17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire

by Sienna Mercer

  For a moment, Camilla looked wistful. Then she lifted her chin, her expression turning stern. ‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, but I really will go crazy if I don’t find out everything I can.’

  ‘OK.’ Olivia sighed. She knew her friend well enough to realise there was no point arguing with her any more. ‘In that case, I’ll come with you.’

  Camilla flashed her a smile. ‘You’re the best.’

  Olivia’s return smile felt more than a little strained. This doesn’t count as lying . . . does it? She really did want to support her friend. But for the sake of every vamp in town she also wanted to make sure that Camilla didn’t find out too much.

  Camilla pulled out her phone as she stepped through the gate. Her eyes darted around the wide field, which was still covered in a thin layer of dew that sparkled in the sunlight. ‘OK, I’ve downloaded an old map from the Internet, so we should be able to locate the site where the Calhoun house once stood. This way!’

  She pointed ahead, and the girls followed the map past the skateboard ramps and the picnic tables, towards the wooded area on the Lincoln Vale side of the park. The air was crisp and cold, but the sun was bright. Olivia spotted kids from her school doing tricks on the ramps, while young children and their parents, bundled up in layers, filled the playground area. It was easy to forget, as they walked across the park, that they weren’t just enjoying the fresh air on a pretty November day . . .

  . . . until Olivia glimpsed a girl in a red, Victorian-style dress in the trees just ahead of them.

  Oh, no! Her heart-rate suddenly doubled. But by the time she’d blinked and looked again, the flash of bright colour was gone.

  ‘Did you see that?’ Camilla was breathing in quick pants as she hurried into the woods. ‘I can’t believe it!’

  ‘I . . . didn’t see anything,’ Olivia lied. She grabbed Camilla’s arm. ‘Maybe we should –’

  ‘I have to get closer!’ Camilla pulled free and crept forwards between the trees, her footsteps crunching against fallen twigs and old leaves.

  ‘I really don’t think this is a good idea!’ Olivia said. ‘And besides, wait! . . . I think we misread the map. Look, the house is back that way!’ She pointed towards the playground, far behind them.

  ‘Maybe so,’ Camilla whispered, ‘but that flash I saw was up ahead.’

  ‘Camilla, please! I just . . . I have a really bad feeling about this. Please come back.’

  Camilla stopped, resting one hand on the closest tree as she lowered her head for a moment. When she turned back to look at Olivia, her face was full of regret. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘But I can’t stop now. I’ve got to figure out the truth!’

  ‘But . . .’ Olivia began.

  It was too late. Camilla was already hurrying deeper into the woods, leaving Olivia behind.

  This would be so much easier if Ivy and the others were here! Olivia looked over her shoulder, through the first few rows of trees to the park beyond, but there was no sign of her sister or any of their friends. Either Ivy hadn’t gotten her text message, or she was confident that Olivia could handle this by herself.

  Olivia wasn’t so sure about that. But Camilla was already hidden in the dense forest ahead, and she couldn’t let her best friend run into trouble on her own.

  Biting her lip to hold back a whimper, she followed, catching up just as Camilla let out a gasp.

  ‘There!’

  The back of a red hoop skirt vanished behind a tree far ahead.

  ‘Come on!’ Camilla hissed. ‘But don’t let it see us!’

  Together, the two girls raced from tree to tree, staying covered, as they followed the girl in the Victorian dress. She was moving fast, lunging between tree trunks, and Olivia only caught occasional glimpses of her speeding through the trees, carrying an elegant white parasol over her head. Camilla had whipped out her cell phone and was trying to aim its camera at the figure.

  ‘Why,’ Olivia panted, ‘is she running so fast?’

  ‘Who knows?’ Camilla’s voice was shaking with exhilaration. ‘But I can’t wait to find out! I wish I’d brought a better camera. Just think: in a couple of minutes, I might be interviewing a real ghost!’

  That would be a disaster! Olivia thought. But she had to focus on her running now, so she wouldn’t slam into any branches on the way.

  Finally, the girl ahead of them came to a stop.

  Holding her breath, Olivia crept forwards, moving her boots as gently as she could through the twig- and leaf-covered grass. At her side, Camilla’s face was bright pink, and her hands shook as she raised her cell phone, camera at the ready.

  Olivia took a deep breath. OK, this is it. Am I ready for another ghost encounter?

  Maybe if she offered to hold Camilla’s camera for the interview, she could accidentally “forget” to turn it on, and then . . .

  The ghost girl kicked the tree in front of her, hard.

  Whoa. Olivia’s eyebrows flew up as she saw the tree shudder under the blow. I never heard of a ghost doing that!

  She traded a wide-eyed look with Camilla. Both girls ducked quickly behind the closest clump of bushes . . .

  And the ghost turned around, ripping off its bonnet and tossing it on to the ground. ‘I hate this,’ growled a familiar male voice.

  That’s no ghost! Olivia realised.

  It was Garrick.

  She clapped her hand over her mouth to hold back a peal of laughter. The former Head Beast of Franklin Grove Middle School looked utterly miserable in his elaborate dress, with white gloves reaching up his sturdy arms and a wide hooped skirt billowing out around him.

  He glared up at the sky. ‘Why do I have to wear the dress?’

  Olivia followed his gaze . . . and gulped as she spotted Josh and his cronies perched up in the trees overhead, smirking down at their friend.

  ‘Aw, c’mon, Garrick,’ Josh called back. ‘You look cute!’

  The rest of the greasy gang erupted into mocking laughter, and Garrick’s face turned brick-red. ‘I’m done,’ he snarled, and stuck the parasol point-down into the ground. ‘This plan is stupid!’

  ‘Too late.’ Josh’s voice was suddenly harsh, his face forbidding, as he glared down at the former Beast. ‘You agreed to this, just like all the rest of us. How else are we supposed to stir up some interest? This town is filling up with nosy people. All we have to do is let a few of them spot you, and they’ll start talking. Then we can talk Gregor into coming into town to catch a glimpse of “Patience”!’

  ‘I know,’ Garrick muttered, ‘but . . .’

  ‘Don’t you want to be on TV?’ Josh crossed his arms. ‘Don’t be a baby, Garrick. All you have to do is wear a dress and run around a little, and we’ll all be famous. Just think – Gregor might even let you hang out with him and his crew! Isn’t that worth a little inconvenience?’

  Garrick’s shoulders slumped. As he mumbled his agreement, Camilla’s elbow poked into Olivia’s side.

  ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Camilla whispered.

  Olivia nodded gratefully. Far, far away, before they notice us!

  The girls crept back through the trees as quietly as they could. When they finally stepped out on to the field, though, Camilla started to laugh uncontrollably. ‘I can’t believe it!’ she said. ‘Of all the possibilities I considered, I never thought those jerks could have made the whole thing up. When I think of all the time I’ve wasted over the last few days, researching a ghost who doesn’t exist . . .!’

  Olivia forced a smile. ‘So you don’t think there’s such a thing as ghosts any more?’

  Camilla threw up her hands. ‘I admit it. I was completely fooled! Eesh, how embarrassing. I still don’t know how those idiots pulled off that stunt, but now that I know it was just a prank, I can finally stop worrying about it and get back to my real work, just like I should have been doing all along.’

  ‘Right,’ Olivia said. ‘Why don’t you tell me about your new movie idea?’

  But as they crossed
the park and Camilla grew more and more relaxed, chattering on and on about the next movie she was planning to make, and about all the new and different camera angles that she would use for it, Olivia’s smile slipped away.

  The problem was, Olivia was one hundred per cent certain that the boys’ prank had only started after the Halloween party. All it seemed like the greasy gang were doing now was exploiting what had already happened to get themselves on TV. But if she and Ivy didn’t think of a solution before the famous Gregor was lured into town, Josh and Garrick’s silly prank was going to turn into a mega-disaster for every vamp in Franklin Grove.

  Olivia stifled a moan of frustration. I can’t believe that bunch of bozos turned out to be so smart! If nothing else, Josh and the others knew a lot more local history than she would have expected. Even Ivy hadn’t heard of the Calhoun twins’ story until this week!

  Maybe the adult vamps can sort it out? They must be able to stop this somehow.

  ‘Look.’ Camilla nudged her, interrupting her gloomy thoughts. ‘At least we’re not the only gullible ones.’

  Nearby, two groups of unfamiliar adults were hurrying across the field towards the woods, their phones and tablets open to show the same map that Camilla had used to find the grounds of the Calhouns’ house.

  ‘I think it’s this way!’ one man called.

  Another one gasped and pointed as a figure flickered between the trees. ‘I saw something moving!’

  Together, the two groups lunged into the woods.

  Olivia sighed. ‘It looks like Garrick’s going running in his costume again.’

  ‘What do you think?’ Camilla said. ‘Will it go viral by the end of the day? Or by the end of the hour?’

  Olivia only groaned.

  Chapter Seven

  That night, Ivy stared at the forest of paper laid out on the kitchen table in front of her and blew air out through her lips. This is going to take forever! Olivia had brought everything that Camilla had collected for her investigation – print-outs of old articles, photos, obscure blog posts and Camilla’s own scribbled notes and theories – all of which she had promised her friend she would throw away.

  ‘And I will,’ Olivia had said earlier, as she helped Ivy spread everything out on the table. ‘Soon.’ Then she’d rushed off to have dinner with her adoptive parents, leaving the vamps to wade through the scarily large stack of information. Even with Brendan, Sophia and Reiko all gathered at the table with her, Ivy couldn’t imagine how they would ever manage to read everything.

  Thank darkness there wasn’t anything about the Calhouns on the Vorld Vide Veb, at least, Ivy thought as she picked up the next piece of paper from the pile. It’s bad enough that every vampire in Franklin Grove is freaking out, without the rest of the vamp world joining in!

  She usually felt a thrill of investigative fervour when a mystery started coming together. This time, though, her shoulders felt heavier with each new piece of information she absorbed, as if the sadness of the story were physically weighing her down. With every new detail she learned, she could imagine it more clearly: the way Patience must have felt as she waited and waited – first, for her father and twin to return, and then, after she’d finally given up on that, for any news to explain what had happened to them.

  If Ivy was ever worried about Olivia, all she had to do was call her twin on the phone, no matter how far apart they might be. Back in the Calhouns’ time, though, there would have been no TV, no Internet – nothing to carry news swiftly across the world.

  Patience must have been half-crazy with panic by the time she finally learned the truth. Ivy shuddered.

  Next to Ivy, Reiko set down the printed blog entry that she’d been reading and let out a sigh. ‘I know it’s silly,’ she said, ‘but to me, the saddest part of the whole story is that obsidian bracelet that Patience is said to carry everywhere.’

  ‘Obsidian bracelet . . .?’ Ivy frowned, flicking back through the articles she’d already read. So far, she’d read more nineteenth-century history than modern ghost stories, but . . . ‘I haven’t seen anything about that one yet.’

  ‘Ooh, I think I read that blog post.’ Sophia gazed broodingly at the silver bracelet on her own wrist. ‘Patience planned to give the bracelet to Hope at their belated birthday tea. Apparently, whenever her ghost appears, she’s always holding Hope’s obsidian bracelet, as a reminder of her lost sister. Almost as if she still clings on to the idea that one day she will be able to give it to her.’

  ‘So that was the birthday present that Albert mentioned this morning,’ Brendan said. He frowned. ‘What is obsidian, anyway?’

  ‘Black glass from a volcano,’ Sophia explained. ‘It can be made into small, round beads or left in big pieces. All the people who’ve seen Patience say that hers is a chunky black bracelet, and –’

  An unexpected voice spoke sharply behind them. ‘Did you say a chunky black bracelet?’

  Ivy swung around and saw her twin standing in the kitchen doorway. Ivy had left the front door unlocked for Olivia to let herself in after she had eaten with the Abbotts. Now she stood staring at Sophia, her blue eyes wide.

  ‘Well . . . yes.’ Sophia turned in her seat. ‘Did you read the same blog post about Hope’s obsidian bracelet as I did? It took me forever to track that down.’

  ‘I haven’t read any blogs about it, but . . .’ Olivia swallowed visibly. ‘I think I’ve seen the real thing.’

  ‘What?’ Frowning, Ivy hurried over to her sister. ‘You look like you’re about to pass out!’

  ‘I’m fine,’ said Olivia. ‘My thoughts are just chasing each other, that’s all.’ She moved to the table, sitting down in Ivy’s chair. Ivy stood behind her as she continued. ‘That girl I told you about from the party – who I think might have been Patience – she was holding a bracelet just like that.’

  Sophia’s eyebrows rose. Olivia took a deep, shuddering breath and went on. ‘Look, you guys know what happened in the park today . . .’

  Ivy nodded. ‘We all got your texts.’

  ‘Good,’ Olivia said. ‘So we know Josh and the other boys have really upped their game, and they’re definitely exploiting any local legends they can find. But I seriously doubt that they can have uncovered that detail, considering how, even with Albert’s tip, we’ve only just found it ourselves, buried in what Camilla had collected. Plus I don’t think Garrick was wearing a bracelet in the woods today. And besides, the girl I met was definitely not Garrick in a dress!’

  ‘Well . . .’ Ivy tried to think clearly. ‘I guess they could have recruited a girl to help . . .’

  ‘No way!’ Reiko said. ‘Those guys?’

  ‘She’s right,’ Sophia said, her expression full of distaste. ‘If you think any of those boys could talk any girl into hanging out with them . . .’

  Even Ivy shuddered. ‘They couldn’t do it without at least taking a shower first,’ she agreed.

  ‘I can’t believe a girl could ever be that gross!’ said Olivia. ‘But in that case . . . I really did talk to a ghost on Halloween.’ She collapsed back into the chair, her face pale. ‘What if ghosts really are the most rational explanation, after all?’

  Sophia shook her head in wonder. ‘It’s really possible, isn’t it? Maybe the spirit of Patience is unable to rest until she finally gives Hope her birthday gift.’

  ‘Oh, great!’ Ivy groaned. ‘How is that ever going to happen?’

  The table lapsed into a glum silence. Still, the idea kept turning over and over in Ivy’s head. She drummed her fingers on the back of her sister’s chair as she stood behind Olivia. This whole situation was totally impossible . . . but still, there was something about Sophia’s idea that felt right. If nothing else, the fact that Olivia had noticed and remembered that detail at the party had to mean something. If Ivy could only figure out –

  Ding-dong! The doorbell echoed through the house.

  ‘Are we expecting anyone else?’ Sophia asked.

  ‘Nope.’ Ivy shook her head. ‘
It’s probably a door-to-door salesman.’ She turned to stride out of the room. ‘I’ll go get rid of them while you guys keep thinking.’

  When she opened the front door, though, all that she could see was a massive bouquet of fat pink and white chrysanthemums right in front of her. Blinking, she took a step back, and looked at the deliveryman who stood holding the bouquet. His face was completely hidden by the mass of flowers. A big, puffy jacket protected him from the cold rain falling through the darkness outside, and she could just barely make out a baseball cap peeping over the top of the bouquet.

  ‘Flower delivery!’ the man announced in a nasal voice.

  Ivy shook her head and stepped back again, starting to close the door. ‘Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong address. No one here ordered flowers.’ And even if they had, she added silently, they definitely wouldn’t have ordered pink ones! Talk about bunny flowers.

  ‘Oh, this is definitely the right address!’ The deliveryman stuck out his foot, wedging it in the doorway before she could finish closing the door. ‘Perhaps if I could speak to someone else? Your sister, maybe? Someone must want these lovely chrysanthemums!’

  Ivy gritted her teeth. ‘Look –’ she began.

  But before she could continue, the delivery man nudged the bouquet directly into her face. ‘Lovely chrysanthemums!’ he repeated loudly. ‘Grown in China for over three thousand years, you know!’

  Ivy recoiled, brushing the soft, smothering flowers aside. Wait a second. How does he know I have a sister?

  ‘Very important in Chinese art!’ he continued enthusiastically. ‘And in Japan –’

  ‘I don’t –’

  ‘– there’s a whole Festival of Happiness centred around them!’ He waved the bouquet triumphantly. ‘Don’t you want to be happy?’

  That does it!

  The vamps were facing exposure on national television, Ivy had spent all day imagining what it would feel like to lose her twin, and now this guy wanted her to be happy?