Olivia would be fixed up in no time. This was Transylvania, home of the vampires, they were supposed to be advanced in medicine. They’ll have something special to help her . . .
Right?
Horatio hurried in with an older woman, carrying a black medical kit that would have looked sinister to Ivy if she weren’t relying on it to make her sister better. So that was why Horatio had rushed out of the room – to get help! By the way the two of them stood close together, Ivy guessed this must be Helga, the gardener Olivia had been telling her about – the one Horatio had a crush on.
Helga looked from Olivia to Ivy, shaking her head and clucking her tongue. ‘Now I see what the problem is.’ She kneeled down next to Olivia’s frail body, wringing her hands. ‘I had no idea that Miss Olivia was human!’
Are you kidding? Ivy thought. What vamp would be caught dead wearing pink from head to toe and shimmery eyeshadow? She didn’t say any of this to Helga, though. Right now, she needed the herbologist to focus on fixing her twin.
‘How could I not realise?’ Helga’s lips were pressed into a thin line. ‘It’s just that I saw her doing a spectacular somersault and it seemed so quick and agile, I thought that she must be a vampire.’
‘What somersault?’ Ivy asked. She hadn’t heard a word about any impromptu acrobatics and, besides, they were a bit far removed from Olivia’s cheerleading practice for that sort of thing.
‘The one after she fell out of the tree. I think she was trying not to squish any of my plants.’ Helga shook her head. ‘But all I cared about was that she was all right.’
Falling out of a tree? Performing somersaults? Apparently Olivia’s day had been more eventful than she’d let on. Ivy smiled weakly. ‘That’s my sister for you.’
‘So when she got the allergic reaction to the Bloodbite Nettles, I gave her medicine meant for vampires instead of humans. That’s why she passed out.’
‘Oh no!’ Ivy felt a stab of worry. ‘That sounds serious. Can you help her?’ She knew that any remedy meant for a vampire was probably three times weaker than one intended for humans, because vampires had faster, stronger immune systems. Olivia would have felt OK for a while, but then her symptoms would have come back – much stronger.
‘You have to help her!’ Ivy wanted to reach out and shake Helga, but the gardener was already busy pulling instruments out of her big black bag. She lined up different shaped bottles and bags of herbs on the floor. A bitter smell wafted up from the mix of Helga’s ingredients. ‘Oh yes.’ Helga furrowed her brow and pressed her hand to Olivia’s forehead. ‘It can be fixed. I’m going to need some help doing it, that’s all. And Horatio has already helped carry in my bag for me.’ Her eyes flicked up to Horatio, who seemed to glow at the mention of his name.
‘Count me in,’ said Ivy, giving her sister’s hand a squeeze. But Olivia was still out cold. Her fingers lay limp and lifeless in Ivy’s grip.
Helga handed Ivy a small kettle and a warming plate. ‘First, we’ll need to create a hot poultice to apply to the site of the infection.’ She pointed to Olivia’s legs, which were red and bumpy. Ivy hadn’t noticed that in the dim candlelight downstairs! Ouch!
Ivy used her closed coffin as a workstation, following Helga’s directions to mix sagebrush, crushed rose thorn and orchid petals with a spoonful of pine-tree sap. She stirred it, letting it warm on the hot plate. Then, as Helga instructed, she brushed the ointment on to a bandage that Helga pressed against Olivia’s legs.
‘I’m impressed.’ Helga nodded approvingly at Ivy’s work. ‘Have you done this before?’
Ivy shook her head as she helped secure the compress, careful to control her super-strength so that she wouldn’t hurt her sister. ‘No, I don’t know anything about vampire medicine.’
‘Even more impressive. You have natural instincts. You could be a vampire healer one day.’ Helga sniffed one of the medicine bottles before putting it away.
Horatio took a slight step forwards, leaning over Helga’s shoulder to check their progress. ‘Anything I can do?’ he asked.
Helga waved him back. ‘Not yet, not yet.’ There was no room for a Frankenstein’s monster-sized vampire in the mix; there was barely enough for Helga and Ivy.
Ivy helped the herbologist replace the caps on a set of silver bottles. ‘I didn’t know there even were vampire healers.’
‘I didn’t either.’ Helga passed Ivy a pestle and mortar and something that looked like catnip. ‘Until I found my calling at Wallachia.’
Ivy stopped crushing the catnip. ‘You went to Wallachia?’
Helga used a thermometer to check Olivia’s temperature, nodding. ‘It’s a great place to learn vocational skills and find your passion. At least, it worked for me. It’s not all pearls and snooty vamps, you know.’ Helga winked. ‘And even if you didn’t want to pursue healing, Wallachia offers courses of study in any subject imaginable – with the highest standards of teaching.’ She sat back on her heels, thinking. ‘I remember when I was your age – so many possibilities.’
Ivy took a deep breath. ‘Are you happy?’ She handed back the crushed herb.
Helga smiled. ‘It’s my calling.’ She sprinkled the herb on a fresh bandage. ‘And now for the final touch.’
Ivy helped Helga apply a new poultice to Olivia’s legs. As if by magic, the colour started coming back into Olivia’s cheeks and, seconds later, her eyelashes fluttered. Another moment passed and Olivia slowly opened her eyes. She looked at Ivy, who wanted to hold her hand as tightly as she could, but kept her grip gentle. Olivia was even more fragile than she’d thought!
‘Welcome back, Miss Olivia. You should have told me you were human,’ teased Helga. ‘You gave us quite a scare!’ She collected the rest of her bottles and ointments and stashed them back in her medicine bag.
‘Oh.’ Olivia looked confused. ‘I thought it was obvious.’ Ivy laughed.
‘I’ll give you two a moment,’ said Helga.