She heard Olivia shift in her seat and say, “I don’t think my parents should see us together. What if they notice how alike we are?”
“You two still haven’t told your parents?” Sophia asked. Ivy shrugged by way of a response. So far, Sophia was the only other person in the world who knew Ivy and Olivia were twin sisters.
Suddenly Olivia stood up, walked to the diner window, and looked outside. Then she came back and slid into the seat next to Sophia. “He’s gone,” she said. “I just saw his mom pick him up.”
“That’s the first good news I’ve heard all day,” Ivy said with relief, as the waitress appeared and set down Olivia’s cake. Ivy and Sophia both ordered burgers.
Olivia was looking thoughtful. “I’ve been wondering how come one of us is a vampire and the other human,” she said once the waitress had gone. “Is it possible for someone to be born human and then get bitten and turned into a vampire?”
“It can happen,” Ivy admitted. “But for a human to get turned into a vampire, she first has to get bitten by a vampire—and that hasn’t happened in generations. Even then, it would rely on the person surviving the vampire’s bite.”
“And that almost never happens,” Sophia put in. “It’s seriously a one-in-a-thousand chance.”
“Anyway,” Ivy said, “I know I was born a vampire.”
“How?” Olivia pressed.
“Because of her eyes,” Sophia answered matterof-factly. “Born vamps have unusual eye colors. Trans-vamps don’t.”
Olivia’s eyes suddenly lit up like she’d had an idea. She held up her spoon. “How about this? Maybe I was born a vampire too, but then I got cured!”
“Cured?” Ivy repeated. She and Sophia exchanged a grin. “Being a vamp isn’t a disease, Olivia,” Ivy explained. “It’s not like it is on TV. It’s not a curse.”
“It’s who we are,” Sophia agreed. “It’s physical. It can’t be undone.”
Olivia frowned. “So I guess that means one of our parents must have been a vampire and the other a human,” she mused. “Have siblings like us ever happened before?”
Ivy and Sophia exchanged glances.
“Um,” Ivy began, not wanting to freak her sister out. “Actually, there’s a lot of folklore about that.”
“About us?” Olivia asked.
“About humans and vampires, you know, mating,” Sophia explained.
“Most people think it can’t happen, or that . . .” Ivy hesitated and looked at Sophia for help.
“Or that a human and vampire’s offspring couldn’t survive or would have four heads or something . . . strange . . . like that,” Sophia put in helpfully.
“Hardly anyone believes the monster thing anymore,” Ivy added hurriedly, seeing a look of alarm on Olivia’s face.
“But the legends still crop up,” Sophia pointed out.
“I know,” Ivy agreed, “but it’s like vampires telling their kids that babies are delivered by bats. That isn’t true either.”
“Anyway,” Sophia said, “a vampire and a human getting together in that way is forbidden.”
“What do you mean?” asked Olivia.
“The Second Law of the Night,” Sophia answered. “A vampire is never to fall in love with a human.”
“Maybe our parents broke that rule, and that’s why they put us up for adoption,” Ivy suggested.
Sophia considered this and then nodded. “If the coffin fits . . .” she agreed.
“Isn’t there some way we can find out for sure?” Olivia wondered.
Ivy thought for a second. “Have you ever tried talking to your adoption agency?”