17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire (13 page)

He just peered at her. ‘It didn’t bother you when
The Groves
was being filmed here.’

‘I know!’ Olivia replied. Excuses chased explanations in her brain. ‘But that was . . . different.’

‘How so?’ Jackson’s eyes narrowed.

He’s totally suspecting something now,
Olivia thought, wishing there was a button she could push that would divert the rushing blood away from her face.

‘Well,’ she said at last. ‘
You
were working on
The Groves.
If you were co-hosting the Ghost Grabber’s show, then I might be more excited!’

Jackson stared at her a moment longer. Then he smiled. ‘O . . . K,’ he said.

But she could sense his thoughtful frown even as she turned away.

Anyone would think this was a military operation,
Ivy thought, as she stood opposite the Meat and Greet, scowling at the chaos in front of her. A whole battalion of TV
production trucks were lined up in front of the diner, surrounded by a swarm of busy-looking people yelling into handsets and cell phones.

‘Apparently, this is just the pre-production phase,’ Sophia said, reading the stream of updates on her slim black phone, ‘Gleka’s commandeering the whole diner for his
show. It’s going to be the site of an impromptu “Ghost Chat”’ – she made finger-quotes as she read the words out loud – ‘in which he plans to “make
contact” with the “Ghost of the Grove”.’

‘Seriously?’ Brendan snorted with laughter. ‘I’ve never seen a place less likely to attract a ghost! Come on, it’s full of bright lights, people, chatter . . .
unless our Victorian ghost turns out to like cheeseburgers and fries, I’m pretty sure Gleka’ll be out of luck!’

‘Right . . .’ Ivy’s attempt at a laugh almost choked her.

So far she hadn’t told anyone about the girl she’d seen outside her window last night. She wasn’t used to being creeped out by anything, but she couldn’t make herself
talk about it calmly yet, either. And no matter how hard she wanted to think it had just been Garrick in a dress, she couldn’t convince herself.

‘The problem is,’ she said, ‘what if he really does uncover something? If
that
happens –’

Reiko pinched her arm hard, cutting her off.

‘Shut it down!’ Sophia hissed at the same moment. She nodded her head meaningfully at the couple walking down the street towards them.

Oops.
Ivy nodded in agreement as she recognised Jackson walking hand-in-hand with Olivia. ‘Right,’ she whispered. ‘From now on, everyone talk in code.’

The whole group fell into awkward silence as Olivia and Jackson joined them.

‘Hey,’ Jackson said. ‘You guys all look like you just got bad news. Seriously. Did this guy Gleka kick someone’s dog or something?’

‘Um . . .’ Ivy slid a nervous glance at Brendan, who gave a tight smile and a shrug in return. ‘We’d just like to get into the Meat and Greet early, to guarantee that we
get a good seat in the audience,’ she said. ‘Just to make sure nothing too, uh,
annoying
happens.’

‘Like . . .?’ Jackson prompted. His million-dollar smile slipped into a serious discount zone when the vampires stayed silent. ‘OK, I don’t remember the Grovers being
quite
this secretive back when I was one of you guys. Is something up that you don’t want to tell me? You can trust me, of all people, not to go blabbing to the
newspapers.’

‘Oh, we know,’ Ivy said. ‘It’s just . . .’ She trailed off, searching for an excuse.

‘Plus,’ Jackson added, ‘aren’t I supposed to be running interference on the crowds? So I
should
know what’s going on, right?’

Ivy traded a desperate glance with Olivia, who looked pained.

Jackson’s smile lost a few more dollars as he waited. Finally, he sighed and shrugged. ‘Fine. If it’s important to you guys, I’ll do what I can to help. I won’t
even ask any more questions. Once this is all over, though, I’m serious – I’d really like to know what I’m helping you
with.
Got it?’

‘Got it,’ Ivy agreed with a smile of pure relief.

Some day soon, she knew she’d start to panic about how to come up with a story that Jackson might actually buy as an explanation . . . but right now, she was just glad not to have to deal
with that problem on top of all the rest.

First things first!

‘OK then. Let’s see what we can do.’ Reaching into his pocket, Jackson pulled out a pair of Hollywood-worthy sunglasses. He slipped them on and his whole posture shifted,
turning aloof and untouchable. ‘Follow my lead,’ he muttered out of the side of the mouth. Then he started across the street, heading for the throng of busy-looking TV crew members in
front of the line of trucks.

‘Dude!’ He slapped the closest man on the back, startling him into lowering his cell phone. ‘Jackson Caulfield,’ he drawled, and gave a smirk. ‘You might have heard
of me?’

‘Uh . . . wow . . . Wow!
Jackson
!’ The man shut down his phone, as other crew members flocked towards them, drawn by Jackson’s familiar face. ‘What are you doing
here, man? Shouldn’t you be partying in LA right now?’

‘Nah. LA’s so
tired
this time of year,’ Jackson said, in a weary tone of voice Ivy had never heard from him before. ‘I mean, the whole place is so totally last
season, isn’t it? No, I like gathering up my buddies’ – he nodded to Ivy and the others – ‘and spending
my
free time somewhere new. Unspoiled. Looks like your
boss feels the same!’ He pointed at the diner. ‘Word on the street is, you guys are shooting in there today. I’m a huge fan of the Ghost Grabber, man. Any chance I could watch the
master at work?’

‘Well . . .’ The man in front of him traded a wary look with the other crew members around him. ‘I’m not sure. I mean . . .’

The woman behind him pushed forwards, holding a clipboard tightly against her chest as if to keep its contents secret. ‘You aren’t thinking of, like,
playing
Gregor in some
TV movie or something about his life, are you?’

Is she serious?
Ivy had to turn her head to hide her laughter.
Like Jackson Caulfield is going to do a TV movie any time soon . . .much less about Gregor Gleka!

Jackson only smiled enigmatically, his blue eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. ‘Obviously, I can’t talk about any projects I might or might not have in the pipeline. My agent would
have a fit if I shared any secrets. But . . .’ He gestured towards Olivia and the others. ‘Y’know, my entourage and I . . .’

Did he just call us his entourage?
Ivy narrowed her eyes at her sister’s boyfriend.
Oh, he is enjoying this way too much!

‘ . . . would see it as a personal favour,’ Jackson continued smoothly, ‘if we could be on-set for Gregor’s special. To, like, soak up the vibe.’

‘Oh, wow,’ the man breathed. ‘Seriously?’

‘Got it,’ said the woman briskly. ‘No promises, but we’ll see what we can do.’ Spinning on one heel, she pulled out her walkie-talkie and started barking orders
into it. ‘We need a special favour here . . .’

Up and down the line of trucks, whispers and excited chatter broke out as the news spread.

‘
Jackson Caulfield!
’ Ivy heard someone gasp.

Gotcha.
Ivy wanted to crow with triumph, but settled for a satisfied smirk.

Stepping away from the trucks, Jackson grinned at the group of vamps and Olivia. ‘I’ll be happy to accept my fee in video games, gratitude, smoothies and worship, thank
you.’

‘Yeah, right. I’m warning you, Caulfield . . .’ Ivy gave him a mock-death-squint. ‘You get away with calling me part of your “entourage”
once.
But
not twice!’

Laughing, Jackson gave her a sharp salute. ‘Got it, General Vega!’

As the female crew member hurried towards them, a broad smile on her face, Ivy’s shoulders relaxed.
This is really going to happen.

Thank darkness that Olivia had such an unquestioningly loyal boyfriend! But all the same . . .

She slid him a sidelong glance as they walked into the crowded diner.

How long are we going to be able to keep our secret from Jackson, now that he’s finally asking questions?

Ten minutes later, though, Ivy had bigger worries on her mind. ‘Ugh!’ She nudged Olivia as they stood in a group by the counter, watching the preparations for the
shoot. ‘Seriously, how do you not go batty sitting through this kind of thing every day when you’re working?’ she whispered. ‘I’ve only been on the set of
The
Ghost Grabber Special
for, like, four minutes, and I’m ready to die of boredom!’

Olivia sniffed. ‘At least on my sets,’ she whispered back, ‘I know I’m making something good! Plus, the people are a whole lot nicer. Just look at him!’
Surreptitiously, she pointed at Gregor Gleka himself, who was in the middle of shouting at a cowering assistant.

‘You’re supposed to take out all the
purple
Skittles before you hand me the bag!’ Gleka bellowed. ‘Not the green ones! I love the green Skittles!’

‘Whoa.’ Ivy raised her eyebrows. ‘Talk about someone who’s scarier than real ghosts!’

Olivia snickered and turned to whisper something in Jackson’s ear.

Ivy looked around the diner, shaking her head in disbelief. It looked so different, she could barely even recognise it. All the usual tables had been cleared out, leaving only a wide,
heavy-looking circular one, brought in by Gleka’s crew and placed in the centre of the room. As she watched, two assistants wrestled with a heavy, blood-red tablecloth. Around the room, other
crew members were busy setting up lights and debating loudly about what might be the “eeriest angles”.

Ivy rolled her eyes.

As Jackson was lured away to sign autographs for various crew members’ children, Reiko turned to Ivy. Today, her hair was a deep crimson that perfectly matched the rest of the set, but her
expression was blatantly sceptical. ‘Not to raise the obvious question,’ she muttered, ‘but do we even have a plan?’

Ivy winced. ‘Not really. I was sort of hoping that something would come to me once I was in here.’

‘Hmm.’ Sophia huddled in to share the whispered consultation. ‘Are you thinking sabotage?’

‘I was considering finding the fuse box and causing a power shortage,’ Ivy admitted, ‘but the problem is, that would ruin any food in the diner’s freezers. I don’t
want to shut down one of my favourite places!’

‘Definitely not,’ Brendan agreed. ‘I don’t want to live in a world without the Meat and Greet!’ He frowned as he looked over Ivy’s head at Gregor Gleka.
‘What if we just take advantage of being on-screen as an audience? When no ghosts show up, we could point and laugh – make it really clear that Gregor’s crazy. He’d be way
too embarrassed to use that footage for his special!’

‘I’m not sure that would be enough.’ Ivy sighed. ‘I just wish we could offer him an obvious
explanation
for why a ghost in an old-timey dress has been wandering
around everywhere. If we could only . . . oh.
Oh
!’

Before she could think twice, Ivy grabbed Olivia, pulling her sister into their group huddle. ‘I think I’ve finally got a plan!’ she hissed. ‘It’s totally insane,
and if it doesn’t work this could turn into the most embarrassing day of our entire lives – but honestly, I think that it’s our only shot!’

Olivia didn’t miss a beat. ‘OK . . . I’m listening.’

Ivy looked to Sophia, pointing to the stylish white leather handbag over her shoulder. ‘You don’t happen to have any pale foundation in there, do you?’