‘Well . . .’ Olivia began. Then she stopped, as Mr Abbott’s head suddenly lolled forwards.
Ivy gasped as he began to fall face first into his cereal bowl . . .
. . . Only to catch himself just in time. He jerked back as he grunted awake, sending his silver spoon flying through the air, too high and fast for any human to catch.
But none of the Vegas were human.
Charles Vega’s hand flashed up with vampire speed and snatched the spoon from mid-air.
Uh-oh. Ivy stared at her father. That was a mistake. A real human couldn’t have done that!
Next to Charles, Lillian was visibly wincing, while Olivia looked just as alarmed as Ivy felt. Talk about a vampire giveaway! Even Charles seemed to realise his mistake. He gave the spoon in his hand a stern glance, looking as annoyed as if he’d found a shoe in his closet that wasn’t perfectly polished.
Luckily, Mr Abbott was clearly too zonked to have noticed. There’s one advantage of jet lag, Ivy thought ruefully. It keeps you from noticing the vampires all around you!
‘Whew.’ Mrs Abbott walked back into the room, her face still pink and damp-looking. ‘I can’t believe how tired I am.’
‘I can imagine.’ Lillian Vega smiled sympathetically. ‘I’ve been on enough red-eye flights for my own movie jobs. I know exactly how difficult jet lag can be.’
‘Do you know, I’m so exhausted, I’m actually having hallucinations.’ Mrs Abbott collapsed back on to her stool at the breakfast bar, rubbing her eyes. ‘As I was walking past Ivy’s room, I could have sworn I saw a coffin inside!’
Oops. I must have forgotten to close my bedroom door. ‘Ha! Ha.’ Ivy almost choked on her forced laughter. ‘Just imagine! A coffin in a bedroom. Isn’t that funny?’
But she cringed at the look her father gave her. This one was the look he had when something really serious went wrong, like a stain on one of his silk shirts.
‘What were you thinking?’ Olivia hissed into her ear. ‘You know you need to keep your door locked when you have “bunny-company” around the house!’
‘Did you just say something about bunnies, sweetheart?’ Mrs Abbott frowned at Olivia as she picked up her last piece of toast. ‘Or was I imagining that, too?’
Olivia’s cheeks flushed. ‘Umm . . .’
Her adoptive mother stared at her. ‘Why would you be talking to Ivy about rabbits?’
Lillian leaned forwards, gracious as always, to rescue the situation. ‘You must tell me,’ she said to Mrs Abbott, ‘what did you think of London’s sights?’
‘Oh, London . . .’ Mrs Abbott gave a sigh of delight. ‘It was amazing. The culture! The architecture! The –’
‘I’ll just clear up,’ Ivy mumbled, as she felt her dad’s disapproving gaze lingering on her.
‘I’ll help.’ Olivia bounced to her feet. ‘I can’t sit still anyway!’
‘Thanks.’ As Ivy started gathering up plates, she gave her dad an apologetic look. ‘Sorry,’ she said in a low voice, aiming her words at both him and Olivia. ‘It’s been such a crazy time, I’m just a little absent-minded right now.’
Olivia’s adoptive parents might be wonderful people, but they were still bunnies – humans who weren’t in on the vampire secret – and they could never be allowed to find out. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have forgotten to close the door of her bedroom.
Ivy had just started high school, though . . . and the circumstances were anything but ‘normal’.
Olivia’s energy seemed to dim a bit for the first time since she’d arrived. ‘Is high school really as tough as you said in our Lonely Echo chats?’
‘Just wait until tomorrow,’ Ivy told her, as Charles joined in with the others’ conversation. ‘You’ll see for yourself. And wait until the homework starts rolling in – you’ll need to learn how to write while wearing gloves!’
Olivia blinked, then shook her head. ‘OK, it can’t just be jet lag. That comment made no sense at all.’
‘Trust me.’ Ivy leaned close to whisper in her twin’s ear. ‘Even my RHP’ – Rapid Healing Process – ‘struggles to keep up with all the paper-cuts I’m getting from the mountains of essays.’
‘Ouch.’ Olivia sighed as she picked up the last of the plates. ‘Well, I’m still not dreading the new school . . . but I really wish I could take a day off to recover after all my travelling.’
‘What?!’ Charles and Mrs Abbott both broke off at once to turn on Olivia.