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

with her, Ivy couldn’t imagine how they would
ever manage to read everything.
    Thank darkness there wasn’t anything about the Calhouns on the Vorld Vide Veb, at least
, Ivy thought as she picked up the next piece of paper from the pile.
It’s bad
enough that every vampire in Franklin Grove is freaking out, without the rest of the vamp world joining in!
    She usually felt a thrill of investigative fervour when a mystery started coming together. This time, though, her shoulders felt heavier with each new piece of information she absorbed, as if
the sadness of the story were physically weighing her down. With every new detail she learned, she could imagine it more clearly: the way Patience must have felt as she waited and waited –
first, for her father and twin to return, and then, after she’d finally given up on that, for any news to explain what had happened to them.
    If Ivy was ever worried about Olivia, all she had to do was call her twin on the phone, no matter how far apart they might be. Back in the Calhouns’ time, though, there would have been no
TV, no Internet – nothing to carry news swiftly across the world.
    Patience must have been half-crazy with panic by the time she finally learned the truth. Ivy shuddered.
    Next to Ivy, Reiko set down the printed blog entry that she’d been reading and let out a sigh. ‘I know it’s silly,’ she said, ‘but to me, the saddest part of the
whole story is that obsidian bracelet that Patience is said to carry everywhere.’
    ‘Obsidian bracelet . . .?’ Ivy frowned, flicking back through the articles she’d already read. So far, she’d read more nineteenth-century history than modern ghost
stories, but . . . ‘I haven’t seen anything about that one yet.’
    ‘Ooh, I think I read that blog post.’ Sophia gazed broodingly at the silver bracelet on her own wrist. ‘Patience planned to give the bracelet to Hope at their belated birthday
tea. Apparently, whenever her ghost appears, she’s always holding Hope’s obsidian bracelet, as a reminder of her lost sister. Almost as if she still clings on to the idea that one day
she will be able to give it to her.’
    ‘So
that
was the birthday present that Albert mentioned this morning,’ Brendan said. He frowned. ‘What is obsidian, anyway?’
    ‘Black glass from a volcano,’ Sophia explained. ‘It can be made into small, round beads or left in big pieces. All the people who’ve seen Patience say that hers is a
chunky black bracelet, and –’
    An unexpected voice spoke sharply behind them. ‘Did you say
a chunky black bracelet
?’
    Ivy swung around and saw her twin standing in the kitchen doorway. Ivy had left the front door unlocked for Olivia to let herself in after she had eaten with the Abbotts. Now she stood staring
at Sophia, her blue eyes wide.
    ‘Well . . . yes.’ Sophia turned in her seat. ‘Did you read the same blog post about Hope’s obsidian bracelet as I did? It took me forever to track that down.’
    ‘I haven’t read any blogs about it, but . . .’ Olivia swallowed visibly. ‘I think I’ve seen the real thing.’
    ‘What?’ Frowning, Ivy hurried over to her sister. ‘You look like you’re about to pass out!’
    ‘I’m fine,’ said Olivia. ‘My thoughts are just chasing each other, that’s all.’ She moved to the table, sitting down in Ivy’s chair. Ivy stood behind
her as she continued. ‘That girl I told you about from the party – who I think might have been Patience – she was holding a bracelet just like that.’
    Sophia’s eyebrows rose. Olivia took a deep, shuddering breath and went on. ‘Look, you guys know what happened in the park today . . .’
    Ivy nodded. ‘We all got your texts.’
    ‘Good,’ Olivia said. ‘So we know Josh and the other boys have really upped their game, and they’re definitely exploiting any local legends they can find. But I seriously
doubt that they can have uncovered that detail, considering how, even with