Undercover Read Free

clothes anyway. With her wings safely tucked away beneath her clothes she looked exactly like a human kid. No-one would ever guess her secret.
    â€˜Is this OK?’ she asked Jess.
    â€˜Perfect!’ Jess said. ‘Do you need to borrow a backpack?’
    â€˜No, thanks,’ she said. ‘I’ve got one.’ She showed Jess her small red backpack.
    Jess looked at it doubtfully. ‘It’s a bit small,’ she said.
    But Elly shook her head. ‘Anything I put in it gets shrunk,’ she explained. ‘So it actually fits a lot more than you’d think.’
    To demonstrate, Elly reached into the bag and pulled out her skateboard.
    Jess was impressed. ‘Cool,’ she said. ‘How does it work?’
    â€˜It sucks the moisture out of things,’ Elly said. ‘Think of a dried apricot. Then it puts the moisture back in when you take stuff out.’
    After breakfast the girls set off for school on their bikes. Elly had brought her bike from home. It was just like a human bike, except it had a special Fairy-Drive setting. In Fairy-Drive it turned into a Glider-Bike and began moving very quickly. As they got closer to the school Elly started seeing more and more kids. Some were on bikes and some were walking. There were even some kids riding skateboards. They all looked so different from the students at a fairy school.
    â€˜What are the kids in our class like?’ Elly asked Jess. Suddenly Elly missed her best friend Saphie, who was also a fairy. She couldn’t wait to tell her all about human school.
    Jess pulled a face. ‘They are really different from the kids at my old school,’ said Jess. Jess had only been going to South Street School for a little while. ‘All the girls are into fairies. They have this Fairy Club and they act like fairies are the best thing in the world.’ Suddenly Jess realised what she’d said. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I sometimes forget that you’re a fairy.’
    â€˜That’s OK,’ said Elly. ‘I forget too.’
    There were lots of kids already at South Street School, running around, playing games, laughing and talking. It was very noisy — much noisier than a fairy school, and much busier, too. Just walking across the playground was like crossing an obstacle course. Balls were flying in all directions.
    â€˜WATCH OUT!’ shrieked the Worry-Watch, whizzing its hands around madly.

    Elly looked up just in time to see a football heading right for her head. Without thinking Elly tried to fly away, forgetting her wings were safely tucked underneath her clothes.
    She fell flat on her face and the ball sailed over her head.
    Elly noticed the playground had gone quiet. Everyone was staring at her. Jess helped her to her feet. She was pale.
    â€˜We’re going to have to do something about that watch,’ she said. ‘It’s going to draw too much attention to you.’
    Elly examined the watch band. She could just fit one finger under it.
    â€˜Maybe we can cut it off,’ she suggested.
    â€˜No way!’ shrilled the watch, and tightened itself even more firmly around Elly’s wrist. ‘There’s no way you —’ it began to say, but Elly clamped her hand over its face. The watch stopped talking mid-sentence.
    â€˜That’s interesting,’ said Jess. She pulled the ribbon off the end of her plait. ‘Tie this around the watch. Maybe if it can’t see anything it stops worrying. Like an ostrich with its head in the sand.’
    Elly tied the ribbon around the watch. Then she pretended to trip over a rock. Sure enough, the watch stayed silent.
    â€˜Phew!’ said Elly, gratefully. Jess was good at solving stuff like this.
    â€˜Come on,’ said Jess. ‘I’ll show you around.’
    Jess took Elly to her locker, which was right next to hers. Out of habit, Elly bent over and put her eye up against the keyhole. She waited