Florence the Friendship Fairy

by Daisy Meadows

  The fairies are planning a Friendship Day

  But I’ll soon take their smiles away.

  I’ll ruin it all, I’ll wreck their fun,

  I’ll break up the friendships one by one!

  I’ll steal Florence’s magic things

  And laugh at the misery that this act brings!

  A ribbon, a book, some bracelets, too —

  She really won’t know what to do.

  Friendship will be finished, wait and see.

  Soon everyone will be friendless, just like me!

  Find the hidden letters in the stars throughout this book. Unscramble all 10 letters to spell two special friendship words!

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  The Memory Book

  Magic Memories

  Friendship and Frost!

  On the Goblin Trail

  Boo!

  A Tempting Offer

  The Friendship Ribbon

  Party Preparations

  Off to Fairyland!

  Goblin Games

  Ribbons for Racing

  Party Time!

  The Friendship Bracelets

  Village Celebrations

  Florence Flies In!

  That's Magic!

  Tricks . . . and Treasure!

  The Hunt is On!

  Teaser

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Magic Memories

  Friendship and Frost!

  On the Goblin Trail

  Boo!

  A Tempting Offer

  Rachel Walker pulled a large scrapbook from underneath Kirsty Tate’s bed, and the two best friends opened it between them. It was their memory book, full of souvenirs from all the exciting times they’d shared together.

  “That vacation on Rainspell Island was really special,” Rachel said, pointing at the ferry tickets and map that had been stuck into the book.

  “I know,” Kirsty replied, smiling. “It was the first time we met each other — and the first time we met the fairies, too!” She lowered her voice. “I wonder if we’ll have a fairy adventure this week.”

  “I hope so,” Rachel said, feeling her heart thump excitedly at the thought. She and her parents were spending her school vacation with Kirsty’s family, and she had been wondering the same thing herself. Somehow, extra-special things always seemed to happen when she and Kirsty got together!

  The girls kept looking through their book. There was the museum pamphlet from the day they’d met Storm the Lightning Fairy; tickets to Strawberry Farms, where they’d helped Georgia the Guinea Pig Fairy; plus all sorts of photos, postcards, maps, petals, and leaves. . . .

  Kirsty frowned when she spotted an empty space on one page. “Did a picture fall out?” she wondered.

  “It must have,” Rachel said. “You can see that something was stuck there before. I think it was a picture of the fairy models we painted the day we met Willow the Wednesday Fairy. I wonder where it went.”

  As the girls turned more pages, they realized that photo wasn’t the only thing missing. A map of the constellations that Kirsty’s gran had given them the night they’d helped Stephanie the Starfish Fairy had vanished, and so had the all-access pass they’d had for the Fairyland Games. Each time they turned a page, they discovered something even worse.

  “Oh, no! This photo of us at Camp Stargaze is torn,” Rachel said in dismay.

  “This page has scribbles all over it,” Kirsty cried. “How did that happen?”

  “And where did this picture come from?” Rachel asked, pointing at a colorful image of a pretty little fairy. She had shoulder-length blond hair that was pinned back with a pink star-shaped clip. She wore a sparkly lilac top and a ruffled blue skirt with a colorful belt, and pink sparkly ankle boots. “I’ve never even seen her before!” She bit her lip. “Something weird is going on, Kirsty. You don’t think —”

  Before Rachel could finish her sentence, the picture of the fairy began to sparkle and glitter with all the colors of the rainbow. The girls watched, wide-eyed, as the fairy fluttered her wings, stretched, and then flew right off the page in a whirl of twinkling dust!

  “Oh!” Kirsty gasped. “Hello! What’s your name? How did you get into our memory book?”

  The fairy smiled, shook out her wings, and flew a loop-the-loop. “I’m Florence the Friendship Fairy,” she said in a sweet voice, her bright eyes darting around the room. “You’re Kirsty and Rachel, aren’t you? I’ve heard so much about you! I know you’ve been good friends to the fairies many, many times before.”

  “It’s so nice to meet you,” Rachel said. “But, Florence, do you know what happened to our memory book? Things are missing from the pages, and some things have even been ruined.”

  Florence fluttered over and landed on the bed. “I’m afraid that’s the reason I came here,” she said sadly. “Special memory books, scrapbooks, and photo albums everywhere have been ruined and stolen — so I need your help!”

  The girls were confused, so Florence explained. “As the friendship fairy, I do my best to keep friendships strong throughout the human world and the fairy world, too,” she said. “Like you, I have a memory book that I fill with my nicest friendship memories — party invitations, pressed flowers, pictures . . .”

  “That sounds beautiful,” Rachel said with a smile.

  “It is,” Florence replied. “Best of all, it’s full of special friendship magic. When my book is with me, its magic protects all the special friendship mementos made and collected by friends all over the world. It also keeps the wonderful memories inside them safe! But unfortunately . . .”

  “Don’t tell me — Jack Frost has done something horrible again!” Kirsty said knowingly. Jack Frost was a cruel, angry creature who was always doing awful things with the help of his sneaky goblins.

  “Yes,” said Florence glumly. “Jack Frost doesn’t believe in friendship.” She frowned. “I think he’s jealous of other people having best friends and doing fun things together, because he doesn’t have any friends. Everyone is too scared of him.”

  Rachel and Kirsty nodded. They had met Jack Frost many times before, and he was scary. He was always so mean and grumpy — and he had very strong magical powers, too.

  “We fairies have been planning a special Friendship Day for tomorrow,” Florence told them. “The Party Fairies have been helping get everything ready — the music, the outfits, the party games, the food. Oh, it’s going to be so much fun! But when I was in the party workshop, I put down my memory book for a minute so I could help Cherry the Cake Fairy with her icing. Before I knew what was happening, the goblins had burst in and stolen my book!”

  “Oh, no!” cried Rachel. “That’s awful.”

  “Is that why our memory book has been ruined, too?” Kirsty asked.

  “Yes,” Florence said. “Since my memory book was taken, other people’s books and photo albums haven’t been magically protected. I’m sure the goblins have taken the chance to go around ruining as many of them as they can!”

  “Well, we’ll help you find your magic book,” Rachel said, her eyes gleaming with excitement at the thought of another fairy adventure. “Where do you think we should start looking?”

  “Oh, thank you!” Florence said. “True friends always help one another.” She fluttered over to perch on Kirsty’s knee. “I’ve been following the goblins’ trail. They’re definitely in the human world, and they’ve obviously been here in Wetherbury, since they messed up your book. So we could look around the village — do you think your parents will let
you do that?”

  “Yes,” Kirsty replied. “Wetherbury is a small village, and I know most people here. Mom and Dad are fine with me being out, as long as I’m with a friend and I tell them where we’re going. Maybe if we —” She broke off as she heard footsteps approaching. “Quick, Florence! Hide!” she whispered urgently.

  With a whirl of sparkly fairy dust, Florence fluttered her wings and flew back into the book. She became a picture on the page once again.

  Rachel smiled. Fairy magic was so amazing!

  Kirsty’s mom came into the room, holding her purse and a shopping bag. “Girls, I’m just about to do some baking for the village-hall party, but I need a couple things from the store. Would you mind —”

  “We’ll get them,” Kirsty interrupted at once, flashing a grin at Rachel. “What do you need?”

  Kirsty’s mom wrote a list and opened her purse. The party she’d mentioned was being held two days later, to celebrate the reopening of the village hall. Everyone in the village had helped restore the hall to its former glory and was planning to go to the party. It sounded like it was going to be a lot of fun.

  While Mrs. Tate was looking in her purse, Florence gave Rachel a wink. She flew out of the memory book in a flurry of pink sparkles and fluttered to hide in Rachel’s pocket. Kirsty’s mom looked up just as the last sparkle of magic dust disappeared — phew! — and gave Kirsty some money.

  The girls headed out, with Florence peeking out of Rachel’s pocket. They hadn’t gone very far when they spotted a colorful scrap of paper blowing across the ground. Rachel pounced on it immediately. “Look, Kirsty, it’s the ticket to the flower show where we met Ella the Rose Fairy!” she said. “The goblins must have dropped it.”

  “So we know they went this way!” Kirsty said excitedly, putting the paper carefully into her bag. She looked down the street, hoping to spot a flash of goblin green. “Let’s head for High Street.”

  The girls walked down Twisty Lane and passed the village hall. It was already decorated with strings of flags for the party, and looked brand-new with its fresh coat of paint.

  As she was admiring it, Kirsty spotted something stuck in a bush near the entrance to the village hall’s parking lot. “It’s a candy wrapper,” she said, picking it up and showing Rachel the shiny red paper. “But not an ordinary one.”

  “I recognize that!” Florence said eagerly. “Strawberry Sparkles — they’re made by Honey the Candy Fairy!”

  Rachel smiled, remembering the adventure she and Kirsty had with Honey. It had definitely been one of their yummiest fairy missions! “That wrapper is from our memory book, too. We’re still on the goblins’ trail!”

  The girls kept walking and were just passing the park when they heard the sound of grumpy voices arguing.

  “Stop smiling, you look awful,” one voice complained. “And you two, stop pushing each other.”

  “He keeps jabbing me,” another voice moaned. “Cut it out!”

  “Ouch!”

  The girls and Florence looked at one another. “Sounds like goblins!” Florence whispered excitedly. “Let’s take a closer look.”

  Kirsty and Rachel slipped into the park and hid behind a big flowering bush. They peeked through the leaves to see five bickering goblins. They were all jostling one another as they posed for a photograph.

  “Ready?” called a sixth goblin. “Say . . . UGLY!”

  “UGLY!” they cried, all leering horribly at the camera.

  “Perfect,” said the goblin with the camera. “So we have a photo, some dirt, a thistle, a few weeds . . . Our memory book is really coming along.”

  “Our stuff is way better than that silly fairy’s,” scoffed one of the other goblins. “Flowers and fairy dust and all sorts of pink stuff? Yuck!”

  “Come on, let’s find some more things,” the tallest goblin ordered. “Put what you’ve collected in your pockets, and don’t forget the yucky fairy book. Jack Frost said we weren’t allowed to let it out of our sight.”

  The goblins marched out of the park, heading for High Street. One was carrying a book with a purple and gold cover. Florence stiffened when she saw it.

  “There’s my book!” she cried. “We have to get it back. Follow those goblins!”

  Kirsty and Rachel hung back until the goblins were a safe distance away, then followed them along Twisty Lane. The goblins all seemed like they were in very good moods. They kept stopping to take photographs of one another! But these photos weren’t like ones in ordinary memory books or albums — instead, the goblins took pictures of the strangest things.

  “Take one of me with this great big snail!” one goblin cried eagerly, picking up a large snail and balancing it on his head. “It’s so nice and slimy!”

  “Take one of us having a fight,” another goblin suggested, as he elbowed a skinny goblin with knobby knees.

  “Hey, cut it out!” yelled the skinny goblin.

  Click! Click! went the camera at the snail, the fight, and then a pile of garbage that another goblin found.

  “Ahh, this is what good memories are all about,” said the smallest goblin, who had mean, squinty eyes. “Hey, what about a photo of me ripping up this silly fairy book? That would be great!”

  Florence gasped as he grabbed the memory book. It looked like he was going to tear it with his warty green fingers! “No!” she cried, zooming through the air before Kirsty or Rachel could stop her. “Don’t do that!”

  The goblins spun around at the sound of her little voice. “Oh, great,” the tallest one moaned. “Just what we didn’t want. A silly fairy, here to ruin everything. Quick, run!”

  The goblins sprinted away. The small goblin was still holding Florence’s precious memory book! As he ran, pretty flowers and sparkly treasures dropped from its pages. Florence looked like she wanted to cry!

  “They’re ruining it!” she wailed, swooping down and waving her magic wand to make all the items fairy-size. She collected everything that had fallen out of her memory book.

  Meanwhile, the goblins were getting away. The girls didn’t want to lose sight of them! “Florence, could you use your magic to turn us into fairies?” Kirsty asked, thinking fast. “That way we can fly after the goblins.”

  “Good idea,” Florence said, pointing her wand at the girls and whispering some magic words.

  Instantly, a stream of bright sparkles flew out from her wand and swirled all around Kirsty and Rachel. Then they were shrinking smaller and smaller — and they had their own shining fairy wings on their backs. Even Kirsty’s shopping bag had shrunk down to fairy-size!

  Luckily, nobody was around to see them as the three fairies flew up into the air and began zooming after the goblins.

  “We need a plan,” Rachel said thoughtfully. In the distance, the goblins had reached a row of stores and had slowed down. They obviously thought they’d gotten away from the fairies.

  “If we could somehow get that small goblin to drop the book . . .” Kirsty said, thinking aloud. “Maybe we can make him jump, and he might let go of it?”

  “And then I could use my magic to shrink it back to fairy-size, and fly in to grab it!” Florence finished.

  The three friends smiled at one another. “We could fly up behind the goblins so that we’re really close to them,” Rachel suggested. “Then Florence could turn us back into girls, and we could shout really loudly. That should make them jump!”

  Kirsty giggled. “It would make me jump,” she said. “Come on, let’s try it.”

  Silently, the fairies flew as close to the goblins as they dared. Luckily, the goblins had their backs turned. They were busy peering into the candy shop, moaning that there weren’t any bogmallows inside. When Kirsty and Rachel were hovering just behind the goblin holding Florence’s memory book, Florence waved her wand and turned them back into girls.

  “
BOO!” Rachel and Kirsty shouted at the top of their lungs.

  “Aarrrgh!” screamed the goblins, turning around in fear. But unfortunately, the smallest goblin didn’t drop the book as they’d hoped. In fact, he only clutched it tighter — and all the goblins ran off down the street!

  “After them!” cried Florence, flying through the air like a streak of light. Kirsty and Rachel followed on foot, running as fast as they could.

  The goblins ducked down an alley, with Florence and the girls right behind them. Kirsty grinned as she realized that the alley was a dead end. Soon, the goblins would be trapped!

  Sure enough, the goblins realized there was nowhere else to run. They stopped and turned, their backs against the wall.

  The smallest goblin hid the memory book behind him, a determined gleam in his eye. “You’re not getting this back,” he said rudely.

  “I don’t know why you want my memory book, anyway,” Florence said. “You goblins hate pink sparkly things. Wouldn’t you rather have a nice green memory book of your own?”

  “Well, yes,” the tallest goblin said, shrugging. “But we don’t have one. So we’re taking yours instead.”

  This gave Rachel an idea. “But if we could find you the perfect goblin memory book with a gorgeous green cover, would you . . . trade?” she asked, crossing her fingers behind her back.

  The goblins looked at one another, but none of them said anything.

  Kirsty tried to hide her smile. It was obvious — they did want their own book! “Florence, would you be able to use your magic to make a new memory book for the goblins?” she asked.

  “Of course!” Florence said. She smiled at the goblins. “I could make one that would be exactly what you wanted. Maybe the cover could have thorns on it, or slimy patches . . .”