Read Undercover Online

Authors: Meredith Badger

Tags: #ebook, #book

Undercover (2 page)

Elly tried not to smile. Finally, some good news!

‘But,' said her father, ‘there is another possibility. Cherrydale Fairy Academy has a vacancy.'

Elly looked at her parents in horror. Cherrydale is a fairy boarding school. A very strict boarding school. It is so strict that students are only allowed to let their feet touch the ground three times a day. And they have to wear their uniforms on the weekends, too.

Elly started thinking. It was the sort of thinking you do when you have to come up with a solution very quickly. The sort of thinking that makes whirring sounds come out of your ears. Elly wasn't ready to give up just yet. She really wanted to go undercover at a human school. There
had
to be something she could do to get there.

Chapter two

E
lly's brain whirred for a while. Then it started grinding. Then finally it made a bing
!
sound, because Elly had an idea. It seemed like the perfect solution to her, but sometimes it took adult fairies a little while to catch on to good ideas.

You may have had the same trouble with adult humans.

‘Mum,' said Elly. ‘I could stay with Jess's family while you're away.'

Elly could see from her parents' faces that they were going to be slow to catch on to this good idea. So she kept explaining. ‘It's perfect for an undercover operation! And I'll learn so much about humans if I live with a human family,' she said. ‘It will be good research for being a better fairy. I might even be able to put some of the things I discover into the Human Research Database.'

But Elly's parents were being stubborn.

‘I don't know,' said Mrs Knottleweed-Eversprightly. ‘I'd feel better if you were staying with fairies. It's not that I don't like humans, it's just that they're different from us.'

Elly decided to use another tactic. Cold, hard facts. ‘Cherrydale is a really strict school, mum,' she said. ‘And I haven't had much luck at strict schools, remember.'

This was true. It wasn't that Elly
meant
to get into trouble. It just seemed to happen.

‘Imagine,' said Elly, ‘if I get thrown out of Cherrydale while you're away. What will happen to me then?'

Mrs and Mr Knottleweed-Eversprightly looked at each other.

‘Wellll ...' said Elly's mum.

Elly knew that when her mum said ‘Wellll ...' like that, it meant she was starting to come around to Elly's way of thinking.

‘Well, that's true,' her mum continued. ‘But I've never even met Jess's parents. We can't leave you with total strangers.'

Elly smiled. The hard part of the convincing was done. ‘Let's go over and meet them then!' she said. ‘You'll like the Chesters, I know you will.'

Half an hour later the Knottleweed-Eversprightlys were sitting in their neighbours' lounge room, drinking tea and eating shortbread that tasted just a tiny bit of mud. Mrs Chester was a potter and Mr Chester was a gardener, so dirt just seemed to get into everything. Elly could tell that her parents were a bit nervous about being in a human house. Elly understood. She had felt that way too when she'd first visited Jess.

Human houses are so different from fairy ones, and it is easy to make stupid blunders. For instance, human doors don't allow you to walk straight through them the way fairy ones do. Mr Knottleweed-Eversprightly almost banged into a closed door before he remembered to open it manually. It was also weird that human furniture stayed in the same place. Fairy furniture has a tendency to wander around. Elly liked human furniture much more. She was sick of tripping over unexpected things hiding in the dark. To make it worse, fairy furniture always acts like it's your fault. On the whole, Elly felt much happier being in the Chesters' house than she did in her own.

The only thing Elly was really worried about during the visit was Kara. Elly had already caught her making the teapot rise up and start to tip. Elly stopped it just in time. She didn't want anything to happen that might put the Chesters off the idea of her staying with them.

But if the Chesters noticed any strange goings-on, they didn't say anything.

‘Of course Elly can stay with us!' said Mrs Chester. ‘We'd love to have her.'

‘We'll set up the spare bed in Jess's room,' said Mr Chester.

Jess and Elly looked at each other in delight. Elly's parents looked relieved. In fact, the only person who didn't look happy about it was Jess's little brother Micky. ‘Great,' he muttered. ‘Now I'm going to have
two
big sisters bossing me around.'

After this had been arranged, things happened very fast. The Knottleweed-Eversprightlys hurried home to finish packing and by early afternoon they were ready to leave. Elly and the Chester family stood on the footpath to wave them goodbye.

‘It looks very squishy in there,' said Mrs Chester sympathetically, looking at the Knottleweed-Eversprightlys' station wagon.

From the outside it looked as if the car was almost completely full. Only Elly knew that inside the car was much more roomy. There was a bath. And a sauna. There was even a very small movie theatre.

‘Bye!' called Elly, as the car drove off. She felt a bit sad. It was exciting to be staying with Jess but she'd miss her family too. Her own bag was packed and laying by her feet. Once the car had disappeared, Jess picked up Elly's bag.

‘Come on,' she said. ‘Let's go and unpack. I've cleared some space for your stuff in my cupboard.'

Elly immediately started feeling better. Elly's mum had told her to pack carefully. Now that she was working undercover, she was only supposed to take the most ordinary of her belongings, and even her wand had to be left behind.

‘No-one can ever find out you are a fairy,' Mrs Knottleweed-Eversprightly had warned. ‘Not even Jess.'

Elly had blushed a little. Her mum didn't know that Jess already knew all about it. ‘I'll be on my best behaviour,' she had promised.

Jess's room looked a bit like a cross between a science lab and a factory. She had her chemistry set on her desk and lots of tools on her shelves. The only way you could tell it was a girl's bedroom was by the posters of Jess's favourite bands. Elly thought Jess's room was cool, especially all the half-finished inventions lying around. When they walked in, Elly spotted something fluttering on Jess's desk. She thought at first a small bird was trapped inside, but when she got closer she saw that it was just a pen. But not a normal pen. A pen with wings!

‘It's my latest experiment,' explained Jess. ‘Once it's working properly I'm going to train it to come when I call.'

‘What a great idea!' said Elly.

Jess sighed. ‘It would be if I could actually get it to work. All it does at the moment is roll around.'

Jess helped Elly unpack. Elly had brought all her favourite clothes — there wasn't a single pink or scratchy thing! Right at the bottom of Elly's bag was a small parcel. Elly recognised her mum's writing on the card.

This will look after you while we're away,
the card said.

Elly unwrapped the parcel.

‘What is it?' Jess asked.

‘A watch,' said Elly, showing her. ‘But knowing my mum it's probably not a normal watch.'

She picked the watch up and instantly the strap locked on around her wrist. This was surprising enough, but it was even more astonishing when the watch spoke. It had a mechanical, worried sort of voice.

‘Are you eating properly?' it asked anxiously. ‘You look thin.'

Elly groaned. Now she knew what this was — a Worry-Watch. She quickly tried to undo it but the clip held fast.

‘Sorry,' said the Worry-Watch. ‘You're not authorised to undo me.'

‘Is that thing actually talking to you?' asked Jess curiously.

Elly nodded. ‘It's just like having a worried parent around, all day long.'

‘That's going to get really annoying,' said Jess.

‘Yes,' agreed Elly. ‘It is.'

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