17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire (8 page)

‘Well . . .’ Olivia shifted uncomfortably.
Don’t panic,
she told herself.
Remember what Ivy said.
‘It did kind of
sound
like someone in
distress,’ she admitted, ‘but I’m sure there must be some rational explanation . . .’

‘Oh, there is.’ Camilla pointed to the corkboard, where a photo of a much-too-familiar portrait had been stuck. ‘And I’ve found it! See, there was one girl in the 1860s
who had
more
than enough to be distressed about, and her name was Patience Calhoun . . .’

I
vy was wearing her best stomping boots as she, Olivia, Sophia and Reiko all headed towards the Meat and Greet diner for breakfast the next
morning. Even her vamptastic bat-patterned black leather footwear wasn’t enough to cheer her up, though . . . not when the adult vamps were acting more freaked out than ever.

The girls might have nosed out a good lead the day before, but the mystery was still unsolved; and worse, Camilla had posted a blog, asking if anyone in Franklin Grove knew of any “spooky
legends” – she was pretending she was researching for a new movie idea, but it was obvious what her real motive was – and that it was exactly the kind of thing that was going to
put the vamp community on edge. That morning, Ivy’s dad had been practically vibrating with tension as he’d eaten his breakfast. Every time he’d tried to hold a piece of
silverware, it had rattled against his plate like the worst drum solo ever. But when the rest of the girls had come by to pick Ivy up, he’d leaped up like a black-clad jack-in-the-box and
given them all strict orders to Act Normal!

Which was kind of a joke, coming from him,
Ivy thought glumly as she strode down the street.

The adult vamps were determined not to let anything seem odd or even slightly “off ” to anyone in town, not when their own secret hung by such a fragile thread. And unfortunately,
Ivy wasn’t sure any more that they were wrong about that. She’d spent half the night tossing and turning, worrying about what would happen if the bunnies of Franklin Grove really did
figure out the truth.

Of course, that meant she had spent the other half of the night nursing her new bruises!
Ow.
She rubbed her shoulder where she’d hit it hard against her coffin as she’d
tossed and turned.
A coffin is not a safe place for a stressed-out vampire.
She’d finally given up and climbed out, turning on her computer to read up on the Calhoun twins, but there
hadn’t been much to find.

Where on earth had Camilla
got
all of that information?
The girl really must be obsessed!

Ivy frowned as she looked down the street and glimpsed a familiar dark-haired figure in a leather jacket and jeans lunging out of the front door of the Meat and Greet as if he were fleeing a
stake-wielding mob. ‘Where’s Brendan going? He was supposed to meet us there.’

Even as she spoke, her boyfriend turned and saw them. Waving his arms, he rushed up the street. His gorgeous dark hair was mussed up and his leather jacket sat crookedly on his shoulders, as if
he’d pulled it on in a hurry.

‘What’s up?’ Ivy asked him.

‘Let’s just say . . .’ Brendan slid a panicked look back towards the Meat and Greet. ‘I think we’d better find somewhere else for breakfast.’

‘How come?’ Ivy frowned. ‘We always eat there. And we’re supposed to be acting “normal”.’

‘Yeah, but . . .’ Grimacing, Brendan ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. ‘Look, the
diner’s
not acting normal, OK? And besides, it’s kind
of . . . full.’

‘Seriously?’ Ivy glanced down at her watch. ‘How could it possibly be full this early on Saturday morning?’

Sophia, looking stylish as always in a fitted black coat and high-heeled black boots, leaned in. ‘What’s going on, Brendan?’

Brendan sighed. ‘I guess you might as well all come and see for yourselves.’

Ivy started for the diner with a scowl on her face. Every vamp-sense she had was tingling with the certainty that there was danger ahead.

Even before they stepped inside, she could see for herself that it was packed. People lined the tables against the front windows. When Ivy peered through the glass front door, she could see that
the crowd was two deep at the counter.

‘Is there some kind of event going on that we didn’t hear about?’ Olivia asked.

‘It doesn’t look that organised,’ Ivy said grimly, ‘but it sure does look like everyone’s excited about
something
.’

Everywhere she looked, she could see animated conversations going on, with people leaning across the tables, hands waving. The glass was too thick for her to make out any words, but the buzz of
tension and excitement inside was so strong, she could practically feel it.

Then her eye fell on Josh Dillon and his greasy cronies, all clumped together at a corner table.

Uh-oh.

‘Come on,’ she said firmly. ‘It’s time to get inside and do some eavesdropping.’

Brendan grimaced. ‘OK,’ he said, ‘but brace yourself.’

Ivy opened the door . . . and fell back a step, staggering as a wall of pure noise hit her sensitive vampire ears.
Ouch!

Gritting her teeth, she stepped into the crowded diner. She forced herself to breathe deeply to steady herself as she waited for her hearing to adjust to the painful intensity of the noise.
Gradually, she began to pick out individual words . . . or rather, the same words, over and over again.

‘. . . ghosts . . .’

‘. . . spirits . . .’

‘. . .
woooooohh
!’

Ivy’s shoulders relaxed as she looked around. No one had made the leap to vampires yet, thank darkness. But . . . She frowned as her gaze passed over all the unfamiliar faces in the
diner.

‘I’ve never seen most of these people before,’ she said.

‘That’s because they’re from out of town,’ Brendan replied unhappily.

‘I guess the news must have spread,’ Sophia agreed, looking around the room.

Ivy exchanged a worried look with the other vampires.

There were fresh eyes in town. And that meant a whole lot more people about to notice any vampire behaving suspiciously.

How did Camilla’s blog post spread so fast? We’ll have to be so careful.

Behind Ivy, Olivia heaved a sigh. ‘I just don’t understand,’ she said. ‘Why would the rumour of ghosts bring strangers
to
Franklin Grove? Wouldn’t that
keep most people
away
?’

‘Are you joking?’ Reiko stared at her. ‘I would
love
to meet a ghost. I’d have so many questions . . .’

Ivy let the rest of her friend’s words drift into the background as she moved slowly along the line of tables, straining to pick up on the one conversation that worried her the most. She
kept her eyes on the clock on the far wall, squinting as if she were trying to make out the time, but all of her attention was on the table in the corner where Josh sat with his gang.

Josh looking that excited can’t be a good sign!

It was hard to pick up individual voices in the mass of sound that pressed at her from all directions, but finally, she made out Josh’s smug voice. ‘He replied to my email
himself
, you know, and he says he’s
definitely
thinking about coming here to check out the town!’

Oh, this does not sound good at all.
Swallowing hard, Ivy drifted closer, keeping her head carefully tilted away from them.

She had to find out more, no matter how little she liked it . . .

And she liked it even less when she realised exactly who the greasy gang was talking about.

‘I can’t believe it,’ Ivy said miserably, five minutes later.

They’d had to leave the Meat and Greet when they finally ran out of excuses to loiter in the aisles. Olivia had even tried to book a table so that they could stand and wait for it, but the
man behind the counter had told them they might have to wait until Sunday night for that. Now they sat on a bench near the diner, huddled together in the cold air for a whispered meeting.

Ivy groaned as she looked down at Brendan’s phone. Brendan was busily tapping at the keypad, looking up a clip of
Gregor Gleka, Ghost Grabber!

‘I’ve heard of him,’ Brendan said. ‘He’s got a weekly cable TV show, doesn’t he?’

‘I know.’ Ivy slumped as he pulled up several pages’ worth of video results online, each of them with hundreds of thousands of views. ‘Lillian and I watched an episode
once – there was nothing else on TV and we were super bored. It was one of the most ridiculous, trashiest shows I’ve ever had to sit through!’

‘Wow.’ Olivia shot her a mischievous look. ‘That’s really saying something, coming from a fan of
Shadowtown
!’

‘Ooohhh.’ Brendan made a mock-offended face even as he pressed “play” on the first YouTube clip. ‘Them’s fighting words!’

But Ivy was too worried to even consider a death-squint in defence of her favourite guilty pleasure.

Watching a stupid show on TV was one thing . . . but having that show actually
take over her town
?

‘I don’t understand.’ Reiko frowned down at the tiny image of Gregor Gleka on-screen, wearing a flashy black-and-crimson shirt with sleeves that billowed around him when he
gestured. ‘What is this?’

Ivy scowled. ‘It’s a so-called “paranormal investigation” show.’ She made air-quotes around the words, her tone dripping with contempt. ‘A camera follows
Gregor around while he “investigates” incidents involving the paranormal and supernatural.’

‘He links all the “unexplained events” he investigates to old myths and legends from other places,’ Sophia said. “He’s always going on and on about the
stories he’s heard “back home”. Isn’t he from somewhere in Eastern Europe?’

‘So he claims,’ Ivy muttered. ‘But to
me
, his accent is less “I grew up in Eastern Europe,” and more “I backpacked around Europe one summer and now
I’m faking it.”’

Olivia frowned down at Brendan’s phone as the clip continued. ‘I don’t like the way he talks to people.’

As they watched, Gregor hounded civilian after civilian in whatever town he was visiting, throwing aggressive, leading questions at them.

‘You say the glass
levitated
?’

Each time, the response from the interviewee was the same. A slight cringe, and a reluctant nod. ‘It, you know, it kind of . . .
wobbled
. It looked weird, but maybe there’s
. . .’

The interviewee would never get to finish their thought. At the first sign of disagreement, Gregor would pivot away, taking his microphone with him, flashing his trademark expression of intense
concentration – his white teeth glinting and his dark eyes widening until he looked almost manic. ‘Undeniable proof of ghostly activity! At last, the truth is out!’ he declared.
‘My mission continues, for I will never rest – not until the spirits do.’

‘Ooohhh.’ Reiko’s eyes widened as she watched. ‘Good line.’

‘Huh.’ Ivy shrugged irritably. ‘I don’t know. I can’t tell if it’s just dumb, or if it’s so cheesy it’s actually brilliant. All I know is, the
last
thing we need right now is for Gleka to get hundreds of thousands of people thinking that something paranormal is going on in Franklin Grove. So . . .’ She tapped
Brendan’s phone to halt playback and looked from one of her friends to another, thinking hard. ‘We’re going to have to throw Josh’s gang off the scent, and fast, if we want
to keep Gregor away . . .’

She looked to her twin.

‘. . . and that’s going to take some serious acting skills.’

Every so often, Olivia really wished that she hadn’t stumbled into an acting career. Oh, sure, there were upsides – movie sets, international travel, meeting the boy
of her dreams – but there were also serious downsides, like mean girls on message boards who hated her for being with Jackson . . . and moments when her own friends nominated her to do some
on-the-spot “acting” to get them out of trouble.

At least this performance, unlike her upcoming film scenes, wouldn’t require a Southern accent. This time she was playing a simple role:
Olivia Abbott, chatterbox.