Birthday Surprise Read online

  “Did you? Did you, Ella? Did you really do this?” demanded Angel Gabriella.

  “I . . . um . . . I did,” admitted Ella, her mouth feeling dry. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it, I know,” she rushed on. “But Primrose was being rude about Jess’s picture and—”

  “That is enough!” snapped Angel Gabriella. “There can be no excuse for spilling paint on people. It is abominable behavior! That halo stamp I gave you will have to be taken back!”

  “I’m very sorry, Angel Gabriella,” said Ella, hanging her head. “I’ll clean up the mess.”

  “You most certainly will,” said Angel Gabriella. “And after that you can take yourself off to the Sad Cloud, where you can stay until you’ve had time to think about what you’ve done. I’m very disappointed in you.”

  Ella groaned inwardly. She hated the fact that Angel Gabriella was disappointed and, although she knew that she deserved it, she hated her punishment. The Sad Cloud was the most boring place ever—there was nothing to do there but read old books on angel history and angel rules. Still, there wasn’t a thing she could do about it now. No matter how annoying Primrose had been, she shouldn’t have spilled paint on her.

  Angel Gabriella turned to Primrose. “Take yourself outside, Primrose, and get cleaned up. Veronica can go with you.”

  Sobbing as loudly as she could and glaring at Ella, Primrose left the classroom with Veronica. Ella didn’t dare to look at her friends. She got a mop and some water. Poppy, Jess, and Tilly all rushed to help her.

  “No!” Angel Gabriella told them sharply. “Please leave Ella to clean up on her own. Bring your work over to this table.”

  Shooting Ella sympathetic looks, the other three had to do as they were told.

  As she cleaned away the paint, Ella ranted at herself. How could she have done something so stupid? It was her awful temper. She was never going to be a good enough angel to be a Guardian Angel and, if she wasn’t careful, all the other third-grade angels would fill their halo cards and get sapphire halos before her. She’d be the only one left with a white halo! Tears prickled in her eyes. What if Angel Gabriella decided she should be banned from the fireworks show as well? As soon as Ella had finished cleaning, she began to leave for the Sad Cloud. In the doorway she passed Primrose, coming back with Veronica.

  “I’ll get you back for that, Ella Brown!” hissed Primrose as she pushed past Ella, her elbows bumping Ella sharply in the ribs. “Just see if I don’t.”

  Ella spent a very dull hour in the Sad Cloud on her own. The walls and floor were all painted gray and the seats were hard. She leafed through the books on the history of the school, but they weren’t very exciting. In the end she sat down with a book and thought about her friends. She remembered how strange Jess had acted by the pigeonholes earlier. What was making her so unhappy? Ella thought about what Jess had said. She was obviously waiting for something to arrive, but what?

  Ella started turning the pages of the book. The first chapter was about how the school was built. Her eyes read the words. The school’s official birthday is the first of January. . . .

  Birthday!

  Of course! Ella realized something. It was Jess’s birthday in two days—just before the end of term. She must have been checking the mail room to see if her parents had sent her anything yet!

  Ella remembered what the older angels had said about mail going missing. Maybe Jess’s parents had sent her something and that, too, had gone missing.

  Ella drew her knees up to her chest thoughtfully. Jess’s birthday would be the first of her friends’ birthdays at angel school. We’ll have to do something to celebrate, she mused. Especially if something is wrong with the mail and nothing arrives for Jess. We’ll have to make it feel like a very special day. Tilly and Poppy and I can plan something! Her eyes started to sparkle. Oh yes, this is going to be fun!

  As soon as Angel Gabriella came and said Ella could leave the Sad Cloud, she set off to find her friends. It was lunchtime. As she hurried down the stairs and into the maze of hallways, she looked through each of the classroom windows—but they weren’t there. They must have gone back to the dorm.

  She flew up to the next floor and hurried off down the hallway that led to the turrets. As she flew, she whizzed past planets and stars covering the floors and ceilings, before coming to a halt just beside the mail room. She’d check one more time, just in case something had arrived for Jess after all.

  As she started to peer around the door, something stopped her in her tracks—the sight of two people talking. It was Archangel Grace and the gardening teacher, Angel Celestine, and they were talking quite intently. The half-moon glasses on the end of Archangel Grace’s nose were waggling as she spoke and her enormous gossamer wings were trembling in agitation.

  “Whatever is going on, Celestine?” she was saying. “I don’t understand it. Packages and letters keep disappearing. It’s most puzzling.”

  “I know. . . .” Angel Celestine answered. “As far as I can tell, the pigeons are arriving with the mail as usual, but then before anyone gets to their pigeonholes in the morning, things disappear, and often people who have been expecting packages and letters aren’t getting them. I don’t understand what’s happening.”

  Archangel Grace looked grave. “It’s clear that someone must be taking them.”

  Angel Celestine gasped. “But who would do such a thing?”

  Ella sucked in her breath. Surely no angel would steal mail? She was horrified at the thought. But Archangel Grace was right—if packages were arriving and then disappearing someone had to be taking them.

  “It simply must be one of the angels,” Archangel Grace said, shaking her head. “I know it’s hard to believe, but we must find the culprit.”

  “There you are!” A hand touched Ella’s shoulder, making her nearly jump out of her skin.

  “Tilly . . . Poppy . . .” Ella breathed, relieved that it was only her friends who had discovered her eavesdropping. “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you, silly,” said Tilly.

  “Where’s Jess?” Ella asked.

  “She offered to help Angel Seraphina clean up our classroom,” said Poppy.

  “Fabulous!” said Ella, suddenly remembering what she had been thinking about in the Sad Cloud. “Then let’s get to our dorm. I’ve got something I need to talk to you about and I don’t want Jess to hear. . . .”

  CHAPTER 4

  Flying Frenzy

  JESS’S BIRTHDAY! HOW COULD WE all have forgotten?” Tilly and Poppy each sat on one of the little floating clouds that doubled as beds in their dorm.

  “If there’s a chance that Jess’s mail has gone missing—that she’s not going to get any birthday presents from her parents—then that’s all the more reason to do something extra-special for her,” said Poppy.

  “But what?” wondered Tilly.

  “Hmm.” Ella frowned and looked around their dorm. It was a cozy room with a large oval window looking out over the grounds, and it had four white closets and four dressing tables, each with one of their names in large golden letters. “A party would be the obvious choice, but her birthday’s Thursday and we’ve got fireworks show practice all day and then we’re going home on Friday, so we won’t have time for one.”

  “That’s true,” said Tilly.

  “We need to think of something else,” said Poppy.

  They all racked their brains. But it wasn’t so easy to think of something. What could they possibly do?

  Soon, Jess joined them and the three friends had to stop talking about it. After lunch they had flying class. Now each and every one of them were able to raise themselves off the ground and fly around, but carrying lights for the fireworks show in their arms was a different matter. The third-grade angels soon found that it could really throw you off balance.

  “That’s it, Poppy,” called out the flying teacher, Angel Raffaella. “Try to imagine your wings are like a butterfly’s. Keep your arms still. Gently, easy does i
t.”

  “I’m trying,” Poppy called through gritted teeth, as she managed to raise herself off the ground with a light in her hand and flutter into the sky, only to lose her balance and come crashing down again.

  Ella concentrated on flying up high and, before she knew it, she was up, up, and away.

  “Whoa!” she called, wobbling a bit as she clutched the light in one hand and tried to steer with the other arm.

  “That’s it, Ella, you’re doing really well,” encouraged Angel Raffaella.

  Ella began to get the hang of it. She looked across the sky to see how everyone else was doing. Some of the angels were still stuck on the ground, while others were managing to raise themselves up, only to fall down again. Ella looked across and saw Primrose gliding smoothly across the sky, her ringlets flying out behind her, her light held securely in her hands. Angels and wings! Annoyingly, it looked like Primrose was rather good at flying carrying a light. Ella bit down on her tongue as she watched Primrose pirouetting around.

  “Very good, Primrose,” Angel Raffaella called after a while. “You’re a natural. Now, I’ve had a chance to watch you all, so if you could gather around, I’ve got an announcement to make about the show.”

  One by one, the angels came back down before gathering in a group in front of Angel Raffaella. The flying teacher started.

  “Well,” she said, “as you know, I have been asked to make a choice on who should have the starring role at the fireworks show and, on the basis of today’s class, I’d like to say that I’ve chosen”—she paused and smiled—“Primrose de-broe Ferguson.”

  “That’s me! It’s me!” Primrose could hardly contain herself. She jumped up and down—and then she seemed to remember herself. “Thank you, Angel Raffaella,” she said meekly, clasping her hands together. “It is a complete honor to be chosen. I hope I will make you proud.”

  Angel Raffaella smiled warmly. “Very humbly spoken. What a good angel. I am sure you will make me proud, my dear.”

  Ella raised her eyebrows at her friends. Of all the angels, it just had to be Primrose who’d been chosen! But even she had to admit that the decision had been a fair one—Primrose had been the best in the class. As Angel Raffaella turned away, Ella forced herself to do the right thing and went over to congratulate Primrose. “Well done,” she said.

  “Told you I’d be the star!” Primrose crowed triumphantly. “And I hope you enjoy watching me, Ella Brown—from the back row!” She swept off, smirking in delight.

  CHAPTER 5

  Glitter Bomb!

  ON THE WAY TO GLITTER class later that day, all Primrose could talk about was having the starring role in the show. Ella tried very hard to ignore her. There was no way she wanted to get into trouble again.

  Glitter class was great fun. They all had to learn to make the glitter bombs that they were going to set off as part of the fireworks show.

  “I like your bomb, Ella,” said Tilly, coming over to inspect the big, colorful glitter bomb Ella was making. Ella had sculpted the outside from papier-mâché, and was now filling it with sparkles and streamers—all the things she wanted to explode out of it into the sky.

  “Are you ready for the special ingredient, Ella?” Angel Gabriella came over and pulled out a little bottle from her pocket, before sprinkling a little dust inside the glitter bomb. “Not too much,” she said, a twinkle in her eye. “We don’t want too much of an explosion.”

  “So what’s in it, Angel Gabriella?” asked Tilly curiously.

  Angel Gabriella tapped the side of her nose. “Now that’s a magic secret,” she smiled. “Suffice to say, there’s a whole lot of angel dust as part of the mix. Third graders just need to be able to make glitter bombs and not learn how to make them explode. Now, come on everyone, show me your bombs so I can add the magic to them too.”

  Angel Gabriella went around the rest of the class, tapping her little bottle into each of the glitter bombs before she finally placed the bottle back in a glass cabinet. Ella watched her closely before putting the lid on her glitter bomb, sealing it, and then covering it all over in red glitter and red hearts.

  “That looks lovely, Ella,” said Angel Gabriella, coming over.

  “How do we make the glitter bombs go off?” Ella asked.

  “Ah, more magic!” said Angel Gabriella. “Now, all of you put the lids on your glitter bombs and make a circle three times on the lids with your wands, saying:

  Glitter bomb, listen to me

  You will explode, on the count of three.

  The angels all did as she said.

  “Now, when it’s time for the fireworks show and we want the glitter bombs to go off,” Angel Gabriella went on, “all you need to do is circle your wand three times in the air and count out loud to three. Each of you will make your own glitter bomb explode. We will practice it so you are all safely out of the way when the glitter bombs explode. The magic in them is powerful and you could get hurt if you were too close. Now, put your glitter bombs over there in the pile with the others, ready for Friday.”

  As Ella placed her bomb into the pile, a little idea started to grow in her mind. What if . . . ? What if she made a glitter bomb for Jess’s birthday on Thursday? A really big one! That would be a cherub-tastic birthday surprise! She’d need to get some of Angel Gabriella’s special powder. But it would only need a pinch—and it was for a good cause. It would make Jess’s birthday really special.

  She thought about the school handbook and recited one of the rules in her head: Angels should always strive to make others happy. That was what she would be doing. She grinned to herself. She couldn’t wait to tell Poppy and Tilly!

  As soon as class was over, Jess went to check the pigeonholes one more time. Ella was quick to grab Poppy and Tilly and pull them to one side.

  “Quick—while Jess isn’t here. I’ve got it,” she said triumphantly. “I know exactly what we can do for Jess’s birthday. Why don’t we make a glitter bomb? The biggest and best glitter bomb ever!”

  She looked eagerly at them. They both looked uncertain. “I don’t know, Ella . . .” Poppy said, looking across at Tilly.

  “I’m not sure about it either,” said Tilly. “I mean, we’re really only just beginners. What if it goes wrong?”

  “It won’t go wrong!” said Ella airily. “We just make a bomb, like we have just now but bigger, and sneak a tiny pinch of Angel Gabriella’s magic dust, and that’s it!”

  “Well, you were pretty good at making your glitter bomb,” Poppy said cautiously. “Especially considering it was only our first lesson. What do you think, Tilly?”

  “Maybe it’ll be okay,” said Tilly. “Yes, all right, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean, it should be pretty straightforward. But not a big bomb, just a little one.”

  Poppy nodded. “Tilly’s right. It should just be a small glitter bomb that can be contained in our dorm, so if there’s any mess or anything goes wrong we can clean it up.”

  “But a small glitter bomb’s so boring,” protested Ella.

  “Ella . . .” her two friends said warningly.

  “All right, all right,” Ella sighed. “A small glitter bomb it is. This is going to be so much fun. I’ll start designing and making it. Then all we have to do is get our hands on Angel Gabriella’s special ingredient!”

  The next day, they were so busy practicing for the fireworks show that Ella barely had enough time to even think about the glitter bomb, let alone make it! She enjoyed the practicing though. She was almost as good as Primrose at carrying things now. As soon as Jess went off to the school Music Club after dinner, Ella, Tilly, and Poppy hurried to their dorm and started to put the birthday glitter bomb together.

  “What should we put in it?” asked Tilly.

  “Definitely loads of glitter,” said Ella. “And some magic sparkles too. Here, let me use my wand.”

  “Are you sure you should?” Tilly said, anxiously.

  “It’ll be fine,” said Ella. “I know—what about glittery letters th
at spell out words?” She picked up her wand and thought for a moment before waving it in the air.

  Conjure sparkly letters, a message to say:

  Happy Birthday, Jess, on your special day.

  “Oh, Ella, it’s fabulous,” cried Tilly as the letters Happy Birthday, Jess! appeared in large sparkly letters in the air.

  “That’s really clever,” said Poppy, impressed. “You’re so good at glitter magic, Ella!”

  Feeling pleased with herself, Ella circled the letters with her wand and then tapped the glitter bomb and the letters. They popped inside the bomb, along with the other decorations, and Ella put the lid on.

  “Now all we need is Angel Gabriella’s special ingredient,” said Poppy. “Who’s going to get that?”

  “I guess that should probably be me,” said Ella, “seeing as it was my idea in the first place.”

  “Are you sure?” said Tilly, looking relieved.

  “Yes, sure,” said Ella. She picked up the bomb and covered it up with one of the dresses from her closet. Then, taking a look one way and then the other, Ella sneaked off down the hall with it in her arms. She was quiet as she flew, checking each of the classrooms. Most of the angels were in their dorms doing homework or at their after-school clubs.

  Quickly, Ella raced down the hall, turning the corner before arriving at Angel Gabriella’s room. Thankfully, the room was unlocked and she crept inside.

  Tiptoeing over to the glass cabinet where she had seen Angel Gabriella put the special ingredient, she hesitated for a moment. What if it was locked? But to her relief she saw that Angel Gabriella had left the little golden key in the lock. Gently Ella reached out and turned it. Phew! She was just about to take the bottle when she heard voices outside.