"Nancy!" Steve and Nick continued to try and bring the girl back from the trance Vecna held her under while the rest of their friends watched from the gate above, momentarily paralyzed at the scene in front of them.

Steve held tight to Nancy's shoulders, still shaking her in an attempt to get her attention while Nick watched Nancy with a panicked yet determined expression, waving a hand in front of her face. However, Nancy stood still, staring off into the space in front of them, though she couldn't see the two friends staring back at her.

"Shit," Dustin muttered, as Lily's mind flashed to Max sitting in the cemetery, the same whited out look in her eyes as the expression Nancy currently wore, and the tactics they had used to save her that afternoon.

"Music," Lily spoke up, backing away from the gate as she rushed towards Eddie's room, the others not far behind her. "What's her favorite song? And Munson, where's your Walkman?"

"Fuck if I know," Eddie muttered in a frustrated tone as he began to sift through the items cluttered across the top of his dresser in search of the device. "I haven't been here in a week."

"I've got mine," Max assured them, hurriedly pulling open any drawers she could find in search of any loose cassette tapes floating around Eddie's room. "Something tells me she's not much of a Kate Bush fan, though, and that's all I've got on me."

Lily crouched down at the foot of Eddie's now-mattress-less bed, peering below for the bin of tapes he usually kept underneath the bed and pulling it out. She overturned the bin, dumping its contents on the box spring as she took a seat, rummaging through the pile for anything that might help save Nancy. However, all she could manage to find was old Corroded Coffin recordings and a large assortment of heavy metal, and while she didn't know Nancy quite as well as the others did, it didn't seem to suit her style.

"Eddie, do you have anything else?" Lily asked. "Anything of Wayne's or Nick's that might help her?"

"There might be a few out by Wayne's stereo, but most of it's in here." Eddie said, rushing out to the living room to where their uncle kept his tapes, though as Wayne had the biggest impact on Eddie and Nick's upbringing, Lily wasn't too confident in his taste being much different than theirs.

"Not much in here either!" Sarah called from where she and Debbie were searching through Nick's things.

"God, what is all this?" Dustin asked as he and Lucas searched the counter where Eddie kept his amps, the boys also seeming to come up short with anything useful. "I've never heard of any of these people."

"Steve says you need to hurry!" Erica called, running into Eddie's room where the rest of them were still ransacking any drawers they could find.

"Yeah, no shit!" Dustin yelled back.

"We're trying, we can't find anything!" Max exclaimed.

"Seriously, what is all this shit?" Robin asked, picking up a handful of the tapes Lily had strewn across the bed.

"What are you even looking for?" Eddie asked, emerging back into the room with a tray full of new tapes and dropping them next to Lily, where she instantly began to search through them.

While Wayne's taste wasn't exactly like his niece and nephew's, Lily sighed in frustration as she tossed them aside after a single glance at the artwork decorating the top of each tape, or the words hastily scrawled across the side. While the music worked perfectly for headbanging during the drives Eddie used to give Nick, Lily, and Max to school, or the oldies music that would play through the stereo when Wayne would get home from work in the morning and wake the kids up when Lily would stay the night with Nick at the trailer, it didn't seem like any of the tapes would do Nancy any good in escaping from Vecna.

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles?" Robin suggested. "Music! We need music!"

"This is music!" Eddie screamed, lifting up an Iron Maiden tape from the pile in Robin's hands and holding it up.

"Lily, do you have anything?" Lucas asked suddenly. "Back at your place? You guys listen to some of the same music, right?"

"She's definitely got Blondie." Eddie pointed out. "She never used to shut up about them."

"Most of my current tapes were in my purse back at the boathouse." she said, trying to picture which of her older tapes were in her bedroom. "But I think there's a couple old tapes on the dresser, one of them has to be Blondie." she looked up at Max, who was already halfway out of Eddie's bedroom in pursuit of the Mayfield home.

"I've got it," Max said.

"Wait!" Nick's voice called out through the gate, Max's hand freezing in place over the door handle, and Lily could hear a faint sobbing sound, one that didn't belong to either Steve or Nick.

"You're okay," Lily could hear Steve's voice faintly as she got up from the box spring, leaving Eddie's room to follow the source of the sobbing back to the gate in the ceiling with the others close behind her.

Where Nancy had been standing petrified, the girl now lay limply in Steve's arms, Nick crouched next to them as the Wheeler girl sobbed uncontrollably. Lily let out a relieved sigh at the sight of Nancy no longer under the curse, but she couldn't help but feel confused at how she'd managed to get away from Vecna without the help of music to guide her back to the real world. She'd always known Nancy was tough, but even she hadn't seemed capable of defeating him on her own.

"It's okay," Steve continued to assure Nancy, Nick crouched down next to them. "We've got you, you're okay."

"What do you think happened?" Dustin asked, the group watching as they helped Nancy up into a sitting position while she tried to catch her breath.

"I don't know," Max admitted. "If it's anything like what I saw, like what happened to the others, she would've been a goner without music. This has to be something different. I mean, she wasn't cursed like we were, right? No nose bleeds, headaches, nightmares, or visions? She would've told us if she had them, right?"

"We've all been together since Saturday." Debbie reminded them. "If she'd had them, we'd know. Max is right, whatever happened to Nancy, Vecna's changing things. This is different."

"Alright guys, we're gonna try to come up." Steve called up to them, helping Nancy up onto the rope as she began to slowly climb.

"We've got you, Nance." Lily assured her friend as Nancy climbed higher, and they backed away from the mattress as the gravity shifted, pulling her down to the ground to meet them.

As soon as Nancy hit the mattress, Robin crouched next to her, helping her back up into a sitting position as she hugged her friend tightly. She pulled Nancy up to her feet, the others joining them as they held Nancy tightly, tears still streaming down the girl's face as she shakily embraced them.

"You're back." Debbie assured her. "And you're safe."

Nancy nodded as Debbie helped her away from the mattress, the others backing up to make room as Nick began to climb through the gate. As soon as she reached the ground with the others, Eddie was quick to help her up, then Steve came tumbling into the room, the Munson boy reaching a hand back out to help him up.

"Alright, so now what?" Steve asked. "What's our game plan?"

"Well, we can't stay here." Nick said. "Not with the passageway to hell in the ceiling of my living room."

"But we need to rest." Robin admitted, an arm still tight around Nancy's shoulders to console her. "It's late and, let's face it, we're tired. We won't be any threat to Vecna or figuring out this situation if we're dead on our feet like this."

"Well, Nancy's house isn't an option." Dustin pointed out. "Not with the cops likely still there, and I don't think Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler would take too kindly to us after the way we left to come here. My mom would certainly ask questions if we went to my place, too."

"Our parents wouldn't be too happy to see all of us, either." Sarah said. "Especially if we show up with the mass murderer that's been all over the news and the girl he's been keeping hostage." she added, looking over at Eddie and Lily.

"I also slashed a cop's tire when we left Wheelers', so seeing Mom and Dad might not be the best plan for me tonight, either." Erica spoke up.

"You what?" Sarah asked, but her younger sister simply shrugged in return.

"It's not much, but there's always our place." Max suggested, causing Lily to furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

"What about Mom?" Lily asked, and Max shrugged.

"Leave her to me." she suggested, and the others nodded, following the younger of the two redheads outside into the crisp March night air.

Max walked briskly through the small field separating the Munsons' trailer from the Mayfields', and she paused outside the cracked open window leading into the living room, blue light illuminating the darkness from the television inside, the sound coming from the device faintly carrying out the window. Max peered into the window, studying the scene before her before turning back to where the others waited.

"Alright, here's the plan." Max said. "Dustin, Lucas, and Erica, you three come in with me. The rest of you, wait outside until the coast is clear."

"What are you going to do?" Lily asked.

"I'm going to tell Mom that they're crashing here for the night, that with everything going on it was safer to be together, so when she wakes up in the morning and sees us sleeping on the couch, she won't think anything of it." Max explained. "Once I get her in her room, the rest of you go into our room, and sleep there. Once she leaves for work in the morning, she'll never know you were there."

Lily thought the plan through for a moment before she sighed, nodding. "Okay." she agreed.

Lily waited underneath the window as Max entered the trailer with the other younger teenagers behind her, her ear pressed as close as she could get in an attempt to hear what was being said inside.

"Mom," she could hear Max's voice drifting through the window. "Mom, wake up, it's time for bed."

While she couldn't see the scene in the living room, she could hear her mother shifting on the couch, and the dull metallic thud of an empty beer can being knocked over on the coffee table as Susan rose to her feet.

"What time is it?" Susan's voice now entered the mix, and Lily felt a slight tug in her chest. She hadn't always gotten along with her mother, especially not during the past year, had done everything in her power to try and make sure she'd never end up like her, but Lily would be lying if she said she hadn't missed her during the past week.

"It's late." Max said simply. "Also, my friends are going to stay the night, if that's okay. We just wanted to make sure we were safe, with everything going on lately."

"Right," Susan said, the edge of her voice slurring slightly. "Everything with that Munson boy, it's better to be safe. I can't lose you too while Lily's missing."

"She'll be fine, Mom." Max tried to assure her. "Lily's smart."

"Powell says not to worry, that they'll find her, but I'll believe it when I see it." Susan said adamantly, and Lily shut her eyes tightly. "That Munson boy took my girl, and he's going to pay."

"They'll find her." Max said again, and Susan was quiet for a moment. "Get some sleep. Goodnight, Mom."

"Goodnight, sweetie." Susan said, and Lily could hear the creak of her bedroom door closing before it was silent inside the mobile home.

When Lily finally opened her eyes, she turned around slowly to face the rest of the group, to see them all watching her with concerned expressions, namely Eddie, who stood directly in front of her, though his face was morphed with a look of panic.

"Well," he said softly. "I always told you your mom didn't like me very much."

"Hey," Max whispered, peeking her head through the doorway. "Come on, coast is clear."

Lily led the others into the house as she tiptoed onto the carpet, moving carefully past the closed doorway to her mother's room and into her and Max's shared bedroom, flipping on the lightswitch. The room was exactly how she'd left it when she'd come in to change a few days before, the clothes she'd worn overnight in the boathouse strewn on the floor in front of the closet, along with the outfit she'd worn to the party at Benny's after the basketball team had won the tournament, though the week before when the championship game had been the most pressing matter on Lily's mind now felt like an entire lifetime ago.

"You guys can decide who takes the beds." Lily whispered, careful not to wake her mother up in the next room. "I know they're small, but you could probably fit two in each. I'll sleep on the floor, it's alright."

"Absolutely not." Debbie spoke up. "When's the last time you slept in a real bed? Either of you?"

"Well, Rick's house had a bed," Eddie spoke up. "So-"

"That was Monday night." Debbie concluded. "If anyone needs a good night's sleep, it's you guys."

"She's right," Robin said. "And besides, Lily, that's your bed. We're not taking it from you and making you sleep on the floor, a few of us can handle it for one night when you guys have been sleeping in boathouses and out at Skull Rock."

"Steve too." Sarah said, looking over at where the boy leaned back against Lily's dresser, studying the bandages covering his body. "You need rest, too."

"I'm fine," Steve tried to assure them, but Nick narrowed her eyes at the boy. "What about Nancy?" he asked, gesturing to where their friend stood quietly next to them.

"I'm okay," Nancy spoke up, for the first time since leaving the Upside Down. "Honestly, I'm freaked, but I'm so exhausted I could probably pass out anywhere and be fine. But Sarah's right, Steve. You're hurt, and sleeping on the floor isn't going to do you any good."

"That's settled." Debbie said. "We'll sleep on the floor then, and you guys take the beds."

Lily took a seat on her bed as Eddie sat next to her, watching as the others began to assume their sleep positions. Sarah took off her sweatshirt, balling it up to use as a pillow as she laid down in the space between the two beds. Robin was quick to lay down next to her, with Debbie on her other side, and Nancy on the other end.

"What do you say, Munson?" Steve asked, looking over at Nick, who stood next to him near Lily's dresser, and he gestured over to Max's bed.

Nick narrowed her eyes at the boy as she thought for a moment. "If you hog the covers, I will smother you with a pillow."

Steve shrugged. "I'll take that chance." he said, and once everyone had laid down, Lily climbed back out of bed to flip the lightswitch back off.

Lily tiptoed back through the room to her bed, the lamppost outside her window illuminating the space just enough that she didn't trip over any of the girls on the floor before she climbed in the small bed next to Eddie. He immediately pulled her close as she lay next to him, huddling together in the tight space as she lay her head on his chest.

She knew her adrenaline was still too high to fall asleep, her blood nearly pounding in her ears as the quiet room seemed to echo with every small sound as the teenagers shifted around in their uncomfortable positions in an attempt to catch at least a couple hours of sleep that night, but Eddie reached a hand up, his fingers absentmindedly running through her hair as he also tried his best to calm down. She shifted a tiny bit closer to him, letting her eyes close as she tried to calm her racing mind, instead focusing on the way his hand moved through her hair, or the steady beat of his heart pounding where her ear lay against his chest.

"Goodnight," Eddie whispered softly, though they both knew that, if anyone managed to fall asleep at least for a little bit, it would be a miracle.

"Goodnight."