‘Hello, Olivia,’ Holly greeted her stiffly.
‘Um, hi,’ Olivia replied. Something was obviously wrong – but what? She’d climbed out of Ivy’s clothes and the stupid wig. But still, Holly seemed strained. Everything had been fine when ‘Ivy’ had left her. Was she mad that Olivia had been a no-show? ‘Um . . . how did you find this house?’ she asked. She knew she hadn’t shared Ivy’s address with Holly, so her new friend must have been doing some serious detective work.
‘Oh, you know, I asked around.’ Holly flipped her red-streaked hair over one shoulder. ‘I’m good at that sort of thing.’
‘OK . . . well, it’s great to see you, but this really isn’t a –’
‘I just wanted to return Ivy’s phone to her,’ said Holly. She wiggled Olivia’s mobile phone in front of her face. Olivia felt her eyes widen. She’d been in such a hurry to get Brendan out of Mister Smoothie that she’d forgotten to grab her phone from the table, which meant . . . ‘I had a most interesting conversation with somebody called Sophia?’ One of Holly’s eyebrows was raised. ‘Funny thing – she seemed to think she’d called you and not Ivy.’
Olivia’s mouth went dry.
Holly gave Olivia a tight-lipped smile. ‘I guess that you and Ivy must be so identical even your phone numbers look alike, huh?’
‘That’s right,’ said a familiar voice from behind Holly. ‘Only one digit is different. Our friends mess it up all the time.’ Olivia looked past Holly to see Ivy walking up the stone steps to her father’s mansion, rolling her darkly lined eyes. ‘Super annoying.’
Olivia’s jaw dropped. What? She tried to resist the urge to run up and tackle her sister. ‘Hey, Ivy,’ she said instead, trying to play it cool. ‘I didn’t expect you to be here so . . . soon.’ That was an understatement! Olivia hadn’t known that Ivy was planning to come home at all!
Ivy was carrying a heavy rucksack slung over her back and a straw bag with an exotic-looking plant spilling out of the top in long tendrils. A dazzling ruby-and-gold necklace sparkled at her throat. Olivia made a mental note to ask Ivy where she’d got it once things had calmed down.
Ivy smiled at Holly. ‘It’s great to see you again.’ Thank goodness for vampire hearing, thought Olivia, realising that Ivy must have picked up on the conversation while walking up the pathway. ‘I’d love to stay and chat some more, but my dad needs me inside,’ she went on, gently sliding Olivia’s phone from Holly’s outstretched hand. ‘Thanks for bringing this back.’
As Ivy disappeared inside the house, she winked at Olivia. The last thing Olivia heard was her sister calling out, ‘Dad, do we have any lavender?’
‘Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!’ Holly’s mouth was open and she looked horrified. ‘I . . . I had never seen you together and I thought that maybe you were some weirdo with a fantasy of having a twin, or worse, like, a practical joker. I didn’t mean to . . . I mean, I just thought that . . . I thought you were making fun of me!’ Holly buried her face in her hands, and when she emerged again, her eyes were glistening. ‘The only reason I came on so strong with the phone thing was that I thought you were being cruel.’ She lifted her chin and wiped smudged mascara from underneath her eyes. ‘I stand up for myself and, well . . . I was so sure I was right.’
‘It’s OK, Holly.’ Olivia patted her back. ‘I completely understand. I know someone just like that, so it’s not a big deal. I promise.’ If only Olivia could tell Holly the truth! She had only been trying to help when she’d pulled her switcheroo. But a long time ago, Ivy had broken the most important vamp rule, the First Law of the Night – Thou shall not reveal one’s true self to an outsider – so that the twins could be closer, and Olivia was not going to be the one to risk the secrecy of all vampire society.
Besides, she and Holly were getting along fine now. Why rock the boat? Maybe after this we can have a clean slate together.
She smiled at Holly. ‘Hey, I hate to run, but we’re kind of in the middle of a . . . family thing.’ Olivia chewed her lip, inwardly cringing at another kind-of-sort-of lie. This is the last one, I swear! She was glad to have a new friend, but if there was one thing she’d learned over the past few days, it was how important Ivy was to her.
‘Sure – of course!’ said Holly. She smiled and turned back up the path. ‘See you around. And sorry, again.’
Olivia closed the door, thankful that she’d somehow managed to skate by with her new friendship intact.
Inside, Olivia found Ivy kneeling by Brendan’s side with her hand on his forehead. Olivia hadn’t seen her sister look so anxious since it had been her who was sick.
‘Ivy?’ Olivia asked gently, rubbing her twin’s back.
Ivy took Olivia’s hand and got to her feet. They hugged and Olivia wished that she never had to let her sister go ever. But Ivy broke the moment. ‘I have something I need to do for Brendan in the kitchen,’ she said, casting one last glance in her boyfriend’s direction before pulling a leafy plant from her pocket. ‘Can you grab me a bowl?’
Thankful to finally be doing something useful, Olivia followed her into the kitchen, hurried over to a cabinet and pulled out a large silver mixing bowl.
Ivy sprinkled the weird plant into the bowl, then began mashing it and stirring in lavender. Charles and Olivia watched her work.
‘What is that plant?’ asked Olivia, giving the mixture a sniff.
‘That’s Oxynamon.’ Ivy pushed the pestle harder into the leaves.
Olivia pinched a bit between her fingers. ‘Oxy-what-now?’
Ivy gently slapped her hand and Olivia dropped the plant back into the bowl. ‘Before I left, I ran Brendan’s symptoms by Helga. She’s working as the Herbal Science teacher at Wallachia now. This is what she recommended.’
‘For what?’ Olivia watched as Ivy sprinkled some more of the lavender into the bowlful of Oxynamon.
‘Apparently, Brendan’s symptoms are classic signs of a platelet disorder. He probably got it by eating something with too many artificial preservatives. It can be really serious for a vampire.’ Ivy shook the bowl, mixing up the ingredients.
‘Of course!’ Olivia smacked her head. ‘A few days ago Brendan said he had a stomach ache after he’d eaten that Taurus Bar.’ Olivia shuddered at the memory of the bar’s foul smell. How could anyone expect to put that in their mouth and not get sick?