The Vendeleer Brothers Book 2: Serenity Hill
Chapter 19: Joey's Journal

The next morning, Ian was sitting up in the front seats of their car, Roderick snoring softly in the back. He had tried to call Brian and Jordyn, but… no one answered. He sighed and lay against the driver’s seat, trying to think of what to do next.

They had to find the others-there was no going against that, but how?

Quietly, he started to flip through Joey’s journal again.

How did she know all of this stuff? Inside, were many diagrams and pictures and instructions on how to combat spirits. One of the largest sections was on Imaginary Friends, and there were several drawings of some complicated looking rituals. In fact, for some reason, she had drawn two identical diagrams right next to each other.

Wait.

They were slightly different. Ian squinted at it, trying to pick apart the subtleties. Then, he decided he better flip back to the beginning of the section and just try to read her notes...

Imaginary Friends:

I'm Sorry...

Annika Doughtry

Amelia Hunt

Esther Caro

Candace Caro

Dalia Dustin

Celeste Viteri

Naomi Thornton

Claire Benitez

Kory Cross

Troy Weaver

Randal Westley

Eli Foster

Abigail

Is there anyway to reverse it? -no

What are they and what do they want?

Imaginary friends are malevolent spirits who used to be people. They take great joy in twisting the lives of others, and can even come off as friendly. They choose a person, usually a child who is going through hardship, and befriend them in their greatest time of need. Do not be fooled however, because their ultimate goal is to make their victim exactly like them.

Never trust any spirit ever.

Imaginary Friends are fairly social. They communicate with those still in the spirit dimension and even have friends, who they try to let out. They usually do this through a child who thinks the new spirit will help them.

They can be weakly be deterred by strong happy memories.

Note: Make a safe house from them.

-The color orange -- sunset on Fourth of July

-Books

-Funny shaped cheetos

-Roller skates

-Cinnamon

Their flames can not be put out with water, and essential oils has no effect on them. They do however, seem to be affected to some extent by the child or person they “look after.”

They will do anything to manipulate them.

Water may not drench their flames, but sand can do some damage.

--Strong happy memories

--Sand

--Music, but be careful, this can also be used against you.

Am i a bad person?

Who was the first?

In their end game, the Imaginary Friend will try to trick their victim into doing a ritual. (Sometimes it’s not even a trick. They convince them to go through it as normal.) The ritual is the final process into turning the victim into a spirit, and can only be done when the chosen victim has succeeded in doing bad deeds. This is how many spirits are made. Depending on the person, they can be turned into Genies, other Imaginary friends, Greeds, Stealers, Parasites, Swallowers, and any of the others as far as I know.

And I don’t think there is anything that can reverse it.

In order to escape the ritual, there are a couple of things that can be done.

Note the changes in the diagrams in the second picture. If the changes are subtle enough in the ritual drawings, the ritual will fail, and as punishment, the spirit will be sucked back into the spirit dimension. Note however, that this must be done with a pure heart of penance, and it will be very painful for the victim.

If the victim does not wish to be a spirit, a great sacrifice can be made, but if it is not great enough for the person, this counter ritual will fail and the Imaginary Friend will win.

Telling truths that you don’t want to admit will weaken your adversary to give you enough time to open a portal to the spirit dimension. Then they can be pushed in. This does not always work in the hands of an amatuer.

Be careful. Imaginary Friends are some of the most dangerous of spirits simply for the fact of how manipulative they are.

Ian sat there, completely engulfed in Joey’s notes, wondering what some of them meant. He had so many more questions now-especially about Joey and what the list of names were at the beginning. Were they imaginary friends that she had run into? But then why did only one of them have no last name? And what about the part where she had scribbled, “I’m sorry?”

Determined, he decided to try to call her and talk to her, but after several rings and a voicemail, he realized that she probably wasn’t going to answer.

“Hey Joey-it’s Ian.” he said into the voicemail. “I was just calling to… let you know what’s going on. Well, actually, Roderick and I aren’t entirely sure about what’s going on, cause we went to go get pancakes, and found out the happiness thing is spreading. And then when we got back, everyone else was gone and the house was burned down. So… yeah. Jordyn, Brian, and Cameron are missing, and Roderick and I aren’t exactly sure of what to do. I uh… also read your notes… and uh… if you’re worried about… things from your past coming out or something… just… don’t worry about it. We don’t care. We need you. Bye.”

Ian hung up, feeling a little flustered for some reason. He hadn’t meant to say all of that, but it kind of just came out, and now he felt a little embarrassed for some reason. He shook off the feeling and then leaned back against the driver’s seat and sighed. Behind him, Roderick yawned.

“Oh good. Nobody came for us in the middle of the night.” he said, scratching the back of his head.

“Yep.” Ian said stiffly, closing the book and gripping the edges of it tightly. “Climb up here bro. We’ve got some work to do...

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