‘As long as Brendan eats, I’ll be happy,’ Ivy said. That was the important thing about this baking party, she reminded herself, even if it did mean having to hang out with Holly again: it would be the perfect opportunity to feed Brendan up after his illness. He hadn’t eaten a thing at the park – not even his own macaroons! She sighed as she watched Olivia type the email message from both of them. ‘Did you notice how he –’
Her words were cut off by the sound of Olivia’s phone buzzing to life. Ivy couldn’t help seeing the name on the display as the phone vibrated beside the keyboard. Her gaze flew to her sister’s shocked expression.
Jackson’s calling !
‘I’ll just . . .’ Olivia picked up the phone, staring at it as if it were a wild animal that might attack her at any moment. The pop-song ringtone sounded a second time. ‘I’ll just . . .’ she said again, before hurrying out of the room and closing the door.
A moment later, Ivy heard her sister murmuring in the hallway. He’d better not hurt her again, Ivy thought fiercely. She liked Jackson, but it had taken Olivia ages to recover after his megastar lifestyle had driven them apart. Seeing her sister upset was pretty much the one thing Ivy could not bear.
Biting down on her worry, she distracted herself with Holly’s email:
Come if you want, but don’t feel you HAVE to . . .
Sigh. Of course she couldn’t really say that, no matter how much she wanted to. Instead, she deleted and started again, summoning some of Olivia’s cheerleader pep:
We’d love to see you !!!
Were three exclamation points too obviously fake? Ivy tapped one black-nailed finger on her desktop, trying to make up her mind.
Before she could make any changes, though, Olivia stepped back in the room, looking as if she’d seen a ghost.
‘That was Jackson,’ she said. ‘Did you know it was Jackson? You probably knew it was Jackson.’
‘Well –’ Ivy began.
Olivia didn’t wait to let her answer. ‘He was calling from a photo shoot, and he said it made him think of me.’ She perched on the edge of the chair beside Ivy, almost shivering with tension. ‘Do you think that means something? It probably doesn’t mean anything. But . . .’
Her words were tumbling over each other so quickly, Ivy gave up on trying to break in. Olivia might not have vampire super-strength, but right now she was talking with full vampire-style super-speed.
‘He said the shoot was themed around dreams coming true, and it made him wonder . . . didn’t my dreams come true when I went to Hollywood?’
Ivy winced, thinking of Olivia’s starring role in the movie Eternal Sunset. The only thing ‘eternal’ about the movie was the delays caused by Hollywood industry strikes. The movie had been put on hold indefinitely and Olivia’s dreams of building a career had stalled. She’d come back home and Jackson had moved on with his celebrity life. Now Olivia was stuck in limbo – or Franklin Grove, as they usually called it.
‘He sounded really wistful, like . . . like he was missing me.’ Olivia’s eyes glimmered, but she didn’t cry. Instead, she talked even faster. ‘I didn’t know what to say to that. So I thought, just to break the tension, I’d mention that book Holly was talking about at the picnic.’
‘Bare Throats at Sunset ?’ Ivy groaned. ‘Now there’s a romantic subject.’
‘That’s not the problem.’ Olivia shook her head. ‘He said he’d look out for it, but Ivy – the strangest thing of all was what he said just before hanging up.’ She finally stopped talking, her blue eyes wide and filled with panic.
Ivy frowned, feeling all her protective instincts rising. Hollywood mega-star or not, if Jackson Caulfield has said or done anything to hurt my sister . . .
‘He warned me to look out for vampires.’
‘What?!’ Ivy’s jaw dropped open.
‘I know!’ Olivia nodded. ‘I was so shocked, but I still managed to bluff. I said, “What vampires?” But then he asked me, hadn’t I seen his chirps?’
Ivy was already twisting around to her computer to load Jackson’s BirdChirp account. BirdChirp was an online social networking group that almost everyone had an account with, from A-list stars to people as normal as the twins. Well, if you can call us normal, Ivy thought, remembering all the scrapes they managed to get into.
‘What were his chirps?’
‘He said there’s this funny blog that’s become a bit of a viral hit . . .’ Olivia’s voice trailed off as Ivy clicked Jackson’s latest link and a new web page flashed up. Its header made Ivy immediately feel her skin prickle with sweat.
Vampires . . . in Franklin Grove !
‘Oh no,’ Olivia whispered. She slumped on to Ivy’s coffin-bed.
Ivy couldn’t speak. She scrolled down the web page, horror sending chills across her skin as she read.
‘If you think vampires only live in horror stories or Transylvania, think again. They’re here, they’re in the heart of America, and they’re walking the streets of Franklin Grove. Don’t believe us? Then get your teeth stuck into our weekly update on vampire sightings that will make your BLOOD run cold . . .’
Ivy stared at the screen, reading the same words over and over again. ‘Jackson’s been chirping about this?’
‘And millions of people follow him,’ Olivia said softly.
‘No wonder the blog’s gone viral.’ Ivy felt sick as she looked down at the hundreds of comments listed under the most recent entry. ‘At this point, it’s practically an Internet disease.’ Especially where vampires are concerned.