The Vendeleer Brothers Book 2: Serenity Hill

No one wanted to sit in the back with Cameron, and Jordyn insisted on driving, so Ian and Roderick secretly played rock, paper, scissors, for the front seat.

Ian won.

On the way to the house, they filled him in on everything that was happening. Surprisingly, this actually got him to shut up for a bit, and he payed very close attention to everything that was being said. Ian kept forgetting that Cameron was probably a hand picked detective for the paranormal precinct that Jordyn worked at, which meant he had to be good-no matter what kind of annoying person he was.

“So you guys are calling it a genie? I guess that’s more creative than the numbers we give paranormal things back at headquarters…” Cameron said, leaning back in his seat and tossing his beach blonde hair. “Do you know what it’s fully up to? And how do we stop it?”

In the front seat, Ian and Jordyn exchanged glances.

“Well… We’re not entirely sure…” Jordyn began.

“But we do know that we need to convince this Devin kid to reverse the wish.” Ian added.

“Jordyn! Wait! Stop the car!” Roderick suddenly exclaimed, leaning forward. Jordyn slammed on her brakes, sending them all flying forward. Ian was about to ask his brother what his deal was, when he pointed out the window to the park that was close by Jordyn’s house.

“That’s Devin and his parents right over there!” he told them.

For a moment, they watched the small boy build some sand buildings from their car like they were some kind of creepers.

“Well, might as well go introduce myself!” Cameron said nonchalantly, hopping out of the car much to the horror of the others.

“Cameron! Get back here!” Jordyn raged, trying to keep a smile on her face as she saw there were some other people around.

Ian and Roderick braced themselves and tried to follow the man from a bit of a distance.

Devin was in a sandbox, building what looked to be an entire little sand village. His parents were sitting on a bench watching him from a few feet away, rubbing noses with each other.

“Hey little man! Looking good!” Cameron said with a smile, sauntering up to the sandbox. Devin simply looked up and smiled.

“You think so?”

“Yeah I do! Did you do all of this by yourself?”

Devin nodded proudly, overlooking his work.

That’s when he noticed some familiar people lurking nearby.

“What are they doing here?” he suddenly seethed,his face darkening. “Are you with them?”

Cameron looked back at Jordyn, Ian, and Roderick, who were all standing there with awkward smiles a few feet away by a tree.

“Honestly, I kind of just met them. Well, except for Jordyn. I just work with her. They’re a bunch of party poopers aren’t they?”

Devin looked up at him curiously.

“I’m Cameron by the way. What’s your name?”

“Devin.”

“Nice to meet you Devin.”

At this point, he glanced over to the three people by the tree and winked, causing Jordyn’s blood to boil. She simply blinked her eyes and smiled though, not wanting to upset the creepy happy people enjoying the park.

“So uh, they told me you’re the one I should be thanking for this awesome town. It’s hard to find people who are happy now a days huh?”

The boy looked down, his smile fading, and silently nodded.

“Those people are calling the guy who helped you a genie-and apparently he grants wishes. Do you think maybe I could borrow him? I want to have a wish granted myself.”

The little boy smoothed over one of his castles and then looked up at the man talking to him.

“Well, you can always summon your own helper.” he said quietly. The man raised a brow at this.

“A… helper?”

Devin nodded.

“My friend Elizabeth helped me summon mine so my parents…” the boy trailed off. Cameron glanced over to the boy’s parents, who were smiling eerily and holding hands.

“What about your parents?”

“They-they love each other very much.” he said stubbornly, smashing one of his sand castles. Cameron squatted down so he was on the boy’s level.

“What about before the helper?”

Devin glanced back at his parents.

“Well… not… really…” he admitted. “But my friend Elizabeth saw how sad I was and decided to help me out.”

“So… who’s this friend of yours?” the adult asked curiously. “And how does she know so much about this stuff?”

At that moment, a cool wind ripped through the park, and they all felt a shiver roll down their spine.

“I-I probably should go.” he stammered, quickly standing up and accidentally stepping on another one of his sandcastles. “Bye!”

And before Cameron could ask anything else, Devin hopped up and ran back over to his parents. Slowly, Ian, Jordyn, and Roderick came over to join Cameron by the sandbox.

“So… did you guys hear all of that?” he asked, running his fingers through his messy blonde hair.

“Pretty much…” Jordyn began, putting her hands on her hips and watching as Devin walked away hand in hand with his parents. “I’m just wondering who this Elizabeth is and why a little girl would know how to summon an evil spirit.”

The three men with her simply shrugged in response.

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Back at Jordyn’s “house”, they drove up to the rather odd sight of Joey and Brian standing outside the van back to back-equipped with some gear that Brian had probably built himself.

Roderick couldn’t help but think how the two of them really did look like ghostbusters at the moment.

“Do you see him anywhere?” Brian asked, standing there stiffly with what looked like a vacuum cleaner at the ready.

“Not yet.” Joey responded, swinging a vacuum hose around.

“So these are the other geniuses who helped you last time huh Jordyn?” Cameron asked flatly, unimpressed. Jordyn rose her fist to punch him when his back was turned, but Roderick grabbed her arm to stop her just before she hit him.

Suddenly, Joey gasped.

“Brian!! In the tree!!”

Brian whirled around and flipped a switch as they all looked up into the tree. Shawa was there, and he immediately dissipated as soon as they got close enough.

“What in the world is going on?!” Ian asked, all of them looking around to see where the genie went.

“Shahwa found out we were trying to build something to capture him.” Joey growled, gripping her vacuum hose. “Then he decided to play a little game and see if we could capture him.”

“Yeah.” Brian grumbled. “He’s been super annoying.”

Suddenly, without warning, Joey pointed her vacuum hose straight for Cameron’s face and flipped her switch.

“What the-?!” Cameron started to say, but it was drowned out by another cry of surprise.

Apparently, Shahwa had been sitting on the man’s shoulder, and now he was being sucked into whatever contraption Brian had built this time.

Sluuuuurp!

In went the genie, and they all watched as the bulge in the hose went down into the actual vacuum cleaner, and then out a little tube in the side and straight into the spout of a red copper teapot, which then turned blue. Without further ado, Brian unhooked the teapot from his contraption and then held it up proudly for them all to see.

“Behold! I give unto you-the genie’s lamp!!” he said dramatically.

There was a pause, and then finally, Cameron broke the silence.

“But that’s a teapot.”

At this, Joey tilted her head at him curiously.

“You must be Jordyn’s coworker. I’m Joey. Nice to make your acquaintance.” she said amiably, sticking out her hand. Cameron ignored her handshake and bent down to look at the teapot.

“Now what did you just catch in this… teapot thing?” he asked as it rattled around slightly.

“That is the genie who’s been causing this mess.” Joey told him, feeling less friendly towards him now.

“I really don’t know how I feel about being called a genie.” the teapot said, it’s spout opening and closing like a mouth. “I think I kind of like it.”

“Shut up Shahwa! Stay in your teapot and be quiet!!” Brian retorted, his face a little flushed. Roderick and Jordyn couldn’t help but kneel down next to Cameron and stare in awe at Brian and Joey’s work.

“How did you do this?” Roderick asked. Brian cleared his throat proudly.

“Well, I noticed that there was actually a bit of electricity in those blue hats, and seeing as Shahwa kind of seemed to be made of clouds, I had a theory that he had a lot of electricity in him. But it’s a different type of electricity. For some reason, it can sometimes be trapped in metals that are good conductors of electricity, such as this copper teapot. There’s also copper lined within the vacuum. Joey also did some kind of ritual or spell that she found in that book on the pot to make sure it would hold.”

As everyone praised Brian and Joey for their quick thinking and hard work, Ian couldn’t help but think about Devin’s little friend Elizabeth, who he had mentioned earlier was the one who helped him summon Shahwa in the first place. He had this sinking feeling that even though they had been solely focused on the genie, that he wasn’t the only thing they had to worry about.

“Man it stinks in here. What did you clowns put in this pot?” Shahwa’s disgruntled echoey voice asked through the teapot as it slightly jumped up and down.

“Oh that was me. There’s some essential oils in there.” Joey said with a bit of a sadistic smile. “Jojoba Oil to be specific. Oh-and I know how much you spirits loooove vinegar, so I put lots of it in there for you!”

Shahwa growled in annoyance.

“Release me troglodyte.”

“I would say only if you were good, but that’s not going to happen.” Joey told the genie with her arms folded.

“Know your place woman!” the spirit demanded. Joey simply smirked.

“Oh I know my place. It’s right here. Watching a talking teapot. Do you like your new home?”

“Let me out of here you fat cow! Lowly wench! Overweight hippie!!” the genie yelled through the teapot.

Joey was about to argue with him further when Ian suddenly butted in and snatched the teapot from off the ground.

“Shahwa, if you don’t stop insulting her, I’m going to fill the sink with vinegar and essential oils and let you soak in it through the night. Do you want that?” he told him obstinately.

Shahwa responded with silence.

“That’s what I thought. Now answer me this-Devin Vanderwood mentioned that his friend Elizabeth was the one who helped him summon you. So who is Elizabeth and how did she know how to do that?”

Shahwa was silent for another moment, and then quietly, he started to laugh.

“Oh you have no idea what you’re even dealing with…” he told them with delight in his voice. “I’m only half of the problem. I will tell you this though…”

At that moment, the teapot started to shake vehemently, and Ian let go with surprise. However, it did not hit the ground, and instead floated in the air, little bits of lightning coming out around it. Then, in a big deep booming voice that echoed through the genie’s new prison, he began to sing.

“With pink flames,

And such fun games,

Elizabeth with steal your soul.

You’ll think she’s on your side dear friend,

But in the end, that’s not the case,

She’ll bring you down to dark disgrace,

For that is her true goal.”

With that, the copper teapot sparked, and then fell to the ground, leaving it’s spectators completely stunned.

“Wh-what do you mean by that?!” Brian squeaked.

“Who is this Elizabeth?!” Jordyn demanded. “Tell us right now Shahwa!”

The teapot simply sat there.

For once, the genie was completely silent.