Fairy School Drop-out

by Meredith Badger

  Elly’s wand beeped. Saphie had sent her a wand-message. There was just enough power in the wand for Elly to see Saphie’s face faintly in the star.

  ‘Our homework for next week’s spelling class is learning to make a star-trail,’ Saphie reported. ‘It’s pretty easy. Just fill the handle with dehydrated stardust then push the purple button. A trail of stars should follow behind your wand when you wave it.’ The message crackled to a finish.

  Elly knew right away there was no way she’d be able to do that homework. The only thing she’d ever been able to make trail behind her wand before was a stream of toothpaste. It wasn’t even a good flavour either, like Sparkle-Mint – the toothpaste that makes purple sparks burst from your mouth like fireworks as you brush. Her toothpaste tasted like parsley.

  Of course, Elly should’ve been happy about all this. After all, she was trying to get expelled from Mossy Blossom, and making a parsley toothpaste trail would definitely do the trick. But watching how easily Kara did magic made Elly wish she could do it too. Was it possible that her parents were right about her being a late bloomer? Elly had some stardust in her bag. Maybe she should just try making a wand-trail.

  But just as she started working, Kara got bored with her blocks and started climbing all over her big sister.

  ‘I can’t play right now,’ said Elly, looking around for something to distract Kara with. Nearby was another of her mother’s inventions: the Space-Case.

  The SpaceCase was like a flying suitcase, designed for fairies who had lots of things to carry. Air-holes in the top meant that even pets could be transported in it. The case was made from a new, top-secret material that instantly blended in with any background it flew up against, hiding the contents as well as the case itself. This was useful for avoiding human attention while flying, but it caused problems, too. Elly could never remember where the SpaceCase was, and tripped over it almost every day.

  Still, it might be good for entertaining Kara – it was the perfect size for a baby to sit in. Elly looked out the window at her dad. She suspected he might not like her idea as much as she did, but luckily he was running around after a large white swan.

  Elly plonked Kara inside the Space-Case. Kara gurgled delightedly.

  ‘Fly to the other side of the room and back,’ commanded Elly, and the SpaceCase rose and sailed smoothly to the far wall before returning.

  Kara clapped her hands. ‘More!’ she said.

  ‘Fly downstairs and back,’ said Elly, and the Space-Case obediently took off. Elly continued working on her wand but hadn’t gotten very far when the Space-Case returned, so she sent it away to do twelve laps of the lounge room. By the next time the Space-Case returned, Elly was in a very bad mood. Her homework was not going well. Every time she tried filling the wand with stardust, it made an odd sneezing sound and all the dust blew out again.

  At first the Space-Case waited patiently beside Elly, but then it started nudging her arm to get her attention. It bumped her so hard that the remaining stardust billowed into the air and floated away. Elly slammed down the wand.

  ‘Just go AWAY!’ she yelled angrily, and the Space-Case rose quickly into the air. Elly realised what she’d said.

  ‘No! Stop! Stop!’ she cried, waving her arms in the air. But it was too late. The Space-Case had already flown straight out the open window.

  Elly rushed over to see where it went, imagining all kinds of terrible things. The Space-Case might fly all the way to Siberia. Or it might run out of power while over an ocean. Or it might get sucked into a black hole.

  But then something much, much worse happened. Something so dreadful that Elly stared with her mouth open, unable to speak. The Space-Case sailed over the fence and straight into the open window of the new neighbours’ house.

  Chapter Six

  Elly wasn’t crazy about her sister in the way that everyone else seemed to be. She didn’t go gooey over Kara’s little hands and she wasn’t impressed by her strange, toothless smiles. Plus, she was tired of all her hankies being full of baby-drool. Elly’s life had been much better before Kara arrived.

  So you might think that Elly would’ve been quite happy when Kara disappeared over the fence. But she wasn’t. In fact, she was very upset. And it wasn’t just because she knew she was going to be in big trouble when her parents found out what had happened. Something very strange had happened to Elly the moment Kara was out of sight: she started to miss her sister. Even though Kara could be annoying, she was also kind of fun. And besides, Kara was the only person Elly knew who was always happy to see her, no matter what. Elly couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to come home and not hear Kara coo delightedly. So Elly didn’t think twice about what to do.

  Without even checking to see if the coast was clear, Elly grabbed her wand and flew over the neighbours’ fence. She balanced for a moment on the ledge of the window she’d seen the Space-Case vanish into, and peered cautiously through the curtains. The Space-Case was wedged on top of a wardrobe in the far corner of the room.

  No humans seemed to be around, so Elly dropped onto the floor. She’d never been inside a human house before, although she’d seen pictures of them in her Human Studies classes. She recognised this as a bedroom, but it was very different to the fairy version. For a start, the bed was at ground level rather than hanging from the ceiling. Then when Elly sat on the chair, she was surprised that it didn’t automatically adjust to her shape and height. Even more surprising was the floor rug that stayed put rather than constantly trying to sneak below her feet.

  Something sparkly caught her eye. Stuck to the back of the door were hundreds of stickers of all different sizes and shapes. There were pandas and flowers, birds and rainbows. There was a row of butterflies, each slightly smaller than the one in front. Elly couldn’t stop staring. She’d heard about stickers before but had never actually seen one. Everything in a fairy house is so shiny that stickers would simply refuse to stay stuck.

  Just then Elly heard Kara make a sound and she suddenly remembered why she was there. Quickly, she flew up to the Space-Case and looked inside. To her relief Kara was fast asleep and snoring. Now all she had to do was remove the case and fly back home before anyone found them here.

  Elly gave the Space-Case a tug but it was wedged in tight! The tug woke Kara up, and when she saw her sister she started banging excitedly on the side of the case. The Space-Case moved a little bit. Elly bit her lip. She’d have to be careful. If the case became unwedged when she wasn’t ready, it might crash to the ground. Elly looked around for something to help with the un-wedging and felt a sharp jabbing pain in her side. Her wand.

  If I was a better fairy I could use this to fix everything, she thought, pulling the wand out of her belt. She was about to throw the wand on the ground when she had a thought. Maybe she could use the wand after all, but just not in the same way another fairy might use it. Carefully, she stuck the star part of the wand beneath the Space-Case and wiggled it gently, until slowly but surely the case started to come free.

  It was hard work and Elly’s arm soon began aching. Inside the case Kara giggled and smiled as if this was all part of a game. With a loud creak, the Space-Case finally came loose. It teetered for a moment on the edge of the wardrobe, then it slipped through Elly’s hands and hurtled towards the floor.

  ‘Fly to the bed!’ she shouted in her most commanding voice. Her heart was pounding. The Space-Case screeched to a halt only centimetres from the ground, then much to Elly’s relief started to rise again. Moments later it came to rest gently on the bed. Elly flew down beside it and unclipped the top. Out popped Kara.

  ‘I’m sooo glad to see you!’ said Elly, lifting her out and hugging her.

  ‘Thanks!’ said a voice. Elly looked at Kara in surprise. When did she learn to speak? Then the voice added, ‘I’m happy to see you, too ... except I don’t know who you are.’

  Elly spun around. Standing in the doorway was the human girl she’d glimpsed through the window the other day. Her ar
ms were crossed and she had closed the door behind her. Elly gulped.

  This is going to be very tricky to explain, she thought.

  Chapter Seven

  There is a chapter in the Fairy Code about what to do if a human catches you in their house. This is what it says:

  This is such an important rule that it takes up an entire page all of its own.

  On the next page it goes on to say:

  These rules are so important that they appear everywhere in fairy schools. They are written on all the blackboards and they are printed on every school bag. Fairies are made to recite them every morning at assembly. Even Elly knew them off by heart. So when she saw the human girl standing in the doorway she was horrified to realise that she’d already managed to break most of the rules.

  Elly’s mind started ticking over the various ways she could deal with this situation. The first thing she thought of was grabbing Kara and flying out the window, and pretending none of this actually happened. But there were some problems with this plan. The human girl would probably watch where Elly went and then she’d tell everyone she lived next to a fairy. Elly’s next idea was to make up a lie about what she was doing in her neighbours’ house. But what lie could she possibly concoct that explained her wings, her sister’s wings and the Space-Case? Elly would need a week to think of a way to explain all that.

  So this left Elly with only one option: tell the truth.

  She didn’t really like this option, especially as she vaguely remembered hearing that once you reveal your true identity to a human you had to be their servant forever. But Elly had run out of ideas. Maybe not all humans knew about the ‘servant forever’ bit.

  Elly looked at the girl and smiled nervously. ‘I guess you want me to tell you what I’m doing here,’ she said.

  The girl didn’t smile back. ‘That would be nice,’ she replied.

  Elly took a deep breath. The quicker she got this over with the better.

  ‘I’m a fairy,’ she said, in a rush. Then she waited for the girl to start squealing and jumping around with excitement. But the girl stayed exactly where she was. Elly was puzzled. Perhaps she hadn’t heard her.

  ‘I’m a fairy,’ repeated Elly loudly, waving her wand in the air, ‘and my sister here is a fairy too. She accidentally flew over here in a suitcase and I flew in after her.’ Elly looked at the girl. Surely she’d heard that.

  The girl looked at her thoughtfully.

  ‘Are you going to fly back through my window when you leave?’ she said eventually.

  ‘Probably,’ said Elly cautiously. It seemed like a weird question. Maybe the girl was waiting for all of her little human friends to come over so they could squeeze her to death together.

  The girl went over to the window and opened it as wide as she could. Then she faced Elly. ‘OK then,’ she said, pointing at the window. ‘Let’s see you do it.’

  Elly couldn’t believe it. She had been warned over and over that if a human caught you they’d never stop pestering you for wishes. But it seemed like this girl just wanted Elly to leave. It just didn’t make sense.

  Then something dawned on Elly. ‘You don’t believe I’m a fairy, do you?’ she said to the girl.

  The girl shrugged. ‘I’ll believe you when you fly out the window.’

  Fine, thought Elly. If that’s what I have to do.

  She stood on the edge of the bed and leapt into the air, arms outstretched. This should set things straight pretty quickly. Elly rose up into the air ... ... and promptly fell to the floor. Elly remembered the zucchini biscuits she’d eaten. If you fly too soon after eating, you sometimes get a cramp.

  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

  Jess 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.