The Vendeleer Brothers Book 3: Nightmare on Holly
Chapter 13: Roderick's Love Confession

Joey had just finished making herself a cup of chamomile tea, when the familiar feeling of a headache started to creep into her temples. Immediately, she grit her teeth and clenched her fist in pain. What was going on?! First the weird guy in the bathroom, and then the little girl. What in the world was coming next??

Joey’s vision darkened, and the pain started to go away. But instead of finding herself in the same dark expanse as last time, she was blinded by a bright green light and a distorted image. She felt a fear pierce her to the core, but… it was not her own.

“What’s going on?!” a familiar voice cried out. The image cleared slightly, and Joey squinted to try to make out who it was.

“Shaq?” she questioned.

“Joey!” he exclaimed, blood dripping out of his nose, his eyes wide with fear. “Something’s wrong- I- I- don’t know what’s happening! I’m-I’m not used to using my powers this way. It’s too much-It’s-.”

The man stopped talking suddenly and choked a little like he was trying to say something else, but was unable to. His face then went blank, and his eyes glazed over and glowed green. The image cleared even more, and Joey found herself standing in a small cement storage unit next to Shaq, who continued to stand there and stare at nothing in particular.

“Don’t try to find him.” Shaq told her. “It will only bring you trouble...”

Joey stared at him, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

“I’m no longer speaking to Shaq am I?” she said coldly. “Who are you? Are you another spirit?”

“It matters not who I am.” Shaq told her, twitching slightly. “I’ll get to you soon enough.”

Then, without warning, she felt like she was being punched in the gut, falling backwards with a familiar word screaming itself into her mind.

HOLLY.

“Joey!”

Joey opened her eyes to find that she was on the floor of her kitchen, her friends standing over her with concern. She winced as Jordyn helped her up.

“Why are you all so filthy?” she asked curiously, looking over Ian, Brian, and Jordyn.

“We fought a dragon.” Brian told her proudly.

“Why were you on the floor?” Ian asked, taking off his glasses and wiping some of the dust off them.

“Why are you in my house?” Joey asked back with a little smirk. Ian frowned and pointed at Jordyn.

“She just walked right in and then we found you on the floor.”

“Ah.”

“I’ve already called up Roderick too. He’s going to meet us here so we can all… talk about some things.”

At the sound of this, Jordyn put her hand on her hips expectantly and looked over at Joey.

“Do you have anything you want to talk to us about Joey?” she asked. “There’s been a lot of weird stuff going on with you lately.”

Joey was silent, and she took a sip of her tea.

“I think I do. But I’ll wait for Roderick to get here.”

“Ok.”

While they waited for Roderick to show up, Brian, Ian, and Joey started to dust themselves off a bit more and clean up. They didn’t have to wait long before there was a knock on the door and Roderick walked right in.

“Alright-I’m here. What do we need to-.”

He stopped when he saw the state of everyone.

“What in the world happened while I was gone?” he asked in surprise. Brian was the first to respond.

“Ok duuude guess what? I totally took down a dragon with a bowl full of glitter!!” he exclaimed enthusiastically. Roderick’s mouth dropped open.

“You WHAT?!”

“Yeah, it was actually pretty cool.” Jordyn said with a smile. Brian beamed with pride. Ian however, sighed and sat down at the kitchen table, feeling utterly exhausted.

“Despite our victory with the dragon though, we’ve still got the problem with Shaq. He was using the chaos of everything to rob a bank, and then he tried to kill us.”

“WHAT?!” Roderick exclaimed. “Dang it! Looks like everything happened while I was gone!”

Joey’s eyebrows furrowed forward at the sound of this.

“Shaq… tried to kill all of you?” she asked quietly. “That… sure is interesting…”

“Interesting?! I’d say that it’s rather upsetting!” Ian said, throwing his hands up into the air. “This guy works with us and says he’s on our side, and then next thing you know, he’s pointing a gun in our face?! He used his little illusion magic on us. If Everett wasn’t there, we’d all be dead read now!”

Joey stared at her little mug of tea, thinking hard about everything that had been going on.

“I… don’t think it was his fault…” she murmured. The others regarded her with interest.

“Continue.” Jordyn told her. Joey gave a sigh.

“Well, over the past couple of days, I’ve been… seeing some things.”

She fiddled with her thumbs for a moment, hoping she didn’t sound like some kind of crazy person.

“The other day in the bathroom, I saw a man melt in front of my eyes, and he asked me to join his army. Then, I fell asleep and… I feel like I went to… another place, where I talked to this little girl in her bedroom. And when you guys found me on the floor just now, I had just… been talking to Shaq. But something was wrong. He was scared and confused, and then suddenly, it was like something else was talking through him. And on top of all of this, I keep hearing one word over and over again. Holly.”

The others stared at her, and then without a word, Brian suddenly ran out the door.

“Well damn. What you said wasn’t that scary.” Jordyn scoffed. Before she could make fun of him anymore though, Brian returned a second later, holding one of his gadgets.

“Can I scan you Joey??” he asked breathlessly. She raised a brow and nodded. Brian pressed a couple of buttons on the old Xbox controller that he had labeled the “Blueberry Pancake,” and brought up a screen as he raised it up and down in front of the woman.

“Holy crap.” he said in awe. “You are partially made of spirit matter just like the others.”

“What now?” Roderick asked in confusion.

“Dude-it means that Joey has powers!! Or-she’s starting to.”

Ian, Jordyn, and Roderick all looked from Joey, to Brian, and back to Joey again.

“Well this complicates things.” Ian commented. “So I guess Shaq really isn’t some kind of supervillain?” Joey shook her head.

“I think another spirit is involved, although, I have no idea what kind. It seems to be controlling him somehow, which is something I’ve never heard of. Well, besides what happened with Kishnu.”

“And what the heck does this have to do with Holly?” Roderick asked in concern. “You know-the girl you all met when you attacked me the other day? You don’t think she’s in danger do you?”

Ian began to feel now that maybe it was a good idea for Roderick to spend some more time with Holly. At first, it felt like he had just been getting distracted and wasting time, but… with these new developments, it was too much of a coincidence that the name matched with what Joey had been hearing.

“Maybe you should… Keep an eye on that girl.” Ian told him. “She could very well play apart in all of this. We need to figure out how.”

At the thought of spending more time with Holly, Roderick broke out into a smile.

“Well that won’t be a problem at all!”

The next two weeks, the police and the PDU searched the town for Shaq, but without any luck. He seemed to have disappeared entirely, but Joey kept having dreams about him trying to escape out of a small storage unit… While Ian, Joey, Brian, and Jordyn worked with Shannon and Everett in trying to work with their powers and find Shaq, Roderick was… “investigating” Holly Richardson.

Holly, on the other hand, tried her best not to think about what might be going on in the homelife of her new intern, Akaysha Roberts, who was still coming over every day after school to learn things about cars and help out in the shop.

At the moment, however, Holly’s mind was somewhere else as she worked on a certain someone’s orange truck. She had spent almost every night with Roderick Vendeleer, and… her heart was beginning to do little flutters whenever she thought about him.

“You seem even more distracted than usual today.” Akaysha scoffed, washing off some of their tools.

“I’m not distracted, I’m just… focussing extra hard today.” she protested. The girl with her smirked.

“Is it cause you’re working on Roderick’s truck?”

Holly felt her face turn red.

“Of course not! I just-I just-.”

Suddenly, Holly had a copper taste in her mouth, and she froze for a moment. After all, being with Roderick hadn’t been just all ice cream and dances. He had been talking about his case and the things he had been dealing with. Hadn’t he mentioned something about a copper taste in the mouth? Wasn’t that significant somehow?

“Hey-Akaysha, do you taste that?” she asked, licking her lips. The girl looked up at her aghast.

“You want me to taste what now?”

“No-It’s… uh… how do I explain this?”

Holly did not have a proper chance to explain anything, because at that moment, the door burst open, and Roderick Vendeleer walked in. Holly and Akaysha blinked in surprise.

Roderick had his hair styled, and his collar popped. His eyebrows seemed to do some sort of tango on his face, and a single rose was clenched in his teeth.

“Um… Hi… Roderick.” Holly stuttered, her face turning red again. Roderick twirled around and slid over to her, taking her into his arms and then dipping her. He took the rose out of his mouth and held it out to her.

“For you.” he said with a smile.

“Woah woah woah! Keep in mind there is still a minor here!” Akaysha said with her hands up and backing away.

“This is… different…” Holly gulped, her heart beating like crazy. Roderick pulled her out of the dip and then looked deep into her eyes.

“Holly, you know, I was thinking-I-I think I’m in love with you. You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, and I love to be around you. We should be boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Holly stared at him in shock.

“But-what-this-this is so sudden!”

“I know it’s sudden Holly, but…”

His face was suddenly very close to hers. Holly knew this was all going so fast, but a part of her wanted this to continue… She closed her eyes and leaned in.

“WAIT!” Akaysha suddenly yelled, causing Holly to stumble a little. For a moment, she had forgotten that the thirteen year old was still in there with them. A wave of embarrassment rushed over her.

“Um… Let’s… talk about this later Roderick…” she told him, blushing. Roderick blinked for a moment, and then with another serious look, gazed into her eyes.

“Holly, you know, I was thinking-I-I think I’m in love with you. You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, and I love to be around you. We should be boyfriend and girlfriend.”

This time, Holly took a step back in confusion.

“You… just said that…”

Roderick stepped forward, pulling her into his arms and then dipping her. He held out another rose.

“For you.” he said with a smile.

“Where in sweet sassafras did you get another rose?!” Holly asked, feeling flustered and pushing him away. “Are you learning magic tricks or something now?”

“The only magic I’ve learned is the magic of our love…” he whispered to her, holding out another rose from seemingly nowhere. Holly started to feel really confused and conflicted now, wondering what had gotten into him, when she suddenly heard Akaysha gasp.

“NO!!” she yelled in horror. “Crap crap crap!!”

“What is it?” Holly asked in concern, coming over to the teenager.

“Roderick-he-he-.” Akaysha tried to say, biting her lip and picking at her nails.

“What about him?”

“He’s not real!!” she blurted.

Akaysha’s exclamation echoed through the garage, and Holly tried to process what she was saying. Was she saying that Roderick wasn’t being real with her? Sensing her confusion, the teenager sighed and pointed at the man before them.

“That isn’t the real Roderick.” she said a bit hesitantly. “He… he’s from your head.”

Holly looked from the fake Roderick to Akaysha and then back again.

“What in hellfire and damnation are you talking about?!”

Akaysha wrung her hands.

“I… I… It was an accident…”

Holly slowly sat down expectantly as Roderick gave her another rose. Akaysha gave a little groan.

“I… I can… do things that normal people can’t…” she began nervously. “I can’t really control it that well, but… I can bring things from people’s heads and make them real for a time. I can also do things like talk to people in my dreams and… other stuff.”

Holly’s mind was racing, and her arms were now full of roses as the fake Roderick started his little love confession again. She recalled the conversations she had had with him about the people he had been working with. People with powers. Was Akaysha like them?

“So you have powers?” she asked a bit blankly. Akaysha nodded, eyeing her warily.

“Well that’s pretty darn tootin interesting.”

“You actually believe me?”

Holly raised a brow as Roderick placed a rose on top of her head.

“Honey. After fighting a velociraptor, it gets a lot easier to believe crazy things, believe you me. And besides. It’s beginning to be pretty clear that this man right here is not Roderick.”

Akaysha gave a sigh of relief, and it looked like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“Please don’t tell anyone. It’s dangerous because-,”

“Hey Holly! You in there?” a voice called from the office. Holly and Akaysha jumped up.

“The real Roderick’s here!!” Holly squeaked. dropping all of the roses she was holding. Akaysha looked at the fake Roderick in a panic.

“What are we supposed to do with Mr. Romantic over here?”

“Shove him in the locker!”

The two of them took no time in grabbing the man and shoving him in, just as the real Roderick walked through the door. Holly put her back to the locker door, keeping the fake Roderick trapped inside. The real one paused when he saw all the flowers on the floor.

“Uh… That’s… a lot of roses…” he said hesitantly. “Did… did someone give them to you? Or…”

“Oh! Those? Those-uh-are for Bobby! You know-since he’s still in the hospital and all.” Holly said very loudly, obviously not very good at lying. Roderick seemed to catch her in this, and he glanced at the flowers again.

“Uh… If it’s not a good time, I can… come back later…”

“Um… That actually might be best…” Holly told him, sweat dripping down the back of her neck as she felt the fake Roderick try pushing on the locker door.

The real Roderick’s face fell slightly, and Holly started to feel bad. It’s not that she didn’t want him there, it was just that she didn’t want to be embarrassed if he saw what had unexpectedly come out of her mind.

“Ok…” Roderick mumbled, and he sadly turned to leave. Holly couldn’t stand seeing him that way.

“Roderick-wait-.” she called out, stepping forward. “I do want to hang out tonight, I just… I’m in the middle of something at this very mo-.”

In her haste to spare Roderick’s feelings, she had forgotten to keep her back to the locker door, and was then rudely interrupted by the fake Roderick, who took no time in dipping her again and handing her yet another rose.

“For you.” he smiled, pulling her up.

The real Roderick stood frozen as he stared at his doppelganger. Holly felt herself immediately start to drown in embarrassment.

“It’s not what it looks like!!” she exclaimed, her face beet red. The fake Roderick stared deeply into her eyes.

“Holly, you know, I was thinking-I-I think I’m in love with you. You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, and I love to be around you. We should be boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Akaysha!! Make him stop!!” Holly begged. “Get rid of him!”

“I don’t know how!! It’s not like I’m controlling him or anything!” the girl retorted back.

At that moment, the fake Roderick suddenly burst into a bunch of roses, which fell and covered the oily tools of the garage. Roderick stood there in the midst of all this, unsure of what to do with all he had just witnessed.

“Please explain.” he said when he finally found his voice.

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