The Vendeleer Brothers Book 3: Nightmare on Holly
Chapter 17: A Walk Down the Street

Somehow, Roderick had been able to fall asleep. However, when he woke up the next morning, he did not feel rested at all. The events from the previous night flew through his head, and with a sigh, he tried to rub the tiredness out of his face. When he walked into the kitchen, he found that Ian was already up, anxiously tapping his fingers on the table and holding onto a glass of water that he was not drinking. Roderick yawned and sat at the table with him.

“How long have you been up?” Roderick asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“You worried about them?”

“Yes.”

Roderick frowned as he looked at his older brother’s anxiety ridden face.

“You’ve been hanging out with Joey a lot lately haven’t you? To play your little chess games?”

In response, Ian sighed, finally letting go of his water.

“You know it’s not very easy for me to make friends Roderick. It’s just-I guess I’m worried about her specifically. I know that the others are in danger too, but… Joey is… I’d actually consider her… my friend.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure this out bro. We’ll replace her.” Roderick tried to reassure him. Ian did not look to hopeful.

“Come on. Let’s go for a walk. That always helps me feel better.”

With a sigh, Ian stood up.

“Fine. It’s doing no good with me just sitting here so…”

The two of them made their way out the door, where Holly and Jordyn were talking about something in the courtyard, eating a couple of Pop-Tarts. Holly glanced over to Roderick, who gave her a little smile and a wink, causing her to blush. Then he and Ian walked through the PDU and out onto the streets.

Since it was still morning, the heat hadn’t settled onto the town just yet, so it actually felt nice outside. The surrounding oak trees were still, and Ian and Roderick found themselves silently walking farther than they intended. The two brothers could have talked more about how they felt about things, but it wasn’t really needed. Ian was grateful for this. Sometimes, he simply liked being around his brother in silence.

Roderick kicked at a rock, trying to clear his head. So much had happened in the past several hours, and he was still trying to process it. Was it only yesterday when he had walked in to replace a doppelganger of himself handing roses to the girl he liked? It already felt so long ago…

He looked up to see that they were passing by their own street, and the two of them slowly came to a stop.

“Do you want to check out the damage to the apartment?” Roderick asked quietly. Ian shook his head.

“Maybe later. I don’t feel like it right now.”

Roderick shrugged, and the two of them kept on walking. Roderick felt his thoughts start to wander again, when he suddenly felt Ian grab him by the arm.

“What? What is it?!” he exclaimed in a panic, looking around. Ian’s eyes were wide, and his mouth was dropped open.

“Uh… Roderick… Joey kept hearing the word “Holly” right?”

“Yeah?”

“Look.”

Roderick turned to see Ian pointing at a street sign.

Holly st.

Roderick’s mouth dropped open.

“Holly-is a street?!” he exclaimed.

“Roderick-what if Joey wasn’t hearing Holly as in the person, but Holly as in the street?!” Ian told him, starting to get fired up. Roderick looked down the street, and then grabbed his brother by the arm.

“Ian!! This is the street where Akaysha lives!!”

“Who?”

“Holly’s intern! The girl I was talking about with the powers! The one who made the doppelganger of me?”

“Oh!!”

The two brothers stared at each other at this new realization of Holly street, and then, without a word, the two of them ran down the road. Roderick skidded to a stop a couple of houses away from where Akaysha lived.

“You ready to do something slightly illegal bro?” Roderick asked with a smirk. Ian rolled his eyes with a little smile.

“If it’s what I think it is, for once I don’t have any objections. Besides-paranormal stuff sometimes goes out of the normal legal parameters…”

“Then let’s do some snooping.”

Ian followed his younger brother’s lead as they snuck up to Akaysha’s house, which was a quaint little two story home with peeling light blue paint. There were a lot of unkempt shrubs and trees that poked out from behind a tall wooden fence, and for the moment, all seemed quiet.

“Is there a car in the garage?” Ian whispered. Roderick poked his head over the fence to see that it was empty.

“No. I think Hector is gone. He’s Akaysha’s foster dad. And Akaysha should be at school by now.”

Ian and Roderick crept along the fence, and then after looking around, they hopped over it. Ian scanned the backyard, which was a mess. His eyes rested on a couple of different things. An old cement mixer that was rusted past use, and old playground, and an inconspicuous shed.

“Let’s go inside.” Roderick whispered, pointing to the back door.

Roderick tried the door, only to replace it was locked. Ian crept over to a window and found it slide open easily. Ian gave his brother a thumbs up and then carefully crawled into the house. Once the two of them were inside, they started to look around, being careful to put everything back where it was if they moved it. They eventually made their way upstairs, and Roderick paused when he got to Akaysha’s room.

“I wonder if she has a diary or anything.” Roderick commented, slowly opening the door. “After all, this all seems to be connected to her in some way, and it would be nice to know how.”

As the brothers started to rifle through the girl’s stuff, they froze when they heard a car come into the driveway. Ian flew to the window and then quickly ducked down.

“Crap!! He’s back!!” he whispered. “Quick! Out the back door!!”

The two of them ran as quietly as they could down the hallway and back down the stairs right as the front door knob started to jiggle. Roderick pushed his brother back up the stairs quickly, seeing that they weren’t going to make it. They ducked down behind the corner upstairs just in time for Hector to come in, carrying in some grocery bags. When Hector was out of sight, Ian and Roderick slowly started to make their way down the stairs again.

They were almost to the front door when they heard Hector talking to someone.

“Oh stop crying. You’re lucky I’m giving you something to eat at all.” his voice echoed from the kitchen. Ian and Roderick looked at each other, and then ducked into the living room to dive behind the couch. When they peeked over it, they could see that Hector had a hatch open in the kitchen and was throwing something down there.

“Does-does he have that girl locked up in there?” Ian whispered in horror.

“Ian, would it be kidnapping if we got her out of there and took her to the PDU?” Roderick asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Nope. Let’s do it.”

They watched and waited as Hector closed the hatch and shook his head, and then walked into the living room to watch some television. Ian and Roderick ducked down behind the couch as the man sat in an armchair a couple of feet away and turned on the tv. Silently, Roderick pointed to the hallway, and Ian realized that it seemed to connect to the kitchen.

The two of them carefully crawled across the carpet, keeping a watchful eye on the man whose eyes were glued to the screen. The two brothers froze mid crawl when the man coughed, and then they continued on through the hallway and around the corner. Ian let out a quiet breath, wiping some of the sweat off of his forehead. Finally, they were able to get to the hatch.

Roderick slowly lifted it up, and looked down into the darkness to see the little girl holding her knees to her chest. She looked up in surprise, and Roderick put a finger to his lips and motioned for her to come up. Hesitantly, she started to climb the ladder, and when she pulled herself out of the basement, she glanced over to where Hector was watching tv. Roderick motioned for her to follow them, and the three of them made their way through the hallway to the back door.

Once outside, Roderick and Ian let out a sigh of relief.

“Come on-we’re going to get you somewhere safe.” Roderick whispered to the girl, silently walking over to the fence.

“Wait! We need to help the others!” she told them. The two brothers paused.

“There are others here?” Ian asked, suddenly very concerned. Akaysha nodded. “The other people with powers like me. He has them locked up in that shed over there.”

“What?!” Ian and Roderick whisper shouted in unison.

The three of them ran over to the shed, and Ian knocked on it.

“Hello?” Ian called out without trying to be too loud.

“Ian?” a familiar voice asked.

“Joey?!”

Roderick tugged on the door, trying to get it open. Ian turned his attention to the keypad.

“Do you know the code Akaysha?” he asked, turning to her. He stopped when he saw her blank face.

“Uh… Akaysha?”

“What the hell?!”

Ian and Roderick whirled around to see Hector on the back porch, looking very angry. The two of them balled their hands into fists.

“Stay behind us Akaysha. We’ll protect you.” Roderick said, narrowing his eyes a her legal guardian. Hector laughed.

“That’s hilarious. Akaysha, kill them.”

Ian and Roderick looked at the guy like he was nuts, and then slowly turned to the girl standing behind them. Akaysha’s eyes glowed green on her blank face, and she raised her hands. The two brothers started to back away.

“Uh…”

Two dark figures started to appear beside the girl, and a moment later, Ian and Roderick were staring at themselves, but as if someone had taken a photograph in negative. The two negatives balled their hands into fists. Ian and Roderick took another step back.

“Um… Ian?” Roderick squeaked.

“Yeah bro?”

“As cool as it would be to fight dark versions of ourselves, what do you say we run away?”

“Sounds good to me.”

And with that, the two brothers bolted for the fence and hopped over it, the negatives close behind them.