Ivy suddenly felt disgusted. Let’s get this punishment over and done with, she thought. Then I can get away from this awful woman.
‘Miss Avisrova, aren’t I supposed to be in trouble for my adventure in the woods?’
Ivy thought that Avisrova would jump at the opportunity to scold her. Ivy had given her the perfect opening for a world-class lecture. How could she resist? But instead, Avisrova appeared to ignore Ivy’s comment altogether.
‘I’m not going to punish you,’ she said, pulling open the top drawer of her desk.
‘You’re not?’ asked Ivy slowly. This must be a trick. She watched Avisrova carefully, trying to tell if she was lying.
‘More’s the pity. No.’
She took out a thin golden necklace with a ruby pendant in the middle and handed it to Ivy. The chain was cold against Ivy’s skin. Ivy stared at it, half expecting it to bite her. Now she knew this had to be some kind of ploy, one of those punishments in disguise that some adults liked to call ‘lessons’.
‘Go on, it’s not a trick.’ Avisrova’s half-smile was smug. ‘Surprised? It’s your reward,’ she explained. ‘This ruby –’ she pointed to the red centre stone – ‘was cut from a larger gem that was recovered from the house of Count Gregario, one of the oldest vampires in history and a founding father of Wallachia Academy.’
‘Thanks,’ said Ivy, closing her fingers around the necklace. ‘But I’m not sure I understand. Why am I getting a reward for breaking the rules?’
‘Only the bravest souls and most resourceful minds can successfully navigate the Wallachia forest and the Gauntlet that has been created within. Those few who do make their way through are awarded this priceless relic; a treasure of great importance to the history of our kind. The necklace is a symbol of your physical and mental prowess. To receive the ruby necklace of Count Gregario is a huge honour. Only two other former students have ever been awarded it – and you have met them both.’
Ivy gasped. ‘Is one of them my dad?’
Avisrova nodded. ‘Yes, Charles is one of them.’
Ivy racked her brain. Which other vampires did she know who could have completed the Gauntlet? Avisrova stayed quiet at her desk. Then the answer came to Ivy. ‘You?’ she whispered, not quite sure she could believe what she was saying. ‘You’re the other one?’
A wistful smile passed over her teacher’s lips. ‘Karl and I – well, Charles and I – we found each other in the forest, both trying to get to the other side. Karl was going one way, and I the other. When we stumbled across each other we swapped tips about terrain. We both made it through, with the other’s help. I’m not sure either of us could have finished like you did, alone.’
Ivy tried to picture her Etiquette teacher dodging tripwires and swinging through trees. Was this the same woman who had been harping on about the correct arm position for ballroom dancing only one day earlier? Ivy felt her whole attitude towards Miss Avisrova shift.
‘But . . . but . . . You’ve been so furious at me for breaking rules!’ Ivy spluttered. ‘And you did the same?’
The Etiquette teacher cocked her head to one side. ‘Furious? Or impressed? I never said anything you were doing was wrong. I said “Bravo!” and gave you a round of applause. Does that sound like disapproval to you?’
‘But your tone of voice . . . It was so mean!’ Ivy protested. She found she’d got to her feet.
Her teacher shrugged. ‘A lifetime of teaching at the Academy makes it difficult for me to . . . soften my manner. I apologise. I don’t want every pupil knowing what challenges lie at the heart of Wallachia. So few are capable of meeting them, I don’t want my girls to be disappointed. But you . . . I knew you’d be different – that you’d have spirit.’
Ivy could just imagine what Brendan would have to say to that: ‘Oh yes, Ivy has spirit all right.’ She wondered what her boyfriend was doing right now, and felt a wave of homesickness.
‘Love isn’t invincible,’ Miss Avisrova continued. It was like she could read Ivy’s thoughts. Or was she really thinking about Charles Vega? ‘Love is sometimes fragile.’
‘I know that much,’ Ivy said. ‘My sister, Olivia, was crazy about her boyfriend. She had the perfect Hollywood romance. Seriously, it was like Cinderella. But the distance between them . . .’ Ivy’s voice trailed off. She knew that if she kept talking, she would start to wonder what the future held for her and Brendan. Ivy was crazy about her boyfriend, but they had an ocean between them and no private plane like Jackson to take them back and forth! ‘So anyway, um . . . well, thanks,’ she finished, snatching up her bunch of Oxynamon and dropping the ruby necklace into the pocket of her skirt.
Her hand was on the doorknob when she heard Avisrova say, ‘We first locked eyes on the polo field.’ The teacher had pulled an ancient photo album from her desk drawer and was flicking through the pages.
Ivy exhaled, returning to her seat. Yuck, she did not want to hear about her dad’s former love life! Olivia would be so much more into this gooey-gooey love story stuff. But how could Ivy leave Avisrova all alone with her memories? I’ll just stay a little bit, she thought, stroking the red jewel she’d been given with one finger. She couldn’t help feeling proud of her achievements in the forest – and Avisrova had given her the credit she’d deserved. The least she could do was listen to her teacher’s story . . .
An hour later, Ivy sat in her open coffin with her laptop on her knees. Her stomach was growling. Avisrova’s reminiscences had gone on forever, and when she’d finally finished telling Ivy about the time she and Charles had won the Academy three-legged race together, Ivy had sprinted vampire-fast to the Wallachia canteen, only to find that the staff had already cleared supper and the chairs were propped upside down on top of the tables.
Luckily I didn’t miss much, anyway. Meatloaf with blood-infused ketchup and plasma-filled dinner rolls wasn’t exactly one of her favourite meals.
Ivy rubbed her feet on the soft red velour lining of her coffin. Why wasn’t anyone signed on to the Lonely Echo program? She refreshed her list of friends in the sidebar, but no familiar names popped up with the little green ‘available’ sign. Ivy trawled the Vorld Vide Veb, checking up on some of her favourite blogs: Vintage Vampire and Transylvania Teen.
After she’d learned all she could about celebrity producer Harker’s latest film release, Setting Sun, along with the entire cast’s makeup secrets, Ivy returned to the Lonely Echo program. It was weird for all her friends to be missing and, to make matters worse, her inbox was like a ghost town. Something big had to be happening in Franklin Grove. That could be the only explanation – something big that Ivy knew nothing about. But what?
Her chest throbbed. She’d been fighting this feeling off as long as she could, but she had to come clean with herself. The truth was that Ivy felt disconnected being so far from home. Without Olivia it was like half of her was missing, and without Brendan she felt like part of her heart was on the other side of the globe.
It wasn’t simple homesickness, or that she thought the school was snooty – although it totally is. This place just wasn’t ‘her’. Ivy Vega didn’t wear cable-knit cardigans, she wasn’t afraid to talk to boys and she didn’t eat hamburgers with a baroque-style knife and fork.