by Annie Dalton
“Hardly a controversial insight,” said an identically distant voice.
“I do know that,” I said humbly. “But you truly can’t imagine how sorry I am. I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here.”
One of the archangels gave a weary sigh.
“I’m not spinning you a line. It’s the absolute truth,” I said quickly. “Mr Allbright is a great teacher and my friends helped heaps, and I think that one day I could shape up to be a really wicked trouble-shooter. Brilliant trouble-shooter, I mean,” I corrected hastily.
“Melanie,” Michael began. “I don’t think this is—”
I rushed on desperately. “I let my team mates down and that was wrong. But that doesn’t mean you guys were wrong when you picked me to be an angel.” My voice cracked with misery. “If you’ll just give me a second chance, I’ll never let you down again. I’ll work night and day. I’ll even read my—”
“Enough!” said one of the archangels, making me jump with fright. “This is extremely touching, my dear, but I’m afraid you left it too late. We came to our verdict a few minutes before you burst in. And as you know, the Council’s decision is final.”
I felt like a total fool. “Oh,” I said. “I’m - I didn’t…”
I was suddenly blinded with tears. I was done for. My angelic career had finally crashed and burned. I blundered towards the door.
“Melanie?” said Michael softly. “Don’t you want to know what that verdict was?”
I turned in despair. “I suppose, that sinister sea foam thing,” I whispered.
“Sea foam?” said Uriel, or possibly Jophiel, looking utterly baffled.
Michael swiftly took control of the situation. “Melanie, the Council unanimously agreed that you may stay,” he said.
I could feel a leftover tear tracking slowly down my chin.
“Stay?” I echoed blankly
It’s a dream, I thought. I’ll wake up in a minute and I’ll have to go to the real Academy Council.
“You actually did remarkably well in your exams, Melanie,” said Michael. “In fact you got a distinction.”
I think it was Michael’s smile that made me know I wasn’t dreaming. I felt it right inside my heart. Suddenly I heard what he’d said.
“A distinction!” I shrieked. “Woo-hoo! That is totally luminous!”
“You also lost your team a much-deserved HALO award,” Gabriel or Chamuel pointed out unsmilingly.
“Oh,” I said, ashamed. “I didn’t know.”
“And your angelic presentation skills still need a little work,” he added sternly “I quote: ‘For lo! I am the angel Melanie’, etcetera etcetera.”
My face burned. There are SO not any secrets in Heaven!
Then Uriel - it was definitely Uriel - said something so beautiful, I just know I’ll remember it for ever.
“However,” he said more gently, “a trouble-shooting angel, far from Heaven, must sometimes improvise. And your heart, as humans say, was very much in the right place.”
Chapter Eleven
The morning of the end-of-term party, Lola and I went on a major shopping spree.
“So what was he like?” Lola said, holding up a sugary pink baby-doll dress patterned with little love hearts.
“Yuck!” I said with a shudder “Nightmare.”
“He was yuck?”
“The dress, dummy! The Opposition guy was in a totally different category of nightmare. Did you still have horror films in your time?”
Lola shuddered. “My brothers loved those things. Me, I couldn’t see the point. All those gruesome special FX.”
”That’s the category,” I said. “The really disturbing thing was, he looked exactly like this boy I fancied at school.”
Lola giggled. “A really bad boy, I bet.”
We went back to hunting along the rails.
“Angel girl, do you even know what you’re looking for?” Lola sighed.
I showed her a scarlet leather cat-suit. “What do you think?”
“Miaow!” Lola said with a grin. “Maybe you should go for something more discreet!”
And she picked out a Clark Kent-type suit. We went into fits of giggles.
“Ooh, yes! All I need is those sexy black-rimmed spectacles,” I told her.
“OK,” said Lola. “We’ve got exactly one hour to get this perfect look together. Then we’ve got to do some serious cooking for the party.”
I’d just remembered something. “Lollie, did you and Reuben like, transmit good vibes to me or something, when I was in with the big guys?”
Lola suddenly looked vague. “Maybe. I don’t remember.”
“Sure you don’t.” I gave her a hug. “Thanks. I got them.”
Exactly one hour later I had the perfect troubleshooting outfit - cropped top, combats and some cool boots. To me that look says committed, it says now, it says ready for action. I mean, I’m an angel, so I should look totally divine, right?
We held our class party down on the beach. Everything was so lovely, I kept thinking it couldn’t possibly get any lovelier - but then each time the party would morph effortlessly into a whole new phase.
At one point I found myself standing beside Flora. “Sorry about losing you guys that award,” I mumbled.
I thought she’d be furious, but she just gave a cool little shrug. “There’s always next term.”
People can SO surprise you. Take Amber for instance. It turns out she doesn’t play the harp at all. Would you believe, bongo drums?!
Incidentally, Reuben aced his Earth Skills paper. Trust me, until you’ve seen a happy angel-angel, you do not know what happiness is!
That was the night Lola and I decided to teach Reuben terrestrial-type DJing. In no time he’d developed his own style, mixing earthly and heavenly sounds and rhythms like you would NOT believe.
“Ya-ay! DJ Sweetpea is in the house!” yelled Lola.
It was a warm night but all at once my bare arms were covered with goosebumps. Someone was calling me and I didn’t have a choice. I had to go.
Without a word to anyone, I slipped down to the seashore, and there was Michael, waiting. He didn’t speak, just picked up a beautiful shell from the water’s edge and, with the gravest, sweetest smile, put it into my hand.
I held it for a moment, just to feel its smooth curved shape. Impulsively I put it to my ear. And then it happened, just like Lola said.
“Helix,” whispered the waves.
“It’s my name,” I breathed. “My true angel name.”
About the Author
Annie Dalton has been shortlisted for the Carnegie medal and won the Nottingham Children’s Book Award and the Portsmouth Children’s Book Award.The twelve Angel Academy books (previously known as Agent Angel), became an international best selling series. Annie lives overlooking a Norfolk meadow with a ruined castle, in a row of cottages that were rescued from bulldozers and lovingly rebuilt by a band of hippies.
www.anniedaltonwriter.co.uk
Also by Annie Dalton
Urban Fantasy Books
Night Maze
The Alpha Box
Naming the Dark
The Rules of Magic
Angel Academy Series
Winging it
Losing the Plot
Flying High
Calling the Shots
Fogging Over
Fighting Fit
Making Waves
Budding Star
Keeping it Real
Going for Gold
Feeling the Vibes
Living the Dream
The Afterdark Trilogy
The Afterdark Princess
The Dream Snatcher
The Midnight Museum
Swan Sister
Friday Forever
Zack Black & the Magic Dads
Ways to Trap a Yeti
Cherry Green, Story Queen
Invisible Threads co-written with Maria Dalton
World 9 stories
Ferris
Fleet the Wheelchair Wizard
How to Save a Dragon
Moonbeans stories
Magical Moon Cat: Moonbeans & the Dream Cafe
Magical Moon Cat: Moonbeans & the Shining Star
Magical Moon Cat: Moonbeans & the Talent Show
Magical Moon Cat: Moonbeans & the Circus of Wishes
Credits
Cover Illustration by Maria Dalton & Louisa Mallet
Lily Highton
Alistair Johnston
Juan Casco
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
About the Author
Also by Annie Dalton
Credits