Spooktacular!. Sienna Mercer

      Olivia Abbott was sitting next to her identical twin on the school bus, trying to memorise new lines for her upcoming movie, when she suddenly heard a squeal of excitement from across the aisle.

      ‘Ooh, Olivia and Ivy, look at this!’ Waving a magazine in the air, their friend Reiko reached over to nudge Olivia’s shoulder. But from the super-strong pink-haired vampire exchange student, the “nudge” felt more like a shove.

      ‘Careful!’ laughed Ivy, as Olivia bounced off her shoulder. She looked over her twin’s head at Reiko. ‘What’s up?’

      ‘My horoscope!’ Beaming, Reiko held up the teen magazine that she’d been reading. ‘We don’t get this magazine back in Japan. This is fangtastic!’

      ‘Oh, honestly!’ Ivy rolled her eyes. Unlike Reiko, who was dressed in eye-wateringly neon athletic gear, Ivy was a typical American vampire goth. Black kohl lined her eyes, and her long black hair streamed over the shoulders of her lacy black sweater. Slim black trousers and big black boots completed her ensemble, making her look even fiercer as she crossed her arms over her chest. ‘You don’t really believe in horoscopes, do you?’

      ‘Well . . .’ Reiko shrugged, her high ponytail bouncing above her lime-green tank top. ‘Maybe not, but it’s still fun to read them, isn’t it? I love all the spooky warnings and weird pieces of advice. Check out yours!’ She folded back the cover of the magazine, pointing at the page she was reading. ‘“Do not be confused by the mirror from the past. Listen for the wailing winds of memory”.’

      ‘“The wailing winds of memory”?’ Olivia repeated. She scrunched her eyebrows together in thought as she twitched her rumpled silver skirt and pale pink sweater back into place. ‘What could that mean?’

      ‘It doesn’t mean anything,’ Ivy told her. ‘Horoscopes are just superstition.’

      ‘Maybe you’re right,’ Olivia said, ‘but personally . . .’ She gave her twin a meaningful grin. ‘I’ve learned not to be too certain about anything these days.’

      After all, there had been a time, not that long ago, when she thought the whole idea of vampires was “superstition”. Now here she was, riding between two of them on her way to a traditional vampire celebration!

      A lot of things had changed in the last year.

      The bus was already slowing to a stop on Undertaker Hill, where Ivy lived with the twins’ vampire bio-dad and step-mom. Olivia waited in the aisle as Ivy wrestled out a mysterious cardboard box that she had wedged under their seat when they first got on.

      ‘Come on,’ Olivia said as her twin finally straightened, holding the lid of the box firmly closed. ‘Aren’t you even going to give us a peek of what’s inside that thing?’

      ‘No way!’ Ivy shook her head and started towards the door of the bus. Reiko followed right behind, the tennis racquet that was sticking out at a dangerous angle from her massive orange backpack nearly banging into Olivia. But even as Olivia hopped back to escape a concussion, she heard Ivy say: ‘Trust me. You, of all people, do not want to see what’s in this box! It’s a Moonrise gift for Dad.’

      Hmmm. It was the day before Halloween and they were on their way to the Vega house for the traditional vampire celebration of Moonrise. Olivia was pretty sure her sister was just trying to gross her out. Well, joke’s on you, twin. I’m not icked out by vampy things. Well, not as much as I used to be . . .

      She got out of the bus, and had to lurch backwards again to avoid bumping into Ivy, who had come to a sudden dead halt on the street.

      ‘Oh no,’ Ivy moaned, ‘look who’s heading straight for us!’

      Reiko swung around. ‘Who?’

      As