Kirsty shivered as she looked into his cold, pale eyes.
“Wait a minute, I recognize you!” he exclaimed.
“Kirsty, quickly!” cried Rachel.
With a hard tug, Kirsty yanked the ballet shoes from Frostyev’s feet. He threw himself at her, but she had just enough time to hurl the shoes into the air as he knocked her backward.
Giselle zoomed out of the shadows and grabbed one of the shoes, while Rachel leapt up to catch the other. She handed it to Giselle, and the shoes instantly shrank to fairy size. At the same moment, the tutus and tiaras vanished from the goblin dancers. Rachel and Kirsty smiled at each other. Everything was returning to normal.
A flurry of sparkling fairy dust surrounded Frostyev, and a few seconds later his ballet costume disappeared. He was Jack Frost again. He scrambled to his feet and shook his fist at them.
“Give me back those shoes!” he yelled at Giselle, who was fluttering above his head.
“Absolutely not,” she replied. “They are my shoes and you stole them. You have been very mean, trying to ruin the fun of Christmas ballets, but it hasn’t worked—thanks to Rachel and Kirsty.”
The little fairy smiled at the girls, whose journalist disguises had now disappeared.
“But what am I supposed to do?” Jack Frost demanded. “The Goblinovski Festival Ballet can’t perform now.”
“Go back to your Ice Castle where you are needed,” said Giselle in a gentle voice. “It’s wintertime, and your snow and ice are very important.”
Jack Frost stared at her for a moment, and then raised his wand in the air.
“Come on,” he snapped at the goblins. “There’s work to be done. Stop messing around here and come with me!”
The goblins gathered around him.
“Merry Christmas, Jack Frost,” said Giselle.
For a moment, a little smile hovered around Jack Frost’s mouth.
“Merry Christmas,” he said in a gruff voice.
There was a bright blue flash, and then Jack Frost and his goblins vanished from the stage. All that remained were a few melted snowflakes, which Giselle dried with a wave of her wand.
“Thank you, Rachel and Kirsty,” she said. “Now I can make sure that tonight’s performances are a huge success. I must return these shoes to Fairyland in time for the curtain call. Merry Christmas to you both!”
“Merry Christmas, Giselle!” called the girls.
As the little fairy disappeared, the director hurried onstage toward the girls.
“Good news!” she said. “All the costumes have been found! Hurry to your seats now, girls—the ballet is about to start.”
Kirsty and Rachel ran to find their seats as the orchestra began to play the opening music. They saw their parents waving to them, and sat down just in time. The curtain rose to reveal a bustling birthday scene, with the handsome prince at the center of the celebrations.
“This is going to be the ballet of the year!” Mrs. Walker murmured to the girls.
“And a really magical end to our ballet adventures,” Kirsty whispered. “Merry Christmas, Rachel.”
“Merry Christmas, Kirsty,” Rachel replied. “I’ll never forget a single moment!”
The other fairies jumped up and smiled at Rachel and Kirsty.
“It’s wonderful to meet you,” Rachel said, recovering from the surprise of being whisked to Fairyland. “But why have you brought us here?”
“I’m afraid that Jack Frost and his goblins have done something truly terrible,” said Elle, sinking into one of the chairs.
She raised her wand and pointed it at one of the bookshelves. A large book swept itself off the shelf, opened in midair, and showed a big, blank page. As it hovered there, blurry pictures began to appear on the page. The pictures grew clearer and the girls drew in their breaths.
“It’s a picture of this library,” said Kirsty.
“With Jack Frost and his goblins sneaking around inside,” Rachel added. “What did they do?”
“They took our most precious belongings,” said Elle.
The girls watched the picture in the book. Jack Frost undid the golden clasp of a wooden box. He raised the lid and scooped the contents into a bag, laughing. Then he handed the bag to a goblin, threw the box on the floor, and left the library.
The picture faded and the book closed itself and slotted back into its place on the shelf.
“What was in the box?” asked Rachel.
“Four magical objects that have power over the stories we protect,” said Elle. “They give the holder control of the stories. We use them to make sure that the stories go as they are supposed to, so every story ends well.”
“What is Jack Frost using them for?” Kirsty asked.
“He and his goblins are using our magical objects to actually go into the stories and change them,” said Elle. “They want the stories to be all about them.”
Kirsty and Rachel exchanged a worried glance.
Copyright © 2016 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
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ISBN 978-0-545-85203-6
First printing October 2016
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-86415-2
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