Pia the Penguin Fairy

by Daisy Meadows

  Ice to See You!

  Let it Snow

  Ready, Steady, Hatch!

  Trying Flying

  A Crystal Cavern

  Pop-up Penguin

  “Wheeee! This is fun!” squealed Kirsty Tate as she sped along on roller skates. “Beat you to that tree, Rachel!”

  Kirsty’s best friend, Rachel Walker, grinned and picked up speed on her skateboard. “I don’t think so,” she yelled breathlessly, overtaking Kirsty at the last moment. “I’m the winner!” she cheered, slapping her hand on the trunk of the old oak tree a split-second before Kirsty did.

  The two girls laughed. It was a sunny spring day and they were on vacation together at the seaside town of Leamouth. They were staying with Kirsty’s gran for a whole week. Today they’d come to Leamouth Park, which was at the top of Leamouth Cliffs, overlooking the sea.

  “Doesn’t the water look pretty with the sun shining on it?” Kirsty commented dreamily, staring out at the ocean below them. It was a perfect blue. The sun made thousands of twinkling lights dance on the surface of the water and a breeze gently ruffled the waves.

  “I know,” Rachel agreed. “It’s so sparkly, it almost looks magical.” Then she grinned at Kirsty. “Speaking of magic, I hope we meet another Ocean Fairy today!”

  “Me, too,” Kirsty said. “We’re so lucky to be friends with the fairies, aren’t we?”

  “The luckiest girls in the world,” Rachel agreed happily. She and Kirsty had shared lots of fairy adventures together so far, and at the beginning of this week, they’d fallen right into another. This time they’d met the Ocean Fairies! The girls were helping the Ocean Fairies look for the seven broken pieces of their magic golden conch shell, which kept the ocean world in order. Each piece of the shell was being guarded by one of the fairies’ animal helpers, so the hunt was on to find them!

  Troublesome Jack Frost had ordered his goblins to steal the magic conch shell at the Fairyland Ocean Gala. The clumsy goblins ended up breaking the shell, though, which had caused all sorts of problems throughout the oceans. Now the broken pieces of shell were scattered across the seas in the human world. The girls and their fairy friends were trying to find them all before the goblins could get their hands on them.

  Kirsty and Rachel started down the path again. Before long, Kirsty heard tinkling music drift over to them. “Is that an ice-cream truck?” she asked hopefully, feeling hungry at the thought. Her gran had given them some spending money, and suddenly it seemed like breakfast had been a long time ago. “Yes!” Rachel said, speeding farther down the path and spotting the colorful van parked near the playground. It was still playing its cheerful tune and a large plastic ice-cream cone rotated on the roof of the van. “Come on, let’s go over and have a look.”

  The girls raced up to the van and gazed at the pictures of ice cream on the side. A friendly-looking man with a white hat on his head leaned out of the window. “What would you like, girls?” he asked.

  “Creamsicle, ice-cream sandwich, chocolate dipped cone … Ooh, how are we going to choose?” Kirsty said, licking her lips as she read. “What are you getting, Rachel?” she asked. When her friend didn’t reply, she turned away from the menu. “Rachel?”

  Rachel didn’t seem interested in the list of ice cream at all. She was staring excitedly up at the roof of the van, where the plastic ice-cream cone was still spinning.

  As Kirsty gazed up at it, too, she realized why Rachel was so captivated. Perched on top of the revolving plastic cone sat a tiny smiling fairy, waving down at them. It was Pia the Penguin Fairy!

  Pia had coffee-colored skin and glossy black hair piled up on her head and fastened with a red bow. She wore a black-and-white polka-dot dress with a wide red belt around the middle, and red wedges with black bows on her feet.

  “So, what are you in the mood for?” the ice-cream man asked the girls. “Have you decided?”

  “Um … no,” Rachel said, unable to drag her eyes away from Pia as she fluttered off the plastic cone and hovered in midair like a sparkly butterfly. The tiny fairy gestured for the girls to follow her, and then flew gracefully into a bush behind the ice-cream van. “Actually, I’m not that hungry after all,” Rachel said, smiling apologetically at the ice-cream man. “Maybe later. Thanks anyway!”

  She grabbed Kirsty’s arm and they walked toward the bushes where they’d seen Pia flying.

  “Over here!” they heard Pia’s silvery voice call. Kirsty noticed a faint shimmer in the air above one large flowering bush.

  Kirsty and Rachel made sure that nobody was looking, then sneaked behind the large bush. Pia was waiting for them on a leaf. “Hello again,” she said, smiling at them. “I’m so happy to see you two. I’ve got a feeling I know where my little penguin, Scamp, is, and I’m hoping he’s guarding a piece of the magic golden conch shell. Will you help me look?”

  Kirsty and Rachel didn’t need to be asked twice. “Of course!” they said.

  A dimple flashed in Pia’s cheek as she smiled again. “I was hoping you would say that,” she replied, and waved her wand through the air. “Let’s go!”

  When Kirsty and Rachel were at the gala in Fairyland, they had learned that each of the Ocean Fairies had a special magical animal helper, who lived in the Royal Aquarium. After Jack Frost made the broken pieces of the conch shell disappear, the Fairy Queen had used her magic to send the magical creatures out into the human world after the shell pieces.

  When an Ocean Fairy found her animal again, she would know that a piece of the shell was nearby. So far, the girls had helped Ally the Dolphin Fairy and Amélie the Seal Fairy find their magical creatures along with two pieces of the conch shell. But where would little Scamp the penguin be—and where was the third piece of shell?

  There was no time to think about that now though, because fairy magic was streaming from the end of Pia’s wand and wrapping Kirsty, Rachel, and Pia in a sparkly whirlwind. It lifted them off the ground and spun them away at a breathtaking speed.

  “Whoaaa!” Kirsty squeaked. “This is even faster than my skates!”

  After a few moments, the girls felt the whirlwind slow. Then their feet touched down to the ground once more, and they were able to look around. “Wow,” Rachel said, blinking in surprise. “Snow!”

  “Lots of snow,” Kirsty said in delight. It looked like they’d landed in a winter wonderland. Soft white snow blanketed every surface. They stood at the edge of a shoreline, but it felt a million miles away from the beach at Leamouth, with its warm golden sand and twinkling blue sea. Here, the sea was full of floating ice floes, and a freezing wind swept in across the water.

  Luckily, Pia’s magic had changed the girls’ clothes from the shorts and T-shirts they’d been wearing before into thick snowsuits, hats, boots, and gloves. They felt snug and warm, despite the chilly surroundings.

  “Oh, look.” Rachel gasped, pointing ahead. “Polar bears! Aren’t they amazing?”

  “Polar bears—ahh, we must be at the North Pole, then,” Kirsty said, feeling pleased with herself for remembering where the polar bears live.

  Pia shook her head, looking worried. “No, this is the South Pole,” she said. “Oh, dear. The polar bears shouldn’t be here! This is all because the golden conch shell is missing. Everything’s so mixed up in the oceans right now. It’s even affected creatures who live near the oceans, like the polar bears.”

  “Well, there are some penguins here at least,” Rachel said, pointing to a group of the distinctive black-and-white birds who were huddled together on an icy patch near the water’s edge. “Do you see Scamp with them, Pia?”

  Pia flew high into the air and scanned the crowd of birds. “Not from here,” she replied. “Let’s take a closer look.”

&nb
sp; The girls and Pia made their way across the snow toward the penguins. As they got closer, Kirsty noticed that some of the taller penguins had something tucked under the feathers above their feet, which they occasionally fussed over with their beaks. “What are they doing?” she asked Pia curiously.

  Pia smiled. “They’re the dad penguins,” she replied. “They’re taking care of the eggs by keeping them warm on their feet. It’s a very important job.”

  Rachel watched one proud father penguin check over his egg with his beak. Unfortunately, he was a little too energetic about it. The next thing she knew, the egg had rolled right away from the penguin and was skidding over the slippery ice toward the sea.

  ‘Oh, no!” cried Rachel, breaking into a run. “We’ve got to catch that egg!”

  The egg was headed right for the water, and the girls hurried after it as fast as they could. It was so difficult to run on the slippery snow, though! “If only we had our skates and skateboard,” Kirsty cried helplessly, skidding on some ice and almost falling over.

  “Good thinking,” Pia told her, waving her wand. A flurry of blue sparkles streamed from its tip all around the girls. In the next second, a pair of ice skates appeared on Kirsty’s feet, and a snowboard under Rachel’s.

  “That’s more like it,” Rachel whooped, flying over the snow and catching the egg just before it splashed into the sea.

  “Good job, Rachel,” Kirsty said, skating over to join her. “And, look, here comes the dad to collect it.”

  She and Rachel went to meet the father penguin, who was waddling anxiously toward them. “Here you are,” Rachel said, carefully setting the egg back on the penguin’s big black feet. “No damage done.”

  But then she heard a faint tapping sound … and looked down to see that the egg had cracked right across the middle. “Oh, no!” she cried. “It is broken after all.”

  Pia flew over and landed lightly on the egg to inspect it. Then she looked up at the girls, her eyes sparkling. “Don’t worry,” she told them. “That crack is supposed to be there. The chick inside is hatching.”

  “Oh!” Kirsty cried. “What perfect timing! Now we get to see a newborn baby penguin. How exciting!” Pia laughed at the look of glee on Kirsty’s face. “Not so fast,” she warned. “It can take the babies a while to break out of their eggs. This one might not hatch for some time.”

  But just as she was speaking, another longer crack appeared in the egg.

  “Come on, little penguin,” Rachel said encouragingly, crouching down. “You can do it!”

  Tap, tap, tap, went the penguin chick from inside the egg.

  “He’s chipping away at the shell with his beak,” Pia explained, as yet another crack appeared on the surface. This was the biggest one so far. “Actually, I think we might see him any second now….”

  Crack! The eggshell broke right in half. There sat a fluffy gray chick about the size of a tennis ball, with soft feet and tiny flippers.

  “Oh my goodness.” Kirsty gasped, unable to stop smiling. “That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!” “Totally cute,” Pia agreed, as the dad penguin bent down to guide the baby out of the egg for his first cuddle. “But now we really should be—what’s that noise?”

  They turned to see where the sound of shouting and a roaring engine was coming from. A snowmobile was approaching. Riding on it was a group of people, all bundled up in knitted hats and scarves. But they weren’t ordinary people, Rachel realized. They all had long green noses….

  “Oh, no,” she said. “The goblins are here! They must be looking for a piece of the conch shell, too.”

  “They’re really upsetting the penguins,” Pia said anxiously, trying to calm a father penguin. He was looking very bothered by the noise from the snowmobile.

  The goblins’ arrival seemed to have made the other penguins startled and jumpy, too. They huddled closer together to protect their eggs. Meanwhile, some of the other penguins waddled away from the goblins, flapping their flippers and making snapping sounds with their beaks.

  “What are they doing?” Kirsty asked Pia, confused. “It looks like they’re trying to create a diversion,” Pia replied. “I think they’re hoping to lead the goblins away from the new chick and the eggs.” She gasped. “There’s Scamp—right at the front of the group. Maybe he knows where the shell is!”

  “Follow those penguins!” Rachel cried at once, setting off after them on her snowboard. “If Scamp has found the next piece of the conch shell, then we’ve got to get to it before those goblins do. Come on!”

  The goblins had also noticed the group of penguins waddling away. Immediately, they turned their snowmobile around so that they could chase after them. “Hey, they’re sneaking away!” the girls heard one of the goblins shout eagerly. “Maybe they know something about the missing conch shell. Come on, guys!”

  “One of them is very sparkly, too. Look,” a second goblin added, narrowing his eyes as he stared. He pointed at Scamp. “I bet he’s got something to do with that shell! After them!”

  Vrrrooom! went the snowmobile, sending up a shower of snow on each side as it raced along.

  The penguins, meanwhile, were moving very strangely. They flapped their flippers and took little hops into the air before landing on their tummies and sliding along the snow.

  Rachel looked surprised as she followed them. “Are they trying to fly?” she asked Pia, baffled. “I didn’t think penguins could.”

  Pia, who was perched on Kirsty’s shoulder, looked just as confused as Rachel. “They can’t usually fly,” she replied. “But they seem to think they can now! Everything’s all mixed up because the golden conch shell is broken.” She sighed. “If only the goblins hadn’t smashed it before Shannon the Ocean Fairy could play her special song on it, none of these strange things would be happening!”

  “Still, the penguins are going pretty fast,” Kirsty commented. “They’re managing to stay ahead of the goblins at least.”

  But just then, the goblins surged forward even faster on their snowmobile. One of them leaned out and made a grab for Scamp.

  “Oh, no!” Pia cried anxiously. Then she gasped with relief. “Just missed him—thank goodness!”

  “Knowing the goblins, they’ll definitely try again, though,” Rachel said. “We’ve got to stop them. Let me think….”

  Kirsty giggled. “I’ve got an idea,” she said suddenly, as she skated along. “Pia, do you think you’d be able to use your magic to make a big snowman in front of the goblins? It would surprise them, and hopefully make them slow down.”

  Rachel grinned. “Yes!” she said. “Maybe the snowman can hold up a warning sign, like crossing guards do near schools? The goblins are so silly, they might even think it’s a real person!”

  Pia’s dimples twinkled in her cheeks as she smiled. “That’s a great idea,” she agreed. “One crossing guard snowman, coming up!”

  She waved her wand, and a stream of blue sparkles flew out of it. A split-second later, a gigantic snowman, glittering with fairy magic, plopped down a short distance in front of the snowmobile. In his hand he held a warning sign.

  But instead of saying STOP! CHILDREN CROSSING like a crossing guard’s sign, it said STOP! PENGUIN CROSSING!

  “STOP!” yelled the goblins to the driver, all looking alarmed at the sight.

  “Whoa!” the goblin driving the snowmobile yelled, swerving to a halt. The penguins continued their funny flying-sliding-waddling across the snow. They were getting farther away by the minute.

  “Wait a second,” one of the goblins said, peering at the snowman. “Why is it all sparkly like that?” He glanced around and then spotted Rachel and Kirsty racing up behind them. “Oh, right. Pesky girls and their fairy friend—that’s why the snowman is sparkly. They just made it out of magic!”

  The goblins stuck out their tongues at the girls and drove around the snowman, continuing their penguin chase. The penguins were now half-sliding and half-flying down a steep slope.

  R
achel blinked as they suddenly disappeared from view. “Where did they go?” she yelled in alarm, trying to slow down. But the slope was so steep, she found herself going faster and faster. “I can’t stop!” she shouted.

  “Neither can I!” called Kirsty, who, in her panic, had completely forgotten how to slow down on ice skates. “I think this is the edge of a cliff!” The goblins were shouting, too.

  “Use the brake! Use the brake!” the ones in the back yelled at the driver. “Stop!”

  “Turn sideways!” Pia called to the girls. “Now!”

  Rachel and Kirsty turned as hard as they could, and luckily they both managed to skid to a stop just in time, right on the cliff edge. “Phew,” Rachel breathed, panting and feeling shaky. “That was close.”

  The goblins, meanwhile, managed to stop the snowmobile, but the driver braked so sharply, they were flung right out of it. Now they were tumbling down the slope, gathering snow as they went.

  “It’s a goblin snowball,” Kirsty said, her eyes wide at the sight of the huge white ball, with green arms and legs sticking out, all waving furiously. “It’s heading straight for us!”

  “They’re going to knock us over the cliff!” cried Rachel.

  Quick as a flash, Pia waved her wand. Sparkling fairy dust billowed around the girls. Then, just as the goblins were about to crash into them, Kirsty and Rachel felt themselves shrinking smaller and smaller. Wings sprouted on their backs. They were fairies again!

  The goblins tumbled right off the cliff. But the three fairies fluttered up, just in the nick of time! “Phew,” gasped Kirsty, her heart thumping at their close escape. “Thank you, Pia.”