“Ella, I think you’re right!” Dad said.
“I’m a train driver,” Ollie said. “That’s my train. Choo choo!”
But then the train turned into a big red snake and we all screamed.
“Who wished for a snake?” Dad asked.
“Nobody!” I said.
Snow started falling from the ceiling, and thunder rumbled in the sky. The snake hissed. The dinosaur batted the window with its head and roared angrily at us, and I shivered in fright.
“The app is glitching!” Aunty Jo exclaimed.
“Everything’s so scary!” Ollie screamed. “I don’t understand! I want my teddy bear!” Then he started crying. “Waaaah!”
Mom was still struggling with her Computawand. “Quick,” she said to Aunty Jo. “We need the Glitcheridoo spell!”
Aunty Jo stamped her feet three times, clapped her hands, wiggled her bottom and said, “Sherbet lemon.” At once she was a fairy, with big, strong, shiny wings. She pressed a code—bleep-bleep-bloop—then pointed her Computawand at the snake and shouted, “Glitcheridoo!” It disappeared. Then she made the dinosaur disappear.
“Thank goodness!” said Dad.
But then a great big tentacle came through the kitchen door. There was an octopus in the hall! It was huge and slimy, and it was coming toward us!
“The app is still glitching!” Aunty Jo cried. “Glitcheridoo!”
She quickly made the octopus disappear, but the next minute a sea lion appeared in the sink. The floor started swaying back and forth, and the sky turned pink.
“Hurry!” Aunty Jo said to Mom. “Everything is very strange!”
At last Mom got the panel on her Computawand open and pulled out the gold coin.
There was a sort of crash! and a flash of light—then everything was quiet. All the strange things had disappeared. The world was back to normal. We were all breathing hard, looking at each other.
“Well!” Mom said at last. “I didn’t expect that!”
I looked at the app in her hand. It was such a tiny gold coin, but it had created so much trouble.
Suddenly I realized what had happened.
“I think the app is Bad Magic. It’s using magic to be lazy. That’s why it went wrong.”
Aunty Jo Fairy looked very surprised. “Ella, how do you know about Bad Magic?” she asked. “That’s very grown up.”
“I read about it in Mom’s Spell Book,” I told her.
“Well, I think you’re right,” said Aunty Jo Fairy. “Auto-Spell is Bad Magic. I’ll send my app back.”
“I’m sending mine back too,” Mom said. “I’m going to complain.”
“Weezi-weezi-weezi!” Ollie said, banging his spoon. I was so glad he was back to normal that I went to give him a great big hug.
The only thing I was sad about was my unicorn. I had loved it so much, and now it was gone.
“Can I have a unicorn one day?” I asked. “A real unicorn?”
“Maybe,” Mom said. “When you’re a grown-up fairy.”
I decided that the minute I was a grown-up fairy I would have a unicorn. And ten kittens. And ice cream every day.
* * *
—
Two weeks later, Mom came into the kitchen holding her laptop. She said, “Look at this, Ella.”
She was watching news on FairyTube. A fairy was looking very serious as she said, “The new Auto-Spell app has been banned. It is Bad Magic, and it has caused a lot of trouble. If you’ve bought the Auto-Spell app, please send it back to the Fairy Store, and you will get your money back.”
Mom pressed PAUSE. “You were right, Ella. Well done!” Then she said, “Maybe you will invent a Fairy App one day. A good Fairy App.”
I thought about the Fairy App I would invent one day. It would be very useful and clever. Maybe it would give food to hungry people. Or maybe it would stop people from having accidents.
Then I remembered the pink sky and the thunder and the dinosaur’s scary eye. I looked at Mom, and I said, “If I invent a Fairy App, it will definitely not glitch. Ever.”
Mom laughed and said, “Certainly not! No glitches for Ella!”
“Weezi-weezi-weezi!” said Ollie, as if he was agreeing.
“That’s right, Ollie,” I said. “No glitches for me.” And I looked up at Mom and smiled.
BAGSERIDOO!
Design your own fairy handbag!
What do you think a fairy would keep in her handbag? There are a couple of ideas to start you off.
Computawand
Fairy Dust
RAINBOWERIDOO!
Make your own rainbow appear with this fun activity–and don’t forget to add glitter to make it look extra special!
* Make sure you ask a grown-up to help you cut it out.
WHAT YOU NEED:
★ A paper plate
★ Scissors
★ Paint or crayons
★ Glue (optional)
★ Cotton balls (optional)
★ Glitter (optional)
WHAT TO DO:
With a grown-up’s help, cut the paper plate in half. Next, cut out a semicircle from the middle of the plate, to get a rainbow shape.
Use your paint or crayons to color stripes for your rainbow. Follow the curve of the plate. You can start from the top or bottom curve. Ask a grown-up to draw lines to follow, if that makes it easier.
The colors of a rainbow are (starting from the top): red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and violet (light purple). But don’t worry if you don’t have all these colors. A magical rainbow can have any colors you like, in any order!
If you like, you can glue cotton balls to the bottom of your rainbow, for the clouds.
Add glitter to your rainbow to show that it’s full of rainbow magic! Next time you see a rainbow in the sky, watch out for anything unusual on your street or in your town. It might be a sign that rainbow magic is really happening….
FINDERIDOO!
Can you spot these words in the word search?
(Answers on this page.)
APP
GLITCH
RAINBOW
SPAGHETTI
SPARKLE
SPELL BOOK
UMBRELLA
UNICORN
WISHERIDOO!
If you had the Auto-Spell app, what would you wish for? A unicorn, like Ella–or something else?
ANSWERS
FINDERIDOO!
About the Author
SOPHIE KINSELLA is a bestselling author. The adventures of Ella and Fairy Mom are her first stories for children. Her books for grown-ups have sold over forty million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than forty languages. They include the Shopaholic series and other titles, such as I Owe You One, Surprise Me, My Not So Perfect Life, Can You Keep a Secret? and The Undomestic Goddess, and Finding Audrey for young adults.
Adults (including Fairy Moms everywhere) can follow her on social media:
@KinsellaSophie
SophieKinsellaOfficial
@sophiekinsellawriter
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