They sprang out of the window onto the branches of the apple tree and disappeared into the darkness. Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other and laughed.
“We did it!” said Kirsty. “Now there’s only one magic item left to find.”
But Natalie didn’t look as happy as they expected.
“It’s wonderful that we found the enchanted stocking,” she said. “But it’s almost Christmas Day, and the charmed candy cane is still missing. Without it, boys and girls won’t get any delicious treats this Christmas.”
“We’ll think of something,” said Rachel kindly. “But first, let’s make sure that those goblins are really leaving. I don’t want them to cause any more trouble here!”
They hurried over to the window and leaned out as far as they dared.
In the yard, they could see the two goblins climbing down the tree trunk. Their green skin gleamed in the moonlight.
“You’re going too slowly,” one of them complained. “Hurry up.”
“Get your foot out of my eye,” grumbled the other one. “I’m going as fast as I can. What’s the big rush, anyway?”
“I want to try some of that stripy candy that Jack Frost has,” said the first goblin. “If we’re not back soon, the other goblins will have eaten it all.”
“You’re right,” said the other goblin, speeding up. “They’re all really greedy. A-CHOO!”
Natalie and the girls gazed at one another in excitement.
“Do you think they’re talking about the charmed candy cane?” asked Natalie.
“Yes!” said Kirsty. “Jack Frost must be keeping it close to him — right in the heart of his Ice Castle!”
The girls exchanged a glance. They were happy to know where the candy cane was, even if it meant a trip to Jack Frost’s castle.
A Sweet Surprise
The girls closed the window, and Natalie hovered beside them. Jack Frost’s castle was a scary place, and there was very little time left. Could they get the charmed candy cane back before the sun rose?
“We should leave now,” said Rachel, thinking out loud. “Every moment is precious.”
“No,” said Natalie. “You shouldn’t have to help me get into Jack Frost’s castle on Christmas Eve. I’ll go by myself.”
“No way,” said Kirsty in a determined voice. “We’re not letting you go there alone.”
“Kirsty’s right,” said Rachel. “We’re coming with you.”
Natalie could see that she wouldn’t be able to change their minds. She smiled gratefully.
“Thank you,” she said. “It will be nicer to have you there with me. I’ll make sure that time stands still here while you’re gone, so your parents won’t realize that you’re not in bed.”
Rachel knelt down next to Buttons and patted his shaggy head.
“You were wonderful, Buttons!” she said. “Thanks to you, the enchanted stocking is safe.”
“I’d like to thank him, too,” said Natalie.
She waved her wand and cast a magic spell.
“A loyal pet whose heart is true.
Girls whose hearts are generous, too.
Give my dog and human friends
Presents that will make amends.”
There was a puff of sparkling fairy dust. When the sparkles cleared, a juicy bone was lying between Buttons’s front paws.
But he wasn’t the only one to be surprised with a gift. Kirsty and Rachel saw that two beautiful new stockings had appeared in their hands. They were delicately embroidered with pictures of the girls’ fairy friends.
“Thank you!” said Rachel.
“I’ve never seen such beautiful stockings!” Kirsty added.
“When Santa sees them, he will know that you are friends with the fairies,” said Natalie.
“Let’s hang them up before we go to the Ice Castle,” said Rachel eagerly. “Come on, Buttons!”
Rachel and Kirsty tiptoed downstairs. Buttons ran ahead of them and flopped down in his bed with his bone. The girls could hear their parents talking in the sunroom. They crept into the living room and carefully hung their wonderful new stockings from the mantelpiece.
“There’s just one more thing to do before we go,” said Kirsty, looking at Rachel.
“Oh, yes!” said Rachel, remembering. “Santa and his reindeer will be hungry when they get here.”
They hurried into the kitchen and opened the container of mini pies that they had made the day before. Rachel put three pies on a plate while Kirsty got some carrots from the fridge. Then they put the treats on the mantelpiece next to their stockings.
“Ready?” asked Natalie.
Kirsty and Rachel held hands.
“Ready!” they said together.
With a swish of Natalie’s wand, the girls began to shrink into fairies, surrounded by shimmering snowflakes.
Gauzy wings appeared on their backs, and they felt Natalie’s magic whisking them away to Fairyland. Rachel and Kirsty couldn’t wait to find Natalie’s candy cane. The final part of their adventure was about to begin!
Back to Fairyland
Rachel, Kirsty, and Natalie arrived outside the Christmas Workshop in a flurry of sparkles. The three friends hurried inside, and Natalie returned the enchanted stocking to her little white box. Then she used her magic to make snug coats and boots for Kirsty and Rachel.
“Are the other Christmas Fairies here?” asked Rachel, hoping to see some of their friends again.
“No,” said Natalie. “They’re all at the palace with the king and queen. The night before Christmas is a very busy time for us. They’re relying on me to find the last missing object.”
“Not just you,” said Kirsty, smiling at the little fairy. “Rachel and I are here to help you.”
“Besides, there’s no time to fly to the palace and ask for help,” Rachel added. “It’s almost midnight.”
“If we can’t get the charmed candy cane back before Christmas Day, no one will get any treats in their stockings this year,” said Kirsty. “We have to get to the Ice Castle and find out where Jack Frost has hidden it. There’s no time to lose.”
They hurried out of the Christmas Workshop and fluttered up into the cold night air. After they had made their way past the trees, they reached the moonlit road to the Ice Castle.
“We have to fly like the wind,” said Natalie.
With her wand she tapped first Rachel’s wings, then Kirsty’s, and finally her own.
“Now you will be able to fly three times as fast as before!” she said.
The girls fluttered their wings and shot forward at an incredible speed.
“It’s like the best carnival ride ever!” squealed Kirsty as they raced forward.
Within a few minutes they were hovering high above the castle. There were goblins on patrol all around the battlements.
“We’ll never get in while the guards are watching,” said Natalie.
“Let’s fly lower,” said Rachel. “We might spot an unguarded way in if we get closer.”
The three fairies peered around in the moonlight.
“I can’t see any way in,” said Natalie.
Her breath formed a cloud in the freezing night air.
“Kirsty, do you remember when we came here with Holly?” said Rachel. “We found an open trapdoor. Maybe we could get in that way again.”
Kirsty looked around eagerly, but then her shoulders slumped.
“I can see the trapdoor,” she said, pointing at the icy floor of the battlements. “But there are two goblin guards standing right on top of it.”
It looked as if it was going to be impossible to get in. But as Rachel was staring at the goblins on top of the trapdoor, she noticed something strange.
“Do those goblins look a little odd to you?” she asked.
They flew lower. The goblins looked bigger than usual, and barely a scrap of green skin could be seen.
“They’re completely bundled up against the cold!” realized Rachel. “Look — the one on the left ha
s feathers on the top of his head.”
“The other one’s wearing three fake beards,” added Kirsty with a giggle.
All the goblins on the battlements were the same. It was so cold that they had put on anything they could find. The girls could see blankets, turbans, sombreros, and top hats. There was even a goblin in an old-fashioned diving helmet. Each of the goblins was also wrapped in a big scarf.
“I’m still freezing,” they heard one of the goblins grumble.
He was wearing a top hat that was so big that it was resting on his shoulders. His voice was very muffled.
“It’s lucky we found that old box of costumes,” said another from underneath a three-cornered pirate’s hat.
“Jack Frost’s really mean to make us work when it’s so cold,” said another. “I can’t see a thing.”
Rachel and Kirsty exchanged an excited glance.
“That’s how we can get in!” said Kirsty. “They’re so bundled up that they might not notice us.”
“Let’s try it,” said Rachel eagerly. “We just have to be very, very quiet.”
A Chilly Search
Soundlessly, the three friends fluttered down to the courtyard. Rachel and Kirsty kept their fingers crossed as they drifted lower, hoping that the guards wouldn’t notice them. At last, they felt hard stone under their feet. They had done it!
“Where should we start looking?” asked Natalie in a whisper.
Her voice shook a little. Rachel and Kirsty had visited Jack Frost’s Ice Castle several times, but she had never been there before. It was a dank and dismal place. Rachel gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
Kirsty looked around and saw a passageway leading off from the courtyard.
“Let’s start down there,” she said in a soft voice.
They fluttered down the passageway. It was lit by flickering torches, and there were many doors on each side of it. At the far end was a winding staircase.
“We’ll have to search every room,” said Natalie. “Jack Frost could be keeping the charmed candy cane anywhere.”
“Let’s split up,” Rachel suggested. “We’ll be able to search more quickly if we go in different directions.”
The fairies checked all the rooms along the passage. They found plenty of cobwebs and lots of dust bunnies, but no charmed candy cane.
They met up at the end of the passageway.
“Any luck?” asked Natalie.
Rachel and Kirsty shook their heads.
“Let’s go up this staircase,” Kirsty suggested. “Perhaps he’s hidden it in one of the towers.”
They fluttered up the narrow, spiraling stairs. At the top they found an empty hallway and another staircase.
“Let’s keep searching,” said Natalie. “But watch out for goblins!”
The girls split up again and started to search. They fluttered up staircase after staircase, through hallway after hallway, and into room after room. They saw the open costume box that the goblins had raided. They saw the drums and guitars that belonged to the Gobolicious Band. They saw the tutus and headdresses that the Goblinovski Festival Ballet dancers wore. But they didn’t see a single sign of the charmed candy cane. As they came to the end of another hallway, Kirsty drew in her breath sharply.
“I can hear goblin voices!” she said urgently. “Quick — hide!”
It was so cold inside the stone walls of the castle that icicles grew from the ceilings. Rachel, Kirsty, and Natalie hovered behind three of the thickest icicles as the goblins hurried along the hallway below.
“Jack Frost has eaten all the bogmallows again,” grumbled the smaller goblin, who was wearing a chef’s hat. “He’s ordered me to make another batch.
I’m tired of always making bogmallows and never getting to eat them.”
“I just wish he’d let us wear warmer clothes inside,” said the other. “My toes are turning into icicles!”
They disappeared down the stairs and the girls heaved sighs of relief.
“Whew, that was close,” said Rachel. “Come on.”
They flew up the stairs and found a single wooden door at the top. They had reached the topmost room of the highest tower.
“I hope we find my candy cane soon,” said Natalie.
There were all sorts of things piled up around the room. Rachel, Natalie, and Kirsty searched through moldy plates, broken ornaments, chipped mugs, and smelly socks. Eventually, they stopped and looked at one another in disappointment.
“Nothing,” said Kirsty. “That means there’s only one room in the castle that we haven’t checked.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that,” said Rachel.
“What do you mean?” asked Natalie. “Where do you think it is?”
“It must be in the Great Hall,” Kirsty told her.
“That’s terrific!” said Natalie. “Let’s go and find it.”
“If only it were that easy,” said Rachel with a sigh. “You see, the Great Hall is where Jack Frost will be!”
Bogmallows and Bad Tempers
Kirsty and Rachel led the way to the Great Hall. As they flew closer, they heard many running footsteps and the squawking sound of goblin voices. The door of the Great Hall banged loudly as goblins hurried in and out. Every time the door opened, the three friends could hear Jack Frost bellowing orders at the top of his voice.
“Where are my bogmallows?”
“Get me an extra blanket!”
“Shut that door!”
The three fairies hovered close to the ceiling.
“How are we going to get inside?” asked Rachel.
Before her friends could reply, they saw a worried-looking goblin running down the hallway toward the Great Hall. He was carrying a tray of bogmallows, and the girls realized that he was the same goblin they had seen earlier. He was still wearing his chef’s hat.
The goblin’s hands were full, so he used his elbow to turn the handle and open the door. He pushed it as hard as he could and it swung open.
“Quickly, let’s follow him in!” said Kirsty.
As the goblin hurried through with his tray, Kirsty, Rachel, and Natalie darted inside.
Jack Frost sat on his throne surrounded by a semicircle of goblins. In the corner, a withered branch had been stuck into a Christmas tree stand, and a few ragged paper chains were looped around it. Three goblins stood around the tree, holding sheets of carol music. Their loud squawks were obviously their idea of singing, but they were making a terrible noise. Kirsty put her hands over her ears.
“I think they’re all singing different carols,” she groaned.
“Let’s stay out of sight,” said Rachel.
They fluttered up to the ceiling and perched on the chandelier so that they had a good view of the hall. At that moment, the goblin carrying the tray stepped up to the throne and bowed.
“Your bogmallows are ready,” he said.
“You took your time!” snapped Jack Frost. “Give them to me.”
He snatched the tray and started to gobble the bogmallows.
The goblins around him shuffled closer to the throne. They looked hungry, but Jack Frost ignored them.
As he stuffed the bogmallows into his mouth, another gaggle of goblins was trying to light a fire in the hearth. They didn’t seem to know what to do, and Rachel and Kirsty watched them with interest.
“You have to rub things together,” one of them said bossily. “I heard a boy scout say so.”
The others started to make suggestions.
“Your hands?” said one.
“Bogmallows?” said another.
“Hats?”
“Noses?”
“Boots?”
A plump goblin started busily rubbing two old toothbrushes together.
“It’s not working,” he moaned.
Suddenly, Natalie noticed something. The goblins who were sitting around the throne were all drooling. She looked more closely and saw that their eyes were fixed on one of the arms of Jack Frost’s throne.
“That’s strange,” she murmured.
At that moment, Jack Frost moved, and the folds of his cloak fell open. Tucked down the side of the throne was a long, delicious-looking striped candy with a curved handle. Natalie clutched Kirsty’s arm and pointed.
“It’s the charmed candy cane,” she whispered. “We found it!”
A Charmed Rescue
“Look!” whispered Kirsty. “One of the goblins is trying to take the charmed candy cane.”
The goblin reached out toward the sweet treat, but Jack Frost saw him and rapped the greedy hand with his wand.
“OOOW!” yowled the goblin.
“Leave it alone!” yelled Jack Frost. “You can’t have that — it’s mine!”
He went back to munching on the bogmallows. His face got closer and closer to the tray as he scooped them into his mouth.
“Another goblin’s trying to take it now,” said Rachel.
But this time, Jack Frost didn’t notice. Carefully, the goblin lifted it from the arm of the throne. He brought it slowly toward his open, drooling mouth.
“Oh, no, he’s going to eat it!” Natalie groaned.
Natalie the Christmas Stocking Fairy Page 3
