Olivia drew in a sharp breath. ‘That’s it! Aunt Rebecca, we can have a barn-dance theme! No one in Franklin Grove will expect it. Maybe that will bring everyone together!’ Olivia gave her aunt a giant bear hug. Maybe it was a good idea to come away for the day after all.
New dance theme? Check! Now all she had to do was deal with the mean girls . . . and find out what was bothering Ivy . . . and talk to Jackson. Gulp!
Ivy scraped sawdust off the back of her trousers. How utterly embarrassing. Brendan wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her close. Ivy was so not into the damsel-in-distress thing, but she guessed if she had to be saved, it might as well be a goth-gorgeous guy with skin the colour of pure white marble and high cheekbones that made picture-perfect valleys in his handsome face.
Ivy glanced up at her boyfriend. ‘I’m fine.’ She pulled away. ‘Really,’ she said after seeing the worried look on Brendan’s face. ‘It’s my super-strong powers acting up again.’ At all the wrong moments, Ivy added in her head.
‘Super-strong powers?’ Brendan’s eyebrows swooped up.
This was going to take some explaining. She looked to her father for help.
Charles gave a slight nod. ‘You’ll have to excuse me,’ he said, clearing his throat, ‘but I should go back to check on my parents.’
Ivy took Brendan’s hand and led him to the big porch that wrapped around the main house, where they plopped down on one of the swing seats. Ivy let her boots dangle as Brendan pushed the swing back and forth, his fingers still curled around hers.
‘When I told you about Wallachia Academy, I might have left out a few parts.’
‘Oh?’ Brendan’s eyebrows shot up beneath his hair.
‘Apparently my powers accelerate as I get older,’ she told Brendan. ‘It’s a part of being one of the gentry of Transylvania. It’s pretty freaky, really,’ Ivy admitted. ‘It doesn’t happen to most vampires. I accidentally broke a glass in my bare hand at Mister Smoothie the other day.’ Ivy laughed uncomfortably. ‘So anyway, that’s why I’ve been invited to finishing school – to learn to control them.’
‘Ivy!’ He stopped the swing. ‘Then that absolutely means you have to go. If you know this about yourself, isn’t it your duty to learn to control your powers? Do you want to risk blowing the vampire secret wide open?’
‘Are you being serious? I thought you didn’t want me to go.’
Brendan’s smile faltered. ‘I didn’t want you to go, but that was before you told me about your powers.’ He shook his head, staring out at the horizon.
‘What’s wrong? Why are you reacting like this?’ Ivy asked.
Brendan’s face was turning red. ‘Can’t you see, Ivy?’ He said quietly. ‘You owe it to everyone to learn to control your powers. If the vampire secret at Franklin Grove got out because you gave the game away, everyone would suffer.’
Ivy couldn’t believe Brendan was making out she was in danger of letting down every vampire she knew.
‘I’m sorry you feel that way,’ she said.
Brendan turned to face her. ‘It’s not about how I feel. It’s about the truth. I don’t want you to be far away from me, but if it’s for a really important reason . . .’
‘We’ve never, ever argued before,’ Ivy said, sadness leaking through her.
‘We’re not arguing now.’ Brendan’s rigid expression softened. ‘But I’m going to tell you when I think you’re wrong.’
‘So if we’ve never argued . . .’ Ivy poked her finger into Brendan’s ribs, trying to get him to laugh. She needed this mood to change super-fast. ‘Does this mean I’m never wrong?’
Brendan swatted her away. ‘This isn’t funny, Ivy. For one thing, Olivia knows something’s up and she’s been asking me awkward questions. I don’t want to be stuck in the middle. I mean, how bad does it have to be when one twin is asking the other twin’s boyfriend what’s going on? Please . . .’ He pressed his palms together. ‘For my sake as well as Olivia’s, can you just come clean with your sister? If you do decide to leave the country, at least warn her. It might break a vampire rule, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be breaking a much bigger twin-sister code if you sit back and do nothing. You shouldn’t be lying to your sister, no matter what your grandparents say.’
Ivy couldn’t have been more surprised if Brendan had popped out of her coffin. He had never lectured her and she wasn’t sure she liked him mixing the role of schoolteacher and boyfriend. Brendan pulled Ivy into his chest, but it felt clumsy instead of comfortable.
She felt his warm breath tickle her ear. ‘It’ll be fine,’ he whispered. ‘The two of us can enjoy one last perfect night at the dance before you leave for Transylvania. Deal?’
‘Oh my darkness.’ Ivy sat up straight. ‘Now I know you’re joking!’
Brendan looked like he’d been staked. His face got splotchy.
‘What?’ Ivy asked, confused.
Without a word, Brendan pushed off from the swing, shoved his hands in the pouch of his black sweatshirt and walked inside the house.
‘Brendan!’ she called. Have I hurt his feelings about the dance? This is crazy!
The screen door clattered shut behind him and any ounce of happiness leaked out of Ivy. Her boyfriend wasn’t coming back. He thought she was wrong and that she was being selfish and that she should spend who-knew-how-long across the ocean at Wallachia Academy. She pushed the swing with the tips of her toes, staring at the empty spot beside her. Pinks, purples and oranges spread over the sky. As Ivy watched the beautiful sunset lighting up the ranch, she wondered: How and when did everything start to go so wrong?
Chapter Eight
‘Can everyone please take a seat!’ Wrangling a roomful of chatty girls was no easy task for Olivia. She was standing at the front of the common room, waiting to start the committee meeting, but the room was buzzing with so much excitement she could hardly get a word in! ‘We only have a few days left, people!’ She clapped several times. Chairs screeched, heels clacked, and at last it was quiet enough for Olivia to speak.
Before she began, Olivia chanced one quick glance at Lucrezia, Melinda and Veronica, sitting in the front row wearing three matching sneers. Wait till they hear what I have to suggest.