‘I’m late. Oh goodness, I know, I’m so late.’ Tessa smoothed her hair, tucking a hairgrip back into place.
Horatio nodded to the waiting servants and they swooped in with shiny platters of bite-sized appetisers: blood-sausage links wrapped in crescent rolls; miniature slivers of toast with pâté; and small vials of blood smoothie.
Tessa stood apart from the group and looked like she didn’t know how to proceed. Gone were the confidence and movie-star poise Ivy had seen earlier that day. In fact, she looked like the same shy serving girl Ivy had first met. She should have been commanding the room, not cowering in it. After all, it wouldn’t be long until she was Princess Tessa.
All eyes were on the bride-to-be, the silence more awkward than any Ivy had ever experienced. Tessa parted her lips and then seemed to think better of saying anything more. She even looked uncertain about whether or not she should take a seat!
‘Perhaps we should kick things off with a game,’ suggested Petra.
‘Great idea!’ Olivia clapped.
Ivy grinned to herself – not just at the sight of her twin’s excitement about party games, but because it was a Wallachia girl who had come to the rescue! She was starting to warm to Petra already. Maybe the famous school was not going to be full of stuck-up vamp girls, after all.
‘How about Secrets and Lies?’ A sly smile formed on Petra’s lips.
‘What’s that?’ asked Ivy and Olivia at the same time. They immediately both cringed. It was a little too creepily twin-tastic when they did the whole talk-in-unison thing. ‘Sorry,’ they both said. Not again!
Petra just giggled. ‘It’s this cool vampire game where one person is asked a series of very direct, very personal questions.’ She drummed her fingertips together mischievously. ‘And the person being asked is supposed to tell the truth. It’s almost impossible to lie, since vampire sensitivity and super-hearing make us experts at knowing when people are lying. We can catch all the giveaways like subtleties in voice, tone – even the most minor change in heartbeat. One teensy untruth and we’ll call the liar out!’
Ivy glanced nervously at Olivia. She didn’t want her to feel left out since she was the only non-vampire in the room, but Olivia was leaning in, her elbows propped on the table. ‘Really?’ she asked excitedly. ‘You can tell just from listening to people talk?’
‘Sure can,’ said Petra, lifting her chin.
‘You know, you guys would make killer spies!’ Olivia’s eyes were wide.
‘The game?’ reminded Ivy before Olivia went too far off-track.
‘Right,’ said Petra. ‘Maybe Tessa can start, since it’s her ceremony and all.’
Tessa backed away, waving her hands in front of her. ‘No, that’s all right. Actually, I have to excuse myself. One moment.’ She held up a finger and Ivy noticed not only the sparkly engagement ring, but the way Tessa was trembling. ‘I’ll be right back.’
Ivy watched her leave the room, her navy gown swirling behind her. Something was definitely up with Tessa, but what could it be?
Ivana shook her head slowly. ‘Tsk, tsk. How rude. And she’s supposed to be a princess ?’ She jutted her chin and stared down her nose. ‘But that’s probably just an indication of her upbringing.’
Arabella the Glamazon murmured her agreement.
Ivy opened her mouth to speak, but Petra beat her to it. ‘Sorry, Ivana. Let me get this straight. You think Tessa is rude? Not so long ago she would have been waiting on the people in this room and now she’s supposed to be sitting at the head of the table. Of course she’s going to be nervous. And people like you judging her upbringing isn’t going to help. Give her a break.’ Petra leaned back in her chair, folding her arms.
Ivy caught Petra’s eye and smiled. At least someone in this social circle was a little less uptight.
Chapter Five
Is it morning already?
Shards of light shot through the blinds like laser beams on to Olivia’s face. She buried her head in the crook of her arm, still sleepy. Maybe she wasn’t cut out to be a jet-setter. These changes in time zone were killing her!
Just as she was about to roll out of bed, Olivia stopped herself, feet dangling in mid air. In her exhausted state she had completely forgotten that she was on the top bunk of the custom-made bunk bed-and-coffin in their Transylvania bed chamber. She was so not in Franklin Grove any more.
This time, more carefully, Olivia slid her toes to where she could rest them on Ivy’s closed coffin lid and stepped softly down. Their grandparents had imported a top-of-the-line Interna-3 coffin just like Ivy used at home. They really did want the girls to feel comfortable in Transylvania.
Olivia rapped her knuckles on Ivy’s vampy version of a bed. ‘Hello? Anybody home?’ She cracked open the lid, but there was no Ivy. Was her sister up and about already? That was strange; Ivy loathed mornings. She always claimed to be allergic to ‘Before 9 a.m.’.
Olivia pulled on a denim skirt and a pale-pink V-neck. With any luck, Horatio would have a giant stack of pancakes ready and waiting. But just as her mouth was starting to water at the thought of melted butter and rich maple syrup, Olivia noticed the flickering yellow light of the desktop computer.
Ivy had left it in sleep mode.
She chewed her lip. It would be so easy to log on to the internet and check her emails. It would only take two minutes, tops. What could it hurt? Perhaps Jackson had sent her a message? I know we promised not to get in touch but . . . She couldn’t ignore the niggling ache in her heart whenever she imagined not speaking to him again. Who knew that love and romance would turn out to be so painful? Perhaps he’d been struggling too. After all, he found time to blog – wouldn’t he even be tempted to send her a message whilst he was on the computer? Or would it just make her all the more unhappy to find her inbox empty?
That settled it. She shoved a tube of lipgloss in her pocket and marched to the door. It was time to quit obsessing. I have a life, you know! But at the doorway she stopped short, a worm of curiosity wiggling into her brain. OK, maybe for just a couple of minutes . . . max.
Olivia sat down and tapped the keyboard, lighting up the screen. She held her breath as she logged on to her email. Her inbox popped up. There was an email from Camilla, one from Sophia and even one from her classmate Jenny, asking if she had any decorating tips for her cousin’s birthday party.