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CHAPTER 3

The seven children crouched close together behind the rock-face staring at the end of the rainbow. Bands of colour towered above them seemingly higher than the Alpine Peaks, which surrounded them, mysterious, magical and overwhelming. Suddenly there was an explosion of colour. It burst forth unexpectedly in front of them. Although it was spectacularly beautiful the children were petrified.

As their eyes began to refocus Antonio shouted "There's a pot over there!" Antonio stood up and tried to reach for the pot. With a tremendous thud the pot suddenly broke into two and floating angels surrounded the children. They were so enthralled by the beauty and brilliance of their colours that all of them forgot their fear. At first they appeared to resemble butterflies but as the dazed children" eyes began to focus properly they saw that the angels had tiny arms and legs. One settled on Monica's shoulder. She was a brilliant shade of pink with a soft, intelligent face. She looked up to the sky and saw that the rainbow was now disappearing leaving a hazy swirl of silky, rainbow coloured hair. The little angel called Strength said in a soft, gentle voice "Goodbye Empress I will look after the other little angels for you."

As the Empress of the Rainbow disappeared so too did the bright little creatures that had floated above the children only moments before. In their place lay seven vividly coloured rings with angel shaped gems in them. In fact the same colours as the seven angels that they had replaced. They were red, silver, pink, deep blue, yellow, green and black.

Each of the children picked one up in turn. Adam's, however, was slightly different to the others. It was hot to the touch, whilst all the others were cool. They were beginning to examine the rings closely when Kelly's hands suddenly shot up to her mouth. As she pointed at Antonio's face she giggled, "Look what's happened to your lips Antonio, they're silver". Antonio replied, "I wouldn't laugh too quickly Kelly as yours are a wacky shade of blue". Kelly blushed and looking round at each other they quickly realised that their lips had become the identical colour to that of their ring stone. It began to dawn on them that perhaps they had not been dreaming and that the rings they were now wearing held a special significance.