Whitney the Whale Fairy

by Daisy Meadows

  All Aboard the Ocean Star

  Whales at Play

  Seaweed Surprise

  Shipwreck!

  Treasure Trove

  Goblin Fountains!

  “This is so much fun, Kirsty!” Rachel Walker called to her best friend, Kirsty Tate, as their ship, the Ocean Star, bobbed across the waves. “Look, can you see that school of fish?”

  Kirsty peered over the ship’s railing and saw a group of tiny, silvery fish darting through the sparkling turquoise water. Some of the other girls and boys on the boat trip rushed over to look, too.

  “Leamouth looks so pretty in the sunshine, doesn’t it?” Kirsty remarked, as they sailed across the bay. She and Rachel stood on the deck of the Ocean Star, enjoying the view of the seaside resort. From there they could see a long stretch of golden beach, and whitewashed cottages clustered around the harbor.

  Kirsty and Rachel were spending their spring vacation in Leamouth with Kirsty’s gran. Today, Gran had suggested that the girls take a special sailing trip just for kids. It was on an old-fashioned ship, run by Captain Andy and his crew.

  Rachel and Kirsty were fascinated by the large wooden boat with its tall masts and billowing white sails.

  “Ahoy there, sailors!” Captain Andy shouted, waving at the girls and boys on the deck below him. He stood behind the wooden ship’s wheel, turning it back and forth to guide the boat through the water. “If you’d visited Leamouth hundreds of years ago, the harbor would have been full of large sailing ships just like the Ocean Star. There was one very famous boat called the Mermaid, but sadly it sank somewhere around this area a very long time ago.”

  “Do you know where the wreck is, Captain Andy?” asked Thomas, one of the boys on the trip.

  Captain Andy shook his head. “We don’t know exactly where the ship sank,” he replied. “It had a beautiful carved and painted figure of a mermaid attached to its front. Legend says that the mermaid statue now watches over this area from wherever the wreck lies on the bed of the ocean.”

  “What a great story,” Rachel said to Kirsty. “It sounds like magic!”

  “We know all about that, don’t we, Rachel?” Kirsty whispered, winking at her friend.

  The two girls were right in the middle of another exciting, magical fairy adventure.

  When they’d arrived in Leamouth, they’d received an invitation to visit the Fairyland Ocean Gala. There, they’d met their old friend Shannon the Ocean Fairy. Rachel and Kirsty had also been introduced to Shannon’s helpers, the seven Ocean Fairies, and their magic ocean creatures, who lived in the Royal Aquarium.

  Shannon explained to Rachel and Kirsty that the most important part of the Gala was when she played a song on the magic golden conch shell. The song ensured that there was peace and harmony in all the oceans for the next year.

  Just as Shannon was preparing to play her song, Jack Frost and his goblins had barged in and disrupted the ceremony.

  Jack Frost ordered the goblins to steal the golden conch shell, and they’d all rushed to grab it before the horrified fairies could stop them.

  As the goblins fought over which one of them should carry the shell, they’d dropped it. With a crash, it had shattered into seven jagged pieces.

  Jack Frost had been furious at the goblins’ clumsiness! With a blast of icy magic from his wand, he’d immediately sent the shell pieces spinning through the air to hide in different places throughout the human world. Both Jack Frost and the fairies knew that without the magic golden conch shell, there would be chaos and confusion in the oceans.

  Queen Titania had tried to limit the power of Jack Frost’s spell by using her own magic to send the Ocean Fairies’ seven magic ocean creatures after the shell pieces. They would guard them until they could be safely returned to Fairyland. Rachel and Kirsty were helping the Ocean Fairies in their quest, but they had to keep a careful lookout for Jack Frost’s goblins. They were also searching for the missing fragments of shell.

  “I wonder if we’ll find another piece of the golden conch shell today,” Kirsty murmured to Rachel as they sailed farther out to sea. “The shell’s almost complete now. Only two more pieces left to find!”

  “Don’t forget—the queen always says that we have to wait for the magic to come to us,” Rachel reminded her. “Let’s just enjoy the boat trip and see what happens!”

  Suddenly Thomas gave a cry.

  “What’s that?” he shouted, pointing at the foamy waves ahead of them. “I can see something moving.”

  “Use your binoculars, sailors!” Captain Andy called. All the passengers had been given a set of binoculars when they boarded the Ocean Star, and now Rachel and Kirsty peered through theirs eagerly. At first they couldn’t see much of anything, but then they both noticed some flashes of movement on the horizon.

  “Wow!” Captain Andy exclaimed. “The Mermaid has certainly brought us good luck today. Look, everyone, there are whales!”

  “Oh!” Rachel gasped with delight as she spotted a black-and-white whale surge up from beneath the waves and then splash down into the water again. “Oh, Kirsty, aren’t they beautiful?”

  They’re gorgeous! Kirsty was breathless with excitement, her eyes glued to her binoculars. There were three whales surfacing now, blowing sparkling jets of water from their blowholes.

  “They’re orcas,” Captain Andy explained as everyone watched the whales in delight. “Orcas belong to the dolphin family, and they often live in large family groups, called pods.”

  Just then, Kirsty noticed another, smaller whale leap out of the water behind the others. Kirsty watched closely as he blew a spurt of water from his blowhole. She caught her breath as she noticed a faint glimmer of silver sparkles all around the whale. She could hardly believe her eyes!

  “Rachel, look!” Kirsty whispered, lowering her binoculars and turning to her friend. “That whale at the back is glowing with fairy magic. I think it’s one of the magic ocean creatures from the Royal Aquarium.” She grinned widely and grabbed Rachel’s hand. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

  Rachel gasped, spotting the sparkles herself. Her eyes were big as she spun to face Kirsty. “That must mean a piece of the golden conch shell is nearby!”

  Rachel’s heart thumped with excitement. She stared through her binoculars and spotted the whale’s glittering tail just before he dived below the waves again.

  “You’re right, Kirsty!” she said eagerly. “He must be Whitney the Whale Fairy’s whale. I wonder if Whitney is somewhere around here, too.”

  “I’ll steer the boat closer to the whales so we can all get a better look,” Captain Andy called, turning the ship’s wheel. Everyone on board cheered. Rachel and Kirsty waited impatiently as the ship slowly changed course and began to move toward the whales. The girls couldn’t help worrying that the whales might swim away before they reached them. The whales, however, seemed happy to frolic around in the ocean. They blew jets of water out their blowholes and spun in the ocean, flicking their tails back and forth. The whales seemed to be calling to one another every so often with strange, sweet sounds.

  Suddenly, a loud burst of noise interrupted the peace of the ocean. Rachel and Kirsty spun around and saw a speedboat zooming across the water toward the whales.

  “Oh, no!” Rachel groaned, clapping her hands over her ears. “That noise is going to scare them away!”

  Everyone on the Ocean Star watched anxiously as the speedboat headed straight at the whale pod. But suddenly, the driver of the boat slowed down and changed his course, beginning to head away from them.

  “Thank goodness!” Kirsty sighed with relief. “The crew must have spotted the whales at the last minute.”

  To everyone’s amazement, all the whal
es turned around and swam straight after the speedboat. Within a few seconds, the whales were right behind the boat. Then they moved up to swim alongside it.

  “Well, that’s very odd,” Captain Andy said, looking surprised. “They don’t seem bothered by the noise!”

  The whales splashed playfully around the boat, sending up sprays of water from their blowholes. They didn’t look scared at all.

  “I think the speedboat is trying to get away from them,” Rachel pointed out as the boat began to weave from side to side.

  “They’re not having much luck though,” Kirsty replied. “Look, the whales are still following them.”

  Captain Andy shook his head in astonishment. “I’ve never seen whales act this way before,” he declared, looking very puzzled. “I just don’t understand it.”

  Rachel and Kirsty glanced knowingly at each other.

  “The whales are behaving strangely because the golden conch shell is broken,” Rachel whispered to Kirsty. “Nothing will be right in the oceans until the conch shell is whole again, so that Shannon can play it.”

  “Hello, girls!” called a tinkling, silvery voice all of a sudden. “Look over here!”

  Kirsty grabbed Rachel’s arm. “Rachel, did you hear that?” she asked.

  Rachel nodded. “I think it came from down there!” she said, pointing over the side of the Ocean Star.

  Everyone else was still watching the whales, so Rachel and Kirsty slipped away unnoticed and peered over the side.

  “Look, Kirsty!” Rachel exclaimed. She pointed at an orange and white striped buoy floating on the water near the ship. Kirsty looked down and saw a tiny, glittering fairy perched on top of it.

  “Hello, girls!” the fairy called again, waving at them. She had shiny black hair and she wore a floaty dress in deep shades of purple, yellow, and red, with matching yellow ballet slippers. “It’s me, Whitney the Whale Fairy. I’m really worried about my whale, Fin! I know you’ve seen him playing with the other whales and chasing after that speedboat.”

  Rachel and Kirsty nodded.

  “The problem is that Fin is following that boat farther and farther away from the part of the ocean where the shell piece is,” Whitney went on anxiously. “We don’t have much hope of finding the shell piece without Fin’s help, so we need to stop him! Will you help me, girls?”

  “Of course we’ll help!” Rachel and Kirsty said together.

  Whitney looked very relieved.

  “Is it safe for me to come on board?” she asked.

  Kirsty took a quick look over her shoulder. Everyone else was standing with their backs to the girls, still watching the whales.

  “It looks safe, Whitney,” Kirsty told her.

  Whitney flew up, her wings dazzling in the bright sunlight, and landed on the ship’s railing. “I’ll turn you into fairies, girls,” she whispered, lifting her wand. “Then we’ll fly after Fin as fast as we can!”

  Rachel and Kirsty saw a shower of magical sparkles spring from Whitney’s wand and surround them.

  Instantly, the girls felt themselves shrink down to fairy-size, complete with their own sets of glittering wings.

  “Let’s go!” Whitney cried, swooping off the side of the ship. “If we keep just above the waves, the movement of our wings will be masked by the sunlight glinting off the water. No one will be able to see us!”

  Kirsty and Rachel followed Whitney, flying off the ship’s railing and across the ocean. Below them, the white-tipped waves rolled and broke against the wooden sides of the ship.

  “The Ocean Star looks even bigger now that we’re fairy-size!” Rachel called to Kirsty as they headed toward Fin and the other whales.

  The speedboat continued to circle and weave its way through the water, but it still hadn’t managed to shake the whales.

  “There’s Fin!” Whitney said. She pointed out the small whale with the sparkly tail that the girls had noticed earlier.

  Fin swam happily along behind the speedboat with another whale.

  “Can you call him, Whitney?” Kirsty asked.

  Whitney frowned. “I’m not sure he’ll hear me above the boat’s motor,” she replied. “Let’s go a little closer.”

  As Whitney and the girls flew toward the boat, Rachel noticed something strange about the crew. They all looked identical to one another, with very long noses and very large feet. And they were green. …

  “Goblins!” Rachel exclaimed, pointing them out to Kirsty and Whitney.

  “They must be looking for the shell piece, too,” Kirsty said.

  “The shell piece just might be closer than they think!” Whitney said in a dismayed voice. “Girls, look at Fin’s tail. Can you see what I see?”

  The girls stared down at the little whale’s tail as it splashed in and out of the water. They could see a clump of green seaweed caught on the end of it.

  Then Rachel and Kirsty spotted a gleam of magical golden light in the middle of the seaweed.

  “It’s the missing shell piece!” Kirsty gasped. “It’s tangled up in the seaweed on Fin’s tail!”

  “Which means that Fin isn’t swimming farther away from the shell piece at all,” Whitney pointed out. “He’s taking the shell right to the goblins!”

  “How can we stop him, Whitney?” Rachel asked urgently.

  Below them, the group of goblins looked very panicky as the whales continued to swim playfully around the boat. They huddled together on the deck, unsure what they should do.

  “Go away, horrible fishy things!” the biggest goblin shouted. “We were only looking for the magic whale—we didn’t want to be chased by all of you!”

  “Why won’t they stop following us?” the smallest goblin squeaked nervously.

  Suddenly all the whales, including Fin, plunged under the water and out of sight. The goblins looked very relieved.

  A few seconds later, the whales each resurfaced in a different place with a series of very loud splashes. Now, instead of being just behind the boat, Fin was swimming alongside of it.

  One of the goblins gave a triumphant yell.

  “I can see the missing piece of the golden conch shell!” he cried, his gaze fixed on Fin’s tail.

  “Fin, dive under the water again!” Whitney yelled, flying over to him. Rachel and Kirsty were right behind her.

  But they were too late. Fin was so surprised to hear Whitney’s voice that he stopped swimming and looked up. That gave the goblins just enough time to lean over the side of the boat and untangle the shell piece from his tail.

  “Got it!” the big goblin roared, waving the shell in the air. “For once, we’ve defeated those pesky fairies!”

  The goblin who’d spotted the shell scowled. “I saw it first!” he complained, “Give it to me!” He tried to grab the shell from the big goblin.

  “Get off!” the big goblin howled. They each pulled at the piece of shell as though they were playing tug-of-war.

  Suddenly, the gleaming golden shell slipped from their grasp. It sailed over the edge of the boat and landed in the ocean with a splash.

  The two goblins turned to each other.

  “Now look what you made me do!” they both said loudly, at exactly the same time.

  “It’s the fairies’ fault!” one of the other goblins yelled. “They’re always getting in the way and messing things up!”

  Whitney turned to Rachel and Kirsty as the goblins began arguing over who was to blame.

  “While the goblins are grumbling and complaining, we can dive into the ocean to find the shell piece!” she said. “Are you ready, girls?”

  Rachel and Kirsty nodded excitedly.

  “Let’s go!” Rachel cried.

  Whitney waved her wand above the girls’ heads and a mist of fairy dust appeared. When it settled, two shiny, translucent bubbles hovered in the air. The bubbles floated gently down. One settled over Rachel’s head and the other over Kirsty’s.

  The girls weren’t nervous at all, because this had happened to them several times
before on their fairy adventures. They didn’t even jump when the bubbles disappeared with a faint pop!

  “Now you’ll be able to breathe underwater,” Whitney reminded them with a smile. “Down, down, down, we go!”

  She dived into the waves headfirst, like a swimmer going off a diving board.

  Rachel and Kirsty followed. Below the water they saw Fin circling around waiting for them. He looked enormous to the girls now that they were fairy-size. He rushed over to greet them.

  Fin looked dejected and made a sad songlike noise.

  Whitney turned to the girls. “He didn’t realize the shell piece was caught on his tail,” she translated. “Don’t worry.” Whitney patted Fin’s smooth, dark head. “It must be around here somewhere. Let’s start looking for it right away.”

  Whitney, Rachel, Kirsty, and Fin swam slowly along just below the surface of the water, searching for the missing fragment of shell. Schools of pretty pink, blue, and yellow fish stared at them curiously as they passed by. Suddenly, Kirsty gave a startled shout. “Did you spot the shell?” Rachel asked eagerly.

  “No, but look at that octopus!” Kirsty said, pointing. An octopus floated through the water upside down, waving its eight legs gracefully above its head.

  “See those fish over there?” Kirsty added. “Aren’t they funny-looking?”

  “Those are catfish,” Whitney explained as the girls stared at the strange-looking fish with large eyes and whiskery mouths. As they watched, one of the catfish chased after a piece of driftwood floating in the water. He grabbed it in his mouth and took it back to the others.

  Rachel and Kirsty couldn’t believe what they were seeing!

  “Catfish?” Rachel said with a grin. “They look more like dogfish to me!”