Ivy stepped out from behind the curtain and cleared her throat. Audrey sprang up from her seat and looked her up and down. “That looks deadly awesome!”
Ivy couldn’t help smiling at Audrey’s mangled speech. “You think so?” she said, turning around and looking herself over in the mirror. The top really was drop-dead—it was like a black spiderweb stretched over a shimmery gray satin camisole—but it didn’t seem to fit quite right.
Audrey held a finger up and rummaged through her purse. Finding some safety pins, she stood behind Ivy and took a handful of fabric. “Hold still,” she said and popped two pins in.
It was as if the top was transformed by a magic spell before Ivy’s eyes. It hung perfectly. “H-how did you do that?” Ivy stammered.
“Olivia says I’m a domestic goddess,” Audrey replied proudly.
Moms totally suck! thought Ivy.
A little while later, she and Audrey were sharing a table in the food court.
“So tell me about your father,” Audrey asked, sipping a Diet Coke daintily so she wouldn’t smudge her latest application of Ivy’s lipstick. Ivy put down her burger and stared at her plate. “Don’t you get along with him?” Audrey pressed.
“I usually do,” Ivy admitted. “I mean, I love him. He’s always been amazing. But it’s hard not to be mad at him lately.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to move to Europe,” Ivy answered glumly.
Audrey nodded sympathetically. “I remember when Steve told me he needed to move to Franklin Grove for work.”
“What did you do?” Ivy asked.
“I cried,” Audrey recalled. “And Olivia, well . . . she wouldn’t come out of her room for a week. It was awful.”
“Then what happened?” asked Ivy.
“Now I can’t imagine living anywhere else,” Audrey said, smiling. She reached out and put her hand on Ivy’s. “You’ll be all right,” she said. “Nothing can break the bond you and Olivia share. Not even an ocean.”
Ivy nodded bravely.
Suddenly Audrey glanced at her watch and her face fell. “Oh, my goodness, how time flies!”
As they drove out of the parking lot a little while later, she offered to take Ivy home. Ivy was about to accept when Audrey added brightly, “I could meet your father.”
“I just remembered,” Ivy improvised. “I promised Olivia before we left that I’d meet her back at your house . . . so that she could walk me home . . . for the exercise.”
“You’re sure I shouldn’t just drive you?” Audrey said, clearly disappointed.
“Maybe another day,” Ivy said as cheerily as she could.
Olivia was actually relieved to have an excuse to get out of the house. Just the sound of her mother’s voice squealing “way deadly!” to Ivy upon their return from the mall made her want to scream.
“How’d your research into our parents go?” Ivy asked as they strolled past the cemetery on the way to Ivy’s house.
“Pathetically,” Olivia answered. “You know how many sets of twins there are from Owl Creek?”
“I can think of at least one,” said Ivy. “Three,” Olivia said. “Aside from us, there’s Eddie and Freddie, who now run a pizza parlor in Chicago, and a brother and sister figure skating Roller Derby team. Want to guess what the skaters call themselves?”
Ivy made a face. “I thought we were a strange pair.”
“The Slippery Sliders,” Olivia revealed.
Ivy groaned.
“I couldn’t find any mention of us—or even a birth announcement for twin girls,” Olivia lamented. It’s hard not to be discouraged when every path we explore leads nowhere, she thought.
Ivy nodded sadly, almost like she could hear Olivia’s thoughts. Then she stopped. “Did I show you the top your mom got me?”
When Olivia shook her head, Ivy reached into her knapsack and pulled out a low-cut, supercute spiderweb thingy. She held it up in front of her and batted her thick black eyelashes.
Olivia gaped. “My mom wouldn’t let me out of the house in a shirt like that!”
“Well, she was like a vamp in a bloodbath today,” Ivy said matter-of-factly. “You should have seen her doing the zombie in the middle of Spins.”
Olivia covered her eyes with her hands. “I always thought my dad was the embarrassing one. Anyway,” she continued, determined to be mature about it, “I’m glad you two had a good time.”
Ivy nodded. Olivia looked at her. “Didn’t you?”
“Of course,” Ivy said quietly. “She was utterly great, and I ...well, I kind of found out what it was like to have a mom.” She kicked the pavement with the tip of her boot. “But Audrey’s not my mom,” she went on. “She’s yours.You’re really lucky, Olivia,” she finished in a whisper.
Olivia felt tears spring to her eyes. Yeah, I am, she thought. She wrapped Ivy’s arm in her hands and, together, they climbed Ivy’s long driveway in silence.
“Dad!” Ivy called, unlocking the enormous front door. “Olivia’s here!” Her voice echoed through the stone corridors. “Dad?”
Olivia followed Ivy to the kitchen. There, on the stone counter, lay a note.
“ ‘Darling,’ ” Ivy read aloud, “ ‘I got your message, but I had to go out. Regards to your friend Olivia.’ ”
“ ‘Your friend’?” Olivia repeated incredulously.
Ivy threw her bag on the countertop. “I can’t believe it. He’s purposely avoiding you because you’re human!” she seethed. “Well, at least we can do some more investigating into our real parents on the VVV.”
Olivia hadn’t seen her sister so mad. She shook her head. “I think we’ve had enough of parents for one week,” she said. “Why don’t we have some fun? Call Sophia and see if she can come over.”
A half hour later, the three of them were hanging out in the living room, doing impressions of the Beasts, when they were surprised by the pipeorgan doorbell ringing. Ivy ran to get it, and Olivia and Sophia followed.
“Oh, hi, Georgia,” Olivia heard Ivy say as she pulled open the front door.
“Goooood afternoon, Madame Ivy,” a voice purred.