17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire by Sienna Mercer Page A

muttered, ‘but . . .’
    ‘Don’t you want to be on TV?’ Josh crossed his arms. ‘Don’t be a baby, Garrick. All you have to do is wear a dress and run around a little, and we’ll all be
famous. Just think – Gregor might even let you hang out with him and his crew! Isn’t that worth a little inconvenience?’
    Garrick’s shoulders slumped. As he mumbled his agreement, Camilla’s elbow poked into Olivia’s side.
    ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Camilla whispered.
    Olivia nodded gratefully.
Far, far away, before they notice us!
    The girls crept back through the trees as quietly as they could. When they finally stepped out on to the field, though, Camilla started to laugh uncontrollably. ‘I can’t believe
it!’ she said. ‘Of all the possibilities I considered, I
never
thought those jerks could have made the whole thing up. When I think of all the time I’ve wasted over the
last few days, researching a ghost who doesn’t exist . . .!’
    Olivia forced a smile. ‘So you don’t think there’s such a thing as ghosts any more?’
    Camilla threw up her hands. ‘I admit it. I was completely fooled!
Eesh
, how embarrassing. I still don’t know how those idiots pulled off that stunt, but now that I know it
was just a prank, I can finally stop worrying about it and get back to my
real
work, just like I should have been doing all along.’
    ‘Right,’ Olivia said. ‘Why don’t you tell me about your new movie idea?’
    But as they crossed the park and Camilla grew more and more relaxed, chattering on and on about the next movie she was planning to make, and about all the new and different camera angles that
she would use for it, Olivia’s smile slipped away.
    The problem was, Olivia was one hundred per cent certain that the boys’ prank had only started
after
the Halloween party. All it seemed like the greasy gang were doing now was
exploiting what had already happened to get themselves on TV. But if she and Ivy didn’t think of a solution before the famous Gregor was lured into town, Josh and Garrick’s silly prank
was going to turn into a mega-disaster for every vamp in Franklin Grove.
    Olivia stifled a moan of frustration.
I can’t believe that bunch of bozos turned out to be so smart!
If nothing else, Josh and the others knew a lot more local history than she
would have expected. Even Ivy hadn’t heard of the Calhoun twins’ story until this week!
    Maybe the adult vamps can sort it out? They must be able to stop this somehow.
    ‘Look.’ Camilla nudged her, interrupting her gloomy thoughts. ‘At least we’re not the only gullible ones.’
    Nearby, two groups of unfamiliar adults were hurrying across the field towards the woods, their phones and tablets open to show the same map that Camilla had used to find the grounds of the
Calhouns’ house.
    ‘I think it’s this way!’ one man called.
    Another one gasped and pointed as a figure flickered between the trees. ‘I saw something moving!’
    Together, the two groups lunged into the woods.
    Olivia sighed. ‘It looks like Garrick’s going running in his costume again.’
    ‘What do you think?’ Camilla said. ‘Will it go viral by the end of the day? Or by the end of the hour?’
    Olivia only groaned.

Chapter Seven

    T hat night, Ivy stared at the forest of paper laid out on the kitchen table in front of her and blew air out through her lips.
This is going to
take forever!
Olivia had brought everything that Camilla had collected for her investigation – print-outs of old articles, photos, obscure blog posts and Camilla’s own scribbled
notes and theories – all of which she had promised her friend she would throw away.
    ‘And I
will
,’ Olivia had said earlier, as she helped Ivy spread everything out on the table. ‘Soon.’ Then she’d rushed off to have dinner with her adoptive
parents, leaving the vamps to wade through the scarily large stack of information. Even with Brendan, Sophia and Reiko all gathered at the table