Rainbows and Halos Read online

  Ella felt delight shiver through her. She couldn’t wait to get in! She took a quick look around her. No one was there.

  Quick as a flash, she took off her dress and fluttered up the side of the fountain in just her pants and vest. Then she dived in. SPLASH! The water was deliciously cool. She let her wings propel her forward like rockets. As the sunlight caught the droplets of water, she splashed around. This was angel-tastic!

  She whizzed through the jets of water and then swam around in the water, ducking underneath and diving in from the side. She was having so much fun! The best! If only her friends were here to share it.

  Her friends! Suddenly, Ella stopped. They’d have finished practicing their rainbows by now, wouldn’t they? Ella was reminded of Angel Gabriella and her promise of helping with the picnic. She’d been much longer than she had intended. She had to get back!

  She climbed out of the fountain and flew around it twice in the sun, her wings beating as she dried off.

  “All done.” She giggled, quickly climbing back into her dress.

  She was just about to head off when a noise stopped her in her tracks. Someone was coming down the gravel path! There wasn’t time to fly away. She’d just have to hide, and quick! Or she’d be caught.

  Ella looked all around her. But where? She was running out of time. An angel came walking down the path, singing to herself—and it wasn’t just any angel, it was a plump angel with enormous gossamer wings and dark hair coiled into a bun. Archangel Grace! The head of the school!

  Ella jumped behind the nearest bush, realizing that the head teacher was dressed from head to toe in a striped bathing suit. She’d clearly had the same idea as Ella. As Archangel Grace climbed up onto the fountain and splashed herself in, Ella had to stifle a giggle.

  “I’m forever blowing halos,” Archangel Grace’s voice sang out as she floated on her back like a starfish.

  It was just such a funny sight, Ella had to stifle her giggles. More pressing though, she was running out of time!

  “Come on, Archangel Grace,” Ella muttered under her breath as the head teacher turned onto her tummy and was now doing a full lap!

  Finally, just when Ella was about to give up on her ever getting out at all, Archangel Grace jumped out and started drying herself off in the sun.

  Ella hesitated. Could she get across the grass without the head teacher noticing? It seemed unlikely. She would just have to wait.

  And then, Archangel Grace pulled out her wand. What was she up to now? Before Ella knew it, the head teacher was calling out the rainbow spell and magicking up rainbows in the sky. They shot out of her wand in perfect arches and then, when she was happy with them, she would point the wand and they would disappear again in a cloud of glitter.

  Ella got a little closer. Archangel Grace’s rainbows were the perfect shape, and she loved the way they dissolved into glitter like Angel Gabriella’s had. If only she could see what she was doing.

  She heard the head teacher call out the spell to make the rainbows disappear:

  Rainbow please, now vanish away.

  Turn to glitter, do not stay.

  She flicked her wrist twice. Ella let out a little gasp as the spell worked and the rainbow turned to sparkling glitter. I’ve got to try that when I get back! she thought.

  But first she had to get back. It seemed to take Archangel Grace forever to put away her wand and start walking back up the path in the direction of the school.

  Ella breathed a massive sigh of relief. At last!

  Quick as a flash, she set off. Flying as fast as she could, she rose up over the woods, heading for the school vegetable patch before coming back to land over by the trees. Only now, instead of a whole load of angels making rainbows, a big picnic was being laid out. Her class was there with Angel Gabriella, helping to put out the food and cushions.

  “Ella Brown!” Angel Gabriella called out. “Where have you been?” She looked stern as she carried a big jug of starfruit lemonade. “I thought you were going to help me.”

  “I . . . I can explain,” Ella started, and then she stopped. But she couldn’t explain, could she? How could she tell Angel Gabriella that she hadn’t helped her because she had flown to Archangel Grace’s private garden for a swim?

  “Yes, where were you, Ella?” Primrose had appeared behind Archangel Grace, carrying a plate of honey sandwiches. She looked pointedly at Ella. “Luckily, I was able to help Angel Gabriella. Where did you get to?”

  Ella shot her a look. “I was . . . I was . . .” Everyone waited for Ella to explain. “I forgot,” she said finally, hanging her head to avoid seeing her friends’ disappointed faces.

  “Forgetting isn’t good enough, Ella,” said Angel Gabriella sharply. “You made a promise to help.”

  “I know I did, Angel Gabriella,” said Ella. “And I’m sorry. Truly sorry.”

  Angel Gabriella hesitated but then her frown eased. “All right. We’ll say no more about it, but I am disappointed. I’m going to have to take away two of your halo stamps. After all, a promise is a promise. Angels should never break their promises.”

  Ella felt her eyes well up with tears and blinked them away. Two halo stamps! She knew it was fair, and that she only had herself to blame, but even so . . .

  “Okay,” said Angel Gabriella, clearly not wanting to press the situation. “No harm was done,” she said breezily. “After all, Primrose stepped in and was most helpful.”

  Ella sucked in her breath.

  “And for that”—Angel Gabriella smiled at Primrose—“I’m going to award you a halo stamp, my dear.”

  “Really? A whole halo stamp. For little me?” Primrose batted her eyes. “Thank you, Angel Gabriella.” Putting on a humble expression, she turned to face the other angels. “My last halo stamp,” she said in triumph. “I’ve filled in my card!”

  Ella felt a lump in her throat. Not only had she gone and blown her best chance of getting a halo stamp, but she’d gone and actually lost two stamps as well, and helped Primrose get to sapphire level at the same time!

  “Well done, Primrose.”

  “That’s brilliant!”

  Primrose’s friends gushed as they gathered around to congratulate her. Primrose glanced back at Ella and gave her a sly smile.

  Ella turned away. She couldn’t bear to watch. How could she have been so stupid as to be taken in by Primrose? Was she ever going to get to sapphire halo level? If she kept losing halo stamps, she seriously doubted it!

  CHAPTER 4

  A Big Problem

  ELLA’S FRIENDS WERE DESPONDENT AS they flew down the hallways and back to their dorm that afternoon.

  “Oh, Ella,” Poppy groaned as they pushed back the door and flew inside. “Whatever happened? You know how important it is for an angel to keep her promise.”

  “I know,” said Ella, bowing her head as she jumped up onto the cloud that was floating around the room. “I just forgot.” She felt terrible as she buried herself into her cloud bed. Hers was lilac, while Tilly’s was aquamarine and Jess’s was pale green. Poppy’s was a pale pink. All that Ella wanted to do was hide under the duvet.

  “So where did you get to anyway?” asked Tilly.

  “You don’t want to know,” Ella groaned.

  “Try us,” said Jess, looking worried. “Oh, Ella, what did you do?”

  Ella gulped and told them everything—all about how hot she’d been and how Primrose had reminded her about the fountain. How inviting it had sounded, although she knew that it was out of bounds. Before finishing with the fact that Primrose had said she wouldn’t be brave enough to go.

  “Oh, Ella,” Tilly groaned. “Couldn’t you have guessed that it was a trap? You know what Primrose is like. You know she’s always trying to get you into trouble!”

  “I know, I know,” wailed Ella. “I’ve only myself to blame, but I just couldn’t help myself.”

  Jess and Poppy nodded. They knew what Ella was like too—knew how impetuous she was and how she loved a chall
enge.

  “I feel so stupid,” said Ella, burying her face in her hands.

  The other angels sat quietly.

  “You could at least say something,” said Ella, looking up at them. “Tell me that you would have done the same or something. Anything to make me feel better.”

  The other angels looked from one to the other.

  “Um . . . ,” Tilly said slowly.

  “All right!” Ella burst out, tears stinging her eyes. “So I’m stupid! The most stupid angel ever. I don’t ever deserve to get to sapphire halo level. I get it!”

  “Ella,” Tilly soothed. “We didn’t mean that. It’s just—”

  “Don’t bother, Tilly,” Ella stormed.

  “It’s just that you were so nearly there,” said Jess. “You only needed three more halo stamps.”

  “Well, thanks for your support,” said Ella, jumping up off the bed and heading for the door.

  “Ella . . . Ella come back,” the angels called after her. But it was too late. Ella was off and there was nothing anyone could do to stop her. . . .

  As Ella flew off down the hallways, her mind was in a whirl. She had to get away . . . away from all the “I-told-you-so” voices. Quickly she sped up until she reached the spiral staircase in the middle of the school and flew down it. Soon she was at the bottom. She pushed back the door and stepped outside. Although it was warm, the fresh air made her feel better and helped clear her head.

  All Ella wanted was to be on her own, so she rose up into the air and flew off to the ornate greenhouses on the other side of the Angel Academy.

  Gently, she came down to land and sat on the grass. She was so preoccupied that she didn’t notice the little animal at first. As she buried her head in her hands, a little snuffly sound made her look up.

  “Star!” she breathed. It was the little celestial bunny she had looked after in the spring term. He’d been released back into the wild but had made the woods around the school his home, so the angels often saw him. He particularly loved Ella because she had been the angel who had taken care of him the most. He stared at her. It was almost as though he had known that she needed him.

  “Come here, my lovely,” Ella breathed, reaching out.

  The little brown bunny hopped toward her and brushed a whiskery face across her hand.

  “That tickles.” Ella giggled as the bunny jumped into her lap and snuggled up close. The little beat-beat of the bunny’s chest pressed against her, making her instantly feel better.

  “Oh, Star.” She sighed. “I’ve really messed up this time.”

  She was just about to get up and let Star go when she heard a little noise behind her. Two angel teachers were coming down the path. She’d be in trouble for being outside so late if they saw her, and she was already in enough trouble today.

  “Shush, Star,” she whispered. “They’ll never know I’m here, then I can go back inside after they’ve gone.” The bunny twitched his nose as if he understood.

  And so Star and Ella snuggled up tight and sat quietly. Ella realized it was Archangel Grace and Angel Seraphina.

  “It is a worry . . . ,” came Archangel Grace’s voice.

  Ella listened in close. What could be a worry?

  “Surely there must be something else we can try,” came Angel Seraphina’s voice.

  “But we’ve tried everything we can think of,” said Archangel Grace. “The water supply is nearly dry.”

  Of course! The water supply! With everything else that had been going on, Ella had completely forgotten about that. Now Angel Seraphina was starting to talk again.

  “If we don’t have enough water for angels to drink and wash in,” she said, “the school will have to close early for vacation.”

  The school! Close up early? Ella only just caught her gasp in time. But that would be terrible! They still had all sorts of fun things to do before the end of term—especially the school sports day and trying to get her halo stamps. No! School couldn’t close early! She needed to tell the others what she’d heard. Maybe they could all help somehow!

  CHAPTER 5

  A Secret Surprise

  WITH ELLA AWAY FROM THE dorm, Jess, Tilly, and Poppy had time to talk. They were all equally worried about their friend.

  “I just feel so bad,” said Tilly. “It’s not as though Ella forgot to help on purpose, and now she’s further away from getting her sapphire halo than ever.”

  “She needed us to support her,” said Poppy. “Not attack her.”

  “But how could she have been fooled by Primrose?” Tilly sighed. “Again!”

  “She just couldn’t help herself,” said Poppy. “You know what Ella’s like. She can never stop herself. She’s impetuous and brave and . . . and . . .”

  “Kind and thoughtful too,” Tilly reminded them. “Don’t you remember that time she flew to Rainbow’s End to get the forgetting flower for me?”

  “And what about the time you all made that birthday glitter bomb?” said Jess. “It was Ella’s idea, wasn’t it? Okay, so it exploded when it shouldn’t have!”

  “And she was the one who made sure Star was okay when Primrose was supposed to be looking after him but wasn’t.”

  The angels sighed. Ella was Ella.

  “I feel bad,” said Tilly.

  “I think we all do,” Jess chimed in.

  “We should try and think about something to take her mind off it,” said Tilly.

  “What about a cake!” said Poppy. “A totally brilliant cake—after all, we learned a lot in baking.”

  “That’s a great idea, Poppy!” said Tilly. “But it would need to be a really, really special one. One that could fly or grant wishes and taste really yummy too.”

  “All three things!” squealed Tilly. “We should draw up a list of ingredients!”

  “Do you think we can manage to make it?” said Jess.

  “I don’t see why not.” Poppy grinned. “As long as you let me ice it!”

  “You’re not going to believe what I’ve just heard!” Ella pushed back the door to the dorm. With a loud bang it sprang back, knocking the wall behind it.

  Tilly, Jess, and Poppy nearly jumped out of their skins when Ella came in. They were sitting on Jess’s cloud, a pad of paper open in front of them.

  Tilly quickly closed it and hid it behind her back.

  “What’s that, Tilly?” Ella looked at their guilty faces.

  “Er . . . nothing, Ella,” said Tilly, turning red and quickly flying down to her bedside locker to put the pad away.

  Ella bit her lip. They must have been talking about her and just didn’t want to say. They’d probably been sighing over how stupid she was. She had just been starting to feel better too, after a little space and the fresh air had helped to clear her thoughts. Her friends looked at her awkwardly.

  Ella broke the silence. “Well . . . um, I came to tell you something,” she said, a little frostily. “I just overheard Archangel Grace and Angel Seraphina talking. The water supply still isn’t fixed. The school might have to close early for vacation!”

  “But that’s terrible!” exclaimed Jess.

  “Oh no!” Poppy’s blue eyes were wide. “What will they do about sports day?”

  “I guess it won’t happen,” said Ella.

  “But school can’t close early. There were so many fun things planned,” said Tilly.

  Ella swallowed. A lump swelled in her throat. It had been a long day. Suddenly she felt very tired. She didn’t feel like talking anymore. She didn’t know why, but for the first time ever at the Angel Academy, she felt like she was on her own.

  Quietly she got undressed and into her pajamas before climbing into her bed and pulling her duvet up to her nose.

  “Are you okay, Ella?” Tilly asked.

  Ella screwed up her eyes and didn’t answer her. She bit down hard on her knuckles so they wouldn’t hear she was crying.

  “I think she could be asleep,” said Jess, after a moment.

  Ella felt a wave of rel
ief that they weren’t going to ask her anything else.

  Hugging her knees to her chest, she scrunched herself up tight into an unhappy little ball.

  “One . . . two . . . three . . . take aim.” It was the next day and Angel Raffaella, the flying teacher, was taking them all for sports day practice.

  A little niggling thought sat in Ella’s head. What would any of it matter if the sports day didn’t happen anyway? As Ella pulled back her golden bow, she squinted before taking aim at the heart-shaped target in front of her. The golden arrow raced through the air and then landed with a THWACK! on the outside of the golden archery board.

  “Not bad, Ella,” encouraged Angel Raffaella.

  Not bad, but not that good either. Ella sighed. She certainly wouldn’t be earning extra halo stamps for her sporting talent, that was for sure. She was fairly useless at sports. But she still wanted sports day to happen. It would be fun just to be part of it and cheer everyone else on.

  Ella looked across the field to where the other angels were practicing the different events. A group of angels were over by the school vegetable patch doing halo hoopla, while another group was by the trees throwing the rainbow discus, all closely supervised by Angel Raffaella.

  Poppy, Tilly, and Jess were in silver sacks, practicing for the sack race. Ella bit her lip. They’d asked her to join them but she’d refused. They’d all been whispering again over breakfast and she wanted to show them she didn’t care. But now as she looked across the field, she could see they were having a whole heap of fun, and she wished she hadn’t been so stubborn. Taking a deep breath, she decided to go over.

  As she went over they all sprawled across the finish line, falling over on top of each other. They lay there laughing.