She pulled out a thin, green stick covered with sparkling gold stars.
“It looks like a sparkler,” Rachel said. “That’s not much use, is it?”
“It’s a fairy sparkler!” said Fern excitedly. “I can use it to write a message in the sky, and my sisters will see it from the pot. Then they’ll know we need help.”
“But what about the goblins?” Rachel asked. “Won’t they see it, too, and know where we are?”
Fern looked serious. “We’ve got to take the risk,” she said. Fern held the sparkler in one hand, her wings fluttering. She lit the top with her wand and quickly flew up into the sky.
Rachel and Kirsty held their breath. Fern and the sparkler shot upward, trailing bright green sparks behind them. Fern flew higher and higher into the sky, and used the sparkler to write a message in a shower of emerald stars. The stars spelled out the words:
They twinkled brightly in the darkening sky before fading away.
“We won’t have to wait long,” Fern said, landing beside Rachel and Kirsty on the ground. “Help will come very soon.”
Rachel and Kirsty wondered what would happen. How could the fairies come to their rescue? They weren’t supposed to leave the pot at the end of the rainbow, in case the goblins found them. Suddenly, the leaves behind Rachel, Kirsty, and Fern rustled.
“Did you see the fairy sparkler?” shouted a loud goblin voice. “It came from over there. Quick, before that fairy gets away again!”
Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other in alarm. Fluffy seemed scared, too. The goblins were on their trail again!
“They’re coming toward us,” Rachel whispered as the goblin voices got louder.
“Don’t worry,” Fern said, smiling. She didn’t seem nervous. “My sisters will send help quickly.”
Just then, Rachel spotted a line of golden sparkles twinkling toward them through the fruit trees. “What’s that?” she whispered.
“Is it goblin magic?” Kirsty asked, suspicious.
Fern shook her head. “They’re fireflies! My sisters must have sent them to show us the way back to the pot.”
Suddenly, there was another shout from inside the maze. “Look, what are those lights over there?”
“The goblins have spotted the fireflies!” Rachel gasped.
“Quickly, Fluffy!” Fern said as they all climbed onto the squirrel’s back again. “Follow the fireflies!”
The golden specks were dancing away through the trees. Fluffy scampered after them, just as the goblins dashed out of the maze.
“There’s the fairy!” one of them shouted, pointing at Fern. “Stop that squirrel!”
“Come back!” the other roared as Fluffy ran off.
Rachel, Kirsty, and Fern clung to Fluffy’s fur as the squirrel zigzagged back and forth to get away from the goblins. Fluffy scrambled up the trunk of the nearest tree. He was just about to jump across to the next, when someone called to them from below.
“Hello!”
“Who’s that?” Rachel asked. She, Kirsty, and Fern peered down at the ground.
A hedgehog was standing at the foot of the apple tree. “Hello!” he hollered again. “The animals in the garden have heard that you’re in trouble. We’d like to help.”
“Oh, thank you!” Fern called. Then she gasped as the two goblins appeared among the trees.
“Where’d that squirrel go?” one of them yelled.
Quickly, Fluffy leaped across to the next apple tree. The goblins roared with anger and dashed forward. At that moment, the hedgehog curled himself into a ball and rolled right into their path. Rachel thought he looked like a big, prickly soccer ball.
“OW!” both goblins howled. “My toes!”
Rachel and Kirsty couldn’t help laughing as the goblins jumped around holding their feet. “Hooray for Hedgehog!” the girls shouted.
As Fluffy jumped from one fruit tree to the next, the firefly lights behind them began to go out.
“Hey! Who turned off the lights?” wailed one of the goblins, still rubbing his foot. “Which way are we supposed to go?”
“How should I know?” snapped the other goblin. Their voices were getting fainter now as Fluffy hurried on.
“Thank you, fireflies!” called Fern, waving at the last few specks of light. “We need to find our way to the orchard wall from here. We can’t be far from the pot now.”
“If I were human-sized, I could probably figure out which way to go,” Kirsty said. “But everything looks so big and unfamiliar!”
“But if we go back to our normal sizes, the goblins will surely spot us!” said Rachel.
“I can help you,” a small voice whispered.
A fawn was standing at the bottom of the tree. Her golden brown coat was short and silky, and she stared up at them with big, brown eyes.
“You mean you can show us the way?” Kirsty said.
“Yes, I can.” The deer nodded, twitching her little tail. “I can show you a shortcut.”
She trotted off through the trees on her long legs. Fluffy followed her, leaping from branch to branch above the little deer’s head.
Rachel was so excited she could hardly breathe. She was riding on a squirrel’s back, being shown the way to the pot at the end of the rainbow by a fawn!
A few moments later, they reached the brick wall that ran around the outside of the orchard. Fluffy leaped up to the top of the wall, and Rachel and Kirsty looked eagerly ahead of them. On the other side of the wall was a meadow, and beyond that was a patch of woods.
“Look!” Rachel shouted. “That’s where the pot is!”
“Thank you!” Kirsty and Rachel called to the baby deer. She blinked her long eyelashes at them and trotted away.
A blackbird with shiny, dark feathers was sitting on the wall nearby. He hopped over to them. “I’m here to take you to the pot at the end of the rainbow,” he chirped. “All aboard!”
Fluffy looked sad as Fern, Rachel, and Kirsty slid off his back and climbed onto the blackbird. It was a tight squeeze, and the bird’s feathers felt smooth and silky after Fluffy’s thick fur.
“Good-bye, Fluffy!” called Rachel. She blew him a kiss. “And thank you!” She felt sad to leave their new friend behind. Then the blackbird soared into the air.
“Look for the big weeping willow tree,” Rachel told the blackbird as he swooped over the meadow.
“I can’t wait to see my sisters again,” said Fern, sounding very excited.
The blackbird flew over the woods and landed in the clearing near the willow tree. Rachel, Kirsty, and Fern jumped down onto the grass, calling good-bye to the blackbird.
“Who’s there?” croaked a stern voice. A plump, green frog hopped out from under the hanging branches of the tree.
“Bertram, it’s me!” Fern called. Quickly, the fairy waved her wand, and Rachel and Kirsty shot up to their normal size again.
“Miss Fern!” Bertram said joyfully. “You’re back!”
“We followed the fireflies,” Fern said, giving the frog a hug. “Thank you for sending them.”
“We saw the sparkler in the sky,” Bertram explained, “so we knew you were in trouble. But you’ll be safe here,” he went on. “The pot is hidden under the tree. The goblins have no idea that it’s here!”
Rachel and Kirsty hurried over and pulled aside the long branches. The pot at the end of the rainbow lay there on its side.
Suddenly, a fountain of red, orange, and yellow fairy dust whooshed out of the pot. Ruby, Amber, and Sunny flew out, looking very excited. A big queen bee buzzed out behind them.
“Fern!” Ruby called. “You’re safe! It’s so good to see you!”
Rachel and Kirsty beamed as they watched the fairies hug one another. The air around them fizzed and popped with red flowers, orange bubbl
es, yellow butterflies, and green leaves.
“We really missed you,” said Sunny. The bee nudged her with a tiny feeler. “Oh, sorry, Queenie,” said Sunny. “This is my sister Fern.”
Queenie buzzed, “Hello!”
“How did you get back so quickly?” asked Amber. “We sent the fireflies only a little while ago.”
“Our forest friends helped us,” Fern said. She waved as the blackbird flew off. “Especially Fluffy the squirrel.” She sighed. “It was sad to leave him behind.”
Ruby laughed. “Who’s that, then?” she asked, pointing at a tree on the other side of the clearing.
Rachel and Kirsty looked, too. Fluffy was peeking at them from behind the tree trunk, looking very shy.
“Fluffy!” Fern flew over and hugged him. “What are you doing here?”
“I was worried about you,” Fluffy explained shyly. “I wanted to make sure you got back to the pot safely.”
“Would you like to stay with us, too?” asked Amber. “You could live in the willow tree, couldn’t you?”
“Yes, please,” squeaked Fluffy. “I’m very lonely. I live in that oak tree inside the maze all by myself!”
Ruby turned to Rachel and Kirsty. “Thank you again,” she said. “I don’t know what we’d do without you!”
Fern fluttered lightly onto Rachel’s shoulder. One of her wings brushed softly against Rachel’s cheek, like a butterfly. “We’ll see you again soon, won’t we?”
“Yes, of course,” Rachel promised.
“Only three more Rainbow Fairies left to find!” Kirsty added. She took Rachel’s hand and they waved to the fairies, then ran out of the clearing. “We’d better get back to your mom and dad, Rachel. They’ll be wondering where we are.”
“Good idea.” Rachel laughed. “If we don’t hurry back, my dad will eat the whole picnic by himself!”
Ruby, Amber, Sunny, and Fern are safe. Now Rachel and Kirsty must look for
Sky
the Blue Fairy!
But where could she be? Follow along with Rachel and Kirsty in this special sneak peek. . . .
“The water’s really warm!” Rachel Walker laughed. She was sitting on a rock, swishing her toes in one of Rainspell Island’s deep blue tide pools. Her friend Kirsty Tate was looking for shells nearby.
“Be careful not to slip, Kirsty!” called Mrs. Tate. She was sitting farther down the beach with Mrs. Walker.
“OK, Mom!” Kirsty yelled back. As she looked down at her bare feet, a patch of green seaweed began to move. There was something blue and shiny underneath it. “Rachel! Come here,” she shouted.
Rachel went over to Kirsty. “What is it?” she asked.
Kirsty pointed to the seaweed.
“There’s something blue under there,” she said. “I wonder, could it be . . .”
“Sky the Blue Fairy?” Rachel said eagerly.
Jack Frost had banished the seven Rainbow Fairies from Fairyland with a magic spell. Now they were hidden all over Rainspell Island. Until they were all found, there would be no color in Fairyland. Rachel and Kirsty had promised the Fairy King and Queen to help find them.
The seaweed twitched.
Rachel felt her heart beat faster.
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-30786-4
Copyright © 2003 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
Illustrations copyright © 2003 by Georgie Ripper.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Rainbow Magic Limited.
SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. RAINBOW MAGIC is a trademark of Rainbow Magic Limited. Reg. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and other countries. HIT and the HIT logo are trademarks of HIT Entertainment Limited.
First Scholastic printing, September 2005
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