17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire (11 page)

‘And I
will
,’ Olivia had said earlier, as she helped Ivy spread everything out on the table. ‘Soon.’ Then she’d rushed off to have dinner with her adoptive
parents, leaving the vamps to wade through the scarily large stack of information. Even with Brendan, Sophia and Reiko all gathered at the table with her, Ivy couldn’t imagine how they would
ever manage to read everything.

Thank darkness there wasn’t anything about the Calhouns on the Vorld Vide Veb, at least
, Ivy thought as she picked up the next piece of paper from the pile.
It’s bad
enough that every vampire in Franklin Grove is freaking out, without the rest of the vamp world joining in!

She usually felt a thrill of investigative fervour when a mystery started coming together. This time, though, her shoulders felt heavier with each new piece of information she absorbed, as if
the sadness of the story were physically weighing her down. With every new detail she learned, she could imagine it more clearly: the way Patience must have felt as she waited and waited –
first, for her father and twin to return, and then, after she’d finally given up on that, for any news to explain what had happened to them.

If Ivy was ever worried about Olivia, all she had to do was call her twin on the phone, no matter how far apart they might be. Back in the Calhouns’ time, though, there would have been no
TV, no Internet – nothing to carry news swiftly across the world.

Patience must have been half-crazy with panic by the time she finally learned the truth. Ivy shuddered.

Next to Ivy, Reiko set down the printed blog entry that she’d been reading and let out a sigh. ‘I know it’s silly,’ she said, ‘but to me, the saddest part of the
whole story is that obsidian bracelet that Patience is said to carry everywhere.’

‘Obsidian bracelet . . .?’ Ivy frowned, flicking back through the articles she’d already read. So far, she’d read more nineteenth-century history than modern ghost
stories, but . . . ‘I haven’t seen anything about that one yet.’

‘Ooh, I think I read that blog post.’ Sophia gazed broodingly at the silver bracelet on her own wrist. ‘Patience planned to give the bracelet to Hope at their belated birthday
tea. Apparently, whenever her ghost appears, she’s always holding Hope’s obsidian bracelet, as a reminder of her lost sister. Almost as if she still clings on to the idea that one day
she will be able to give it to her.’

‘So
that
was the birthday present that Albert mentioned this morning,’ Brendan said. He frowned. ‘What is obsidian, anyway?’

‘Black glass from a volcano,’ Sophia explained. ‘It can be made into small, round beads or left in big pieces. All the people who’ve seen Patience say that hers is a
chunky black bracelet, and –’

An unexpected voice spoke sharply behind them. ‘Did you say
a chunky black bracelet
?’

Ivy swung around and saw her twin standing in the kitchen doorway. Ivy had left the front door unlocked for Olivia to let herself in after she had eaten with the Abbotts. Now she stood staring
at Sophia, her blue eyes wide.

‘Well . . . yes.’ Sophia turned in her seat. ‘Did you read the same blog post about Hope’s obsidian bracelet as I did? It took me forever to track that down.’

‘I haven’t read any blogs about it, but . . .’ Olivia swallowed visibly. ‘I think I’ve seen the real thing.’

‘What?’ Frowning, Ivy hurried over to her sister. ‘You look like you’re about to pass out!’

‘I’m fine,’ said Olivia. ‘My thoughts are just chasing each other, that’s all.’ She moved to the table, sitting down in Ivy’s chair. Ivy stood behind
her as she continued. ‘That girl I told you about from the party – who I think might have been Patience – she was holding a bracelet just like that.’

Sophia’s eyebrows rose. Olivia took a deep, shuddering breath and went on. ‘Look, you guys know what happened in the park today . . .’

Ivy nodded. ‘We all got your texts.’

‘Good,’ Olivia said. ‘So we know Josh and the other boys have really upped their game, and they’re definitely exploiting any local legends they can find. But I seriously
doubt that they can have uncovered that detail, considering how, even with Albert’s tip, we’ve only just found it ourselves, buried in what Camilla had collected. Plus I don’t
think Garrick was wearing a bracelet in the woods today. And besides, the girl I met was definitely
not
Garrick in a dress!’

‘Well . . .’ Ivy tried to think clearly. ‘I guess they
could
have recruited a girl to help . . .’

‘No way!’ Reiko said. ‘
Those
guys?’

‘She’s right,’ Sophia said, her expression full of distaste. ‘If you think any of those boys could talk any girl into hanging out with them . . .’

Even Ivy shuddered. ‘They couldn’t do it without at least taking a shower first,’ she agreed.

‘I can’t believe a girl could ever be that gross!’ said Olivia. ‘But in that case . . . I really
did
talk to a ghost on Halloween.’ She collapsed back into
the chair, her face pale. ‘What if ghosts really
are
the most rational explanation, after all?’

Sophia shook her head in wonder. ‘It’s really possible, isn’t it? Maybe the spirit of Patience is unable to rest until she finally gives Hope her birthday gift.’

‘Oh, great!’ Ivy groaned. ‘How is that ever going to happen?’

The table lapsed into a glum silence. Still, the idea kept turning over and over in Ivy’s head. She drummed her fingers on the back of her sister’s chair as she stood behind Olivia.
This whole situation was totally impossible . . . but still, there was something about Sophia’s idea that felt right. If nothing else, the fact that Olivia had noticed and remembered
that
detail at the party had to mean something. If Ivy could only figure out –

Ding-dong!
The doorbell echoed through the house.

‘Are we expecting anyone else?’ Sophia asked.

‘Nope.’ Ivy shook her head. ‘It’s probably a door-to-door salesman.’ She turned to stride out of the room. ‘I’ll go get rid of them while you guys keep
thinking.’

When she opened the front door, though, all that she could see was a massive bouquet of fat pink and white chrysanthemums right in front of her. Blinking, she took a step back, and looked at the
deliveryman who stood holding the bouquet. His face was completely hidden by the mass of flowers. A big, puffy jacket protected him from the cold rain falling through the darkness outside, and she
could just barely make out a baseball cap peeping over the top of the bouquet.

‘Flower delivery!’ the man announced in a nasal voice.

Ivy shook her head and stepped back again, starting to close the door. ‘Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong address. No one here ordered flowers.’
And even if they
had,
she added silently,
they definitely wouldn’t have ordered pink ones! Talk about bunny flowers.

‘Oh, this is definitely the right address!’ The deliveryman stuck out his foot, wedging it in the doorway before she could finish closing the door. ‘Perhaps if I could speak to
someone else? Your sister, maybe?
Someone
must want these lovely chrysanthemums!’

Ivy gritted her teeth. ‘Look –’ she began.

But before she could continue, the delivery man nudged the bouquet directly into her face. ‘
Lovely
chrysanthemums!’ he repeated loudly. ‘Grown in China for over three
thousand years, you know!’

Ivy recoiled, brushing the soft, smothering flowers aside.
Wait a second. How does he know I have a sister?

‘Very important in Chinese art!’ he continued enthusiastically. ‘And in Japan –’

‘I don’t –’

‘– there’s a whole Festival of Happiness centred around them!’ He waved the bouquet triumphantly. ‘Don’t you want to be happy?’

That does it!

The vamps were facing exposure on national television, Ivy had spent all day imagining what it would feel like to lose her twin, and now this guy wanted her to be
happy
?

So much for being polite.
Ivy’s face contorted into a scowl as she aimed her most ferocious death-squint ever at the brim of the man’s baseball cap. ‘I won’t be
happy,’ she snapped, ‘until you take those stupid flowers away and
leave me alone
!’

The delivery man froze. Then he lowered the bouquet and peered at her, his familiar blue eyes filled with concern. The nasal twang vanished from his voice as he said, ‘Hey, Ivy. Is
everything OK?’

For a moment, Ivy just stared, frozen with shock. Then she burst out laughing. ‘You idiot!’ she said affectionately to her twin’s megastar boyfriend. ‘Are you
ever
going to get tired of playing dress-up?’

Jackson Caulfield laughed as he stepped inside, wrapping her in a flowery hug. ‘Never,’ he told her firmly. ‘Now, if I can’t interest you in any chrysanthemums, do you
think you could take me to Olivia?’

Grinning, Ivy led him down the hallway to the kitchen. The last of her bad mood vanished as she saw her twin’s face flush with excitement. ‘Jackson!’ Olivia jumped up and ran
to fling her arms around her boyfriend. ‘I can’t believe you got here so quickly!’

‘How could I not?’ Jackson pressed his cheek against her hair and hugged her tightly, pressing the flowers into her back. ‘Your invitation was just what I needed. I’ve
been missing you too much to stay away!’

Aww.
Ivy couldn’t wipe away her sappy grin as she watched them. ‘I didn’t know you’d invited him,’ she said to Olivia.

‘I hadn’t had a chance to tell you yet.’ Still beaming, Olivia shifted to Jackson’s side and took the chrysanthemums, breathing in their scent with obvious delight.
‘It was my brilliant idea from this afternoon. I asked him to come, so that he can distract all our “tourists”.’ She glanced meaningfully at the piles of paper on the
table.

‘Aha!’ Ivy let out a peal of laughter. ‘Oh, that’s perfect. Having a famous actor come to town is great misdirection!’

‘Sorry?’ Jackson looked at her quizzically. ‘Misdirection from what, exactly? Olivia still hasn’t explained. Why are all these tourists here anyway? And what exactly
don’t you want people to see?’

Oops.
Ivy swallowed a groan as she realised just how close she’d come to making a huge mistake in her relief. Even Olivia – her own flesh and blood – hadn’t been
allowed to learn the secret of the vamps until she’d managed to pass some serious tests. There was no way that Jackson could be allowed to find out!

She traded a panicked look with her own boyfriend, and Brendan came to the rescue.

‘Hey, Jackson.’ He waved from the table, attracting Jackson’s gaze. ‘Good to see you, man.’

‘You, too.’ Jackson smiled and nodded to Sophia and Reiko, too, but then he turned back to Ivy. ‘So . . .?’

Brendan’s interruption had given Ivy just enough time to think. The truth was, Jackson spent so much time around her family, she actually forgot sometimes that he
didn’t
know their real vampire identity. But this time, at least, there were very few details she had to leave out.

‘It’s a bunch of dumb boys from our school,’ she told him. ‘They’re stirring up trouble and scaring people by pretending there’s a ghost in town.’

‘Are you serious?’ Jackson let out a yelp of laughter and shook his head. ‘Who actually believes in ghosts?’

Reiko coughed. Olivia winced.

Ivy said, ‘Lots of people, unfortunately. And it’s pulling in wannabe ghost hunters from all over the place. They’re descending on the town and messing everything up. But
thanks to Olivia’s brilliance . . .’ she grinned wickedly ‘ . . . we have something
much
more interesting for everyone to think about now. Who wouldn’t rather pay
attention to a genuine Hollywood movie star?’

Jackson looked pained. ‘You do know what you’re asking of me, right?’

Before Ivy could answer, her twin set down her flowers and bent into a full-body stretch, as if she was getting ready for a workout.

The other vamps looked just as baffled as Ivy felt. Only Jackson looked unfazed.

‘Um . . .’ Ivy cleared her throat. ‘Olivia? You do know, right, that it’s a Saturday night? So we don’t actually have to get ready for gym class right
now?’

‘Oh, I know,’ Olivia said grimly. ‘This is going to be much worse. Trust me . . .’ She gave her boyfriend a knowing look. ‘If our time out in public together in
London was anything to go by, we’ll
all
need to warm up properly if we want to outrun the paparazzi!’

All the laughter from earlier that evening felt hard to remember as Ivy tossed and turned in her coffin that night. Every time she closed her eyes, the storm outside sent a
shiver down her spine. The windows rattled as if they were being shaken by ghostly hands, and the low wail of the wind sounded weirdly similar to the haunting noise that had filled Café
Creative at the end of Camilla’s show.

‘Aargh!’ Ivy pulled her black-and-red quilt over her face to muffle her own groan.

This is so embarrassing.

Scary, tough vampires were not supposed to get spooked . . . but Ivy totally was. So maybe, until they had solved their ghost problem, sleeping in a coffin might not actually be the best idea!
As the windows gave another loud rattle, she swallowed down a very
un
-vamptastic squeak and jerked upright.
That’s it.
Grabbing a pillow and one end of her quilt, she jumped
out of the coffin and started for the door. Sleeping on the living room couch sounded like a much better option . . . as long as no one else ever found out about it!