“That looks pretty good,” Kirsty whispered, noticing the sugared lemon slices on top.
But then Kirsty’s gran took out her chocolate fudge cake. Layers of chocolate sponge and buttercream filling were topped with icing and chocolate leaves. Mrs. Adelstrop’s smile faded when she saw it.
“Wow! That’s Gran’s best cake ever!” Kirsty exclaimed happily.
“It looks delicious,” Rachel agreed.
But as Mrs. Tate stepped forward to place her cake on the table, a huge gust of wind blew in through the entrance of the tent. A colored rope covered with flags snaked into the tent and wrapped itself around her legs.
Mrs. Tate stumbled, and the cake flew out of her hands. It sailed through the air and landed — splat — right in the judge’s face!
Kirsty’s gran looked horrified. “Oh, how awful! Look at that poor judge,” she whispered to the girls. “And there go my chances of winning the Cake Competition this year!” she added sadly.
“What an awful accident,” said Mrs. Adelstrop loudly. Kirsty could tell she was trying not to look happy.
The judge stood there, covered in chocolate icing, as everyone rushed to help him clean up. The sound of the howling wind surrounded the tent, and the canvas flapped loudly.
“The wind’s getting worse,” whispered Rachel. “Let’s see if the goblin is hiding under the table.”
Kirsty lifted a corner of the tablecloth and peeked underneath, but there was no sign of a goblin.
Rachel glanced around the tent, looking for other possible goblin hiding places. Her eyes fell on a pretty fairy decoration, perched on top of a cake. Suddenly, she gasped. The tiny fairy was waving at her!
The fairy’s bright green eyes sparkled with laughter. She wore a pretty yellow top and a matching skirt with a little green leaf on it. Her long brown hair was tangled and windswept, and she held an emerald-green wand with a shining golden tip. Little bursts of golden leaves swirled from the tip of her wand.
Rachel’s eyes widened. “Kirsty! Over here!” she whispered.
Kirsty hurried over. “It’s Abigail the Breeze Fairy,” she said happily. She and Rachel had met Abigail and all the other Weather Fairies in Fairyland.
“Hello, Rachel and Kirsty!” Abigail said, smiling. She twirled in the air in a cloud of gold-green dust and tiny bronze leaves.
“Thank goodness we’ve found you,” said Rachel. “We think there’s a goblin nearby.”
Abigail’s tiny face paled. “Goblins are nasty things — so big and scary! But we have to find this one,” she said bravely, “before he causes any more trouble with the Breeze Feather.” She fluttered her glittering wings and swooped onto Rachel’s shoulder to hide underneath her hair.
“Well, the goblin isn’t in this tent,” said Kirsty. “Let’s go outside and check the booths.”
“Good idea,” Rachel agreed, and the two friends left the tent, struggling against the blustery wind. They hadn’t gotten far when they heard a loud creaking noise. Suddenly, the tent behind them collapsed! The girls saw Kirsty’s gran rushing to help others, who were crawling out from beneath the canvas.
“Oh, what a mess!” said Rachel.
“At least it doesn’t look like anyone’s hurt,” Kirsty pointed out.
The wind moaned loudly through a group of oak trees nearby. The branches thrashed back and forth, and green leaves rained down.
Abigail’s tiny mouth drooped. “Poor trees. It’s too soon for them to lose their leaves,” she said sadly.
“This is more goblin mischief!” fumed Kirsty. “If that goblin keeps using the Breeze Feather, he’ll tear the leaves off all the trees.”
Quickly, the girls searched the tents and some of the stalls, but they didn’t have any luck at all finding the goblin — or the Breeze Feather.
Then, Kirsty heard a dog barking. “It’s Twiglet,” she said, pointing at a cute Jack Russell puppy next to the raffle booth. “His owner is one of our neighbors, Mr. McDougall.”
“We haven’t searched the raffle booth yet,” Rachel said. “Let’s go and check there for goblins.”
The girls hurried over. “Hello,” Kirsty greeted her neighbor.
“Hello, my dear,” said Mr. McDougall. “I don’t think Twiglet likes this windstorm.”
Kirsty nodded. She bent down to pet Twiglet, and the puppy jumped up from beside his empty food bowl. He wagged his tail and wiggled his little nose. Kirsty stroked his soft, floppy ears. “You’re gorgeous,” she said, smiling.
“What’s that?” Rachel asked, pointing to a torn piece of material in Twiglet’s mouth.
Kirsty pulled the material away from Twiglet. It was brown leather and it smelled moldy.
Rachel and Kirsty looked at it closely.
“I’m sure I’ve seen something like this before,” Rachel said thoughtfully. “I wonder where Twiglet got it.”
Suddenly, Twiglet began barking again. He was staring up at the sky, and jumping up and down.
“That’s odd,” said Mr. McDougall. “He keeps doing that. I wonder why.”
“Maybe he’s hungry?” suggested Rachel.
Mr. McDougall shook his head. “Can’t be. His dish is empty. He must have eaten all of his food when I wasn’t looking.”
Twiglet snapped and growled, still looking upward. The girls and Abigail followed the puppy’s gaze toward the sky.
“Look at that!” Rachel pointed to a hot-air balloon floating in the sky above the festival. The balloon was covered with red and orange stripes, and a large basket hung down from it. The fierce wind sent leaves and bits of paper whirling around it, but the balloon itself seemed to hang in midair without moving. A bright spurt of flame shot from the burner to heat the air in the balloon and keep it floating.
“That’s strange,” said Kirsty. “It doesn’t seem to be affected by the wind at all!”
“Yes,” Rachel agreed. “How can it stay so still with the wind blowing all around it?”
“The goblin must be hiding in it!” Abigail exclaimed. “Only the magic Breeze Feather could protect the balloon from the wind like that.”
Kirsty’s eyes widened. “So we’ve finally found the goblin,” she said. “But he’s way up in the sky!”
“How are we going to get up there?” Rachel asked.
“Easy!” Abigail told her. “We use fairy magic!”
The girls immediately reached for their shining golden lockets. The lockets were full of magic fairy dust. They had been special gifts from Titania, the Fairy Queen. A pinch of the dust would turn the girls into fairies, and another pinch would turn them back into humans again.
Rachel sprinkled herself with sparkling fairy dust, then laughed with delight as she shrank to fairy size. The grass was as tall as she was, and the buttercups now seemed as big as trees!
Kirsty did the same, and turned around to look at her silvery wings. “Wow! I’m a fairy again!”
“We have to hurry!” Abigail said, zooming up into the air. She was quickly followed by Kirsty and Rachel.
The higher Abigail and the girls flew, the more the wind tried to blow them off course. Kirsty and Rachel’s wings soon felt really tired.
“Fly right behind me,” Abigail urged the girls. “It might be easier for you.”
Rachel and Kirsty gave it a try. Luckily, it was less of a struggle to follow the experienced flying fairy. Abigail seemed to create an invisible path through the sky. Gradually, they drew closer and closer to the balloon’s basket.
“We were right. Look!” cried Kirsty.
An ugly face peered over the edge of the balloon’s basket. It was a goblin with pointed ears and a big, lumpy nose.
“He’s a very big goblin,” said Abigail nervously.
“I don’t think he’s seen us yet,” Rachel whispered. “Let’s creep up behind him.”
The goblin was staring at Twiglet, who was still barking down below. “Ha, ha! Silly little doggy. You can’t catch me!” he sneered. Kirsty and Rachel heard the goblin’s tummy ru
mble. It sounded like mud being stirred in a bucket. The goblin gave a huge burp, and a blast of stinky breath blew over Rachel, Kirsty, and Abigail. “Ugh!” Abigail held her nose.
“What a terrible smell!” complained Rachel. “What has that goblin been eating?”
“Can’t catch me, doggy!” The goblin continued to taunt Twiglet, jumping up and down and waving a shining bronze feather.
Down on the ground, a strong gust of wind swept Twiglet off his feet. The puppy tumbled over, got up again, and shook his head angrily. Then he looked up and began barking even more loudly.
The goblin jumped back, surprised. Then he recovered. “I’m safe up here!” he said to himself, and laughed.
Rachel was confused. The goblin’s afraid of Twiglet, she thought. I wonder why.
“He’s holding the Breeze Feather!” whispered Abigail. Her leaf-green eyes flashed with anger.
“Yes. And he’s using it to tease poor Twiglet!” said Kirsty. “What a mean goblin! We have to get that feather back.”
Rachel was thinking hard. “I’ve got a plan,” she told her friends. “Kirsty, you land in the basket. Then Abigail can make you human-sized, and the two of you can distract the goblin while I fly up and turn off the balloon’s burner. The balloon will sink, and we’ll have a better chance of getting the feather back once that goblin’s back on the ground.”
“That’s a good idea,” said Abigail. “But Kirsty and I will be very close to the goblin. Can you be quick, Rachel?”
“I will,” Rachel promised.
“Okay, then here I go,” Kirsty said. She checked to make sure that the goblin wasn’t looking, and then flew up and over the edge of the basket. Abigail hovered next to her. With a wave of her wand, she turned Kirsty back to her normal size.
When he saw Kirsty, the goblin’s eyes grew as big as golf balls. “Who are you?” he demanded.
“I’m Kirsty, a friend of the Weather Fairies,” Kirsty declared firmly.
“And I’m Abigail the Breeze Fairy,” Abigail added in her soft, musical voice.
The goblin glared at Abigail. “Boo!” he shouted, and lunged at her.
Abigail fluttered out of his reach, and the goblin snorted with laughter.
Just then, Kirsty saw Rachel overhead, turning off the burner. So far so good, she thought. The goblin hasn’t noticed Rachel.
The goblin scowled at Kirsty. “Get off my balloon!” he roared.
“That’s not very nice,” Kirsty said calmly.
“I don’t care!” snapped the goblin. He looked at Abigail slyly. “I know what you want and you’re not going to get it!” he said, waving the Breeze Feather.
A huge gust of wind rocked the basket. Kirsty clung to the side as it tilted and wobbled.
The goblin snickered. “Too windy for you?”
“Your balloon’s sinking,” Kirsty answered.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” sneered the goblin. Then he looked over the edge of the basket. “What?”
Down below, but getting closer all the time, Twiglet barked and growled.
The goblin’s big nose twitched nervously.
Kirsty noticed a rip in the goblin’s ragged clothing and remembered the piece of material in Twiglet’s mouth. “Why are you afraid of the puppy?” she asked.
The goblin looked shifty. “I might have eaten his dinner,” he replied sulkily.
No wonder his breath is so stinky! thought Kirsty.
“Now, tell me why this balloon’s sinking!” demanded the goblin fiercely. “Or I’ll wave the Breeze Feather and tip you out of the basket — like this!”
The basket rocked back and forth. Kirsty’s heart pounded, but she hung on to the side. The goblin hardly moved, even though the basket shook and wobbled. He was perfectly balanced on his big, broad feet. He waved the Breeze Feather again, making the basket rock more than ever.
Kirsty reached nervously for her fairy locket. She would need her fairy wings if she was tipped out of the basket. But would she have time to use the fairy dust if she fell?
“There’s too much weight in this basket! That’s why we’re sinking,” said Abigail.
The goblin glared at Kirsty. “You’re too heavy. Get out!” he ordered.
Quick as a flash, Kirsty sprinkled herself with fairy dust from her locket and fluttered out of the goblin’s way.
“We’re still sinking!” the goblin cried.
Suddenly, his ugly face brightened. “But I don’t need these heavy sandbags. They just help the balloon to land,” he said. He grabbed the sandbags that hung around the edge of the basket and heaved them over the side. To his dismay, the balloon continued to sink lower and lower.
“What will I do?” he wailed. Abigail put her hands on her hips. “You’ll have to throw out that feather!” she told the goblin firmly.
“No!” snapped the goblin. “It’s mine, and I’m keeping it! Besides, it’s too light to make any difference.”
Kirsty and Rachel hovered in the air behind Abigail. Would she be able to convince the goblin to get rid of the feather?
“It’s a lot heavier than you think,” Abigail said.
The goblin scowled. “What do you mean?”
“A pound of feathers weighs just the same as a pound of rocks, you know,” Abigail replied.
Kirsty and Rachel laughed softly. They knew that a pound of anything weighs just the same as a pound of anything else! But goblins are foolish, and the girls guessed that Abigail was hoping to confuse this one.
The goblin blinked and scratched his head. Abigail’s plan was working!
On the ground below, Twiglet barked and jumped up at the balloon. He seemed a lot closer now.
“Argh! Don’t let it get me!” screamed the goblin. And in desperation, he flung the feather out of the basket. Abigail flew after it in a blur of golden wings, but the feather was caught by the wind and swept away.
“Come on!” shouted Rachel, flying after Abigail. Kirsty followed.
“The wind’s too strong. I can’t fly!” cried Rachel in panic.
The girls were tossed around by the wind. They flapped their wings and tried to regain control, but it was no use. They were drifting farther and farther from the Breeze Feather, and they couldn’t even see Abigail through all the leaves and garbage swirling around them.
“We have to catch the Breeze Feather,” shouted Kirsty. “Otherwise it could be lost forever!”
Suddenly, Kirsty and Rachel caught a glimpse of Abigail flying to their rescue.
“Don’t worry about us,” Kirsty shouted above the wind.
“Just catch the Breeze Feather!” Rachel yelled.
Abigail must have heard them, because she nodded firmly and sped off after the feather again. She seemed about to grab it, when the wind snatched it away from her. Rachel let out a cry, but then she saw a rope of tiny golden leaves snake out from Abigail’s wand and wrap around the Breeze Feather.
The tiny fairy pulled the feather toward her and finally managed to grab hold of it. She immediately waved it in a complicated pattern. “Wind, stop!” she ordered.
With a soft sigh, the roaring wind died. Kirsty and Rachel could immediately fly properly again.
Abigail flew over to join them. “It’s wonderful to have the Breeze Feather back safe and sound!” she said happily.
“What about the goblin?” asked Kirsty.
Abigail frowned. “Leave him to me!” She pointed the feather at the hot-air balloon. “Wind, blow!” she commanded. An enormous puff of wind rocked the balloon.
The goblin hung over the basket. His face looked green. “I feel sick,” he moaned.
“You shouldn’t have eaten Twiglet’s dinner, then!” Rachel told him.
“I wish I hadn’t,” replied the goblin gloomily. “It wasn’t very good, anyway!”
Abigail waved the Breeze Feather a second time and the big red and orange balloon blew high into the sky. The goblin’s cries faded as the balloon flew out of sight.
Kirsty, Rachel, and Abig
ail flew to the festival and slid down one of the tents to the ground. Abigail waved her wand, and Kirsty and Rachel grew back to their normal size. They peeked out from behind the tent. Now that the wind had stopped, people were running around organizing their stalls. Over on the lawn, Twiglet was chewing contentedly.
“Mr. McDougall gave Twiglet a dog biscuit to chew on,” said Kirsty.
“I bet it tastes better than that goblin’s clothes!” laughed Rachel.
“Kirsty!” called Kirsty’s gran.
Abigail quickly zoomed onto Kirsty’s shoulder and hid beneath her hair.
“Gran!” Suddenly, Kirsty remembered what had happened to her gran’s cake. So why was her gran wearing such a big smile?
“I won first prize!” said Mrs. Tate, her eyes shining. “The judge said my cake was delicious. He couldn’t help tasting it when it was all over his face!”
The girls were just congratulating Mrs. Tate when Mrs. Adelstrop stomped past, scowling.
Kirsty’s gran chuckled. “She’s won first prize for the last three years. It’s time someone else had a chance!”
Rachel and Kirsty laughed. And only they heard the silvery giggling that came from under Kirsty’s hair.
“Now I have to go,” said Gran. “My best friend, Mable, is hoping to win a prize in one of the vegetable competitions!”
Kirsty and Rachel waved good-bye.
“We should go and give Doodle his magic feather back,” said Kirsty.
The girls and Abigail headed home. It was quiet and sunny now, and a warm summer breeze gently rustled through the leaves on Twisty Lane. “Everything’s back to normal,” said Rachel happily.
The Weather Fairies Collection Page 3
