Charles breathed a sigh of relief. ‘For a moment there, I thought it was going to be something really bad.’ He rested his hand on her shoulder. ‘Don’t worry. Nothing is going to be booked until I’ve checked it with Lillian and I’m leaving the finer details all down to her judgment. For now, I just want to look into venues. Take the initiative. Carpe diem!’
Olivia mentally cringed. Sometimes Charles and her adoptive dad weren’t so different – they were both equally embarrassing with their love of Latin phrases and self-improvement. ‘So what do you think?’ he continued. ‘Are you still in? Can you look up how long it would take to sail on a barge down the Nile?’
‘A barge down the Nile!’ Olivia’s jaw dropped open. ‘Lillian is going to die! But in a good way,’ she corrected herself before she could freak out her bio-dad even more.
‘Not for many, many more centuries. She is a vampire, remember.’ Charles returned to the study while Olivia cleared a spot at the table, swooshing her finger across the computer’s keypad to bring it to life.
Olivia typed ‘barge trip down Nile’ into the search engine and clicked ‘Enter’. This is going to be the wedding of the decade, she thought. But then she remembered that she had just returned from the vampire royal wedding in Transylvania, and that too had been fabulous. I guess there’s no reason why they can’t both be utterly awe-inspiring affairs. It did seem to be the vampire way.
Olivia scrolled through the list of websites. Uh-oh. Something popped into her head. Who will I go to the wedding with? Ivy had Brendan and, until recently, she would have had Jackson. Do not think about Jackson, Olivia commanded herself. Under no circumstances should she be dwelling on the J-word. Our split was friendly. Neither of us got hurt. It’s for the best and that is that. Olivia set her mouth in a line and jotted down a list of phone numbers for Charles to try in the morning.
By the time Olivia had left Ivy’s house, the sun had dropped in the sky and was washing the clouds in soft pinks, yellows and oranges. Not a bad colour palette for a wedding, thought Olivia, wishing she had her camera.
She fished a pair of sunglasses from her tote bag. Her eyes were a little sore after so many hours staring at a computer screen. Not that she minded. Knowing exactly what Charles was up to actually made the research fun! She yawned, covering her mouth with her the back of her hand. She was wiped! It was only 6 o’clock and already she couldn’t wait to collapse into bed.
‘Olivia!’ She heard someone calling her name. She span around and there was Brendan, Ivy’s boyfriend. Olivia remembered when Ivy had been too nervous even to say ‘hello’ to the dreamy vampire boy with the long hair and chiselled chin, but now Brendan was totally in love with her sister.
‘Hey, Brendan!’ She waved. He crossed the street at super-speed, checking to make sure no one was around. Vampires! Always using their super powers even for the simplest things, thought Olivia, smiling to herself.
‘Talk to Ivy today?’ Brendan asked, chewing on a snack bar that looked a lot like chocolate.
‘Yeah.’ Olivia walked alongside him, past the intersection of Undertaker Hill and Cemetery Lane. ‘But only for a minute. She had to run to dinner. Those time differences are killing us! What is that?’ She poked at the bar.
Brendan held up the wrapper for her to see. ‘It’s a Taurus Bar. For energy.’ He took another bite. ‘There was a stand giving them away in the mall. Want some?’
Olivia clutched her throat and pretended to gag. ‘Ugh, no thanks.’ She pushed it away. ‘It smells like stale cheese crackers. And what does a vampire need an energy bar for anyway?’
Brendan shrugged, studying the shiny wrapper. ‘I don’t know. Why do I care? Who turns down free food?’
Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘Not growing teen boys, I guess.’
‘Plus, it’s high in calories,’ he said, reading. ‘And in glucosamine and oxymistine.’
‘Ummm . . .’ Olivia glanced sideways at him. ‘Are you speaking English?’
‘It’s a synthetic ingredient that helps pump oxygen around the bloodstream. Great for giving an extra boost!’ He thumped his chest with his fists.
Olivia giggled. ‘I’m not sure I want to see a vampire with extra energy!’
‘I’m training to get as buff as possible before Ivy gets back. I want to impress her!’ Brendan took the last chomp out of the Taurus Bar and strolled over to one of Franklin Grove’s community rubbish bins, where he tossed the wrapper. He brushed his hands off, smiling a sad smile as he walked back over. ‘I really miss her, you know,’ he said, wiping his mouth. ‘Even though I’m super excited she’s getting to go on this whole adventure and everything.’ Poor Brendan. Olivia felt the exact same way.
‘You know, you don’t have to do anything to impress Ivy. She thinks you’re totally cool just the way you are.’ Olivia took a hesitant step forwards, wondering if she should give him a hug, but stopped herself. I’m not sure I’ve ever hugged Brendan.
She let her arms fall to her sides. She wasn’t sure how he’d react. As Olivia pulled back, she noticed something. Brendan’s neck and forearms were splotched all over with strange grey patches. Like some kind of weird zombie rash.
She remembered the horrible reaction she’d had to the Bloodbite Nettles she’d got tangled up in back in Transylvania. The vampire plant had made her skin red and bumpy and it itched ten times worse than any case of the chicken pox. She hoped Brendan wasn’t coming down with a weird variation of that. Maybe he misses Ivy so much he’s made himself lovesick – literally!