17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire by Sienna Mercer

When she turned back to look at Olivia, her face was full of regret. ‘I’m sorry,’
she said. ‘But I can’t stop now. I’ve got to figure out the truth!’
    ‘But . . .’ Olivia began.
    It was too late. Camilla was already hurrying deeper into the woods, leaving Olivia behind.
    This would be so much easier if Ivy and the others were here!
Olivia looked over her shoulder, through the first few rows of trees to the park beyond, but there was no sign of her
sister or any of their friends. Either Ivy hadn’t gotten her text message, or she was confident that Olivia could handle this by herself.
    Olivia wasn’t so sure about that. But Camilla was already hidden in the dense forest ahead, and she couldn’t let her best friend run into trouble on her own.
    Biting her lip to hold back a whimper, she followed, catching up just as Camilla let out a gasp.
    ‘There!’
    The back of a red hoop skirt vanished behind a tree far ahead.
    ‘Come on!’ Camilla hissed. ‘But don’t let it see us!’
    Together, the two girls raced from tree to tree, staying covered, as they followed the girl in the Victorian dress. She was moving fast, lunging between tree trunks, and Olivia only caught
occasional glimpses of her speeding through the trees, carrying an elegant white parasol over her head. Camilla had whipped out her cell phone and was trying to aim its camera at the figure.
    ‘Why,’ Olivia panted, ‘is she running so fast?’
    ‘Who knows?’ Camilla’s voice was shaking with exhilaration. ‘But I can’t wait to find out! I wish I’d brought a better camera. Just think: in a couple of
minutes, I might be interviewing a real ghost!’
    That would be a disaster!
Olivia thought. But she had to focus on her running now, so she wouldn’t slam into any branches on the way.
    Finally, the girl ahead of them came to a stop.
    Holding her breath, Olivia crept forwards, moving her boots as gently as she could through the twig- and leaf-covered grass. At her side, Camilla’s face was bright pink, and her hands
shook as she raised her cell phone, camera at the ready.
    Olivia took a deep breath.
OK, this is it. Am I ready for another ghost encounter?
    Maybe if she offered to hold Camilla’s camera for the interview, she could accidentally “forget” to turn it on, and then . . .
    The ghost girl kicked the tree in front of her, hard.
    Whoa.
Olivia’s eyebrows flew up as she saw the tree shudder under the blow.
I never heard of a ghost doing that!
    She traded a wide-eyed look with Camilla. Both girls ducked quickly behind the closest clump of bushes . . .
    And the ghost turned around, ripping off its bonnet and tossing it on to the ground. ‘I hate this,’ growled a familiar male voice.
    That’s no ghost!
Olivia realised.
    It was Garrick.
    She clapped her hand over her mouth to hold back a peal of laughter. The former Head Beast of Franklin Grove Middle School looked utterly miserable in his elaborate dress, with white gloves
reaching up his sturdy arms and a wide hooped skirt billowing out around him.
    He glared up at the sky. ‘Why do
I
have to wear the dress?’
    Olivia followed his gaze . . . and gulped as she spotted Josh and his cronies perched up in the trees overhead, smirking down at their friend.
    ‘Aw, c’mon, Garrick,’ Josh called back. ‘You look cute!’
    The rest of the greasy gang erupted into mocking laughter, and Garrick’s face turned brick-red. ‘I’m done,’ he snarled, and stuck the parasol point-down into the ground.
‘This plan is stupid!’
    ‘Too late.’ Josh’s voice was suddenly harsh, his face forbidding, as he glared down at the former Beast. ‘You agreed to this, just like all the rest of us. How else are
we supposed to stir up some interest? This town is filling up with nosy people. All we have to do is let a few of them spot you, and they’ll start talking.
Then
we can talk Gregor
into coming into town to catch a glimpse of “Patience”!’
    ‘I know,’ Garrick