17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire
Read 17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire Online
Authors: Sienna Mercer
Olivia was still yawning as she left her house the next morning. Every time she’d fallen asleep last night, she’d been woken by memories of the spooky events at
Café Creative. The strange girl in the red Victorian costume, the wind that had wailed through the room, slamming doors and giving everyone chills.
If the Halloween party’s big finish hadn’t been one of Camilla’s planned effects, then who – or
what
– could have caused it?
With special thanks to Stephanie Burgis
For Violet
My Sister the Vampire: Spooktacular!
first published in
Great Britain 2015 by Egmont UK Limited, The Yellow Building,
1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN
Copyright © Working Partners Ltd 2015
Created by Working Partners Limited, London WC1X 9HH
First e-book edition 2015
ISBN 978 1 4052 7843 0
Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1707 6
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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Acknowledgements, Dedication and Copyright
O
livia Abbott was sitting next to her identical twin on the school bus, trying to memorise new lines for her upcoming movie, when she suddenly
heard a squeal of excitement from across the aisle.
‘Ooh, Olivia and Ivy, look at this!’ Waving a magazine in the air, their friend Reiko reached over to nudge Olivia’s shoulder. But from the super-strong pink-haired vampire
exchange student, the “nudge” felt more like a shove.
‘Careful!’ laughed Ivy, as Olivia bounced off her shoulder. She looked over her twin’s head at Reiko. ‘What’s up?’
‘My horoscope!’ Beaming, Reiko held up the teen magazine that she’d been reading. ‘We don’t get this magazine back in Japan. This is fangtastic!’
‘Oh, honestly!’ Ivy rolled her eyes. Unlike Reiko, who was dressed in eye-wateringly neon athletic gear, Ivy was a typical American vampire goth. Black kohl lined her eyes, and her
long black hair streamed over the shoulders of her lacy black sweater. Slim black trousers and big black boots completed her ensemble, making her look even fiercer as she crossed her arms over her
chest. ‘You don’t really believe in horoscopes, do you?’
‘Well . . .’ Reiko shrugged, her high ponytail bouncing above her lime-green tank top. ‘Maybe not, but it’s still fun to read them, isn’t it? I love all the spooky
warnings and weird pieces of advice. Check out
yours
!’ She folded back the cover of the magazine, pointing at the page she was reading. ‘“Do not be confused by the mirror
from the past. Listen for the wailing winds of memory”.’
‘“The wailing winds of memory”?’ Olivia repeated. She scrunched her eyebrows together in thought as she twitched her rumpled silver skirt and pale pink sweater back into
place. ‘What could
that
mean?’
‘It doesn’t mean
anything
,’ Ivy told her. ‘Horoscopes are just superstition.’
‘Maybe you’re right,’ Olivia said, ‘but personally . . .’ She gave her twin a meaningful grin. ‘I’ve learned not to be too certain about anything these
days.’
After all, there had been a time, not that long ago, when she thought the whole idea of vampires was “superstition”. Now here she was, riding between two of them on her way to a
traditional vampire celebration!
A
lot
of things had changed in the last year.
The bus was already slowing to a stop on Undertaker Hill, where Ivy lived with the twins’ vampire bio-dad and step-mom. Olivia waited in the aisle as Ivy wrestled out a mysterious
cardboard box that she had wedged under their seat when they first got on.
‘Come on,’ Olivia said as her twin finally straightened, holding the lid of the box firmly closed. ‘Aren’t you even going to give us a peek of what’s inside that
thing?’
‘No way!’ Ivy shook her head and started towards the door of the bus. Reiko followed right behind, the tennis racquet that was sticking out at a dangerous angle from her massive
orange backpack nearly banging into Olivia. But even as Olivia hopped back to escape a concussion, she heard Ivy say: ‘Trust me. You, of all people, do
not
want to see what’s
in this box! It’s a Moonrise gift for Dad.’
Hmmm.
It was the day before Halloween and they were on their way to the Vega house for the traditional vampire celebration of Moonrise. Olivia was pretty sure her sister was just trying
to gross her out.
Well, joke’s on you, twin. I’m not icked out by vampy things. Well, not as much as I used to be . . .
She got out of the bus, and had to lurch backwards again to avoid bumping into Ivy, who had come to a sudden dead halt on the street.
‘Oh no,’ Ivy moaned, ‘look who’s heading straight for us!’
Reiko swung around. ‘Who?’
As Olivia looked past the exchange student, she had to muffle a sigh of her own. Reiko might not recognise the pretty, preppy girl walking towards them – but for Olivia, the sight was all
too familiar. ‘It’s Charlotte Brown,’ she told Reiko. ‘From our old middle school.’
And this is the worst possible time to meet her!
Olivia hoped that
Charlotte wouldn’t get nosy about what was in Ivy’s box.
If there really is something super vampy in there, we can’t let Charlotte see it!
Olivia might not bat an eyelid
at vampy things these days, but Charlotte definitely would!
And they couldn’t risk Charlotte seeing anything that would make her suspicious. That would break the most important rule in the vampire world – that no non-vamps, or
“bunnies” as they were known, could ever be allowed to discover that vampires really existed. As far as Olivia was aware, she was the only bunny in the world to know about the vamps,
and only because she happened to be the identical twin sister of one!
‘Hey, guys!’ Charlotte beamed as she walked towards them. ‘How
are
you? Looking forward to the party tomorrow?’
‘Of course!’ Olivia said brightly, still not used to the fact that the formerly mean head cheerleader was now one of the friendliest people she knew. ‘We can’t wait. We
just know Camilla’s going to give Café Creative the best Haunted House party ever!’
Charlotte gave a squeal of excitement as she clapped her hands together. ‘Has Camilla given you any clues about what she’s planned for it? She won’t tell me
anything!’
‘You know Camilla . . .’ Olivia shrugged, smiling.
Olivia’s best friend, Camilla Edmunson, had taken charge of planning the first-ever Halloween party at Café Creative, the joint café and creative centre at the Franklin Grove
Museum. And Camilla
always
went all-out on every project.
‘She’s keeping the details secret,’ Olivia said, ‘but everyone’s talking about it. I’m sure it’s going to be fabulous.’
‘Of course it will! The school play she directed last year was really . . . memorable.’
Olivia’s felt her cheeks flush, even as a smile tugged at her lips.
It was certainly memorable for me.
She’d had her first kiss onstage in
Romezog and Julietron.
Even better, it had been with her amazing movie-star boyfriend, Jackson Caulfield.
Charlotte was frowning, though, as she leaned forwards, dropping her voice to a whisper. ‘To be honest, I’m just worried that the party might get too scary for me. Some of the
rumours I’ve heard . . . well, do you think they’re true? Would Camilla
really
create remote-controlled
zombies
?’
‘Cool!’ said Reiko, perking up.
‘No!’ said Ivy, rolling her eyes. ‘Camilla’s sure to give us all a few scares tomorrow, but she’s not Doctor Frankenstein.’
‘Whew.’ Charlotte smiled and stepped back.
Reiko slumped. ‘Too bad. Do you think there’ll at least be a Frankenstein at the party, though?’
Ivy raised one eyebrow. ‘Frankenstein’s monster, you mean? Because you know, Frankenstein himself was –’
‘I don’t want to hear about it!’ Charlotte said firmly. ‘I’m already starting to feel S-I-A!’
Did anyone else understand that?
Olivia turned to Ivy and Reiko, but they both shook their heads.
‘S-I-
what
?’ said Olivia.
Charlotte smiled proudly. ‘I made it up myself,’ she explained. ‘
Scared-In-Advance.
Get it?’
‘Um . . . OK,’ Olivia mumbled.
Somehow, I doubt that is going to catch on any time soon.
Ivy coughed, starting to edge away. ‘You know, we really need to hurry home, so . . .’
‘Oh, sure, of course!’ Charlotte bounced on her toes. ‘But I’m just curious – what’s in that box?’
Uh-oh
, Olivia thought, desperately trying to think of a way of distracting Charlotte. But before she could, her twin sister piped up.
‘Well actually, it’s the reason we need to hurry.
Really
hurry,’ Ivy said, ‘because it’s my Biology homework . . .’ She raised the cardboard box and
nodded meaningfully at the thin trail of red that was starting to trickle out of one bottom corner. ‘. . . and it could start getting
really smelly
, really soon. Trust me, you do
not want to be here when that happens!’
‘Eughh!’ Charlotte lurched backwards, staring at the bright red droplets. ‘Is that . . . blood?’
Ivy stepped closer, cracking open the lid of the box as she lifted it towards Charlotte’s face. ‘Do you want to see it before I finish dissecting it?’
‘
No!
’ Charlotte stumbled back, staring in horror at the leaking red ooze. ‘Actually, I . . . I think I’ll just . . . see you guys at the party tomorrow!
Bye!’ She swallowed visibly, her face turning a sickly green as she spun around and hurried away. ‘I am
so
glad I don’t go to Franklin Grove High,’ they heard her
mumble. ‘At least at my school, the homework is hygienic!’