“And both those world wars,” Camilla pointed out with a grimace.
Miss Everling frowned. “Time out,” she said, peering at the girls over the top of her glasses. “What’s this project about again?”
Ivy fiddled with one of the books on a shelf. “We’re trying to convince our...friend...not to move to Europe,” she said carefully.
Olivia nodded enthusiastically. “We have to make this person see that Franklin Grove is totally better.”
“Oh, now I understand,” Miss Everling said softly. “My best friend moved to California when I was thirteen. It’s so hard saying good-bye.”
Seriously, thought Ivy sadly.
Miss Everling tapped her pencil against her dark lips thoughtfully. She gestured to the camera hanging around Sophia’s neck. “Do you have pictures of your friends on that thing?”
“Of course,” Sophia replied.
Miss Everling adjusted her glasses. “Don’t worry, ladies,” she said. “I’m going to help you make a pitch your friend won’t be able to resist. Something exciting. Something emotional. Something that truly sucks!” She winced at her impulsive use of vampire slang. “I mean, something really great.”
Miss Everling is the deadliest librarian ever, Ivy thought, exchanging excited looks with her friends.
“So,” Miss Everling said, “when is this important project due, so to speak?”
“Today,” Ivy replied.
Miss Everling started to protest, but Sophia said, “Our friend’s supposed to move in ten days.”
“We don’t have any time to lose!” Olivia pleaded.
“Okay, okay,” Miss Everling said. “Then we’ll need to split up. Who wants to research Franklin Grove?”
“I’ll do it,” Olivia volunteered. “I just moved here a few months ago, so I could stand to learn a thing or two.”
“Good,” said Miss Everling. “The local history section is by the copying machine in the corner. Camilla, how would you like to do Europe?”
“Roger, Queen Informasys!” Camilla said, saluting. Ivy had no idea what that meant— Camilla was always making obscure references to sci-fi books she was obsessed with.
“A Coal Knightley fan, huh?” Miss Everling grinned. “Isn’t he the greatest? Anyway, Captain Omega, your mission is to find unappealing pictures of Europe. It won’t be easy. Start with these travel guides, and then check out the European history section, just like you and Ivy were thinking.”
“You two.” Miss Everling pointed her pencil at Ivy and Sophia. “Follow me to the computers. I’m going to show you how to make a digital slideshow that’s guaranteed to make your friend laugh and cry. But, more than anything, it’s going to make her stay!”
At 4:30 P.M., Olivia stood behind her sister on the front porch of Ivy’s enormous house atop Undertaker Hill. They’d stayed after school with Camilla and Sophia, rushing to finish their presentation, and it looked totally awesome. But as Ivy reached for the doorknob, Olivia was suddenly filled with dread. “Wait,” she blurted.
Ivy stopped. Olivia turned and looked down on Franklin Grove; amid the fog and the bare December trees, she could just make out the roof of the school in the distance.
“Do you really think this could work?” she wondered nervously.
“Why? Don’t you think the presentation’s killer?” Ivy asked quickly.
“I do. I really do,” admitted Olivia. “But when my own dad decided to come to Franklin Grove for a new job, I begged him not to move. There was nothing that would change his mind.”
“Except my dad loves Franklin Grove,” Ivy said. “He always has. And while Europe’s a killer continent, I don’t want to spend the rest of eternity in some boarding school in Luxembourg.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t mean he loves...” Olivia’s voice trailed off before she said the word “me.” She’d barely seen Mr. Vega since finding out he was her father. The initiation with the Vampire Round Table meant that she’d been officially accepted into the vampire community, but even afterward he’d remained completely awkward around her. He doesn’t even like being near me, she thought.
“Maybe you should do the presentation without me,” Olivia said aloud.
“You have to come,” Ivy said. “You’re the best public speaker.”
“I know, but he’s never really seemed to... like me very much.” Olivia bit her lip doubtfully. “If I’m his daughter,” she said, her eyes starting to mist over, “then why doesn’t he love me? Is it because I’m human?”
Ivy’s eyes softened and she shook her head. “Our mom was a human like you,” she said gently. “She was the love of his life.”
“So what happened?”
“I don’t know, Olivia,” Ivy admitted. “Something that made him a separationist, more wary of mixing with humans. He changed. But that means he can change again.”
Olivia sighed deeply. “It’s just...I’d give anything to know what it’s like to have him as a member of my family, you know?”
“You will,” Ivy assured her. “But first we have to convince him not to move away.”
Olivia nodded and took a deep breath, determined not to let her sister down. “You’re totally right,” she said.
Ivy grinned encouragingly, gave Olivia a quick hug, and opened the door.
They found Mr. Vega hunched over his desk in his study. Ivy crept in while Olivia stayed back near the doorway. Even from across the room, she could see that he was sketching something with a piece of charcoal.