LITMIR.BIZ

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Olivia turned to Ivy and Reiko in wide-eyed wonder, her heart rate gradually returning to normal. Are you seeing this, too?

      Ivy only shrugged, grinning. ‘Things get a little different when it’s Moonrise,’ she whispered.

      I’ll say! Olivia thought. She giggled as she spotted a blood-red dot of cranberry sauce directly between her bio-dad’s eyes. Of all the unlikely things in the world, she could never have imagined her super-formal bio-dad having a cranberry-sauce fight with his wife!

      ‘Girls!’ Charles looked up, finally taking notice of them. ‘Oh, good, you’re here just in time to see me finish off my perfect cranberry sauce.’

      ‘Ohhh!’ Lillian cast up her eyes in comic despair and turned away. ‘I give up! You finish off the sauce. I’m going to prep the red velvet cake. Happy Moonrise, girls!’

      ‘Happy Moonrise!’ Olivia chorused right along with Ivy and Reiko.

      Charles beamed as he began to stir the sauce. ‘And now, just as we do every year, it’s time to remember why this tradition was created in the first place.’

      ‘How old is it, really?’ Olivia asked, taking a seat at one of the tall stools by the breakfast bar.

      Reiko sat down across from her, pulling out a tennis ball from her backpack and bouncing it from knee to knee as she listened.

      ‘Moonrise? Oh, it’s ancient!’ Lillian answered, her voice muffled as she knelt down in front of the refrigerator to rummage through it.

      ‘It is a very old vampire tradition,’ Charles agreed, ‘or at least . . . well, it’s a very old American vampire tradition, anyway. I doubt it would ever happen back home.’

      ‘Of course not.’ Ivy rolled her eyes as she sat down next to Olivia. ‘Transylvanian vampires are way too snooty for Moonrise.’

      ‘Not Japanese vamps,’ Reiko said cheerfully. ‘We celebrate our own version of Moonrise, too. And I’ve heard that in Kenya . . .’

      ‘Ahem.’ Charles fixed both girls with a stern look. It might have been more intimidating if half of his black hair hadn’t been standing upright, the other half slicked back and sticky with cranberry sauce. ‘As I was saying . . . Moonrise is usually held on October 31^st, the same day as Halloween. For bunnies, that date marks the end of the harvest season; for vampires, it signals the shift in power, when the moon dominates the day more than the sun.’

      ‘But . . .’ Olivia frowned. ‘Real vampires don’t need the moon. They can go out in the daytime just fine.’

      ‘Of course we can.’ Charles gave her a mischievous grin. ‘But then, humans don’t need to hunt Easter eggs or go trick-or-treating, do they? But they do it for fun.’

      ‘And that’s what Moonrise is all about,’ Ivy said, bumping Olivia with her shoulder. ‘Fun!’

      Charles finished stirring the sauce and set his spoon aside. ‘For obvious reasons, we’ve chosen to host our Moonrise get-together a day early this year. I knew you three wouldn’t want to miss tomorrow’s haunted house party.’

      ‘Hey, it’s not just them!’ Lillian poked her head back out of the fridge for a moment, exposing her cranberry-stained cheeks. ‘I’m looking forward to the party, too! I am still in charge of Café Creative, you know.’

      ‘Not when it comes to this party,’ Ivy told her. ‘Tomorrow, it’s Commander Camilla all the way!’

      ‘Good point,’ Lillian chuckled, ducking back into the fridge. ‘I think you girls will be in for a treat – for a bunny, Camilla sure knows her way around a good scare!’

      ‘Never mind. Tonight is all about Moonrise.’ Charles opened a high cupboard and pulled out three coffin-shaped boxes: one black, one bright orange and one pale pink. ‘One for each of you this year!’ he said.

      ‘Let me take a wild guess.’ Olivia gave her bio-dad a teasing smile. ‘Mine’s the pink one?’

      ‘Who else?’ Ivy said, grinning. She grabbed the black box and pulled it open. ‘Ooh!’ A tombstone-shaped grey cookie lay inside, surrounded by a dusting of chocolate. ‘It looks just like it’s covered in dirt from a graveyard,’ she said happily. ‘Perfect!’

      Reiko let out a delighted giggle when she opened her bright orange coffin. ‘I love it!’ She pulled out a little liquorice bat.

      Is that actually . . . wriggling? Olivia laughed as Reiko popped a bat wing into her mouth.

      The doorbell rang, and Ivy slid off her stool. ‘I’ll get that. But go ahead and open yours, sis!’

      ‘OK.’ Olivia saw her bio-dad’s eager gaze, and wondered what kind of vampy gift went well with a pink coffin.

      Of course, she thought, as she opened the box and saw the pink candy heart waiting inside. But it wasn’t a regular candy heart. This candy heart was shaped like a real heart – with valves and everything!

      Seriously? Olivia giggled, and then had to stop herself from shaking her head in disbelief – not at the gift, but at herself. There was a time when this candy treat would have sent her running all the way home. But now, she was laughing in absolute delight!

      She looked up at her bio-dad. A year ago, she’d barely known him. Now, he’d gone out of his way to try to choose the perfect gift for his human daughter. How could she not be touched?

      She opened her mouth to thank him . . . but before she could say a single word, another ear-piercing scream ripped through the air.

      It was coming from the hallway.

      Ivy couldn’t help shrieking at the sight before her. Am I seeing things? she wondered.

      Standing in the front doorway was a girl wearing a fitted black jacket, long, narrow scarf, pencil skirt and high-heeled boots. Her black hair was longer than when Ivy had last seen it, the very tips still pixie-blonde from a rebellious dye-job the month before. ‘I can’t believe you’re here!’ Ivy cried. She threw her arms around her fashionista best friend, Sophia. ‘Aren’t you supposed to still be in Japan, finishing up your exchange programme? Reiko isn’t flying back till next week.’

      Sophia hugged her back tightly, and Ivy caught a whiff of an exotic new perfume. ‘My parents decided they didn’t want me away from home on Moonrise.’

      ‘Yeah, right.’ Grinning, Ivy released her friend and closed the front door to keep out the chilly late-October air. ‘Come on, admit it. You were just too homesick to stay away!’

      ‘Well, obviously.’ Sophia rolled her eyes as she started towards the kitchen. ‘Japan was just soooo boring, what with all its incredible sights, cool people and amazing fashion . . . how could I not want to get back to sleepy little Franklin Grove as quickly as possible?’

      ‘Ha!’ Following Sophia into the kitchen, Ivy was still laughing at her friend’s comeback even as Olivia let out a delighted shriek of her own.

      ‘Sophia!’ Olivia jumped off her stool to hug the new arrival. ‘Welcome home!’

      As Reiko stood up too, Ivy gestured towards her. ‘Oh, and I should introduce . . .’

      ‘No, I’ve got this.’ Smiling, Sophia turned to Reiko. ‘Hajimemashite,’ she said. ‘Watashi wa Sophia to moushimasu.’

      Reiko beamed. ‘Reiko desu. Yoroshiku!’

      ‘Wow.’ Ivy blinked at her best friend. ‘You really have learned Japanese!’

      Sophia winced. ‘Well, I’m not that good . . .’

      ‘You’re great!’ Reiko insisted.

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