Term-Time Trouble (4 page)

‘Sooze, no!' cried Twink. ‘We can't start up the pranks again.'

Sooze glared at her. ‘Why not? They did!'

‘Yes, but . . .' Twink hesitated, conscious of everyone watching her. ‘I want to talk to Taya,' she said finally.

‘
Talk
to her?' scoffed Sooze, folding her arms across her chest. ‘What for?'

‘Just to see what she says.' Twink tried to sound more confident than she felt.

.

.

Pix nodded, looking worried. ‘I think it's a good idea. There's something a bit strange about this. Their pranks have always been a good laugh – nothing like
this
.'

Twink saw what she meant. There was really nothing funny about this prank at all – their flowers looked so sad and bare without their petals. Lola's had been snapped clean off at the stem.

‘So what are we meant to do now, Great Leader?' said Sooze drily, raising a lavender eyebrow.

Twink bit back a retort. ‘Pix, why don't you see if you can find a spell to put things right again, while the rest of you start tidying? I'll go and talk to Taya.'

She flew from the branch before Sooze could say anything else. Her wings felt like they were on fire. Oh,
why
had Miss Shimmery put her in charge? It was no fun at all!

Taya looked appalled when Twink described the state of their peonies. ‘Really? Wasps, that's awful! No, it wasn't us – we've got a truce, remember?'

The two fairies were in the library, hovering near the top of the shelves as Taya searched for a book. ‘Are you sure?' asked Twink. ‘Maybe someone in your branch did it without you knowing.'

Taya shook her head firmly. ‘We wouldn't go back on a promise, Twink – even though that blue-nose trick
was
unbelievably cheeky!' She shot Twink a grin, and Twink smiled back despite her worry. She believed Taya – the fairy gave no sign at all that she wasn't telling the truth.

But then what did that mean? Who had destroyed their flowers?

Taya flipped through a petal book and then slid it back on to the shelf. ‘Maybe it wasn't a prank at all,' she suggested. ‘Maybe the long-life spell on your peonies just wore off.'

‘Maybe,' said Twink doubtfully, thinking of how some of the petals had been torn up and flung about the branch.

‘Or maybe some other branch did it,' said Taya. ‘Sooze isn't exactly careful about what she says, you know! She could have annoyed someone else, who decided to get back at you.'

Twink nodded slowly as the sunset angled in through the long library windows. ‘You're probably right,' she decided. ‘I'll ask Sooze if she can remember anything. And meanwhile, I just hope it doesn't happen again!'

.

Chapter Four

But the pranks
did
keep happening. Over the next few days, Peony Branch found itself the victim of several more pieces of mischief, each nastier than the last.

Sooze insisted that she hadn't said anything that might have annoyed one of the other branches. ‘Everything isn't always
my
fault, you know,' she said crossly, helping herself to a seed cake at lunch one afternoon. ‘I haven't done a thing!'

‘Besides, who would do such awful things just to get back at Sooze?' put in Bimi anxiously. ‘I'm really getting nervous, Twink!'

‘Me too,' said Zena. The tall fairy's face was drawn. ‘I think we need to go to Miss Shimmery.'

Twink hesitated. So far they had managed to mend everything themselves, but it was getting harder and harder to hide the episodes from Mrs Hover. How on earth were they supposed to explain torn homework all over their floor, or red berry paint splashed across their beds?

She bit glumly into a seed cake, hardly tasting it. She knew that the situation was becoming quite serious, yet Miss Shimmery had been adamant – Twink was meant to deal with any problems on her own.

‘Let's wait just a bit longer,' she said. ‘We
must
be able to work out who's doing it, if we just put our wings together.'

Sili shivered. ‘All I know is, someone really has it in for us! I'm getting scared to even go back to our branch.'

The others murmured in agreement. Twink glanced over her shoulder at all the tables of laughing, chattering fairies. It was dreadful to think that someone in the school hated them so much. But
why
?

‘Come on, let's think!' she repeated urgently, clapping her wings together. ‘Who might be doing this? Pix, don't
you
have any idea?'

There was a pause. ‘I might
have,' said Pix finally. ‘But I'm not going to say anything just yet.'

The Peony Branch table erupted in excited whispers. ‘Who, Pix?' demanded Sooze, leaning forward.

Pix shook her head. ‘I'm not going to say. Not until I'm certain.'

.

.

Sitting at the end of the table, Lola looked quite pale. Twink felt a rush of sympathy for her. She was such a nervous little fairy anyway – this must be awful for her.

Sooze huffed out an irritated breath. ‘Oh, great! So we have to wait until one of us is . . . is
attacked
by some deranged fairy before you'll do anything?'

‘Of course not,' said Pix irritably. ‘But this is serious, Sooze. I can't accuse someone without a bit more proof.'

Mariella tossed her head. ‘Well,
I
think it's ridiculous!' she snapped. ‘We can't just let someone destroy our branch – we've got to
do
something.'

‘Hang on,' said Sooze, her violet eyes suddenly wide in pretend alarm. ‘Are we actually agreeing
with each other, Mosquito Nose? Wasps, things
must
be bad!'

The tension at the table lessened as everyone laughed.

‘I – I think we should tell Miss Shimmery!' burst out Lola. The others stopped talking and stared at her. Lola hardly ever said a word, unless she was backing up Mariella.

Lola's cheeks blazed, but she kept on. ‘I mean – I mean, maybe our parents should know about this. It's
dangerous.
'

‘What, and get Twink into trouble?' demanded Pix. ‘Lola, we can't – you know what Miss Shimmery said. We've got to try to solve it ourselves first.'

Lola's face burned even redder. ‘Oh. I – I just thought . . .' She stopped, staring down at the table.

‘What about
you
,
Jax?' said Sooze suddenly.

Everyone looked curiously at the spiky-haired fairy. She hadn't said a word all through the conversation, thought Twink – but then, you could count on one wing the number of times that she'd joined in with them since she'd arrived.

Jax stopped chewing her seed cake and scowled. ‘What
about
me?'

Sooze met her gaze coolly. ‘Has anything like this ever happened at one of your other
schools?'

Jax's green eyebrows drew together. ‘No. Should it have?'

‘Who knows?' said Sooze, lifting a wing. ‘This sort of thing is completely new to
us
.'

Jax looked thunderous, but didn't reply. Twink glanced uneasily from one to the other, wondering if she should say anything. Before she could decide, the school's butterflies fluttered in to clear the tables, their wings dipping gracefully in the air.

‘What was
that
about?' Twink whispered to Sooze as the fairies flitted from the Branch.

Sooze shrugged. ‘Just working on a theory of my own, that's all.'

Sparkle Art class was a welcome distraction from Twink's problems. Mr Prism, a tall fairy with bright blue wings and a vivid shock of crimson hair, turned out to be a wonderful teacher – nothing at all like nervous Mr Woodleaf, who taught Creature Kindness and seemed terrified of them!

‘Welcome!' cried Mr Prism that afternoon, grinning widely as the Peony Branch fairies flew into his branch. ‘Are we all ready to create some super-spectacular artwork? Excellent! Take your seats, girls, take your seats.'

‘I love this class!' whispered Bimi to Twink. She gave a little bounce as they sat perched on their spotted mushrooms.

‘Me too!' Twink whispered back. Sparkle Art was just as much fun as she'd imagined: they used fairy dust mixed with paint to create glittering works of art, often getting delightfully messy in the process!

She watched eagerly as Mr Prism set up a piece of white birch bark at the front of the branch. ‘Today we're going to do self-portraits,' he announced, bringing out the fairy-dust paint from a bark cupboard. Rainbow-coloured sparks fizzed from the acorn pots.

Twink and Bimi exchanged an excited look. Self-portraits sounded glimmery!

Mr Prism ran a hand through his crimson hair. ‘Now, then! In Sparkle Art, you
think
what you want to draw, and the fairy dust does the work for you – right?'

Twink nodded with the others.

‘But no two paintings are ever the same, because everything depends on
you
– your mood, your thoughts, your personality! Paint a mouse,' Mr Prism commanded the paints.

Immediately, brown and black paint leapt from the pots in a glittering stream, landing on the white bark with little
plopping
noises. A mouse started to form – but it was like no mouse Twink had ever seen! Its teeth were long and sinister, and its eyes glared out at them from the painting.

The class gasped in surprise. Mr Prism grinned apologetically. ‘I was scared by a mouse in acorn school,' he explained. ‘Never liked 'em since! But if one of
you
lot painted a mouse, I bet it would come out all cute and cuddly.'

Twink smiled, knowing he was right. Brownie, her family's own beloved mouse, had been her friend since she was a baby!

‘So Sparkle Art is all about how
you
feel about what you're painting,' continued Mr Prism, wiping the mouse away with a damp piece of moss. ‘And when you're doing self-portraits, that gets very interesting indeed!'

‘What do you mean, sir?' asked Pix.

‘Watch!' Mr Prism put his hands behind his back and said, ‘Paint a portrait of Thaddeus Prism, Sparkle Art teacher extraordinaire!'

A rainbow stream of colours sprang from the pots. Twink craned to see as an image started to form.

The class had sniggered at the name ‘Thaddeus' – and now the sniggers turned to howls of laughter. The painting showed an impossibly handsome fairy, with a brilliant smile and gleaming wings.

‘What?' said Mr Prism, feigning hurt. ‘Don't you think it's a good likeness?' He struck a heroic pose, jutting his chin out. ‘It looks just like me!'

.

.

When the laughter had died down, Mr Prism said, ‘You see, Sparkle Art self-portraits are how
you
see yourself, not how you really are! We'll be doing several over the next few weeks. You'll be surprised how your different moods can change your portrait!' He started passing out rolls of birch bark and paint pots.

‘I'm a bit nervous!' whispered Bimi.

Adjusting her bark on the twiggy easel that sat in front of her, Twink realised that she was, too. What sort of fairy would her painting show?

‘Ready?' said Mr Prism. ‘Right, then! Off you go!'

Twink cleared her throat. ‘Um . . . paint Twink Flutterby,' she said to her acorn pots. Immediately, pink and lavender paint leapt out, arranging itself on the birch bark in delicate swirls and hops.

‘Oh!' cried Twink as the painting took shape. Her wings felt hot with embarrassment. The fairy staring back at her had an anxious smile on her face and a giant oak-leaf badge on her chest:
Peony Branch Head.

Bimi burst out laughing when she saw it. ‘Oh, Twink, you poor thing! You look so
worried.
'

Twink giggled despite herself. Bimi was right. She looked like the ceiling was about to fall in on her!

Mr Prism came across. ‘Very interesting,' he said, tapping his chin with a smile. ‘Bimi, how did you do?'

Bimi's cheeks blazed. ‘Oh – all right, I guess. Only I look too pretty.'

Twink leaned across to see Bimi's portrait. A rather plain fairy with dull blue hair and gaudily bright wings looked back at her.

‘But that's nothing like you!' she said in surprise, looking at Bimi's midnight-blue hair, and the gracefully swirling patterns on her wings. ‘You're
much
prettier than that.'

The other fairies' portraits were even funnier. Pix's showed a serious-looking fairy surrounded by looming piles of books, while the fairy in Mariella's painting had a sweet, pleasant expression – and a much shorter nose than in real life.

‘I don't see what's so funny,' complained Mariella when the other girls howled.

‘No, you wouldn't,' sniggered Sooze. Oddly enough, thought Twink, Sooze's portrait was the only one that had come out halfway normal.

Mariella tossed her hair. ‘Let's see yours, Lola,' she commanded. ‘I bet that's
really
something to laugh at.'

Lola's face paled. ‘Oh – no, it's not that funny, really.'

She hastily wiped her birch bark clean before anyone could see. Mariella scowled.

‘What about
your
portrait, Jax?' asked Sooze, fluttering her wings innocently. ‘I bet it's really glimmery.'

‘None of your business,' snapped the spiky-haired fairy. Taking her birch bark off her easel, she rolled it up and tucked it away in her petal bag. She stared at the rest of the class defiantly, daring them to say anything.