‘Jackson, Amy insisted.
‘Bye,’ Olivia said quietly.
‘Bye.’ He waved as he walked away.
She was about to spend yet another week away from Jackson in Transylvania, and he didn’t even seem to care that much. As she walked out of the store, past the rows of Jackson Caulfield books, DVDs and posters, Olivia felt like a deflated balloon.
Might as well go home and finish packing for the trip, she thought, but where’s Ivy? It had almost been two hours since she’d seen her sister. Olivia pulled out her phone and pushed redial.
The phone rang twice and Ivy picked up. Then Olivia heard a crash and a squeal. She yelped, holding the phone away from her ear.
‘That sounded painful!’
Operation Night Stalker was well under way. Ivy had wrapped her black scarf over her head like a ninja and she was peering around a shelf of shoes.
Her suspect was ten feet due north, staring intently at a row of belts hanging on pegs.
She’d trailed him through Midnight Clothing, the Sweet Tooth candy shop and George’s Glass Emporium but he still hadn’t bought anything. Now, he was in Batty for Beads, the accessory store, and was looking baffled by the huge range of bags, shoes, jewellery and belts.
‘Can I help you?’
The voice behind her made Ivy jump.
‘Uh, no,’ Ivy mumbled to the store assistant. ‘Just looking, thanks.’
Brendan moved out of sight.
Drat, Ivy thought. I’m going to have to follow.
She flattened her back against the end of the shoe shelf and leaned out briefly, like a SWAT team member about to storm a building.
Clear, Ivy thought. Go, go, go!
She crouched down and scurried to the end of the aisle. She had no idea which way he’d gone, so she grabbed a pocket mirror off the shelf in front of her and held it out, tilting it this way and that.
Bingo.
Brendan was over by a rack of necklaces and browsing through the semi-precious stone section. He picked up a long strand of chunky blue lapis lazuli with silver beads.
Ooh, thought Ivy. That’s a good one.
Focus! she berated herself. Don’t lose sight of the mission. She darted behind a stack of turntable shelves of beads where she could see most of the store.
Brendan was engrossed in the necklaces but, out of the corner of her eye, Ivy saw the security guard who had warned her earlier. He was walking through the entrance of the store and looking around.
I’ve been rumbled, Ivy thought, pulling the black scarf further over her face. She wondered if she should abandon the mission, but Brendan had three necklaces in his hand and seemed to be finally making a decision.
The security guard stopped to talk to the store assistant, who pointed back towards the shoes where Ivy was a moment ago.
‘She’s over there, Hank,’ Ivy heard her say.
Now Brendan was moving towards the counter and Hank was approaching Ivy’s hiding place. If she fled now, she’d miss whatever Brendan was going to buy, but if she didn’t, her cover would be blown and she might end up in mall prison.
Before she could move, her phone blared out the tune of ‘Double Trouble’. Olivia. Then several things happened at once . . .
Ivy panicked and fumbled for her phone.
Brendan started to turn around.
Hank spotted Ivy, his eyes widening.
She turned away just as she pressed the green button on her phone, desperately trying to silence it. Her foot hit the bottom of the bead display and her bag swung behind her, knocking into one of the layers of multi-coloured beads, making a great racket. She twisted back, trying to stop her bag hitting it again. Out of the corner of her eye, Ivy saw Brendan look over just as she went over on her ankle and wobbled into the rack. She tried to hold the display steady, only to tip the whole thing on top of her, crashing to the ground with a squeal, and sending little plastic globs of circles, squares and heart-shapes everywhere.
Lying on her back, surrounded by a rainbow of little plastic beads, Ivy felt like a smudge of black paint across a Picasso.
Brendan ran over to her. ‘Are you OK?’ he gasped.
Hank’s face loomed. ‘Gotcha!’
The store assistant shook her head at the mess.
‘Uh, I’m OK.’ Ivy scrambled to her feet and started collecting the beads. ‘I’m really sorry; I didn’t mean to.’ She realised her phone was still in her hand. ‘I’ll call you back,’ she whispered to her sister and hung up.
Hank stood there with his arms crossed and Brendan hurried to help the store assistant lift up the display rack.
‘This is going to take me hours,’ the assistant said.
‘No, no,’ Ivy replied. ‘I’ll do it.’
‘We’ll do it,’ said Brendan. He crouched down among the beads and started to sort them into piles.
Ivy sat next to him, picking out the four-leaf clover beads, completely embarrassed.
‘You sure you want to help this girl who was trying to mug you?’ Hank asked Brendan.
Brendan smiled. ‘She wasn’t trying to mug me, sir. She’s my girlfriend.’
That completely baffled Hank, but at least he and the store assistant left them to their sorting.
‘What’s going on?’ Brendan asked as he scooped all the alphabet beads into one of the lower racks.
Ivy opened her mouth to try to explain without actually confessing what she was doing, but nothing came to mind. ‘Uh, well, Brendan. Honestly?’ Ivy said. ‘I was stalking you.’
Brendan chuckled.
She explained how she saw him and, when he lied about where he was, she guessed he might be shopping for Valentine’s. ‘I didn’t want to be caught out as a neglectful girlfriend if you bought me a present,’ she said.
‘I know you’re not into the cheesy pink hearts stuff, but I wanted to get you something,’ Brendan said, looking embarrassed. ‘Especially because you’re gone the whole week of Valentine’s.’
Ivy felt her heart warm up. ‘Even though I made a complete bunny of myself in there, is the offer still open?’
Brendan nodded.
‘Because that lapis lazuli necklace was killer.’
Brendan grinned and let a bunch of daisy-shaped beads clatter into their slot. ‘Just promise me you’ll give up on the spy game,’ he said, smiling. ‘You’re not very good at it.’
Ivy nodded gratefully. ‘I promise.’
Maybe Valentine’s isn’t so cheesy after all, Ivy thought.