“She’s not happy now though, poor thing,” Rachel said.
Sophia’s smile vanished immediately. “No,” she said. “She’s not. We really have to get her back from the goblins. I want to hear her singing happily again!”
Rachel thought hard. “Can your magic melt the bars of the cage, Sophia?” she wondered.
Sophia nodded. “Yes, but we’ll need to get very close to the cage for it to work,” she said. “Jack Frost’s magic is always very powerful. The bars will probably be hard for me to break.”
“Maybe we can distract the goblins. Then you’d have a better chance of getting close to the cage,” Kirsty suggested.
“Yes, we could buzz around their heads like flies,” Rachel added. “They’ll be so busy trying to swat at us, you’ll be able to sneak over to Belle.”
Sophia smiled. “That’s a great idea. Let’s try it!”
Rachel and Kirsty immediately flew straight for the goblins and began darting in front of their eyes, back and forth, up and down, tickling their big ears with their delicate wings. “Get away from me!” the goblins grumbled, lashing out at the fairies. “Buzz off!”
The goblin with the cage was thrashing around so wildly he almost slid off the icy bridge. He skidded forward, slamming into the goblin in front — and then they both landed on their bottoms.
Kirsty was so busy annoying the goblins that she almost forgot to watch what Sophia was doing. Their fairy friend was close to the ice cage now, shooting pink sparks from her wand and dissolving the icicle bars one by one. The plan was working!
But no sooner had the thought popped into Kirsty’s head, than the goblin with the wand seemed to lose all his patience with Rachel. He zapped her with a stream of icy magic!
Kirsty let out a scream of horror as Rachel froze solid and plunged through the air — heading straight for the cold water of the river!
Luckily, Sophia heard her cry out. The fairy quickly pointed her wand at Rachel and sent a blast of fairy dust in her direction. Just as Rachel was about to hit the water, the fairy dust melted the ice around her, and she was able to flap her wings and soar up to safety. “Thank you!” She gasped breathlessly, her face pale with fright.
“Are you all right?” Kirsty asked, flying over to her. Sophia also left her position at the ice cage and fluttered up to Rachel.
"Quick, let’s run!” they heard the goblins shout. They turned to see the three green figures charging over the icy bridge and back to the riverbank. Then they vanished into the bushes.
“After them!” Kirsty yelled, determined not to let the goblins get away. She, Rachel, and Sophia flew over the river, just as the icy bridge cracked and broke into pieces. Seeing the ice gave Kirsty an idea. “We have to make the ice cage crack open!” she said as they flew. “Sophia, didn’t you say that a snow swan’s song can be high-pitched enough to shatter glass? Maybe we can get her song to shatter the ice of the cage!”
“Good thinking!” Sophia cried. “And I know a way to make Belle sing in her highest pitch. She and I have a little game we play in Fairyland — I sing the first part of a song and she sings the second. It always makes her so happy that she ends up singing very high!”
“Come on, then, let’s catch up with them,” Rachel said eagerly. She soared through the air as fast as she could.
It didn’t take long before the goblins were in sight. Sophia launched into a melody at the top of her lungs, and they saw Belle lift her head and turn toward her fairy friend. The swan opened her beak and sang back to Sophia, making such a high sound that the girls covered their ears!
Then Sophia sang another melody, her voice ringing through the air.
Belle responded again, her voice becoming higher and higher. It was so high now that the goblin carrying the cage had to put it down in order to hold his hands over his ears. On and on Belle sang, high and true — until the icicles around her suddenly shattered!
“She did it!” Kirsty cheered, as the swan flapped her wings and took off into the air.
“Oh, no you don’t!” the goblin yelled in alarm. He threw himself at Belle, his arms outstretched, and managed to grab her around the middle. “You’re not going anywhere,” he growled.
Rachel felt her shoulders slump with disappointment. Oh, no! Their plan had almost worked perfectly — but she wished that Belle had escaped!
Something very strange was happening, though. Belle had turned her graceful head so that she was looking straight into the goblin’s eyes. She began to sing a new song. It was the most beautiful song the girls had ever heard — haunting, melodic, and full of emotion.
Beside them, Sophia took in a quick breath. “Belle is singing the song of compassion!” she said. “A snow swan sings this song only if it senses that a person has compassion deep in their heart, compassion that needs to be unlocked.”
“You mean . . . she thinks that the goblin has compassion inside him?” Kirsty asked in surprise. The goblins were mean and tricky. They usually didn’t show kindness toward anyone!
“Let’s watch and find out,” Sophia said, her eyes glued to the goblin holding Belle.
The goblin was listening to the song as if under a spell. His face softened suddenly, and his eyes became kind. “You don’t want to be a prisoner, do you?” he said softly to Belle. Then, in the next moment, he opened his arms so that Belle could fly out.
Belle flew straight to Sophia, her neck stretched out. As she flew, her body glittered all over with magic sparkles. She grew smaller and smaller with each beat of her wings, until she was her Fairyland size. She flew into Sophia’s arms, and the fairy gave her a delighted hug.
Meanwhile, the other goblins had been watching this in shock. “What were you thinking, letting the swan go?” one of them raged, his hands on his hips. “If I’d known you were going to do that, I’d have used the wand to catch it again!”
The first goblin shrugged. “It felt wrong to keep the swan when she wanted to be with her fairy friend,” he replied. “I’m proud of what I did — it was the right thing to do.”
The third goblin snorted. “Well, Jack Frost won’t think it was the right thing to do!” he argued. “He’s going to be really angry!”
The first goblin was smiling at the sight of Sophia stroking Belle’s soft feathers. “I don’t think I want to work for Jack Frost anymore,” he said. “Maybe I’ll set up a rescue center to help all the lost and lonely animals of Fairyland.” And with that, he walked off, looking very happy.
The second goblin glared at Sophia and lifted his wand, as if he planned to use it. Sophia was too quick for him, though. “If you try any more tricks, I’ll get Belle to sing in a really high pitch again,” she warned him. “Remember how that hurt your ears last time?”
The goblin looked horrified by the suggestion. “No more singing!” he begged. “My ears still hurt!” Then he and the other goblin turned and ran away into the darkness.
“Just in time,” Kirsty said as he vanished from sight. “I can hear the campers coming this way!”
Sophia gave Kirsty and Rachel one last hug. “Thank you,” she said. “Now I’d better take Belle back to Fairyland and turn you two into girls again before I go.” She waved her wand, and magic sparkles swirled all around Kirsty and Rachel.
Seconds later, they were girls once again, and found themselves standing at the back of the group of campers. When they caught a glimpse of a bright speck of light in the sky just before it disappeared, the girls knew Sophia was on her way to Fairyland.
All around, the other campers were exclaiming about the glittering lunar rainbow that reached across the waterfall.
“It looks almost magical, doesn’t it?” the girls heard Trudi saying. Rachel and Kirsty grinned at each other. Trudi had no idea that lots of magical things had taken place down there just a few moments earlier!
“I love being
friends with the fairies,” Rachel whispered to Kirsty as they gazed at the rushing waterfall. She put an arm around her friend’s shoulders. “I hope we have another fairy adventure soon!”
Sophia the Snow Swan Fairy has her magical animal back! Now Rachel and Kirsty need to help . . .
Leona
the Unicorn Fairy!
Join their next adventure in this special sneak peek. . . .
“Isn’t this great, Kirsty?” Rachel Walker turned around in her saddle to smile at her best friend Kirsty Tate. “I’ve only been horseback riding once or twice before, but now I just love it!” Then Rachel leaned forward and patted her pony, Sparkle.
“Me, too,” agreed Kirsty, who was on a beautiful black pony behind Rachel. The girls had been taking riding lessons ever since they arrived at camp, but this was the first time they’d been on a trail ride through the forest. “I think it’s because Sparkle and Tansy are so sweet. They don’t mind if we do something wrong!”
“Keep following the trail, everyone,” Susan, their riding instructor, called from the back of the line. There were several other campers on ponies in front of and behind Kirsty and Rachel. “This path will eventually take us back to the camp.”
“I can’t believe we only have a day and a half left at camp,” Rachel said with a sigh as the ponies ambled through the forest. It was cool and shady under the trees, but beams of sunlight dappled the grass here and there. “We’ve had such a good time, haven’t we, Kirsty? We’ve tried hiking, orienteering, and bird-watching, and we’ve made some great friends.”
But Kirsty wasn’t really listening. She was staring around, peeking through the trees on either side of the trail.
“Sorry, Rachel,” she said quickly. “I was just seeing if I could spot anything unusual. . . .”
Rachel smiled. She knew exactly what Kirsty was looking for! On the day the girls arrived at camp, the king and queen of Fairyland had asked for their help. Kirsty and Rachel had discovered that Jack Frost and his goblins had kidnapped seven young magical animals from the Magical Animal Fairies. These animals had the power to spread the kind of magical qualities that every human and fairy could possess — the magic of imagination, luck, humor, friendship, compassion, healing, and courage. It was the fairies’ job to train the magical animals for a whole year in order to make sure they knew how to use their magic properly. Then the animals would use their incredible powers to bring happiness to both the human and the fairy worlds. . . .
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-54919-6
Copyright © 2009 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Rainbow Magic Limited.
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First Scholastic printing, March 2012
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Sophia the Snow Swan Fairy Page 2
