Evangeline Wish Keeper's Helper

by Maggie Alderson

  A wish appeared from one boy’s head as normal and drifted up out of view, but when the second boy’s wish appeared it seemed to burst like a bubble, just above his head. And as it did, the shimmering light turned black and hung there, like a tiny dark storm cloud.

  When the boy walked away from the sweet shop with his friend, the black cloud went with him, hovering above his curly hair. Evangeline shivered. There was something horrid about that black cloud.

  The blue teddy bear had also noticed. He quickly pressed a button on his keyboard and a large orange light on the ceiling of the room started to flash.

  ‘Code Orange!’ he called out. ‘Code Orange!’

  The Easter Bunny raced over, looking very serious for once.

  ‘What happened?’ he asked the blue teddy.

  ‘I was just tracking the other boy’s wish and I didn’t catch this boy’s in time and …’

  ‘The Kybosh got hold of it,’ said the Easter Bunny, laying a paw gently on the teddy’s shoulder. ‘Okay, good work, Bluey. You did the right thing with the Code Orange and there should be plenty of time for me to fix it.’

  Nancy came running over to see what was happening and the Easter Bunny bent down to talk to her quietly, but Evangeline could still hear what he said.

  ‘Do your new recruits know about the Kybosh yet?’ he asked, a sad expression on his furry face.

  ‘They know the basics,’ said Nancy, looking very serious, too.

  The Easter Bunny nodded thoughtfully and stood upright again.

  ‘Okay, new recruits, follow me. I have a very important job to do and you can all help me.’

  Evangeline hurried to find Kylie and Derek and picked them both up again so they wouldn’t be left behind.

  ‘Gosh,’ said Derek. ‘It was so nice watching all those wishes, and now we’ve got to go and do something else. What do you think it is? I was hoping my little girl might come up on one of those screens. I did see a girl with long blonde hair and I thought it might …’

  ‘Reckon it’s something to do with that Kybosh fella,’ said Kylie, gently interrupting Derek’s chatter.

  ‘I think so, too,’ said Evangeline. ‘I watched it happen. The wish came up and then just disappeared and turned into this nasty black cloud – it was horrible.’

  She shivered again at the memory and Kylie and Derek looked up at her with grave expressions. They were still very new recruits but they could already understand this was serious business.

  THE Easter Bunny led them into a most unusual room. It was round with a high domed ceiling, which went up almost to a point.

  Evangeline looked at the floor, which was made of metal mesh, and could see through it to another rounded area below.

  ‘Are we all in?’ asked the Easter Bunny.

  Nancy gave him the thumbs up and Evangeline did a double take because the door they had just come through had disappeared – and she realised they were standing inside a giant egg.

  In the centre of it was another egg, the size of the biggest kind of Easter egg, but this one wasn’t chocolate. It was pearly white, and it was spinning, with something fluffy and sparkly coming from it as it turned.

  Derek started squealing.

  ‘Candy floss!’ he said. ‘It’s candy floss! I had that once with my little girl. She loved it, but it’s very sticky and her mummy had to …’

  The Easter Bunny laughed. ‘You’re right, Derek Doggy,’ he said. ‘That is where I got the idea for this machine – it was one of my earlier gadgets – but this isn’t candy floss. It’s wish floss.’

  Evangeline watched as a steady stream of pearly light entered the bottom of the egg, and became more solid as it spun round and round, eventually turning into a fuzzy mass. Then, as it reached the top of the egg, it seemed to melt again into the pearly light, which floated up and out onto the walls of the egg-shaped room, which glowed softly, seeming almost alive with it.

  ‘Now,’ said the Easter Bunny. ‘This is when I need your help. Any moment, now, part of the wish floss is going to turn dark. That’s the wish the Kybosh has stolen the hope out of. When you see it, tell me. Come closer, everyone, the more eyes the better.’

  The toys gathered around the spinning egg, the smaller ones at the front, trying to get a better view. Evangeline had just settled herself behind Robert and Derek, when she felt a weight slump against her leg and looked down to see Kylie, sitting, leaning against her with his eyes closed.

  ‘Kylie,’ Evangeline whispered to him. ‘Wake up! We’ve got to help the Easter Bunny find the stolen wish.’

  ‘Not my kind of a gig,’ he replied, opening one eye and then closing it again. ‘I get travel sick. Can’t look. Tell me when it’s over.’

  Although she was determined to help, the egg was spinning so fast it made Evangeline feel quite giddy, too, and she was relieved when suddenly Robert cried out.

  ‘Look, there!’ he said, putting his paw up. ‘There’s a black bit, it’s just come up now …’

  Evangeline looked where he was pointing and could see a dark smudge, like a bruise, spinning in the wish floss. It gave her the same uncomfortable feeling as the black cloud that had hovered over the little boy’s head. She shuddered and was relieved when the Easter Bunny moved closer to the egg. She was sure he would stop it.

  ‘Good work, Robert,’ he said, leaning in further.

  Holding a short wooden stick very close to the spinning egg, the Easter Bunny darted it into the floss and snatched a bit out.

  ‘Gotcha,’ he said, holding it up so they could all see the small piece of black floss, which seemed to be pulsing with malevolent darkness. Then he put it in his mouth and chewed it up.

  ‘All done,’ he said, smacking his lips and smiling happily at the new recruits. ‘Sorted.’

  ‘How does that work?’ asked Robert, looking equally surprised and impressed.

  The Easter Bunny smiled at him. ‘I’ve put the hope back into the wish,’ he said. ‘That’s the point of me. I’m a hope conduit. All the people who can grant wishes – like me, the Tooth Fairy, Santa – we’re all hope conduits. It means a kind of pathway. And this beautiful light you can see in these walls, here, is the hope I’ve gathered from children’s Easter wishes over the years. This is where I keep it all safe. It used to just float up through a little hole in the bottom of the Hope Egg, but I thought it would be more fun to make it fluffy first.’

  He turned to grin at Nancy, who rolled her eyes and shook her head, but couldn’t help smiling at him.

  ‘Now,’ he continued, rubbing his paws together. ‘I think you all deserve a treat. Any more questions before we go back to the factory?’

  Robert raised his paw. He was so interested in it all he’d lost any shyness about speaking up. ‘What would have happened if you hadn’t caught that black bit?’ he asked.

  ‘Good question,’ said the Easter Bunny. ‘The thing is, a wish which has had the hope taken out of it becomes an unwish, which is another kind of conduit – a negative one. Because if the Kybosh can make enough unwishes, it opens up a big enough gap for it to get in here – Upstairs – and undo all our good work. Then the real trouble starts and a lot of children can be disappointed. So the most important thing for all of us up here is to stop him getting in. We have to stay alert. And you lot just helped me do that, so come along and have your treat.’

  As he spoke, the door reappeared in the wall of the egg and Nancy lead the way out. Evangeline was right at the back of the group and, just as she was about go through the door, something made her turn and look at the spinning egg again. She immediately saw there was another dark patch in it.

  ‘Mr Bunny!’ she called out urgently. ‘Sir! Come quickly, there’s another dark bit in the wish floss.’

  The Easter Bunny was back in a flash and, pulling out his wooden stick, he quickly picked the brooding black blob off the whirling floss. It was much bigger than the first one and much darker. He held it up and scrutinised it very carefully before putting it in his mou
th and slowly chewing with a thoughtful expression on his face.

  Then he came over and gently patted Evangeline on the back.

  ‘Brave little elephant,’ he said. ‘Well done. That was a really nasty one. I think the first bit was actually a decoy and that was the real unwish.’

  He sighed deeply, then continued. ‘That’s the thing with the Kybosh,’ he said. ‘He keeps coming up with new ways to trick us and you just spotted one of them, so thank you, Evangeline.’

  He smiled at her so kindly she felt her cheeks turn pink. Finally, she’d had the chance to do something useful, but although she was thrilled the Easter Bunny was pleased with her, at the same time she felt a bit uneasy. She didn’t think she’d really done anything much.

  All she’d done was glance back and notice the dark blob. Did the Easter Bunny think she’d done something else? wondered Evangeline. Something more clever?

  She hoped there hadn’t been a mis-understanding, because she still didn’t really have a very clear idea about this horrid Kybosh thing at all. But from the little she’d seen so far, she knew one thing. She didn’t like it.

  The toys were all sitting on high stools next to a long loop of a table, which had a conveyor belt going round on it. The Easter Bunny was standing in the middle, hopping about, pulling things out of a large yellow sack and putting them onto the moving belt.

  ‘Right,’ he said, excitedly. ‘Time for some tasting.’

  Derek whimpered and turned towards Evangeline and Kylie. ‘He said tasting! What the heck am I going to do?’ he fretted. ‘I’m sure he’s going to give us chocolate to eat and I’m going to sound so rude if I say no, because I remember my little girl’s grandma telling her that you always had to eat a little bit of something if you were a guest, even if you hated it, when someone gave her a tomato sandwich at a party. She really hated tomatoes, my little girl, except in spaghetti hoops and …’

  ‘Don’t stress it, Dezza,’ said Kylie. ‘Everybody knows toys can’t eat. My little girl was always trying to give me gum leaves in the garden, so we’ll just pretend like that, eh, Evangeline?’

  Evangeline nodded, remembering when her little girl had pretended to feed her chocolates on her first day. They had smelled so lovely and the little girl had made such happy faces when she’d eaten them, Evangeline had longed to know what chocolate tasted like ever since. But surely Kylie was right. Toys couldn’t eat.

  The Easter Bunny was putting more and more things on the conveyor belt – and Derek was right, they were all chocolate treats.

  The most marvellous chicken was just going past Evangeline, followed by a basket of little eggs, wrapped in the prettiest coloured foil.

  She was dying to give it a go, but when she looked round the room none of the other toys were eating. They were all just watching the Easter Bunny’s treats go past and disappear through a gap in the wall at the end of the conveyor belt.

  ‘I told you,’ Derek squeaked, leaning in front of Kylie towards Evangeline. ‘Chocolate!’

  Evangeline looked where Nancy was sitting, to see if she was eating, but she was just watching the new recruits intently. Then Derek’s whimpering got louder and Nancy turned sharply to glare at him.

  Evangeline glanced at the Easter Bunny. When she saw the look of disappointment on his lovely furry white face, she picked up the chocolate rabbit moving past her, tore off the foil, put it up to her lips and took a big bite out of one ear.

  Instantly the most delicious feeling flooded into her mouth and went all the way down to her tummy.

  ‘Oh, my goodness,’ she squealed, without thinking. ‘Chocolate is so yummy!’

  Feeling her cheeks starting to burn with embarrassment she looked up to see the Easter Bunny grinning at her.

  ‘Hurrah!’ he said. ‘That’s the spirit!’

  Evangeline grinned back and took another big bite, smiling round at all the other toys to encourage them to join in. The next person to try the chocolate was Tiny Ted, closely followed by Robert, who waited a moment for a large bunny to pass before grabbing a chocolate chicken and biting its head off.

  ‘Yum!’ he said. ‘Come on, everyone, Evangeline’s right, it is scrumptious.’

  Then all the toys started eating the chocolate. The only person who still didn’t try it was Derek. He was now slumped down in his seat, his head hardly visible over the table.

  ‘What’s the problem, little dog?’ said the Easter Bunny, coming over to him and crouching down on his haunches so he was the same height.

  Derek sunk lower.

  ‘Don’t be such a silly,’ snapped Nancy, through a mouthful of chocolate rabbit. ‘Everyone else is eating their chocolate, whatever’s the matter with you?’

  Derek’s whimpering was turning into a kind of pathetic howl and Evangeline knew she had to say something.

  ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ she said, putting her front foot up and looking at the Easter Bunny. ‘But Derek once knew a real dog who was very sick after eating chocolate, so he’s too scared to try it.’

  She glanced back to Nancy, who, to her surprise, was smiling kindly at her and nodding.

  ‘Very good,’ the Easter Bunny was saying. ‘You’re a good friend to speak out.’

  The Easter Bunny leaned in closer to Derek, putting one of his big white paws on his shoulder.

  ‘Do you really think I would hurt a toy?’ he asked him kindly. ‘Toys are my best friends.

  Without toys I couldn’t do my Easter egg hunts every year, and this chocolate is my gift to you, as it is to the children. I promise it won’t harm you. Well, as the parents tell the children, a little bit won’t harm you, it’s only if you eat masses and masses of chocolate that it will make you sick. Look at all your friends here and how happy they are …’

  Derek looked up at the Easter Bunny and then over at Evangeline. She nodded at him, smiling encouragingly and taking another big bite from her chocolate rabbit. Kylie leaned forward and put a whole crème egg into his mouth, opening his eyes wide and making funny chewing faces.

  ‘Really, Dez,’ he said, smacking his lips. ‘It’s the most bonza stuff, you’ve got to try it, mate. No wonder all the children were so crazy for it.’

  Finally, Derek lowered his head and picked up a very small egg with his mouth, then with a look of absolute terror on his face, he started chewing.

  Very quickly his expression turned to surprise and then joy as the taste of the chocolate filled his mouth. He yapped a couple of times, then grabbed the next chocolate bunny that was going past and gobbled it up.

  ‘You’re right!’ he said, with his mouth full. ‘Chocolate is the most deliciousist thing ever!’

  Everybody laughed and the Easter Bunny patted Derek’s head fondly, then ducked under the table and sat down on an empty chair next to Nancy.

  ‘I’m so glad you all enjoyed your chocolate,’ he said. ‘Because that is the end of your introduction to my area. Only one more thing remains to be done here. Most of you will be moving on with Nancy to visit the next part of Upstairs, but I’m going to choose two of you to stay here and work with me.’

  He looked thoughtfully at the toys, who were all secretly hoping they would be chosen to stay with the fun-loving rabbit and his wonderful chocolate.

  Evangeline was wondering which job she would enjoy the most: working in the map room, making the eggs and bunnies, or monitoring the children’s wishes – definitely that, she thought – when the Easter Bunny clapped his paws.

  ‘I have decided,’ he said, ‘that I would like Robert the Rabbit to stay and work in the Bunny area of the egg room. He will be the Quality Control Manager. And Tiny Ted will work with the teeny team in the map room, specialising in hiding places for extra small eggs.’

  Robert was staying behind and she wasn’t! Evangeline’s eyes immediately filled with tears. Her first real friend and now she was going to lose him again. She held her breath and closed her eyes tightly, trying very hard to stop herself from crying. Then she felt a light touch on her a
rm. She opened her eyes and saw Robert, looking concerned.

  ‘It’s not goodbye, Evangeline,’ he said. ‘It’s just see you later.’

  Evangeline smiled at him and blinked, a big painful lump in her throat making it very hard to say anything.

  The Easter Bunny came over.

  ‘Robert’s right,’ he said, smiling very kindly at her. ‘I know it’s hard for toys to leave their friends behind, but while we work in different specialised areas here, Upstairs, we do all see each other a lot. We have lots of parties.’

  Evangeline nodded and took a deep breath.

  ‘Oh, that’s good,’ she said, feeling a little bit better. ‘And of course I am very happy for Robert that he’s got such an important job. He really deserves it.’

  The Easter Bunny smiled at her and hopped off to comfort Tiny Ted’s best friend, Twinkle, the little doll, who was sobbing at the thought of leaving him.

  ‘I am pleased for you,’ Evangeline said to Robert. ‘I really am. It’s just I was so happy to be with you again …’

  ‘I know,’ said Robert. ‘It would be good if you were staying here, too, but I’m sure you’ve got a very special job of your own waiting for you somewhere else.’

  ‘Oh, I do hope so,’ said Evangeline.

  ‘And you won’t be alone again,’ said Robert. ‘Will she, Kylie? Derek?’

  ‘No way,’ said Kylie. ‘We were the Fearful Four before, now we’ll be the Terrible Trio.’

  And they all laughed.

  NANCY led the new recruits out of the tasting room through the door they’d come in by and they found themselves straight back in the walled garden.

  Evangeline followed Kylie to his favourite place leaning against the fountain and lowered herself down next to him, squinting in the bright sunshine at the gate they had first gone through into the Easter Bunny’s headquarters.

  ‘I still can’t get used to it,’ she said, scratching her head with her trunk. ‘We’ve come out where we went in, but not by the door we went in by. I mean, we didn’t come out where we went in, but we ended up back where we started …’