Star-crossed lovers! Ivy could picture her sister mooning over the impossible romance. I wonder if there is anything I can do to help Petra, after all. Ivy knew that’s what Olivia would want her to do. Leave it with me, sis, Ivy thought. The queen of romance aka Ivy’s twin sister may not have been at Wallachia Academy, but Ivy would try her best in Olivia’s absence. How hard could it be, bringing two lovebirds together? What could possibly go wrong?
After class, Ivy was making her way across the grounds, feeling thankful for her special ultra-protective vampire contacts since the sun was already beating down full force. As she walked towards the cafeteria she cast a quick look in the direction of the Gauntlet.
‘Would you cross the Gauntlet for a boy?’ a girl named Stacia was asking, as she walked by with a classmate.
‘No way,’ said her friend emphatically. ‘Have you heard? There are meant to be hidden pits in there with snakes, waiting for a victim to fall in! And the Gauntlet Ghost can scare a person to death before they even have chance to cry for help.’
Ivy glanced over at the edge of the wood. It did look pretty spooky; even haunted.
The girls were still talking. ‘Someone told me that a female student went in there once and when she came out, her hair was white with shock!’
The two of them laughed nervously. Just a bunch of silly stories, Ivy told herself, as she wandered further ahead with Petra. But still, she felt a shiver pass over her. Entering the Gauntlet wasn’t for the faint-hearted, even if the stories were made up and all you were risking was getting a nasty rash from the berries and ivy.
Petra held open a heavy antique door for Ivy and they entered the main building. It was lunchtime and after that they had Secret History, which would mean Ivy got to go at least half the day without seeing Miss Avisrova.
But as Ivy strolled down the school corridor, she suddenly caught sight of a figure lurking beside a suit of armour. Ivy nearly shrieked. It was Miss Avisrova; standing tall, erect, and completely still. She glowered at Ivy, following her with her eyes like one of those creepy portraits in a horror movie.
What is her problem? Ivy didn’t understand how or why the teacher was keeping such close tabs on her. Doesn’t she have anything else to do – like organise extra-curricular classes in Extreme Pain?
Ivy tugged Petra along. ‘Come on.’
Petra stumbled behind her, watching with puppy-dog eyes as the boys walked back to their side of the grounds. I love you, Petra mouthed at the retreating back of Etan, tracing a heart in the air.
Ivy groaned, rolling her eyes. ‘OK, OK, stop being so dramatic.’
Ivy didn’t get a chance to dwell on her looming teacher, or on Petra’s boy craziness, though, because suddenly she was too busy wondering why her classmates were all staring at her as if they were completely star struck.
‘Petra, do I have something in my teeth?’ Ivy bared her fangs for Petra to check. She’d been letting them grow back ever since entering the Academy. Usually, vampires in Franklin Grove were meticulous about filing their fangs back so that normal humans wouldn’t notice anything odd. Here, fangs were the norm and Ivy was quite enjoying the sensation of those sharp little teeth on either side of her mouth.
‘No.’ Petra giggled for the first time all day.
There was a smattering of applause as Ivy passed. Some girls even mimed bowing and worshipping at her feet. What is going on? Ivy wondered. My run in with Miss Avisrova should be yesterday’s news by now.
A slender vampire with a trendy blunt-cut fringe bounced over to Ivy with a notebook and a black marker pen. ‘Can I have your autograph?’ she asked. ‘Make it out to Anastasia.’
Ivy scribbled something unintelligible in the notebook. Somewhere between Herbal Science and lunch I must have entered the Twilight Zone, she thought.
‘Am I getting pranked?’ Ivy ducked into the cafeteria with Petra and they grabbed a couple of seats at an empty table. Ivy arranged her chair so that she didn’t have to face the entrance, but she still felt as if there was a spotlight shining right on her.
Petra pulled an electronic tablet device out of her leather bag, swiped her thumb across the screen and started scrolling. Her eyes crinkled and she kept looking from Ivy to the tablet and back to Ivy again.
‘OK, seriously, what is going on?’ Ivy demanded.
Petra’s mouth was hanging open. The girls sitting at the tables nearest them leaned in closer. ‘How did you do it?’ said Petra, shaking her head in slow motion. ‘It’s amazing. How on Earth did you do it?’
Before Ivy could ask her to explain, Petra handed her the tablet. The web browser was open to a concert review site featuring an article that covered the Pall Bearers’ show in Franklin Grove: Small town, big show: Yesterday’s Pall Bearers concert was to die for.
Oh my darkness! Ivy thumped her head with the heel of her hand. She had totally forgotten that she’d entered the competition! She’d been looking forward to that concert for so long and so had Sophia and Brendan. Ivy felt like she’d been staked. She hadn’t been there, which meant that they hadn’t got to go either.
But wait – Ivy read further down the page. From the review’s photograph, it looked as if she had attended. Because there, holding a microphone, giving half-hearted Devil’s Horns and doing her best to scream along, was her twin Olivia – dressed up as Ivy herself.
Ivy read the caption: The band brought super-fan Ivy Vega on to the stage to perform their hit single ‘I Hate You’.
Ivy set the tablet down, not sure what to think.