Over The Rainbow (5 page)

Elly was about to say that she had been to a human school, and was positive that no-one sat in bathtubs, when Saphie caught her eye and shook her head. Then, using the mini-Cloud Writer function on her wand, she scribbled a quick message in the air for Elly.

Just agree with her!

‘Another interesting fact about human schools is that the pupils keep their eyes shut throughout the entire day,' said Madame Fernyfrond. ‘Isn't that right, Elly?'

Elly tried very hard not to laugh. ‘Yes, Madame,' she said. Then, winking at Saphie, she added, ‘and they hop backwards home from school every afternoon.'

‘Really?' said Madame Fernyfrond. ‘How very interesting!'

Elly leant over to Saphie. ‘I don't think Madame Fernyfrond has
ever
been to a human school,' she whispered.

‘She has crazy ideas about humans, doesn't she? Just like humans do about fairies,' grinned Saphie.

Madame Fernyfrond clapped her hands. ‘Who can tell me about the Human Database?'

Nadia Cruddleperry put up her wand. ‘It's the information that fairies have collected about humans,' she said. ‘It's the only way to tell if a human needs a wish granted.'

There's another way of knowing,
thought Elly.
You can talk to them!
She had granted a wish for Jess before, and she hadn't needed to use the Human Database at all.

I wonder how Jess is going?
Elly thought suddenly. It was weird to think that a week had already passed by for Jess, since Elly had left – even though Elly had only been in Rainbowville for a day.
Lots of things could have happened in a week, and I don't know anything about them!

Madame Fernyfrond pointed her wand at a blank wall. Instantly, a beam of light shot out and a glowing projection screen appeared.

‘I will demonstrate how the Human Database works,' she announced. ‘Now, can anyone suggest a human name that I might search for on the Database? Just make one up. Remember, human names are sometimes quite ridiculous.'

Elly sat up straight.
This is my way of finding out how Jess is,
she thought excitedly. ‘Jess,' said Elly quickly. ‘Jess Chester.'

‘That's a particularly silly name!' laughed Madame Fernyfrond. ‘I doubt even a human would be called something so strange. But let's try it anyway.'

Then, on the tiny keyboard on her wand, she began typing. Instantly, the screen filled with writing. Elly leant forward, eagerly. But then she sat back again, disappointed. The writing wasn't like anything she'd seen before. It was all squiggly and swirly.

‘The Database has recently been converted into a special coded language,' explained Madame. ‘This is to stop humans from accidentally discovering it on their
internut
.'

Elly put her wand in the air. ‘Madame Fernyfrond,' she said, ‘can you read the code? Can you tell us what it's saying about Jess?'

‘Of course I can!' replied Madame Fernyfrond, a little haughtily. Then she peered at the projection for a very long time. ‘Jess Chester is not quite herself at the moment, according to the Database,' said Madame Fernyfrond eventually.

Elly bit her lip. That didn't sound good! ‘Does it say anything else?' she asked.

Madame Fernyfrond squinted at the projection again. ‘Oh, no wonder she's not feeling very well!' she said, after a moment. ‘It says quite clearly that Jess is currently being crushed.'

‘Crushed!' repeated Elly, shocked.

Madame nodded. ‘Yes. And according to this, she's finding it
most
uncomfortable.'

Elly stared at Madame in horror.

‘Look at Elly's stupid expression,' Gabi sneered to Nadia. ‘A proper fairy would never pull a face like that.'

But Elly barely heard her. Her mind was racing. What was crushing poor Jess? Perhaps Madame had read the code incorrectly. Her lesson about human classrooms hadn't been exactly accurate, after all. But then, maybe she was right! Elly couldn't stand the thought of sitting around doing nothing if Jess was in trouble.

I've got to get out of Rainbowville as quickly as possible,
thought Elly,
and find out what's going on with Jess!

Chapter Seven

T
he next class was Wish Fulfilment. Elly knew she should concentrate, especially as Madame Fernyfrond was in charge again. But her mind kept on wandering back to Jess.

I have to see her,
thought Elly.
But how?

‘Elly!' called Madame suddenly. ‘Can you give us an example of a wish, please?'

‘I wish I could get out of Rainbowville,' replied Elly, without thinking.

Madame laughed. ‘Completely impossible!'

‘Rule number 331,' piped up Elly's Ruler. ‘Unlicensed fairies are not allowed out of Rainbowville.'

‘Exactly,' agreed Madame. ‘If you tried to sneak out unchaperoned, the Cloud Writer would write your name in red in the sky and you'd be caught immediately.'

‘You'd never even make it out of the school,' added Gabi. ‘All the gates, doors and windows have Fairy Trackers on them. If you so much as touch them, the alarm goes off.'

‘The only way you're leaving here,' hissed Nadia, ‘is when you get expelled!'

Elly pulled a face at the Cruddleperrys, but inside her hopes were fading.
Are they right?
she wondered.
Is it actually impossible to leave this place?

‘Elly's wish was impossible,' said Madame Fernyfrond. ‘Gabi, can
you
give an example?'

Gabi shot a mischievous look at Elly. ‘Well,' she said, ‘someone might wish for a new hairstyle.'

‘Excellent suggestion,' said Madame Fernyfrond approvingly. ‘And what would you do to grant that?'

‘I would do a hair re-alignment with my wand,' replied Gabi sweetly.

‘Correct,' said Madame Fernyfrond, turning to write something on the board.

The moment Madame Fernyfrond's back was turned, Gabi pointed her wand at Elly's head. Instantly, Elly had the odd sensation that her hair was moving by itself, wriggling and squirming like it had come to life.

‘What's going on?' Elly whispered to Saphie nervously.

Saphie stared at her hair, looking shocked.

‘What? What?' asked Elly.

Saphie pointed to Elly's reflection in the classroom window. Elly could hardly believe what she saw.

Her hair was busily plaiting itself into hundreds of tiny little braids! Then the finished braids were standing up like stalks all over her head.

Madame turned and stared at Elly in astonishment. ‘Elly!
What
have you done to your hair?'

‘It wasn't me, Madame,' protested Elly.

‘No excuses, Elinora,' Madame snapped. ‘Your grandmother warned me about your odd behaviour, and I can see she wasn't exaggerating.'

Madame looked around the room. ‘What about you, Nadia? Can you suggest a wish?'

‘You might wish for a brand new outfit,' said Nadia innocently. She had her wand pointed at Elly under the desk.

‘Don't!' Elly yelped, but it was too late. She suddenly felt very cold. She peered down.

‘Oh,
no
!' she groaned, her face blushing bright red as everyone started laughing. She was now wearing bathers! There was even a pair of flippers on her feet.

Madame Fernyfrond glared. ‘Elinora!' she said crossly. ‘Are you familiar with rule number 40?'

‘Rule number 40,' recited the Ruler.‘No unsupervised spells by unlicensed fairies!'

‘Can't you get
expelled
for that kind of thing, Madame?' asked Nadia.

‘It's possible,' said Madame darkly.

Then Gabi put up her wand. ‘I just thought of another wish, Madame Fernyfrond,' she said brightly. ‘You might wish you were somewhere else.'

‘No!' cried Elly, and quickly tried to perform a blocking spell with her wand. But it didn't work. A second later Elly found herself squashed into a small, dark room.

Where am I?
she wondered, groping around for a door. Suddenly, something jabbed her very sharply in the back. Elly was flung forward through a doorway and then landed with a splat on the floor.

Elly lifted her head up. She was back in her classroom, and everyone was staring at her in amazement, except for the Cruddleperrys, who looked like they were about to explode from trying not to laugh.

‘It's no good hiding in the broom closet, Elinora,' frowned Madame. ‘The brooms will always sweep you out again, quick smart.'

Elly looked behind her. Sure enough, the small cupboard she'd just fallen out of was filled with brooms. One of them was still pushing at her feet, as if trying to sweep her as far away as possible.

There was a mirror stuck inside the cupboard, and Elly was relieved to see that at least her hair and clothes had now gone back to normal.

‘Elinora, go back to your seat straight away,' barked Madame.

Elly hurried back, glaring at the smirking Cruddleperrys as she passed them. She longed to turn their hair green, but she knew Madame would be furious if anything else happened. And besides, the chances of her spell actually working were very slim.

Saphie gave Elly a cheeky smile as she sat down. ‘Don't worry about the Cruddleperrys doing any more spells on you,' she whispered. ‘If they even try, they're in for a very big surprise!'

Even though everything was back to normal, Elly still felt cross and fidgety.

I was crazy to think I could help Jess,
she thought.
I can't even stop the Cruddleperrys from putting me in the broom closet!

‘Please find the Wish Fulfilment section in the Fairy Code, everyone,' said Madame Fernyfrond briskly.

Uh-oh!
thought Elly.

Her copy of the Fairy Code was back at home. Was she about to get in trouble
again
? Then she noticed that everyone had simply flipped out their wand-screens.

‘The Fairy Code is loaded onto your wand,' explained Saphie, showing her the right button to press.

‘Saphie,' said Madame Fernyfrond, ‘please read the page entitled
The Three Golden Rules of Wish Fulfilment
to the class.'

Saphie stood up and read the rules.