17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire by Sienna Mercer Read Free Book Online Page B

image that deserves to go viral on the Vorld Vide
Veb!’
    ‘Better than the Happy Vampire, that’s for sure.’ Ivy scowled.
    ‘I dunno . . . she was kind of cute,’ Olivia said, batting her eyelashes. Then she took off running before her vamp twin could grab her.
    She skidded to a halt in the doorway of Café Creative.
Hmm . . . it’s going to be hard to do any investigating here!
    Under Lillian’s management, the café had become a huge success. Today customers were filling almost all of the tables, sipping frothy coffee drinks and smoothies, while other
visitors wandered through the open space around them, picking up the pens, felt tips and paint brushes that had been left out for community use and making their own contribution to the latest mural
growing on the walls.
    Unfortunately, now that the café was so popular, it was a lot harder for the twins to snoop around with any subtlety.
    As Olivia and Ivy peered into corners and knocked on walls looking for hidden compartments, Olivia caught more than one visitor giving them strange looks. And when Ivy started poking around
underneath the tables, Olivia winced at the expression on the faces of the customers who sat there. They pulled in their legs and tugged their bags closer.
    ‘Um . . . Ivy?’ Olivia beckoned to her twin as Ivy emerged from one table and started towards the next. ‘Do we even know what we’re really looking for?’ she
whispered.
    Ivy’s shoulders sagged. ‘Not really,’ she confessed. ‘Just . . . anything weird. Right?’
    Before Olivia could answer, a rasping voice sounded just behind them.
    ‘You two!’ It was Joan Calhoun, the head barista. She glared at them, her muscled arms crossed over her apron. ‘You girls may be related to my manager, but that doesn’t
mean you’re allowed to loiter around here and disturb my customers. If you’re not going to order food, or’ – she jerked her chin meaningfully at the community mural on the
walls – ‘
doodle
something, then you need to find somewhere else to be. Got it?’
    ‘Sorry.’ Olivia cringed. As her twin mumbled an apology of her own, Olivia took a deep breath and turned on actor-mode. ‘Actually . . .’ Smiling ruefully, she sidled up
to the café counter. ‘Could I order a cake and orange juice, please? That was why we came here in the first place. We were just distracted by . . . erm . . . remembering how amazing
the Halloween party was.’
    ‘That’s right,’ Ivy agreed, nodding vigorously. ‘We were . . . uh . . . looking for
clues
to how Camilla did the special effects.’
    ‘Hmmph.’ Joan grimaced as she stepped behind the counter and pulled out a bottle of orange juice from the refrigerated case. ‘I’m just glad I wasn’t working that
night. Unlike some people, I don’t find scares fun.’
    Olivia gave a heartfelt sigh of agreement. ‘You and me both!’
    ‘Besides . . .’ Joan shook her head as she uncapped the orange juice. ‘Living in Franklin Grove my whole life, I’ve had more than enough of the real thing to deal
with.’
    Uh-oh.
Olivia felt Ivy tense beside her. It took all of her acting training to keep a sympathetic smile on her own face as she said, ‘What do you mean?’
    Please, please, please don’t let those scares have been vamp-related!
    ‘Haven’t you ever heard the legends?’ Joan fixed her with a beady look. ‘This town is full of spectres!’
    Olivia’s eyes widened. ‘You mean . . . ghosts?’
    ‘Oh, yes.’ Joan didn’t even bother to look down at the orange juice she was pouring. Her gaze held Olivia’s with magnetic intensity. ‘Most people around here seem
to have forgotten the old stories, but not us Calhouns. According to my grandma, back down South, our family used to be a wealthy lot. We moved up here in the late nineteenth century, and we have a
legend of our own.’ She leaned across the counter, lowering her voice to a very serious whisper. ‘Apparently – and you two will appreciate this