Over The Rainbow (6 page)

‘Thank you, Saphie,' said Madame. ‘I want everyone to memorise those rules. Granting wishes to humans is the main task of fairies. Humans are annoying sometimes, but it is always our duty to help them out!'

Suddenly, all of Elly's doubts vanished, and she felt determined again.

I HAVE to help Jess!
she told herself.
It's my duty as a fairy. And I'll find a way out of Rainbowville. I know I will!

But how exactly was she going to do it?

Saphie will help me,
thought Elly. But sneaking out of Rainbowville would be very risky. There was no way Elly wanted to get Saphie into trouble.
If she can just help me sneak out, I can do the rest,
Elly decided.

Elly put her wand into Cloud Writer mode. Then, when Madame's back was turned, she scribbled a message to Saphie, under the desk and well away from Cruddleperry eyes.

Can we talk at recess? Somewhere private.

Saphie smiled and nodded.
Of course!
she cloud-wrote back.
Let's go to the library.

Chapter Eight

T
he moment the recess bell went, Elly and Saphie raced for the door.

‘Going to play with all your friends in the library again, are you?' sneered Gabi.

Saphie shrugged. ‘Books are way more fun to hang out with than you Cruddleperrys,' she said. ‘And they smell better, too.'

‘You know, Gabi,' said Nadia, pulling out her wand. ‘I've heard that humans often wish they could turn into animals.'

‘Really?' replied Gabi, grinning nastily. ‘Well, you should probably practise that spell, Nadia.'

‘I think that's a bad idea,' said Saphie calmly. ‘It's against Academy rules.'

‘Oh,
really?
' laughed Nadia. ‘Well, we think it's a great idea.'

Then she and Gabi pointed their wands at Elly and Saphie. There was a flash of light and a shower of purple stars!

Elly squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
What have they turned us into?
she wondered.
Probably something slimy.
Then Elly heard a scream. It sounded a bit like Gabi, but something wasn't quite right about it.

Elly opened her eyes, and gasped. Standing where the Cruddleperrys had been were two scaly green lizards!

‘What have you done to us?' shrieked one of the lizards, who looked a bit like Nadia.

‘You did it to yourselves,' retorted Saphie. ‘I did warn you.'

‘But we can't stay like this,' cried the other lizard, who looked a bit like Gabi. ‘You have to change us back!'

‘I can't,' replied Saphie. ‘It's very hard to reverse a spell you've done on yourself. You'll have to go to the school nurse.'

‘But we'll get in huge trouble if we do that!' wailed Gabi.

‘Rule number 40,' called the Ruler from inside Elly's backpack. ‘No unsupervised spells by unlicensed fairies!'

‘You have to help us!' insisted the lizards, waving their tails about.

‘Rule number 41,' said the Ruler instantly. ‘No helping fairies who have broken rule number 40.' Then the Ruler gave a funny little cough, like it was trying not to laugh.

‘Sorry,' said Elly. ‘We'd love to help, but you heard the Rule-Ruler. Besides, we've got to hang out with our friends in the library.' Then she grabbed Saphie's arm and they glided off down the corridor.

Once they were safely around the corner, both fairies stopped and laughed until their faces ached.

‘How did you
do
that?' giggled Elly.

‘Well,' grinned Saphie, ‘while you cleverly distracted everyone by falling out of the broom closet, I sneaked over and put their wands in reverse. So any spells they tried to put on us would backfire onto them! I think they make much nicer lizards than fairies.'

‘
Definitely!
' laughed Elly, as she and Saphie headed off to the library.

The library was vast and echoey, with high walls completely covered in bookshelves. Even the window ledges were stacked so high with piles of books that it was almost impossible to see outside.

‘No-one but me reads these books any-more. The others all look at wand-books instead,' said Saphie, as she checked to make sure they were totally alone. ‘The saddest part is that if these books don't get read, they just crumble away to dust.'

As Elly walked along, the books seemed to make a whispering, rustling sound.

‘It's like they're asking me to read them,' said Elly.

‘They are,' said Saphie. ‘Those are Tell Tale books – they're a record of all the naughty things Rainbow Academy students have done over the years. They're probably dying to tell you everything.'

Then Elly spotted something glinting under one of the shelves. She bent down and fished it out. It was a tiny book, no bigger than her hand, with golden edges. It was very dusty and crumbly.

Poor old book,
thought Elly. If someone didn't read it soon it would probably vanish completely. Elly slipped the book into her backpack, giving it a reassuring pat as she did.
Don't worry,
she told the book silently.
I'll read you.

‘Now,' said Saphie, once they were sure no-one was hiding anywhere, ‘what did you want to talk about?'

So Elly explained all about Jess. She even told Saphie her big secret – that Jess knew Elly was a fairy! This was strictly against Fairy Code rules. If anyone found out about it, Elly would be in huge trouble. But Elly knew she could trust Saphie with her secret.

When Elly had finished, Saphie nodded. ‘That's why you were so upset when Grand-ma said that Jess was being crushed,' she said.

‘Exactly,' replied Elly. ‘And that's why I have to sneak over to the other side of the rainbow. Jess might need my help!'

‘But how are you planning to sneak out?' asked Saphie.

‘Well, I thought
you
might have some ideas,' said Elly hopefully.

But Saphie looked unsure. ‘It's pretty much impossible to sneak out of Rainbowville,' she said. ‘The last time any unlicensed fairies left Rainbowville was ages ago. It used to be a fairy's job to scan the sky for fairies going in and out of Rainbowville. This particular time, the fairy on duty fell asleep, so two Rainbow Academy students sneaked out. They both got into huge trouble when they were caught. Then the automatic Sky Scanner was invented and no-one has ever gotten past it.'

‘I guess it's hopeless then,' Elly frowned. ‘Besides, it's not just the Sky Scanner. There's also the problem of sneaking out of the Rainbow Academy itself! This place is covered with fairy sensors.'

‘Well, actually,' said Saphie, lowering her voice, ‘
that
bit would be easy.' She went over to one of the windows and carefully removed the books stacked on the windowsill.

Elly held her breath. Usually when you touched one of the Academy windows they started beeping furiously, but this one remained silent. Saphie pushed on it, and with a gentle creak the window swung open.

‘It's been broken for ages,' explained Saphie, ‘but no-one comes down here, so I'm the only one who knows about it.'

Her eyes sparkling, Elly hugged her friend. ‘Thanks so much,' she said gratefully. ‘You've just solved half of the problem.'

Suddenly, Saphie sat up straight. ‘You know what,' she said slowly. ‘I found a book when I first arrived here that had fallen down the back of the shelves. I got the feeling it wasn't really meant to be there, in fact. I started reading it because it looked so neglected.'

‘What was it about?' asked Elly.

‘The Sky Scanner,' said Saphie. Then her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘It said that it's possible to switch it into maintenance mode.'

Elly frowned. ‘Maintenance mode?'

Saphie nodded. She was starting to look excited. ‘Yes. If I understood correctly, it would be like shutting it down for repairs. It'd only be temporary, of course. But while it was in that mode, it wouldn't be able to connect with the Cloud Writer.'

Elly raised an eyebrow and grinned.

Saphie grinned back. ‘Which means that for a short while, you could enter or exit Rainbowville, and no-one would have a clue.'

Elly jumped up immediately. ‘Saphie! Where is the book?'

But Saphie looked embarrassed. ‘It was a really boring book,' she admitted. ‘I actually fell asleep while reading it. When I woke up, it had completely turned to dust.'

Elly slumped back down in her seat. It was terrible to come so close to forming a plan, only to have it slip away.

Saphie smiled. ‘But you know, I think I'd remember what it said if I was actually looking at the Sky Scanner,' she said. ‘The whole thing is going to be risky. Very risky. But let's go to the Rainbow Lab tonight and see if I can work out what to do.'

Elly shook her head. ‘I don't want you getting into trouble, Saph,' she said. ‘If you tell me what you remember, I'll do it on my own. And I'll go tonight.'

Saphie looked horrified. ‘Are you kidding?' There's no way I'm letting you go on a big adventure like this without me!'

Elly felt her Heart Tracker pendant glow with warmth. She knew she should insist that Saphie stay behind, but it would be so nice to have her there.

‘Thanks, Saph,' said Elly gratefully. Then she thought of something. ‘Hang on. How are we going to get into the Rainbow Lab? It's behind a huge gate!'

But Saph smiled mysteriously. ‘I think I have an answer to that. But there's no time to explain right now. Come on, we'd better get back.'

As they left the library, Elly felt a tingle of excitement. There was no doubt that a very big task lay ahead of them. But it would all be worth it if she managed to help Jess!

Chapter Nine

N
either of the Cruddleperrys were around when Elly and Saphie went to bed that night.

‘Evie told me that they're both in the sick bay, being changed back from lizards,' said Saphie. ‘They tried to blame us, of course, but the nurse guessed straight away what had happened. I bet they're furious!'

‘I'm so excited about tonight that I don't even care about the Cruddleperrys,' said Elly, bouncing on her bed. ‘What should we take?'

‘Maybe our Extreme Flying turbo boosters?' suggested Saphie. ‘Just in case.'

‘OK,' said Elly. ‘But I really hope I don't have to use them!'

Suddenly, Saphie's face fell. ‘Wait a minute, I just thought of a problem. A
big
one.'

‘What?' asked Elly nervously.

‘We need a rainbow umbrella. Without that, we can't re-enter Rainbowville.'

Elly pulled open her backpack and rummaged around. ‘Do you mean one of these, by any chance?' she smiled, pulling out Grandmother's rainbow umbrella. ‘I'd totally forgotten I even had it!'

Saphie laughed and shook her head. ‘You are amazing, Elly! Now, we better get some sleep. We've got a huge job ahead of us.'

‘I'll try,' said Elly, as she climbed into bed fully dressed. ‘But I don't think it's likely. I'm way too excited.'

But Elly must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, Saphie was shaking her awake.

‘Here,' said Saphie, handing her what looked like a very long, flat cushion. ‘Put this in your bed and tuck the covers around it.'

‘What is it?' asked Elly curiously.

‘It's a replacer balloon,' said Saphie. ‘They make it look like you're still in your bed, when you're not. I got them in a fairy show bag once. I knew they'd come in handy!'

Elly pushed her replacer balloon into her bed. Instantly, it inflated to her exact size and shape. When the covers were drawn up around it, Elly nearly laughed. It looked exactly like she was still in there!

If the Rule-Ruler saw this it would go totally crazy,
she grinned to herself.

Luckily, the Ruler seemed to be asleep. Elly could hear little wooden-y snores coming from her backpack as she slipped it on.