Twin Spins! Read Online Free Page A

recently found out about their aunt, but they’d already visited her several times. The outdoors didn’t even make Ivy want to break out in hives any more. Plus, the horses had stopped running away every time she was around. Ivy was actually starting to love the place.
    Olivia fanned her toes. ‘I still don’t know why it was so important for me to stay over tonight. Do you think it was because of the dinner with Lillian?’
    ‘I don’t think so. Dad probably would have preferred us not to be around for that.’ Ivy pulled open the lid of her coffin and climbed inside. It was a top-of-the-line Interna 3 and she loved the feel of the soft red velvet beneath her toes. Olivia pulled back her pink comforter and climbed into bed. She rested her head on the pillows with the pink lace trim and reached to adjust the ribbon that was tied in a big bow on the headboard. Her bed couldn’t have been more different to Ivy’s coffin.
‘Then why tonight, of all nights?’
    Ivy stretched her legs and snuggled into the cushioned velour. ‘Maybe we’ll find out in the morning.’
If I can sleep
, Ivy added in her head.
What on earth is my dad planning?

     
    Olivia yawned. Her ponytail was lopped sideways on top of her head and the sheets were tangled in a heap at her feet. There had been a noise at the door. Had she heard a knock?
Knock, knock!
    There it was again. She peeked over the edge of her bed. Ivy’s coffin was still sealed shut. Their bedroom door creaked open and Olivia heard the shuffle of feet as the edge of a brass tray came into view. A brass tray? The only serving options Olivia had seen at the Vegas’ house were those cushioned trays used for TV dinners. She quickly tried to flatten her hair into something presentable.
    The figure of a hulking man dressed in a full morning suit appeared in the open doorway.
It’s Horatio!
Olivia thought, stunned. Horatio was her grandparents’ butler. The Lazars were Transylvanian nobility. But what was he doing in Franklin Grove?
    Olivia blinked. There was only one explanation. She had to be dreaming. Olivia pulled the sheets up to her chin and burrowed back beneath the covers.
    A hand tapped Olivia’s shoulder and her eyes snapped open. ‘Madam?’
‘Oh my goodness!’ she shrieked.
    The bulky Horatio leaped back and two glasses tipped over, spilling orange juice and blood-orange juice all over his neatly pressed suit.
    ‘Oops.’ Olivia’s cheeks burned. ‘I didn’t mean to. I thought you were a dream.’ She was about to ask Horatio what he was doing there when Ivy’s coffin swung open, whacking poor Horatio so that he stumbled back into the wall behind him.
    Ivy jolted out of her coffin like a vampire in a bad horror flick. ‘What’s going on?’ She spotted the butler. ‘What are you doing here?’ Ivy rubbed her eyes with her fists.
    Cautiously, Horatio placed the brass platter on the edge of Olivia’s bed and handed Ivy a half-full glass of blood-orange juice and Olivia the remains of the regular orange juice.
‘Thanks.’ Olivia took a sip.
    The butler rubbed the spot where he had been struck with Ivy’s hard coffin-lid. ‘Surprise!’ he managed to choke out, like he’d been saving it up for the right moment. Olivia got the feeling that his breakfast treat had not gone as planned.
    ‘Surprise!’ Two more voices echoed from the doorway. Olivia almost spilled the orange juice again. There at Ivy’s bedroom door were their grandparents, the Count and Countess Lazar.
    ‘Oh my darkness,’ exclaimed Ivy, clambering out of her coffin. ‘What are you doing here?’
    It was as if Transylvania had been transplanted directly into the Vega household. Olivia beamed. The Count and Countess swept into the room, and immediately Olivia felt underdressed in her polka-dotted flannel pyjamas. Her grandmother was wearing a black fitted corset top and a long, full skirt that dusted the floor as she floated along, arm-in-arm with their grandfather. The Count wore a