are secure enough that no damage will be incurred to any items while driving. I have dreamed my whole life of managing to pack with such precision, such perfection.’
‘Oh.’ Ivy gulped, looking again at the suitcases. ‘Um. Oh, the, er . . . tectonic ideal. Right. Sorry I didn’t realise. Should I take a picture?’
‘There is no need.’ Horatio shook his head. ‘I will never forget the day I displayed such excellence in my craft. I couldn’t. And I planned to tell my fiancée, Helga, all about it once I had returned to Transylvania.’ His expression crumpled. ‘But I cannot if I must destroy it before we even leave for the airport!’
‘And speaking of which . . .’ The Countess was suddenly standing beside them, giving him a stern look that made Ivy take another step back. When her grandmother looked like this – confident, powerful and seriously scary – it was suddenly easy to remember that she was one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in the world.
‘We are taking a commercial flight, Horatio,’ the Countess said, sounding as if the word ‘commercial’ was actually painful on her tongue. ‘That means that we are on someone else’s timetable.’
Oops. From the tone of her grandmother’s voice, Ivy could tell that wasn’t something the Countess was used to . . . and she obviously did not like it.
‘Of course, Madam.’ Horatio’s shoulders slumped as he turned back to Mr Galloway. ‘I do beg your pardon, sir,’ he called, ‘but I shan’t be able to use my special turtle wax after all.’ His voice trembled with emotion. ‘You cannot possibly know how much I regret this. I will post some to you the very moment I return home, however. Such a fine vehicle deserves only the best. If only –’
‘Oh, Horatio!’ Ivy couldn’t wait any longer. She threw her arms around the tall butler, overcome by affection. ‘I’m going to miss you so much.’
His arms closed around her, warm and reassuring. ‘And I you, Miss Ivy,’ he said. ‘Do take good care of yourself.’
‘I will,’ she promised. Over his shoulder, she could see Olivia giving a fierce hug to their grandmother, who looked surprised and pleased. Mr Vega looked on, nodding approvingly. It was hard to imagine that, just a year ago, their family had been so awkward around each other.
But now, they were beginning to feel like a real family.
A moment later, the Transylvanians were all sitting, dignified and straight-backed, in Horatio’s car, heading off towards the airport. As Ivy finished waving them away, she absently ran her hand through her hair . . . then groaned, as yet more confetti showered down around her shoulders.
Seriously? Where is this stuff even coming from?
That night at the Meat and Greet, the atmosphere was subdued. It had been well over ten minutes since the group arrived, without any waitress appearing to take their orders, but no one at the table had uttered a word of complaint. In fact, they’d barely spoken. As Olivia looked around at the three long faces, she shook her head. ‘I can’t believe my three vampire friends are all watching the sunset with dread in their eyes.’
Ivy’s boyfriend, Brendan, just sighed, his dark hair flopping over his forehead. Her best friend, Sophia, looked miserable even in her usual fashionista glamour, with black rhinestone earrings falling nearly to her shoulders, as she intoned gloomily:
‘It’s the last sunset.’
Olivia frowned at Ivy, who gave back half a death-squint. ‘Don’t you get it?’ Ivy asked. ‘Tomorrow, everything changes.’ She gestured sweepingly, making the bat ring on her left hand glint. ‘Tomorrow, the grass becomes blue and the sky becomes green. Tomorrow, things that always made sense just . . . stop!’
‘She’s right,’ Brendan mumbled. ‘Because tomorrow . . .’
‘We start ninth grade,’ Sophia finished. She looked as if she might be sick. ‘High school.’
‘Oh, come on!’ Olivia tried to smile at everyone. ‘Isn’t it . . . “un-vampire-y” for you guys to be feeling this kind of . . . nervousness?’
Ivy shrugged. ‘Probably. But that doesn’t really matter, does it?’
‘Not any more,’ Sophia said, her head drooping.
Ivy gave a heavy sigh. ‘I’d only just got used to being in the oldest grade at Franklin Grove Middle School. Now I’ll have to get used to being in the youngest at Franklin Grove High!’
‘. . . Which is way out on the border of town,’ Brendan added, his shoulders hunching. ‘AKA – “Next-Door to Nowhere”.’
Sophia wrinkled her nose with disapproval. ‘It’s right next to Lincoln Vale. That means a whole bunch of kids from out of town – who we’ve never even seen before – will be our new classmates.’
Ivy tipped her head on to the table, her long dark hair spilling out around her. ‘I am so not looking forward to it!’
Olivia couldn’t believe it. Ivy might wear black all the time, but her mood is never normally this dark! ‘It won’t be that bad,’ she said. Sitting forward, she tried to make sure her tone was confident. ‘You never know. Maybe you’ll love it!’
‘Oh, yeah?’ Ivy rolled her eyes. ‘Easy for you to say, Miss I-Don’t-Go-To-School-Any-More!’
Olivia blushed, shaking her head as the others joined in the gentle teasing.
‘Hey, life looks pretty good for some of us,’ Brendan grinned. ‘If you don’t even have to go to high school . . .’
‘Private tuition overseas,’ Sophia breathed longingly. ‘In other countries. Starting with England!’
‘It’s just for while I’m away on set, you guys know that.’ Olivia tried to sound casual, but she couldn’t help feeling the excitement – and the panic – bubbling up inside her.
Finally – finally! – she was going to be performing again, playing the lead role in the long-delayed Big Movie Adaptation of Eternal Sunset! Not only was it glamorous, it was going to be the biggest acting challenge of her short career. She’d play immortal vampire identical twins who both fall in love with human – mortal – twin brothers. In the story, the vampire girls would seek out the reincarnated versions of their beloved humans every one hundred years, finding and falling in love with them all over again.
I hope I can pull it off, Olivia thought – not for the first time!
At least she wouldn’t have any problems getting into the right emotional state. She would be acting opposite Jackson Caulfield – world-famous teen idol, fantastic actor . . . and Olivia’s ex-boyfriend. She wasn’t sure that all her feelings for Jackson had totally disappeared since they’d broken up earlier in the summer. Her heart still skipped a beat whenever she saw his face, even on a magazine cover. And Jackson was on the cover of a lot of magazines.
It’s going to be great for my performance, less great for my love life.
Olivia wasn’t sure how she was going to handle any of this.
‘Back with Jackson again,’ Sophia murmured, interrupting Olivia’s thoughts. ‘How cool is it that you get a second bite at the cherry?’
Olivia could feel the heat coming off her blushing cheeks. Can Sophia actually see inside my head now?
‘The “cherry”?’ Ivy snorted with laughter. ‘No, it’s “second bite at the apple”.’
Sophia frowned at Ivy. ‘I’m sure it’s “cherry”,’ she said.
Ivy