Fangtastic! by Sienna Mercer

up in the wrong box for you,
honey,” she said, “but there’s nothing I can do.” She jotted something on a
scrap of paper and handed it to Ivy. “Here’s the general e-mail for central
inquiries. You’re welcome to contact them yourself, and I’m sure you’ll hear
back within four to six months. But, trust me, honey,” the woman said with a
shrug, “you’re just not in the system.”
    Ivy
was tempted to argue, but she knew it was useless. “Thanks,” she said quietly,
taking the e-mail address and heading out the door. As she passed through the
bunny baby store, she couldn’t help thinking her father was right after all. “Look
to the future,” he always said, “not back to the past.”
    Especially
because when I do look back, she thought, trudging into the street, I can’t seem to see a thing!

Chapter 8
    Having
looked everywhere else for Brendan’s book, Olivia kicked aside a pile of black
clothes and crouched down to peer under Ivy’s bed. Pulling up the black velvet
bed skirt, it took her a moment to realize the only thing under there was her
sister’s shiny coffin.
    She
bolted upright. “Of course it’s not under there,” she said, rolling her eyes
like Ivy might. Brendan just looked at her, frowning. She couldn’t tell whether
he was amused, suspicious, or worried that his girlfriend had completely lost
her mind.
    Olivia
peered around Ivy’s room desperately. It was a complete mess—the floor was so
littered with black shoes and clothes that she could barely see the carpet; the
bed was a nest of bags, pillows, and cosmetics; and Ivy’s desk looked like it
had been hit by an avalanche of paper and CDs. Olivia had been looking for
Brendan’s book for twenty minutes already.
    All
she knew was she had to get him out of the house before Ivy came home. He’s
bound to figure everything out if he sees two Ivys in one place, she
thought, and that won’t be good! It had been stressful enough getting to
Ivy’s basement bedroom in the first place. Olivia had had to try three
different keys before she found the one that opened the front door, and then
she’d had to stand there awkwardly while Brendan and Ivy’s dad chatted amicably
in the front hall.
    Suddenly,
Olivia spotted the corner of a book peeking out from underneath a gray towel on
the floor. She dashed over, pulling the soggy towel aside to reveal a
waterlogged paperback.
    Olivia
had never felt so relieved to see a ruined book in her entire life. “Oh, no,”
she said, carrying the book over to Brendan, “it got wet.” She held it out with
an apologetic frown.
    Brendan
glanced down at the book. “Ivy,” he said, “this is from social studies. I need
the English book I gave you last week.”
    I
am so dead, thought
Olivia. She had to find Brendan’s book fast, or he was going to realize
something was up—if he hadn’t already!
    Ivy
turned a corner and glanced forlornly up at her house, which loomed atop the
hill at the end of the cul-de-sac. Right away, she saw that Toby Decker was
lurking in front of Charlotte Brown’s house, right next door to her own.
    Ivy
dove behind an oak tree.
    Peeking
out carefully, she saw Toby walking along the curb as if it were a balance
beam. He hopped off, looked up toward Ivy’s house hopefully, and then hopped on
again and teetered in the other direction.
    Hasn’t
he given up yet? Ivy
thought. Seriously, she’d had enough frustration for one afternoon. She was
certainly in no mood to wander around the neighborhood for all eternity,
waiting for Toby Decker to call it a day.
    Unfortunately,
the alternatives were just as O negative. If Toby spotted her going into the
house dressed like Olivia, he might get suspicious. And even if Ivy could make
herself look normal again, Toby might guess that he’d been following around an
impostor all afternoon. Worse, he might run and tell Serena Star that there
were legions of identical queens of the damned roaming Franklin Grove.
    This
bites! Ivy