Olivia watched the LED display over the door that showed what floor they were on. It fell from five to one in a matter of seconds, and then it read B for basement. Then the B disappeared, and the lights went out in the elevator, plunging Olivia and her friends into complete darkness.
Brendan wailed spookily like a ghost. Olivia could feel the car continuing to plunge downward. How much lower can we go? she wondered. What if we crash into the bottom?
“Guys?” she said tentatively.
Suddenly the car jolted to a stop, and Olivia almost fell down. Ding. The red LED over the door showed an upside down V, and the door slid open.
Olivia could not believe her eyes. There was a whole other department store down here, and it was packed with Goths doing their last-minute holiday shopping!
“Welcome to Crueller’s,” Brendan said in tour guide mode, “the third-largest vamp shopping destination in North America.”
“I knew you guys had your own parts of stores, but this is...” Olivia searched for the right word, her head spinning with all the vampires and amazing vampire stuff around her. “It’s vampalicious!”
“Vampalicious!” Ivy repeated, rolling the word with her tongue. Her mouth curled into a devilish grin.
They made their way into the cosmetics department, passing a counter featuring “23 Different Shades of Pale.” Olivia looked on with interest as an aesthetician applied black lipstick to a pale-faced customer in a nurse’s uniform. An elegant vamp stepped toward them with a spray bottle. “Would you like to try some Decomposure?” the woman offered.
“No, thanks.” Olivia gawked.
They crossed into Ladies’ Fashion. On a table checkered with folded T-shirts, Olivia spotted one with an icon of an upside-down bunny rabbit that had Xs instead of eyes. She grabbed it and pressed it to her chest.
“I so have to have this,” she said.
“Are you kidding?” Sophia said, snatching the T-shirt away from her. “That’s a Paul Frankenstein. It costs a fortune!”
People kept whispering and staring at them as they passed. Olivia assumed it was because of her sherpa jacket and Moon Boots. After all, it’s not every day that a cheerleader bounces through a vamp department store. But then, as they were entering the toy department, a little black-haired girl in red glasses came up to them, with her mother standing not far behind.
“Are you Olivia and Ivy?” the little girl asked shyly.
Olivia and her sister both nodded. “We sure are,” Olivia admitted.
“Can I have your autograph for my friend?” the girl asked, holding out a piece of paper and a pen.
Right, we’re almost famous, Olivia remembered. She took the pen and smiled. “What’s your friend’s name?”
“Clarissa,” the girl said shyly. “She’s a human. She doesn’t know about vampires. But we both have pictures of you up in our rooms.”
“And what’s your name?”
“Erica,” said the girl.
Dear Clarissa, Olivia wrote in script. You and Erica are vampalicious. That word looked good on paper, too. Love, Olivia.
Olivia passed the piece of paper to Ivy, who added P.S. That means you suck.
“Just tell her it’s Goth slang,” Olivia told Erica, who grabbed the paper and ran to show her mother.
Olivia and her friends walked on. “There’s the HB,” Brendan announced suddenly. Olivia looked around, but she didn’t see anything that looked like a Holiday Bat.
Then she looked up. The vaulted ceiling was so high it disappeared into darkness, and up there, in the air, was a huge bat flying in circles, its wings flapping energetically. There were three children on its back, squealing happily.
Olivia quickened her step, and soon she found a sign that said, TO THE HOLIDAY BAT HIDEAWAY.A line of people snaked past it, and she realized that there were already dozens of children and their parents waiting for their turn on the HB.
“Come on!” Olivia said, dragging her sister down the aisle to get in line. “This is taking an eternity,” Ivy groaned. They’d already been waiting for twenty minutes, and they still weren’t close to the front of the line.
Olivia didn’t even seem to hear her, though. She was staring up at the HB with her mouth hanging open and her eyes glazed over. The people in front of them took a few steps forward. Ivy, Sophia, and Brendan did the same, but Olivia didn’t move, leaving a gap in the line.
“Take three steps forward, Batgirl,” Sophia said. Olivia obediently shuffled up without lowering her eyes.
An unsmiling guy wearing goggles and fuzzy black wings on his back walked by for the millionth time. “Please turn off all cell phones so as not to interfere with the HB’s holiday-time radar,” he said loudly. “Please tie all shoelaces and remove all scarves.” Ivy rolled her eyes toward Brendan and saw him mouthing the guy’s words. “Please do not bring food or blood on the HB.” She cracked up.
“What’s the story behind it?” Olivia said reverently. “Like, does it live at the North Pole?”
“Nope,” said Sophia. “It lives everywhere there’s darkness. In the days leading up to Christmas, little vampires everywhere whisper what they want out the window. The Holiday Bat, being a bat, has extraordinary hearing.”
“You don’t have to make a list?” Olivia asked. “You just whisper what you want for Christmas?”
“Exactly,” Sophia confirmed. “Only humans would come up with something as boring as writing a list for the holidays. Everything’s a chore with you people.”
“That’s such a stereotype!” Olivia protested. “Said the cheerleader to the vampire.” Brendan laughed.
Ivy burst out laughing, too, at that. She gave Brendan a peck on the cheek for being utterly charming.
Finally they arrived at the front of the line. Two more humorless people in goggles ushered them up to the HB, which had just landed.
“Who would like to sit in the front?” one of them asked.
Olivia’s hand shot into the air. “I would! I would!” she cried excitedly. Brendan and Sophia climbed on behind her.
“There’s room for one more,” announced one of the HB helpers.
“Let’s go, Ivy,” Olivia called.
“I’m okay,” Ivy answered. “I’d rather keep my feet on the ground.”