What is he doing in the mall? By himself? Ivy thought. The third Dark Violet album wasn’t available until next week and he’d already bought the new sarcophagus racing game. They’d had a tournament yesterday which Ivy had won. What else could he possibly want to buy?
Still clutching her phone, she watched him stop and look in the window of Hannah’s Homewares. He went inside but came out a few moments later empty-handed, with a determined set to his jaw. He glanced at a stationery shop, festooned in red ribbons. Could he . . . Ivy started to think, be shopping for Valentine’s?
‘Ha!’ Ivy laughed out loud.
‘What?’ Olivia asked.
‘Brendan,’ Ivy hissed.
‘In line for Jackson’s autograph?’ Olivia looked around, incredulous.
‘No, over there.’ Ivy pointed him out. He was peering in the window of the luggage store at a row of big leather purses.
Olivia giggled. ‘Looks like he’s after some material possessions to buy for you.’
‘He couldn’t be,’ Ivy replied. He knew she thought Valentine’s Day was just a made-up holiday to trick bunnies into buying mass-produced emotion.
‘OK, if he isn’t buying you a Valentine’s gift,’ Olivia said, ‘why is he staring at ladies’ luggage accessories?’
Brendan had crouched down by a display of matching green key chains, wallets and bag tags with a big sign that said ‘Leather Madness!’
Ivy pushed the call button on her phone and watched Brendan jump. He fumbled with his jacket pocket, pulled out his phone and tentatively put it to his ear.
‘Hey, Ivy,’ he said and she could hear the weirdness in his voice. Ivy watched him stop and lean against a wall. He couldn’t see her but she could see him.
‘Hey,’ she replied. ‘Whatcha doing?’
‘Not much.’ Brendan ran his hand through his hair. ‘Just hanging out at the Meat and Greet, waiting for you.’
Ivy narrowed her eyes. Something was definitely going on. ‘But we’re not supposed to be meeting there for another two hours.’
‘Uh, yeah.’ He pushed himself off the wall and started pacing. ‘Since you’re leaving tonight, I don’t want to miss a single minute of our goodbye lunch.’
At the mention of ‘goodbye’, Ivy felt the bats fluttering in her tummy for the thousandth time. A few weeks ago, she and Olivia had done everything they could think of to find out about their real parents. It took a lot of work and a little luck but they finally discovered that the dad Ivy had grown up with, the dad she thought was her adoptive vampire father, was actually their real father. And, to top it all off, he was the son of a Transylvanian Count. To him, it was no big deal, but to Ivy and Olivia it was unbelievable. Suddenly, they were vampire royalty!
After much pestering, he had agreed to write to his parents with the whole Ivy and Olivia story, even though he hadn’t spoken to them in years. ‘If it will make you happy,’ their dad had said.
‘I know you have to go,’ Brendan said quietly into the phone now, ‘but I’m really going to miss you.’
‘I’ll miss you, too,’ Ivy replied. It would be the only time they’d been apart since he’d asked her out on their first date to the mall. But it would be worth it. She really wanted to know what her grandparents – the Count and Countess – were like.
Ivy had memorised the letter her grandmother had sent back:
Dear Karl,
Your father and I would be so grateful to meet our granddaughters and welcome them into the family. Let us ignore the past. We enclose three first-class tickets leaving next month, in the hope that you will visit us.
Love,
Mother
Ivy instinctively reached for the ring that she wore around her neck; Olivia had an identical one. Matching emerald rings with their family symbol – the outline of an eye with a V in the middle – engraved inside. After a lifetime of not knowing, she was finally going to find out where she came from.
This week in Europe was going to be killer, but first she had to figure out what her boyfriend was up to.
‘So what’s the burger special today?’ Ivy asked innocently, seeing how far he would go to conceal where he was. Olivia covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.
‘It’s, uh . . .’ Brendan looked around frantically. ‘Green leather madness,’ he blurted.
Ivy snorted. ‘That doesn’t sound very appetising.’
‘Well, I’m not going to order one,’ he replied.
‘It doesn’t sound like you’re at the Meat and Greet,’ Ivy tried again. ‘I can’t hear any music in the background.’
‘I think they’ve turned it off for a minute,’ Brendan replied, talking faster and faster.
Ivy decided to let him off the hook. He wasn’t going to confess. ‘OK, well, I’ll see you at noon,’ she said.
‘OK, bye,’ he almost shouted and Ivy watched him collapse against the wall.
‘He would not keep it a secret if he wasn’t shopping for you,’ Olivia pointed out.
Ivy saw him stride away. ‘I’m going after him,’ she declared.
‘I’ll be here,’ Olivia said, looking morosely at the line in front of her.
‘With me!’ said Janie. ‘Another candy heart?’
Ivy darted across the lobby after Brendan, pressing herself against the walls. She followed him at a safe distance down the east wing of the mall. She had to be extra careful; Brendan was a vampire, after all, and might be able to sense her if she got too close.
What do spies in movies do? Ivy thought. Melt into the crowd. She looked down at her black skirt and heavy boots. Well, that’s not gonna happen. She’d just have to be . . . discreet.
Brendan went into Trudy’s Beauty Palace and Ivy ducked in and hid behind a rack of shampoo bottles. She peered between two mannequin heads displaying blonde wigs to see Brendan browsing the accessories in the glass counter. There were sparkly bracelets, dangly earrings, rings and brooches – nothing that her gorgeous goth boyfriend would ever buy for himself.
Oh my darkness! Ivy thought. He must be shopping for Valentine’s.
Brendan turned around and Ivy ducked behind the hair pieces, just in time.
If he’s buying me something, I have to buy him something, Ivy realised. A present that is as good as whatever he gets me. As Brendan left the store empty-handed, Ivy decided she had to follow him until she saw what he bought.