Here's chapter 7, hope you enjoy! I do not own Stranger Things
Steve
He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he leaned up against his car. He'd gotten off of work 15 minutes ago and it was getting dark. There were only a few cars left in the parking lot and no one but him standing around. He looked at his watch again, surely they'd been done at the pool for a while now. He was about to head back in to call Will's house from the phone at Scoops when he saw the beat up blue pick up pulling into the parking lot. He could hear the arguing from here, he smiled slightly, thinking it was more of the boys and their fantasy crap but when the truck pulled closer he could see that Odette was arguing to. He bit his lip, hoping she'd just gotten sucked into the fantasy stuff...but when the truck stopped and Mike hopped out his hopes were dashed.
"You can't tell us what to do!" He slammed the door shut, trapping the other two boys in the back seat and leaving Odette scrambling to get out. "Steve! You're dating a witch!"
Steve pushed himself off of his car incredulously "Did you just call my girlfriend a bitch?!"
Mike rolls his eyes "No I-" He points to her as she gets out of the truck, still wearing her bathing suit top and shorts as well as the sweater that's now falling off her shoulders. "Shut your mouth!" She hisses but now she catches Steve's gaze and freezes. "Shut it Mike. What is he talking about?" Steve asks in an authoritative voice he saved for babysitting. She felt herself begin to shake with nerves again, not knowing how to explain it; thankfully she didn't have to. Behind her Will had gotten the door open and slid the seat forward so he could get out. Lucas had made an attempt to follow him but got his foot stuck on the lever that moved the seat forward, falling flat faced to the concrete below. The sickening crunch of his nose echoed through the group, Steve and Odette being the first to act. Steve pulled him up and Odette using her sweater to stem the flow of blood from his definitely broken nose.
"Fuck! Get him in the car, we're going to the hospital" Steve groans, trying to pull Lucas up from the ground as he begins to cry out in pain.
"Odette can do it!" Will pipes up, she closes her eyes, as though in prayer but sighs. "She's not a doctor dude!" Steve says incredulously, still trying to get the other teen off of the ground.
"Not here" She says softly. She helps to lift Lucas up and helps him into the back of Steve's car. "Drive to your place Steve. I'll explain when I get there." She whispers before turning and running back to her car. "Keep him awake!" She calls from her open window "Will get in the truck!" She suddenly calls after thinking for a moment.
The younger boy gets into the vehicle with her after telling Steve to just do it and Mike gets into the passenger side of the car. "Always the god damned babysitter" He gets into the drivers seat and against everything in him he drove past the way to the Hospital and off to his house. His parents were still out of town so he wouldn't have to explain much to them about the bleeding freshmen he was bringing into the house. Lucas was groaning in the back, still clutching Odette's sweater to his bleeding face. The car is completely silent as he makes the turn down his street. "So is anyone going to explain what the fuck this all is?"
"She's-"
"Because from where I'm sitting you took my new girlfriend up on a nice trip to go to the pool for the day and you come back screaming insults about her." Steve feels the anger rising in him now, couldn't he have something nice without his shitheads screwing it?
"I wasn't insulting her!" Mike practically whined from the passenger seat
"You called her a bitch! In what world is that a compliment?!" Steve glares at the young black haired teen after he's pulled into the drive way. "I called her a witch"
"Go open the fucking door Wheeler." He tosses him the keys and goes to help Lucas out of the back.
"And you need to watch what you're doing! Why the fuck aren't we going to a hospital?" Lucas groans in response and Steve steers him into the house and into a kitchen chair. "Where are they?" He says anxiously, he didn't like that Odette and Will hadn't just followed in the pick up. They waited another ten minutes, Steve wondering if he should just shove Lucas back into the car to go to the hospital when Will burst into the house, carrying a canvas bag full of stuff. Odette followed shortly after carrying a handful of herbs in one hand and her bag in another.
"He's in the kitchen...what is the mint for?!"
Odette doesn't answer Steve, just heading straight for the kitchen with the mint held tightly in her grip. She gingerly pulls her blood stained sweater from Lucas's face, wincing at his nose. "This isn't going to be pleasant...but it'll be quick. Relax as much as you can." She whispers to him, she takes the mint and places it in a plate from a cabinet and lights it with a match from the canvas bag Will had put on the counter.
"Don't worry" Will says quietly to Steve "Just watch" Steve looks at the small group like they've lost their minds, feeling even more lost as Odette takes a small pink stone from her pocket and rubs it in the burning ashes of the mint. She then presses it to the broken nose of Lucas who cries out at the contact. She shushes him, whispering in French as she presses the stone softly into the bruising skin. "Guérir et être renouvelé Guérir et être renouvelé" The sickening snaps of the bones in Lucas's nose snapping back into place fill the room, Odette holding his head still so he wouldn't flinch away from the stone. She then pulls away, revealing the teen to Steve's eyes. His nose was no longer squashed and bleeding, the bridge was no longer bent at an odd angle. "What the fuck?"
He doesn't get an answer as Odette stumbles back, steadying herself against the stove as her nose begins to bleed. She sighs tiredly and wipes at it, smearing blood on her hand. "Shit" Steve grabs a cloth from a drawer and wets it at the sink, gingerly wiping the blood away from her lips "You're not scared?"
"Not the first girl with frequent nose bleeds I've met" Steve shrugs "So you're from the lab too?"
She looks over at the boys and brushes Steve's hands away from her face. "No...they told me about it...but I've never been there. So you're not freaked out?"
"Well...I wouldn't say that..." He tries to go back to helping her but she brushes him off again. "If you want to break up with me just do it Steve. I don't want to draw it out" She doesn't look at him, not acknowledging the tears that were welling up in her eyes.
"I'm not going to break up with you-"
"Why not?! I'm obviously not just some eccentric girl from the record shop!" She's waving her arms around now, not looking at any of them. "You probably think I'm some devil worshipping-" Steve takes her face into his hands "I'm not breaking up with you Odette. Just...tell me what this is?"
"She went to magic school in New York." Mike pipes up, having hopped up onto the counter as he watched Lucas wash the blood from his healed face at the sink. "Then she moved here to be with her big brother and...and we found out Will is one too" He looks over at Will for confirmation but he only gets a glare in return. "Way to ease him in"
Steve looks at the younger boy, letting his hands slide down Odette's face and come to rest at her shoulders. "I'll deal with that later..." He turns back to his girlfriend who's biting her lip anxiously. Steve takes a deep breath and mumbles "I thought it was ballet"
"It was both..." She admits, not able to look away from his eyes, certain she'd find anger or fear there soon.
"So...you didn't tell me because you were scared I'd be afraid of you?"
"I didn't exactly know you regularly fought monsters Steve...I thought you were a normal guy..but it explains the nightmares." She spares a look to the three awkward boys across from her before returning her blue eyes to Steve's, "I'm so sorry" she whispers, the unshed tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, I just wanted to help"
She buries her face into Steve's chest, not caring about the blood Lucas's nose had spilt on his Scoops uniform. "Why are you sorry?" Steve asks gently, combing his fingers through her hair as though he did it all the time. It felt natural to him.
"I used it on you..." He pulled away slightly "What do you mean" She sniffles again and pushes herself away from him as much as his still present arms would allow. Not allowing herself to look at him. "The tea"
"What about it?" He looks at the brown paper bag sitting innocently on his counter top by the kettle and it hits him. He'd drank the tea every night since she'd given it to him...except for last night...when the nightmares had come back full force. He said nothing, choosing to look at the crying girl in his arms, not looking at him.
"What does it do?" He asks finally, fearing the answer a little. The shuffling of awkward feet stops as the boys behind him stiffen at the calm in his voice.
"It...it...it blocks dreams...pushes them away as you sleep..." She whispers, still refusing to look at him. He looks back at the three boys behind him "Can we get a minute?"
Will drags the other two out of the kitchen, Steve waits till he hears the snap of the front door shutting "You put a spell on me?"
"On the tea...I couldn't stand to see you so...so rough. You weren't sleeping and you...you were having a rough time..." She mumbles "I didn't think about it...I just did it"
Steve lets out a puff of air, blowing her hair slightly as he did. She shifts in his arms, wondering if she should step out of them. "I shouldn't have done it."
Steve pulled her back so she could bury her face into his chest again, not saying a word. "I'm sorry Steve" She whispers, not able to help but lay her head over his beating heart. It was pounding in his chest like he'd run a marathon, his breathing was slightly heavy. "Say something...please"
She feels his fingers combing through her hair again as his voice croaks "I'm not mad"
She's shocked, she jerks her head back, him still holding her fast against him. "How can you not be angry?!" she almost felt like she was pleading for him to see it her way, that'd she'd taken advantage of him "I lied and I gave you something without telling you exactly what it did!" Her voice is rising without her realizing, not noticing the way Steve was looking at her now "I-"
"No one knew about them."
She stopped and looked back up at him, he was looking straight over her head. "About what?"
"The nightmares. The kids were doing ok...Robin doesn't know about this stuff...Nancy and Jonathan wouldn't think to check up on me...and they shouldn't. Hopper and Will's mom don't exactly check up on me...and my parents wouldn't know if I was fucking alive if it weren't for the updates the cleaning lady gives them about me." Steve's voice was low and gravelly, not his usual joking self or even the stern fatherly person he became around the kids. "I take care of myself." He shrugged, finally lowering his gaze to hers "I always have...it felt nice to be cared about for once...really cared about"
Odette doesn't move, she doesn't breathe "And as long as it's not a love potion tea...I don't give a fuck" He gives her the smallest smile, trying to mask the hurt of his own words. She sniffles slightly and doesn't speak, instead throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him down to hug him harshly
"Can we come back in the house?! It's raining!" Mike's voice bellows through the front hallway, making Steve chuckle wryly into her hair. "Yeah!"
The blood had been cleaned off of Lucas and the two older teens, Steve and Lucas's shirts soaking in the kitchen sink to help get rid of the stains. Odette's sweater had been ruined and she'd promptly thrown it out, not going to even attempt to get the red out of it. Steve had given her and Lucas some of his old shirts to wear, although Odette was swimming in her sweater he'd handed her. The three teens were sitting in the living room, all looking expectantly at the two older teens.
"So...why did we have the witchcraft talk today?" Steve asks quietly, sitting down heavily into an armchair. Odette bit her lip and leaned against the wall nearest the front door "Something happened at the pool today"
"Billy hit on her" Mike interjected, Steve clenched his jaw "And that led to witchcraft?"
"Let her talk dude" Lucas groaned, his nose was still a little sore from all the trauma it had faced that day.
Odette cleared her throat and started again "We were there...and that Billy guy did hit on me...but when I touched his skin...I saw...the Upside Down?" She looks to Will for confirmation on the name. When he nodded she went on. "I saw Billy there...tied up and...there was this huge monster...it was gigantic...no eyes...all teeth...and it looked like a spider..." She took a deep breath, "I...I think that Billy is being possessed by that thing...and it's definitely planning something." She looked to her boyfriend who was pinching the bridge of his nose irritatedly "Of fucking course it's that guy...so we're going to get him an exorcism?" He asks increduloously
"We have to do something, no way it just wants him to be a dick...he'll be up to something." Lucas says tiredly, leaning into the ice pack Steve had gotten him. Odette nodded but she looked troubled, shifting from foot to foot anxiously.
"What?"
"I don't know how to do that."
"We could burn him out...those things don't like heat...they like the cold" Will says quietly, thinking back to when they'd gotten the piece out of him. Odette seemed to be thinking the same, but shook her head. "How long did that take?"
"A while" Mike concedes
"And Billy's not going to sit and hang out in a hot environment." She begins to pace, only stopping when Steve caught her wrist and pulled her into his lap. "Take a breath."
She nodded but still fiddled with the edge of his sweater as she leaned into her boyfriend's warmth. "I...I just...I'm scared" She almost whispers it, but everyone heard it through the room. They all felt it...the shock of the day beginning to sink in. For them, the horrors were back and they'd found another girl with superpowers...but for her the horrors had just surfaced...and her big secret was out.
"So...I need to make a call. Can I?" She asks after a while of silent contemplation
"Who are you calling?"
"The coven." She jumps from Steve's lap when he nods and goes to the phone, dialing the number for the school with an eye on the clock. It was nearly 6, class would be ending soon...she had to catch them all. The line rang three times before the receptionist picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, could I speak to Madame Dubois please? This is Odette...it's urgent." She says the last part quietly, hoping she sounded desperate to make the reception do the unthinkable, interrupt Madame's class. The line goes silent for a second before she replies "Stay on the line dear..."
She waits there, twirling the line connecting the phone to the wall. She looked over her shoulder to see Steve standing there looking unsure. She gave him a small smile and was relieved when she felt his comforting embrace envelop her from behind. "Hello?" Madame's heavy accent hit her ears and she sighed in relief.
"Dieu merci...j'ai un probléme madame" Thank god...I have a problem Madame She says softly, feeling Steve rest his chin on the top of her head.
"Je suis en danger ici, monstres...il y a des monstres madame" I am in danger here, there are monsters madame She hears Madame's breathing just on the other end of the line. "Pouvez-vous tous venir ici, s'il vous plaît?" Can you all come here please?
"Oui, nous serons là demain matin chérie" Yes, we'll be there tomorrow morning darling Madame's voice is comforting as she mutters through the receiver. She utters a very small thank you and goodbye to the older woman. Giving her the directions to meet them at Steve's house before she hung up the phone. She leaned into Steve's touch. "She's coming...they're all coming"
"Your ballet teacher?" He whispers. She nods, biting her lip. "I have to go home tonight...Eddie's going to be so mad...I told him I wouldn't be out late..."
Steve pressed a kiss to her temple "Can't you call him?"
"My uncle needs the truck for work tonight." He sighs into the crook of her neck "Do you feel safe going home tonight...with Billy running around?"
"Not really...not that Eddie would ever let a guy like that near the trailer."
"Eddie...sounds familiar." Steve mumbles into her hair. She stops, then giggles slightly "You said you just graduated right?"
"Yeah." Steve sighed, he hoped he hadn't been a complete dick to her brother.
"Well you would have met him. Long dark hair, wears metal t-shirts...always has his leather jacket even if it's stupid hot outside. Oh! You may know his D&D club" The more she talked about her big brother the lower his stomach dropped.
"Eddie Munson?" He asks in a slightly shell shocked tone
"That's him, I know he looks like a lot...and acts like it sometimes, but he's really a teddy bear." Steve was lost in thought, sure a teddy bear that wore leather, satanic looking rings...and ran his kids D&D club. "Oh"
"What?" She turns her head to look at him worriedly "I can be a witch but my big brother is an issue?"
"Well..he's not my biggest fan..." Steve concedes and she sighs "Can you be nice to him?" She asks quietly
"Yes. I can...ask the boys" He points to the next room and she looks at him puzzled "Wait...oh! Are they his new members?!"
"Yeah-"
"He just adores them. He keeps calling them annoying but he hasn't been this hyped for D&D nights in years, and that's saying something" she giggles softly "Well...be prepared to meet him...again but as his sister's boyfriend" Steve groaned slightly "Keep the healing stuff ready I guess"
She rolls her eyes and turns in his arms "You've got bigger things to worry about than my brother not liking you."
"What?" He looks at her worriedly "Do you have a pet monster? Because Henderson already pulled that one."
She looks at him incredulously "No...we're talking about that later. But you're going to meet a coven tomorrow...and some of them are protective...Penny in particular." She gave him a slightly sheepish smile. She giggled at his playful groan of dispair and played with his hair "Don't worry, she won't do anything...she's a sweetheart once she gets to know you"
He nods but looks a little unsure of himself for once "I'm usually good with meeting the parents...not sure how I'll be for this..." She stands on her tiptoes and pulls his face to her for a chaste kiss "You'll be fine...just don't make any love potion jokes...we don't really make those a lot." She looks at him seriously "So none of that...and...maybe don't bring up our night up at the lake just yet?"
"I'm not going to bring up" He clears his throat and looks over his shoulder to the doorway to the living room to make sure no one was eavesdropping "I'm not going to bring up our...night...to your coven that might kill me. No worries there." She giggles a little "Good...I...I wish you were meeting them under better circumstances. The girls have been dying to meet you."
He smiles slightly "Told them about us already?"
"Maybe a little" She looks up at him shyly "Is that ok?" He nods, leaning her against the wall by the phone.
"As long as it was good things" He teases lightly
Eddie
He sat on his bed, idly plucking at the strings of his guitar, humming the tune of Master of Puppets to himself as he did. The thin white scar on his thumb caught his eye in the low light of his bedroom. He'd been sure he'd cut it worse...cuts like that didn't heal in a night...maybe he was being dramatic. He did have that flair after all...he must have. He continued to lazily strum Master of Puppets on his guitar. It made it easy to hear the sound of tires on the gravel outside...easy to hear the jingling of keys and the creak of the rusty front door. He peered out the open bedroom door to find Odette carrying in a canvas bag and looking a little ruffled by the wind that had started to howl outside the trailer. He could also just barely see Uncle Wayne heading out the door, lunchbox and keys to the truck in hand.
"Detta? You ok?" He calls out, seeing her jump. He grins slightly "You good?"
"I'm fine..thanks." She gives him a mildly forced smile as she struggles to get her bedroom door without dropping the heavily packed back. He continues fiddling with the strings, only turning back when he hears the rip of a bag. He sees all of the contents spill from the bag onto the floor. Books, a few boxes and a handful of candles. He gets off the bed, helping her grab the books as she irritatedly throws the ruined bag to the side. "Fucking hell" She mutters quietly, opening her door and throwing the candles onto her dresser.
"Bad day?" Eddie asks, stacking the books in his arms boredly
"Shit day." She mutters "I went to the pool and this...this dickhead creeped me out." She piles the little boxes up in her arms and throws them onto her bed as Eddie's brow furrows "This dickhead have a name?"
"Billy Hargrove." She shrugs but freezes when Eddie's loose demeanor stiffens. He's still holding her books, thankfully not looking at them as her book on divination was sitting on top.
"Hargrove? Tell me you didn't agree to anything" He says exasperatedly, holding onto the books tighter.
"Of course not! He creeped me out, I'm not desperate." She moves to grab the books from his arms but he leans out of her reach "I'm serious, that guys fucking bad news, almost as bad as Harrington was."
"Harrington?"
"Yeah...Steve Harrington, real ladies man from high school" Eddie shrugged and started to hand her her books, the divination book was first, revealing Morgana's guide to Summoning was next, she kept eye contact "What was so bad about him, so he dated around a little...doesn't sound like a big deal to me."
He hands her Morgana's Guide to Summoning, leaving Plants and their Magicks was left in his grip as he answered, still not looking at them "A little? That fucker went after anything in a skirt after Wheeler's sister dumped him." He handed her the final book as she huffed in annoyance "Aren't rebounds normal?"
"A rebound or two is normal, not 30"
She turned pink at the thought, making a mental note to ask Steve later, she turned to put the books safely out of his eyeline, not noticing when he picked up a small note from the floor. She shut the door before he could tell her, so he took a closer look at it.
Baume de Guérison
Trois brins de menthe
Poudre de tourmaline
Eau de rose
1 chillère à café de miel
1. Purée de menthe (tiges et tout) dans un mortier et un pilon
2. Incorporer la poudre de tourmaline et le miel jusqu'à homogénéité
3. Ajoutez de l'eau de rose jusqu'à ce qu'elle atteigne une texture lisse, presque beurrée
4. Une fois le mélange effectué déposez la candre de trois feuilles de menthe sur la pâte et mélangez
Eddie looked at the French scribbles curiously, wondering just what the hell it meant. It looked like a recipe from the format...she did always say that her ballet teacher made the best cookies. He looked at the door to her bedroom, he could hear her slamming things on the other side. Maybe he could translate it...and make her day a little brighter...if he didn't burn the damned cookies right off the bat. He went into his own bedroom, hanging his precious guitar up on the wall with care before he turned to digging underneath his bed for the old English to French dictionary he'd bought years ago to help her brush up on her french when it was slow going. After much searching he found it and began the long boring task of translating.
Healing Salve
Three sprigs of mint
The powder of tourmaline
Rose water
1 teaspoon of honey
1. Purree the mint (stems and all) in a mortar and pestle
2. Incorporate the powder of tourmaline and the honey until fully mixed.
3. Add rose water until it reaches a smooth, almost buttery texture.
4. Once the mixture is done, drop the ash of of three mint leaves to the paste and mix.
"What the hell?" He looked at his chicken scratch version of the recipe in complete shock. He goes through his little french to english dictionary three more times, trying to find a mistake in his work but found none. He could no longer hear Odette moving in her room; a glance at the clock told him it was nearly one in the morning. He stared at the little paper...slowly trying to decide what to do...he was used to being called a devil worshiper...that he was casting spells...that he was sacrificing people...but he'd never actually done any of that. He looked back down at the thin white line on his thumb, it couldn't be.
He got up, moving to her door, raising his hand to knock but thinking better of it. He began pacing the length of the hallway from his room to the other side of the trailer where his Uncle's room was and back. There and back again over and over, occassionally stopping to think about knocking on Odette's door but deciding against it repeatedly. He didn't know how long he did it but soon he found himself staring at his little sister's door, hand poised to knock again, the recipe clutched in one hand. Just as he'd once again decided not to knock the door flew open to reveal Odette looking haggard. "Is there a reason you've been stomping through the trailer for half an hour?!"
He chokes on his words for a split second, wondering idly if he was angry at her for being into weird shit, or if he was mad over her being into weird shit and not telling him. He finds his tongue again and spits out "When were you going to tell me?!"
The color drains from her face "How did you find out?"
"You weren't exactly careful!"
She opens her door wider and leans against the door frame "You didn't give me much of a choice but to hide it!"
Eddie rolled his eyes "You've got to be kidding me! I'm your big brother! You could have told me!"
"Told you?! And have you freak out on me over it again?! You banned it!" She's glaring at him now but he's confused. He looks down at the paper then back up at her "What are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about?!" She's even paler now, looking like she was considering slamming the door in his face.
"I'm talking about the weird concoction you've made" He holds up the translated paper to her and is even more puzzled to see her looking relieved.
"Oh, that...surprise?" She gives him a slightly cheeky smile, hoping the admission would cover for her mistake. He glares at her as he runs through the past few weeks, understanding hitting him like a train. "You've got a boyfriend!"
She winces "Can we focus on the witchcraft?"
"Witchcraft-...witchcraft?" He walked into the living room, running a hand through his wild hair as he takes it in. He collapses onto the couch, putting his head into his hands and in between his knees "Oh this is so fucked."
"Eddie it's really not a-"
"Don't fucking say it!" He's breathing a little shallowly as he tries to process the weirdness of it all. "Is this like...like new?!"
"No..." She's shifting from foot to foot in their living room now, thanking god that their uncle had long since left for work.
"How long?!" He looks up at her, open mouthed and looking lost. "How long have you been...been doing this?!"
"Since...um..." She bites her lip, trying to count the years "12 years?"
He jumps up from the couch "What do you mean?! Did that old bat-"
Odette scoffed derisively "She'd have killed me for opening a book about astrology let alone witchcraft Eddie"
"So where on earth-"
"Ballet." She looked at her hands "I know it's a lot to take in-"
"You're damn right it's a lot to take in! My little sister, one of the only people on the earth that I care about, has lied about her life for...well her whole fucking life!"
"I wasn't allowed to tell! It would have put the coven in-"
"Hold up! Coven?!" He drops the recipe onto the coffee table and runs his hands through his wild hair once again, his rings catching slightly.
She pinches the bridge of her nose and closes her eyes in frustration "I can't believe Steve took this better!"
"Steve?" Eddie's voice is no longer reaching higher pitches, it had dropped an octave at the mention of Steve's name. "Tell me it's not Harrington"