Ivy was just finishing laying finger foods on a square black tray.
“Hey.” Olivia smiled, but as she said it the whole room seemed to go crooked. She put a hand on the counter to steady herself.
“Are you all right?” Ivy asked.
“I don’t know,” Olivia replied, “but there seems to be two of you.” And my legs feel like Jell-O, she thought.
Both of the Ivys she could see rushed over and helped Olivia into a chair. Olivia blinked hard.
“Still seeing double?” Ivy asked.
“No,” Olivia croaked. “Now there’s three of you.”
Suddenly, three Bethanys appeared in the doorway. Each one was holding Olivia’s drink with its polka-dotted umbrella.
“That’s my drink,” Olivia said, realizing that she was thirstier than ever.
“Olivia,” Ivy said slowly, “you’re already holding your drink.”
“Uh-oh,” said all the Bethanys.
“Bethany,” requested Ivy in an urgent voice, “can you go get Sophia?”
“But—”
“Now!” Ivy said.
“Not so loud.” Olivia winced. All these voices were hurting her head.
“Olivia,” Ivy said, and there were four of her now. “Listen to me. Your drink got switched with Bethany’s.”
“You mean I drank blood?” Olivia heard herself say dumbly.
“Among other things,” Ivy told her.
Suddenly the voice that was supposed to be her own started talking and Olivia couldn’t stop it. “Am I growing fangs? Am I a bat? Do I get my own coffin?” Each question echoed the moment it was spoken, and soon it seemed like a bunch of people who sounded just like her were talking over one another inside her head. Then, for some reason, all those Olivias started laughing hysterically.
As far as Ivy knew, drinking A neg shouldn’t really have any effect on a human other than grossing them out. So it must have been Bethany’s VitaVamp that was making her sister act like it was a full moon.
Ivy noticed that Mrs. Daniels had left the vitamin bottle on the counter, and she snatched it up to scan the label. “ ‘Warning,’ ” she read. “ ‘Not for human use. If ingested by a human, dizziness, nausea, and hallucinations may result for up to eight hours.’ ”
Ivy went and knelt beside her sister, whose laughter had given way to a dreamy song about bunny rabbits. “Good news, Olivia,” Ivy said. “Worst-case scenario: you’ll hallucinate for the rest of the day.”
Olivia stopped singing and nodded. “Your kitchen is sparkly,” she said happily. Then she sprang to her feet and started spinning with her head flung back.
“Are you okay?” Ivy asked nervously. “I’m great!” Olivia squealed. She clawed at the air until she found Ivy’s arm. “Let’s go back to the party!”
With a jolt, Ivy realized that that was the worst idea since the wooden stake. Olivia can’t go back in there, she thought. What if the secretary of human affairs for the Vampire Round Table and the top ASHH agent see her like this and have second thoughts? She had to get Olivia to the basement until she was acting like a human again.
Ivy looked toward the doorway desperately. She needed Sophia’s help if she was going to successfully transport her sister downstairs.
“Olivia?” Ivy said. Olivia looked all around. “I hear someone calling my name!” she whispered in wonderment.
“Olivia,” Ivy repeated, sitting her back down in her chair, “I need you to stay right here for a second. Okay?”
“Okeydoke,” chirped Olivia, planting her hands in her lap like a kindergartner.
Ivy darted back toward the living room. Just outside the door, she bumped smack into Sophia.
“What did you say to Bethany?” Sophia asked. “She said you yelled at her.”
Ivy shook her head. “It’s Olivia,” she whispered. “She drank Bethany’s drink by accident. It had VitaVamp in it!”
Sophia’s eyes widened. “Did she barf?”
“Worse,” Ivy said. “She’s temporarily lost her mind! You have to help me get her to my room!” She dragged Sophia after her to the kitchen.
Olivia’s chair was sitting there empty, and all at once Ivy’s chest felt like somebody had shoveled it full of coal. “Olivia?” she called. No answer. She said a little prayer and looked in the broom closet, but the only thing in there was the broom.
“Where is she?” said Sophia.
“I lost her,” Ivy gulped. She ran to the front hall, uncertain where she should look next. Sophia followed closely.
“Shhh!” Sophia said suddenly. “I hear something.”
Ivy froze, listening intently. From upstairs, she heard the faint sounds of her sister singing loopily. She bounded up the front stairs with Sophia right behind her. Olivia was prancing around the second floor hallway, her hands over her head. “Olivia!” Ivy called in a whisper.
“I’m a bunny!” Olivia whispered and then turned and wiggled her backside. “Hop! Hop! Hop!” she said, and bounced away.
“Olivia!” Ivy called again, chasing her.
Ivy and Sophia had almost caught up to her when Olivia suddenly stopped in front of the open door of Ivy’s father’s study, mesmerized by something inside. Ivy lunged for her, but Olivia hopped away at the last moment, and Ivy ended up belly flopping onto the floor.
Ouch! Ivy winced. Raising herself to her knees, she glanced inside the study.
Her father was standing rigidly behind his desk, his hands flat on its surface. He almost looked pink. Ivy quickly got to her feet.
“Ivy,” her father said, his voice shaking, “this floor is no place for your guests to horse around!”
“Olivia isn’t a guest,” Ivy snapped. “She’s my sister.” She felt like screaming, Why is it so hard for you to accept her? but she knew she’d better take Olivia away before her father realized what kind of shape she was in. She marched down the hall to Olivia and gently took her arm. “Come on.”
“But my ring’s there,” Olivia mumbled, nodding toward the study.
Ivy glanced down at her sister’s hand and was relieved to see that her emerald ring was still securely on her finger. “It’s right here,” she said quietly. Sophia got on the other side of Olivia, and together they started guiding her slowly back down the hallway. Ivy didn’t even look at her father as they passed his study again.