Secrets and Sapphires Read online

  Ella was much more her usual self with her friends that evening, and when Jess handed her project in to Angel Seraphina and got her final halo stamp, Ella celebrated with them all.

  She slept really well that night and in the morning she bounced out of bed, eager to go and see Star before classes started.

  “Where are you off to?” Poppy asked as Ella pulled on her dress.

  “To see Star.”

  “I’d like to see him too,” said Poppy, who was still in bed. “I’ll follow you down there when I’m dressed.”

  “Me too!” said both Tilly and Jess.

  Ella smiled and set off. “See you all there!”

  She flew towards the potting shed, humming to herself. As she opened the door, Star sat up and twitched his ears. He looked really happy to see her. “Hello, Star!” Ella opened the door to the hutch and he hopped out onto her lap. She cuddled him and then set to work cleaning him out. She had just finished and sat down to give the bunny another cuddle when there was a noise behind her that made her start.

  “Oh, Angel Seraphina, it’s only you,” Ella said, smiling.

  “Ella! I hadn’t expected to find you here.” Angel Seraphina looked surprised. “I saw the door open and thought Primrose must be in here. Is she around?”

  “Er, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen her,” said Ella truthfully.

  “Well, I’m sure she’ll be here soon,” said Angel Seraphina. “It looks like she’s been looking after Star very well.” She gave an approving look at the clean hutch.

  “Here I am!” a breathless voice came from behind. It was Primrose. “Just doing my daily duty,” she said, beaming. “Hello, Star, my sweetheart.”

  The little bunny shrank back, nuzzling farther into Ella’s arms, his dark eyes wary.

  Primrose ignored his alarm. “Star, it’s me, come to Mommy,” she crooned, reaching out. The bunny scrambled away, pushing against Ella’s chest.

  “Just wait a minute, let him settle down,” Ella said, aware that Angel Seraphina was watching, a slightly puzzled frown on her face. Ella gave Primrose a pointed look, wanting to say, “let him get used to you first,” but she didn’t want to make it obvious that the bunny wasn’t used to Primrose at all.

  Impatiently, Primrose tried to pull him away from Ella. Star panicked and scrambled in her arms.

  “Ow!” Primrose squealed, dropping him. “He scratched me!”

  Star raced for the door and dashed out of the shed.

  “Quick!” said Ella.

  The angels hurried out of the shed and saw Star running in and out of the borders of the vegetable patch.

  “Oh, dear we’ve got to catch him,” said Angel Seraphina. “As he knows you best, you should go after him, Primrose.”

  “Me? Right . . . um . . .” Primrose swallowed as she went after the bunny. “Here, bunny. Nice bunny!” she cooed.

  But every time Primrose got anywhere near him, Star ran away again. He started to look more and more anxious, darting this way and that with Primrose pursuing him. Ella couldn’t bear it any longer. She pulled a carrot out of her pocket and headed over. She crouched down in a sitting position.

  “Here, Star,” she soothed. “Come to me.”

  The baby bunny’s little nose sniffled at Ella’s offering. Would it work? Would he go to her? Ella held her breath as the baby bunny took one tentative step in her direction.

  “That’s it,” Ella crooned. “Easy does it.”

  One step . . . two . . . and Star was easily within Ella’s reach.

  “It’s just a fluke!” Primrose said hastily. “I could have gotten him. I could have . . .”

  “Be quiet, Primrose!” Angel Seraphina spoke sharply.

  “There’s a good boy.” Ella smiled as Star drew closer and closer before he finally jumped into her arms for the waiting carrot. Ella stroked him and he nestled into her.

  “Well done, Ella.” Angel Seraphina smiled. Primrose looked like she was going to explode!

  Once Star was settled back into his hutch with the door locked, Angel Seraphina turned to the two angels. “Is someone going to tell me exactly what is going on here? I want to know the truth.”

  Ella didn’t say anything. Primrose remained silent too.

  “Well, it’s clear to me that Ella has been helping you with Star,” said Angel Seraphina. “Is that what’s been going on?”

  “Well, just a little bit,” said Primrose.

  “JUST A LITTLE BIT!” Angry voices came from behind. Ella looked around. Her friends—Poppy, Tilly, and Jess—were in the doorway and they looked furious. “Tell her, Ella.”

  “Well, I . . .” Ella didn’t know what to say.

  “Primrose didn’t look after him properly at all,” Poppy burst out. “Luckily, Ella realized that and she cleaned his hutch and looked after him all day yesterday. She was going to look after him for the rest of the week without saying anything.”

  Tilly nodded. “She’s the one who really cares about Star! That’s why he likes her.”

  Angel Seraphina’s eyes narrowed, and for an angel, she looked pretty furious. “Is this true, Primrose? Is this what has been going on?”

  “Well, um . . . maybe,” Primrose mumbled, not able to meet Angel Seraphina’s eyes.

  The older angel looked angry. “That’s it! I’m not impressed by this behavior. Not at all. Not only did you promise to look after Star, but you deceived me into thinking you were doing a good job of it too. You have neglected one of our heavenly animals and taken halo stamps for your efforts! I’m going to have to take all those stamps away, and another two for dishonesty.”

  Primrose looked aghast. “But, Angel—”

  “No buts,” said Angel Seraphina. “Ella, Primrose’s stamps will go to you.”

  “To me?” said Ella, surprised.

  “Yes, to you—not only for looking after Star, but for showing real angel qualities by not tattling and looking after him just to make him happy. There’s a lot of good in you, you know, Ella Brown,” she said. “An awful lot of good. Make sure you remember that.”

  Her friends gave a loud cheer and Ella looked embarrassed, but there wasn’t time for that as, just at that moment, there was a loud shout from outside—right by the greenhouse. It was Angel Celestine!

  “Over here!” she cried, running out the greenhouse door. “Come and see!”

  The angels rushed over to the greenhouse and stepped inside. They couldn’t see what Angel Celestine was talking about at first. But then they couldn’t believe their eyes. Not one, not two, not three, but ALL of the glitter flowers had burst into full sparkling bloom!

  CHAPTER 8

  Spring Picnic!

  I JUST CAN’T UNDERSTAND IT,” said Angel Celestine. “The only thing that would make the flowers bloom like this—other than patience and a whole lot of love and care—is if someone does a perfectly unselfish deed near the plants, but no one’s been in to see them today.”

  “That is strange,” said Angel Seraphina. “I wonder how it could have happened.”

  Jess gasped. “This deed? It has to be completely unselfish?”

  “Completely and utterly,” said Angel Celestine. “The person can’t be hoping to gain from it in any way.”

  “Then I know who’s responsible,” Jess cried. “Ella, don’t you see—it was YOU!”

  “Me,” said Ella, frowning. “But how?”

  “Yesterday afternoon,” went on Jess, her eyes shining. “We were in here—and you did the most unselfish thing possible—you helped me with my glitter flower project, remember? And you did it knowing that it would get me the final stamp for my halo card and get me a sapphire halo—the very thing that you wanted yourself.”

  “I did?” said Ella, feeling embarrassed.

  “Yes, you did,” said Jess. She turned to Angel Seraphina. “I didn’t tell anyone that Ella had helped me with my project, but she did—she made all my illustrations work. I should have said. I didn’t really earn that last halo stamp myself,” she said.

  “Oh, but you did,” said Angel Seraphina. “The drawings were lovely, but I really awarded it to you for all the information you had gathered.”

  “Really?” Jess said shyly.

  “Yes,” said Archangel Grace. “And now that the flowers have bloomed there’s no longer a glitter shortage, so the Spring Picnic can go ahead this weekend after all!”

  “Hooray!” All of the angels let out a loud cheer, each giving Ella a thump on the back.

  Ella turned to them and grinned. “I might not have all my halo stamps this time, but I don’t care! I know I’ll get them in the end!”

  The Spring Picnic was a huge success. Rugs were laid out covering the grass in Archangel Grace’s private garden, and all sorts of delicious angel foods were piled high—cloudberry cookies, honey sandwiches, towers of rainbow jelly, and big jugs of star fruit lemonade. There were even lollipops hanging on the trees. All of the angels were happy. Well, apart from Primrose. She was sitting on her own, sulking. Veronica had become really good friends with Susie and Olivia and now they were playing tag together.

  “Whoo-hoo,” cried Poppy, as she slid down a massive rainbow slide in the middle of the garden. “Isn’t this great!”

  “The best!” Ella cried, as she swooped around with enormous pink and lilac butterflies that fluttered through the air.

  “Oh look, Ella, over there,” cried Jess.

  Ella looked over to the other side of the grass to where Jess was pointing, and there she saw a little familiar furry face with long ears and whiskers twitching. Star! They had released the baby bunny back onto the grounds the day before, but he kept coming back to check on them!

  “I think he might be around for quite some time.” Tilly grinned.

  “Just like my f
riends!” said Ella, grinning as she linked arms with Poppy, who linked arms with Tilly, who linked arms with Jess. “Together, forever!”

  Read on for a sneak peek at Ella’s angel-tastic adventures in:

  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 blonde 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 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 be so sunny,” said Ella. It had been like this all summer so far. They were in the middle of a heatwave 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 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 of the window to where a group of fourth graders were playing angel volleyball. Multi-colored 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 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 looked up 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 mischieviously. 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.

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

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

  Ella spun round. 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. “Haven’t 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 of 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 have you got left to get you 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 first years had already got 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!

  MICHELLE MISRA has written many stories for kids, including the Magic Ballerina, Battle Champions, and Wild Friends series. She lives in London, England, with her family.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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