Luckily, Mr Abbott was clearly too zonked to have noticed. There’s one advantage of jet lag, Ivy thought ruefully. It keeps you from noticing the vampires all around you!
‘Whew.’ Mrs Abbott walked back into the room, her face still pink and damp-looking. ‘I can’t believe how tired I am.’
‘I can imagine.’ Lillian Vega smiled sympathetically. ‘I’ve been on enough red-eye flights for my own movie jobs. I know exactly how difficult jet lag can be.’
‘Do you know, I’m so exhausted, I’m actually having hallucinations.’ Mrs Abbott collapsed back on to her stool at the breakfast bar, rubbing her eyes. ‘As I was walking past Ivy’s room, I could have sworn I saw a coffin inside!’
Oops. I must have forgotten to close my bedroom door. ‘Ha! Ha.’ Ivy almost choked on her forced laughter. ‘Just imagine! A coffin in a bedroom. Isn’t that funny?’
But she cringed at the look her father gave her. This one was the look he had when something really serious went wrong, like a stain on one of his silk shirts.
‘What were you thinking?’ Olivia hissed into her ear. ‘You know you need to keep your door locked when you have “bunny-company” around the house!’
‘Did you just say something about bunnies, sweetheart?’ Mrs Abbott frowned at Olivia as she picked up her last piece of toast. ‘Or was I imagining that, too?’
Olivia’s cheeks flushed. ‘Umm . . .’
Her adoptive mother stared at her. ‘Why would you be talking to Ivy about rabbits?’
Lillian leaned forwards, gracious as always, to rescue the situation. ‘You must tell me,’ she said to Mrs Abbott, ‘what did you think of London’s sights?’
‘Oh, London . . .’ Mrs Abbott gave a sigh of delight. ‘It was amazing. The culture! The architecture! The –’
‘I’ll just clear up,’ Ivy mumbled, as she felt her dad’s disapproving gaze lingering on her.
‘I’ll help.’ Olivia bounced to her feet. ‘I can’t sit still anyway!’
‘Thanks.’ As Ivy started gathering up plates, she gave her dad an apologetic look. ‘Sorry,’ she said in a low voice, aiming her words at both him and Olivia. ‘It’s been such a crazy time, I’m just a little absent-minded right now.’
Olivia’s adoptive parents might be wonderful people, but they were still bunnies – humans who weren’t in on the vampire secret – and they could never be allowed to find out. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have forgotten to close the door of her bedroom.
Ivy had just started high school, though . . . and the circumstances were anything but ‘normal’.
Olivia’s energy seemed to dim a bit for the first time since she’d arrived. ‘Is high school really as tough as you said in our Lonely Echo chats?’
‘Just wait until tomorrow,’ Ivy told her, as Charles joined in with the others’ conversation. ‘You’ll see for yourself. And wait until the homework starts rolling in – you’ll need to learn how to write while wearing gloves!’
Olivia blinked, then shook her head. ‘OK, it can’t just be jet lag. That comment made no sense at all.’
‘Trust me.’ Ivy leaned close to whisper in her twin’s ear. ‘Even my RHP’ – Rapid Healing Process – ‘struggles to keep up with all the paper-cuts I’m getting from the mountains of essays.’
‘Ouch.’ Olivia sighed as she picked up the last of the plates. ‘Well, I’m still not dreading the new school . . . but I really wish I could take a day off to recover after all my travelling.’
‘What?!’ Charles and Mrs Abbott both broke off at once to turn on Olivia.
‘You cannot afford to miss any more schooling,’ they both declared.
Poor Olivia, Ivy thought. She had to force herself to hold back a smile at the look on her twin’s face. That’s the real downside of having four parents. Even more people to lecture you.
The voices woke Mr Abbott at last. He let out a grunt like a startled bear. ‘Uhh! Sorry. Sorry.’ Yawning, he stumbled to his feet. ‘I don’t quite seem to be able to fight this jet lag. It’s like a mysterious opponent that hides in shadows and cannot be overcome by force.’
‘We noticed,’ said Mrs Abbott. Sighing, she traded a meaningful look with Lillian.
‘Well, then, if no one minds . . .’ Mr Abbott stepped back from the breakfast bar, stretching out his arms in a warming-up pose. ‘I’ll just stand up and do some “forms”. That will definitely keep me awake.’
It’ll keep all of us awake, Ivy thought. She looked down, biting her lip to keep from laughing. Ouch! Her lip stung. It’s definitely time to get my fangs filed. She’d skipped an appointment at the vampire dentist so that she could be here this morning, but she hadn’t rescheduled yet. I can’t forget to do that! The First Law of the Night demanded that vampires kept their existence secret – so every vampire had to get their teeth regularly filed to keep them at a normal, human length.
But how could Ivy think about practicalities when there was a middle-aged man doing kung-fu mimes in her kitchen? Every sensible plan in her head fizzled away as she gaped at the sight before her. What on earth could that move be? she wondered. Man fumbling for a light switch? Man tearing down cobwebs, maybe?
Even Lillian, who was always perfectly poised in social situations, looked bemused.
Olivia broke the awkward silence. ‘Time for presents!’ She dived under the breakfast bar to grab her bag, hitting her head against the bottom of the counter.