The Knaveheart's Curse
Page 1
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter 1 - PRESTO!
Chapter 2 - MYSTERY GIFT
Chapter 3 - A VISITOR
Chapter 4 - K IS FOR ...
Chapter 5 - TUNNEL OF TERROR
Chapter 6 - A BOX OF DISGUSTING
Chapter 7 - IN THE GRAVEYARD
Chapter 8 - MADEMOISELLE LIVINGSTONE, I PRESUME?
Chapter 9 - SECOND THOUGHTS . . . AND THIRDS . . .
Chapter 10 - BLIND GIRL’S BLUFF
Chapter 11 - DOLLY WORLD
Chapter 12 - THE SECRET OF THE ICE MIRRORS
Chapter 13 - LEXIE AT LARGE
Chapter 14 - THE FAMILY ELCRIS
Chapter 15 - ALAS, ASLEEP
Chapter 16 - DOUBLED DANGER
Chapter 17 - STEED FOR THE DEED
Chapter 18 - WHAT A DIDGE CAN DO
Chapter 19 - LULLABY SHOWDOWN
Chapter 20 - RUNNING WATER
MADDY’S
Lexie’s
Also by ADELE GRIFFIN
Vampire Island
My Almost Epic Summer
Where I Want to Be
Overnight
Amandine
Dive
The Other Shepards
Sons of Liberty
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
A division of Penguin Young Readers Group.
Published by The Penguin Group.
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England.
Copyright © 2008 by Adele Griffin.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Griffin, Adele.
The Knaveheart’s Curse : a Vampire Island story / Adele Griffin.
p. cm.
Summary: Eleven-year-old Maddy Livingstone, a vampire-fruit bat hybrid striving to
make friends in modern-day New York City, tries to protect her family from a vicious
pureblood vampire who is in the New World seeking the Tenth Knave.
[1. Vampires—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Brothers and sisters—Fiction.
4. Family life—New York (State)—New York—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction. 6. New York
(N.Y.)—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.G881325Knc 2008
[Fic]—dc22
2007043141
eISBN : 978-1-101-01113-3
http://us.penguingroup.com
For Harry and Faye
1
PRESTO!
Sometimes Maddy wished she had more friends. Or even one. She knew she was different from other kids. As a vegetarian fruit-bat vampire, she had roamed the earth for centuries. She had witnessed floods, plagues, wars, and bloody beheadings. Then a few years ago, her family had left the Old World behind, exchanging immortality to live in New York City as ordinary people.
Ordinary-ish. On the outside, Maddy looked like your average almost-seventh-grader, but on the inside . . .
“Most eleven-year-olds don’t have four-hundred-year-old hearts,” she answered herself with a spin of her straw umbrella. Strange, but true. As a vampire, she’d flown around the Old World for many centuries. In New York City, she’d finally turned into a girl—with only a few leftover vampire desires to contend with.
Like capes. It was Saturday morning, and Maddy was on her way to see Carlyle Blake, Tailor Extraordinaire. She needed a real, all-purpose vampire cape. Her last cape had been a purple silk scarf from her Six Wicked Tricks magician kit. Which had worked okay, until Maddy left it out in the rain overnight. By the next morning, it had shrunk to the size of a washcloth.
Luckily, Maddy’s older sister, Lexington, had seen Carlyle’s sign. Since Lex was a word-loving nerd, she knew that extraordinaire was a stylish word for “expensive.”
“And you’re broke,” reminded Lexie.
Maddy smirked. She had a secret payment plan.
On this sweaty Saturday, the other kids in Maddy’s class were at Smoothie Moo’s ice-cream parlor to celebrate Dakota Underhill’s birthday party. Everyone (except for Maddy) had been invited. Even crybaby Oliver Watson. Even Ann LeFrack, who picked her scabs and ate them. Dakota was as sweet as a Moo’s rainbow-frosted ice-cream cake. Everyone thought Dakota was cool because she had moved here midyear from Queensland, Australia, and she spoke with a twangy Australian accent.
“Dakooty Giampuketro thinks she’s so great, but she’s not,” Maddy muttered as she rang the tailor’s buzzer. “Who cares about her stupid party?”
“Shoo, elf. I’m not interested in purchasing Elf Scout cookies.” Carlyle Blake had instantly appeared in his door frame to stare down his long nose at Maddy, who was not very tall.
“My name is Madison Livingston, and I’m not an elf or an Elf Scout,” she said. “I want a cape.”
Before Carlyle could say, “Do come in,” she hopped inside. Even with her umbrella and two coats of SXP sunblock—which you can’t even get in drugstores without a prescription—the sunshine was harsh on Maddy’s paper-thin skin. And the last thing she needed was skin crumbles.
“Do come in,” said Carlyle, but by this time Maddy had already leaped up the flight of stairs and into a room of splendid fabrics.
“Ooh. Pretty.” Maddy trailed her fingers along the bolts of cloth, but Carlyle, huffing up the steps behind her, stopped her with a slap on the hand.
“How will you pay for this cape?” he asked. “My prices are staggering.”
“Presto.” And Maddy pulled out her secret payment plan—a triple-strand, black beaded necklace. This past winter, Maddy had inherited the necklace, along with the splendid townhouse where the Livingstones now lived, when she slayed the evil fullblood vampires Nigel and Nicola von Krik. That had been such an awesome day. Too bad the necklace gave Maddy the creeps. Probably because it reminded her too much of the von Kriks.
“Ahh.” Carlyle seemed enchanted. He scooped it up and held it to the window, where it sparkled and twinkled. Then dropped it back in Maddy’s palm. “Very well. One cape for that necklace.”
“Deal.” Maddy knew the necklace was worth money, but if she could get it off her hands for a cape, that was an excellent trade.
The tailor measured Maddy’s height and shoulder span before letting her pick out fabrics. Maddy chose violet velvet for the outside, with a buttery gold silk lining. “An excellent choice for an opera cape,” Carlyle said. “Are you a fan?”
In answer, Maddy burst into the Queen of the Night’s aria from The Magic Flute as she’d first heard it a couple of hundred years ago, hanging upside down in bat form from the rafters of the State Opera House. All vampires love opera and the juicy, plump performers who sing it.
Some people, however, did not like Maddy’s opera voice. Carl
yle was holding his ears. “Enough. Leave me your phone number and I’ll call you when your cape is ready. In the meantime, no surprise visits.”
On the way home, Maddy decided to take a quick detour to Moo’s. Not because she cared about Dakota’s cake and presents or because she was thinking of interrupting Dakota’s party with some of the special pranks she was known for.
No, what she really craved was a cup of strawberry topping. Fruit toppings were the only treat that Maddy, Lexie, and their younger brother, Hudson, could order from ice-cream parlors, because the Livingstones, like most hybrid vampires, followed a mostly fruits-and-veggies diet.
Outside Smoothie Moo’s, Maddy peered through the window glass. Inside, it was crowded with her P.S. 42 classmates. Dakota was sitting high up on the Moo Cow patchwork birthday chair. As soon as she saw Maddy, she scrunched down.
Poor thing. Maddy felt kind of bad, figuring Dakooty was remembering some of those lunch swap tricks. Dakota was an easy target, always hoping to trade her food for something sweeter. Like one time, when Maddy had swapped Dakota’s white peach for a smelly dish sponge spread thick with cafeteria mayonnaise. “It’s vanilla-frosted sponge cake,” Maddy’d explained as everyone cringed to watch Dakota bite into chewy, mayonnaise-coated sponge.
Another swap had been Dakota’s bunch of grapes in exchange for Maddy’s killer garlic-and-white-chocolate-chunk cookies. The lumps of garlic looked like macadamia nuts. Maddy had a special affection for the recipe ever since she’d used it to poison the von Kriks. Since then, she occasionally whipped up batches, hoping she might “accidentally” poison another evil fullblood. So far, no luck. Most humans kept their distance from garlic-flavored cookies, and fullbloods had grown wise to Maddy’s tricks.
But Maddy’s classmates loved those lunch pranks. Or at least they laughed at them. And Dakota was a pretty good sport. So why was Maddy the only one snubbed and uninvited to Dakota’s party?
Maybe if she wished Dakota happy birthday and showed she wasn’t planning anything sneaky, they could start fresh.
By now, Dakota’s mom, Nora, had spied Maddy. She opened the door. “Come out of the sun, Madison,” she said. “Your straw brolly is divine. May I cut you a slice of ice-cream cake?”
Dakota had dropped her spoon. Her bottomless dark eyes widened.
“Just a cup of strawberry topping, thanks,” said Maddy.
“Dakota’s opening some presents, and then afterward, we’re going to do a sing-along on the karaoke.”
Karaoke? Yes! Maddy loved to sing. When Dakota gave Maddy a half smile, that did it. Maddy settled into a chair with her cup of topping to watch the rest of the gift-opening. She hoped The Magic Flute was on the karaoke menu. Then she would sing out her best mezzo-soprano and dazzle everyone.
“Ooh.” Dakota held up a packet. “Monogrammed golf shoes—thanks, Lisi!”
Maybe it’s okay that I’m here, Maddy thought. She cleared her throat a couple of times, preparing her voice. Possibly her invitation got lost in the mail, and she was meant to be here all along.
Anyway, now Dakooty, and everyone else, could see that she was the perfect, proper birthday guest.
“So, Maddy, what’s up with not bringing a present?” Lisi Elcris was not only Dakota’s best friend, but also her beanpole opposite. Her family owned the Elcris Shoe Emporium, which Lisi seemed to think was as important as owning an entire country. She was one of the only kids in school who dared to stand up to Maddy. She was standing up now, her beady eyes hard.
“I forgot,” Maddy mumbled.
“If you couldn’t afford to buy a real present, you should give a homemade gift.” Lisi was speaking too loud. “Any gift. Especially since you’re not even supposed to be here.”
Maddy slurped another strawberry. Centuries change, she thought, but loudmouths never do.
Other kids had gone quiet, waiting for Maddy to do something naughty. In truth, Maddy couldn’t think of any better trick than decorating Dakota’s birthday cake with the dead cricket she’d picked off her front steps this morning that was squished in the bottom of her shorts pocket. In the moment, it now seemed too gross.
“Otherwise, nobody wants you,” Lisi insisted. “Right, D.?”
“Right, D.?” aped Lisi’s little brother, Adam, who was a couple of grades younger and built like a freckled bowling ball.
“I don’t mind.” But Dakota looked doubtful.
Maddy sniffed. What was that scent in the air? Grassy, with a hint of sea breeze. Interesting. Maddy’s extra-sharp nose honed in. The scent was coming from one of Dakota’s birthday gifts.
That one.
Oblong, wrapped in layers of faded tissue paper and twisted with scraggly twine. Something incredible was in that package. Maddy’s fingernails itched for it.
“My super-fantastic cousin is visiting us from Denmark. She can do one-hand handsprings.” Lisi was still talking in her know-it-all voice. “That’s a good trick. What can you do, Maddy? Besides imitate a shrimp?”
Okay, that was the last straw. Maddy hated to be teased about her height, and she’d already been called an elf today. She pounced, sweeping the gift off the table.
“Presto!” she said, shoving it under her arm. “Witness my spectacular magic trick!”
“What is it?” Kids looked around, confused.
“I’m going to make Dakooty’s present disappear! Later, blisters!” And with a final hiss for Lisi, Maddy sprang out Moo’s door and took off running down the street.
If she couldn’t be the perfect party guest, at least she’d found herself a consolation prize.
2
MYSTERY GIFT
Before the Livingstones moved into their townhouse, Maddy had been forced to share a bedroom with her sister. Awful. Lexie and Maddy did not see eye to eye on decorating.
For example, flowers. Gentle Lexie liked them to be kept alive, blooming in vases of water. Not hanging upside down in crunchy bunches. Also, smells. Maddy preferred the odors of sweaty socks and wet sawdust. Unfortunately, Lexie loved sugary breezes of lavender, nutmeg, ginger, and tuberose. Once she’d even set out a bowl of potpourri, which Maddy had mistaken for a snack of sun-dried bugs, an Old World vampire treat.
“Ew, why would anyone display a dish of dead insects?” Lexie shook her head as Maddy hopped around the room, spitting petals.
Thankfully, Maddy was no longer sharing space with Lex. In her hideaway attic bedroom, Maddy could enjoy her own style—dark and damp. To achieve the right mold factor, Maddy had set one humidifier in each corner. After six months, her room was now exquisitely clammy, with mildew like a mat on her floor, while her walls were creeping with constellations of fungus.
Best of all, in the back of Maddy’s closet, a dainty colony of toadstools had sprouted through the wood floor cracks.
Maddy inhaled their musty scent as she sat down on her bed, kicking off her sneakers to examine her blisters. She’d walked a lot today. Any human would have been running for a Band-Aid, but hybrid-vampire blood is different, a greenish blue powder that congeals to a crust. Maddy touched the spongy skin bubbles. Good, crusting already.
“Who gave you that present?”
Maddy squeaked. She hadn’t seen her younger brother, Hudson, roosting under the eaves. Hudson was the only member of the family who could turn into a bat. This gift—along with being incredibly handsome, plus fluent in animal languages—made Hudson show-offish.
“Susanality,” Maddy lied. Susanality was Maddy’s best friend. Lexie had a best friend, Pete Stubbe, who was a werewolf, and Hudson had a best human friend, Duane Rigby, and they were always yakking about them at the dinner table.
A few months ago, fed-up Maddy had invented a best friend, Susanality, so that she could have her own turn talking.
“That wrapping paper smells nice. Looks recycled, too,” Hudson said approvingly as he stretched his wings and yawned, then spiraled himself into a backflip to land on Maddy’s shoulder. “What is it?”
“A friendship
present.” Maddy shrugged. “Since I’m her best friend and she’s my best friend.”
“So open it.”
Maddy didn’t need to be told twice. She untied the tissue. The object was hollow like a pipe, waist high, and smelled like secrets.
Maddy opened the card and read the smudged ink:
For my darling niece, Dakota—
Call on your dearest loud and clear,
Near and far,
When you most need them to come through.
Love,
Your favorite uncle, Godfry
Maddy crumpled the card in her hand before her brother could see.
“What is it?” asked Hudson.
“It’s a . . . a walking cane that Susanality made for me.”
“What do those initials, G.D.U., stand for?”
“They stand for ‘Grrr—Don’t Use.’” Maddy knew they stood for Dakota’s initials, Gertrude Dakota Underhill, but she was a good on-the-spot liar. And now she wanted to be alone with her gift. “Crud, you know the rules—no roosting in my room without permission. Out!”
She shook him off so that he collided into a very wet and joyful Lexie. Squealing, Hudson dug his hind claws onto his other sister’s shoulder as Lex plopped into Maddy’s desk chair and clicked the back of her throat.
“What’s up?” Her big sister looked so happy that Maddy didn’t have the heart to remind her about room rules.
“You know that bulletin board at Candlewick Café—the one with all the Help Wanteds? Like for babysitters or Italian lessons?” Lexie paused to breathe as the others nodded. “Well, last week, I saw one that offered to teach guitar accompaniment to all the saddest songs by your favorite doomed artists. So of course I tore off and called the number, and Zelda—that’s the name of the teacher—told me the price for lessons. It was way too much money, but fortunately—ulp!” Lexie started hiccuping with excitement.
“Fortunately, what?” They were both waiting.