‘Come on, Ivy!’ Olivia was bouncing on the spot. ‘Tessa is coming.’
This could be a chance to watch Alex with Olivia, Ivy thought. I can see what he’s trying to do.
‘OK,’ she said, ‘I’ll come, but not until I’ve eaten my porridge.’
Wow, these Transylvanians are good, Olivia thought as she skated along steadily.
A few of the prince’s friends had arrived on the frozen lake, joining Olivia, Ivy, Alex, Tessa and Nadia, the other young maid. A blond guy with a buzz cut was skating backwards in sync with a red-headed girl, both with one leg out in an arabesque. Another two girls were practising spins in the middle. One of them had her black hair slicked back in a high, long ponytail and her dark silver coat looked almost metallic. Her friend had on a black-and-white patterned coat and a black beret. They looked like Olympic gold medallists who had skated right off the catwalk.
Except, Olivia thought, it would be cheating if they actually competed in the Olympics because of the whole vampire super powers thing.
‘Come on, Olivia!’ called Alex. ‘Show us what you can do!’
Olivia smiled and looked at the red-headed girl, who was now doing a fast spin. ‘I can’t compete with that!’
She sped up a little bit and let Alex take her arms to push her even faster. Olivia hadn’t icestated much, but her cheerleader’s balance and grace helped her to at least keep up with the vampires.
As they sped across the ice together into the wind, the white of the snow, the brown of the trees and the blue of the sky smeared across her vision. It was another moment that she wished Jackson could have been a part of.
Jackson, Olivia thought. I’ve got to tell Alex. Ivy’s warnings had spooked her; it was best that she explain to the prince about her boyfriend back home. But just when she was about to say something, Ivy skated over with Tessa.
Or Tessa skated and Ivy sort of shuffled and fell forwards, clutching Tessa’s arm. Tessa was wearing a cosy-looking, well-loved wool coat with big black buttons.
‘I thought you vampires were supposed to be good at all things athletic,’ Olivia teased Ivy.
Tessa grinned. ‘It’s not her body; it’s her mind. She’s got the Fear.’
‘After my episode in the mall, and a little slip earlier today –’ Ivy grimaced – ‘I don’t want to fall on my already sore butt.’
Olivia chuckled but Alex didn’t seem to be listening.
‘Hello . . . Your Highness,’ Tessa said.
‘Uh, h-hello, Tessa,’ he said. Olivia was surprised to hear Alex stutter. It sounded as though he was going to say something else but was holding back. He offered a quick nod that was almost a bow. ‘Excuse me.’ Then he skated away towards his friends.
‘I should go, too,’ said Tessa. ‘I’ll get back to the kitchen.’
Why is everyone leaving? Olivia wondered.
Ivy frowned and called after Tessa, ‘Don’t go!’ But she was already zooming away.
‘Alex was so rude to Tessa just then,’ Ivy declared and started awkwardly skating after Tessa towards the edge of the lake.
Olivia hadn’t noticed. ‘What? How was he rude? No, I’m sure he didn’t mean anything.’ When Ivy wobbled she held out her hand for her sister to hold on to.
Ivy shot a look over at Alex and his friends.
The girl with the slick ponytail was sniggering. ‘And did you see her ancient coat?’ they overheard the girl say.
‘See?’ Ivy hissed. ‘Alex and his friends don’t want to be around Tessa because she’s a servant.’
‘That’s too harsh,’ Olivia replied, as they neared the frozen mud and grass that surrounded the lake. ‘Alex didn’t say anything bad about her. He probably just wants to spend time with everyone equally.’
Ivy almost collapsed on to the ground and started unlacing her boots. ‘You saw how his mother acted towards Tessa last night at dinner.’
Olivia looked back at the group, laughing and playing tag. It definitely wasn’t OK with her if they were being mean to someone just because of their job.
‘And are you sure you should be spending this much time with Alex?’ Ivy asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Olivia replied. She didn’t want to think that her friendship with Alex might be wrong in some way.
Ivy narrowed her eyes. ‘Well, do what feels right. Don’t let me stop you from enjoying the skating.’ Ivy waved her sister away and back on to the ice. ‘I’ll wait here.’
Olivia hesitated. ‘You sure?’ she asked.
Ivy patted the log she was sitting on. ‘Firm ground and me, we’re good friends. Besides, how often do you get to skate on a frozen lake?’
Olivia pushed off and skated smoothly round in a big loop. When she looked back over her shoulder, Ivy was watching her intently.
When Olivia turned back to where she was going, she just had time to realise she was skating straight towards Nadia, the younger maid. There was no time to change direction!
‘Move out of the way, quick!’ Olivia shrieked, waving her arms madly. But it was too late. She and Nadia crashed into each other.
Olivia landed on her backside while Nadia ended up on her front.
‘Oh my goodness,’ Olivia said, scrambling up to make sure Nadia was all right. ‘I’m so sorry!’
‘Don’t worry, miss,’ she replied. ‘I’m fine – oh!’ Her hands flew to her neck. ‘My necklace!’
Olivia scanned the ground and saw a gold chain, broken at the clasp, lying on the ice. She held up the necklace to get a closer look and was relieved to see that the clasp was just bent out of shape. ‘I can fix this,’ she declared.
‘Olivia!’ Alex called. ‘Come over here with us.’
Olivia wanted to, but she’d practically just tackled poor Nadia. She shook her head and called back, ‘I can’t, not now.’
Alex frowned but Olivia turned back to Nadia and helped her up. ‘Come with me and we’ll get this fixed,’ she said.
She skated Nadia over to the edge of the lake. Ivy was watching Alex with a scowl as she held her arm out for Olivia to hold on to. ‘That had to hurt,’ said Ivy. ‘I wonder if we’ll have twin bruises.’
Olivia rubbed her rear. ‘I’d rather not know,’ she joked.
Ice-skating on the lake was supposed to be fun, but instead it had turned into a slippery situation with Alex and Ivy and Tessa – and poor Nadia.