13 Double Disaster - My Sister the Vampire (2 page)

Ivy blinked, then blinked again as she looked where her twin was pointing. On the pavement in front of them, their dad, their new stepmom and their grandparents were all negotiating the
‘awkward goodbye’. Their grandparents would soon be heading back to Transylvania, home of the elite, upper-class vampire society.

‘Wow,’ Ivy breathed. ‘Is that really Dad?’

Charles Vega normally looked really uncomfortable around any type of ‘goodbye’ – but not today! He was beaming as Lillian smiled serenely at his side.

Olivia shook her head. ‘Lillian has really had an effect on him. I guess love can work miracles.’

Under Ivy’s disbelieving gaze, Charles stepped forward and, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, pulled his parents into a hug.

Ivy’s mouth dropped open. She was still staring, dumbstruck, when her dad turned around.

‘Come on, girls,’ he said. ‘Say goodbye to your grandparents!’

Ivy jumped up.
That, I can do!
She and Olivia rushed together down the stairs to give their grandparents big hugs of their own.

As Olivia hugged their grandfather, Ivy buried her face into her grandmother’s shoulder. The Countess stroked her hair, and Ivy could have somersaulted for joy.

I’m so glad she’s finally forgiven me.

Her grandparents had pleaded with Ivy to attend Wallachia Academy, an elite vampire finishing school in Transylvania. Ivy had gone along and tried her very best to fit in with the other
students, but in the end she’d had to abandon the snooty academy – she’d missed her home too much. Her grandparents had both been appalled – and for a while, Ivy had really
feared she’d lost her grandmother’s love for good.

‘I am really, truly proud of you,’ the Countess whispered into Ivy’s ear.

Ivy was glad she had her face hidden, because she was feeling very
un-vampire-y
tears welling up in her eyes.
OK, no sappiness.
She took a deep breath and stepped back, making a
show of looking around. ‘Hey, where’s Horatio?’

‘I don’t know.’ The Countess frowned. ‘Where
is
Horatio?’

Olivia giggled. ‘Um . . .’

Smiling, Charles shook his head and pointed. ‘We should have known.’

The Count and Countess’s vampire butler was two doors down on Undertaker Hill, stalking Ivy’s neighbour Mr Galloway around his car, which was covered with soap suds.

‘What in the name of darkness is he doing?’ demanded the Count, his grey moustache bristling.

Ivy’s lips twitched into a grin. ‘Do you really have to ask?’

Mr Galloway’s voice drifted down the street. ‘But I told you, I really don’t need any help washing my car!’

‘Let me, sir.’ Horatio pinched the sponge from their neighbour’s hands with his vampire strength. ‘I must insist.’

Ivy cringed as she saw the outraged expression on Mr Galloway’s face. He stepped forward threateningly. ‘Look, you . . . Hey!’ His mouth dropped open as he leaned in to watch
Horatio sweep the sponge around with professional precision. ‘How are you doing
that
?’

‘It is a special, spiralling, counter-clockwise technique – I invented it myself
 
!’ Horatio coughed modestly and stepped back to demonstrate. ‘You see? Much more
effective!’

‘Well, I’ll be . . .’ Mr Galloway’s scowl transformed into a smile as he saw the gleaming paintwork. ‘That actually
is
impressive!’

‘Thank you, sir. And now, if you’ll allow me . . .’ Smiling with quiet pride, Horatio straightened and removed his jacket. ‘There is some serious work to be done here.
Although . . .’ He paused. ‘Yes, this would be much easier if we use some of my special, homemade turtle wax.’

Mr Galloway choked. ‘Your
what
?’

‘I have some just here, in the car.’ Frowning with concentration, Horatio hurried over to the hire car that he would be driving back to the airport. He opened the boot . . . then
paused, suddenly looking anguished.

Uh-oh,
Ivy thought. She didn’t often see the dignified butler lose his cool! She sidled up to him as discreetly as she could, glancing down into the boot. Unsurprisingly, the
luggage was arranged like a 3D puzzle, every suitcase perfectly placed.
He certainly can’t be upset about his packing!

‘Is everything OK?’ she whispered.

Horatio shook his head, still gazing with obvious desperation at the jigsaw-like stack of luggage. ‘If I’m going to use my special turtle wax, I’ll have to take it out of my
suitcase,’ he whispered, his voice cracking. ‘But my suitcase is beneath the Count and Countess’s luggage – at the bottom of the boot.’

‘Uh . . . so?’ Ivy shrugged. ‘Can’t you just dig it out and then re-pack?’

Horatio turned on her with a look so appalled, it actually rivalled Olivia’s expression the time Ivy had suggested Olivia wear a paisley skirt with her plaid blouse.

Ivy blinked and stepped back. ‘Or . . . not?’

Horatio pointed at the boot with a finger that trembled. ‘Look at that, Miss Ivy.’

‘Er . . .’ Ivy shrugged again. ‘All I see is packed suitcases.’

‘No . . .’ Horatio shook his head with obvious disappointment. ‘What you see are
perfectly
packed suitcases!’ A look of rapt passion spread across his face as he
continued. ‘This is the Platonic
ideal
of suitcase-packing! They can be easily removed from the boot once we reach the airport, yet they are secure enough that no damage will be
incurred to
any
items while driving. I have
dreamed
my whole life of managing to pack with such precision, such perfection.’

‘Oh.’ Ivy gulped, looking again at the suitcases. ‘Um. Oh, the, er . . . tectonic ideal. Right. Sorry I didn’t realise. Should I take a picture?’

‘There is no need.’ Horatio shook his head. ‘I will never forget the day I displayed such excellence in my craft. I couldn’t. And I planned to tell my fiancée,
Helga, all about it once I had returned to Transylvania.’ His expression crumpled. ‘But I cannot if I must destroy it before we even leave for the airport!’

‘And speaking of which . . .’ The Countess was suddenly standing beside them, giving him a stern look that made Ivy take another step back. When her grandmother looked like this
– confident, powerful and seriously scary – it was suddenly easy to remember that she was one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in the world.

‘We are taking a
commercial
flight, Horatio,’ the Countess said, sounding as if the word ‘commercial’ was actually painful on her tongue. ‘That means that we
are on someone
else
’s timetable.’

Oops
. From the tone of her grandmother’s voice, Ivy could tell that wasn’t something the Countess was used to . . . and she obviously did
not
like it.

‘Of course, Madam.’ Horatio’s shoulders slumped as he turned back to Mr Galloway. ‘I do beg your pardon, sir,’ he called, ‘but I shan’t be able to use
my special turtle wax after all.’ His voice trembled with emotion. ‘You cannot
possibly
know how much I regret this. I will post some to you the very moment I return home,
however. Such a fine vehicle deserves only the best. If only –’

‘Oh, Horatio!’ Ivy couldn’t wait any longer. She threw her arms around the tall butler, overcome by affection. ‘I’m going to miss you so much.’

His arms closed around her, warm and reassuring. ‘And I you, Miss Ivy,’ he said. ‘Do take good care of yourself.’

‘I will,’ she promised. Over his shoulder, she could see Olivia giving a fierce hug to their grandmother, who looked surprised and pleased. Mr Vega looked on, nodding approvingly. It
was hard to imagine that, just a year ago, their family had been so awkward around each other.

But now, they were beginning to feel like a
real
family.

A moment later, the Transylvanians were all sitting, dignified and straight-backed, in Horatio’s car, heading off towards the airport. As Ivy finished waving them away, she absently ran
her hand through her hair . . . then groaned, as yet more confetti showered down around her shoulders.

Seriously? Where is this stuff even coming from?

That night at the Meat and Greet, the atmosphere was subdued. It had been well over ten minutes since the group arrived, without any waitress appearing to take their orders, but
no one at the table had uttered a word of complaint. In fact, they’d barely spoken. As Olivia looked around at the three long faces, she shook her head. ‘I can’t believe my three
vampire
friends are all watching the sunset with dread in their eyes.’

Ivy’s boyfriend, Brendan, just sighed, his dark hair flopping over his forehead. Her best friend, Sophia, looked miserable even in her usual fashionista glamour, with black rhinestone
earrings falling nearly to her shoulders, as she intoned gloomily:

‘It’s the
last
sunset.’

Olivia frowned at Ivy, who gave back half a death-squint. ‘Don’t you get it?’ Ivy asked. ‘Tomorrow,
everything changes.
’ She gestured sweepingly, making the
bat ring on her left hand glint. ‘Tomorrow, the grass becomes blue and the sky becomes green. Tomorrow, things that always made sense just . . .
stop
!’

‘She’s right,’ Brendan mumbled. ‘Because tomorrow . . .’

‘We start ninth grade,’ Sophia finished. She looked as if she might be sick. ‘
High school.
’

‘Oh, come on!’ Olivia tried to smile at everyone. ‘Isn’t it . . . “un-vampire-y” for you guys to be feeling this kind of . . . nervousness?’

Ivy shrugged. ‘Probably. But that doesn’t really matter, does it?’

‘Not any more,’ Sophia said, her head drooping.

Ivy gave a heavy sigh. ‘I’d only
just
got used to being in the oldest grade at Franklin Grove Middle School. Now I’ll have to get used to being in the
y
oungest
at Franklin Grove High!’

‘. . . Which is way out on the border of town,’ Brendan added, his shoulders hunching. ‘AKA – “Next-Door to Nowhere”.’

Sophia wrinkled her nose with disapproval. ‘It’s right next to Lincoln Vale. That means a whole bunch of kids from
out of town –
who we’ve never even
seen
before – will be our new classmates.’

Ivy tipped her head on to the table, her long dark hair spilling out around her. ‘I am
so
not looking forward to it!’

Olivia couldn’t believe it.
Ivy might wear black all the time, but her mood is never normally this dark!
‘It won’t be that bad,’ she said. Sitting forward, she
tried to make sure her tone was confident. ‘You never know. Maybe you’ll love it!’

‘Oh, yeah?’ Ivy rolled her eyes. ‘Easy for you to say, Miss I-Don’t-Go-To-School-Any-More!’

Olivia blushed, shaking her head as the others joined in the gentle teasing.

‘Hey, life looks pretty good for some of us,’ Brendan grinned. ‘If you don’t even have to
go
to high school . . .’

‘Private tuition
overseas
,’ Sophia breathed longingly. ‘In
other countries.
Starting with
England
!’

‘It’s just for while I’m away on set, you guys know that.’ Olivia tried to sound casual, but she couldn’t help feeling the excitement – and the panic –
bubbling up inside her.

Finally –
finally!
– she was going to be performing again, playing the lead role in the long-delayed Big Movie Adaptation of
Eternal Sunset
! Not only was it glamorous,
it was going to be the biggest acting challenge of her short career. She’d play immortal vampire identical twins who both fall in love with human –
mortal
– twin brothers.
In the story, the vampire girls would seek out the reincarnated versions of their beloved humans every one hundred years, finding and falling in love with them all over again.

I hope I can pull it off
, Olivia thought – not for the first time!

At least she wouldn’t have any problems getting into the right emotional state. She would be acting opposite Jackson Caulfield – world-famous teen idol, fantastic actor . . . and
Olivia’s ex-boyfriend. She wasn’t sure that all her feelings for Jackson had totally disappeared since they’d broken up earlier in the summer. Her heart still skipped a beat
whenever she saw his face, even on a magazine cover. And Jackson was on the cover of a
lot
of magazines.

It’s going to be great for my performance, less great for my love life.

Olivia wasn’t sure how she was going to handle any of this.

‘Back with Jackson again,’ Sophia murmured, interrupting Olivia’s thoughts. ‘How cool is it that you get a second bite at the cherry?’

Olivia could feel the heat coming off her blushing cheeks.
Can Sophia actually see inside my head now?

‘The “cherry”?’ Ivy snorted with laughter. ‘No, it’s “second bite at the
apple
”.’

Sophia frowned at Ivy. ‘I’m sure it’s “cherry”,’ she said.

Ivy gave a huff of disbelief. ‘And how many times have you eaten a cherry that takes
two
bites?’

‘Well . . .’ Sophia shrugged. ‘I have to admit, you may have a point there. But cherries are better fruits anyway.’