YEAR OF THE VAMPIRE 24

Chapter 24

Music from: Die Fledermaus Overture

"So I told her, I can sing that and the nurse's part," Lornie was saying, the words jumbled as she piled them onto each other at a dizzying pace. "We can record it and play it back. It'll work. Two shows tomorrow and we're down to a barebones cast. Who would have thought we'd run out of understudies?"

Ivy wasn't sure where the time had gone, but by the time she got back to town after stopping by the Hall, it was nearly seven-thirty. Somewhere, she'd lost half the day, and missed the matinee. So far, Lornie hadn't seemed to notice. Loss of time wasn't a feeling Ivy liked. She could only come up with one explanation—she'd spent far more time at Brylinden Hall than she realized.

Camille's large house was quickly filling with guests for her party. Between the breakdown in the play and with Halloween still hanging in the atmosphere, tensions and escapism were in overdrive. Usually Camille had her party on Halloween or the night before, but since the production of Romeo and Juliet had taxed so many students and extras this year, the party has been put off a day. Still, costumes were a must, and the house was decorated for a masquerade ball.

Camille's mother was all-in for the event, as usual, chaperoning invisibly in her Cleopatra costume. Camille was already in full persona as a black-and-white, spriggy-skirted harlequin doll with red hair. She had already told Ivy and Lornie to change in her bedroom.

"If you can remember where it is," Camille had added with a laugh. "Geez, it's been like a month."

Lornie had nodded, blowing up a balloon for her outfit as they took the stairs up.