12 Stake Out - My Sister the Vampire (7 page)

‘Fine.’ Ivy heaved a sigh. ‘I can wear some of Olivia’s clothes, I guess. No one will think I’m a vampire with all that pink!’

Olivia gave her a sympathetic smile. She knew how much Ivy would hate that disguise.

But the Countess was shaking her head. ‘Absolutely not,’ she declared. ‘You mustn’t change your appearance too drastically. Otherwise, the people who already know you well will start thinking something’s wrong. And if the same people read that dreadful blag –’

Horatio cleared his throat, and the Countess scowled.

‘
Blog
 
!
They may put two and two together.’ Clasping both hands around her glass of iced tea, she pinned Ivy with an eagle-like glare. ‘You must be very, very careful about how you tone down your image. You’re to become invisible.’

‘Sorry?’ Ivy choked on her iced tea. ‘Grandma, you and Grandpa and Horatio are hardly subtle and toned down with
your
image!’

‘Ah, but nobody really knows us in Franklin Grove. That means this isn’t an image
change
– anyone who sees us will simply assume this is our normal dress-sense.’ The Countess gestured with her iced tea at Horatio’s bright-pink checked shorts, which revealed the dignified butler to have surprisingly knobbly knees.

Olivia stifled a giggle. It was certainly a dress-sense . . . but ‘normal’ was not the first word that came to mind!

Ivy rolled her eyes. ‘Are you sure this is all really necessary? Making us all get bunnified just because of one blogger? Can’t we just –’

‘Ivy Vega.’ The Countess’s voice was suddenly as cold as ice, her hard gaze focused on her vampire granddaughter. ‘Don’t you think helping the local community is the least you can do after . . .?’

She let her last words drift off, but everyone knew what they would have been: after abandoning her studies in Transylvania. The Count and Countess obviously had not yet forgiven Ivy for leaving Wallachia.

Tradition meant everything to Olivia’s and Ivy’s grandparents, and as far as they were concerned, when Ivy had walked away from Wallachia, she had turned her back on tradition – and on them.

Olivia’s heart melted at the misery on her sister’s face. She put an arm around Ivy, hugging her close. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘We’ll find out who the blogger is in no time. Then you can go right back to doing what you do best – being a totally fangtastic vampire!’

‘
Fangtastic
 
?’ Even Ivy had to smile at Olivia’s weak joke. As laughter rippled through the room, Olivia felt relief flood her.

The tension between her and her sister had disappeared. At least, for a little while . . .

Chapter Five

T
his is unbelievable
. Ivy lay in her coffin-bed early the next morning, listening to the noises of the house waking up. She was too depressed to even move. Yes, it was true that she had left Transylvania to stop feeling overwhelmed by all things vampire – but she had
never
expected that a return to Franklin Grove would leave her overwhelmed by all things bunny instead!

Nothing about coming home was turning out the way she’d expected.

A polite knock sounded on the door, and Ivy gave a rueful smile. At least some things never changed: no matter which house they were in, Horatio was always ready with a breakfast tray.

She climbed out of her coffin to let him in and noticed for the first time that Olivia’s bed was empty.
That’s weird.
Olivia had stayed the night to spend more time with their grandparents. Ivy had expected her to be fast asleep.

She was still frowning as she opened the door – but her jaw dropped when she saw what Horatio was wearing. Her gaze moved slowly, disbelievingly, from his high-top sneakers to his hooded jacket, his ‘I’m With This Idiot’ T-shirt and . . .

‘Are you wearing
man-jewellery
 
?’

Blushing furiously, Horatio stuffed the wide, fake-gold chain under the neck of his T-shirt before leaning over the tray to pour tea into a china cup. ‘It’s the Countess’s orders,’ he explained stiffly, his cheeks beetroot red.

‘Of course.’ Ivy accepted the china cup, forcing herself not to say another word.
Poor Horatio
, she thought, as he ducked out of the room.
I shouldn’t make this even harder for him.

But her sympathy evaporated a moment later when he returned, wheeling in a clothes rack. ‘What is
that
 
?’

Horatio coughed apologetically. ‘Your outfits for the day. Each item has been carefully selected for you by Miss Olivia.’

Wordlessly, Ivy picked up item after item, holding them between her fingertips and at arm’s length. She didn’t dare hold them any closer. It was too dangerous.
Just looking at them might give me Bunny-itis. Do I really have to wear them
 
?

‘Good morning!’ Olivia chirped from the bedroom doorway, as Horatio discreetly slipped out. ‘Everything OK?’

‘OK?’ Ivy struggled not to give her twin a death-squint as she dropped the fashion monstrosities on to her bed. ‘Just look at these!’

Seeing them all spread out together made her stomach twist with horror. For some reason, Olivia had given her a pink jersey ra-ra skirt, a colour-blocked emerald clutch bag to carry and a yellow lace T-shirt with pink ribbon ties on the sleeves.

Ivy moaned. ‘Are you joking? Is this really my outfit for today?’

‘Oh, Ivy. Don’t be so silly.’ Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘I nearly forgot!’ She reached into her pocket and pulled out an ostrich-feather hair slide. ‘You wouldn’t be dressed at all without the right accessories!’

Ivy felt the room swim around her. ‘I honestly think I’m going to faint,’ she whispered.

Olivia put one hand to her mouth, but she couldn’t stifle her burst of giggles.

‘I can’t believe you’re laughing!’ Ivy could feel a supreme death-squint forming on her face as she watched Olivia slide down the wall to sit on the carpeted floor, still laughing. ‘I know we had a fight yesterday, but how can you possibly think it’s funny that I have to dress like
this
 
?’

‘No, no, no.’ Wiping away tears, Olivia shook her head. ‘Don’t worry! I
am
sorry about yesterday, but that has nothing to do with this. I was just playing a prank! You guys got me good yesterday, so I thought I’d have a little fun of my own today! Of course I’m not going to dress you up like an Olivia-clone . . . no matter how fabulous you’d look.’

‘Don’t even imagine it.’ Ivy collapsed on to her own coffin-bed, crushing the pink skirt. She let out her breath in a rush. ‘OK. OK, this can work. I’ll just try to look a little less “gothabulous”.’

‘Well . . .’ Olivia cupped her chin with a hand, and Ivy narrowed her eyes in suspicion. They might have forgiven each other for the day before, but right now she didn’t trust Olivia’s expression – not one bit. She looked just like one of those judgmental stylists on the kind of makeover shows that Ivy only watched when Olivia gave her a choice between that or helping with cheer-practice.

She crossed her arms. ‘What are you thinking?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Olivia said, ‘but if you want to be safe, we’ll still need to abandon the goth look. No more pale face, no all-black ensembles . . .’

Ivy groaned, and pulled a pillow over her face.

‘You know I’m right,’ Olivia said. ‘We can’t give these VITs anything to be suspicious of. We just have to come up with a style shift that’s subtle enough not to alert people who
already
know you that something’s seriously different.’

‘Easy peasy,’ Ivy said, with an ironic tone of voice.

‘Never fear,’ Olivia smiled brightly. ‘I have the perfect solution!’

Ivy watched with a feeling of mounting dread as Olivia jumped up and stepped into the hallway. When she came back into the room, she was dragging a long sports bag behind her.

Don’t panic
, Ivy told herself.
She probably just needed a big bag. No way would Olivia actually expect me to
. . .

‘Ta-da!’ Olivia opened the bag and pulled out a pair of black trainers and sweatpants. ‘How about this as a substitute? Sporty Ivy!’

Ivy couldn’t stop herself from groaning. But she had to admit, at least it was better than the first outfit . . . and there was no holding back a cheerleader on a mission. Within minutes, Ivy found herself completely transformed by Olivia’s ‘disguise’. Her black hair was tied back in a high ponytail, and her grey T-shirt had a sports company logo emblazoned on it. Ivy couldn’t even say which company it was – the name meant so little to her, she’d already forgotten it by the time she’d finished pulling the sleeves over her arms.

Or maybe she just wanted to pretend it wasn’t really happening . . .

As she looked down at the outfit, she winced.
This has to be a bad dream.

But Olivia looked absolutely thrilled. ‘Am I a genius, or am I just a miracle worker?’ Humming to herself, she bustled around Ivy, straightening her twin’s ponytail and patting down the shoulders of Ivy’s T-shirt. ‘You see? It’s still an alternative look, still all the same dark colours that people round Franklin Grove think of as “Ivy” – but, to anyone visiting . . .’

‘Or
spying
,’ Ivy muttered.

‘ . . . they’ll simply think you’re an ordinary tomboy.’ Olivia stepped back, beaming. ‘It’s just right!’

‘Are you joking?’ Ivy kicked out her legs. ‘Sweatpants are ridiculous when you’re not actually
doing
any sport.’ She wriggled miserably, feeling the way the baggy clothes fell around her. ‘It’s like being inside a sack.’

Olivia’s raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, think of it this way: if you need to run from any VITs, you’ll be perfectly dressed for a quick getaway.’

Ivy’s ponytail bounced against the back of her neck as she shook her head. ‘I know you’re trying to help, but this sucks . . . in the bad way! Just because some idiot blogger started up a rumour mill, I have to wear . . .
this
 
? I mean, honestly. Haven’t I had to wear enough ridiculous outfits lately? After that awful school uniform . . .’

‘Now, now.’ Olivia gave her a sweet smile. ‘Don’t forget what I had to wear while you were at the Academy. Remember how I dressed up as a goth rocker girl to cover for you, just so Brendan and Sophia could go to that concert while you were gone?’

‘Yeah, but you got to go to the Pall Bearers concert!’

‘That,’ Olivia said, ‘was
not
a concert. It was a full-on celebration of tuneless noise! So all’s fair.’

Before Ivy could say another word, the door opened, and the Countess poked her head in.

‘Are you all ready with your disguise?’

Ivy’s gaze fixed on the bright yellow baseball hat on her usually elegant grandmother’s head. She shook her head in disbelief. ‘Oh, please!’ She threw herself back into her coffin-bed. ‘This is going too far.’

Ivy heard Olivia giggle, but there was no humour in their grandmother’s expression as she stalked across the room.

‘Now, I need you to listen to me, young lady. As one gets older, there comes a time to start thinking about what is best for others, not just for oneself. If you care about the vampire community, you
will
wear these clothes and blend in. Do you understand me? This is your chance to prove yourself to the community once and for all.’

Suddenly, Ivy’s coffin-bed felt at least two sizes too small. She’d known that her grandparents wouldn’t truly understand why she needed to leave the Academy, but she had hoped they would accept it as her decision.
I only did what I
thought was right. Isn’t that the vampire way
 
?

Ivy didn’t say anything in reply. She didn’t even move when the Countess and Olivia quietly left the bedroom. What was the point, when it was looking like she didn’t actually have a choice in any of this?

Only the sound of her cell phone ringing finally got her climbing out of the coffin-bed.

Brendan’s voice was filled with amusement on the other end of the phone. ‘Tell me the truth,’ he said. ‘What are you wearing?’

Ivy let out an unhappy half-laugh, settling cross-legged on the floor. ‘You first,’ she said.

‘Well . . .’ He coughed. Then he said, under his breath and so quickly she could barely understand him: ‘A button-down shirt, chinos and loafers.’

‘What?!’ Ivy couldn’t even imagine it. ‘Are they making you dress like a middle-aged man?’

‘That’s not all,’ Brendan said.

‘Oh no,’ said Ivy. ‘Are you wearing a tie?’

‘Worse,’ he said. ‘I have a side-parting.’

Ivy nearly dropped her cell phone. She recovered herself just in time to say, ‘We’re going to look like total opposites. I’m dressed like I’m forever on my way to the gym.’

When Brendan burst out laughing, Ivy finally started to see the funny side of her predicament. ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Laugh it up now. But we have to promise to keep straight faces when we actually see each other. Otherwise, that’ll give the whole game away.’