I’m not that scary, especially not from several thousand miles away through a webcam.’
Olivia’s eyes were still round, and now she was shaking her head slowly. ‘No, it’s not that,’ she said in a hushed voice. ‘I don’t want to alarm you, but –’ she touched her finger to the screen – ‘I think there’s a bat in your dorm room!’
Ivy swivelled to check out the bat perched on top of the armoire. Its paper-thin wings were wrapped round its fuzzy brown body and its pointy ears stuck out from its head like an elf’s. She shrugged. ‘Oh, don’t worry, that’s just Ivan.’
‘Ivan?’ Olivia wrinkled her nose as if she’d just smelled week-old rubbish.
‘Yeah, everyone gets a bat on their first day at Wallachia. He’s harmless, but a little – what’s the word I’m looking for?’ She pressed a finger into her dimple, like she was thinking hard. ‘Bitey.’
Olivia shuddered. At least Ivy thought it was a shudder, but it could have been a glitch in the internet connection. Ivy was already getting tired of dealing with the difficulties of overseas communication. ‘No offence,’ Olivia was saying, ‘but if that’s the case, I might not be in a hurry to visit any time soon!’
Ivy swallowed hard. She knew her sister was joking, but she didn’t want Olivia to see that her joke had made her feel instantly homesick. ‘Anyway,’ Ivy said, trying to sound natural. ‘The bell for dinner is going to go soon. Will you be online later?’
‘Probably. I promised I’d help our bio-dad with some sort of “research project”.’ Olivia curved her fingers into air quotes. ‘Whatever that means. It’ll only take a few hours and then I’ll be back later,’ she continued, waving. ‘Oh, and Ivy?’
Ivy leaned forwards in her chair. ‘Yeah?’
‘I miss you.’
Ivy gave a weak smile and nodded in return. ‘I miss you too.’ Her stomach crawled up her throat as she reached for the mouse on her laptop.
‘Ciao!’
The chat window went black and Ivy shut down her computer. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Wallachia; it was just that she really liked Franklin Grove. Ivy grabbed her cable-knit sweater with the Wallachia crest from the back of the chair. She patted Ivan on the head, snatching her hand back when he tried to nip at her. ‘Watch it!’ she said, glaring at the beady-eyed bat. My fingers would not make a tasty lunch! she thought, sending silent messages to the small leathery mammal. Don’t even try me.
‘I’m out of here,’ she said, heading for the door. There was no point staying all alone, pining for Franklin Grove. Not with a whole school to explore!
The Wallachia Academy dining room was fancier than most of the restaurants Ivy had been to in her entire life. Round granite tables sprinkled the banquet hall, dappled with the light of a dozen sparkling chandeliers. Crystal goblets cast multi-coloured prisms on to the luxurious cream tablecloths. The tables had been set with baroque silverware and china nicer than the best stuff her father kept in their cabinets at home!
Petra, a fellow classmate whom Ivy had met as a guest at the vampire royal wedding, waved her over to a nearby table. Three slices of barely touched flank steak were piled on Petra’s plate, dripping in a creamy white sauce that made Ivy’s mouth water.
‘Hey, Ivy.’ A cool vintage pendant dangled from Petra’s neck. ‘Did you get in trouble today?’ Petra Tarasov wasn’t like some of the other Snobzillas at Wallachia, but Ivy still found her a bit hard to get to know. She was friendly enough, but it was almost as though there was an invisible wall between them, some secret that Ivy didn’t know. She had glossy brown hair that cascaded down to the middle of her back and there was always some piece of her Wallachia wardrobe that was a touch funky or offbeat. Petra didn’t seem ready to morph into a Wallachia clone – meaning she and Ivy had something in common, at least.
‘Trouble? Why would I have got in trouble?’ Ivy asked, sliding to the edge of her seat.
Petra fluttered her long eyelashes and raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh, I don’t know.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘Just something I heard, that’s all.’
Ivy narrowed her eyes. ‘Something you heard? OK . . .’ Being cautious was clearly still the way to go with Petra. Ivy wouldn’t write her off. Everyone had their funny little ways and Olivia was always reminding her to look for the best in people. In fact, Ivy could hear her now: ‘Everyone has a ray of sunshine in their heart, Ivy. You just need to find it.’ Normally a speech like that would have had Ivy gagging – not any more. I swear I’ll never make another sarcastic comment ever again if I get back to Franklin Grove.
A group of vamp girls were gathered around an open laptop propped up on one of the tables, giggling in high-pitched voices. Ivy caught a glimpse of a bright white smile and some tousled blond hair on screen. Petra clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes. ‘Ridiculous,’ she said. ‘Isn’t it?’
‘What’s ridiculous?’ Ivy craned her neck, but she couldn’t make out what they were looking at. Vampires, and especially Wallachia Academy vampires, were supposed to be the most super-cool beings in the world. Acting aloof was practically a national sport. So what could possibly be so amusing that it had reduced Ivy’s classmates into a group of twittering girlie-girls?
Petra flicked her wrist as if she were brushing away the whole scene. ‘It probably has to do with that American actor who announced he was single today. Now they can all go and daydream about having a shot with him.’ She pressed her palms together and held them to the side of her head like she was dreaming.
American actor . . .? Ivy grabbed Petra’s arm so forcefully she nearly pulled her right out of her chair. ‘Which actor?’
Petra shook Ivy off and rubbed her arm. ‘Wow, you really need to get those powers under control. That blond-haired pretty boy, What’s-his-face.’ She snapped her fingers, thinking. ‘Jackson something?’
‘No!’ Ivy exclaimed. ‘Not Jackson! Jackson Caulfield?’ Olivia hadn’t said a word during their video-chat. She hadn’t even looked unhappy!
‘Obsessed much?’ A white-coated member of the Wallachia kitchen staff came over with a pitcher of O-negative and filled their crystal goblets with the bright red liquid. ‘I don’t know why the sudden interest,’ the woman went on. ‘It wasn’t even a good break-up. The press release called it “amicable”. Where’s the fun in that?’
‘The fun?!’ Ivy squeaked. ‘There is no fun!’ Petra stared at Ivy like she had squid tentacles coming out of her ears, but Ivy didn’t have time to explain. She bolted from the dining room, sprinting vampire-fast up the stone stairs, past the oil paintings in the wood-panelled corridor, to her dorm.
She slammed the door shut, jumped into her swivel chair and fired up the Lonely Echo program on her laptop. ‘Olivia?’ She jostled the mouse. ‘Olivia?’ But all Ivy could see was an image of Olivia’s empty garden. No Olivia in sight. Ivy’s heart did a nosedive.
Her poor sister had been broken-hearted and Ivy had spent the entire conversation talking about herself, showing Olivia stupid piles of clothes. What kind of a twin am I? She was supposed to have a sixth sense about this sort of thing. But, more importantly, why hadn’t
