didn’t blame Ivy for going to the Academy. She knew that her sister needed to learn everything she could about her vampire identity. For a long time Olivia hadn’t known anything about her heritage, so she understood how important these things were.
As she turned the corner on to Undertaker Hill, Ivy’s street, a girl darted out from behind a neighbour’s wall. Olivia bumped straight into her, forehead first. ‘Ooof!’ She stepped back, rubbing her head.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ said the girl loudly, glancing around. She was slender and about Olivia’s age. She wore flared blue jeans and a baggy, flower-power blouse that Olivia couldn’t quite decide if she liked or not.
‘Sorry about that,’ said Olivia. ‘My brain’s a bit loopy today.’
‘That’s OK.’ The girl adjusted the strap of her tasselled boho bag. ‘I’m Holly Turner. I think I recognise you from school.’ She extended her hand. Olivia shook it, noticing the psychedelic swirls painted on Holly’s nails. Holly’s hair was long and strawberry blonde. Her complexion was pale – not Ivy Pale, but she was as fair-skinned as an actress in one of those Jane Austen movies Ivy refused to watch with Olivia at sleepovers.
‘Franklin Grove School?’ asked Olivia, trying to think if she could place the girl. She knew pretty much everyone by now, but she couldn’t remember ever seeing Holly there.
‘Uh huh.’ Holly toyed with the small but high-tech digital camera dangling round her neck. ‘My family moved here not too long ago. Actually, since I’m new here, I was wondering if you might want to go to Mister Smoothie with me and grab a Beauty-Boosting Blueberry? I saw the menu as I was passing and it just sounds so exotic!’
‘Hey! That’s my favourite drink! You have great taste,’ Olivia said, laughing.
The other girl laughed too. ‘Oh, I don’t know about that. But I just love anything different or unusual – foods or places – or anything that’s new to me! My mom says that’s why I’d make a great journalist. I’m just really interested in the world.’
Olivia had almost forgotten there was somewhere she needed to be – almost, but not quite. Suddenly she remembered her promise to help her bio-dad. ‘Oh, it’s such a shame. Normally, I’d love to go for a milkshake, but right now I’m on my way to my sister’s house.’
‘Oh.’ Holly’s mouth twisted to the side. Olivia heard a hitch in her breath. ‘I’d love to meet your sister,’ she said hopefully. ‘I’ve heard she’s really cool. Isn’t she living in Transylvania right now? How amazing is that!’
Heard? Wow, did Ivy’s reputation really reach all the way across the globe? Either that or someone had been filling this girl in since she moved to Franklin Grove.
‘Very cool,’ Olivia said, crossing her fingers behind her back at her fib. Being separated from my twin is so not cool at all. But I guess this girl doesn’t want to hear about all that. ‘Transylvania is a great place – very exotic. You’d probably love it just as much as Ivy! You kind of remind me of her. She’s sort of alternative too, but in a totally different way. My sister leans a bit gothic.’ Olivia held her fingers apart a couple of centimetres. ‘But she totally pulls it off. Just like you.’ She leaned in and touched Holly’s arm to emphasise that she meant this as a compliment.
A faint blush spread over the creamy tint of Holly’s cheeks. ‘Cool.’ Absentmindedly, Holly opened and closed the lens on her camera. ‘I mean, thanks.’
‘Are you into photography?’ asked Olivia, pointing.
‘Yeah, well, as I said, I want to be a journalist,’ Holly mumbled. ‘I don’t have any real experience yet, but I’m working on it. An exclusive – that’s what I need.’ Her eyes lit up as though she’d just had an idea. ‘Hey . . .’ she began to say.
‘No way!’ Olivia clapped her hands together and pressed them to her lips. ‘This is too freaky. My sister wants to be a writer too.’ She wished she could tell Holly about her time with Ivy as guest reporters for VAMP Magazine, but sadly that tidbit of information was top secret.
‘Really?’ Holly asked. ‘She could totally get an exclusive in Transylvania. All those vampires just waiting to be interviewed!’
Olivia felt a spark of alarm and forced her smile not to fade. ‘Vampires aren’t real, you do know that, don’t you?’
Holly smiled. ‘Of course! I was joking. But perhaps your sister would help out another would-be writer. Do you think she’d let me interview her about Transylvania? Could you ask next time you speak to her?’ She’d edged so close that Olivia found herself backing away. Holly’s forehead wrinkled. ‘But wait, if your sister is all the way in Europe, then why are you going to her house? And don’t you live in the same house? I mean, you’re twins, aren’t you?’
Olivia felt her face colouring. ‘It’s, um, complicated,’ she said. She liked this girl, but there was no way she was getting into all that! She didn’t have time to come up with an explanation and, besides, any story she gave Holly would be a lie and Olivia tried to avoid those as much as possible. ‘I’m just helping out with something.’ Olivia side-stepped the issue. That wasn’t a lie. Not really!
Holly hooked her thumbs through the belt loops of her jeans and shrugged. ‘Some other time then?’
‘Are you kidding? Absolutely!’ Olivia hoped she wasn’t overdoing it on the enthusiasm, but it was always nice to make new friends and Holly was almost like another Ivy – just a little less grumpy.
‘See you later then,’ Holly said.
‘Sure thing,’ Olivia agreed, before turning to hurry up the sloping sidewalk, towards the top of the hill and the cul-de-sac where Ivy’s house was located. When she looked back over her shoulder, Holly was still standing in the same spot, watching her. Olivia waved uncertainly. New girl in town. She’s probably just bored and lonely, she thought, watching the girl finally scurry off.
She rang Mr Vega’s doorbell. A snippet from Mozart’s Requiem boomed from a pipe organ inside. Vampires and their classical music, thought Olivia. So old school!
The heavy gothic door swung open and Charles popped his head out. ‘Hello, Olivia.’ His usually coiffed hair poked in all directions and his midnight-blue shirt was uncharacteristically rumpled. Did his iron break or something? Olivia’s bio-dad looked like he hadn’t slept in his coffin for days.
‘Dad!’ Olivia made a show of scanning him from head to toe. ‘What on earth are you researching? You look . . . well . . . you don’t look your usual suave self!’ Normally Charles was one of the most stylish men she knew. He could walk straight on to the cover of a men’s fashion magazine, but now? Not so much.
He motioned her in and Olivia saw that the dining-room table was completely covered in loose sheets of paper. ‘Never mind that,’ he said quickly. ‘Can you find out about Australian wildlife and the threats they pose to trav–’
Olivia slapped her hands to her cheeks. ‘Oh . . . my . . . goodness . . .’ A thought had dawned in her head. She pointed at him, grinning from ear to ear.
‘No, no, no.’ He pulled his fingers through his hair. ‘It’s not what you –’
Too late!
