Rainbows and Halos Read online

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Brilliant Baking!

  Chapter 2: Rainbow Fun!

  Chapter 3: Archangel Grace’s Garden

  Chapter 4: A Big Problem

  Chapter 5: A Secret Surprise

  Chapter 6: Out of Bounds

  Chapter 7: Practice Makes Perfect!

  Chapter 8: The Prize-giving

  About Michelle Misra and Samantha Chaffey

  For Amelia and Jemima King, with love

  CHAPTER 1

  Brilliant Baking!

  GLITTERSOME!” ELLA BROWN LOOKED over Poppy’s shoulder at the perfect heart-shaped cookies she was icing.

  “Thanks, Ella!” Poppy pushed back her messy blond curls. “For once I’ve done something more neatly than you!” she teased.

  As Ella looked down at her own cookies, she could see exactly what her friend meant. The icing was all wobbly, the shape looked more like a square than a heart, and the cookies were all splotchy! Still, it was only their first angel baking lesson.

  “I guess they don’t need to look good to taste good,” Ella said hopefully.

  “Well, we’ll soon find out!” Poppy closed her eyes and took a bite of one of her cookies. “I wish for happy thoughts . . . ooh, that’s lovely,” she smiled. “Butterflies and bluebirds!”

  Ella took a bite of one of hers. “Ooh, yum,” she squealed as she munched. “Delicious. It tastes like strawberries and cream!”

  “Don’t forget to make a wish before you finish it!” Poppy reminded her quickly.

  Ella closed her eyes and thought her wish.

  “What did you wish for?” asked Poppy curiously.

  “That it wasn’t so hot!” sighed Ella. “It’s baking in here.”

  Poppy nodded, fanning herself. “I’m melting like ice cream!”

  “I’ve never known it to be so sunny,” said Ella. It had been like this all summer so far. They were in the middle of a heat wave at the Guardian Angel Academy.

  “I hope the weather changes soon,” Poppy said. “Or we’ll be boiled alive at sports day next week! Imagine trying to run and jump and fly in this heat?”

  Ella nodded and was just about to take another bite of her cookie when their teacher came rushing over.

  “Ella! What are you doing?” she cried out. “Halos and wings! There’ll be nothing left. We’re supposed to be icing the cookies, not eating them!”

  “Whoops, sorry Angel Seraphina,” Ella grinned. “They are rather delicious though.”

  “Oh, maybe I’ll just try a little bit!” said Angel Seraphina. She took one of the cookies. “Mmm, delicious indeed. Zero marks for neatness, Ella, but ten out of ten for taste!”

  Ella glowed. She really liked her teacher.

  Angel Seraphina turned to the rest of the class. “Let’s get cleaned up!” she called out. “The sooner we clear away, the sooner we can go outside and get some fresh air. Now, Poppy, can you bring your cookies into the other room? I want to have a proper look at them.”

  Ella gazed out the window to where a group of fourth graders were playing angel volleyball. Multicolored butterflies swooped over the lawns and the gentle hum of bees filled the air.

  She turned and almost knocked over an angel hurrying past. “Sorry, Tilly!” she gasped.

  “No problem.” Tilly had light-brown hair and was wearing a sapphire uniform. “I’m just trying to catch ONE . . . OF . . . THESE . . .” The words came out in short bursts as she reached up to try and catch a chocolate cupcake that was whizzing above her head.

  Ella fluttered her wings and rose up in the air, grabbing the cake. “Gotcha!” She grinned. “Here you go.” She handed it over to Tilly.

  “Thanks, Ella!”

  Jess, an angel with a long dark ponytail, joined them. “Have you got them all?” she asked.

  “Yes, Ella’s just caught the last one.”

  “Thanks, Ella,” Jess smiled. Tilly and Jess were the other two angels that made up a dorm with Ella and Poppy. The four of them were the best of friends.

  Ella looked at the flying cupcake in Tilly’s hands. Its wings were beating frantically. “Flying cupcakes are hard to make. You’ve done really well. My wish cookies are a mess. They don’t even grant wishes,” she said, looking out to where the sun was still beating down.

  Tilly held the cupcake up to examine it. “It was really all Jess’s cooking, not mine. But it does look good.”

  “Let me see,” said Ella. She took it and her eyes glinted mischievously. Angel Seraphina had gone to the other cooking room with Poppy. “Hey, it really flies well!” she said as she let it go. “Look!”

  It hovered above her head before shooting off and whizzing around the room.

  “Ella!” Tilly and Jess exclaimed.

  “Oh, no. We’ll never catch it now!” said Tilly.

  Ella giggled as Tilly flew into the air and chased after it. Every time she neared the cupcake, it jetted off in another direction, as if it was playing a game of tag with her!

  Tilly finally managed to grab it. “I’ll get you for that, Ella Brown,” she called as she swooped down. “Food fight!”

  And, picking up the nearest spoon, she splattered Ella with some gloopy cake mixture.

  “Right!” cried Ella, grinning, splattering Tilly in return.

  “Stop it at once! You’ll ruin my dress!” a voice behind them screeched.

  Ella spun around. Primrose! She might have guessed! The most perfect-looking angel in the school was also the most odious. She looked Ella up and down with a snooty look. “Have you forgotten the school rules? ‘Angels should strive to be neat and tidy at all times.’ ”

  Ella raised her eyebrows at Tilly and then splattered her friend again. Tilly ducked and it hit Jess head on.

  “Ella!” Jess shrieked and then she burst out laughing.

  “Well, I suppose that at least it wasn’t my dress that was spoiled,” sniffed Primrose. “Not that I’ll be in this babyish white dress for much longer,” she said, doing a smug little twirl.

  “Yes, we know.” Ella sighed crossly. “You’ve only got one more halo stamp to get before you go up to sapphire level.”

  All the angels started at the Academy with plain white dresses and halos. As they did angelic things, they were awarded halo stamps and went up levels. White to sapphire, sapphire to ruby, and so on, until they reached gold and then gold became diamond. That made you a Guardian Angel. Not only that, but your wings grew at every stage until finally they were the largest, downiest of wings that changed with every color of the rainbow.

  “So how many halo stamps do you have left to get to sapphire level, Ella?” Primrose asked, her eyebrows arched.

  “You already know the answer to that,” said Ella with a scowl.

  It was a bit of a sore subject. While most of the third graders had already gotten their sapphire halos, Ella still had to earn hers. Tilly and Jess had gone up a level last term, and Poppy, like Primrose, was only one halo stamp away. Ella still had another three stamps to go. It seemed like a never-ending task!

  Just then Angel Seraphina came back in with Poppy. They were both looking hot, but Poppy was beaming. As Angel Seraphina fluttered off to help another student, Ella went over to join her friend.

  “You’re looking happy, Pops.”

  “I know!” said Poppy. “That’s because I am! I just got another halo stamp—for my cookies.”

  “That’s angel-tastic!” cried Ella. “Doesn’t that mean—”

  “Yes! I’ve got enough halo stamps for sapphire!” Poppy exclaimed. Her excitement suddenly faded and she looked a little embarrassed. “You don’t mind, do you, Ella?”

  “Mind? Of course I don’t mind!” Ella gave her friend a big hug. Last term, she had been worri
ed about how she would feel when the last of her friends filled in their card, so it was good to find that she actually felt all right about it.

  “It’ll be you next, Ella,” Poppy told her.

  “I hope so,” sighed Ella, turning as a groan came from the other side of the kitchen.

  It was Angel Seraphina, holding a sponge cake that she had just taken out of the oven. “It’s collapsed!” the teacher exclaimed.

  Ella looked at the cake in Angel Seraphina’s hands. The lovely yellow mixture had a big gaping hole in the middle of it.

  “It must be the heat,” Angel Seraphina said. “Well, that’s it! I’ve had quite enough baking for one day! Come on everyone . . . outside!”

  CHAPTER 2

  Rainbow Fun!

  ELLA AND THE OTHER ANGELS filed out of the kitchen and then flew down the hallway to the spiral staircase at the center of the school. Stars and moons decorated the walls, and sparkly chandeliers hung from the ceiling. But despite it being beautiful, not one of them wanted to stay inside that day. They swooped gratefully outside into the fresh air. It was lovely to be out of the hot kitchen, and as they sped in and out of the shade of the trees playing tag, a gentle breeze rustled through the leaves. Ella sighed happily. She felt even better when she saw Angel Seraphina opening up a box of angel icicles!

  “To quench your thirst and cool you all down,” Angel Seraphina called. “One at a time, angels, one at a time and remember . . . they will taste like whatever you want them to taste like.”

  “Lemon sherbet!” cried an angel, eating hers.

  “This one tastes like a cherry pop!”

  “Blueberries and cream!”

  Angel voices called out excitedly.

  Angel Seraphina laughed. “They give you happy thoughts too. Make the most of them, though, as we’re running out and there won’t be any more for a while.”

  “Why’s that?” asked Ella inquisitively as she took an icicle.

  “Well,” Angel Seraphina said, looking worried. “Unfortunately, our water supply seems to be drying up. No one can explain it, but until it’s sorted out we just can’t waste water, and that means no more angel icicles . . .”

  “Can’t you use magic to make the water flow more strongly?” asked Tilly.

  “It’s a good suggestion, Tilly,” said Angel Seraphina. “But we’ve tried that. In fact, we’ve tried just about everything that we can think of, but nothing seems to be working. It’s a real mystery as to why the water is flowing so slowly.”

  Ella frowned. How strange. What would happen if it dried up completely? What would they drink? Or bathe in? And then there was sports day to think about too. They couldn’t get through that without water. Not having enough water could turn out to be a real problem.

  “Don’t worry,” said Angel Seraphina, seeing the anxious looks on their faces. “I’m sure we’ll manage to figure out what’s wrong soon and get it flowing again. Now, enjoy those icicles!”

  “Ella!” Tilly cried. “Stop it, you’re making me laugh!”

  It was the next day and the third-grade angels were in their rainbow-conjuring class. As Ella called out a spell, a spray of colors came flying out of her wand, shooting up into the sky, then landing in the shape of a rainbow. Only this rainbow was square!

  “Whoops!” Ella giggled. “I’m useless at this rainbow-conjuring thing.” She squinted her eyes in the bright sunlight, said the rainbow spell words, and tried again. This time, a triangle-shaped rainbow appeared. She spluttered with laughter. The rainbows might not look quite right, but she was having a lot of fun all the same!

  “I don’t know why they’re going wrong!” she said. “It must be my wand.”

  “Here, let me have a try,” said Jess, grabbing Ella’s wand from her hand. She waved the wand and called out the rainbow-conjuring spell:

  Seven colors in the sky

  Make a rainbow wide and high.

  Seven rays of color shot out of Ella’s wand and made a perfect rainbow arching across the sky. “Well, it’s nothing to do with your wand.” Jess looked puzzled. “It has to be something you’re doing.”

  “Oh well, who cares.” Ella grinned. “It’s fun!”

  “Fun it may be,” a snooty voice came from behind them. “But it’s not going to earn you any halo stamps. Rainbows have to be perfect!”

  “Hi, Primrose.” Ella sighed, rolling her eyes. “Halo stamps seem to be all you ever think about these days!”

  “Halo stamps? Who’s thinking about halo stamps?” a voice came from behind them.

  Ella smiled at the sight of Angel Gabriella. The guardian angel took them for rainbow-conjuring class, among others, and was one of Ella’s favorite teachers. She was small and round with black eyes like currants, and reminded Ella of a bun. Her eyes were usually kind and twinkly, but today she was clearly not going to stand for any nonsense.

  “Come on, girls,” she said. “You won’t be getting any halo stamps if you just stand around talking. Making rainbows is an important part of being an angel. Go on, back to your own practicing,” she said to Tilly and Jess. She looked at Ella’s strangely shaped rainbows. “I think you need to practice too!” She pointed her wand at them and muttered a short spell. The rainbows dissolved into glitter and disappeared.

  “Wow!” said Ella. “How did you do that?”

  Angel Gabriella smiled. “With a little bit of advanced magic! Now I’m just going back inside to help out. We’re having lunch outside today—a picnic—so practice a few more rainbow creations while I start getting it ready.”

  “Do you need a hand, Angel Gabriella?” said Ella.

  “Well, thank you, Ella.” Angel Gabriella smiled. “That would be very kind. It was perfectly angelic of you to offer.”

  “Angelic?” chorused Primrose, her ears pricking up. She hurried back over. Ella could tell she thought there might be a halo stamp on offer. “I could help too, Angel Gabriella.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “I’d love to!”

  Angel Gabriella laughed. “I think we’ll be okay with one helper, Primrose, but thank you for offering. Now, Ella,” Angel Gabriella said, turning to her. “Just practice a couple more rainbows, then come and meet me inside. And thank you again.”

  “I promise I’ll be with you soon!” Ella said. Her teacher hurried off through the heavy wooden doors that led into the school.

  She was concentrating hard, conjuring her final rainbow, when Primrose came edging back over to her. “Gosh, it’s hot, isn’t it?” she said, fanning herself.

  “Yes,” said Ella. She gave her a suspicious look. Primrose sounded remarkably normal and not snooty. That was unusual enough. Ella couldn’t help but feel wary.

  “If only there was somewhere to cool ourselves down,” Primrose went on airily. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Somewhere where there was some cool, refreshing water to swim in. That would be brilliant, don’t you think, Ella?”

  “Er, yes,” said Ella, wondering where this conversation was going exactly.

  “Oh!” Primrose looked surprised, as if she had suddenly thought of something. “Silly me! Of course there is somewhere like that, isn’t there? There’s the Angel Fountain!”

  “The fountain in Archangel Grace’s garden?” Ella said. “The one that is completely out of bounds?”

  “Yes, that one,” said Primrose. “Mmm, it would be so lovely to swim in that crystal clear, sparkling COOL water, wouldn’t it?”

  “I guess . . . if it wasn’t out of bounds,” said Ella. She wiped her arm across her face. Talking about the fountain was making her feel very hot and bothered. It would be nice to have a swim in the fountain . . .

  Ella quickly stopped herself. Whatever was she thinking of? Hadn’t she learned enough lessons in the past about doing things that she shouldn’t? She’d gotten into trouble so many times before for breaking school rules. That was the reason she didn’t have all her halo stamps!

  Primrose hummed a little bit and bent down to the ground, picking a daisy. She turned i
t over and over in her hands. “Of course, I can see why you won’t do it. You’re absolutely right to be scared, Ella,” she said, looking back over her shoulder and out of the corner of her eye.

  “Scared?” said Ella in surprise. “I’m not SCARED!”

  “It’s all right,” Primrose said sympathetically. “You can admit it. Of course only someone super brave and daring would go into Archangel Grace’s garden.”

  Ella frowned.

  “I wouldn’t expect you to do something like that,” said Primrose lightly. “Of course I wouldn’t!”

  And with a little smile she walked off.

  Ella watched her go with her hands on her hips. What did the other angel mean exactly? Did Primrose think she wasn’t very brave? Ella looked at her wand, then back at the small rainbow that was still hovering in front of her. The colors were all mixed up. She’d got the rainbow wrong . . . again. With one flick of her wand, the rainbow cascaded to the ground into a pile of heavy pieces. Not a piece of glitter in sight.

  Ella hesitated. Angel Gabriella had said she should come in to help when she had finished, hadn’t she? But maybe, just maybe, there was enough time to get to the fountain and back.

  She thought of the tempting, crystal clear water. She thought about her friends’ faces when she told them. She’d do it! What a story she’d have to tell them! She giggled to herself as she imagined how shocked they’d be. Ella fluttered the wings on her back and rose up off the ground. Checking that there was no one watching, she swooped quickly away in the direction of Archangel Grace’s garden.

  CHAPTER 3

  Archangel Grace’s Garden

  THE BIRDS WERE SINGING IN the trees and jewel-like dragonflies were darting through the air as Ella came down to land in Archangel Grace’s private circular garden. She sucked in her breath. It really was a magical place. Bright flowers filled the marble pots and tubs, and giant butterflies fluttered from flower to flower. There was a little gravel path leading back to the school, and in the middle of the grass stood the fountain—a white marble angel standing on a plinth, her wings outstretched as jets of water sprayed out from beneath her. At her feet, four dolphins spouted water that cascaded down into the crystal clear pool below.