Kirsty pointed up at the mirror. “Would lightning be strong enough to break that?” she asked Storm quickly.
Storm shook her head. “No, fairy lightning isn’t like normal lightning. It would just bounce back off a mirror,” she replied.
Kirsty grinned. “Perfect,” she said. “I’m going to try to surprise the goblin. You get ready to grab the feather!”
Kirsty could tell that Rachel was starting to get tired, so she flew down toward the goblin right away. He was just stretching out a bony hand to grab Rachel’s coat, when Kirsty tugged hard on one of his long ears.
“Ow! Who did that?” he yelped, jumping back.
Kirsty fluttered up in front of the mirror. “Yoo-hoo! Over here!” she yelled, waving. “Catch me if you can!”
She saw the goblin aim the Lightning Feather right at her. “Silly little fairy,” he yelled. “Take that!” And another crackling, golden lightning bolt zoomed toward Kirsty.
Kirsty held her breath as she watched it whiz through the air. It was so close, she could almost feel its heat on her face!
“Move!” Rachel shouted in panic, terrified that her friend was going to get hit.
But Kirsty waited until the very last second. Then, just as the lightning was about to strike her, she dodged out of its way. The fairy lightning struck the mirror and, as Storm had predicted, it bounced right back — straight at the goblin!
“Help!” he shouted, trying to get out of the way. He tripped over his own big feet and fell to the ground under the dinosaur model, dropping the Lightning Feather!
Quick as a flash, Storm was there, diving toward the feather in a blur of purple and gold. She snatched it up and flew high in the air, out of the reach of goblin fingers. “Nice work, Kirsty!” she cheered.
“Hey!” yelled the goblin in fury, jumping up to try to reach the feather. He fell awkwardly against the dinosaur, lost his balance, and tumbled right into the water below with the rubber fish!
Grinning mischievously, Storm pointed the Lightning Feather at the model dinosaur. A stream of fiery lightning bolts shot out of the feather and struck the red and blue buttons on the control panel. Rachel’s eyes widened as the dinosaur sparkled all over for a second, and then …
“RROOOOAAARRRRRR!”’ And with that, the dinosaur bent down and snatched up the goblin in its teeth!
Rachel, Kirsty, and Storm watched in amazement as the dinosaur lifted up its head with the struggling goblin still in its mouth.
“Put me down!” the goblin cried. “Aaaaargghh!”’
Of course, the model didn’t listen to the goblin but just went through its usual process. It tipped its head back, opened its jaws a little wider, and … clatter, clunk, bang, bang, crash!. The goblin tumbled right down into the dinosaur’s hollow belly! A furious pounding started inside the model.
“Let me out!” yelled the goblin.
Laughing with delight, Kirsty sprinkled another pinch of fairy dust over herself. It glittered bright white. Then she felt her wings disappear and her legs grow and — WHOOSH! — she was back to being a regular-sized girl again.
She ran to Rachel and hugged her. “Are you OK?” she asked. “That was scary, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Rachel agreed. “But everything turned out fine, thanks to your great idea, Kirsty. Now we have Doodle’s sixth feather back!”
Storm flew over to the girls with Rachel’s magical locket in her hands. “Here you go,” she said, handing it over. “I think we’d better leave while we can,” she added nervously. “It sounds like the goblin’s trying to climb out of the dinosaur. It won’t take him long to escape and tell Jack Frost what’s happened!” They could all hear the determined scratching sounds that were coming from inside the dinosaur.
Rachel fastened her locket carefully around her neck as the three friends headed for the museum’s exit. “I can’t believe I missed out on being a fairy today,” she said with a sigh. “That’s the only bad part. That — and almost getting zapped by fairy lightning!” she finished with a smile.
Outside, the rain had stopped and the dark clouds seemed to be melting away. The sun came out and made the wet pavement sparkle.
Rachel glanced down and groaned. “Oh, no,” she said. “My coat! I forgot that it got burned by the goblin’s lightning.”
Kirsty looked over as Rachel pulled up her coat to examine it. The material was black and scorched, and the stitching had fizzled away.
“Mom’s going to be upset,” Rachel said. “This coat was supposed to last through the new school year!”
“Let me see,” said Storm, darting down for a closer look. As soon as she saw the problem, she smiled and gently waved her magic wand along the hem. A trail of twinkling lights fell over the material, and Rachel gasped as the burned part of her coat started shimmering with a bright white light.
She blinked in the dazzling fairy glow and, when she looked again, she saw that her coat was as good as new! “Thank you, Storm,” Rachel gasped in delight. “Now Mom will never know!”
Storm winked. “I should be the one thanking you two,” she said. “Doodle will be so happy to have another feather back in his tail!”
They hurried down Twisty Lane to Kirsty’s house. “There’s Doodle,” Kirsty told Storm, pointing to the weather vane on top of the old barn.
Storm flew up to return the Lightning Feather to Doodle’s tail, and the girls waited expectantly. What was Doodle going to say this time? Every time they had put a feather back before, the rusty old weather vane had magically come alive, just for a second, and squawked out part of a message. So far, he had said, “Beware! Jack Frost will come if his …” The two friends couldn’t wait to find out what Doodle was going to say next. Jack Frost would come if his … what?.
As Storm carefully put the Lightning Feather into place, Doodle’s iron feathers softened and shimmered with a thousand fiery colors. His head turned toward the girls and his beak opened. “… goblins fail!” he squawked urgently. Then, just as quickly, the color vanished from Doodle’s feathers, his head turned back with a rusty creak, and he was an ordinary weather vane again.
Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other. “Beware! Jack Frost will come if his goblins fail!” they cried together.
Storm looked worried. “If you find the Rain Feather, then Jack Frost’s goblins will have failed,” she said. “That doesn’t sound good.” She fluttered down to Kirsty and Rachel. “You must be careful, girls. Jack Frost is very sneaky.”
“We know,” Kirsty said, biting her lip. “But we’ll be careful. Don’t worry, Storm.”
Kirsty and Rachel hugged Storm goodbye. They watched as the Lightning Fairy flew into the distance, until she was nothing but a purple sparkle in the air. Then she was gone.
The girls stood in silence for a minute, both thinking about Doodle’s warning. Rachel was the first to speak.
“We’ve almost done it, Kirsty,” she said. “But I think the last feather might be the hardest one to get back.”
Kirsty nodded. “And even if we do get it, I’m not looking forward to seeing Jack Frost at all,” she said. Then she squeezed Rachel’s hand. “But we’ve outwitted him before, haven’t we? I’m sure we can do it again.”
Rachel grinned. “You bet,” she agreed. “Watch out, Jack Frost! We’re ready for you!” she shouted.
Water, Water Everywhere!
Goblin Afloat
Stop, Thief!
Feathered Friends
Frost Fright
Rainbow’s End
“OK, OK, I’m awake. You can stop ringing now,” mumbled Kirsty Tate sleepily. She reached out to turn off her alarm clock. But strangely, the alarm wasn’t ringing.
Quack, quack, quack! The noise that had woken her rang through the air again.
Now that Kirsty was awake, she realized that the sound hadn’t been coming from her alarm clock at all. It was coming from outside instead. She jumped out of bed and peeked out through the curtains. “Oh!” she cried. There was water rising right up to her
windowsill. A large brown duck was swimming past, followed by five fluffy ducklings! Kirsty watched as the mother duck fussed over her babies.
It had been raining really hard all night. In the front yard, the grass and flowerbeds had flooded. Water lapped against the walls of the old barn, and out past the front gate the street looked like a silvery mirror.
Kirsty rushed over to her best friend, Rachel Walker, who was asleep in the guest bed. Rachel was staying with Kirsty for a week during her summer vacation. “Wake up, Rachel! You have to see this!” Kirsty said, shaking her friend gently.
Rachel sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What’s going on?”
“I think the river must have overflowed. Everything in Wetherbury is flooded!” replied Kirsty.
“Really?” Rachel was wide awake now, eagerly looking out the window. “That’s odd,” she said, pointing. “The water isn’t that deep in the front yard and the street. How can it be right up to your bedroom window at the same time?”
“Maybe it’s Weather Fairy magic!” Kirsty gasped, her eyes shining.
“Of course!” Rachel agreed. She knew that fairy magic followed its own rules.
Kirsty and Rachel were special friends of the fairies. The two girls had met while on vacation with their parents on Rainspell Island. There, they had helped the seven Rainbow Fairies get home to Fairyland after Jack Frost’s spell had cast them out. Now Jack Frost was up to more trouble, and Rachel and Kirsty were on another secret fairy mission, this time with the Weather Fairies.
Rachel looked over at Doodle, the weather vane on top of the barn. Usually, with the help of the Weather Fairies, Doodle the rooster was in charge of the weather in Fairyland. Each of his seven magic tail feathers controlled a different type of weather. But Jack Frost had sent his goblins to steal these magic feathers, and they had run away with them into the human world. Doodle had followed, but without his feathers, and outside of Fairyland, he had transformed into an ordinary metal weather vane.
Kirsty’s dad had found him lying in the park and brought him home. That’s where he would have to stay until Kirsty and Rachel could return all seven of his tail feathers and send him back to Fairyland. They had already found six feathers, so there was just one more left to find!
“Today’s the last day of my vacation,” Rachel said sadly.
“I know! We have to find the magic Rain Feather today,” Kirsty called over her shoulder as she quickly got dressed. “It’s our last chance. At least with all this magical flooding, we can be sure that the goblin who stole the feather isn’t far away!”
Just then, there was a tapping noise at the window. “What if that’s the goblin?” Rachel whispered nervously. The goblins were mean, and Jack Frost had cast a spell to make them even bigger than usual. There was a rule in Fairyland that nothing could be taller than the highest tower of the fairy palace, but the goblins were still pretty big. They reached up to the girls’ shoulders!
Kirsty put her finger to her lips. “Shh,” she warned, edging toward the window. She peeked out, then threw back the curtains with a smile. An elegant white swan was tapping on the window with its beak. And a tiny fairy was sitting on the swan’s back, waving at the girls.
“Oh!” Rachel gasped in delight. “It’s Hayley the Rain Fairy!”
Kirsty was just about to open the window to let Hayley in, but then she hesitated. “All of the water will rush inside,” she said, frowning.
Hayley laughed. It sounded like a tinkling bell. “Don’t worry!” she called through the window. “It’s fairy rain. It doesn’t spill into people’s houses.”
Slowly, Kirsty opened the window. The water stayed right where it was!
Rachel leaned forward. She could tell that a strange invisible barrier was holding the water back. “It feels like jelly!” she said, poking her finger into it. The water on the other side of the barrier felt just like normal. Hayley fluttered through the window and blew the swan a kiss. “Thanks for the ride!” she said. “Good-bye!” The swan dipped its head and glided away. “Hello, girls,” Hayley sang happily.
“Hello again, Hayley,” Kirsty replied. She and Rachel had met Hayley in Fairyland at the beginning of their adventure, along with all of the other Weather Fairies.
“We’re so glad to see you,” added Rachel.
Hayley hovered in the air. She wore a pretty violet skirt and a matching top. Her long, dark hair was tied up in a ponytail and decorated with a bright blue flower. She folded her arms, and little droplets of blue and violet scattered from her silver wand. “It’s time to get Doodle’s Rain Feather back from that terrible goblin!” she said firmly, eyes flashing.
“We think so, too,” Rachel agreed. “But how can we look for him with all this flooding? We really need a boat.”
That gave Kirsty an idea. “I helped Dad clean out the garage last week, and we found an old raft. Let’s go ask if we can take it out to play.”
Hayley dived off the curtain rail, her delicate wings flashing, and landed on Rachel’s shoulder. She hid beneath Rachel’s hair.
The girls found Mr. and Mrs. Tate in the kitchen. Mr. Tate looked baffled as he stared out of the window. “Since I can’t get to work in this rain, I think I’ll work on a mathematical theory about this flood water …” he murmured, wandering past them.
“Hello, girls,” said Mrs. Tate with a smile. “Your dad’s trying to figure out why the water isn’t flooding into the house, Kirsty. But I’m just glad the place is dry! I made some toast. Help yourselves.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Kirsty grabbed a piece of toast. “Is it OK if we go out in the old raft?”
Mrs. Tate smiled. “Sounds fine to me. Just be careful, please!”
Kirsty and Rachel rushed out to the garage, finishing their toast on the way.
Kirsty pulled out the raft, along with an air pump and two wooden paddles.
It didn’t take long to inflate the raft. Then the girls pushed it out through the window of the garage, onto the water.
They climbed in carefully. It was just big enough for two people.
“Perfect!” said Hayley. She fluttered down to the front of the raft, where she sat like a tiny sparkling figurehead. Blue and violet droplets scattered from her wand.
“Here we go!” Rachel dipped her paddle into the water.
Kirsty began paddling, too. At first, the raft spun in circles. As the girls got the hang of steering it, they began moving out toward High Street.
Suddenly, a lady in a yellow raincoat and boots jumped out in front of them.
“Look out, Kirsty! It’s the crossing guard!” called Rachel. She dragged her paddle in the water, using it as a brake. Quick as a flash, Hayley whooshed into Kirsty’s pocket, out of sight.
“Let the people cross!” said the crossing guard, holding out her arms.
Kirsty and Rachel waited for a man to cross the street. He was pulling a floating wooden box with a dog sitting inside.
“Thank you. All clear!” The crossing guard smiled at Rachel and Kirsty as they paddled on.
Outside the post office, the girls saw a group of kids splashing about happily. They all wore boots and raincoats and didn’t seem to mind the pouring rain at all. But not everyone was enjoying the rain. Kirsty spotted a cat perched in an oak tree in the village square. “Poor thing,” she said. “At least it’s safe up there.”
As they continued paddling toward the park, Rachel saw a strange, dark shape floating out from behind the playground slide. “Look over there. It’s an upside-down umbrella!” she cried, pointing.
Kirsty’s eyes widened. Four ducks, all connected to some sort of rope, were quacking loudly, and pulling an umbrella boat along. Inside sat a hunched, dripping wet figure.
Suddenly, Rachel realized who it was. “It’s the goblin,” she gasped. “And he could spot us at any moment!”
“Quick, hide!” Hayley whispered. “We need to come up with a plan.”
Kirsty and Rachel looked around desperately. The goblin was coming closer an
d closer. There was nowhere to hide!
“What about the trees?” Kirsty suggested. “If we turn into fairies, we can hide in the branches!”
Rachel pulled out the magic locket that the Fairy Queen had given her to use in times of danger. Kirsty found hers, too, and both girls sprinkled themselves with glittering fairy dust.
Kirsty felt her shoulders tingle as delicate fairy wings grew there. She fluttered straight into the air, heading for the nearest branch.
Rachel also felt herself shrinking. She zoomed upward on her sparkly wings and landed next to Kirsty. Just then, she spotted an empty bird’s nest on a nearby branch. “Quick! In here!” she whispered.
Kirsty and Hayley jumped in beside Rachel. The nest was lined with moss and fluffy feathers. It felt cozy and dry. “Great idea, Rachel. This is a perfect place to hide!” Hayley said, grinning.
As soon as the girls were out of sight, the goblin floated beneath the tree in his umbrella boat. One of the ducks flapped its wings angrily, pulling at its rope. The umbrella wobbled in the water and almost tipped over.
“Hey! I almost fell out!” the goblin complained. “Stop trying to get away, you silly ducks. You’ve got my nice warm scarf for a rope. I’m the one who’s freezing! Achoo!” His loud sneeze echoed through the park like a foghorn.
Kirsty, Rachel, and Hayley quietly peeked out of the nest. They could see that the goblin was very thin, with enormous hands and feet. Rain poured from the brim of his battered hat and dripped onto his long, crooked nose.
The Weather Fairies Collection Page 9
