Amelia Fang and the Rainbow Rangers

by Laura Ellen Anderson

  Also by

  LAURA ELLEN ANDERSON

  Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball

  Amelia Fang and the Unicorns of Glitteropolis

  Amelia Fang and the Memory Thief

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2020 by Laura Ellen Anderson

  Cover art copyright © 2020 by Laura Ellen Anderson

  Lettering and backgrounds © 2020 by Sarah Coleman

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

  rhcbooks.com

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  Trade Paperback ISBN 9780593172490

  Ebook ISBN 9780593172506

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  Penguin Random House LLC supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to publish books for every reader.

  v5.4

  a

  For Dad. The true king of the “dad joke.” Thank you for being you and always encouraging me to boldly go into my creative future. Love you long and prosper! xxx

  Contents

  Cover

  Also by Laura Ellen Anderson

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map of the Kingdom of the Light

  Meet the Nocturnians and Glitteropolans

  1. Spare Undies

  2. Prince Captain

  3. The Other Left

  4. The Island is Your Plate

  5. Bearded Bugs

  6. That Ghost Pie Sang to the Pigeon at Dawn

  7. Sophisticated Ladybug With a Briefcase

  8. No Sign, No Hope

  9. A Corn That Bumbles

  10. I Am Not a Sofa

  11. The Curse of the Sugarplum Tree

  12. The Nectar Carriage

  13. Oi, Kevin!

  14. Coral Juice

  15. The Tiddlypips Wing

  16. It’s All Coming Back to Him!

  17. The Tingle

  18. Be Tiny and Brave

  19. One Small Beacon of Light

  Ricky and Graham’s Rainbow Rangers Badge Handbook

  About the Author

  As the sun rose in the Kingdom of the Dark, the creatures of Nocturnia were all getting ready for bed—all except one little vampire and her pet pumpkin, Squashy.

  “Moooom!” Amelia Fang called up the spiral staircase of the Fang Mansion. “Have you seen my pumpkin backpack? I need it for the Rainbow Rangers camping trip, and I have to be in Central Nocturnia Graveyard in ten minutes to meet everyone!”

  A yellow door halfway down the corridor burst open and Countess Frivoleeta, a beautiful vampiress with VERY tall hair, appeared. She was wearing a long, sparkly bathrobe with HUGE shoulder pads, and her hair was wrapped up in a glittery towel.

  “Darkling!” she oozed, scooping Amelia up in her arms. “I can’t believe you’re going away for the whole half-moon break!” She kissed Amelia three times on each cheek, leaving behind shiny black lipstick marks. “Now, did you remember your fang polish? How about your pale-skin scrub? Oh, and some spare pairs of undies just in case any get eaten by vultures or something…”

  “Mom!” Amelia blushed. “None of my things will get eaten by vultures. Plus, we’re going to the Kingdom of the Light. You don’t really get any vultures over there. And I need to find my pumpkin backpack or I won’t be able to pack a spare pair of anything.”

  The countess thought for a moment and then disappeared into her bedroom. A few seconds later, she emerged from another room farther along the corridor. The doors of the Fang Mansion were rather unusual—they moved around whenever they pleased. Amelia was lucky if her bedroom was behind the same door for more than a few weeks at a time. Some doors disappeared, new ones appeared and you never knew where you were going to end up!

  “You can use this bag if you like. It’s one of my favorites!” the countess said, stroking a furry clutch bag that looked like a flattened mouse. Amelia wasn’t sure she could fit her hand inside it, let alone a week’s worth of camping essentials. As Amelia tried to figure out a way to let her mother down gently, her dad appeared from the bathroom with a crossword puzzle tucked under one arm.

  “Ah! My favorite sausage sizzler!” said Count Drake the Third when he saw Amelia. “You must be excited to escape organ practice for a whole week!” He winked mischievously.

  Countess Frivoleeta glared at her husband. “Drake, my most dreadful flabbergaster, Amelia will be catching up with her organ practice after the half-moon break, won’t you, darkling?”

  Amelia sighed. “Yeess, Mom.”

  The Fang Mansion grimfather clock chimed, causing Amelia to shriek.

  “It’s already five a.m.! I’m going to be late!” she said, running along the corridor. “Where’s my backpack?!”

  Squashy bounced around in circles, waggling his stem and squeaking in shared panic.

  “Do you mean this backpack, young Amelia?” came a familiar voice from the bottom of the stairs.

  Wooo, the most respected ghost butler in the Kingdom of the Dark, floated up toward them, holding a round orange bag.

  “Oh, Wooo!” said Amelia, running over to him. “You’re the best!”

  “I found it in the basement being cradled by a bogeyman. He’d adopted it as his pet.” Wooo turned to the count and countess. “I’m afraid the bogeyman infestation is getting worse. We’ll need to move them on quickly; otherwise they’ll start to take over the whole house. They’ll wear all your clothes, Countess, and then rip them up. For fun.”

  Countess Frivoleeta looked as though she might faint, and her left eyeball was spinning around so quickly it was dangerously close to falling out.

  “It’s okay, my dearest little pus-fart. We’ll sort it.” Count Drake nodded at Wooo and took a deep breath. “I’ll call the Bogey Busters tonight.”

  * * *

  With her pumpkin backpack filled to the brim, a few spare pairs of undies (JUST IN CASE) and a very bouncy Squashy, Amelia kissed her mom and dad goodbye. She was so nervous, her tummy felt full of fluttering vampire moths. She’d never been away from home for this long without her parents, not even when she ventured to Glitteropolis to find Tangine’s mom.

  Countess Frivoleeta straightened Amelia’s Rainbow Rangers sash. “I expect this will be FULL of badges by the time you return.” The countess smiled. “You’re going to have the best time.”

  “I hope so!” said Amelia. “I’ll miss you and Dad, though.”

  “Oh, you’ll forget all about missing us when you’re having fun with your friends, my little toe-stopp
er,” said Amelia’s mom. “You won’t want to come home!”

  “And don’t go eating anything you shouldn’t,” said Count Drake.

  Amelia giggled. “Don’t worry, Dad. I won’t. A Rainbow Ranger must always be prepared. Plus, our Ranger leaders, Ricky and Graham, will be looking after us the whole time.”

  “Well, you take care, my little pimple-popper.” Her dad smiled and gave Amelia a squeeze. He opened the vine-covered door that revealed a misty Central Nocturnia Graveyard.

  “Right, then,” said Amelia. “My very first camping trip! This is going to be the best half-moon break ever!”

  And with a wide-eyed Squashy tucked under one arm, she stepped into the gloomy haze.

  Amelia felt the spongy ground of the graveyard beneath her feet and breathed in the crisp night air. Squashy pa-doinged around her ankles and bounced across to where a whole mishmash of excitable creatures were gathered, from zombies and yetis to ghosts, werewolves and serpents. At the front of the crowd were two large unicorns, each wearing a rainbow-colored scarf and a peaked cap with a rainbow logo sewn on the front.

  “Galloping gaffer tape!” said one of the unicorns. “You see that tree there, Ricky?”

  The unicorn named Ricky looked toward a blackened spiky tree. “Yeah, I see it, Graham….”

  “Well, don’t you think it looks a little like me?” said Graham.

  “Nah. I was thinking it looked much more like me, actually. Bit broader in the shoulders, good set of elbows…” Ricky paused, then added, “And bigger hooves.”

  “Well, it probably reminds both of you of, well, both of you,” Amelia said as she approached. “It’s the famous Petrified-Tree-That-Looks-Like-a-Unicorn.”

  Ricky and Graham looked at each other, then said at the same time, “Definitely looks more like me.”

  Amelia giggled at the two unicorns. She had already met Ricky and Graham, back when they were unicorn guards in Glitteropolis. Since then, Ricky and Graham had quit their guard duties, moved to Nocturnia and started the Rainbow Rangers club.

  “Good to see you this fine half-moon break, Amelia Fang.” Graham gave a dramatic bow as Amelia skipped backward out of the way of his very sharp unicorn horn.

  “The half-moon break is my favorite time of year. Although this is the first time I’ve spent it away from home,” said Amelia with a slightly nervous fang-filled smile.

  “Be brave, little Creature of the Dark,” said Ricky, wagging a reassuring hoof in Amelia’s direction. “Rainbow Rangers look after each other, so you will be fine. And besides, me and Graham have got big plans for this trip. You’ll have hardly any time at all to feel homesick!”

  “Oh, I sure hope so…,” whispered a high-pitched voice from behind Amelia.

  “Hi, Grimaldi!” Amelia hugged the little grim reaper, who had floated up beside her. “I’m nervous too, but I am so excited to go camping together. No school for a whole week!”

  “And no scraping small dead creatures off the streets!” Grimaldi added, waving his scythe around. “My grimpapa will have to take care of that while I’m away.” Grimaldi Reaperton was a tiny reaper who dealt with the deaths of small creatures around Nocturnia. And even though Death was his middle name, he was actually scared of almost everything.

  Suddenly, a CRASH was heard as the ground burst open a few feet away from Amelia and Grimaldi. The little reaper shot a mile into the air, and Squashy squeaked and bounced into Amelia’s arms for comfort. A gravestone went hurtling past, followed by a very confused zombie head.

  “My heeeeeeeeeeeeead!” the head screeched as it rolled away into the woods.

  Where the grave once stood, a huge yeti—NOT to be confused with a beast—appeared.

  “IT’S THE HALF-MOON BREAK!” bellowed Florence Spudwick. “NO SCHOOOOOOL!”

  “Hi, Florence!” replied Grimaldi and Amelia in unison.

  Florence had been practicing her pit digging, a super-special yeti skill, every night. She had now mastered the art of digging her way around the city, creating her very own nifty network of underground tunnels—the latest of which ended right where the gravestone had once stood.

  Prince Tangine La Floofle the First was the last of the Rainbow Rangers to arrive, accompanied by the loud PA-DOOFs of his genetically modified pet pumpkin, Pumpy.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Tangine said with a sigh. “I HAD to apply my eyelid cream and let it dry before I could leave.”

  Graham tapped his unicorn hooves impatiently and raised a skeptical eyebrow.

  Prince Tangine was half fairy, half vampire, and lately rather fond of his nightly skin-care routine. He was also one of Amelia’s best friends, along with Florence and Grimaldi.

  “WHAT THE BATS ARE YOU PUTTING EYELID CREAM ON FOR?” said Florence.

  “To prevent them from drooping,” said Tangine with an air of superiority. “You’ll be sorry when your eyelids get all droopy and I still look RAVISHING.” Florence was just about to tell Tangine exactly what she thought of his eyelids when Ricky the unicorn interrupted the excited chitchat of the group with an announcement.

  “Good morning, Rainbow Rangers! Now that you’re all here, I can finally tell you where we’ll be camping for the half-moon break. We will be staying in a remote and quiet little place called Sugarplum Island. It’s surrounded by the sea and is just a few miles east of the Kingdom of the Light.”

  There was a buzz of anticipation among the young Rainbow Rangers.

  “Prepare yourselves for some awesome activities and the chance to earn a BUNCH of Rainbow Ranger BADGES,” Ricky continued.

  “Oooh! I LOVE badges!” squealed Amelia. She was determined to fill her Rainbow Ranger sash with as many badges as she could by the end of the half-moon break. Who didn’t love a badge?!

  “Whoever gets the most badges by the end of the week will be awarded the position of Rainbow Ranger Captain!” Graham added.

  The Rainbow Rangers cheered and high-fived each other excitedly.

  “That will be ME, of course,” said a loud voice. Amelia, Florence and Grimaldi sighed. Frankie Steinburg was a ghoul in the same class as Amelia at school, and it was just typical that she would join the Rainbow Rangers too. She was very competitive and constantly trying to outdo everyone.

  “Okay, Rangers!” Graham called over the commotion. “Before we leave, you know what to do….”

  Amelia and the rest of the Rainbow Rangers lined up. They straightened their sashes and saluted before earnestly reciting the Rainbow Ranger Promise:

  “In the brightest day and the gloomiest night,

  Whether I’m a creature of Dark or of Light.

  I will be patient and grateful and kind,

  And never leave a fellow Ranger behind.

  I’ll strive to keep learning. I’ll trek and explore,

  And promise to keep the Rainbow Ranger Law.”

  “I think I’m gonna cry,” Ricky said, dabbing at his eyes with his rainbow scarf.

  Graham was already sobbing. “Okay, Rainbow Rangers,” he said through his sniffles. “Let’s get this half-moon break adventure started!”

  Amelia gazed through the Rainbow Wagon window as they trundled through the Kingdom of the Light, into the Meadow of Loveliness and past the Wishing Well of Well Wishes. Graham was driving and Ricky was giving directions.

  “LEFT!” shouted Ricky suddenly, making everyone jump. “No, wait…THE OTHER LEFT. LIGHT. I mean, RIGHT. REFT?”

  “Really, Ricky?!” Graham yelled as they narrowly missed a bewildered-looking pixie-hen in an apron. “You’re HORRIBLE at this. Next time, YOU drive, and I’ll read the map.”

  “Oh, we have a map?” Ricky asked.

  “Yes, Ricky, you BIG ONION!” Graham said. “Oh, NOW I’ve missed the next turn! This is all your fault.”

  As the Rainbow Wagon swerved and screeched thro
ugh the Vivid Valley, Amelia was excited to see places in the Kingdom of the Light she’d never seen before, including the Marvelous Mountains, which glinted in their marvelousness, and the sweet-smelling Strawberry Streams. Although Amelia and Grimaldi agreed that the smell of the dank, algae-covered river Styx was better.

  Squashy was snoring lightly in Amelia’s lap, and she began to feel her eyelids drooping.

  Back home she would usually be fast asleep at this time of the morning. But in the Kingdom of the Light, where the Rainbow Rangers were heading, things were the other way around. Amelia let out a big yawn.

  After many winding roads and having scoffed too many sugary sweets, Grimaldi had managed to use every single sick bag available. He did not deal well with traveling for long periods of time. But finally, and much to everyone’s relief, the Rainbow Wagon reached its destination—the Dazzling Docks. And boy, were they dazzling—the sea sparkled fiercely, making the Rainbow Rangers squint and shield their eyes as the shining waves lapped up onto the sandy beach.

  “SO MUCH DAZZLE,” Florence said, shielding her eyes as she stepped out onto the soft, sandy ground.

  “Wow! I’ve never seen water like this before,” Amelia said, staring at the sea. The bright shimmering waves washed away the last of her sleepiness. “It’s so different from the Frogleg Falls or the Putrid Pond back home.”

  “It’s definitely more sparkly,” Grimaldi agreed, lifting a hand to cover his mouth. The brightness wasn’t helping his travel sickness. “I think after a week of all these bright colors, I’ll be relieved to go back home to the gray murkiness of Nocturnia.”

  The Dazzling Docks were packed full of little wooden boats all painted with different colors and patterns. Amelia liked the fact that each boat seemed to have its own personality. Ricky and Graham had gathered the Rainbow Rangers on the pier, where a huge sparkly polar bear with a wooden leg and an eye patch was waiting. Amelia thought it was surprising that he was working in the Kingdom of the Light among the glittery fairies and cute puppy-dragons.