Ivy turned to him in disbelief. “A party?”
“Sure.” Brendan nodded. “Or have you and Olivia already celebrated the fact that you’re long-lost twin sisters?”
Ivy shook her head, and Olivia’s voice called from behind the screen, “I could use a party!”
Brendan looked at Ivy. “What do you say we go to my family’s crypt? We’ll bring some celebratory A neg for us, and we can pick up a fruit smoothie for Olivia on the way.”
Olivia emerged looking like herself again. “What’s a family crypt?”
“Lots of vamp families have their own tombs,” Ivy explained. “It’s sort of like our version of a vacation home.”
“My family’s place really sucks, though,” said Brendan. “I go there all the time just to hang out and play guitar. You’ll dig it. Seriously.”
“I’m game.” Olivia grinned. “My mom isn’t expecting me home till eight thirty.”
Ivy smiled. “Then let’s party,” she agreed.
“Does anyone else know you guys are twins?” Brendan asked.
“Well, there’s Sophia,” Ivy replied. “She figured it out weeks ago.”
“Then let’s invite her, too,” Brendan suggested. “The more, the merrier.”
You are seriously the most amazing boyfriend ever, Ivy thought.
Olivia was bending down to put on the pink mule that was lying at the bottom of the stairs. “Ivy, where’s my other shoe?” she asked.
Suddenly, Ivy heard measured footsteps approaching from upstairs. “My dad’s coming!” she cried. “He can’t see the two of us together! Olivia, you have to go!”
Brendan whispered, “You mean your dad doesn’t even know?”
Ivy practically pushed her tottering, one-shoed sister up the stairs. When they reached the landing, Ivy hoisted the window open and helped Olivia tumble out through it. She slammed the window just in time to turn and see her father descending toward her.
“Hi, Dad,” she said, trying not to sound out of breath.
“Hello, Ivy,” her father replied.
“I was, uh, just coming up to tell you that Brendan and I are going out,” Ivy told him.
Ivy’s dad glanced past her to the bottom of the stairs. Brendan gave him a friendly wave.
“What a coincidence!” Ivy’s dad said, and for a split second Ivy thought he knew something. “I am also leaving, to go and inspect Mrs. Wendell’s new curtains.”
“Great,” said Ivy nervously. “We’ll follow you out.”
Her father peered into Ivy’s eyes suspiciously. “Ivy,” he said as Ivy’s heart beat like a drum, “have you finished your homework?”
Ivy blinked. “Almost.”
“Then you’d best be back by eight thirty to finish it up,” her father said. “Shall I pick you up something for dinner?”
“No thanks, Dad. We’ll grab a bite,” Ivy said.
Ivy and Brendan exchanged nervous looks as they followed her father back up the stairs, through the house, and out the front door. Then Ivy’s dad kissed her on the forehead and got into his black convertible.
“That was close,” said Brendan as they watched the car head off down the driveway.
Then Ivy grabbed Brendan’s hand and led him around the side of the house. They found Olivia, looking slightly disheveled from having scrambled out the window, staring up at a tall bush.
“Ivy, what is my shoe doing up there?” she asked, pointing to the mule, which was lodged on a branch near the top of the bush, like a pink bat.
As she followed Brendan, Ivy, and Sophia into the oldest graveyard in Franklin Grove, Olivia glanced over her shoulder. She was still a little paranoid that Toby Decker might be following them, even though Brendan had done reconnaissance before they left Ivy’s backyard. Brendan had said Toby wasn’t lurking anywhere nearby, and they’d all agreed he must have finally given up and gone home.
Relax! she thought to herself, slurping her strawberry and mango smoothie. As she gingerly stepped over a fallen tombstone, she was really glad they’d been able to get her other shoe down from that bush.
Deep in the center of the cemetery, her friends stopped in front of a low, ancient stone building that looked like it was sinking into the ground. A series of three arches supported by ivy-entwined pillars made an awning. Beneath the center arch, Olivia could dimly make out a hulking stone door with tarnished bronze gargoyles on either side. In the middle of the door was an ornate square plate carved right into the stone, inscribed with a single word: DANIELS. The letters almost seemed to glow.
“Ready for the underworld?” Brendan asked Olivia, who nodded nervously.
“Wait until you see the inside,” Ivy whispered. Brendan ducked under the awning and turned
one of the claws of the gargoyle on the right. There was a series of dull clicks and thuds, and suddenly the enormous door slid open. With a grin over his shoulder, Brendan stepped into the darkness inside.
Sophia followed right behind him, and Ivy went next.
Suddenly, Olivia realized her heart was thrashing like a pom-pom. She wanted to walk into the darkness, she really did, but somehow it was just too creepy.
Ivy’s head reappeared. She flashed Olivia a devilish grin, grabbed her hand, and pulled her inside.
Ivy led her through the pitch blackness and down a flight of uneven steps. Suddenly Olivia heard the strike of a match, and a tiny flame illuminated the darkness. She saw that they were in some sort of antechamber, and it was enormous. It almost seemed impossible that such a big place could fit inside the structure she’d seen outside.
Brendan walked around, lighting a huge candle in each corner. Beneath the cathedral-like ceiling, the walls were covered with huge, strange markings carved deep into the stone, and the ground was grooved, as if a network of tiny rivers flowed through it. A small tower of stone rose like a bony finger from the center of the floor; a garland of long-dead flowers hung around it.
“T-this place is incredible,” Olivia stammered.
Each wall had an arch in its center which led to another room.
“That room,” said Ivy, pointing to the passage on the left, “is where all the urns of Brendan’s relatives are.” Olivia peeked in to see dozens of ornate stone containers, each one on its own little shelf, rising from floor to ceiling. She was overpowered by a musty smell and backed away.