“He’s been in hiding for the last thirteen years,” Ivy answered.
As Franklin Grove Middle School came into view in the distance, Sophia’s steps slowed. “Ivy, why do I think there’s something you’re not telling me?”
Ivy smiled shyly, relieved that her friend knew her so well. “Because there’s something I’m not telling you?” she replied.
As Sophia searched her face, Ivy took one last deep breath. She pushed her hair out of her eyes. “My dad is my dad,” she announced, the words rising into the air like smoke.
Sophia looked at her blankly.
“My dad is my real dad,” Ivy clarified.
Sophia did a double take. “You mean your father, Charles Vega, who you’ve known for your entire life...”
“... is Karl Lazar,” Ivy finished.
Sophia peered at her in disbelief. “You’re biting my neck, right?”
Ivy grinned. “No fangs, remember?”
“But why would Mr. Vega pretend to be Ivy’s adopted dad when he’s actually her real father?” Camilla asked.
“We don’t know.” Olivia frowned. “Maybe because he didn’t want Ivy to know she had a twin.”
“But why not?” Camilla pursued. All Olivia could do was shrug. She wanted to tell her friend everything she and Ivy had learned: about how their father was a vampire while their mother was a human and that he’d separated the twins after their mother had died. But she’d taken a Blood Oath never to violate the First Law of the Night, which meant she must never reveal the existence of vampires to a nonvampire. It was a bummer, because Camilla was super smart, and Olivia thought maybe she’d have some ideas about why Mr. Vega had done what he had.
Ivy and Sophia climbed the school steps. “Does your dad know you know?” Sophia asked. Ivy shook her head. “Olivia and I talked about it and agreed that we’re not telling our parents yet. Olivia’s mom is going to flap like a bat when she finds out the truth. And my dad’s already utterly uncomfortable around Olivia.”
They went inside and were walking across the lobby when Ivy heard someone call her name in a stage whisper. She looked around, but none of the students milling around the lobby was looking her way.
“Ivy! Sophia!” the voice came again.
“I think that fern is calling us,” Sophia murmured, pointing to the corner. The two of them walked over. Suddenly, a pink-nailed hand reached out and pulled Ivy behind the greenery. Olivia was huddled back there with Camilla.
“Did you tell her?” Ivy and Olivia asked each other at the same time. They nodded to each other and then had a big group hug.
“Congratulations on finding your father.” Camilla grinned at Ivy.
“Can you believe that, this whole time, their real dad’s been right in front of them?” Sophia said excitedly to Camilla, who shook her head in disbelief.
“You guys can’t tell anyone,” Olivia said seriously.
“Not even Brendan?” asked Sophia.
“Except Brendan,” Ivy replied. She was planning on telling her boyfriend after first period. She wanted to tell him in the science hallway, where he’d first asked her out. She’d made him a card, thanking him for all his support during her search for the truth.
“Must be a big secret,” said Sophia with a smirk. “After all, we’re hiding behind a fern!”
For once, Olivia didn’t smile. “Ivy and I are declaring a state of emergency; she and her dad are supposed to be moving to Europe.”
“He’s your dad, too,” Ivy reminded her gently.
Olivia nodded. “Right,” she agreed, thinking that that was going to take some getting used to. “And we’ve got less than ten days to convince him not to move.”
“We’re not going to let ourselves get split up again,” Ivy declared bravely.
“And I’m not losing my biological father now that I know who he is,” Olivia added.
Camilla and Sophia had both snapped to attention. “How can we help?” Camilla asked.
“Do you really think your dad might change his mind?” Sophia wondered.
“He has to,” Ivy answered.
“We’re going to come up with something that will make it impossible for him to leave,” said Olivia.
“Something so killer,” Ivy put in, “that he’ll be dying to stay.”
“Like what?” asked Sophia.
Ivy and Olivia looked at each other doubtfully. “That’s what we’re hoping you’ll help us figure out.” Ivy smiled weakly.
The four girls stared at one another. They were still standing there, deep in thought, when the bell for first period rang.
“Huddle,” Olivia called, and the four of them gathered close. “We’ll meet at lunch to come up with a plan,” she said.
Everyone nodded. Then Olivia prompted everyone to put a hand in the middle. “Franklin Grove or bust,” she said.
“Franklin Grove or bust!” Ivy and her friends repeated in unison, their hands pumping and then rising into the air like a starburst.
Chapter 2
After third period, Olivia was redoing her Natural Sky eye shadow in her locker mirror when out of the corner of her eye she spotted Sophia hurrying down the hall.
“Code word,” Sophia said meaningfully, her chunky digital camera swinging around her neck.
“You mean code black?” Olivia asked, referring to Sophia and Ivy’s secret lingo for an emergency meeting in the science hall bathroom.
“No.” Sophia shook her head. “Code word.”
Olivia tucked her eye shadow back into her purse. “But I don’t know the code word,” she said quizzically.
“Not code word,” Sophia said, rolling her black-lined eyes. “Code word. Code word.”
Olivia stared at her. “You Goths can be really cryptic sometimes, you know that?”
“Code word,” replied Sophia, lowering her voice to a whisper, “means we’re meeting in the library.”
“I thought we were meeting in the cafeteria,” Olivia said, slamming her locker shut.
“We were,” Sophia said as Olivia followed her down the hall, “but Ivy changed the plan.”
“Does Camilla know?”
“Ivy’s bringing her,” Sophia explained. “They just had gym together.”