Rain taps against the Wheeler windows like impatient fingers.
Inside, the basement is crowded in the way it always becomes when something is wrong.
Mike sits forward on the couch, elbows on his knees.
Will is beside him, quiet, tense.
Dustin paces like he might wear a hole into the carpet.
Eddie leans against the wall, arms folded, jaw clenched.
And then—
The door at the top of the stairs opens.
Nancy Wheeler steps down.
Every head turns.
Mike's eyes widen. "Nancy—"
"Nope," she says, holding up a hand. "Don't even start."
Dustin blinks. "Uh… hi?"
Nancy's gaze sweeps the room. "So. This is the part where you tell me everything."
Eddie raises a brow. "Do we, like… have to?"
Nancy looks at him. "Do you want to go to prison for a murder you didn't commit?"
Eddie shuts up immediately.
Mike exhales. "She knows."
Will's voice is soft. "She heard us."
Nancy nods. "Chrissy. Jason. Erica. Sophie Hart."
Max stiffens. "You know about Sophie?"
Nancy's face hardens. "Everyone knows about Sophie. Hawkins is eating itself alive. Two girls. Both cheerleaders."
Dustin stops pacing. "That can't be a coincidence."
Nancy leans forward. "It's not."
Silence falls.
Then Eddie speaks, quieter than usual.
"I didn't kill Chrissy."
Nancy's eyes flick to him. "I believe you."
Eddie looks startled by that.
Nancy continues, "But someone wants the town to think you did. And now there's a second body."
Will's fingers tighten in his lap. "And the powder."
Mike looks up sharply. "Hopper said it wasn't normal drugs."
Nancy's eyes narrow. "How do you know what Hopper said?"
Mike freezes.
Nancy smirks. "Yeah. Thought so."
Hopper
Hopper doesn't go home.
He goes back to the station with the evidence bag sitting on his passenger seat like it's alive.
White powder.
Trace residue.
Two deaths.
He storms into the lab office.
His deputy follows. "Chief, toxicology already—"
"I don't care," Hopper growls. "Run it again. Run it deeper."
The deputy hesitates. "It's probably just some new—"
Hopper slams his palm down on the counter.
"Two teenage girls are dead in under a week."
The room goes silent.
The deputy swallows. "Yes, sir."
Hopper exhales through his nose.
Then, quieter, to himself:
"This isn't an overdose."
The Threat
The next day, Hawkins High feels wrong.
Like everyone's holding their breath.
Cheerleaders don't laugh in the halls anymore.
Teachers don't leave students alone.
And Sophie Hart's best friend, a girl named Lena Brooks, sits in the locker room staring at her hands.
Her teammates whisper.
"She was with Sophie the night before."
"She was with Chrissy too."
"She knows something."
Lena's throat tightens.
She stands quickly, grabbing her bag.
She needs air.
She needs out.
Outside, the bleachers are empty.
Wind cuts across the football field.
Lena walks faster, arms wrapped around herself.
Then—
A sound.
Footsteps.
She turns.
Nothing.
Her breathing quickens.
She keeps going.
Her phone buzzes.
A text.
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
Stop talking.
Her blood turns to ice.
Another buzz.
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
Or you'll end up like them.
Lena stumbles back, heart hammering.
"Who is this?" she whispers aloud.
She spins, searching the empty field.
"WHO IS THIS?"
Silence.
Then, from behind the bleachers—
A soft scrape.
Lena backs up, trembling.
"Hello…?"
A shadow moves.
Not fast.
Not loud.
Just… present.
Watching.
Lena runs.
Back in the Basement
Nancy is mid-sentence when Dustin's phone rings.
He answers instantly. "Hello?"
Static.
Then—
A sob.
"Dustin?" a girl's voice chokes out.
Nancy snaps her head up. "Who is that?"
The girl whispers, "They're watching us."
Dustin's face drains. "Who—who are you?"
"I'm Lena," she breathes. "Sophie's friend. I— I got a message. They told me to stop talking."
Mike stands abruptly. "What?"
Will's voice is sharp. "Where are you?"
Lena's breathing is ragged. "School. Outside— I think someone's here—"
Nancy grabs the phone. "Lena. Listen to me. Get inside. Now."
A pause.
Then—
Footsteps.
Closer.
Lena whimpers. "Oh my god."
Nancy's voice turns deadly calm.
"Lena. RUN."
The line goes dead.
Dustin stares at his phone like it just became a weapon.
Max whispers, "That wasn't Jason."
Lucas shakes his head. "No."
Eddie's voice is hollow.
"Whatever killed Chrissy…"
"…is still here."
Mike looks at Will.
Will looks back.
And for the first time since this started—
They both understand the same thing.
This isn't about Eddie anymore.
This is about Hawkins.
And something inside it…
Choosing its next victim.
Hopper's Board
Late that night, Hopper pins Lena Brooks' name under Chrissy and Sophie.
Three girls.
One circle.
One thread.
He stares at the white powder report.
Then the lab tech walks in, pale.
"Chief…"
Hopper turns slowly.
The tech swallows hard.
"It's not a street drug."
Hopper's voice is ice.
"Then what is it?"
The tech whispers:
"It's poison."
Hopper's stomach drops.
And outside the station—
Across the street—
A figure watches the light in his office.
Still.
Patient.
Waiting.