Brendan shook his head. ‘Aliens wouldn’t have lured you away from me with silver bangles and promises of fame and fortune.’
‘Beetroot,’ Ivy said, poking her tongue out at her boyfriend. They were at the STAFF ONLY door and that was the new password. George unlocked the door and they headed down the quiet, dark stairwell.
‘I think my days as an extra are over,’ Ivy said. ‘Especially if Olivia gets the part. They wouldn’t want her double hovering in the background.’
‘When does she find out?’ Brendan wanted to know.
‘Sometime today,’ Ivy said. ‘Probably after her big conversation with Jackson.’ Olivia’s plan to call off their date was completely kooky, but Ivy didn’t want to interfere any more in her sister’s love life.
Ivy checked her watch – Olivia would be meeting Jackson any moment now.
She pushed open the door and made straight for the candy aisle but stopped so suddenly that Brendan bumped into the back of her.
Browsing through the chocolate bars was a blonde bombshell wearing super-high heels and being fawned over by an entourage.
‘It’s . . . it’s . . . Jessica Phelps!’ Ivy stuttered, taking a step back and knocking into a display of Marshmallow Platelets that were on sale. ‘What is she doing here?’ Jessica had stormed off the movie set a few days ago and it wasn’t like Franklin Grove was on the celebrity circuit.
‘Beating us to the last of the Count Cocoa Chews?’ Brendan said, with a longing glance down the candy aisle.
Jessica caught sight of Ivy staring and sighed. Then put on a huge fake smile. ‘Hi, there! Do you want my autograph?’
Ivy was so confused. Why would Jessica be in the BloodMart?
Jessica’s high heels clicked on the glossy floor as she came over, standing a little too close to Brendan for Ivy’s liking. ‘If you don’t have a pen, don’t worry!’ She pulled a pen covered in rhinestones out of her big beige bag and scrawled her name across a box of Puffy Plasma Cookies. ‘There you go!’
Ivy didn’t even like Puffy Plasmas but she took the box so that she could ask, ‘What brings you back to Franklin Grove? Didn’t you quit the movie?’
Jessica tossed her hair, making Brendan duck to avoid getting whacked. ‘There was a huge poll in Celeb Weekly and it turns out my fans would love to see J-Squared – that’s me and Jackson – together on screen. Isn’t that to die for? So I’m taking my part back. No more of that publicity stunt silliness trying to find some amateur.’
‘Uh, yeah,’ Ivy mumbled. ‘Killer.’
Poor Olivia, Ivy thought. That means even if Philippe picks her, she won’t get the part.
It took a second to register, but then Ivy realised: if Jessica was in the BloodMart, that meant . . . she was . . . a vampire!
Ivy’s head started to spin. Does that mean . . .?
Fake tan wasn’t entirely conclusive. And the J-02 could stand for Jessica, not Jackson. Ivy remembered the bowl of red candies in Jessica’s trailer and the fake tan in the drawer.
Maybe Jackson really was near-sighted.
‘Ivy, are you all right? You’re turning pink.’ Brendan put a hand on her shoulder.
‘Uh, hey,’ Ivy said to Jessica.
The movie star put one hand on her hip, and it was clear that Ivy had already worn out her welcome. ‘Is J-Squared a match made in the graveyard?’
‘You mean, is Jackson a creature of the night?’ Jessica laughed like Ivy had just suggested she take a supporting role. ‘Of course not!’
‘No. Of course not. Who would think such a thing?’ Ivy mumbled. ‘Thanks.’
She pulled Brendan into the cereal aisle.
‘Should I take you home?’ Brendan was looking worried, so Ivy had to explain.
‘I’ve done a stupid, stupid thing.’ She shook the autographed box of Plasma Puffs with every word. ‘Jessica is the vampire, not Jackson,’ she said. ‘And that means Olivia doesn’t have to break it off with him.’ There could be a silver lining to this cloud of doom. ‘I’ve got to tell her.’ But then the image of Olivia waiting for Jackson flashed into her mind. ‘Oh no.’
‘You’re turning pink again,’ Brendan said.
Ivy knew that any moment now, Olivia was going to make a big speech to Jackson about why they couldn’t be together – because he was a vampire. But since he wasn’t, it meant that Olivia was about to break the First Law of the Night! There were a tomb-load of reasons Ivy had to stop her.
‘Come on,’ Ivy said, shoving the Puffs in with the Marshmallow Platelets and charging full speed up the stairwell.
‘But what about my Count Cocoa Chew?’ Brendan called after her.
‘If you help me get to Olivia, you can have all the Count Cocoa Chews you like!’
Olivia was perched on the edge of a low stone table in the oldest cemetery in Franklin Grove waiting for Jackson. Even though it was daylight, and Olivia knew that vampires didn’t jump out of the shadows and bite people any more, she didn’t want to wait by herself for any longer than she had to.
She hoped Jackson would understand what she was trying to say by meeting here – she wanted him to understand that she wasn’t freaked out by him being a vampire. It just meant things couldn’t move forward between them.
A dark figure caught her eye, moving from one tree to the next on the other side of the graveyard.
The figure came nearer and Olivia could see that whoever it was was trying not to be seen.
She slipped off the table, darted behind a statue of an angel and crouched down. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, she thought. Anyone could be wandering around this graveyard!