Re-Vamped! (7 page)

“Let’s
get manicures!” Olivia’s mom said to Ivy excitedly as they descended the
escalator. There was a new nail place called Cute-icles on the ground floor.

“Why
not?” Ivy said gamely. “I’ve never had a manicure before.”

“But
you have such beautiful hands!” Audrey exclaimed as they stepped off the
escalator.

Now
this is what I need a mother for,
Ivy thought as Audrey pulled her along enthusiastically.

“What
color are you getting?” Audrey asked her, staring down at the tray of bottles.

Ivy
looked at all the different colors. “I think I’ll go for Midnight Maroon.”

“That’s
what I was going to pick!” Olivia’s mom squealed. “The girls in bridge club are
going to be so shocked.”

When
they were done at the nail salon, they flitted from store to store, trying on
funny earrings and stuff. At Spins Records, Audrey asked Ivy to play her “what
the Goth kids are listening to,” and then proceeded to seriously rock out at a
listening station to the new Final Fangtasy album, doing a zombie dance in the
aisle.
Now I know where Olivia gets her bubbliness from,
thought Ivy.

After
that they went to Dungeon Clothing, where Olivia’s mom noticed Ivy admiring a
top and made her try it on. Peeking out from behind the dressing room curtain,
Ivy spied Audrey waiting for her to emerge. For a moment, she tried to pretend
that she really was her mother.
This is what it’s like,
she thought,
to go shopping with your mom.

Ivy
stepped out from behind the curtain and cleared her throat. Audrey sprang up
from her seat and looked her up and down. “That looks deadly awesome!”

Ivy
couldn’t help smiling at Audrey’s mangled speech. “You think so?” she said,
turning around and looking herself over in the mirror. The top really was
drop-dead—it was like a black spiderweb stretched over a shimmery gray satin
camisole—but it didn’t seem to fit quite right.

Audrey
held a finger up and rummaged through her purse. Finding some safety pins, she
stood behind Ivy and took a handful of fabric. “Hold still,” she said and
popped two pins in.

It was
as if the top was transformed by a magic spell before Ivy’s eyes. It hung perfectly.
“H-how did you do that?” Ivy stammered.

“Olivia
says I’m a domestic goddess,” Audrey replied proudly.

Moms
totally suck!
thought Ivy.

A
little while later, she and Audrey were sharing a table in the food court.

“So
tell me about your father,” Audrey asked, sipping a Diet Coke daintily so she
wouldn’t smudge her latest application of Ivy’s lipstick. Ivy put down her
burger and stared at her plate. “Don’t you get along with him?” Audrey pressed.

“I
usually do,” Ivy admitted. “I mean, I love him. He’s always been amazing. But
it’s hard not to be mad at him lately.”

“Why?”

“Because
I don’t want to move to Europe,” Ivy answered glumly.

Audrey
nodded sympathetically. “I remember when Steve told me he needed to move to
Franklin Grove for work.”

“What
did you do?” Ivy asked.

“I
cried,” Audrey recalled. “And Olivia, well . . . she wouldn’t come out of her
room for a week. It was awful.”

“Then
what happened?” asked Ivy.

“Now I
can’t imagine living anywhere else,” Audrey said, smiling. She reached out and
put her hand on Ivy’s. “You’ll be all right,” she said. “Nothing can break the
bond you and Olivia share. Not even an ocean.”

Ivy
nodded bravely.

Suddenly
Audrey glanced at her watch and her face fell. “Oh, my goodness, how time
flies!”

As
they drove out of the parking lot a little while later, she offered to take Ivy
home. Ivy was about to accept when Audrey added brightly, “I could meet your
father.”

“I
just remembered,” Ivy improvised. “I promised Olivia before we left that I’d
meet her back at your house . . . so that she could walk me home . . . for the
exercise.”

“You’re
sure I shouldn’t just drive you?” Audrey said, clearly disappointed.

“Maybe
another day,” Ivy said as cheerily as she could.

Olivia
was actually relieved to have an excuse to get out of the house. Just the sound
of her mother’s voice squealing “way deadly!” to Ivy upon their return from the
mall made her want to scream.

“How’d
your research into our parents go?” Ivy asked as they strolled past the
cemetery on the way to Ivy’s house.

“Pathetically,”
Olivia answered. “You know how many sets of twins there are from Owl Creek?”

“I can
think of at least one,” said Ivy. “Three,” Olivia said. “Aside from us, there’s
Eddie and Freddie, who now run a pizza parlor in Chicago, and a brother and
sister figure skating Roller Derby team. Want to guess what the skaters call
themselves?”

Ivy
made a face. “I thought
we
were a strange pair.”

“The
Slippery Sliders,” Olivia revealed.

Ivy
groaned.

“I
couldn’t find any mention of us—or even a birth announcement for twin girls,”
Olivia lamented.
It’s hard not to be discouraged when every path we explore
leads nowhere,
she thought.

Ivy
nodded sadly, almost like she could hear Olivia’s thoughts. Then she stopped.
“Did I show you the top your mom got me?”

When
Olivia shook her head, Ivy reached into her knapsack and pulled out a low-cut,
supercute spiderweb thingy. She held it up in front of her and batted her thick
black eyelashes.

Olivia
gaped. “My mom wouldn’t let me out of the house in a shirt like that!”

“Well,
she was like a vamp in a bloodbath today,” Ivy said matter-of-factly. “You
should have seen her doing the zombie in the middle of Spins.”

Olivia
covered her eyes with her hands. “I always thought my dad was the embarrassing
one. Anyway,” she continued, determined to be mature about it, “I’m glad you
two had a good time.”

Ivy
nodded. Olivia looked at her. “Didn’t you?”

“Of
course,” Ivy said quietly. “She was utterly great, and I ...well, I kind of
found out what it was like to have a mom.” She kicked the pavement with the tip
of her boot. “But Audrey’s not my mom,” she went on. “She’s yours.You’re really
lucky, Olivia,” she finished in a whisper.

Olivia
felt tears spring to her eyes.
Yeah, I am,
she thought. She wrapped
Ivy’s arm in her hands and, together, they climbed Ivy’s long driveway in
silence.

“Dad!”
Ivy called, unlocking the enormous front door. “Olivia’s here!” Her voice
echoed through the stone corridors. “Dad?”

Olivia
followed Ivy to the kitchen. There, on the stone counter, lay a note.

“
‘Darling,’ ” Ivy read aloud, “ ‘I got your message, but I had to go out.
Regards to your friend Olivia.’ ”

“
‘Your friend’?” Olivia repeated incredulously.

Ivy
threw her bag on the countertop. “I can’t believe it. He’s purposely avoiding
you because you’re human!” she seethed. “Well, at least we can do some more
investigating into our
real
parents on the VVV.”

Olivia
hadn’t seen her sister so mad. She shook her head. “I think we’ve had enough of
parents for one week,” she said. “Why don’t we have some fun? Call Sophia and see
if she can come over.”

A half
hour later, the three of them were hanging out in the living room, doing
impressions of the Beasts, when they were surprised by the pipeorgan doorbell
ringing. Ivy ran to get it, and Olivia and Sophia followed.

“Oh,
hi, Georgia,” Olivia heard Ivy say as she pulled open the front door.

“Goooood
afternoon, Madame Ivy,” a voice purred.

“Holy
water!” Sophia whispered to Olivia. “It’s Georgia Huntingdon, the editor of
Vamp
!”
Olivia took a step to the side so she could get a better look, but all she
could make out over Ivy’s shoulder was a puff of white hair.

“My
dad isn’t here,” Ivy was saying.

“She’s
planning a story about a crypt that Ivy’s father’s working on,” Sophia
whispered. “That’s so cool!” Olivia squealed.

“Cool?”
the voice inquired. “Did someone say ‘coooool’?”

Ivy
stepped aside, and Olivia finally got a good look at Georgia Huntingdon.
Wow
!
she thought. The woman wore a luxurious emerald-green fulllength silk
coat, with jeweled buttons. She was also wearing bright red lipstick that
punctuated her pale face like a smear of blood. Her hair was stark white, a
beehive of curls piled atop her head and held in place with an emerald bat
hairpin. Olivia couldn’t tell whether she was thirty or three hundred, but she
was the most stylish person she had ever seen.

“Cooool,”
Georgia Huntingdon purred, smiling at Olivia and revealing perfect teeth, “is
about to be the new
hot
.”

“But
like I said,” Ivy told her apologetically, closing the door to the cold, “my
father’s not home right now.”

“Oh,
I’m not here for Charles,” replied Georgia. “I’m here for you. And your sister.
I’m putting you two on the cover of
Vamp
.”

Sophia
gave an involuntary scream of excitement. Ivy seemed too stunned to speak.
Georgia Huntingdon brushed past her and walked up to Olivia. She extended a
cool, firm hand. “Georgia Huntingdon,
Vamp
magazine.”

“Nice
to meet you,” Olivia replied, shaking hands.

“Does
the look on your face tell me you are unfamiliar with
Vamp
?” Georgia
asked.

Olivia
nodded.

“We
are a high-fashion monthly, catering to vaaaaaa—”

Vampires!
Olivia thought.

“—rious
Goth tastemakers,” Georgia finished, smiling coyly. She studied Olivia’s face
carefully, as if trying to detect whether Olivia had noticed her slipup.

Olivia
decided to play dumb, since no one was supposed to know she was in on the
vampire secret. “Sorry, I don’t read your magazine,” she said, wrinkling her
nose. “I’m not really into heavy metal.”

Georgia
laughed uproariously. “Chaaarming,” she cooed. Olivia exchanged a secret look
with Ivy, who nodded approvingly. It seemed Georgia had bought her innocent
act.

“I’m
sure your father wouldn’t mind me doing a shoot right here right now?” Georgia
half asked, half told Ivy as she looked around the hallway. “It wouldn’t be the
first time we’ve photographed in this house.”

Ivy
shrugged speechlessly.

“Excellent!”
exclaimed Georgia. “Shall we begin?” She pulled open the front door. “Kitty!
Kong!” she called.

A pale
woman in a dark business suit and angular glasses appeared at the front door
with a clipboard. She entered and surveyed the room, silently greeting everyone
with a professional smile.

That
must be Kitty,
thought Olivia. Behind Kitty, a bald man with huge muscles and a tight black
top appeared with an armful of camera equipment.
And that must be Kong!

Georgia
beckoned to the girls as Kitty and Kong began scurrying around. “I am sorry for
the short notice, but we are on a verrrrry tight deadline,” she said. “The
magazine comes out on Wednesday, and I only just learned of your story—but it’s
much too big to leave for the next issue. Don’t you agree?” Suddenly her eyes
fell on Sophia.

“Who
are you? A trrrriplet?” she said, rolling her “r” mercilessly. Then she gave a
full-throated laugh.

“My
name’s Sophia Hewitt,” Sophia said, shaking Georgia’s hand firmly. “As an
aspiring photographer myself, I am a huge fan of your magazine, Ms.
Huntingdon.”

“Oh?”
Georgia said. “Then how would you like to assist Kong today?”

Sophia
tried to speak, but all she could do was wiggle around excitedly. It was like she’d
been turned into a jellyfish.

“Go
on,” Georgia smiled, waving her away to where the muscle-bound photographer was
unpacking some lights across the room.

As
Sophia went to help Kong, Kitty appeared, pushing an enormous rack of clothes
with each hand—one filled with dresses in shimmering dark shades, the other
with lighter and brighter ones. On the second rack, Olivia immediately noticed
an ivory satin sleeveless cowl-necked gown that looked like something Marilyn
Monroe would have worn. She reached to look at the label. “Is this a real
Margot Chenille?” she gasped.

“Of
course!” exclaimed Georgia.

Ivy
fingered a sequined black flapper dress with a fringed bottom. “How do we know
what will fit?”

“It
all will,” Georgia answered with an obvious gesture, “because Kitty has only
selected the latest fashions in your size.”

Olivia
and Ivy exchanged excited looks— Olivia could tell her sister was nervous about
all the attention, as usual, but they were both total fashion hounds.

For
the first shot, Kitty had draped a pale sash of silk dramatically over a chaise
longue in the foyer. After consulting with Kong, Sophia helped pick the
sisters’ outfits. For Olivia, they chose a bright pink Coco Loco cocktail dress
with a formfitting sleeveless top, while Ivy wore a midnightblue
off-the-shoulder number from Before Dawn.