Mr. Daniels quickly picked up Olivia’s veggie burger—now charred and smoking—and dangled it in the air with his tongs. “Do you think this is done?”
Olivia’s mom was planning to pick Olivia up from Ivy’s house later, so the sisters decided to walk there from Brendan’s. Most of the way, Olivia and Ivy didn’t say much. Olivia was lost in her thoughts about what it would be like to have vampire parents. The Daniels were the first vamp grown-ups she’d spent time with. In some ways, they were just like normal parents. In others, they seemed much more . . . knowing.
As they climbed the long driveway, lined with bare trees, Ivy clicked her tongue thoughtfully.
“What are you thinking about?” asked Olivia.
“ASHH,” Ivy answered. “About how maybe they’re the reason there’s no record of my adoption. They could have covered it up.”
“Why would they?”
“Maybe they were trying to bury my connection to a human sister,” Ivy said, unlocking the front door. “For all we know, they orchestrated our split from the very beginning.”
The thought sent a chill through Olivia. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim lighting in Ivy’s front hall, but her sister was already heading for the living room. Olivia hurried to catch up.
As they passed through the living room archway, Ivy stopped in her tracks, and Olivia walked right into her back. Over her sister’s shoulder, Olivia could see the back of a black-suited specter standing in the middle of the living room. It’s ASHH! Olivia thought.
The man turned and looked at the girls sternly.
“Hi, Dad,” said Ivy.
Ivy’s father just stood there. He didn’t even say hi. Finally, Ivy said, “Olivia, this is my father.” Olivia bounced over. “It’s so great to finally meet you!” she said, but Ivy could see that her father’s jaw was clenched. He forced himself to smile and, avoiding Olivia’s eyes, shook her hand once before withdrawing. It was like he didn’t even want to touch her.
Ivy’s blood started to simmer. I can’t believe he’s being so prejudiced! she thought.
They all stared at one another until finally Ivy couldn’t take it anymore. “Is it okay if Olivia and I use the computer?” she asked.
“No,” her father dismissed. “I need it for work.”
“It won’t be for long,” Ivy argued. “Olivia has to go home soon anyway.”
“I have a great deal of preparing to do before we move, Ivy,” he said abruptly.
Ivy’s vision suddenly blurred. “I don’t care about the move!” she shouted. “I care about Olivia. I care about my sister—unlike you!”
Her father’s face changed, and his eyes flickered toward Olivia for the first time. “Ivy—” he began.
“I care about my real parents!” Ivy screamed. Stricken, her father staggered backward, steadying himself against the edge of the couch.
“Sorry to bother you,” Olivia said sadly to Mr. Vega as Ivy grabbed her hand and stalked out.
Chapter 8
The next day at lunch, Ivy saw her sister approaching across the cafeteria and dried her eyes with her napkin. She’d just been unloading on Sophia and Brendan about her fight with her father.
“How are you?” Olivia asked gently.
Ivy shrugged. “I’d be better if my dad wasn’t so narrow-minded.” She moved her bag so Olivia could sit down.
“I don’t understand,” Sophia said. “Charles Vega has always been the vamp dad everyone wanted.” Brendan nodded in agreement.
“Come on,” Ivy said with an eye roll. “He never liked humans.”
“Remember when he decorated that human lady’s house in LA?” Sophia said. “That didn’t seem to put his wings in a flap.”
“That was just a client,” Ivy said, shaking her head. “Anyway,” she said, deciding to change the subject, “I looked on the VVV last night to see if I could access ASHH files.”
Olivia perked up. “And?”
“I couldn’t,” Ivy revealed. “If we want to find out anything, we’re going to have to go to the ASHH office ourselves.”
“Do you think we can ask for our files just like that?” Olivia wondered.
“I wasn’t thinking of asking,” Ivy replied with a mischievous smile. “I was thinking of sneaking in and digging around.”
Brendan spit a gulp of cranberry juice back into his cup.
“Bad Ivy,” Sophia said, shaking her finger teasingly. “Bad, bad Ivy!”
Olivia leaned forward. “Could we actually do that?” she asked in a low voice.
“Brendan’s dad invited us to the V-Gen offices,” Ivy said, “and they’re in the same building. So we already have an excuse to get in and out of the compound. All we need is a distraction,” she said, putting her arm around Brendan and squeezing his shoulder, “so we can get in and out of the ASHH offices without anyone noticing.”
Brendan frowned. “Is ‘distraction’ a code word for ‘boyfriend’?”
Ivy grinned. “Maybe.”
“This’ll be interesting,” Brendan assented with a playful roll of his eyes.
“How about this afternoon after school?” Ivy proposed with a conspiratorial glance toward Olivia.
“There’s no better time than the present,” Olivia agreed, and Brendan nodded.
“What about me?” Sophia interjected. “What can I do?”