Olivia gasped. ‘Our mother’s?’
Ivy’s mind was reeling. All she’d known about her mother’s family was that they lived in a place with big trees, called Owl Creek. She’d always wanted to know more. ‘Is that why you were in Los Angeles? I can’t keep up. I didn’t know our mom had any family in LA,’ Ivy said.
‘She doesn’t.’ A female voice made all three of them jump.
Ivy looked up to see an oddly familiar-looking woman, about her dad’s age, with soft brown curls and blue eyes. She was slim and wearing faded blue jeans and a fitted red-checked shirt.
She looks like she strolled in right off the farm, Ivy thought. So why do I think I’ve seen her before?
Mr Vega stood up abruptly, knocking over the orange napkin holder. ‘I’m so glad you could make it.’ The woman didn’t make any move to shake his hand. She just stared down at Ivy and Olivia. ‘But you’re early,’ Mr Vega whispered.
‘Gosh, Charlie,’ she said out loud, looking down at her watch. ‘Seven minutes is barely early!’
Charlie!? Ivy thought. No one called her dad Charlie. Well, no one got away with doing it. Why hasn’t he corrected her?
His cheeks were colouring and Ivy could see that he was stopping himself from saying anything.
‘Besides,’ the woman went on in her soft southern drawl, ‘I’m not going to stand on the street – there’s a crazy woman shouting on her cell phone.’
‘I was just going to tell the girls about you,’ Mr Vega said, fumbling to fit the napkins back into the holder. ‘If you’d given me a little more time …’
‘Well, now you don’t have to tell them!’ the woman said brightly. ‘They can see me for themselves.’ She smiled, but the smile didn’t travel all the way to her eyes – she seemed nervous.
Olivia looked like she’d been forced to join a rival cheerleading squad and didn’t know any of the moves.
Just what is going on? Ivy had only felt this odd sensation once before, when she had come face to face with her twin sister for the first time.
Mr Vega turned to his daughters. ‘I’d hoped to prepare you better for this moment. But seeing as she is already here … Girls, I would like you to meet your Aunt Rebecca.’
Ivy finally understood. The reason this woman looked so familiar was because she looked just like their biological mother.
Olivia gasped. ‘You’re our mom’s sister.’ ‘Not just her sister.’ Rebecca paused and looked from Ivy to Olivia. ‘Her twin sister.’
Chapter Two
‘That’s me,’ said Aunt Rebecca, smiling warmly. ‘And you two are the spitting image of your mother.’
She was older, obviously, than the photo they’d seen of their mom and her hairstyle was different – but there was no denying it. She looked just like their mother, the same mischievous smile, the same oval chin. Ivy was so surprised, she couldn’t think of anything to say.
‘I didn’t know she was a twin,’ Olivia said, grabbing Ivy’s hand under the table.
A few months ago, when Ivy learned that their mother had died in childbirth, it had felt hollow, like something was missing. Aunt Rebecca was the closest she would ever get to her real mom, and she couldn’t get closer than a twin. Ivy squeezed Olivia’s hand back.
‘I wish you’d known about me,’ said Aunt Rebecca, casting a glance at Mr Vega. ‘And that I’d known about you.’
Uh oh. Ivy realised that there was some tension between the two adults. That’s why he brought us to Mr Smoothie: the First Law of the Night. No humans could ever know that vampires existed – Olivia being a rare exception – so Mr Vega had to be extra careful that Rebecca didn’t get any hint of the truth. You couldn’t get more un-vampire than neon lights and cow-shaped straw dispensers.
And Ivy guessed that was why Mr Vega never told Rebecca about the twins and separating them.
Ivy jumped in to try to break the tension.
‘Well, it’s good to meet you now.’
Mr Vega started to explain, ‘I knew she used to live in LA, but –’
‘But I moved years ago,’ Rebecca interrupted. ‘Now, can I give you both a hug?’
Ivy nodded and the twins stood up at the same time. Their aunt smelled like hay and coffee and hugged like a warm, comfy quilt. Ivy wondered if that’s what her mom’s hug would have felt like.
‘Once I realised I was in the wrong place –’ Mr Vega started but Rebecca cut him off again.
‘I want to know everything about you two,’ she said, her eyes glistening as she sat down in the booth next to Mr Vega, but with a distance between them. ‘Tell me the whole story!’
‘Well,’ Olivia began, ‘I moved with my parents – my adoptive parents – to Franklin Grove at the beginning of this school year and couldn’t believe it when I met Ivy.’
‘I bet!’ Rebecca said.
‘We were completely different but loved each other right away,’ Olivia went on. ‘It turned out to be quite useful having a twin at times.’
Aunt Rebecca’s eyes twinkled.
I wonder if she and our mom got up to some good tricks switching, Ivy thought.
Twin swaps were one of the best parts of being a twin. ‘I bet you’ve got some great stories to tell us about our mom,’ Ivy said.
‘I sure do,’ Rebecca said gently. ‘And I’ll exchange them for thirteen years of your stories.’ Her glance flickered over to Mr Vega, who had folded his arms and was frowning.
Ivy could tell that Rebecca was taking swipes at their dad, but that wasn’t fair. He had good reasons for doing what he did – he thought that humans and vampires being together only led to disaster, so he separated his daughters in order to protect them. Even though they could never explain this to Aunt Rebecca, Ivy and Olivia understood and Rebecca shouldn’t judge him for doing the best he could.
‘Dad,’ Ivy said, deliberately giving him a chance to speak. ‘How did you find Aunt Rebecca once you found out she’d moved?’
‘Well, I couldn’t give up at the first obstacle,’ he said, clearly pleased to have a chance to change the subject. ‘So I did a little asking around in the building. Eventually one of her neighbours told me she’d moved back to –’