Hello?' she asked tentatively. She stepped over the threshold, started to pick her way towards the centre of the room.

'Is anyone home?' asked Robin, closely following her.

The door creaked every time somebody new moved through it, but Belle's attention was on the darkened shapes that filled the space. The others all seemed to be prepared with flashlights, a testament to how many times they'd done this type of thing before. She made a mental note to buy one of her own. Just in case.

'What a dump,' complained Steve.

'It looks like a serial killer's hideout,' Belle said, carefully peering at the tarpaulin covering what she could only assume was a boat.

'Seen many of those?' Dustin teased.

'Tey's a horror nerd,' Robin explained absently.

Belle watched as Steve picked up an oar, wandered in her direction. 'Though, we do have a sacrifice.'

'Belle!' scoffed Robin, just as Steve started thrusting the oar into the tarpaulin.

'What are you doing?' demanded Dustin. 'What are you doing?'

'He might be in here.'

'And not yelping with each prod?' Belle questioned, earning a sharp look from Steve.

'So take the tarp off,' reasoned Dustin.

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

Belle rolled her eyes, moving closer to a slightly puffed up piece of the tarpaulin, wondering if that was the best place to remove it from. Surely if Eddie was underneath it, he'd have moved by now. They weren't exactly being quiet. But then, how was he to know they were there to help him? Amongst them, the only people he really spoke to were her and Dustin. And surely he had to know what the news would have reported.

Unless...

Belle cut the thought off before it could fully come to fruition. She refused to think that of him until she had the truth.

'Hey, look over here,' Max said, but Belle kept looking at that slight discrepancy in the way the tarpaulin rested over the boat. 'Someone was here.'

'Maybe he heard us. Got spooked and ran,' suggested Robin.

'Don't worry. Steve will get him with his oar,' said Dustin, voice dripping with sarcasm.

'Aha, I know you think you're being funny, Henderson,' Steve said as Belle finally crouched by the boat; maybe just ripping it off was the best way forwards, 'but considering the fact almost everyone in this room has nearly died about a hundred times, personally I don't find it funny in the slightest –'

The tarpaulin was sent skywards. Belle stumbled backwards; somebody yelled; chains rattled. She felt someone grip the front of her jacket, but it did nothing to help her. The grip tightened as she was pushed back against the wall of the boathouse, something sharp ghosting her neck as she scrabbled for purchase against the wall, forcing herself onto her tiptoes.

'The prodigal son returns,' Mia teased as the door opened. Her heart had been beating a nervous tattoo against her ribs since the news broke. Even after Luis had called home to reassure them he was fine, that he was with the rest of the team, she'd still been terrified it was some sort of joke. She paused on the stairs, glass in hand to grab some more orange juice. The small smile on her lips fell when she spotted Luis's expression.

He quickly put a finger to his lips, motioning her over with his other hand.

She jumped the last few steps and closed the distance between them in a matter of steps. He offered her a brief hug and stepped into the house, easing the door closed behind him.

Luis glanced briefly in the living room before hurrying past the doorway. His actions only made Mia more worried.

'Why are you being weird?'

'Don't want to worry –'

'Not being here after a body was found kind of blew that idea out of the water,' she said, keeping her voice low despite knowing that their mother was out and their father had fallen asleep in front of the television, the telephone set upon the table beside him.

Luis heaved a deep sigh before lowering himself onto the stairs. 'Do you know who it was?'

Mia shook her head, folding her arms on the bottom of the bannisters. The look on her brother's face was one she'd never seen before. Grief, mixed with a little anger and something she couldn't quite define.

'Chrissy.'

'Chrissy Cunningham?'

'And the trailer?' Luis asked, voice dripping with bitterness. 'The Freak's.'

Mia scoffed, unable to quite accept what he was saying. But his expression didn't falter, and she swallowed.

'Why?'

'Ritual or some shit,' Luis said, shrugging as if it really didn't matter. Then again, Mia supposed it didn't. If Eddie had done this though… 'Jason wants to find out.'

'Jason?' Mia blinked before she shot her brother a questioning look. 'What's he going to do?'

'Just wants to have a little chat with Eddie,' Luis said, hauling himself to stand. 'I just wanted to grab the crowbar.'

'Crowbar?' breathed Mia. 'Dios mío, you can't be serious.'

Luis merely clenched his jaw as he headed for the kitchen, towards the door into the garage.

Mia glanced briefly at the living room, half contemplated waking their father, but followed her little brother instead. 'Are you sure this is a good idea, Luis?'

'Jason deserves to know the truth,' he said, his back to her.

'And what if Eddie's dead too, hm?'

Luis froze. Mia knew that he was contemplating her idea. She hadn't wanted to think about it, but everybody seemed to be forgetting that Eddie Munson was all bark and no bite. She couldn't remember a single time he'd got into a fight or even looked like he might. Sure, he often rubbed people up the wrong way, but if anything he ran away from the mere threat of violence when he could.

'Then he probably got what he deserved.'

'Luis!' Mia chastised, but he had grabbed the crowbar and was heading back towards the house. He brushed past her, and she caught his wrist before he could walk away completely. 'Just… Promise me you'll hear him out.'

'Why?' he asked, voice harsher than she'd heard it before. 'Why would Chrissy go to his place rather than celebrate the win with her friends?'

Mia opened her mouth, a sound barely escaping her to defend Eddie. But she couldn't answer that one. Chrissy and Eddie, as far as she knew, had never so much as crossed paths once since being in Hawkins High.

'Exactly,' Luis said, pulling his arm free of her grip. 'Be careful, Xi.'

'You too,' she murmured, watching him go, wondering if there was anything she could say that might've stopped him from following where Jason led with this.

'Eddie! Eddie! Stop!' The voice was familiar, panic set behind the words, but Eddie was barely aware of them. The prodding of the tarpaulin had assured him that no matter how soft the voices had been, they were here because of everything that had happened. Here to take him in. To blame him for what had happened to Chrissy. The memory made bile rise in his throat.

All he could see was the pale face before him. Eyes wide and fearful.

'Eddie! Eddie!' That voice again, making Eddie glance quickly towards the rest of the room. 'It's me. It's Dustin. And that's Belle. She's not gonna hurt you.'

Eddie's attention drifted back to the person in front of him.

'I'm not gonna hurt you,' she said in barely more than a whisper. 'Eddie?'

Her voice was soft. She said his name in a way that he hadn't been expecting after everything that had happened. It wasn't the affectionate irritation of his uncle, nor the almost reverence that some of Hellfire said it with. It was as far from the dislike of most of the school as he thought it possible to get. Claribel Barrow always said his name with a slight smile behind her voice, but this time it was ever so different.

Because here he was, holding her against a wall, a broken beer bottle pressed against her neck. Guilt flooded through him. He instantly moved the bottle, released her jacket and took a step backwards. People had looked at him with fear behind their eyes before, but seeing it from her was almost too much.

'Belle,' he whispered, attention skittering over her, trailing to her throat where her hand was tracing the line of the bottle's already fading mark. She looked OK, shaken and a little ruffled, but she was standing there still, not hurrying off to the arms of the others that he could see in his peripheral vision. 'I didn't – I wouldn't –'

'It's OK,' she told him, lowering her shaking hand.

'What're you doing here?' Eddie tore his attention away from Belle and towards the others. He recognised Dustin, Steve, Robin and a red haired girl whose name escaped him; he just knew Lucas had spoken to her before and she lived opposite.

'We're looking for you,' Dustin assured him.

'We're here to help,' added Robin.

'Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from band.' Robin mimicked playing the trombone. 'This is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play D&D.' Max waved. 'King Steve, who Mia is bard for.' Steve glanced blankly at Dustin, but his attention shifted back to Belle; kept moving between Eddie and Belle as if trying to work something out. 'And, obviously, you know Belle.'

Eddie's attention drifted back to her. She hadn't moved, but he could still see the fear behind her eyes, even as it slowly receded. Fear of him. His insides twisted uncomfortably, and he doubted it had anything to do with everything that had happened.

'Eddie. We're on your side,' Dustin said, causing Eddie to slowly look back towards him. 'I swear on my mother. Right, guys?'

'Yes. Yes. We swear,' Max agreed hastily.

'On – on Dustin's mother,' added Robin.

'Yeah, Dustin's… Dustin's mother,' swore Steve.

Eddie glanced between the little group, trying to find the lie but swiftly realising they might actually be there to help.

And he'd attacked them.

The weight of everything suddenly came crashing down. With a deep breath he moved to stand beside Belle, making sure there was still some distance between them, and slowly dragged his back down the wall, beer bottle clutched in his hand.

There was a beat of silence, an uneasy feeling settled in the air. But Belle slowly crouched beside him.

'We're all on your side,' she assured him softly.

'Eddie, we just want to talk,' Dustin said, crouching just in front of him, the movement slow as if not to startle him.

'We want to know what happened,' Robin said.

They were boxing him in. Eddie's grip on the bottle tightened ever so slightly. He could still see the door, still thought he could reach it if he wanted.

Eddie sniffed, his attention on the space between his shoes. To explain all or not? How would any of them be able to take what had happened seriously? Even he wasn't sure about it. He'd been trying to make sense of it since he'd fled the trailer, and all he could come up with was that it was an awful nightmare. He'd wake up eventually and Wayne would comment about how he needed to stop writing terrifying campaigns.

'You won't believe me,' he said thickly, attention moving to survey the others; Robin crouched a little in front of Belle, the briefest touch of the hand her way of checking in.

'Try us,' Max told him simply. It sounded like a challenge, and Eddie couldn't help but think perhaps they might just understand. And even if they didn't, he was just so tired of being alone. He needed to tell somebody what had happened, if just to give the events voice in the hopes that he might finally be able to expel them somehow.

'Her body,' Eddie said, his voice so distant that it tugged at Belle's heart, 'just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh… And she just, like, hung there. In the air. And her bones… Uh, she…' He made a whimpering noise, which somehow made everything that little bit scarier. Eddie might not have been brave, but the events of the last day seemed to have shattered him.

Her heart was slowly returning to its normal rhythm, but there was no ignoring the fear that had flooded her system when he hadn't recognised them. When she'd felt the shattered glass against her throat.

Somehow, they'd managed to coax him away from the wall so they could crowd around him. Belle wasn't sure it had been the best idea, but at least he seemed a little more comfortable rather than slumped against a wall.

She pulled her jacket a little tighter around herself, trying to ignore the dull pounding in her shoulders; there'd probably be a bruise or something in the morning.

'Her bones started to snap,' Eddie continued after a moment. 'Her eyes, man. It… It was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling.' His gestures, ones that always embellished stories to make them more captivating, only made each description worse. The storyteller in him had never been so utterly terrifying, only made so because the truth Belle didn't doubt this particular tale held. 'I… I didn't know what to do, so I… I…. I ran away. I left her there.' He gave a hitched breath before scoffing. 'You all think I'm crazy, right?'

'No,' Belle and Dustin told him vehemently.

'We don't think you're crazy at all,' Dustin assured him.

'Don't bullshit me, man!' Eddie snapped, looking up from his hands but not looking at any of them specifically. In fact, Belle was pretty sure he was doing everything in his power to avoid eye contact. 'I know how this sounds.'

'We're not bullshitting you,' Max told him.

'We believe you,' Robin added.

Eddie exhaled, his disbelief obvious.

'Look, what I'm about to tell you might be a little… difficult to take,' Dustin said.

'OK,' Eddie said, finally meeting Dustin's eyes.

'You know how people say Hawkins is cursed? They're not way off. There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours.'

'Like ghosts and shit?' asked Eddie.

'There are some things worse than ghosts,' Max said.

Belle felt a shiver go across her skin. Axel?

'These monsters from this other world,' Dustin went on, and Belle was a little disappointed that she couldn't feel the pressure of Axel's presence, 'we thought they were gone. But they've come back before. And that's why we needed to find you.'

'If they're back again, we need to know,' added Max.

'That night, did you see anything?' asked Robin.

'Dark particles, maybe?' added Max.

Eddie shook his head.

'They would almost look like dust, swirling dust,' expanded Dustin.

'No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh… or touch,' Eddie explained, gaze still distant. 'You know I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she… she was in a trance or something.'

'Or under a spell,' suggested Dustin.

'A curse,' countered Eddie.

'Vecna's curse?' suggested Belle, earning the others' attention. She felt the blush flooding her cheeks, and turned her attention instead to the cuffs of her jacket.

'Who's Vecna?' asked Steve.

'An undead creature of great power,' explained Dustin.

'A spell caster,' added Eddie.

'A dark wizard.'

Steve groaned, breaking the spell of the conversation in an instant. 'This is from that game, isn't it?'

'Demogorgans are, too,' said Dustin simply.

'So, what's the actual plan?' Belle asked, cutting the argument short. Slowly, she looked up and realised that everyone's attention was on her. 'You wanna go tell all this to Chief Powell?'

Dustin scoffed. 'Hopper would've understood.'

Belle wanted to press the point, but she knew now wasn't really the time. Instead, she said, 'It's getting late.'

'We should probably go,' Steve noted, glancing briefly at his watch.

Eddie's eyes widened, but Belle settled herself on the floor.

'Um, what are you doing?' Robin asked.

'Staying here.'

'What?' Steve and Eddie spoke at the same time, concern and argument bleeding behind the simple question.

Belle, however, kept her attention on her best friend. She hoped Robin understood, that she needed to stay to make sure Eddie was OK. After everything that had happened, she didn't feel right leaving him alone again. And she knew that feeling of helplessness; seeing the terrible and being unable to do anything to help.

The small smile that pulled on Robin's lips assured her that the moment of silent communication hadn't gone completely awry.

'Can you tell Tey that I'm staying at yours?' She'd apologise to him one day. When Eddie's name was cleared, she was certain Tey would understand why she'd fobbed him off.

'Wait, no, I can't – Belle, I'm a horrible liar.'

'It's just Tey.'

'I'm sorry,' Eddie said, his voice a little stronger than it had been before, drawing Belle's attention towards him. 'You're staying here?'

Belle offered him little more than a shrug, before glancing to Dustin. 'Safer in numbers, right?'

'I mean, maybe,' he said uncertainly. There was something about the look he shot towards Eddie that reminded her of the cafeteria. Had that really only been the previous morning?

'Unless,' Belle said, slowly turning to Eddie. He still looked scared, still looked uncertain about everything that had happened. His usually confident demeanour shattered by everything he'd already seen; the bombshells that had been dropped on him because of it. 'You really want to stay here alone?' She knew it was possibly the wrong way of wording the question, and if Eddie told her he really didn't mind being alone then she'd head back to town with the others. But she hoped he wouldn't.

'No,' he said softly, his attention shifting to the others.

'You sure about this, Clary?' Steve asked, voice soft, concern behind his eyes that she still wasn't quite used to seeing.

She shot him a small smile. 'I'm not going anywhere.'