Fairy School Drop-out (6 page)

The human girl was grinning.

‘Don't laugh,' said Elly crossly. ‘I really can fly.'

‘
Sure
you can,' said the girl. ‘And I bet your little sister can too.'

‘Of course she can't,' said Elly haughtily.

‘She's way too young. But I can, usually. I've just got a cramp.'

‘Look,' said the human girl, ‘I've got stuff to do. I'm really not interested in playing your dumb little make-believe game. There are plenty of other girls around here who love fairies. Go and pester them instead.'

Elly had heard about humans like this, of course, but she never imagined she'd actually meet one.

‘It's not just that you don't believe I'm a fairy, is it?' Elly said. ‘You don't believe in fairies at
all
, do you?'

‘No,' said the human girl. ‘I don't.'

So Elly decided to play a trick on this irritating human. She clutched her heart dramatically and fell to the ground.

‘Don't you know what happens when a human child says she doesn't believe in fairies?' she moaned faintly, closing her eyes. ‘One of us disappears, instantly.'

Then she waited for the girl to come rushing over. But nothing happened. Eventually, Elly opened one eye. The girl was sitting at her desk, reading a book.

Elly gave up. Quite clearly this girl was completely heartless. Elly may as well pack up and head home. But just then she heard a funny sound, which was closely followed by a bad smell. At first Elly just assumed that both the noise and smell were coming from Kara, but when she turned around she saw that something much more serious was happening. Blue sparks were shooting out of the Space-Case, closely followed by puffs of evil-smelling smoke. Something was horribly wrong.

Elly stared in horror. She knew how proud her mum was of the Space-Case. How would she react when she found out that Elly had broken it? Elly realised that tears were rolling down her cheeks. There was probably some Fairy Code rule about not getting upset in front of a human, but right now Elly didn't care. She let the tears roll.

‘Hey,' said the girl awkwardly. ‘Don't cry. It's OK.'

Elly shook her head. ‘You don't understand. I've broken my mum's invention. I'm in so much trouble.'

The girl came and sat beside Elly. ‘Don't worry.' Her voice was much friendlier now. ‘I might not like fairies but I'll tell you what I do like: machines. I bet I can fix this contraption for you.'

Elly stopped crying and looked at the girl. She really wanted to believe her. But it was hard to imagine that this skinny little kid with pigtails and freckles would be able to fix something as complicated as the Space-Case. On the other hand, she didn't seem like the average sort of girl that Elly had learnt about in Human Studies. Perhaps she should just trust her.

‘What's your name?' asked Elly.

‘Jess,' replied the girl. ‘Jess Chester.' Then she smiled. It was a good sort of smile. The sort that used her eyes as well as her mouth. It made you want to smile right back, which Elly did.

‘Well, Jess Chester,' Elly said, ‘it's lucky for me that you don't believe in fairies, because I'll owe you about a billion wishes if you fix this thing.'

Chapter Eight

J
ess rummaged through a desk drawer and produced a set of tools that looked like they'd been made especially for her. They were just the right size to fit in her hand and had bright, jewel-coloured handles. The tools made Jess look less like a kid and more like a mechanic. But even so, Elly wasn't holding out much hope that Jess would actually fix the Space-Case.

The case was still on the bed, sparking and vibrating. It made low, groaning sounds, like someone with a terrible toothache. Elly stood as far away from it as possible, holding Kara tightly to her chest, but Jess confidently flipped the case over and undid a little panel on the base. A cloud of stinky, yellow smoke puffed out. Jess waved it away and shone a torch inside while Elly watched anxiously. If Jess couldn't fix the Space-Case, what was she going to do? Jess started poking around inside the SpaceCase with a finger. At first she looked puzzled, and then the puzzlement turned rapidly to astonishment. She turned and stared at Elly.

‘What? WHAT?' said Elly frantically.
There
must be something terribly wrong!

‘You really
are
a fairy,' whispered Jess.

Elly rolled her eyes. ‘That's what I've been trying to tell you!' she said. ‘Why do you suddenly believe me now?'

Jess pointed to the Space-Case. ‘This engine. I've never seen anything like it before,' she said, her voice full of awe. ‘I mean, it's not just new technology, it's un-
dreamt
-of technology. It's like it was made by ... well, by magic.'

Elly didn't like the sound of this. ‘Does that mean you can't fix it?' she asked anxiously.

‘Oh, I can fix it,' said Jess confidently. ‘It's just got water in it.' She tipped it upside down and a clear, sparkly liquid came dribbling out onto the floor. Elly recognised it at once. Baby-fairy drool.

Jess adjusted a couple of things. then put the cover back on the SpaceCase. The sparking and the smoking had stopped, but Elly was still not convinced it would actually work.

Jess smiled at her. ‘Go on,' she said. ‘Test it out. I'm dying to see what it does.'

Elly took a deep breath. ‘Fly around the room,' she commanded.

The Space-Case rose from the bed and began to fly around. It was hard to tell who was more astonished – Jess or Elly.

‘Now loop-the-loop,' said Elly, and the case obediently did three perfect loops. ‘You fixed it!' she cried, jumping up and down on the bed.

‘Wow,' said Jess, impressed. ‘That's a pretty cool suitcase.'

‘Is there anything I can do for you in return?' Elly asked. She was suddenly a bit nervous. If Jess knew anything about fairies, this would be when she brought up the thing about being a human's slave forever.

But Jess just laughed. ‘Don't worry,' she said. ‘It was fun. Got anything else that needs fixing?'

Elly's wand chose that moment to start spluttering and coughing.

‘What about that thing? It sounds sick,' said Jess, pointing at the wand.

Elly looked at the wand, too. She wasn't sure if she wanted it fixed. Having a broken wand would help her get expelled from Mossy Blossom. The wand coughed again and began shivering. Then before Elly could stop her, Jess had it in her hand.

‘The poor thing,' she said sympathetically.

‘It's not very well.'

Elly rolled her eyes. ‘It's just pretending to get your attention,' she said.

But Jess opened up the wand's handle and began examining its insides. The wand whimpered and Elly started feeling guilty. Maybe it wasn't pretending after all.

‘Is it OK?' she said, peering over Jess's shoulder.

Jess frowned. ‘It's weird. The central supporting strut looks like it's been eaten away by some kind of acid. It's about to snap in two!'

Elly looked at Kara. She was fairly sure she knew what had caused the problem. She reached out for the wand.

‘Thanks,' she said. ‘I'll take it to a wandmechanic.'

But Jess had a determined gleam in her eye. ‘Hang on – I think I can fix it,' she said, scrabbling around in a drawer. She pulled out a blue pen and a couple of rubber bands.

‘It'll probably be a quick fix,' she added. ‘But better than nothing.'

‘Really, don't bother,' said Elly, but she could see that there was no point trying to stop Jess.

She removed the damaged strut, which instantly snapped in two. Then she wiggled the pen into place. A few moments later she handed the wand back to Elly. Her eyes were bright.

‘I'm
really
not sure about this,' Jess said, ‘but let's see if it works.'

Elly pressed the purple button, held the wand up in the air and waited.

And waited.

The longer she waited, the more relieved she felt. Jess hadn't managed to fix the wand after all.

‘What's supposed to happen?' asked Jess, looking around.

‘It's supposed to make a trail of stars when I wave it,' said Elly, trying not to look too happy that it hadn't worked.

‘But you haven't waved it yet, have you?' Jess pointed out. ‘You're holding it still.'

‘Oh yeah,' said Elly, feeling silly. It was embarrassing when a human knew more about wands than a fairy did. Elly swished the wand through the air and as she did, a trail of silver stars blossomed out behind, hanging in the air for a moment before dissolving into even smaller bursts of stars.

Elly had thought she didn't want the wand to work. She'd decided that having a faulty wand would be the easiest way to get thrown out of Mossy Blossom. But she couldn't help being very excited when she saw the startrail streaming out behind her wand. It was the first time one of her spells had actually worked properly. It felt good. Really good.

‘You're the best!' she said, and hugged Jess. ‘I knew you could fix it.'

‘Let go, you're strangling me!' said Jess, but she looked pleased. ‘I'm glad it's working, but don't forget, it might not be for long. You should get it repaired properly.'

There was another whimpering noise and both girls stared at the wand. Was there something else the matter with it? Then Elly realised it wasn't the wand, it was Kara. She looked hungry and tired. Elly knew she'd better get her home soon – before her dad got worried. She scooped Kara up and turned to Jess.

‘If there's ever anything you want to wish for, just ask me,' Elly said. It was a big promise to make, but she really meant it.

Jess smiled. ‘Thanks,' she said, ‘but from what I can see, the human way of solving problems is more reliable than the fairy way.'

Chapter Nine

T
hat night Elly started worrying about what she'd said to Jess. She was pretty sure that the Fairy Code would strongly disapprove of promising humans any wish they wanted. Humans had a bad habit of saying things like, ‘I wish you would grant all my wishes, forever.'

At first Elly comforted herself by think-ing,
How much could a small human girl like Jess
possibly wish for, anyway?
But it didn't take her long to realise that the answer might be A LOT.