Philippa Fisher and the Fairy's Promise (7 page)

I flew down the corridor and back to my desk.

Listen to me!
I flew down the corridor!

I really did! Daisy had been right. All I had to do was act as if it was the most normal thing in the world and believe that I could do it without thinking about it — and I
could
do it!

Not very far, and not very high off the ground or anything. But I actually, really did fly.

I was still buzzing and excited about it when I got back to my desk, and I was desperate to tell Daisy what I’d done, but, more importantly, to hear if my mom was OK. I looked around to check that no one was watching, and then I took my new MagiCell out of my pocket. Daisy’s boss had given it to me earlier. Apparently you get a new one each time you start in a new department — another thing I had to act normal about.

“Great, thanks,” I said, trying to sound casual when she handed it to me.

“Well?” she said, frowning at me with tight lips.

“Um. Thank you very much?” I faltered. Was that what she wanted?

She just
tsskk
ed sharply and walked off.

The fairy at the next desk had popped her head over. She was a girl about my same age — or at least that was how she appeared to me. “I think she was expecting you to program it,” she said with a smile.

“Oh, yeah, of course she was!” I said as though this was the most obvious thing in the world and it had only slipped my mind for a moment. “I’ll do it now.”

The girl had laughed. “Here, I’ll do it for you,” she said. “You probably don’t know the codes.”

“Codes? Why wouldn’t I know them?” I’d replied quickly. Had she guessed that I was an imposter? Was it that obvious?

“Because you’re new!” she said simply. Then she hopped over to my side of the divide. “I’m Tabitha,” she said. “Or Tabby to my friends.”

I smiled at her. “I’m . . . Tulip. I’m a new fairy godsister here.”

Tabitha burst out laughing. “Fairy godsister!” she said. “I like it! I’m going to use that all the time from now on!”

I felt my face heat up with embarrassment. I was getting
everything
wrong!

She didn’t seem too bothered. She punched a few buttons on my MagiCell and handed it back to me. “There you go,” she said with another smile. “Ready for action!”

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“No problem,” she said, slipping back around to her desk. “See you in a bit. Give me a shout if you need anything.”

I was conscious of her now, on the other side of the thin divide. Even if I managed to figure out how to contact Daisy on my MagiCell, what if Tabitha heard me? Would she tell on me?

But I needed to know what had happened with my mom. Had Daisy stopped the SRB? I had to find out. I
had
to know what had happened to Mom.

I looked at the MagiCell in my hand and decided to try the most obvious solution. That seemed to be the way things worked best around here.

I touched the screen and it immediately lit up, as did a picture of a keyboard. I punched in a few letters and hoped it would work: C-A-L-L-D-A-I-S-Y.

The MagiCell responded by making a soft whirring sound and scrolling through what looked like a million pages of names. Then the scrolling stopped.
FG NUMBER?
appeared on the screen.

FG number?
Fairy Godmother number? How was I supposed to find out Daisy’s Fairy Godmother number?

Her desk was next to mine. Maybe there’d be something there.

Putting on the most casual manner I could, I flew — yes, flew again! — over to Daisy’s desk and casually rummaged through some files and folders that were lying around.

“Need any help?” Tabitha’s face popped up over the divide again.

My face instantly reddened. She knew I was meddling!
Act normal. Act normal.

“Oh, just looking for Daisy’s FG number,” I said, wishing my ears would stop feeling quite so hot.

Tabitha nodded in an understanding kind of way. “We keep them stuck inside the bottom drawer,” she said, pointing to a line of light flowing underneath the desk.

I nodded back in what I hoped was an equally knowing manner. “Ah. Of course!” I said, wondering how in the world I was meant to open a line of light!

Two seconds later, Tabitha came around and did it for me. She just touched the line with her finger, and the light bounced open into ten different colors. Tabitha flicked through them till she reached the bottom one. A moment later, a line of numbers danced out of the light and into my hand. I closed my hand around them, hoping I’d be able to keep hold of them long enough to put them into my MagiCell.

“Thanks again,” I said.

“No problem. I know how hard it is when you start in a new department.”

“Yes, it is,” I said awkwardly.

“I start in a new one myself soon,” she said. Then she lowered her voice. “I’m not really meant to talk about it yet. You know, FGC Section 37421 and all that.”

“Oh, yes,” I said. “That old thing!”

Tabitha laughed again. “You’re funny!” she said. “You’re not like other fairy godmothers — or should I say fairy godsisters!”

Oh, no! She knew I wasn’t one of them! “No, I am, really,” I said enthusiastically. “I’m just the same. I’m
exactly
like all the other fairy godsisters. Look, see. I do this, like all the others.” I flew back to my desk. “And this.” I opened up my hand and let the numbers float into the air. I quickly punched them into my MagiCell before they flew off and I had no way of getting them back. “See!” I said with the brightest smile I could force onto my face. “Totally normal!”

Tabitha laughed and shook her head. “OK, if you say so.”

As the MagiCell whirred away softly, searching for Daisy’s FG number, Tabitha kept on talking. “It’s a shame I’m going,” she said. “Just when a cool new fairy godsister comes along.”

A cool new fairy godsister? She meant me! For a moment, I was so taken aback, I couldn’t think of anything else. Me — ordinary Philippa Fisher — she saw
me
as a cool fairy godsister! Despite everything going on with my mom and with Daisy, I couldn’t suppress a smile.

“When do you go?” I asked.

“Couple of days, I think. I haven’t gotten all the details yet.” She glanced around the office to check that no one was listening. “It’s BLC!” she whispered.

“Oh,” I said. I didn’t know what she meant.

“That’s where I’m going,” she explained. BLC must be a fairy godmother department. It sounded more like some kind of sandwich to me!

“Big Life Change,” she explained.

“Oh, yes, of course,” I said, feeling more and more obviously an absolute fraud with every passing moment.

“You haven’t heard of it, then,” she said. She looked disappointed.

“Well, I —”

“It’s OK,” she said. “I didn’t expect you to have heard of it. Hardly anyone has. It’s quite new. We help people who are adjusting to a new life.”

“It sounds good,” I said, meaning it.

“It’ll be the first client assignment I’ve had for ages! I’m really looking forward to it.”

Just then, my MagiCell beeped. “Looks like someone wants you,” Tabitha said. “I’ll leave you alone.”

She disappeared back to her desk, and I looked at the screen. When I saw the words, my heart flipped over and doubled its pace.
FG FOUND!
it said in big bold letters. Underneath, another word:
CONNECT?

I’d done it! I’d found Daisy! My heart beating so rapidly I felt as if it were going to fly out of my chest, I touched the screen. “Yes, connect!”

This was it. I was going to talk to Daisy and find out what had happened to Mom!

“Daisy?” I said uncertainly into the MagiCell. How did you speak into one of these, anyway? I held it like a walkie-talkie, talking into the speaker and then holding it up to my ear.

Nothing happened.

I checked to see that no one was watching me. I didn’t want to look even more like a fool than I already did, with all the other things I’d gotten wrong.

I tried again. “This is Philippa calling Daisy,” I said in a stage whisper. “Do you read me? Come in, Daisy.”

Again, nothing. I was about to switch off the MagiCell and put it away when it suddenly crackled, then hissed, then hummed. And then —“Philippa?”

I gripped the MagiCell with both hands and whispered into it again. “Daisy! Is that really you?”

Daisy laughed. “I can’t believe it’s you,” she said. “How did you —”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’ll explain when I see you. What’s happened with my mom?”

“We stopped it!” Daisy said. “The SRB — it’s gone. Your mom’s fine!”

I let out a breath that I felt I’d been holding in since we’d gotten to ATC and tried to reply, but my answer got stuck in my throat.

“Philippa? Did you hear me?”

I swallowed hard and tried again. “Daisy, that’s wonderful!” I said. “That’s so great. Thank you
so
much!”

“How about you?” she asked. “Are you OK?”

“I’m fine. I can’t believe I’m getting away with it, but so far so good. How are you doing there?”

“I love it!” she said. “Well, I mean, it’s fine. It’s OK.”

“What are you doing now?”

“I’m in your room with Robyn.”

A stab of jealousy went through me. Daisy and Robyn hanging out together in my room. Daisy there in the cottage with my mom and dad. Me stuck up here, with no idea what I was doing or how I was ever going to get out of this and return to my normal life. Suddenly, being able to fly around and talk to computers didn’t feel quite so exciting anymore.

“Have you had any ideas about how to get me home yet?” I asked quietly.

There was a long pause at the other end. “I’m still trying to figure something out,” she said eventually. “Listen, get in touch with me again in —”

Just then, a noise behind me snatched my attention away from what Daisy was saying. I looked around. It was Daisy’s supervisor — and she was heading toward me!

“Daisy, I can’t talk anymore,” I whispered into the MagiCell.

“Why? What’s up? Listen, all we need to do is —”

“Who are you talking to?” The supervisor’s voice boomed across my head.

I looked up. “I — it’s — I . . .” I said helpfully.

“Is that FG32561?” she asked. With a shudder of recognition, I realized what she was asking me. FG32561 — that was the number I’d put into my MagiCell. She knew that I was talking to Daisy!

“Um, I —” I began. But it was too late. Before I could even think of anything to say, she had snatched the MagiCell from me and was talking into it. “I knew we would catch you this time,” she snapped into the MagiCell. “FG32561, you have broken numerous FGC rules and you will not escape lightly. Do you hear me?”

The supervisor frowned as she held the MagiCell to her ear.

“Enough of your excuses,” she snapped a moment later. “You are being stripped of your FG powers, with immediate effect. I’m going to speak to my superiors about this. I’ll be sending someone to fetch you. Do you understand?”

Another pause. Another agonizing silence at my end.

“Good. I want you in my office first thing in the morning. First thing, you hear me?” And with that, she switched off the MagiCell and turned to me.

I shut my eyes. I don’t know why. I mean, when you’re really little, you think that if you close your eyes and can’t see anyone, then they can’t see you, either. I’m old enough to know it doesn’t work like that — although I couldn’t help wishing that perhaps it might. I was going to be in the biggest trouble I could imagine. In fact, probably
bigger
trouble than I could imagine. I wanted to cry. I wanted to go home. I wanted —

“You did very well, my newest young fairy,” a voice was saying. It sounded like the supervisor, and it sounded like she was talking to me.

I half opened one of my eyes. She was still there. Right in front of me. And — wait a minute, what was she doing with her face? I hadn’t seen her do that yet. She was smiling! At me!

What was going on? I opened both eyes and stared at her, still too shocked to speak.

“Modest as well,” she said, nodding approvingly. “I will be sure to inform ATC High Command of that, too.” She turned to leave, and I finally found my tongue.

“Wait!” I said. The supervisor slowly turned around. “I mean, please. If you don’t mind. Thank you,” I burbled.

She smiled another tight little smile at me. “Yes, dear?” she said.

“I — um, I’m not sure what it is exactly that you’ll be telling High Command,” I said, desperately trying to stop my nerves from making my voice come out sounding like a rattlesnake.

“Why, that you found our errant fairy,” she said, “and now we may punish her accordingly.”

Punish her accordingly?
What had I done?

“But you — but, I mean, will you —”

The supervisor laughed. “Don’t you worry, my dear,” she said. “I know what you’re trying to ask.”

“You do?” I gulped. She knew I wanted to ask what kind of punishment Daisy was going to get? She knew I was terrified for the pair of us? She knew that I was desperately trying to stop myself from wondering how exactly they punished humans who broke into ATC?

“Of course.” She smiled. “You’re wondering what kind of reward you’ll get.”

“Am I?” I gasped. “I mean — yes. Yes, I am. Ha, ha, how did you guess?”

“And you’ll be pleased to know that I will be highly commending you for your work,” the supervisor went on. “You shall indeed be rewarded — have no worries. Now back to work, dear. I’m off to talk to ATC High Command.”

And with that, she turned and left. And I sat at my desk, staring into space and wondering how I was ever going to get out of this mess.

“Philippa? Philippa!” I shouted at my MagiCell, pressing every button, banging my hand against it, shaking it. Nothing.

“What is it?” Robyn asked. “What’s happened?”

“Look.” I showed her the MagiCell.

Robyn shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“Look — the screen.”

“I can’t see anything. Just a blank space.”

“Exactly.” I flumped down on the bed. “It’s shut off. I can’t get reception or anything.”

“Did the battery run out?” Robyn asked.

I shook my head. “MagiCells don’t have batteries. It’s my supervisor — she must have disabled it.”

“Why?” Robyn asked, looking more closely at the MagiCell, turning it over in her hands.

“They’ve taken my FG powers away,” I said. “They just want me safely back at ATC, sitting in front of them — awaiting my punishment.” I shuddered.

“Your punishment?” Robyn asked. “What will they do?”

“You don’t want to know,” I said. “But put it this way — ATC High Command is not known for leniency.”

“Oh, Daisy,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

“What are
you
sorry for?”

Robyn shrugged. “I don’t know. I just wish there was something I could do.”

I smiled at her. “I know. It’s OK.” I got up and brushed myself off. “I’ll be fine, honestly. You go. I don’t want you worrying. I’ve already got Philippa caught up in all this.” I shuddered again as I thought of her up there with FGRaincloud74921. What would they do to
her
? Had they discovered she was a human yet?

“You don’t want me worrying?” Robyn said, shaking her head. “Daisy, we’re in this together, the three of us, OK?”

I met her eyes and saw in them only concern — and friendship. “OK,” I agreed. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Robyn replied. “You just need to help me figure this out.”

“Figure what out?”

“Think about it,” she said. “Once you’ve left, that’s it. No Philippa, no you. How am I supposed to explain that Philippa’s disappeared again?”

She was right. Once I was gone, there were no guarantees I’d
ever
be able to get back! And we still had no idea how to get Philippa back, either. Her situation was probably even more bleak than it had been before. Now that she’d been caught in contact with me, who knew what ATC would do?

“What do we do, then?” I asked helplessly.

Robyn thought for a moment, her eyes scrunched up as she concentrated. “I’ve got an idea,” she said a few moments later. “Listen, we need to buy some time, right?”

“Right,” I agreed.

“OK, so tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. There’s always a big party up near Tidehill Rocks with fireworks and a bonfire and stuff. The whole village comes. It’s amazing.”

“OK,” I said uncertainly. I couldn’t exactly see how a great big party fit in with a plan to get us out of trouble with ATC!

“So, try to get some sleep tonight, then I’ll come to get you in the morning. We’ll tell Philippa’s mom and dad that we’re preparing for the party all day tomorrow,” Robyn went on. “My dad’s one of the organizers this year, so we can say we’re helping him. Then we just tell Philippa’s parents you’ll come to the party with us and meet them there. That gives us twenty-four hours from now.” She smiled nervously. “Do you think that’ll be enough time?”

Twenty-four
hours
? I didn’t know how to respond. Laugh hysterically at the mere suggestion of fixing this mess in the space of a day? Throw myself on the floor and cry like a baby? Give up completely? In the end, I looked at her face, and when I saw the hope in her eyes, I knew there was only one response I could give.

“I think that’s a great idea,” I said.

Robyn responded with a bright, confident smile, and we went downstairs to ask Mr. and Mrs. Fisher if I could spend tomorrow helping out with Robyn. After today’s events, they took some persuading. We had to promise not to go anywhere near that path and to stay near Robyn’s dad all day. In the end, they agreed.

And when it was bedtime and they both gave me enormous hugs and put Philippa’s new pajamas out for me and told me how much they loved me, I got that warm feeling again — and I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps everything just might turn out OK.