Olivia was awakened suddenly by a flood of light.
She covered her eyes with her hands, peeking out between her fingers.
Out of the corner of her eyes she registered that she was surrounded by purple velvet and absentmindedly started rubbing her toe against it. Then she saw a black-lacquered edge, which made her think of Mr. Vega's decorating. She lazily turned her head from side to side. I slept pretty well, she thought with a yawn, considering I'm in a coffin.
The pale, gaunt face of Valencia Deborg appeared above her. The vampire's lips were moving, but for a second Olivia couldn't work out what she was saying. "Olivia Abbott," she finally made out, "you have passed the First Test, the Test of Darkness."
Olivia sat upright and clapped like she'd just finished a cheer. She looked around to catch her sister's eye, but Ms. Deborg was the only person there.
"Once you have changed, report to the upstairs landing," Ms. Deborg said sternly before sweeping out of the room.
Olivia rushed to wash her face, brush her teeth, and throw on her clothes. She raced down the hall to the stairs, expecting to see Ivy. Instead, Mr. Boros was standing there alone.
"Good morning," he said. The few remaining hairs on his head were sticking out at all angles and he was wearing the same rumpled suit he'd worn yesterday. Olivia figured he must have slept in an extra coffin in the attic or something.
Olivia followed him down the stairs to the breakfast room, where Valencia Deborg was ready, wearing a fresh dark-red and purple kimono and holding a tall glass filled with pink frothy liquid. "Your breakfast."
Olivia's heart jumped. It's the memory-erasure concoction! "But I thought I passed!" she sputtered.
Ms. Deborg frowned. "You would rather have Marshmallow Platelets?"
"No," Olivia said, "but I don't want to drink a memory-loss smoothie, either."
Ms. Deborg and Mr. Boros both looked at her cluelessly.
"Oh!" Mr. Boros said finally. "She thinks . . . No, no, young lady, this is a real strawberry smoothie. Made especially for you."
"Really?" Olivia peered into the glass.
"Cross my neck and hope to die," Ms. Deborg pledged without smiling.
Sitting down, Olivia took a tentative sip. It was superdelicious. All at once she realized she was ravenous and began gulping through the straw.
Halfway through, she started to get a brain freeze headache that made her take a break.
"Where's Ivy?" she wondered aloud.
Mr. Boros and Ms. Deborg exchanged glances.
"She's not here," Mr. Boros said.
"Where'd she go?" Olivia asked.
"How should we know?" Ms. Deborg answered blankly.
Olivia ducked her head to finish her smoothie.
That's strange, she thought. Ivy promised she'd stay close by. Maybe she's working on one of those contingency plans of hers, like preparing an escape route out a second-floor window.
After her smoothie, Ms. Deborg presented Olivia with a piece of toast with red jam. As Olivia ate it, she started to get nervous for her next test.
Don't worry, she told herself. Ivy will definitely be back for that. She ate her toast more and more slowly until just a few bites were left. She didn't want to finish it until her sister showed up.
Finally, Ms. Deborg took the plate away and gestured for Olivia to follow her and Mr. Boros.They led her back up to the second floor and down the hall to Mr.Vega's study.
As the vampire officials proceeded into the room ahead of her, Olivia could see Mr. Vega waiting in the corner next to the enormous globe. She froze in the doorway and scanned the rest of the room. Ivy wasn't there. She planted her feet. "I want to know where Ivy is," she demanded.
Ms. Deborg glared down at her. "I told you; we don't know where she is."
"I don't believe you," Olivia said. Everybody just stared at her.
Ivy's father cleared his throat. "Ivy mentioned that she was going out with Brendan for the morning. She said she'd be back in time for the Third Test." He looked away.
Ms. Deborg ruffled an enormous kimono sleeve and a sleek black watch appeared on her slender wrist. She looked at it impatiently. "We must proceed with the Second Test at once."
Olivia shook her head. "Ivy promised she'd stay with me. She wouldn't break a promise like that."
"Are you saying you are unwilling to proceed?" Mr. Boros asked sternly.
Olivia hesitated. Ivy swore she'd be here, she thought, and she's not.What if they've done something to her?
"I guess I am." Olivia gulped. "At least, I am until Ivy shows up."
There was silence. Then Olivia thought she saw the slightest hint of a smile appear on Mr. Vega's face.
"Olivia Abbott," Ms. Deborg announced, "you have passed the Second Test, the Test of Faith."
"Huh?" Olivia said. Mr. Boros slipped out of the room and returned with Ivy, who looked more frustrated than a cheerleader who had fallen during a tumbling routine.
"They wouldn't let me in!" Ivy shook Mr. Boros off and ran up to Olivia. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay," Olivia said. "Are you okay?"
"Uh-huh," Ivy answered.
"I was so worried!" Olivia told her.
Ivy nodded in agreement. "What happened?"
"I passed the Second Test." Olivia shrugged.
"The Test of Faith," Mr. Boros said in his nasal voice, "is passed when the applicant shows complete faith in the vampire who vouched for her."
"I knew something was wrong," Olivia began, "because you said - "
"I wouldn't leave your side for a second." Ivy grinned. She and Olivia high-fived. "Only one more nail to seal this coffin!" Ivy said excitedly.
"The Third, and final,Test," Ms. Deborg said solemnly, "is the Test of Blood."
Olivia clutched her stomach. The thought of drinking blood totally made her want to puke.
"You mean I have to drink . . . ?" She couldn't even bring herself to finish the question.
"That would be a Test of Fortitude, wouldn't it?" Ms. Deborg deadpanned.
"Of course we'd never make a human drink blood," assured Mr. Boros. "No, no, the Test of Blood merely refers to your blood, Olivia."
"What?" Olivia croaked.
Valencia ruffled a sleeve, revealing a huge ruby ring that glinted on her finger. She approached Olivia and pressed the sides of the enormous ring.The ruby popped open to reveal what looked like the sharp point of a thumbtack. Ms. Deborg extended her other hand, palm up, expectantly.
Olivia took a step backward. "What do I have to do?"
Instead of answering, Ms. Deborg curled the tips of her fingers invitingly.
Olivia reached behind her back and gripped Ivy's hand for moral support. Then she shut her eyes tight and reached out with her free hand. She felt Valencia Deborg's cool fingers close around her index finger.
"What's happening?" she whispered, terrified.
"Don't hurt her!" Ivy cried.
But then nothing happened. Mr. Boros cleared his throat meaningfully a few times, and eventually Olivia realized that he was trying to get her attention. She forced herself to open her eyes and saw that he was holding up a yellowed piece of parchment inches from her face. Its borders were filled with elaborate, spiky designs, and in the center was a poem written in fancy black script.
"The applicant will read the Blood Oath," he declared.
Olivia took a deep breath before starting to read aloud.
"'Their Night is my Night.
Their Blood is my Blood.
Their Secret is my Secret.
This Oath is my Coffin.'"
Underneath the words, where a line for her signature might be, was a small blank circle.
Valencia Deborg looked at her meaningfully, still grasping Olivia's index finger in one hand as she held up her needle-tipped ring in the other.
Olivia saw that Ivy was smiling proudly. Sort of surprisingly, so was Ivy's father. Olivia nodded bravely at Ms. Deborg as Mr. Boros positioned the paper underneath her hand.
The vampire touched her ring to the tip of Olivia's finger. Olivia winced, and a drop of blood bloomed like a tiny rose. She let it drip off her finger, and it landed with a tiny splatter in the middle of the parchment circle.
"Olivia Abbott has passed all three tests in her initiation," Ms. Deborg pronounced. "The Blood Secret is hers to keep."
Olivia and Ivy shared the biggest hug ever, and everybody started clapping - even Ivy's father and Valencia Deborg. Then the vampire officials led them all downstairs to the living room, where Olivia was shocked to find Sophia, Brendan, Bethany, and Mr. and Mrs. Daniels. They all erupted into applause the moment Olivia walked into the room.
"Bravo!" Brendan shouted. "A-positive, Olivia!"
Bethany hooted like a crazed owl.
Olivia just stood there, beaming.
"Everyone who knows you know the secret is in this room," Ivy whispered in her ear.
Sophia started snapping pictures like crazy. Ivy tried to step away, but Sophia begged her to stay there and try to act natural. "I'm hoping Vamp magazine will want these pictures for their 'Stalking the Undead' celebrity candid column!"
she said excitedly.
Valencia Deborg stepped into the center of the room and held up her slender hands. "As you've guessed, Olivia Abbott has successfully completed the sacred rites of initiation. She is officially sanctioned into our community by the Vampire Round Table."
"And by ASHH as well," Mr. Boros piped up from near the door.
Everybody started clapping again, and then they all sang this bizarre song in some weird language that sounded like "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow" played backward. Olivia swayed to the music, feeling simultaneously awed and bemused by the whole display.
Ivy was so happy and relieved that her sister had passed the tests, she almost felt like wearing pink!
Everyone was milling around Olivia, congratulating her and joking around. Meanwhile, Ivy's father appeared, holding a silver tray loaded with crystal flutes of deep red A neg. He handed them out, until the only one left had a pink-and-white polka-dotted cocktail umbrella sticking out of it.
"For Olivia," he said, holding out the tray, "some cranberry juice. The little umbrella was to keep the glasses from getting mixed up."
Ivy's heart cracked open like a coffin at dawn.
Maybe he's finally starting to accept Olivia now that she's an honorary vamp, she thought.
A few minutes later, Ivy spied her father sitting alone in the corner, sipping his cocktail. She crept over to Olivia and gently tugged her away from Mr. and Mrs. Daniels.
"You should go talk to my dad," Ivy said. "I think he's finally started to see you for who you really are."
Her sister approached him tentatively. "Thanks so much for the party, Mr. Vega," Ivy heard her say.
Her father looked up, startled, as if Olivia had woken him from a dream. He stood up abruptly, nearly knocking Olivia's glass from her hand, and a bit of cranberry juice sloshed over the edge of the glass and onto the floor.
"I'm so sorry," he blurted. "I have to . . ." He shot a desperate look in Ivy's direction but immediately looked away. "Please excuse me." And with that, he rushed from the room.
Olivia shrugged at Ivy disappointedly before kneeling to wipe up the cranberry juice with her napkin.
Ivy sighed. Her father still couldn't deal with Olivia, and he was probably still mad at Ivy for breaking into ASHH. But that was all dirt and worms compared to the way he'd been acting.
Why can't he understand that I deserve to find out about my real parents? she thought. Why can't he make more of an effort with my blood sister?
Ivy walked into the kitchen, half looking for her father. Her dad wasn't in there, but she did notice that he'd put a tray of tiny pastries filled with ground meat in the oven. She was opening the oven to check on them when Brendan's parents came into the kitchen with Bethany.
"I'm gonna be the most popular girl at Franklin Grove Elementary once everyone finds out that I go to parties with Ivy and Olivia, the two coolest girls ever!" Bethany chattered.
"They'll probably want to do a piece on me in Vamp!" She sucked in her cheeks like she was posing for a fashion shoot. Meanwhile, Mrs. Daniels reached into her purse and pulled out a little white bottle.
"Time for your VitaVamp, sweetheart," she said.
"Ew!" Bethany said.
"You can have it in your A neg," her mother told her, splitting the capsule in two and letting the black powder drop into the glass, where it fizzed lightly before dissolving.
"It tastes worse than broccoli!" Bethany protested.
"Don't you want to grow up to be a strong vampire?" Ivy tried.
"No," Bethany answered. "I want to grow up to be a cheerleader like Olivia."