17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire (14 page)

Twenty minutes later, Ivy watched from the sidelines as filming began on
Gregor’s Ghost Chat
. Black drapes had been placed over all the windows to make it look as
if Gregor were working at night as he sat at the heavy, round table in the centre of the room, surrounded by locals Ivy vaguely recognised from the streets of Franklin Grove.

All the audience members’ faces were shadowed, though, as a spotlight shone straight on Gregor. The “Ghost Grabber” leaned towards the camera, his eyes haunted and his
fake-Eastern-European accent clinging thickly to his words.

‘I, Gregor Gleka, have been summoned to this place by the terror of ordinary people forced to confront the reality of the dark . . . People who can no longer deny the possibility of
spectral phenomena in their own small-town lives, after the unsettling paranormal incidents that they have witnessed. These brave townsfolk sitting around me now have seen the ghostly girl who
brought me here. She has haunted this town for years, but her recent appearance this past Halloween has
really
put the town on edge . . .’

Lights panned over the excited-looking locals at his table, and Ivy stifled a snort.
Yeah, right.
She hadn’t seen a single one of those guys at Camilla’s party.
In other
words, they’re liars who just want to get on TV!

Or at least . . . She swallowed hard. She
hoped
they were liars. If there’d been another ghostly incident on Halloween that she didn’t know about, the vamps might be in real
trouble!

‘Clearly,’ Gregor intoned, ‘this ghost must have desperately important unfinished business, to keep her here.’

Well, there’s a revelation.
Ivy rolled her eyes.
All
ghosts had unfinished business! Otherwise, what was the point of being a ghost? She’d bet anything that Gregor
didn’t even know about the obsidian bracelet that Patience still carried around for Hope. He was such a faker, he probably had no idea what it would really feel like to lose a twin, or . .
.

Wait a minute!
Ivy sucked in a breath. Suddenly, it was all so clear. She knew
exactly
what needed to be done to help Patience!

But not yet.
She forced herself to contain her excitement.
First, we have to debunk this whole story, and turn all the suspicious eyes
away
from Franklin Grove.

‘My friends . . .’ Gregor nodded solemnly to the locals around him. ‘Please place your palms flat on the table, while I see if I can communicate with the spirits.’ As the
others pressed their hands against the table, he closed his eyes and tipped his face back – to help the camera catch every angle, Ivy was certain.

‘Spirits!’ Gleka’s voice boomed out. ‘I beseech you! Show pity on this frightened town. Commune with me now, and let me ease your pain. Spirits! Do you hear me? Spirits
–’

But before he could ask another question, an eerie knocking echoed through the room.

Gregor’s eyes flew open. The locals around him rustled with sudden panic.

Go, Olivia!
Ivy let out a silent cheer. Her twin was doing exactly what they’d planned, even sooner than she’d expected.
Time for the sabotage to begin!

But then a voice spoke, powerful but muffled as if it were coming through a wall, or from a different dimension – and
much, much too deep
to belong to Ivy’s sister.

‘We are here, Gregor Gleka!’ the deep male voice intoned. ‘But why have you disturbed our immortal slumber?’

Oh my darkness!
Ivy exchanged panicked looks with her friends.

If that wasn’t Olivia . . .
who was it?

T
he guests around Gregor’s table broke out in a sudden babble of panic, their chairs scraping back as they started up as if to run.

‘My friends!’ Gregor held out one hand to stop them. By the glare of the bright stage spotlight, Ivy could see sudden beads of perspiration on his forehead, but his voice was
commanding. ‘You don’t need to flee. Ghosts cannot harm the living. They are only a presence –’

The deep, ominous voice cut him off before he could finish. ‘Oh, we have
presents
for you, Gregor Gleka . . .’

Wait a minute.
Ivy’s eyebrows lowered into a frown.
Is that the sound of snickering in the distance?

Thinking past her first panic, she closed her eyes and focused all of her hyper-alert vampire senses on the space around her. A moment later, her nose twitched.

I know that stink!

She narrowed her eyes at the kitchen door. The smell was definitely coming from behind there.

That’s no ghost. It’s Josh and his greasy gang!

‘I – I would be happy to accept any gifts that you have to offer, spirits!’ Gregor said. His voice was trembling now, his cheeks flushing with what looked like a mixture of
excitement and fear.

I bet he thinks this is the first time he’s really spoken to a ghost!
Ivy shook her head despairingly.
If only he knew . . .

That’s it.
Thinking fast, she grabbed Sophia’s arm. Now that she knew that Josh and his gang were involved, her plan needed updating. ‘Head for the kitchen
door,’ she whispered, ‘and wait for my nod.’

‘Got it.’ Sophia started sidling along the edges of the room. Before anyone could notice her, Ivy ran forwards – straight for the round table where filming was taking
place.

‘Gregor!’ she yelled. Cameras swung around to face her, and she tried her hardest to channel any acting power she might have learned from her sister.
Look like a damsel in
distress
, she ordered herself,
not a tough girl!
Blinking hard, as if she were trying not to cry, she forced her voice to wobble. ‘I can’t take this any more! It’s
all too much!’

‘Now, young lady . . .’ Gregor began.

Ivy stomped one booted foot and brushed a hand over her eyes as she pretended to wipe away tears. ‘You don’t understand how
frightening
it is to live like this!’ she
wailed. ‘Can’t you do something? Like, maybe, drive it out of town?’ She sniffed loudly. She regretted it, though, when she caught a whiff of Josh and his cronies.
They’re still lurking . . .

She shook her head, trying to stay focused on her performance. ‘Everyone here is so scared, whether they want to admit it or not! Won’t you save us? Please?’

‘I – well, I suppose I could. Yes, why not?’ Obviously, the desire for fame and glory had overcome Gregor’s momentary fear. Eyes wild, he pointed at one of his
assistants. ‘Get me my notebooks,’ he hissed. ‘Now! And as for you . . .’ He gave the camera crew a venomous look. ‘I’m warning you, your batteries had
better
be fully charged this time. If anything goes wrong and it’s your fault, you’ll be out on the street before you can say the word “ghost”!’

His upper lip lifted in a snarl. ‘I’m telling you, this is my big chance. If we get all the right angles on this, we might actually graduate to
real
TV. I am
not
staying on Channel 237 forever . . . The only question is whether or not I let you any of you guys come with me!’

‘Yes, Gregor,’ the crew all chorused glumly.

Ivy forced herself not to roll her eyes in disgust.
Think damsel. Think damsel . . .
she reminded herself.

‘Now, then!’ As the locals settled back into place around the table, Gregor’s assistant hurried back to him. Gregor snatched the notebooks from her and shuffled through them.
‘I have the perfect incantation – and as for you, young lady . . .’ He gave Ivy a sickly-sweet, condescending smile. ‘Yes, yes, you’ll be the perfect one to help me
on-camera. A frightened young girl, who I save by driving away the spirits . . . oh, the audience will love that.
Very
good for ratings!’

As the other locals frowned and rustled, Gregor beckoned Ivy to his side and handed her the notebook. ‘Hold this open for me while I read the incantation, and I promise you’ –
he swept a triumphant look around the room – ‘this time, the ghosts really will appear before our very eyes!’

‘Yes, Gregor,’ Ivy murmured obediently. She pinned her lips firmly closed to keep herself from grinning.

Oh, they’ll appear, all right.

As Ivy held out the notebook, Gregor began to recite a chant in a language that Ivy was horrified to recognise as Romanian, the language of Transylvania. The words rolled out impressively in
Gregor’s deep voice, but she had to stop herself from laughing as she realised that they made absolutely no sense when they were spoken together. Ivy was pretty sure she heard, ‘Spirits
swimming with tomatoes and telephones.’

I don’t think that’s what he meant to say!

Gregor’s voice grew louder and louder with every meaningless phrase, while his accent grew thicker and his gestures more wild. Ivy let his words flow over her as she peered with her
powerful vamp vision into the darkness outside the spotlight. There, in the shadows, past the rest of the crew, was . . .

Yes!
Sophia stood just beside the kitchen door, her eyes on Ivy, waiting for her cue.

‘ . . . Spirits!’ Gregor finished, switching to English in a bellow that ruffled Ivy’s hair. ‘
Reveal yourselves!
’

‘Look!’ Ivy yelled, flinging out her arm to point straight at the kitchen door.

The cameras swung around to follow her pointing finger . . .

. . . just as Sophia yanked open the door, and Josh and the rest of the greasy gang fell through it.

‘
Wooooooooh! Woooooooh!
’ Hooting like ghosts and laughing like maniacs, the boys didn’t even seem to care that they’d been caught.

Today, none of them wore a Victorian dress. Instead, they were all covered in basic white bedsheets . . . and from the way Garrick and the others crashed into each other as they stumbled about,
they seemed to have forgotten to cut themselves any eyeholes.

‘
Woooooh!
’

‘
Woooooooh!
’

‘Oh, man, your
faces
!’ cried Josh, the only one who had remembered his eyeholes. ‘You all look like total idiots!’

Garrick pushed off his bedsheet to grin straight at Gregor, whose face was puce with outrage. ‘Are we gonna be on TV?’

‘
This . . . is . . . unbelievable
!’ Gregor roared. ‘You – you – you
little
. . .’ His Eastern European accent vanished in an instant, his
voice turning New York-nasal. ‘Do you have any idea just what you’ve done? This is serious work! It’s –’

‘
Wooooooooooooohhhh
!’ the boys chorused together, speaking over him. ‘
Watch us flyyyyyyy
!’

As the whole Meat and Greet filled with laughter, the boys leaped forwards and started racing around the room, flapping their white bedsheets.

Roaring with fury, Gregor chased after them.

Shaking her head, Ivy slipped back to the shadowy corner where her friends stood.

‘I have to admit . . .’ Jackson let out a relieved chuckle. ‘I was actually worried there for a second that a real ghost might be putting in an appearance. Stupid,
huh?’

‘Mmm,’ Ivy replied noncommittally, trying not to look suspicious.

More and more people joined Gregor in chasing the “ghosts” around the room, but the camera crew he’d insulted earlier just kept on filming, grinning as they turned their
cameras to catch every one of their boss’s near-misses. Reiko bounced up and down as she watched, cheering on different crew members as they came close to finally catching the ghosts . . .
then cheering for the ghosts, too, when they escaped yet again.

Even Jackson grinned and called out encouragement.

Unlike the others, though, Ivy couldn’t quite relax and enjoy the chaos yet . . . because she was pretty sure that someone else should be putting in an appearance right about now.

It’s time.
Walking towards the back entrance of the Meat and Greet, Olivia took a deep breath . . . or at least, as deep a breath as she could manage in the tight
corset she was currently wearing.
I hope Ivy’s plan is not actually as crazy as it sounded at first!