Fashion Frightmare! (My Sister the Vampire)

by Sienna Mercer

  ‘Oh, Maxie.’ Olivia shook her head. ‘If only you’d come back –’

  ‘I know,’ Maxie said, sighing heavily. ‘But my fear got the best of me. I just tore down the fire escape. I knew that if anyone caught me, they’d never believe my story, so . . .’

  ‘Wrong,’ Ivy said firmly. ‘I believe your story, and none of us are planning to tell on you.’

  ‘Absolutely not,’ Reiko said cheerfully. ‘This has been the most exciting part of my trip so far!’

  ‘We don’t want to get anyone in trouble,’ Olivia said. ‘We just need to get the pashmina back to the museum.’

  ‘And fast,’ Ivy added. Before Alex and Tessa can get dive-bombed by any more angry birds! Superstition or not, she wouldn’t feel like their royal friends were safe until the real pashmina was resting securely in the museum again.

  ‘But how?’ Maxie looked at her with big, pleading eyes. ‘I’ve been trying to think of a way to sneak it back into the museum, but the building’s been locked up every day since the fashion show! How am I supposed to put it back now?’

  ‘Hmm.’ Drumming her black-nailed fingers on the table, Ivy looked away for a moment. The museum had re-opened that morning, but any crowds might make their job even harder. How were they going to make sure that the display room was empty when they snuck the pashmina back inside?

  Her gaze fell on Olivia, who was frowning with obvious concentration. ‘What is it?’ Ivy asked. ‘Do you have any good ideas?’

  Olivia gave a start. ‘What? Oh, I wasn’t even thinking about that part.’ She turned to Maxie, beaming. ‘I was thinking how we can get you set up with Penny.’

  Maxie’s face flushed bright pink. ‘Oh no, it’s . . . You really don’t need . . . She doesn’t like me.’ He looked away and mumbled. ‘I have no chance.’

  Ivy nudged her sister’s foot under the table. ‘Um, Olivia? Don’t we have something more important to deal with right now?’ Like a vampire curse!

  ‘Pfft!’ Olivia snorted, waving off the interruption. ‘What could be more important than love . . .? Aha!’ She jumped in her seat, pointing a triumphant finger at Maxie. ‘You blushed even more when I said that word! Don’t deny it, Maxie. You’re in love, aren’t you?’

  Maxie’s whole face was a bright, giveaway red, all the way down to the bottom of his neck. ‘It’s just hopeless,’ he mumbled.

  ‘Nothing is hopeless,’ said Olivia firmly. ‘Not with me in charge, anyway.’

  For a moment, Maxie stared at her in shock. Then he swallowed visibly. ‘You mean it? You would actually help me?’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Ivy rolled her eyes as she sat back in her chair. ‘You’re sitting next to the girl who made “Famelia” happen!’

  Maxie just blinked at her. Ivy remembered that Maxie did not go to Franklin Grove High, and so had no idea about the unlikely skater-boy and Goth-Queen match that Olivia had made.

  ‘Never mind,’ she said, grinning at the glee on her sister’s face as Olivia leaned forwards to start making plans.

  Leave it to my twin, she thought. The one person in the world with the power to turn a vampire crisis into a sweet love story!

  Half an hour later, Olivia led the whole group into One Planet, buzzing with happy anticipation. This isn’t just a successful mystery investigation, it’s a true romance!

  Next to her, Ivy’s leather jacket was zipped up all the way to her chin to conceal the stolen pashmina, which Maxie had handed over with obvious relief. Ivy was only wearing the pashmina until the twins and Reiko could take it back to the museum – but that wouldn’t be until Stage Two of Operation: Maxie-Matchmaking had taken place!

  As she pushed open the door to One Planet and heard the bell jingle over her head, Olivia had to stop herself from bouncing excitedly.

  This couldn’t be more perfect, she thought.

  Artistic Maxie was just the right match for sweet, goth-no-more fashion designer Penny . . . and he liked her so much. He told them that his regular trips to One Planet were in the hope of running into Penny. The health food store was close to the art class she took on Wednesdays, and Penny just loved the gotu kola they sold. Maxie had gone there every week, hoping that he would one day work up the courage to talk to her.

  He didn’t even like gotu kola that much!

  How adorable is that? Olivia beamed at her sister, who only replied with a rueful head-shake. Olivia knew that Ivy was desperate to return the pashmina to the museum without any more delays, but some things were too important to put off. Poor Maxie had clearly had a terrible week after his accidental theft. Even impatient Ivy had understood that he needed help from them now . . . even if she still didn’t seem to truly understand the importance of true love conquering all. Olivia was determined to help Penny and Maxie turn into . . . Hmm. Pexie? Menny? Maxenny?

  OK, making up their couple-name was going to take some time, even for her!

  The bell over the door jingled, and Olivia spun around, waving. ‘Penny!’

  ‘There you guys are!’ Penny hurried towards them, smiling. She was wearing a soft-looking cornflower-blue top over a black skirt cut in such a swirling pattern, Olivia was certain that Penny must have designed it herself. ‘Thanks so much for inviting me to join you here. Has there been any news about –?’

  ‘Shh.’ Olivia held one finger to her lips, indicating the crowd of customers around them . . . including Maxie, who stood in front of her, slightly separate from their group, as if he had not arrived with them. ‘It’s all been solved,’ she whispered to Penny.

  ‘Whew.’ Penny let out a sigh of relief. ‘I can’t wait to tell Amelia.’ She reached into her sunny yellow purse to pull out her cell phone.

  ‘Wait!’ Olivia grabbed her arm. ‘Don’t get on the phone now!’

  Penny paused, looking confused. ‘Why not?’

  ‘Um . . . Because . . .’ Because it’ll ruin my plan!

  Olivia started to panic. As soon as the line started moving again, Maxie was supposed to step aside and offer to let the girls all go ahead of them, because they were such a big group. And that will get him and Penny talking!

  She couldn’t tell that to Penny, though. ‘Um . . .’ Olivia flashed a desperate, Help-me look at Ivy. ‘Because . . . because . . .’

  Ivy answered as casually as if the whole fate of “Pexie” didn’t rest on that moment. ‘You should wait until we’ve gotten our drinks. There’s terrible cell phone reception up here by the counter.’

  ‘Oh. OK.’ Penny dropped the phone back into her purse. ‘Hmm, I wonder if I should go for the double shot of gotu kola?’

  While Reiko and Penny launched into an enthusiastic discussion of health drinks, Olivia peered over the heads of the people in front of her. Isn’t this line ever going to move? If their plan didn’t get started soon, shy Maxie was almost certainly going to lose his nerve!

  She popped up on to her toes . . . and groaned. Oh, no. Norah the server wasn’t even bothering to make any drinks right now. She was much too busy leaning over the counter, flirting with Tall Tony, the comic book store owner!

  Drat. So much for fixing him up with Blue Skye!

  Olivia sighed. The truth was, she would actually think the scene in front of her was sweet, if only it weren’t for the fact that this line just wasn’t moving.

  In front of her, Maxie shifted from foot to foot, plucking nervously at the cuffs of his shirt. As she watched, his eyes darted towards the door.

  No! She tried to beam the silent message at him with pure willpower. Do not turn tail and run. Not now!

  But oh, no . . . when she looked back at the front of the line, the flirtation had only grown more intense. Was Norah . . .? Oh, drat, she was – she was twirling . . . her . . . hair!

  This is a disaster. Olivia clenched her fingers around her sparkly purple purse, desperately trying to think fast. Time to come up with a Plan B! But how could she get Penny and Maxie talking now? Unless . . .

  ‘Reiko!’ She spun around to face the exchange st
udent.

  ‘Huh?’ Reiko broke off from her raving about the wonders of gotu kola. ‘Did you say something?’

  ‘Yes.’ Olivia smiled purposefully as she looked at the tennis racquet still sticking dangerously out of Reiko’s neon backpack. ‘Can I borrow a comic book from you? Right now?’

  The other three girls stared at her.

  Ivy blinked. ‘Um, Olivia? You want to start reading comics now?’

  Olivia narrowed her eyes warningly at her twin. ‘Well, I need something to read if we’re going to be standing around for so long, right?’

  ‘OK,’ Reiko said. She shrugged, reaching for her backpack. ‘I’ve got a couple in here.’

  ‘Perfect,’ Olivia said. And here . . . we . . . go!

  She held her breath as Reiko un-shouldered her heavy backpack. Just as Olivia had hoped, the tennis racquet’s handle arced around like a dangerous weapon.

  ‘Ooh!’ Penny leaped back just in time, just before she could get bopped on the head . . .

  . . . And she bumped right into Maxie, knocking his bag off his shoulder and on to the ground.

  ‘I’m so sorry!’ Penny gasped. ‘I – oh. Maxie!’ Pink flooded her cheeks. ‘I . . . I didn’t mean to . . .’ Her cheeks flushed even pinker. Barely audibly, she mumbled, ‘Um, how are you? You’re not normally here unless it’s a Wednesday. Um, I mean, not that I notice what days you’re here or not . . . or anything. Ha-ha . . .’

  Ignoring the chaos at his feet, Maxie gazed at Penny with big, adoring eyes. ‘I – I – um, I mean, I’m fine. I’m . . . and you?’

  Olivia gave a silent cheer of triumph. They’re talking . . . OK, they’re barely getting their words out, but they’re trying!

  Penny leaned towards Maxie, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to look back at him. ‘I’m . . . fine,’ she said softly. ‘Just fine. How are you?’

  Awww! Olivia clasped her hands together in delight as she turned to Ivy and Reiko.

  A wide grin stretched Reiko’s face under her pink-and-black hair. Ivy was smiling even as she shook her head and mimed bowing down to her twin.

  ‘You win again,’ Ivy mouthed silently.

  Olivia sighed happily. It looked like Maxie wasn’t the only one who had a crush . . . and “Menny” was well on its way to becoming Olivia’s latest – and cutest – matchmaking triumph!

  Why can’t all romances be this simple?

  Olivia would have loved to watch the scene unfold . . . but Ivy was already moving forwards to grab her arm and whisper in her ear.

  ‘These two won’t even notice if we take off.’ Ivy gave an impatient jerk of her shoulders. ‘I need to get this pashmina into the museum before anything else can go wrong. Every second I wait, it starts to feel even heavier. Seriously, it’s already feeling like twenty pounds!’

  ‘OK.’ With one last, triumphant smile, Olivia sidled away from ‘Paxie’ and towards the door.

  As the doorbell jingled over their heads, the three girls exploded on to the street.

  ‘Score!’ Reiko carolled. She bounced an invisible basketball in her hands and made a perfect, invisible shot into an imaginary hoop. ‘We did it!’

  ‘Everything’s working out perfectly,’ Olivia cheered. ‘All we have to do now is get the pashmina back into the museum, and then –’

  She was interrupted by Ivy’s phone ringing. Ivy took it out of her jacket pocket. ‘Huh. It’s Dad. We’d better both take this one.’ Frowning, she put the phone on loudspeaker mode as she held it out between her and Olivia. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Is your sister with you?’ Charles sounded worried. ‘I think both of you should head to the museum as soon as possible . . . I just hope you won’t be too late.’

  Olivia gasped, crowding close to Ivy. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, even though she was kind of afraid of the answer. Has someone discovered that the pashmina is a fake?

  ‘Alex and Tessa are just about to stop by to say farewell before they leave.’

  ‘What?’ Ivy’s voice came out as a near-shout. ‘But they weren’t supposed to go home for at least another week!’

  ‘I know.’ Charles’s sigh gusted through the phone line. ‘Unfortunately, they’ve decided to cut their trip short.’

  ‘But why?’ Ivy looked ready to tear her hair out, and Olivia knew exactly why.

  They can’t leave now! Not before we’ve replaced the pashmina!

  Charles’s tone was heavy. ‘You won’t believe what’s happened to them now.’

  Oh, no. Olivia closed her eyes.

  The phone signal flickered, cutting off most of Charles’s words, but the few that Olivia caught were more than enough to convey the horror story.

  ‘. . . garlic . . . fang . . . contact lens!’

  ‘Ouch.’ Ivy and Reiko both spoke at once, cringing.

  ‘And they’re coming to the museum to say goodbye?’ Olivia whispered. Then she winced. Of course they are.

  They would definitely want to pick up their ‘lucky’ pashmina before they left.

  The twins couldn’t let them carry the replica all the way back to Transylvania!

  Ivy’s face hardened with determination. ‘We’ll be there as soon as we can.’ She snapped the phone shut.

  Olivia, Reiko and Ivy all shared one frantic look as they absorbed the news.

  Then, without a word, they turned and ran. The two vampires shot ahead within moments. Olivia struggled behind, panting. She didn’t ask them to slow down, though, even as they turned the corner well ahead of her and disappeared.

  We don’t have any time to waste!

  Chapter Eleven

  Twenty-three minutes later, Ivy led the charge on to the museum’s front steps, with Olivia gasping at the back. Poor Olivia, Ivy thought. Without a vampire’s strength or speed, her twin had still run flat-out, first to the bus from Lincoln Vale, and then from the bus stop to the museum – all while wearing kitten-heels!

  I have to buy her some tennis shoes for our next adventure, Ivy decided. For now, though, she just lunged towards the front door.

  ‘Wait!’ Olivia panted, leaning over with her hands on her knees and her usually smooth brown hair sticking to her face as she inclined her head towards the street nearby. ‘Look. They’re here.’

  Whew. Ivy let out her breath as she saw the unmistakable royal figures of Alex and Tessa walking down the street towards them.

  Now, where’s Brendan? She scanned the long street but didn’t see any sign of her boyfriend. Oh, no! She’d texted him to meet them at the museum, specifically so that he could distract Prince Alex while Olivia distracted Tessa, Reiko distracted Charles, and Ivy replaced the pashmina.

  When did a simple ‘switch’ become so complicated? How are we going to do this without him?

  ‘Hello!’ Prince Alex’s voice boomed down the street. He raised one hand, looking weary, but pleased to see them. ‘I’m so glad you made it.’

  ‘Thank darkness.’ Tessa gave a weak smile as she walked with him towards the steps. ‘I was so worried we wouldn’t be able to say goodbye before we left.’

  ‘We’d never let that happen.’ Ivy tried to smile back, but her hands were sweating so much, it was hard to concentrate. I just hope no one tries to give me a hug! There was no way that Alex or Tessa would miss the feel of the pashmina bulking under her jacket . . . To Ivy, it was feeling like it weighed at least fifty pounds!

  Act normal, she ordered herself. She started forwards – then stepped back. Wait. What is ‘normal’? I don’t even know any more!

  ‘Do you really have to leave so soon?’ Olivia asked. ‘It’s a pity to only see you for such a short time!’

  ‘I know.’ Tessa sighed as she joined them on the steps. ‘I’m disappointed, too, but it’s been a long and . . . well, a rather difficult few days. Also . . .’ She touched her baseball cap with a pained smile. ‘I need to get back to my stylist in Transylvania to sort out the mess that is my hair!’

  Alex rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. ‘I’m sure she’ll
fix it beautifully,’ he told her. He sighed as he turned back to the twins and Reiko. ‘My mother has a few “important” functions planned for next week, so Tessa and I really need to look our best. If only the myths were real, and vampires couldn’t show up in photos!’

  ‘Ha!’ Ivy grinned. ‘That’s exactly what I thought just before the fashion show at Café Creative!’

  Alex and Tessa both laughed sympathetically.

  ‘But you looked beautiful at the show,’ Tessa said. ‘Truly. Even wearing Olivia’s dress!’

  ‘Well . . .’ Ivy gulped. Suddenly, the pashmina she was wearing – Tessa’s pashmina – felt like it was a living thing, crawling and tightening around her shoulders. How was she going to get it back in place without them noticing?

  She couldn’t tell them what had happened, not without getting poor Maxie into serious trouble. But otherwise . . .

  ‘Do you want to go for a quick smoothie first, before we go inside?’ she blurted.

  ‘Ugh!’ Tessa shuddered and stepped back. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t ever want to go to Mister Smoothie’s again! Not after last time.’

  ‘Never,’ Alex agreed. He put one hand to his head as if testing it for leftover drops of peach juice.

  ‘Besides,’ Tessa added, ‘I’ve been so longing to really see the museum. I’ve been hoping that your father might even give us a quick tour of his triumphant Transylvanian exhibit before we head off. We can see the pashmina in its place of honour, and then I’m afraid we will take it back home. I’m just too nervous to be without it any more.’

  ‘Well, then . . .’ Olivia’s smile was bright, but Ivy could clearly see the panic behind it. ‘I can’t think of a single reason to refuse that request. Not one. Who could?’ Her voice rose, growing tight with panic. ‘Ivy? Reiko? There’s no way we can say “no”. Right? I mean, who could possibly think of a reason to say “no” to that? There is no reason!’