you joking?’ Reiko shook her head so vigorously, her long purple ponytail whipped against Olivia’s cheek. ‘That One Planet place you guys found is great! They even had gotu kola in the Vitali-Tea!’
Olivia glanced to Ivy for help, but her twin only shrugged.
‘Gotu kola is one of my vices,’ Reiko said happily. ‘It’s much better for you than caffeine, you know.’
‘If you say so.’ Smiling weakly, Olivia pushed open the door to the old South Wing. Finally. ‘Ta-da! Check out Café Creative!’
‘Cool!’ Reiko didn’t stop juggling, but she looked around with obvious interest.
Olivia felt a wave of pride as she followed the exchange student’s gaze around the wide hall that her vampire stepmom had decked out so impressively. ‘Isn’t it great? Lillian’s done fantastic work with the space in here.’
Once, this whole wing of the museum had been abandoned and full of dust. Now, light beamed in through long windows, showing off the tables arranged in star-formations around an X-shaped platform.
Olivia pointed to it. ‘See? That’s going to be the catwalk for the fashion show this week.’
‘Really?’ Ivy groaned. ‘It’s raised, like, five feet off the ground. If I fall off that, I’ll leave a dent in the floor!’
Laughter sounded behind them, and a familiar female voice spoke: ‘Now, I know you’re more graceful than that, Ivy Vega!’
Olivia, Ivy and Reiko all spun around . . . and for the first time since they’d stepped into the museum, Reiko actually dropped her tennis ball. It bounced away across the floor and rolled underneath the catwalk, but she didn’t even seem to notice. Her mouth had fallen open and her eyes were wide as she stared at the two new arrivals standing in the doorway: a young man with spiky black hair and high cheekbones, and a young woman with long, silky black hair tied in an impossibly long braid.
‘Is this . . .’ Reiko stopped and swallowed visibly. ‘I mean, are you really . . . can you be . . . Prince Alex and Princess Tessa of Transylvania?’
Olivia hid a grin. Who knew the sports-mad vampire could be so star-struck?
‘Of course they are,’ she said warmly, and ran forwards to hug them. ‘What are you guys doing here?’
‘We’re on, um . . . official business,’ said Alex, giving Ivy a hug. ‘But we couldn’t come all this way and not swing by to visit our favourite twins!’
‘Just look at you!’ Olivia exclaimed, moving to hug Tessa. ‘You’re such a princess now!’
Tessa laughed as she gave Olivia a careful hug, holding a thin wooden box to one side. ‘It took a lot of training,’ she whispered. ‘But the Queen is finally pleased with me.’
‘Of course she is.’ Smiling, Olivia stepped back and looked her friend over. With the grace and poise in every line of Tessa’s posture, no one would ever recognise the timid serving girl the twins had first met. ‘Married life really suits you!’
Tessa smiled, her cheeks flushing. ‘I think it does!’
‘Watch out!’ The strained voice belonged to Camilla Edmunson, Olivia’s best friend. ‘Wardrobe coming through!’
As the others all scattered to make way, Camilla and Lillian staggered into the room, pushing a tall, intricately carved oak wardrobe on a wheeled platform. Normally, Lillian’s vamp-strength would have been enough for her to carry it by herself with ease, but she had to keep up the act of ‘being human’ in front of bunnies like Camilla.
She also looked genuinely exhausted.
‘What do we still have to do?’ Lillian rasped, as she and Camilla heaved the wardrobe across the room. ‘Do the caterers have their menu?’
‘Done,’ Camilla panted as they shoved the platform the last few steps forward.
‘The news releases are all sent out?’
‘Done.’
‘And the short film?’
‘Um . . .’ Camilla shook her head, looking shifty, as she let go of the platform’s handle. ‘Not quite done yet.’
Lillian winced. ‘Camilla, this film is supposed to be playing on loop all through Wednesday evening,’ she said. ‘That’s just four days from now. Is everything OK?’
‘It’s just not quite perfect yet!’ Camilla ran one hand through her short, springy blonde curls, her face scrunching into what Olivia called her ‘artistic scowl’. ‘I’m still editing, but I swear I will lock the picture very soon. It just needs a few more touches!’
‘Well, in that case . . .’ Lillian raised her eyebrows. ‘Why don’t you go home and finish up now?’
‘Oh, no, I can stay and help here some more first,’ Camilla said. ‘I’ll just –’
‘Camilla,’ Lillian said, smiling although there was worry in her eyes. ‘I need that film to be turned in by the end of tonight . . . perfect or not!’
Camilla winced. ‘It will be perfect. I swear it. No matter what it takes!’
With a hasty wave at the others, she grabbed her purple velvet beret from inside the wardrobe and darted out of the room.
Lillian sighed and looked around the space, her shoulders hunching.
‘Last-minute concerns?’ Tessa asked sympathetically.
‘Oh . . .’ Lillian gave an unconvincing smile as she walked over to join Olivia and the vampires. She was dressed just as elegantly as usual, in a black pantsuit and discreet pearls, but she looked as if she needed to sleep in her coffin for at least a month. ‘I’m just really nervous about the opening.’
‘It’s going to be great,’ Olivia said.
‘It really will,’ Ivy added. ‘Seriously. Even I think this space looks . . .’ She winced, then forced the word out with an obvious effort: ‘. . . Fabulous!’
‘Well, in that case . . .’ Lillian’s lips twitched. She looped one arm around Ivy’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
‘Luckily,’ Tessa announced firmly, ‘there is no need to be nervous, because . . . look what I brought!’ She held out the wooden box she’d been carrying.
Lillian blinked at it. ‘What – oh!’ Her face lit up. ‘I remember! Charles said that you were going to loan us the pashmina you wore at your wedding reception. That is wonderful!’
‘Ooh! I want to see it!’ Olivia couldn’t help almost barging Ivy aside to get a better look as their stepmom opened the narrow box. A fabulous, blood-red pashmina lay folded inside, embroidered with bat symbols in a mix of black and gold. The colours were so rich and vibrant, the pashmina seemed to glow against the wood.
Olivia gasped. ‘Tessa, that’s gorgeous!’
