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anymore.
    â€˜It’s a pretty cute lamp!’ she said.
    Elly smiled. ‘I think it likes you,’ she said. She swung open her wardrobe doors. Inside it was bursting with clothes — shiny pink skirts, sequin-covered tops and frilly white sleeves fought each other for space.
    â€˜How come you’ve got so many clothes?’ asked Jess, surprised.
    â€˜Most of them are school uniforms,’ explained Elly. ‘And you know how many schools I’ve been to.’
    She threw some outfits on the bed. First was a lilac dress with a big flouncy skirt and tiny rosebuds sewn along the hem. Then there was a pale, shimmery blue dress with an enormous white satin bow on the back.
    â€˜How about this one?’ said Elly, holding up a dress. It was a long pink tutu, embroidered with tiny silver stars. Each star had a glittering diamond in the middle. ‘It’s even got a matching tiara!’ said Elly, holding up a crown of stars.
    Jess looked at the outfit in horror. ‘There’s no way I’m wearing that!’ she said.
    Elly sighed. ‘But this is the perfect disguise,’ she explained. ‘No-one will guess you’re actually a fairy-detective if you’re dressed like this.’
    â€˜No,’ agreed Jess. ‘They wouldn’t think I was a detective because they’d be too busy thinking I was completely insane.’
    But Elly wasn’t listening. She had found something else in the cupboard.
    â€˜Are they wings?’ asked Jess, when Elly handed them to her.
    â€˜Wing protectors,’ said Elly. ‘School fairies wear them over their real wings when it rains. If we pin them to your back they’ll look just like real wings.’
    Jess sighed. ‘Do you really want to do this?’ she asked.
    She could think of so many better things to do on Saturday than dress up in one of these uncomfortable-looking dresses. But Elly had made up her mind.
    â€˜I can’t think of a better place to catch a fairy,’ she said firmly, ‘than at a fairy party.’

Chapter Nine

    U sually when you are looking forward to something on the weekend — like a party –the days in between can seem very long. But for Elly the rest of the week flew by. She was very busy with her new classes and basketball practice. And as she got used to being at a human school, she stopped making so many embarrassing mistakes.
    Then before she knew it, it was Saturday morning and the Worry-Watch was waking her up in its typical rude way.
    â€˜WATCH OUT!’ it yelled. ‘IT’S THE PARTY TODAY!’

    Jess groaned and put her pillow over her head. The Hover-Lamp flew over and sat on her chest. It had refused to stay behind at the house and the girls had ended up resizing it and sneaking it into the Chesters’ house with them.
    â€˜Is that watch ever going to run out of batteries?’ Jess asked.
    â€˜Unfortunately not,’ said Elly. ‘It runs on body heat, so as long as I’m wearing it, it’ll keep going. And as you know,’ she added, giving the band a tug, ‘I’ve already tried to undo it.’
    â€˜Don’t bother,’ said the Worry-Watch, holding on grimly.
    Elly enjoyed getting ready for the party. She had decided to wear the lilac dress with the flouncy skirt. There was a matching garland of rosebuds that she wove into her hair. Whenever she’d worn this outfit before she’d found it scratchy and uncomfortable. Today, though, things were different. Because the dress was now a disguise rather than a uniform it suddenly seemed much less itchy.
    She poked her wings through the wingholes and fluttered them. It felt good to stretch them after they’d been trapped beneath her clothes all week. As a final touch she unwound the ribbon that had been hiding the Worry-Watch during school hours.
    â€˜No panicking, OK?’ she told it sternly.
    The watch whizzed its arms around but didn’t make any