Evie nodded and fluttered beneath Rachel’s hair.
Suddenly, Kirsty spotted her mom dashing through the trees. Two other runners were close on her heels.
“Come on, Mom!” Kirsty shouted.
“You can do it!” yelled Rachel.
Kirsty’s mom smiled and waved. “Not far to go now,” she called.
Kirsty and Rachel jumped up and down with delight. Evie cheered, too, but only Rachel could hear her tiny voice.
“Looks like your mom’s doing well,” said someone at Kirsty’s side.
“Dad! Gran! You’re here!” Kirsty exclaimed.
“And just in time. That fog held us up,” said Mr. Tate. “Strange how it’s completely gone now. Almost like magic!”
Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other and smiled.
“We’re going to head home now,” Kirsty told her dad.
“Sounds good,” he replied. “Gran and I will wait for Mom at the finish line.”
On the way home, the girls enjoyed the glorious sunshine, but Kirsty couldn’t help missing the sparkly fairy mist just a little bit.
“Time to give Doodle his feather back,” said Rachel, as they reached Kirsty’s house. “I wonder if he’ll say something to us again.” Every time the girls had returned a tail feather, Doodle had come briefly to life and started to speak. He’d given them part of a message, and they couldn’t wait to hear the rest. “I hope so,” said Kirsty. She repeated what Doodle had told them so far. “Beware! Jack Frost will come…”
Evie flew up to the barn roof. As she put the feather into place, the girls watched eagerly.
A fountain of copper and gold sparks fizzed from Doodle’s tail. The rusty old weather vane disappeared and in its place was a fiery magic rooster. Doodle fluffed up his glorious feathers and turned to stare at Rachel and Kirsty. “If his—” he squawked. But before Doodle could finish the message, his feathers turned to iron and he became an ordinary weather vane again.
Kirsty frowned. “Beware! Jack Frost will come if his…” she said, repeating all the words Doodle had said to them so far.
“Jack Frost will come if his what?” Rachel wondered.
Kirsty shook her head. “We’ll just have to find the next feather and hope that Doodle tells us,” she said.
Evie nodded. “It’s important to know the whole message. Jack Frost is dangerous,” she warned. “And now I must leave you.” She hugged Rachel and Kirsty. “Dear friends, thank you for helping me.”
“You’re welcome,” said Kirsty.
“Say hello to all our friends in Fairyland for us,” added Rachel.
“I will,” Evie promised, zooming up into the bright blue sky. Her wand left trails of silver mist in the air. Then she was gone.
Kirsty giggled. “I just remembered something the goblin said. I wonder whose toenail clippings he put in his mom’s bed?” she said.
Rachel laughed happily. What an exciting day it had been. There were still two days of her visit left! Who knew what they would bring?
Magic in the Air
The Fairy Storm
Rachel in Danger
A Wild Idea
Kirsty to the Rescue
Doodle’s Warning
“I can’t believe tomorrow is my last day here,” groaned Rachel Walker. She was staying with her friend, Kirsty Tate, in Wetherbury for a week. The girls had gone on so many adventures together, they knew it was going to be hard to say good-bye.
Now, they were walking to the park, excited to be outside. It had been pouring rain all night, but now the sun was shining again.
“Put on your coats, please,” Mrs. Tate had told them before they left. “It looks awfully breezy out there!”
“It’s been so much fun having you visit,” Kirsty told her friend. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget this week. Will you?” Rachel shook her head. “No way,” she agreed.
The two friends smiled at each other. It had been a very busy week. A snowy, windy, cloudy, sunny, misty week — thanks to Jack Frost and his goblins. The goblins had stolen the seven magic tail feathers from Doodle, Fairyland’s weather rooster. The Weather Fairies used the feathers to control the weather, so now that the goblins had them, they were stirring up all kinds of trouble!
Rachel and Kirsty were helping the Weather Fairies get the feathers back. Without them, Doodle was just an ordinary weather vane! Kirsty’s dad had found it lying in the park. He brought it home and put it on the roof of their old barn.
“Doodle has five of his magic feathers back now. I hope we find the last two before you have to go home,” Kirsty said, pushing open the park gate.
Rachel nodded, but before she could say anything, raindrops started splashing down around them.
The girls looked up to see a huge purple storm cloud covering the sun. The sky was getting darker by the second, and the rain was coming down harder and harder.
“Run, quick!” Kirsty shouted. “Before we get soaked!”
The girls started to run, and Rachel put her hands over her head as raindrops poured down from above. It was raining so hard that she could hardly see the path ahead. “Where are we going?” she cried.
“Let’s just find some place out of the rain,” Kirsty replied, grabbing Rachel’s hand. “I’m soaked already!”
The girls stopped under a big chestnut tree near the park entrance. The tree’s wide, leafy branches were perfect for keeping away the rain.
“Great idea,” said Rachel, shivering and trying to shake the raindrops off her coat.
Just as she said that, there was a loud clap of thunder, followed by a bright flash! The whole sky lit up with a bolt of lightning.
Kirsty and Rachel watched in shock as the lightning bolt slammed right into the chestnut tree.
“We need to get away from here!” Kirsty cried, jumping back in fright. “It’s dangerous being under a tree during a thunderstorm!”
“Wait a minute,” Rachel said, staring up at a tree branch. Rain was pouring off her shoulders, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Kirsty, look. That branch is sparkling.”’
And it was! The leaves were glittering green, glowing through the dark storm. Tiny twinkling lights flickered all over the branch. It reminded Kirsty of the trees they’d seen in Fairyland. They almost seemed to sparkle with fairy dust! And that made her think that maybe …
“It’s a magical storm!” Kirsty exclaimed, her eyes almost as bright as the shining leaves. “Look at the sky, Rachel!”
Both girls looked up in wonder as the lightning flashed again. A million sparkling lights danced around the thunderclouds, then faded away into the darkness.
Rachel grinned with excitement. “It’s magical, but very wet!” she said, laughing. “Let’s find somewhere drier and safer. Come on!”
Rachel and Kirsty ran out of the park and back to the road. The rain was still pouring down, sticking their hair against their heads. It was so dark and wet out that all of the cars driving past had their headlights on and their windshield wipers whipping from side to side.
Instead of running all the way home, Kirsty had another idea. “Let’s go in there!” she cried, pointing ahead.
Rachel blinked the raindrops from her eyelashes and followed her friend up the path to a large red brick building. A small blue sign out front read:
WETHERBURY MUSEUM.
Kirsty yanked open the double doors, and she and Rachel tumbled inside the museum. Water dripped onto the doormat as Rachel shook her hair out of her face.
“Wow!” she said. “Talk about stormy weather!”
Kirsty looked thoughtful. “The goblin with the Lightning Feather must be behind this,” she said. “He’s nearby, don’t you think?”
“Definitely,” Rachel agreed. “I—”
But before she could say anything else, Rachel was interrupted by a deafening ROOOAAARRR!
Rachel clutched Kirsty’s arm. “What was that?” she whispered.
Kirsty giggled at her friend’s alarmed face. “I should h
ave warned you — there’s a dinosaur display in here,” she said. “They found some dinosaur bones in Wetherbury years and years ago. The museum has a huge model of how the dinosaur would have looked. It roars and moves every few minutes. Come on, I’ll show you.”
Kirsty pushed open another set of double doors and led Rachel into one of the museum galleries. A group of people was being shown around by a tour guide. Kirsty pointed past them to a gigantic model dinosaur.
Rachel stared at the long neck, wide body, and huge tail of the model. The dinosaur was standing in water that was supposed to look like a river. Spiky rubber fish floated around its feet.
“Wow!” Rachel exclaimed.
Kirsty grinned. “Watch this,” she said, pressing a big red button.
The dinosaur leaned down and opened its jaws. It snapped up one of the fish, then lifted its head so that the fish tumbled down into its belly. “That’s amazing!” Rachel said, laughing. “What happens if you press this blue button?”
RROOOOOAAARRRR!
“That’s what happens,” Kirsty giggled.
As the dinosaur’s roar faded, Rachel couldn’t help overhearing the tour guide. “Listen!” she whispered to Kirsty. “… don’t know where this fairy exhibit has come from,” the guide was saying, sounding confused. She shrugged. “I just came back from vacation — it must be a new display. Maybe somebody discovered that fairies were around at the same time as dinosaurs!” The tour group laughed politely. “Anyway, let’s move on to the natural history room,” the guide said. “It’s this way… .”
Rachel and Kirsty crept to the back of the tour group to check out the fairy exhibit. If they stood on their tiptoes, the girls could see over all the heads to one of the display cases. There seemed to be a tiny shape in there, but they couldn’t tell what it was from so far away.
As the group followed the tour guide out of the room, there was another loud growl of thunder. The girls saw a dazzling flash of lightning through the windows. Once again, the sky seemed to glitter with silver sparkles. Then all the lights went out inside the museum.
“Oh, dear, it’s a power outage,” the guide said, sighing, as her tour group gasped. “Follow me, everyone — I think we have some flashlights over here.”
Rachel and Kirsty waited until the group had left the room, then went to take a closer look at the fairy display case. Inside was a real, live fairy, glowing with magic — and she was waving frantically at them!
“It’s Storm the Lightning Fairy!” cried Rachel, hurrying to open the case. She found a tiny hook on the side and unlatched it so that the glass door swung open.
“Hello, again,” said Storm. “I’m so glad to see you two!”
Rachel and Kirsty had met all the Weather Fairies at the beginning of their feather-finding mission. The King and Queen of Fairyland had brought the girls to Fairyland to ask for their help, so now they recognized the fairy right away. Storm had long, straight blonde hair and wore a bright purple outfit. A golden lightning bolt hung on a chain around her neck, and her purple wand sent out little crackling lightning bolts whenever it moved.
“Hello, Storm!” said Kirsty, as the fairy fluttered out of the glass case. “I was wondering when we were going to see you. What were you doing in there?”
Storm tossed her hair. “The goblin with the Lightning Feather trapped me in there,” she explained, annoyed. “He’s still somewhere in the museum. Have you seen all the lightning he’s been making?” She put her hands on her hips. “Please help me get my feather back from him. Lightning is powerful stuff, you know.”
“We know,” Rachel told her. “We were under a tree when lightning struck. One of the branches broke!”
Storm looked horrified, so Kirsty tried to make her feel better. “It was very pretty lightning, though, Storm,” she said. “All sparkly!”
Storm smiled. “It is beautiful, isn’t it?” she said. Then she sighed. “But I have to get the feather back before that mean goblin does any more damage. Those goblins have no idea —” Storm broke off in the middle of her sentence. “Someone’s coming,” she whispered. “It might be the goblin. Hide!”
The girls pressed themselves back against the wall and Storm swooped down onto Kirsty’s shoulder. They were half-hidden by a display case in the darkness. Thunder rumbled again, and Kirsty realized that her heart was pounding. She really hoped the noise they heard was just the tour guide coming back, not the goblin. Jack Frost had cast a spell to make all the goblins bigger, so now they were almost as tall as the girls’ shoulders. That made it even harder for Kirsty and Rachel to get the Weather Feathers back from them!
The door creaked open, and the girls and Storm all held their breath. Through the darkness they could see that it was the goblin. And, he was a particularly scary-looking one — with extra-narrow red eyes, long, pointed ears, and a thin, bony body. The lights were still out in the museum, but the goblin lit up the room. He was waving the Lightning Feather around so that golden bolts of lightning whizzed all over the place. They crackled and fizzed, sending electric blue sparks shooting from everything they touched. Storm put her head in her hands. “I can’t watch,” she groaned. “What does he think he’s doing?”
“Oh!” gasped Rachel, ducking as a lightning bolt zoomed past her head. “We have to stop him before he hurts someone,” she hissed.
“Who said that?” the goblin snapped. “Fairy, was that you? Or is somebody else in here?”
Kirsty’s heart pounded so loudly that she was sure the goblin would hear it. He was turning around, looking everywhere to see who’d made the noise. At last, his red eyes fell upon the girls, and he grinned a horrible grin.
“Oh!” he cried. “Planning to sneak up on me, were you?” And with a wave of the feather, he sent three fiery lightning bolts whizzing right at them!
“Duck!” cried Storm, diving into Kirsty’s coat pocket. The girls threw themselves behind a display case and the lightning crashed to the ground, only missing them by a few inches. Wisps of glittering smoke rose from a scorch mark on the floor. The smoke drifted up to the ceiling, where it finally fizzled out in a shower of blue sparks like a tiny firework. Fairy lightning was powerful stuff!
“What do we do now?” whispered Kirsty, her face white.
“I don’t know,” Rachel whispered back. “Storm — do you have any ideas?”
Storm shook her head. “The goblin is holding the feather so tightly, there’s no way I can fly over and grab it,” she said, frowning.
Rachel bit her lip. They needed a plan — fast! “I’ll just peek out to see where he is,” she whispered. She poked her head around the side of the display case, only to see the goblin creeping closer to them.
“There you are!” he yelled, and waved the Lightning Feather again.
To Rachel’s horror, a lightning bolt came shooting right at her face!
Rachel ducked back behind the display case just in time. The lightning bolt whizzed so close to her, it burned the edge of her coat.
Storm fluttered up into the air, a determined look on her face. “Shrink to fairy size, girls!” she called. “It’ll be harder for him to blast you when you’re small.”
Kirsty’s fingers were shaking so much that she could barely open her fairy locket. The Queen of the Fairies had given her and Rachel one locket each.
They were filled with magical fairy dust. Kirsty finally flipped open the lid and sprinkled the dust all over herself. Seconds later, she felt the familiar whooshing. She shrank smaller and smaller until she was the same size as Storm. She shook out her wings and spun in the air. Being a fairy was so much fun!
Rachel looked like a giant next to her. “I can’t find my locket,” she said anxiously. Just then, Kirsty spotted it shining on the floor under a display case, out of Rachel’s reach. She pointed it out. “It must have fallen off when you ducked for cover!” she said.
Before Kirsty could fly down and grab the locket for her friend, the goblin ran over, closer and closer. He held the Lightn
ing Feather tightly in his hand, and Rachel could see a wicked glint in his eye.
“Help!” she cried, dodging to one side. “Can you distract him, Storm?”
Storm was whizzing through the air, trying to get close enough to Rachel to sprinkle fairy dust onto her, but the goblin was blocking her way. And he was still waving the feather around, sending lightning bolts flashing in every direction. It was too dangerous for Kirsty or Storm to move any closer to Rachel.
“What are we going to do?” Kirsty yelled as she watched Rachel run from the goblin. The doors crashed open as Rachel sprinted into the next room. Kirsty and Storm flew behind her, not sure what to do.
The room was full of animal and insect exhibits. Luckily, there were no people around. The tour group must have headed for home when the power went out.
The goblin chased Rachel past cases of colorful butterflies, and then around a large glass box full of thousands of bustling ants.
The goblin waved the feather, and a bolt of lightning slammed against the ant house, scattering the ants inside. Kirsty thought her friend had done a great job of escaping the goblin so far, but she knew Rachel couldn’t keep it up forever. She had to think of some way to help!
Kirsty racked her brains as she and Storm followed Rachel and the goblin back into the dinosaur room. Suddenly, she spotted a large mirror hanging on one wall. An idea came to her. A crazy idea. A wild idea! But, she thought, it might just work… .
The Weather Fairies Collection Page 8
