06 Love Bites - My Sister the Vampire (10 page)

Ivy narrowed her eyes. ‘Well, do what feels
right. Don’t let me stop you from enjoying the skating.’ Ivy waved her sister away and back on to the ice. ‘I’ll wait here.’

Olivia hesitated. ‘You sure?’ she asked.

Ivy patted the log she was sitting on. ‘Firm ground and me, we’re good friends. Besides, how often do you get to skate on a frozen lake?’

Olivia pushed off and skated smoothly round in a big loop. When she looked back over her shoulder, Ivy was watching her intently.

When Olivia turned back to where she was going, she just had time to realise she was skating straight towards Nadia, the younger maid. There was no time to change direction!

‘Move out of the way, quick!’ Olivia shrieked, waving her arms madly. But it was too late. She and Nadia crashed into each other.

Olivia landed on her backside while Nadia ended up on her front.

‘Oh my goodness,’ Olivia said, scrambling up to make sure Nadia was all right. ‘I’m so sorry!’

‘Don’t worry, miss,’ she replied. ‘I’m fine – oh!’ Her hands flew to her neck. ‘My necklace!’

Olivia scanned the ground and saw a gold chain, broken at the clasp, lying on the ice. She held up the necklace to get a closer look and was relieved to see that the clasp was just bent out of shape. ‘I can fix this,’ she declared.

‘Olivia!’ Alex called. ‘Come over here with us.’

Olivia wanted to, but she’d practically just tackled poor Nadia. She shook her head and called back, ‘I can’t, not now.’

Alex frowned but Olivia turned back to Nadia and helped her up. ‘Come with me and we’ll get this fixed,’ she said.

She skated Nadia over to the edge of the lake. Ivy was watching Alex with a scowl as she held her arm out for Olivia to hold on to. ‘That had
to hurt,’ said Ivy. ‘I wonder if we’ll have twin bruises.’

Olivia rubbed her rear. ‘I’d rather not know,’ she joked.

Ice-skating on the lake was supposed to be fun, but instead it had turned into a slippery situation with Alex and Ivy and Tessa – and poor Nadia.

Plus, she
still
hadn’t managed to tell Alex about Jackson.

An hour later, Ivy didn’t recognise herself.

She was wearing a pink shirt with frilled sleeves, a knee-length white skirt, white woolly boots and a good layer of Santa Monica Sun in a Bottle on her face. The shirt wasn’t Olivia’s most flattering – the frills looked like jellyfish blobs – but it was pink so it would do.

There was one final touch she couldn’t go
without. She picked up Olivia’s Blush and Bashful lip gloss, took a deep breath and applied it.

This could get me into batloads of trouble,
Ivy thought,
but I need to know what Prince Alex is up to.

The idea had come to her as she was watching Olivia and Alex on the ice. She had to find out Alex’s motives.
I can’t do that as Ivy.
Alex barely seemed to notice that she existed.
But as Olivia?
She could find out a whole lot of information.

And when Olivia had rushed off with Nadia, Ivy knew it was now or never.

She practised a hair flip in the mirror, careful not to knock the feathery pink hairband.
Yup, still got it.

Olivia was busy fixing Nadia’s necklace in the servants’ quarters and Ivy knew that Alex had already come back from the lake.

As long as I don’t run into Olivia, I’ll be fine,
Ivy thought.

She started trudging down the steps to the ground floor, but then realised who she was supposed to be. She forced a little spring into her step and bounced the rest of the way.

Being Olivia takes a lot more energy than being me.

At the bottom of the stairs, Horatio was waiting, like he knew she was coming.

‘Horatio!’ Ivy said, glad she’d decided to perk up on her way down. ‘Have you seen the prince anywhere?’

Horatio frowned and peered at her, like he could sense something was wrong. Ivy guessed she had about three seconds before her cover was blown. Ivy did the only thing she could think of to do: she flipped her long brown hair.

‘I last saw him heading towards the kitchen, Miss Olivia,’ Horatio said and bowed.

‘Thanks!’ Ivy said and squeezed past him.

She hurried into the hallway, looking around
for anyone but seeing only the landscape paintings of the Carpathian mountains on the walls.

Pausing at the kitchen door and taking a deep breath, Ivy told herself,
Think pink, think perky.
She put her hand up to push open the kitchen door, but it swung open before she even touched it.

Ivy looked at her hand.
Did I do that?
She wondered if she’d manifested some crazy new vampire power, but then Prince Alex stepped through, leaving the kitchen.

Ivy just caught a glimpse of Tessa leaning against the counter with tears streaming down her cheeks. Alex’s mouth was set in a scowl, which turned to a smile when he saw Ivy – well, when he saw ‘Olivia’.

‘Hi!’ Ivy said as brightly as she could, but really wanted to shout,
What have you done to poor Tessa, you big, mean snob!

Even if he wasn’t trying to use her sister, Ivy didn’t want Olivia being friends with someone who made servants cry.

‘Hello, Olivia,’ Alex said, hastily shutting the door behind him and offering his arm. ‘Just the person I wanted to see.’

Ivy plastered on her biggest, bunniest smile and hooked her arm through his. ‘I was looking for you, too,’ she said.

Operation Royal Reveal has begun.

‘There is a book that I want to show you,’ he explained as he led her along the corridor, looking nervously over his shoulder back towards the kitchen. ‘Come with me.’ He was virtually dragging Ivy along now, and she gently freed her arm from his.

‘Lead the way!’ she said.

He pushed open a door to a room that Ivy hadn’t been in yet. It was a dimly lit, cosy library
with wood panelling, red leather chairs and books from floor to ceiling. She breathed deeply, taking in the smell of leather and dust.

Ivy touched the dark wood of the ladder that was attached to a railing high above her head. ‘This room is beautiful,’ she said.

‘It is, isn’t it? As a child, your family would allow me to come and read in here on visits.’ Alex was peering intently at one of the shelves at eye-level.

‘That’s it!’ he declared and pulled out a tall, green leather-bound book. The title was pressed into the leather in gold –
Legends of the Lazar
– and there was an ornate outline of a leafy tree.

Alex placed the book on a wooden book stand and opened it.

‘This is the oldest known version of the story I told you about, the princess in the tree.’ Alex pointed to a page of calligraphy with an intricate
big letter with vine leaves twirling around it to begin the story.

‘Oh, yes,’ Ivy said faintly. What story? Was he talking about the poem she’d heard him reciting to Olivia on the hill? She’d just have to pretend that she knew what he was talking about.

The story was in Romanian, so Ivy couldn’t read it, but the image on the opposite page was of a beautiful girl wearing flowing robes and a crown. It was enough for Ivy to guess what Alex liked about the story: a beautiful princess is rescued by a handsome prince and lives happily ever after, bossing around servants and lording it over everyone for the rest of their lives.

No more Miss Nice Olivia,
Ivy thought.
Time to get down to business.

‘So, Alex,’ Ivy said, putting on her cheeriest voice. ‘Tell me about your mother.’

Alex looked a little like a sleeping fawn that
had just had a torch shined in its face: startled and about to flee.

‘Good as new,’ Olivia declared, holding up the necklace so that Nadia could see it was fixed. Nadia had taken her to the servants’ quarters on the second floor, where she’d used pliers from the toolbox.

‘Miss Olivia, you are too kind,’ Nadia replied, putting the chain back around her neck. ‘You didn’t have to do that.’

‘It was the least I could do,’ Olivia replied. ‘And please, just call me Olivia. No “Miss”.’

Nadia nodded. ‘OK . . . Olivia.’ Then she blushed a little.

As Olivia stood up to go, she caught sight of a Romanian magazine with Jackson on the cover. Her stomach clenched. She remembered her first day filming on the movie set. Jackson
had arranged for a playlist of all her favourite songs to be playing in her trailer while she was getting ready.
He
can
be romantic and sweet
, she thought.
So why isn’t he making more of an effort?
She hadn’t heard anything else from him. Even if the phone signal was dreadful here, she couldn’t help feeling that if Jackson really cared he’d have found out the landline number or something.

‘Well, I’m sorry again about clobbering you on the ice,’ Olivia said to Nadia.

‘That’s OK. I should probably get back to work,’ Nadia said.

They gave each other a little hug and Olivia left the servants’ quarters. Her confusion about Jackson threatened to take over all the good feelings she was having being here with her family.

Ivy will be able to help,
Olivia thought.
Find Ivy.

Down the hallway, Olivia caught sight of
Horatio wiping dust off a frame that no normal-sized person would be able to reach.

‘Hey, Horatio,’ she said, hurrying over. ‘Have you seen Ivy?’

Horatio frowned at her, looking behind him and back. ‘Did you spill something, Miss Olivia?’

‘Um, no,’ she replied, wondering why he would think she had.

‘Hmmm.’ His fuzzy eyebrows furrowed. ‘I have not seen Miss Ivy recently.’

‘OK, no problem,’ she said. ‘If you see her, could you ask her to find me?’

‘I shall,’ he said and went back to his dusting. As she walked away, Olivia heard him mutter: ‘How many twins are there?’

She wandered down the corridors, asking anyone she came across about Ivy, but no one seemed to have seen her. Down one hallway,
she heard Prince Alex’s deep voice coming from a room.
Maybe he’s seen Ivy,
she thought, and headed towards the door.

‘And I’m sick of her telling me what to do all the time!’ Alex was still talking. ‘She’s a control freak, living her life through me. Doesn’t she understand? I need some freedom to make my own decisions!’ Alex sounded just like any other teenager complaining about his parents, and for a moment Ivy almost felt sorry for him – almost. But she quickly reminded herself that she was on a mission.
I’ll get the truth out of him,
she swore.
One way or another.

‘Which is why I’m so glad that you’re here,’ Alex finished, giving her a big smile.

Ah ha!
Ivy thought.
Because you want to make your mom mad!

‘Because now I have lots of excuses to leave the palace.’ Alex sat back in the chair, relaxing.

Ivy adjusted her white skirt and tugged at the pink hairband that was starting to tickle her ears. She pushed away the guilty feeling for impersonating her sister. This was important.

‘Would your mom be mad that you were spending time with me?’ Ivy asked.

Before he could answer, a panel of books swung open, making Ivy jump. Alex stood up and Ivy watched to see who was coming in with her heart pounding.

Please don’t be Olivia,
Ivy thought.

It was one of the Queen’s footmen, who bowed sharply and said, ‘Your Highness, word has been sent from the palace.’

Alex sighed.

‘You are to attend your mother immediately,’ the footman finished.

Alex looked like he was going to say something but he stopped himself. His body stiffened and Ivy realised that in front of the footman, Alex had slipped back into his role as prince. ‘Yes, of course.’ He turned to ‘Olivia’. ‘I’m sorry to leave you so abruptly.’ He gave a tense smile, and kissed Ivy’s hand. ‘Good day, Olivia. I hope to see you again soon.’

Ivy smiled and curtsied.
Just when I was about to get the confession!

Alex disappeared through the panel behind the footman.

It doesn’t matter,
Ivy thought.
It’s pretty clear from his ranting about being controlled that he is using Olivia to annoy his mother.

Now all Ivy had to do was get upstairs, de-Olivia-fy herself and then convince her sister
that Prince Alex was bad news.

But how?

She pulled open the door and blinked. She’d come face-to-face with someone. It was just like looking in a mirror.

Ivy gasped. ‘Olivia!’

‘Ivy?’ Olivia said.

‘I can’t believe you!’ Olivia stormed up the stairs to their shared bedroom, feeling hurt, confused and really, really un-perky.

‘I’m sorry,’ Ivy said.

‘You’ve said that,’ Olivia snapped.

‘If you’ll just let me explain –’ Ivy began.

Olivia whirled around, two steps above her sister. ‘This is the ultimate twin betrayal, Ivy!’

Ivy took a step down with her mouth open.

‘Switching without permission? It’s like . . . like body-snatching! Identity theft!’ Olivia marched
into their room, not even holding the door open for Ivy.

‘Please, Olivia,’ Ivy said, pushing through the doorway.