It wasn’t simple homesickness, or that she thought the school was snooty – although it totally is. This place just wasn’t ‘her’. Ivy Vega didn’t wear cable-knit cardigans, she wasn’t afraid to talk to boys and she didn’t eat hamburgers with a baroque-style knife and fork.
She had thought it would be cool to connect with her vampy roots, but the school’s rules were so strict she hadn’t had any time to spend with her grandparents at all. And what roots are more important than my own family tree?
What was the point? Ivy leaned her head back in the coffin. She hadn’t even made any real friends.
Footsteps charged into her room. Ivan started flapping wildly and Ivy nearly leaped out of her coffin.
‘Ivy? Ivy?’ Petra was breathless.
‘Over here.’ Ivy waved.
Petra had a rucksack slung over one shoulder. She took it off, grabbed the bottom of it and shook it out violently. Plastic food-containers of all shapes and sizes spilled out on to their floor. Petra kneeled on the ground and started to sort them. ‘I didn’t know what you liked!’ she said, distractedly. She seemed flustered by the array of sandwiches, cakes, entrées and pastries. ‘So I just grabbed everything I could.’
Ivy laughed. ‘Aren’t you going to get in trouble?’
‘Are you kidding me?’ Petra handed Ivy a slice of chocolate cake and a fork. ‘After what you did for me, I owe you everything. You, Ivy Vega, are the bravest, most selfless girl I know. You made it through the Gauntlet! I bow to you!’ Petra made a grand gesture of performing exaggerated bows as if worshipping Ivy.
Ivy felt her face get hot. ‘OK, enough, enough!’ she giggled. ‘I get it. You’re totally welcome.’
Petra sat back on her heels. ‘Etan sent me a love letter! A beautiful love letter! Here, let me read it for you.’ Petra coughed twice, unfolding a wrinkled letter. ‘A-hem,’ she began to read:
My loveliest flower, Petra,
My heart yearns for the time when we can be close.
You are the sharp point to my fang. The wind beneath my bat wings. The tombstone in my crypt. I love you.
Forever and always yours,
Etan.
Petra hugged the paper, swaying back and forth. ‘Can you believe that? Isn’t that just the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard?’
Gag me, thought Ivy, thankful that her mouth was so full of cake that she couldn’t speak. The letter was way too over the top for Ivy’s taste. But in matters of the heart, to each her own.
‘I know, I was speechless too,’ said Petra, placing her hand on Ivy’s shoulder. ‘But he loves me! It’s official – he really loves me back! And none of this would have happened if you hadn’t finished the Gauntlet.’
Ivy hugged her. ‘Thanks for thinking of me. I thought I was going to die of hunger!’
‘No problem.’ Petra beamed. ‘Now excuse me . . .’ She waggled her eyebrows. ‘But I just have to go and frame this!’
She hurried out of the room, flourishing her love letter above her head. Ivy watched her leave. Petra was turning out to be a much better friend than Ivy had first imagined. It seemed like she didn’t just want to use Ivy as a cover – she really was grateful to her. Maybe this place isn’t so bad after all.
Ivy climbed back into her coffin. She was just about to shut her laptop down when she heard the ping of the Lonely Echo. Finally!
She clicked the screen and saw a pale, washed-out Olivia. ‘Ivy,’ she said. ‘I’m so glad I caught up with you.’ Something in the tone of her voice tied Ivy’s stomach in knots. ‘I’ve got some news.’
Chapter Ten
Olivia was going to need a week’s worth of Beautilicious under-eye treatment cream to get these bags to go away. Bending closer to the mirror, she prodded the two dark circles. Then she pulled away and looked around the room. Nobody else looked any better.
She was curled up in an armchair at her bio-dad’s house. Brendan was asleep and drooling on the silk couch. His parents were snoring on a cramped loveseat.
They’d been up all night. Olivia’s first instinct had been to take Brendan to the hospital right away, but she’d suddenly remembered that no way could she bring her sister’s boyfriend to a bunny hospital. That might expose the vampire secret.
Instead, Olivia had succeeded in getting Brendan to the Vegas’ house, after which Charles had inspected him and confirmed her worst fears: Brendan was seriously ill. He’d insisted Brendan stay there since the Vegas’ home was bigger and everyone would be more comfortable. Plus, he had a well-stocked vampire medicine cabinet – not that it seemed to be doing any good.
Brendan had been passed out for hours. The only sign of life was a slight twitch in his fingers. Of course, his complexion always looked corpse-like to Olivia. That much hadn’t changed. But seeing him lying there so helpless? Olivia thought even Ivy would have felt scared at that moment. She’d told her sister as much as she had dared over the Internet: how Brendan seemed to be ill but they were all taking care of him. She hadn’t told Ivy quite how ill, though. What can she do in Transylvania anyway?
Olivia smelled bacon frying and waffles cooking. Charles was in the kitchen making breakfast, but she doubted that anyone had much of an appetite. She clutched her stomach and rocked in the chair. She was worried sick about Brendan – literally!
The worst part for Olivia was that she had noticed things being wrong for days – the grey patches of skin, the feverishness, the fast talking – but she hadn’t managed to put two and two together until yesterday. Now she felt awful for not asking questions earlier. She watched Brendan sleeping. Even though she knew it was silly, she crossed her fingers, squeezed her eyes shut, and made a wish. Please let him be OK!