But she said she was too shy to come down ! Olivia stared, trying to understand. The text had only been sent a few minutes ago, and it had definitely made it seem like Holly was still at home – but here she was! No way could she have made the trip to the mall in the past few minutes. Why would she lie to me ?
As she watched, S. K. spotted Holly. His mouth dropped open. Then he pushed his chair back and headed straight towards her.
Oh, wow, Olivia thought. Holly will be thrilled ! Her favourite author had recognised her. She must have been to his signings before.
Holly looked anything but thrilled, though. Her eyes widened, then she ducked her head and edged away. She wasn’t fast enough to avoid the author. As he reached her, she started talking fast. Olivia couldn’t catch any of the words, but Holly’s expression was pleading.
S. K., on the other hand, looked furious. As he lectured her, his voice rose until Olivia could hear him from across the store:
‘You can’t do this! You’re making things up!’ He was almost shouting.
‘Well, so do you!’ Holly cried back. Then she seemed to catch herself, glancing nervously over her shoulder.
Olivia ducked out of sight, pulling Ivy with her. The expression on her sister’s face was grim. ‘Can you believe that?’ Ivy asked, nodding towards Holly.
Olivia gulped. This is not how today was supposed to go. Her new friend was fibbing to her, Olivia and Ivy were hiding . . . and her twin’s growing mistrust of Holly had just hardened into stone.
Worse yet, for the very first time, Olivia found herself wondering whether there was any small chance that Ivy might actually be right about her new friend.
No, she told herself. There has to be an explanation !
But as she watched Holly storm out of the bookstore, straight into the neighbouring Internet café, she couldn’t think of a single explanation that would work.
Chapter Seven
‘Perfect.’ Ivy nudged Olivia in the ribs as they watched Holly settle down at a computer terminal. Almost immediately, Holly started typing furiously – almost as if she were updating something. Could it be . . . a blog ? ‘She’s on her own now. Let’s go ask her what she’s up to.’ And see exactly what she’s typing ! Ivy thought to herself.
But her twin looked utterly miserable. ‘We can’t,’ Olivia said. ‘Didn’t you see how upset she was? I think we should give her some space. When she’s ready, she might tell us what happened. I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.’
Olivia looked as though she was about to burst into tears. Ivy could tell that she knew Holly was behaving strangely, but that she couldn’t bear to admit it. But all of a sudden, Holly was looking like a serious candidate for their mystery blogger.
I can’t believe I’ve been so slow. Ivy dared a glance at her sister. But I can’t tell Olivia. Not yet. Her twin had been so impressed by Holly. Now she looked so disappointed, just because Holly had told her one lie. Ivy could only imagine how badly Olivia would react to the suggestion that Holly might actually be the blogger who’d caused the vampires so much trouble. It could turn into the biggest fight they’d ever had.
No, Ivy would need real proof before she let Olivia even suspect what she was thinking. In the meantime, though . . . Olivia is smart, Ivy thought. All I have to do is encourage her to follow the clues that she’s been ignoring. She’ll figure out the rest of it herself – and then we won’t have to fight about it !
‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘We shouldn’t bother Holly right now. Do you have your netbook on you? There might be some fun things to look at soon. You know, if Holly has photos to share.’
‘Oh! That’s a good idea.’ Olivia practically glowed with relief. ‘I bet Holly’s uploading her snaps of the book-signing right now! She’s always putting up her photos on some social networking site.’ She sat down on a bench and unzipped her shoulder bag. ‘If we take a good look at her pictures, we might find some clues to the mystery blogger. There might be a stranger lurking in the background of a shot, or something like that!’
Ivy had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. How could Olivia be so determined to miss the obvious?
She plopped down on the bench beside Olivia. ‘What is going on?’ she groaned dramatically. ‘Why are so many people convinced that book was inspired by real vampires here in Franklin Grove?’
‘It is strange,’ Olivia agreed. ‘You guys have lived in secret all these years without attracting any trouble.’
‘So what could have gone wrong?’ Ivy said. ‘What could have changed ?’
She looked meaningfully at her sister, willing her to think it through . . . to ask herself who the newest person in town was, the one whose arrival had just happened to coincide with the blog.
But Olivia was busy sliding her netbook out of her bag. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s go sit in a café. It’ll be easier to work on a table.’
Ivy followed, biting back her frustration. It wasn’t until they’d ordered their drinks and sat down that Olivia finally answered her question.
‘I don’t know,’ she said, and shrugged, her large eyes clear and innocent. ‘I have no idea what could have changed. It’s a mystery.’
Oh, come on ! The truth was right there in front of Olivia’s face, but she was refusing to see it.
‘Here it is,’ Olivia said brightly, leaning over her netbook. ‘Holly’s social networking profile.’
‘Let’s see.’ Ivy leaned over her twin’s shoulder.
Sure enough, Holly had been uploading photos on her profile page, along with lots of plugs for the book-signing.
‘Look!’ Olivia gasped. ‘Even Holly’s heard about the blog – she’s linked her captions to it! The vampire hunter – whoever it is – must be going viral.’
Ivy raised her eyebrows and tried to trade a look with Olivia, but her twin didn’t meet her gaze.
Biting her lip, Olivia clicked through the link to the blog without a word.
‘Oh no,’ Ivy moaned. ‘What a nightmare!’
Now the blogger was asking for tips to flush out vampires! Worse yet, people all over the world had responded with their suggestions. Some of them were ridiculous . . .
‘Rope a giant wooden cross to your car roof,’ Ivy read out loud in disbelief, ‘and vampires will dive for cover ! Are these people serious?’