Fashion Frightmare! (My Sister the Vampire)

by Sienna Mercer

  Swallowing, Ivy forced herself to move forwards. She slumped into her seat, trying not to look as miserable as she felt. But when Olivia walked in a moment later, Ivy could see from her twin’s face that it was no use. Olivia looked from Ivy to Reiko and back again.

  ‘What’s going on?’ she whispered, as she took her seat by Ivy.

  Ivy gave a sad shake of her head. ‘I’ll tell you later. For now, let’s just say I have some apologising to do to Reiko on the way to our next class.’

  Olivia reached out to touch her shoulder. ‘I’m sure whatever you did wasn’t that bad.’

  ‘Actually . . .’ Ivy winced, all too aware that Reiko would be able to hear her from across the room with her sharp vampire hearing. ‘It was that bad,’ she admitted quietly.

  But I’ll be a much better hostess as soon as this whole Vein of Love thing is fixed! she swore to herself.

  Mr Russell, their English teacher, walked in with his usual brisk stride, and the whole class fell silent.

  ‘Everyone, take out your pens and notebooks,’ he ordered. ‘We’re starting today with a pop quiz.’

  The rest of the class groaned, but Ivy only shrugged. It’s not like this day could get any worse. Resigned, she leaned over to pull out a pen from her backpack . . . and froze. Oh, no! She’d been so distracted this morning she’d somehow not packed a single pen!

  ‘Miss Vega?’ Suddenly, Mr Russell was looming over her. ‘Did I not tell everyone to take out their pens?’

  ‘Ye-e-e-s.’ Wincing, Ivy tried for an apologetic smile. ‘But I don’t actually seem to have any. I’ll just have to borrow –’

  ‘You don’t have any pens?’ Mr Russell’s voice boomed through the room. ‘Young lady, you may well have flashed a dazzling smile on the catwalk the other night, but in this school you are just an ordinary student . . . and you are expected to bring your ordinary supplies, fashion model or not!’

  Snickers broke out around the room. Ivy could have melted with humiliation. ‘I’m not . . . I mean, I didn’t –’ she stammered.

  Reiko’s voice interrupted her from the back of the room. ‘It’s my fault, sir. I borrowed Ivy’s pen on the school bus, because mine was buried all the way down in my bag.’ She jumped out of her seat, holding up a ballpoint pen as evidence. ‘Here, Ivy. I should have remembered to give it back before class started.’

  ‘Uh . . .’ Blinking, Ivy accepted the pen, feeling Mr Russell’s irate gaze still resting on her. ‘Thank you,’ she said softly to Reiko.

  ‘No problem.’ Reiko nodded firmly to the teacher as she turned back to her own desk. ‘So, everything’s all right now?’

  ‘Hmmph.’ Mr Russell let out a disgruntled snort. With no student to punish, he looked as forlorn as a vampire whose Marshmallow Platelets had spilled on to the floor. ‘I suppose,’ he finally growled. ‘But now, if everyone could please concentrate, for once . . . I can promise you that you will not enjoy this quiz!’

  Pop quiz or not, Ivy was in a much better mood as she left the class forty-five minutes later, with Reiko and Olivia both walking by her side.

  ‘Thank you so much!’ she said to Reiko. ‘You really saved me. And I’m sorry I was so crabby before.’

  ‘Oh, forget it. You weren’t that bad!’ Grinning, Reiko gave her a shoulder-bump that would have knocked a human all the way across the hall. ‘It was just a surprise. But I’m sorry I was so harsh, too. It’s just . . .’ She sighed, twirling her soccer ball on one finger again. ‘I’m a little homesick, to be honest. Sport has always been my way of deflecting things that bother me.’

  Olivia gave Ivy a teasing nudge. ‘Oh, Ivy knows all about deflecting her emotions – don’t you, Ivy?’

  ‘Whatever.’ Ivy rolled her eyes. ‘But, yeah. I totally get it.’

  ‘Anyway,’ Reiko sighed, ‘I keep feeling like I’m getting in the way, just by being here. So, I guess my sporty restlessness has gotten worse than usual.’

  Ivy winced. ‘You are definitely not in the way. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like that!’ She gave Reiko’s arm a squeeze. ‘Hey, we still have more than a week before you have to go back to Japan. I promise to make sure you have a fantastic time. I’ll even sit through a whole sports game if that’s what it takes!’

  Laughing, Reiko gave Ivy a hug that squeezed the soccer ball into her back. ‘Thanks! By now, I know what a sacrifice that would be for you.’ She stepped back, still smiling. ‘But I only want to have that fantastic time after we’ve found the Vein of Love. OK?’

  ‘Well . . .’ Ivy frowned. Ahead of them, their next classroom was already coming into view. ‘Being all determined sounds great but, honestly . . . I am out of ideas. I don’t even know where to look next. Or how!’

  ‘You will once we get to the museum after school today,’ Olivia said. ‘Or I will, anyway.’ She smiled as she led the way into class. ‘I have a feeling my acting training is really going to come in handy!’

  ‘Hmm.’ Ivy raised her eyebrows as she sank down into her seat by Olivia. I’m not sure I like the sound of that!

  Ivy jumped off the school bus that afternoon and ran up Undertaker Hill as Reiko ran in the other direction, towards Sophia’s parents’ house.

  ‘See you in ten minutes!’ Ivy called out over her shoulder.

  They were both due to meet Olivia at the museum in just twenty minutes’ time, so Ivy didn’t have long to pick up the replacement pashmina and drop off her books from school. The moment she stepped through her own front door, though, she came to a sudden halt.

  Something’s wrong.

  At first, she couldn’t put her finger on what was worrying her. She didn’t see anything amiss in her front hallway . . . but the air of tension in the house was palpable. Then she heard the murmuring voices in the kitchen, sounding soft and panicked.

  She walked down the hall to the kitchen and pushed the door open. ‘Alex? Tessa?’ She blinked. ‘And . . . Dad? I thought you’d be at the museum right now.’

  ‘Something more important came up,’ Charles said. Frowning, he leaned over the breakfast bar where Prince Alex and Tessa were sitting. He handed them both steaming cups of coffee. ‘Maybe these will help you feel a little better.’

  ‘I hope so,’ Tessa said sadly.

  ‘I could definitely use some coffee right now.’ Alex clutched the mug as if his life depended on it. He looked like he hadn’t seen his coffin in days.

  Ivy looked back and forth between the royal newlyweds. Tessa was wearing a stylish black silk blouse and skirt, and every inch of her ensemble was obviously carefully planned . . . except for the bright yellow baseball cap on her head.

  ‘Um . . . Tessa?’ Ivy frowned. ‘Is that a new hat?’

  There was an awkward pause.

  Charles coughed. ‘Ah, Ivy . . .’

  Alex put a reassuring hand on his wife’s shoulder. ‘You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.’

  Tessa sighed. ‘Oh, why clam up? Everyone will figure it out soon enough.’ With a sad flourish, she pulled off the hat.

  Ivy gasped.

  Tessa’s beautiful, silky black hair was a disaster zone. On her left side, it fell down in its usual smooth sweep, but the entire right side of her head was a shaggy, bristly, unevenly-cut mess – in places, it was less than half an inch long.

  It looked exactly like the hair of the poor dolls Ivy had been given on her fifth birthday, when she was thinking she would like to be a hairdresser when she grew up.

  Ouch!

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Ivy breathed. ‘But . . . what happened to you?’

  Tessa looked as if she was swallowing back tears as she leaned against Alex’s shoulder. ‘It’s a long story,’ she said, ‘involving chewing gum and a really foolish decision to self-style.’ She sniffed back a sob, then gave a weary smirk. ‘This holiday is certainly going to be memorable . . . but not for any of the right reasons!’

  ‘You have had quite a run of bad luck, haven’t you?’ Charles sighed as he sat down at the b
reakfast bar beside Alex, holding his own cup of coffee. ‘If I didn’t know better, I’d think the Vein of Love had disappeared!’

  Ivy’s stomach sank. Even as the adults in the room all laughed ruefully, she fought the urge to faint – or blurt out the truth, which would be even worse.

  I have to get out of here!

  ‘I, um . . . have to go work on a big school project,’ she mumbled. ‘Sorry. See you guys later!’

  As the adults all made sympathetic noises, she turned and headed for the stairs, forcing herself not to run. Look calm, she ordered herself. Whatever it takes!

  Even when she’d closed her bedroom door behind her, though, she couldn’t stifle the panic that was filling her chest. The replacement pashmina was sitting in her desk drawer, still waiting to be taken into the museum. I have to do it now. Ivy took a deep breath. . . . Before Alex and Tessa demand to see it just for their peace of mind!

  The moment they saw ‘Tessa’s’ pashmina hanging up in the museum, they might be reassured . . . but Ivy would not be. The chain of bad luck the royal couple were experiencing right now was so outrageous, she was actually starting to wonder . . . could the curse be real?

  It was total superstition, it was completely unlikely . . .

  And yet . . .

  Whatever Olivia’s planning had better be brilliant, she thought. Because we need to find the real Vein of Love quickly – before anything even worse can happen to Alex and Tessa!

  Chapter Eight

  Half an hour later, Ivy was safely inside the museum, with Olivia and Reiko by her side, and the decoy pashmina in her backpack. After a long discussion, Albert had finally let them in, based on the story that they were here to research a special project about vampire history.

  At least that’s not a total lie, Ivy consoled herself. Still, the vampire caretaker gave them one last, warning look as he left them in the old staff break room.

  ‘Do not break anything!’ he snapped, and closed the door behind him.

  ‘Whew!’ Reiko stretched her arms over her head. ‘Are we ready?’

  ‘I am,’ Ivy replied. ‘Olivia?’

  But Olivia was standing completely still and silent, with her eyes closed.

  Ivy watched her nervously. Is she even still awake?

  ‘Olivia!’ she said again, loudly. ‘What in darkness are you doing?’

  ‘Shh!’ Olivia’s eyes flashed open. ‘I’m trying to find my blank slate.’

  ‘Your what?’ Ivy stared at her.

  Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘Look, we have no idea who stole the pashmina, right?’

  ‘Right.’ Ivy sighed.

  ‘And we have no clues to go on, right?’ Olivia continued.

  ‘Right!’ Reiko agreed, sounding far too cheery.

  Ivy crossed her arms and scowled. ‘So? What does that have to do with you suddenly acting like a corpse?’

  ‘It seems to me,’ Olivia said, ‘that our only hope is if I can get into the head of the thief.’

  ‘And just how is that supposed to happen?’ Ivy massaged her own head, feeling a migraine coming on. ‘You’ve just said we have no idea who we’re looking for!’

  ‘Ah! But if I do it right . . . the room will tell me.’ Olivia smiled mysteriously. ‘That’s why I was finding my blank slate!’

  ‘I feel like I’m in a bad dream,’ Ivy mumbled, at the same time as Reiko laughed and said: ‘You Euro-American vampires really are . . . quirky, aren’t you?’

  Time to try again. Olivia turned away from Reiko to face the room and begin the process once more. But it wasn’t easy to empty her mind when it was so full of bubbling worry. Panic kept trying to take her over every time she let herself wonder whether Tessa and Alex really were cursed – not to mention thinking about all the homework she would have to somehow get through tonight –

  Stop! She shook herself. This is the exact opposite of emptying my mind and finding my blank slate!

  For the next few minutes, she needed to not be Olivia Abbott with all of Olivia’s personal worries and priorities. Instead, she needed to be a . . . mysterious person in the converted break room.

  Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. I am a blank slate. I am a blank slate. I am . . .

  When she finally opened her eyes again, she kept a silent stream of mantras in her head, blocking out all other concerns. She was a thief, looking for an opportunity. Just a thief. And . . .

  Aha!

  There had to be something specific that they wanted. No thief went to a museum thinking they might just stumble upon something worth taking . . .

  They could have stolen something from the changing area, but they hadn’t – the thief had gone for something that was on display in the actual museum. Had they seen it worn by Reiko and then sought it out?

  Yes. Following the chain of intuition, Olivia hurried out the door and through the museum hallways, towards the room where the pashmina had been displayed. Some part of her brain was aware that Ivy and Reiko were following, whispering together, but she couldn’t afford to let those sounds distract her.

  So, I’m a thief, waiting for my opportunity . . . but why am I stealing anything in the first place?

  Olivia bit her lip miserably as she felt her grip on her ‘character’ loosen. There had to be an answer, but what was it? If she could just put herself in the mind-set of someone who would steal, someone who wouldn’t care what the theft might do to other people . . .

  She felt outrage rise within her, as she thought of Tessa and Alex’s anguished faces – but she tamped it down as she stepped into the display room, forcing herself to look around with analytical eyes, moving from one historical outfit to another as Ivy put the fake pashmina safely into place.

  Maybe I’m just someone with an interest in historical artefacts? A vintage fashion buff ? Or –

  ‘Oh!’ Reiko gasped.

  Olivia spun around, her blank slate falling away completely. ‘What happened?’

  ‘Look at this!’ Reiko was leaning over behind a display cabinet on the far side of the room, picking something off the floor. ‘It’s a receipt from One Planet – that wonderful health food store you two took me to last Sunday! And the date on the receipt is from Wednesday.’

  ‘The day of the fashion show.’ Ivy narrowed her eyes. ‘The museum was not open to the public on Wednesday, and it’s been closed ever since then . . .’

  ‘Ohhh . . .’ Olivia turned in a circle, scoping out the whole room. ‘Yes!’ she breathed. ‘I can see it now. The receipt must have fallen out of the thief ’s pocket as they crouched down to hide behind that display cabinet when you and Penny came into the room with the pashmina . . .’

  ‘. . . or maybe,’ Ivy finished grimly, ‘it fell out when they scrambled from behind the display cabinet, taking their chance when the lights went off.’

  ‘Can I see the receipt?’ Olivia asked Reiko.

  ‘Sure.’ Reiko passed it over.

  ‘Hmm.’ Olivia tapped the top of the receipt with one pale-pink fingernail. ‘This doesn’t just have a date – it also has a time. The thief was at One Planet just before coming to the museum for the opening of Café Creative.’ Smiling triumphantly, she met her sister’s gaze. ‘Why don’t we head over there now and see if any clerk remembers this particular order?’

  Well, it felt like a good plan, Olivia thought glumly, twenty minutes later. Maybe if we hadn’t come with Reiko, it might even have worked!

  Unfortunately, taking Reiko to her favourite health food store had been too much for the exchange student’s willpower. One Planet had been nearly empty when they’d first arrived – which was perfect for their investigation – but the moment Olivia and Ivy had reached the counter and opened their mouths to start asking questions, Reiko had completely lost control.

  ‘Oh, I can’t wait. I need one of your Vitali-Teas right now! They’re just so good, I’ve been thinking about my last one ever since Sunday.’

  ‘Aren’t they fabulous?’ The server, a blonde woman in her mid-
twenties whose nametag read “Norah”, nodded vigorously, leaning across the counter. ‘I don’t even feel awake before my shots of gotu kola any more! What I really love about it is . . .’

  Olivia traded a horrified look with Ivy as the two health food fans launched into an endless discussion about gotu kola versus caffeine. Over the next five minutes, they moved on to raves about tofu, sprouts, wheatgrass, and then some foods Olivia had never even heard of before! It was only when the bell over the door rang, signalling a whole crowd of new arrivals, that Norah finally jumped back from the counter.

  ‘Oops! I’d better start making your Vitali-Tea. Looks like I’m about to be swamped!’

  Olivia swallowed a groan as she looked at the crowd of over ten people already forming a line behind them. From the looks on their faces, they were impatient for their gotu kola, too . . . and if she and Ivy held up the server by asking investigative questions, the impatient customers might just pelt them with bags of wheatgrass!

  Olivia shook her head as she turned back to the server, who was facing away from them. Ironically, Norah wore a rather fabulous pashmina herself, although hers was sunflower-yellow.

  ‘We’ll need to plan this very carefully,’ Olivia mumbled to Ivy out of the corner of her mouth. ‘Can you do a good “indecisive”?’

  ‘Absolutely not,’ Ivy said. ‘I’m not the actress in this family, remember? How about you play the indecisive one, while I ask the hard questions?’

  ‘OK.’ Olivia let out her breath. ‘You know, I’m actually more comfortable with that idea!’

  Norah turned back, beaming and holding out a large cup of Vitali-Tea.

  ‘Ohh!’ Reiko snatched it out of her hands. ‘I’m so excited!’