“Ready for the underworld?” Brendan asked Olivia, who nodded nervously.
“Wait until you see the inside,” Ivy whispered. Brendan ducked under the awning and turned
one of the claws of the gargoyle on the right. There was a series of dull clicks and thuds, and suddenly the enormous door slid open. With a grin over his shoulder, Brendan stepped into the darkness inside.
Sophia followed right behind him, and Ivy went next.
Suddenly, Olivia realized her heart was thrashing like a pom-pom. She wanted to walk into the darkness, she really did, but somehow it was just too creepy.
Ivy’s head reappeared. She flashed Olivia a devilish grin, grabbed her hand, and pulled her inside.
Ivy led her through the pitch blackness and down a flight of uneven steps. Suddenly Olivia heard the strike of a match, and a tiny flame illuminated the darkness. She saw that they were in some sort of antechamber, and it was enormous. It almost seemed impossible that such a big place could fit inside the structure she’d seen outside.
Brendan walked around, lighting a huge candle in each corner. Beneath the cathedral-like ceiling, the walls were covered with huge, strange markings carved deep into the stone, and the ground was grooved, as if a network of tiny rivers flowed through it. A small tower of stone rose like a bony finger from the center of the floor; a garland of long-dead flowers hung around it.
“T-this place is incredible,” Olivia stammered.
Each wall had an arch in its center which led to another room.
“That room,” said Ivy, pointing to the passage on the left, “is where all the urns of Brendan’s relatives are.” Olivia peeked in to see dozens of ornate stone containers, each one on its own little shelf, rising from floor to ceiling. She was overpowered by a musty smell and backed away.
Then Ivy gestured to the passage on the right. “And that one his family uses for some of their more valuable antiques.” Olivia could dimly make out an elegant chaise longue, some gleaming candelabra, and a big old wooden chest.
“But this one,” said Brendan, pointing to the middle room, “has killer acoustics.” He ducked inside and started lighting more candles. The three girls followed.
The middle room was lined with a series of life-sized bronze figures, sitting with their backs against the walls.
“Are there dead people inside those?” Olivia whispered.
Brendan shook his head with a little chuckle.
Brendan, Ivy, and Sophia each took a seat on the laps of the effigies as Olivia stood in the center of the room, looking around her in amazement and fascination. She loved the enormous tapestry of the silhouette of a huge leafless tree, which hung high up on one wall.
Finally, Olivia took a seat beside Sophia on one of the cool bronze laps. She leaned back. This is surprisingly comfortable, she thought.
Brendan opened his backpack and pulled out some plastic cups. Then he pulled out a dark bottle, uncorked it, and poured a round for himself, Sophia, and Ivy.
“Is that ...you know ...” Olivia stammered, desperately trying not to be lame. “Blood?”
“Not really,” Sophia said.
“Sophia!” Ivy exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
“It’s true!” Sophia cried. “This stuff is packed with preservatives!”
Brendan raised his cup in the air. “A toast,” he announced.
Ivy nodded. “To family,” she said, looking right at Olivia.
“To friends,” said Sophia.
“To secrets,” Olivia said, grinning.
She clinked her smoothie against her friends’ cups, and a moment later, their laughter was echoing in the crypt’s perfect acoustics.
Ivy hugged Sophia and Olivia good-bye outside the tomb. Brendan was staying behind to hang out and start working on his essay, and Olivia and Sophia had decided to walk home together, since they both lived in the same direction.
“Are you sure, Ivy?” Olivia asked. “My parents would never let me walk home alone after dark in a zillion years.”
Ivy smiled. “I’m a vampire, remember? Night’s my favorite time of day.” With a little wave, she set off across the graveyard.
Ivy stayed off the main streets, enjoying the darkness around her. She didn’t have to be home for another half hour, so she had lots of time. As she strolled, she couldn’t help thinking about how happy she felt. It was strange, because in lots of ways, it had been a terrible day: from first thing this morning, when Serena Star had tried to implicate her on national TV, to her failure to learn anything at the adoption agency. But, somehow, none of it mattered. Brendan was right: there was so much to celebrate.
He wasn’t even mad, she thought tenderly.
Chapter 10
Before she knew it, Ivy was climbing the long drive to her house. She glanced at her watch: 8:25 P.M., right on time. Her dad’s car still wasn’t back, though, so she reached into her bag for her keys. After a few seconds of rummaging, she realized she hadn’t gotten them back from Olivia.
No big deal, she thought. She would just have to climb in through her bedroom window. Ivy calmly walked around to the back of the house but was shocked to find that her window was closed. With a jolt, she remembered that she’d closed it after pushing Olivia out, so that her dad wouldn’t catch them.
Ivy scanned the back of the house, and noticed that the window of her father’s second floor office was open. She smiled to herself. I have to admit, being a vampire is pretty killer. After all . . . she thought, taking a few steps back and peering around to make sure no one was watching, ...it means I can do this.
A superhuge leap landed her feet first on the second floor window ledge. Ivy deftly swung herself inside and shut the window. She wound her way down through the house, pausing in the kitchen to grab a cookie.