As Olivia watched, she searched inside herself for any lingering scaredy-cat, freaked-out feelings. She couldn’t find a single one. I’m just so, so happy that they finally found each other again!
Their pale, shining faces lit up in beaming smiles as they turned to face Ivy and Olivia.
Hope said, ‘Thank you for bringing me home to my sister at last.’
‘I’m so grateful,’ Patience said, her voice thick with emotion.
Ghostly tears sparkled on both of their cheeks, but they were most definitely tears of joy. Olivia sniffled as she watched the two girls link arms and then glide in perfect harmony towards the trees, the site of their old home.
Then they disappeared into the darkness, together.
Olivia scrambled halfway across the table to throw her arms around her sister.
It had never felt better to hug her twin.
Thank darkness that worked, Ivy thought, sighing with pure relief as she hugged Olivia back. ‘It’s no wonder no one managed to work this one out until now,’ she said. She drew back from her sister. ‘If I didn’t happen to have a twin myself, I’d never have had that crazy idea in the first place!’
‘Everything about this situation is a little crazy,’ Olivia said ruefully, wiping away the last tears. ‘I mean, think about it . . . If my family hadn’t moved to Franklin Grove, we’d never have met . . . and if we’d never met, then Hope’s ghost might never have been able to return here to be reunited with Patience. It’s like . . . all of this was meant to be.’
With Ivy’s keen vampire vision, the darkness was no barrier to glimpsing the strain on her sister’s face. ‘Uh-oh. Are you feeling totally creeped out right now?’
Laughing a little, Olivia shook her head. ‘Oh, I’m not scared any more. Not of them, anyway . . . though I guess I am just a little unnerved by this whole experience.’ She shrugged. ‘I mean, I know I live in a world where vampires are real, but still – that doesn’t make ghosts any less startling when they appear. But as for you . . .!’ Jumping up from the table, she reached out one hand to pull Ivy up, too. ‘You were amazing, Ivy Holmes! I can’t believe you solved that case. Even Sherlock himself couldn’t have cracked it!’
Ivy wrapped one arm around her sister’s waist. ‘How could I not understand what Patience felt? Losing you is the most awful thing I can imagine.’ She swallowed hard, blinking back a few tears of her own. ‘We need to make each other a promise, OK? Even if we’re ever separated somehow, whether it’s because you end up travelling the world as a super-famous movie star, or I end up . . . somewhere else . . .’
‘Like Transylvania?’ Olivia said quietly.
Ivy grimaced. ‘I hope not . . . but anyway! We need to promise: no matter how far away from each other we might be, we’ll never, ever be estranged. We’ll Skype and talk all the time, no matter what.’
‘You’ve got it.’ Sniffling again, Olivia drew back, wiping her eyes. As she dropped her hand from her face, though, she gave Ivy a watery grin. ‘OK, I think I might have cried about enough for one night . . .’
‘Bunny.’ Ivy grinned at her sister and bumped shoulders companionably as they started for the park entrance. Olivia bumped her back, then grabbed her hand.
Together, the twins ran for the gate.
At school, three days later, Ivy slid into the seat beside Olivia at their usual cafeteria table for lunch. As she set down her tray and looked around her, she felt a warm glow of satisfaction. Everything was finally back to normal, just the way it was supposed to be. Olivia sat on one side of her and Sophia on the other. Brendan, and Finn and Amelia – or “Famelia”, as Olivia always called them – sat opposite.
And for the first time since the Halloween party, Ivy didn’t feel a single ounce of stress weighing her down.
Ivy picked up her extra-rare burger and took a big, juicy, delicious bite . . . just as her smartphone dinged with a message.
‘Ooh!’ She pulled it from her pocket. ‘It’s Reiko!’ she told the others. ‘She just sent an email from Japan. Her flight’s landed safely, and she says she’s glad to be home.’
‘Awww.’ Olivia leaned over her shoulder, reading the message. ‘She also says she misses her new American friends. That’s so sweet of her!’
‘And I’ll tell you guys what’s even better.’ Ivy grinned triumphantly. ‘Reiko says the plane’s in-flight entertainment selection had the whole first season of Shadowtown. She watched every single episode! She says, “It might be a bit trashy, but it’s definitely fun.” You see?’ She beamed at her friends. ‘I’m not the only one who loves that show after all. I’ve converted someone else, at last!’
Brendan, Sophia, and “Famelia” all groaned.
‘Which means it’s only fair that you have to watch Droid Town!’ said Sophia. ‘The box set just came in the mail –’
But before she could finish, the whole cafeteria suddenly echoed with the rings and peals of a hundred smartphones all sending alerts at once. With Ivy’s phone already open, she got the message first, forwarded on from Penny Taylor, their ex-goth friend.
‘Ooohhh . . .’ Ivy’s jaw dropped open. Then she started to laugh. ‘Oh, you guys all have to see this. This is good!’
The rest of her friends crowded around her phone as she pressed play on the YouTube preview of an upcoming “blooper” show, Celebrities’ Worst Moments. The celebrity being exposed in this one was . . .
‘Gregor Gleka,’ Brendan intoned over Ivy’s shoulder, in a throbbing Eastern European accent. ‘Caught on film forever, chasing ghosts with a New York accent!’ He grinned. ‘What a beautiful, beautiful moment.’
But it wasn’t Gregor Gleka’s spitting, American-accented rage that had gotten the video sent to everyone at their school. It was the five “ghosts” that Gleka was chasing: Josh and his cronies making fools of themselves on-screen, captured for a worldwide audience. Their tinny voices echoed through smartphones all across the cafeteria:
‘Wooooooh!’
‘Woooooooooh!’
And there was Garrick, stumbling into everyone else as he ran: ‘Hey, I can’t see anything!’
As laughter filled the cafeteria, Ivy turned to look for Josh and his greasy pals, bracing herself for their reaction. Would the gang throw a collective tantrum and toss their food against the walls like toddlers? Or would they rise to their feet, scowling in silence, and try to just intimidate everyone out of laughing?
‘Unbelievable,’ Sophia murmured beside her. ‘Just look at them!’
Ivy shook her head.
Josh and his cronies weren’t embarrassed at all! Instead, they were grinning right along with everyone else, elbowing each other and doing mock bows for the crowd.
Ivy’s keen ears picked out the sound of Josh’s smug voice through all the hubbub of the cafeteria as the head of the greasy gang told his friends: ‘I told you guys we’d be famous!’
She shook her head. ‘Maybe they’re light-headed from their own stench.’
Olivia stopped watching the blooper video the moment that a new email alert popped up on her cell phone.
Jackson! Smiling, she opened up his message. It had only been a few days since she’d last seen him, but she already missed her boyfriend. And it looked like he had good news.
Guess what? Your little stunt on Gregor’s set went up on YouTube – and our director loves you for it! Eternal Sunset might not be coming out for a while yet, but you’ve already gotten it all over the news. Jacob Harker told me to send you at least a dozen roses as a thank you from everyone working on the film!
Olivia grinned, shaking her head. If only Jackson knew the full story behind that stunt . . .
Then her grin vanished as she read the end of the message:
PS: I won’t ask you to do this by email, but next time I see you, I hope you’ll be ready to fill me in on all the weirdness that was going on last week. I really want to understand it. XXX
Oh, no. Olivia’s chest tightened as she reread that last line again and again.<
br />
Jackson had a right to expect some answers. He deserved total honesty from her, too. But what true answers could she possibly give him, without giving away her birth-family’s most important secret?
‘Olivia?’ Ivy nudged her, frowning. ‘What’s up? Is everything OK?’
Olivia swallowed. ‘I’ll tell you everything . . . later,’ she whispered.
Ivy’s frown deepened. ‘But . . .’
Tightening her lips, Olivia subtly angled her head in the direction of “Famelia”. With non-vamps sitting at their table, there were some things that were never safe to discuss.
She saw understanding dawn on Ivy’s face. Her twin’s eyes narrowed in a moment of unconcealed concern.
Then Ivy’s expression smoothed out. ‘Of course,’ she whispered. She turned back to the others, holding out her phone and raising her voice. ‘Hey, who wants to watch that clip again?’
But even as the rest of her friends laughed and swapped jokes, Olivia couldn’t bring herself to join in. The sip she took of her lemonade tasted as flavourless as water as her mind raced with growing panic.
She’d kept her family’s secrets for so long . . . but her boyfriend was finally starting to get suspicious.
The fabulous twins had solved one problem . . .
But they might have handed themselves their biggest one yet!
Look out for Ivy and Olivia’s 18th fangtabulous adventure!
Coming in 2016
Jackson’s getting suspicious. He knows that there’s something weird going on, and he wants answers.
So Olivia must make a big decision. Keep her boyfriend in the dark, where it’s safe, and risk losing him for good . . .
. . . or reveal the truth?
Only a dozen humans, including Olivia, know the vampires’ Blood Secret. Will Jackson even want to become Lucky Thirteen?
And is he capable of passing the Three Trials, to prove that he can keep the Secret?
If Jackson fails, his memory will be erased. He will never remember his time in Franklin Grove.
And he will never remember Olivia . . .
Sink your fangs into these:
MY SISTER THE VAMPIRE
Switched
Fangtastic!
Revamped!
Vampalicious
Take Two
Love Bites
Lucky Break
Star Style
Twin Spins!
Date with Destiny
Flying Solo
Stake Out!
Double Disaster!
Flipping Out!
Secrets and Spies
Fashion Frightmare!
MY BROTHER THE WEREWOLF
Cry Wolf!
Puppy Love!
Howl-oween!
Tail Spin
17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire Page 11
