The little goblin looked embarrassed. He scuffed his long green toes on the dusty road.
“We just wanted to learn how to make pies,” he said. “But you came back before I could find out what was inside.”
“That’s easy,” said Kirsty. “We were making my grandmother’s special recipe.”
“What’s in that?” demanded the bigger goblin.
“It has apples and brown sugar,” said Kirsty.
“And lemon zest and pecans,” Rachel added.
The goblins made faces. The small goblin wrinkled his nose in disgust.
“Yuck!” he said. “Horrible sickly sweet fairy food.”
“What a rotten trick,” grumbled the other. “I’m glad we didn’t try the pie!”
Suddenly, Kirsty had an idea. She turned to Natalie and Rachel with shining eyes.
“I think I know how to get the magic Christmas pie back,” she said. “Natalie, could you use your magic to make a special batch of pies? They would have to be filled with something the goblins would really like.”
“Yes, of course,” said Natalie. “But why?”
Kirsty smiled at her and turned to the goblins.
“Goblins, how would you like to have a delicious hot batch of nettle and seaweed pies?” she asked.
Their eyes grew big and the small one licked his lips hungrily.
“Natalie could make you as many pies as you can carry,” Kirsty continued.
“Yes!” squawked the goblins. “Give us the nettle pies!”
“All you have to do is give us that Christmas pie you’re holding,” said Kirsty.
The small one thrust the magic pie into Natalie’s hands. It immediately returned to fairy-size, and Rachel sighed in relief. Then Natalie waved her wand, and a huge tray of steaming-hot pies appeared in front of the goblins. Green ribbons of steam wafted under the girls’ noses.
Rachel and Kirsty thought the new pies smelled very strange, but the goblins were delighted. They each grabbed several pies and gobbled them down greedily.
“Wonderful!” they cried, spraying crumbs everywhere. “Delicious!”
They rushed off toward the Ice Castle, holding the large tray of pies between them. Natalie turned to the girls with a big smile.
“We did it!” said Rachel, clapping her hands in delight.
“You have helped me so much,” Natalie said. “How can I ever thank you?”
“We’re happy to help,” said Kirsty. “We don’t want Jack Frost to ruin Christmas morning!”
“Thank you,” said Natalie. “I have to return the magic Christmas pie to its box now, but will you help me look for the enchanted stocking and the charmed candy cane?”
“Definitely!” said Rachel, hugging their new friend. “We’ll be at our cottage when you need us.”
Natalie waved her wand at the girls’ lockets. They filled up with fairy dust again, and closed all by themselves.
“I’ll see you soon,” she said. “And thank you again. I couldn’t have done it without you!”
With another wave of Natalie’s wand, the girls were showered with silvery fairy dust, which swirled around them. They held hands as the magic lifted them off their feet to start the journey home. They couldn’t wait for their next adventure with Natalie — but right now they had some Christmas pies of their own to make!
The Enchanted Stocking
Snowflakes and Stockings
“What a magical Christmas Eve,” said Mrs. Walker, sipping her hot chocolate.
Rachel and Kirsty were sharing a large armchair in the sunroom of their cottage. Together with their parents, they had been watching the fluffy white snowflakes falling in the yard. The snow was shining icily in the moonlight, but inside it was warm and snug. Mrs. Tate had made hot chocolate with squishy marshmallows for everyone.
“Time for bed, girls,” said Mr. Tate, smiling at Kirsty and Rachel as they drained their mugs. “Santa will already be on his way.”
The girls felt shivers of excitement. Santa was flying through the sky on his sleigh toward them. They felt as if everything was just waiting for him to arrive — even the snow lying like a blanket over the yard outside.
“I’m sorry that we couldn’t find your stockings,” said Mr. Walker. “It’s very odd. I’m sure I unpacked them when we got here, but now they’re nowhere to be seen.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Rachel, trying not to sound disappointed.
She had never had Christmas without a stocking before. She and Kirsty had both been hanging up special stockings ever since they were little.
“I bet Buttons has been chewing on them somewhere,” said Mrs. Tate.
Buttons’s ears drooped as he left the room with the girls. Rachel stroked the soft fur on his head.
“Don’t be upset, Buttons,” she said. “I’m sure you had nothing to do with the stockings disappearing.”
“I agree,” said Kirsty, lowering her voice in case their parents could hear her. “I think it happened because Jack Frost has stolen Natalie’s magic items.”
Rachel nodded. They had helped the Christmas Stocking Fairy find her magic Christmas pie, but there were still two items missing, and only a few hours of Christmas Eve left. Time was running out!
Buttons gave a curious woof and darted upstairs.
“What’s the matter, Buttons?” called Rachel, taking a step after him.
Kirsty peeked through the open door of the living room. It looked very cozy and peaceful. The tree was covered in twinkling colored lights and the fire was still dancing in the hearth, making the whole room glow. It was perfect — except for the bare mantelpiece.
“Somehow it doesn’t seem like Christmas Eve without stockings,” she said with a sigh.
Rachel had been about to follow Buttons upstairs, but she turned around and stood next to her best friend. She slipped her hand into Kirsty’s and smiled at her.
“We’ll make it fun — with or without our stockings,” she said in a comforting voice.
Suddenly, the girls heard a tiny scratching noise.
“What was that?” exclaimed Rachel.
“It came from the fireplace,” said Kirsty, hurrying into the room.
A sprinkle of soot came down the chimney, and the fire died down.
“Oh, no,” said Rachel, raising her hand to her mouth. “Do you think that a bird could be stuck in the chimney? I should go get Dad.”
“Wait!” said Kirsty, grabbing her best friend’s arm as she turned to leave the room. “I’ve got a funny feeling that it’s not a bird.”
The fire died down even more, and then the girls saw a tiny pinprick of light shining in the darkness of the chimney. The light grew brighter and brighter, and then a fairy whooshed down the chimney in a whirl of silvery sparkles.
“Natalie!” said Rachel happily. “Have you found your other missing items?”
“Not yet,” said Natalie, her cheeks pink. “But I think I’m very close. I followed two goblins all the way from Fairyland, and I think Jack Frost might have sent them here to hide the enchanted stocking!”
Tree Tricks
“So the enchanted stocking might be very close by?” asked Rachel, feeling excited. “We’ve got a really good chance of finding it!”
Natalie fluttered up to stand on the mantelpiece so that she could look into the girls’ eyes.
“It might be more difficult than you think,” she said.
“Where are the goblins now?” asked Kirsty eagerly.
“That’s the problem,” said Natalie. “When I got here, the snow was so thick and heavy that I couldn’t see a thing. I lost sight of the goblins near a tree in the yard. I don’t know where they went!”
Her wings drooped a little, and the girls felt very sorry for her.
“Don’t give up!” said Rachel. “Show us the tree where you last saw them. Maybe we can find a clue that will tell us where they went.”
Natalie flew down from the mantelpiece and slipped under a lock of Kirsty’s hair.
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Then the girls tiptoed out into the hall and pulled on their coats and boots as quietly as they could. They slowly opened the creaky wooden front door and stepped out into the snowy yard.
“It’s lucky that our parents are sitting at the back of the house!” said Rachel with a little chuckle. “They would wonder what we were doing out in the snow so late!”
“Which tree was it?” Kirsty asked Natalie, blinking as the flurries of snowflakes stuck to her eyelashes.
“That one over there,” said Natalie, pointing at the apple tree to the left of the house.
The snow was very deep and it was hard to walk through, but at last they reached the apple tree. There were lots of marks in the snow around the tree.
“Goblin footprints!” said Rachel. “I’d recognize them anywhere.”
“Me, too,” said Kirsty. “Now all we have to do is follow the trail of footprints and we’re sure to find the goblins.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be so easy,” said Rachel, looking puzzled. “These footprints don’t go anywhere. They just go around and around the tree. It’s as if the goblins have completely disappeared.”
She was right. Kirsty walked all the way around the tree. She could see the footprints leading up to the tree, and going around it. But there were no footprints leading away.
“It’s impossible!” she said. “Goblins can’t fly.”
She looked around, wondering if the goblins were watching them from the dark bushes that bordered the yard.
“Did you see anything else that might give us a clue about the goblins?” Rachel asked Natalie.
The little fairy thought carefully.
“The only other thing I noticed were some scratching noises as I came down the chimney,” she said. “But they were coming from upstairs inside the cottage. How could the goblins have gotten inside the house without leaving footprints here?”
“I know!” said Kirsty, turning to them with shining eyes.
She had been staring thoughtfully at the tree, and suddenly she realized what must have happened.
“The goblins didn’t leave any footprints because they never left the tree,” she said.
“I don’t understand,” said Rachel. “If they never left, then why can’t we see them?”
“Because they climbed up the tree instead!” Kirsty exclaimed.
She pointed up to where a branch of the tree rested on a window ledge. The window was open.
“You’re right — that’s how they got into the cottage!” Natalie said. “Which room is that?”
Rachel and Kirsty exchanged worried glances.
“It’s our bedroom!” cried Rachel. “Come on!”
Tug-of-War
The girls started to run back to the house, but it was slow going in the deep snow. It seemed like forever before they reached the front door. They flung off their snowy coats and boots, and raced upstairs to their bedroom.
The bedroom door was open, and they could hear Buttons growling from inside. They rushed in, and then stopped in their tracks.
Two goblins were sitting on the edge of the windowsill, clutching the girls’
Christmas stockings and squawking in fury. Buttons was hanging on to the other ends of the stockings, growling deep in his throat. The goblins were wrapped up in wool scarves, and one of them clearly had a cold, because his nose was very red. Their bony feet were reaching out for the topmost branches of the apple tree.
“They’re trying to get away!” exclaimed Rachel. “Good boy, Buttons!”
The girls raced across the room to help Buttons, but Natalie cried out in surprise and flew toward the goblins.
“That’s not a hat!” she exclaimed, pointing at the goblin with the red nose. “That’s my enchanted stocking!”
“That doesn’t belong to you!” cried Rachel. “Give it back!”
“Leave us alone, horrible human girls!” screeched the red-nosed goblin. “A-CHOO!”
Rachel and Kirsty grabbed the ends of the stockings and pulled as hard as they could. There was a loud ripping sound.
“Oooh. Three against two!” squealed the other goblin. “Not fair!”
“Pull!” yelled Kirsty.
“Hold on!” yelled the goblins.
The strange tug-of-war continued, but the goblins were struggling to stay on the windowsill. The girls and Buttons gave one last yank, and the goblins came tumbling inside the room, still clinging to the stockings. Rachel, Kirsty, and Buttons all fell backward, panting, and the goblins landed on top of them.
“Ouch!” said Kirsty, pushing the red-nosed goblin off her leg.
“Get your elbow out of my eye!” moaned the other goblin to Rachel.
Everyone sat up and tried to catch their breaths. The goblins pulled off their scarves. Natalie perched on Rachel’s knee.
“Why are you making so much trouble?” she asked the goblins. “You took my enchanted stocking, and now you’re trying to steal Rachel’s and Kirsty’s stockings, too.”
“That was a really mean thing to do,” said Kirsty. “You shouldn’t take things that don’t belong to you.”
“And you shouldn’t mess up things that other people care about,” Rachel added, holding up the ripped stockings and gazing sadly at them. “These were our favorite stockings and you’ve ruined them. They’ll take forever to fix.”
“Ruined?” exclaimed the red-nosed goblin, sniffing scornfully. “They’re perfect! They’re the best stockings I’ve ever seen. Not like this silly thing.”
He pointed to the enchanted stocking, which was still on his head. Rachel and Kirsty were puzzled.
“You mean, you want stockings that are all ripped and ruined?” asked Rachel in confusion.
The other goblin rolled his eyes at her. “Of course we do!” he said rudely. “Neat, clean stockings are for girls and fairies. Brave, handsome goblins like me want stockings like these.”
“That’s what you were doing here?” asked Natalie. “You were looking for stockings to hang up for Santa?”
“That’s none of your business,” said the red-nosed goblin, sticking his tongue out at her and sneezing loudly. “Anyway, why shouldn’t we have stockings? Jack Frost has one, so we should have them, too.”
The goblins started to move toward the window, wrapping their scarves around their necks.
“I’ve got an idea,” Kirsty whispered to Rachel. “I think we can get Natalie’s enchanted stocking back, but it means that we have to give away our own Christmas stockings!”
Stocking Swap
“If it helps Natalie, then I’ll happily give away my stocking,” Rachel replied at once. “After all, Christmas isn’t just about the presents that Santa delivers.”
Kirsty smiled at her.
“I thought you’d say that,” she said. “If we can convince the goblins to give us the enchanted stocking in return for our stockings, we might still be able to keep Jack Frost from ruining Christmas.”
The girls looked at the goblins. They were just about to climb out of the window, and were shoving each other, arguing and sounding very grumpy.
“Wait!” Kirsty called. “Please come back.”
The goblins looked around in surprise.
Rachel and Kirsty held out their stockings.
“Would you like to do a swap?” asked Rachel.
“What do you mean?” asked the red-nosed goblin in a suspicious voice.
Kirsty took a deep breath. “If you give Natalie her enchanted stocking, we’ll give you our ripped stockings,” she said.
Natalie looked at the girls in amazement. She hadn’t heard their plan, but she knew how much their stockings meant to them. She could hardly believe her ears!
The goblins took a step toward the girls.
“Really?” asked the red-nosed one, taking the enchanted stocking off his head and holding it in his hands. “You’d really swap this horrible thing for those lovely stockings?”
“Don’t believe them!” squawked the other goblin, tuggin
g on his arm. “It’s a trick! They’re lying!”
“It’s not a trick, and we always tell the truth,” said Rachel. “Give us the enchanted stocking and I promise that you can have these stockings to keep.”
The goblins went into the corner and whispered to each other for a long time. The girls couldn’t hear anything except an occasional sneeze. Natalie fluttered onto Rachel’s shoulder and they waited.
At last, the goblins turned around, and Rachel and Kirsty held their breaths.
“We agree!” the goblins said together.
Smiling, Natalie flew over to them and they handed her the enchanted stocking. It returned to fairy-size as soon as she touched it. Then Rachel and Kirsty gave their ruined stockings to the goblins.
“Hee-hee!” squealed the red-nosed goblin in delight. “We’ve got two stockings for one! Those silly humans don’t know how to bargain. A-CHOO!”
He ran around the room, waving his ripped stocking above his head.
“Come on,” said the other goblin in an impatient voice. “Let’s go.”
Natalie the Christmas Stocking Fairy Page 2
