Fashion Frightmare! (My Sister the Vampire) (10 page)

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 breakfast 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!

H
alf 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?’