New Friends

by Michelle Misra

  CHAPTER 8

  Rainbow’s End

  FOR THE REST OF THAT day, Ella tried to make sure Tilly was never alone so she didn’t feel homesick. When Seraphina announced there was going to be a quiz competition after supper, Tilly excused herself to go up to the dorm and Ella went with her.

  “You don’t have to come,” said Tilly.

  “I want to,” said Ella. “What should we do?”

  They settled on drawing. Ella loved drawing and Tilly had a book from home with pictures of the most magical places from around Angel World. She liked tracing the pictures and then coloring them in.

  “That’s really good,” said Tilly, as Ella finished a drawing of the Angel Academy. She inspected it. “Glittery! Look, there’s Seraphina and Archangel Grace, and you’ve even drawn the butterflies and dragonflies outside. I wish I could draw like you.”

  “It’s a pity drawing isn’t a real angel talent,” said Ella.

  “I’ve read somewhere that drawing is an important angel skill,” said Tilly.

  “It can’t be,” Ella pointed out. “If it was that important we’d have drawing classes, and we don’t.”

  “I guess,” Tilly agreed. “I do like your picture though.”

  Ella smiled. “Here. You can have it.” She handed it over.

  “Thank you!” Tilly tacked it up to the wall by her bed. “I love it!”

  Ella was glad that she had made Tilly happy. She’ll be even happier soon, she thought. Hugging her secret close, Ella smiled to herself as she thought about her plan.

  The next morning when the bell rang for assembly, Ella hung back. “You go ahead. I’ll be down in a minute,” she told her friends.

  Instead of heading for the hall, Ella headed for Archangel Grace’s office. She lingered beside a large marble statue of another famous archangel in the hallway, pretending to examine it with great interest, while she waited for the hallway to clear of people. Once she was alone, she hurried to the door. Thinking she heard footsteps behind her, she glanced around, but the hallway was empty. It must have been just her imagination.

  Heart pounding, Ella knocked on the door. When there was no answer, she turned the handle. The room was empty and the book was on the desk. Ella shut the door behind her and ran over. She started flicking through the pages, trying to stifle the different sounds that came out as she looked through it. Finally she found it—Rainbow’s End. And here—she traced a line with her fingers—was the Guardian Angel Academy. She frowned, looking from one place to the other. It didn’t look so far.

  Quickly she pulled a little notebook out of her pocket and started to sketch—north to Bluebell Woods via Honeysuckle Way, then west to Craggy Peaks. That part looked quite complicated, but from there she should be able to see the rainbow. Once she reached it all she had to do was land on it, slide down it, and that was that!

  Quickly Ella gave it a last once-over—just to check she had it right. Then she put the pad back in her pocket and crept over to the door. Left . . . Right . . . The coast was clear.

  She smiled. “Rainbow’s End here I come,” she said.

  Behind the statue, an angel with big blue eyes hid and watched her. . . .

  Ella couldn’t wait to get going, but one look at the weather outside, as she made her way down to the assembly hall, told her that she would have to wait. The rain was lashing down hard and the clouds were dark and gloomy.

  The next day was just the same. And the one after. It wasn’t until Saturday that the weather improved. As Ella pushed back the curtains and sunlight flooded the dorm, excitement flooded through her. Today was the day!

  The only blot on her happiness was the thought of the party later on. She still hadn’t managed to get another halo stamp, and if she didn’t get one she wouldn’t be going to the party. I’ll have to try to do lots of good things when I get back, she thought.

  Hanging behind the others as they headed for their sewing silver linings class, she slipped into the gardens. This was it! Her adventure was about to begin!

  In no time at all, she was off. She flew into the air and rose high above the woods, and then swooped across to Honeysuckle Way, breathing in the sweet scent from below. After Honeysuckle Way, it was on to the mountains. It was harder then, the wind blew her this way and that and her route twisted and turned. “Come on! Keep going!” she muttered to herself. She beat her wings as fast as she could until finally she saw what she was looking for—a perfect rainbow stretched across the sky!

  With a final burst of speed, she flew straight to the top of its arch. As she reached it, she was enveloped in a glow of magical colors. She spun around and around for a few seconds before managing to sit down. “Wow!” she gasped as she started to slide downward. She went faster and faster, her hair streaming out behind her. A few seconds later, she burst out in a shower of multicolored sparkles at the end.

  She gasped as she bumped on to the soft grass. Rainbow’s End! She was here! Jumping to her feet, she saw that it really was the most magical place. Dragonflies flew from flower to flower and fireflies buzzed in the air. Ella looked all around her at the haze of purple flowers carpeting the grass. There were remembering flowers everywhere! She bent down to pick one up and held it in her hands. She waited for a moment to see if she felt suddenly happy. When she didn’t, she turned it around in her hands, lifting up the petals and touching the center. A riot of sparkles exploded, cascading up around her like a fireworks show.

  “Oh, halos and wings!” Ella breathed. “Tilly will love it!”

  There wasn’t time to hang around. Turning from the sparkles, she got out the map. Now to check her way home.

  The flower in one hand, map in the other, Ella spread it out. She was very glad she had it. The journey had been so twisty and turny, getting home without it would be impossible. All the mountains looked the same. But as she pushed it down, the paper flew up as a gust of wind blew across the clearing.

  “Oh just stay still for one minute, will you?” she said in exasperation.

  Then, just as she was trying to look at the paper, there was an extra-heavy gust of wind and it blew out of her hand! Ella went to catch it but, just as she did, another gust blew it even further away. Every time she neared it, it blew on until, with one last gust of wind, it flew right over the edge of the ravine.

  “No!” Ella gasped, but it was no use. The map was gone—and without it she would never find her way back to school!

  CHAPTER 9

  Missing!

  WHERE CAN SHE HAVE GONE?” Poppy said to Jess and Tilly after their sewing silver linings class.

  “I don’t know,” said Jess, “but I hope she turns up soon.”

  “Looking for your friend by any chance?” a voice asked behind them.

  Tilly sighed. “Come to stir up trouble, Primrose?”

  “Trouble? Me?” Primrose looked all innocence. “Of course not. I just thought maybe you’d like to know where Ella is.”

  “Do you know where she is?” Poppy demanded.

  “Oh yes. She’s gone to Rainbow’s End!”

  The other three angels stared at her.

  “Don’t be stupid!” Tilly said. “Ella hasn’t gone to Rainbow’s End. It’s out of bounds.”

  Primrose tossed her head. “Well, all I can say is I saw her coming out of Archangel Grace’s office three days ago talking about Rainbow’s End and holding something that looked like a map. Now she’s gone missing. Who’s the stupid one now?” She smiled primly. “Archangel Grace had really better be told about it. After all, third-grade angels must never go out of bounds.”

  She tossed her ringlets and walked away.

  Tilly looked at the others in dismay. “If Primrose is telling the truth, Ella’s going to be in real trouble!”

  “Ella wouldn’t go to Rainbow’s End!” Jess said.

  Poppy groaned. “Well, she does like adventure—she tried to get me to go exploring with her on our very first day, but Primrose stopped us. . . .”

  “W
ell, this time we’ve got to stop Primrose telling the Archangel!” Tilly said.

  Poppy gasped. “I know how! . . . Primrose!” she shouted.

  Primrose turned. “Yes?”

  Pulling out her wand, Poppy ran toward her. “Higgle piggle, place a bet, make this angel truly forget.”

  “What the—” Primrose’s mouth opened and shut as a sparkle of glitter cascaded over her. She blinked a few times. “Where am I?” she said dazedly.

  “At angel school,” said Poppy.

  “Oh.” Primrose gave her a curious look. “Who are you? Are you my friend?”

  “Well . . . um . . .”

  Primrose looked Poppy up and down. “You’re not very tidy, are you? But I suppose if we’re friends, we’re friends!” She linked arms with Poppy. “Hello, friend.”

  Poppy sent a help-what-do-I-do-now? look to Jess and Tilly.

  “Are you my friends too?” Primrose asked them happily.

  “Yes . . . um, I suppose we’re your friends,” said Tilly, coming forward.

  “You know, I’m sure I was about to go and do something, but I can’t seem to remember what it was,” said Primrose, frowning.

  “It can’t have been anything very important,” Jess said quickly.

  “Definitely not,” agreed Poppy and Tilly.

  “You’re probably right,” agreed Primrose.

  Just then, Seraphina walked around the corner. “Girls, what are you doing here? You’re going to be late for your gardening class.”

  “Who are you?” Primrose asked.

  Seraphina frowned. “What do you mean, Primrose?”

  “Primrose? Who’s Primrose?” said Primrose, looking startled.

  “You are, of course,” said Seraphina.

  “I’m not Primrose,” said Primrose.

  “Is this some sort of a joke?” said Seraphina.

  “A joke,” said Primrose indignantly. “No.”

  “We’ll just be getting along to class,” Poppy said hastily.

  And with Seraphina watching them in astonishment, the three friends grabbed Primrose and hurried her away.

  CHAPTER 10

  To the Rescue!

  THANKFULLY THE NEXT CLASS WAS angel gardening and it was reasonably easy to hide at the bottom of the garden with Primrose, keeping out of the teacher’s way. Primrose seemed happy to believe she was their friend, although Veronica kept giving her astounded looks from the other side of the flower beds.

  “We’re going to have to do something,” Tilly whispered urgently to Jess and Poppy, while Primrose was busy learning how to use magic to persuade sunflower seeds to grow into flowers. “We might have stopped Primrose telling Archangel Grace for the moment, but the magic will wear off soon and Ella’s still missing. We’re just lucky that the teachers haven’t noticed yet, but it won’t be long. . . .”

  Jess looked worried. “Surely she shouldn’t be gone this long, even if she has gone to Rainbow’s End.”

  “Unless . . .” Tilly swallowed. “Unless something has happened and she’s in trouble?”

  Jess bit her lip. “What are we going to do?”

  “There’s only one thing,” said Poppy. “We’ll have to go after her.”

  “But we don’t know the way and we haven’t got a map,” Jess pointed out.

  “I suppose we could always sneak into Archangel Grace’s study,” said Poppy, uncertainly.

  They all looked at one another. Even though they wanted to find Ella, none of them liked the idea at all.

  “I know!” gasped Tilly suddenly. “My book! The one I brought from home. It’s got pictures of all the most magical places in Angel World. It has a map in the front showing where they all are. It’s bound to show where Rainbow’s End is!”

  “Great!” said Poppy. “It’s a plan then! As soon as gardening is finished let’s go!”

  At the end of the lesson, the three friends took Primrose into the library and sat her down with a thick book called A History of the Guardian Angel Academy. Poppy told her she had to read it all for homework.

  “It should keep her busy for a while anyway,” said Poppy as they hurried into the garden. “Now, have you got your book, Tilly?”

  Tilly nodded. She’d whizzed back to the dorm while the other two had been in the library. “Here!” She showed them both the map. “It looks like we’ve got to fly over the woods and get to Honeysuckle Way first of all, then head to Craggy Peaks. Come on!”

  The three angels stood side by side and concentrated. Tilly was the first to rise off the ground, then Jess, and finally Poppy shot up like a rocket.

  Taking turns to read the map and call out directions, they flew over the woods and headed north to Honeysuckle Way before twisting and turning over the peaks of the mountains. At last the rainbow came in sight.

  “Now what?” gasped Jess.

  “We fly into it!” said Tilly.

  They grabbed one another’s hands and plunged into the top. A second later, they were all whizzing down, squealing in delight.

  Bump . . . bump . . . bump . . . One by one they landed at Rainbow’s End in a flurry of wings.

  “Poppy, Jess, Tilly!” Jumping to their feet, they saw Ella standing, staring at them in astonishment. “What are you three doing here?”

  “What do you mean, what are we doing here?” said Poppy. “We’re here because of you, of course! Primrose told us where you had gone.”

  “When you didn’t come back, we thought you must be in trouble,” said Tilly. “So we came after you.” She looked around. “Oh, how glittery! Isn’t this an amazing place?”

  “Yes, it is, but hang on.” Ella was reeling from what Poppy had said. “Did you just say Primrose knows I came here?”

  “Yes, she saw you coming out of Archangel Grace’s office,” said Jess. “We have to get back!”

  “Oh no!” Ella groaned. Her relief at seeing the others was drowned by dismay. Primrose was bound to tell the teachers. She was going to be in so much trouble. And not just me, she thought, looking at her friends. All of us!

  “Are you okay?” said Poppy. “Why didn’t you come back to school?”

  “I lost my map,” Ella said. “It flew away and I couldn’t figure out how to get home.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Poppy. “We’ve got a map with us. But we must get back as quickly as possible.”

  “Poppy put a forgetting spell on Primrose,” explained Tilly. “It was so funny, Ella. When Seraphina came along, Primrose couldn’t even remember her own name!”

  Ella giggled, the seriousness of the situation forgotten for a minute. “Really? Oh I wish I’d seen that!”

  “We left her in the library, but the spell might wear off at any time,” Poppy said. She grabbed Ella’s hand. “Let’s go!”

  Using the map, they managed to get safely home. One by one, they landed in the gardens, Poppy hitting the ground with a resounding thud!

  They ran to the library. But Primrose had disappeared!

  “Oh no! What if her memory’s come back?” said Tilly in alarm.

  Ella felt sick. If Primrose had gone to tell Archangel Grace they would all be in so much trouble. Maybe they would even be expelled!

  They hurried back to their dorm. Just as they went inside, there was a commotion from farther along the hallway. “Get off me!”

  It was Primrose’s high-pitched voice. They poked their heads out.

  Primrose was being helped back to her own dorm by two older angels.

  “It’s all right. You’ll feel better after a little rest,” one of them was saying soothingly.

  “I don’t need a rest! I have to keep doing my homework. I have to read the whole book!”

  “No you don’t,” said the older angel. “You’ve been feeling a bit strange.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” said Primrose indignantly. “I’m not feeling strange at all. I’m absolutely fine!”

  “Absolutely fine?” The other angel shook her head. “You couldn’t even remember your own na
me.”

  “Of course I know my own name,” said Primrose. “I’m . . . I’m . . .” She stopped and her voice took on a different tone as she started to frown. “I am Primrose de-broe Ferguson of Watersplash Lane!”

  “The spell’s wearing off!” Poppy hissed.

  “Get your hands off me immediately,” Primrose said. “I need to see Archangel Grace!”

  Jess caught her breath as Primrose pulled free. “Now what?”

  “We’ve got to stop her!” said Tilly.

  “No, wait!” Ella grabbed their arms. “Let her go to Archangel Grace.” She grinned at their astonished faces. “I think this could be fun!”

  Five minutes later Primrose was outside their door with Archangel Grace. Her voice was full of self-importance.

  “Yes, Archangel Grace. I know it’s a terrible thing for an angel to do but, like I said, Ella has gone out of bounds. She’s flown to Rainbow’s End.” They could almost hear Primrose shaking her head. “I simply don’t understand how she could behave so badly. Of course, I myself would never go out of the school grounds. But then Ella never behaves as a proper angel should.”

  There was the low murmur of the Archangel’s voice and then the door was pushed open.

  “See, Archangel,” Primrose said, “she’s not here. . . . Oh!”

  Jess, Poppy, Tilly, and Ella were sitting on their beds, like perfect picture-book angels, polishing their halos.

  “But . . . but . . .” Primrose spluttered.

  “Hello, Archangel Grace. Hello Primrose,” said Ella innocently. “Can we help you? We were just taking some time to polish our halos.”

  “And very beautiful they are looking too,” Archangel Grace said, before turning and sighing. “Primrose, I really do not appreciate having my time wasted.”

  “But you can’t be here!” Primrose spluttered to Ella. “She went to Rainbow’s End!” Primrose turned to the Archangel. “She did !”