Looking excited, Lindsay opened the cake box. “Oh!” she exclaimed in awe. “What a beautiful cake! It turned out even better than I imagined!”
“It is pretty, isn’t it?” Rachel said with a grin.
“Magical!” Lindsay sighed, and the girls exchanged a secret smile.
“You know, I was worried because everything in the kitchen today has been awful!” Lindsay went on. “The chefs were getting all the recipes wrong, and the ovens weren’t working properly. But this cake has made me feel a lot better!” She turned to the delivery man. “Could you help me carry it inside, please?”
“Everything will be fine in the kitchen now that the magic figurine is back, girls,” Flora whispered, flying out of Kirsty’s pocket.
“Thank goodness,” Rachel said.
“I need to return to Fairyland,” Flora went on, “but I’ll be back — and so will Jack Frost’s goblins. Be on the lookout!” With that, she blew the girls a kiss and vanished.
Rachel and Kirsty smiled at each other, determined. They’d saved Flora’s magic figurine so the party food wouldn’t be ruined, but what tricks were Jack Frost’s goblins going to try next?
“Jack Frost must be annoyed that his goblins didn’t get away with the cake!” Rachel said to Kirsty with a smile.
It was the following morning and the girls were walking downstairs into the entrance hall of the castle. Sunshine streamed in through the arched windows, and everyone was bustling around, busy with final preparations for the party that evening.
“Yes, so we have to keep a lookout for more goblin mischief today,” Kirsty replied. Lindsay hurried by, carrying a vase of flowers. “We don’t have to get ready for the party for a while, so we could ask Lindsay if there’s anything we can do.”
“Good idea,” Rachel agreed.
The two girls went over to Lindsay.
“Can we help?” asked Kirsty.
“Oh, thank you!” Lindsay said gratefully, placing the flowers on a table. “The costumes arrived an hour ago and they’re up in one of the bedrooms. Do you think you could check and make sure that all the outfits have the right accessories with them?”
The girls nodded, so Lindsay led them quickly toward one of the bedrooms on the second floor.
“Most of the guests will be arriving in the next couple of hours,” Lindsay explained. “They’ll be coming to choose their costumes then, but you two can have first pick. They’re all in here.” She stopped outside a heavy wooden door.
“Hee hee hee!”
Kirsty jumped as she heard a muffled giggle coming from inside the room. Unfortunately, she knew exactly who giggled like that — goblins! She glanced at Rachel and Lindsay. Kirsty could tell from Rachel’s face that she’d heard it, too, but luckily Lindsay hadn’t noticed.
“So,” Rachel said quickly, stepping in front of Lindsay so that she didn’t open the door, “you want us to check that all the costumes are correctly displayed?”
“Yes,” Lindsay replied. “Just make sure that Robin Hood has his bow and arrows, that kind of thing.”
“We’ll be fine, Lindsay,” Kirsty told her. “You can leave it to us. You must have a lot to do!”
“Oh yes,” Lindsay agreed. “I have to check on the decorations in the ballroom now. Thank you, girls.” She hurried off.
“Watch out for goblins!” Kirsty whispered to Rachel as she opened the door.
Rachel groaned as the door swung inward. Two giggling goblins were pulling costumes off the racks.
The room was a complete mess!
One rack of costumes had been completely knocked over. In the middle of the room there was a huge, messy heap of clothes. When the goblins saw the girls, they started grabbing armfuls of brightly colored costumes from the pile and throwing them out the window.
“Stop that!” Rachel cried.
The goblins each gathered another armful of clothes and then climbed onto the windowsill.
“They’re going to jump!” Kirsty shouted.
As she and Rachel ran across the room, the goblins leaped out of the window, holding onto a thick, heavy rope. The girls saw that the rope had been tied to one of the wardrobes in the room, and the other end dangled out the window. The goblins were making their escape by lowering themselves down the castle wall, holding onto the rope.
“Look!” Kirsty cried, pointing down at the moat.
A rowboat bobbed gently in the water. Three more goblins sat in the boat, surrounded by all the stolen costumes, hats, and shoes that the two goblins had thrown out the window.
Kirsty’s heart sank as she spotted a bright red hooded cape on top of the pile. It was shimmering with fairy magic.
“Oh no!” she gasped, pointing it out to Rachel. “They have Flora’s magic Red Riding Hood cape!”
“Let’s get down there!” Kirsty replied, running for the door with Rachel at her heels. “It’s too bad that Flora isn’t here to turn us into fairies!”
The girls dashed down the stairs and into the entrance hall, which was now empty. Suddenly, the visor in the suit of armor in the corner snapped open.
“Hello, girls!” called a voice, and Flora darted out of the visor. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
Rachel and Kirsty slowed down.
“The goblins stole half of the dress-up costumes, including your magic cape!” Rachel explained. “And they’re about to escape across the moat!”
“We’ve got to stop them!” Flora exclaimed.
She and the girls raced out of the hall, through the courtyard, and onto the drawbridge.
“There they are!” Kirsty yelled, pointing.
The goblins were rowing furiously away from the drawbridge, toward the bend in the moat. As they disappeared around the side of the castle, Rachel turned to Flora. “We have to stop them from getting away!” she cried.
But Flora shook her head. “Don’t worry, girls,” she replied calmly. “Just wait here.”
Confused, Rachel and Kirsty glanced at each other. The goblins were escaping with the magic cape, but Flora didn’t seem worried at all!
A moment later, Rachel and Kirsty heard the splashing of oars behind them. The girls spun around to see the silly goblins rowing toward them from the other side of the castle.
“The goblins have gone around in a circle!” Kirsty laughed. “They didn’t realize that the moat makes a big circle around the castle.”
Rachel and Flora grinned.
“Hey!” one of the goblins screeched suddenly. “There’s the drawbridge.
We’re back where we started!”
“This is all your fault!” yelled another goblin, glaring at the two who were rowing the boat.
“I’m going to throw you into the moat, and the alligators will eat you!”
“I’m not scared of alligators!” shouted one of the rowers. Then he paused. “Um, what’s an alligator, anyway?”
“I know what an alligator is,” said one of the other goblins importantly. “It’s pink and it has eight legs!”
“No, that’s not an alligator,” the first goblin yelled angrily. “That’s an elephant!”
The goblins began to push and poke each other as they argued. The two who were rowing dropped their oars and joined in, and the boat began to drift aimlessly toward the drawbridge.
“Maybe we can lean over and grab the magic cape,” Rachel whispered as the boat approached.
“Especially since the goblins are arguing too much to notice us,” added Kirsty.
“Good idea.” Flora nodded. “Let’s go for it!”
Rachel and Kirsty laid down on the drawbridge and dangled their arms over the water as the boat came closer. But just as Rachel reached out her hand to snatch the sparkling red cape, one of the goblins looked up and spotted them.
“They’re trying to steal our costumes!” he yelled, grabbing one of the oars. “Get away from the drawbridge! Row for the bank!”
Rachel, Kirsty, and Flora watched in disappointment as the goblins rowed away
as fast as they could.
“I almost got the cape, too,” Rachel groaned, scrambling to her feet.
Once the goblins reached the bank, they began throwing the costumes out of the boat and onto the grass. Then they jumped out of the boat themselves. As Rachel, Kirsty, and Flora rushed across the drawbridge, they heard the goblins yelling at each other.
“There are too many costumes for us to carry!” one shouted. “What should we do?”
“Put some of the clothes on!” hollered another goblin, struggling to get into a pair of red velvet pants. He put a white curly wig on his head, and then a sailor’s hat on top of that. “We can just carry the rest!” the goblin decided.
As Flora and the girls hurried toward the bank, they watched in amazement as the goblins dressed themselves up. One put on a tiger outfit with a tail, and then added a sparkly vest, a red clown nose, and three hats, including a straw one with a plastic flower on it. Another goblin was wearing a pink clown wig with a golden crown on top. He also had the magic cape slung around his neck, but the hood kept falling forward over his face. Because the costumes were human-size, they were much too big for the goblins. They all had mismatched shoes that didn’t fit, and kept tripping as they rushed around scooping up the rest of the outfits.
Flora, Rachel, and Kirsty couldn’t help laughing as they reached the bank.
“Hand over those costumes!” Flora called.
“No!” shouted the goblin with the cape. “Jack Frost’s holding his party here tonight, so you won’t be needing these!”
His friends cackled gleefully. Then one of them picked up a long princess gown and threw it right over Rachel and Kirsty. Flora was fluttering alongside the girls and got trapped under the dress, too.
“Help!” Rachel cried.
“Everything’s dark!” Kirsty gasped.
As the girls and Flora struggled to free themselves from the heavy dress, they heard the goblins rushing away.
“We have to catch them!” Rachel panted as she and Kirsty finally managed to throw off the dress.
“Look, they left some of the costumes behind,” said Kirsty, pointing at a heap of clothes on the grass.
Rachel looked worried. “We can’t leave them here in case Lindsay finds them,” she said, picking up an embroidered jacket. “But we can’t carry them while we run after the goblins, either.”
Kirsty frowned as she looked more closely at the jacket Rachel was holding.
“The sleeves are almost falling off!” she exclaimed, pointing at the jacket.
“Look, the stitches are loose.”
“That’s because the magic cape is missing,” Flora explained. “The costumes are starting to fall apart at the seams.”
“Oh no!” Rachel sighed. “The party will be ruined if we don’t get the cape back soon.”
Kirsty turned to Flora. “Flora, could you shrink the costumes?” she asked eagerly. “Then they’d fit into our pockets!”
“Sure!” Flora laughed and waved her wand.
After a swirl of fairy dust, a neat pile of tiny clothes, shoes, and hats lay on the bank. Rachel and Kirsty kneeled down and carefully filled their pockets. Then they raced across the hills after the goblins!
Luckily, Flora and the girls could see the magic cape shimmering ahead of them in the distance, so they could easily keep track of where the goblins were going.
“Look, there’s a cowboy hat,” Rachel said, scooping up a hat that was lying on the grass.
“And there’s a pink clown wig,” Kirsty added, pointing a little further ahead. “The goblins must have dropped them.”
Quickly, Flora shrunk the hat and the wig so the girls could fit them into their pockets. Then they hurried after the goblins, picking up other dress-up items that the goblins had dropped along the way.
A little bit farther on, Kirsty stopped and shaded her eyes, peering ahead to see where the goblins were. She saw them climbing a steep slope, toward a herd of mountain goats. That gave Kirsty an idea.
“Somehow we have to get the goblins to stop so that we can catch up!” Kirsty said urgently to Flora. “Do you think you could use your magic to ask those goats to help us?”
“What a great idea!” Flora beamed. She pointed her wand at the goats. A stream of green and blue bubbles floated through the air toward the herd. The bubbles hovered next to the goats’ ears and then burst gently, making little bleating sounds.
“Bleat! Bleat!”
“That’s goat language,” Flora explained, as Rachel and Kirsty smiled.
The goats looked up from the grass they had been eating. Then, as Flora and the girls watched, all the goats trotted over to stand in front of the goblins, blocking their path.
The goblins skidded to a halt and stared nervously at the hairy creatures. Flora, Rachel, and Kirsty hurried to catch up. As they got closer, they could see the goblins shaking with fear.
“Are these alligators?” one asked fearfully.
“No,” said the one with the cape. “I think they might be Pogwurzels!”
“Pogwurzels?” the others chorused in alarm.
“Yes. And we all know that Pogwurzels eat goblins!” wailed the one with the cape.
All the goblins shrieked with terror as one of the goats trotted forward. It leaned over to sniff the plastic flower on one goblin’s straw hat.
“Please don’t eat me, Mr. Pogwurzel!” the goblin begged, too frightened to move.
“He looks hungry!” Rachel called, although she was secretly very sure that goats didn’t eat goblins.
“Maybe they want to eat the clothes,” shouted Kirsty, as another goat sniffed at a goblin’s sleeve.
Immediately, all the goblins threw down the clothes they were carrying. The goats sniffed curiously at the costumes but then turned their attention back to the goblins. With shrieks of fear, the goblins quickly pulled off all the dress-up clothes they were wearing.
“We’re sorry, Mr. Pogwurzel!” the one with the tiger costume cried.
“We didn’t mean to disturb you!” another goblin yelped. He placed his wig carefully at the goats’ feet.
The one with the magic cape took that off last. “Don’t eat me, Mr. Pogwurzel!” he begged, holding the cape out toward one of the goats. “This cape is much tastier than I am.”
The goat snorted, which was too much for the goblin. He squealed with fright, threw the cape on the ground, and fled, with his goblin friends charging after him.
Flora, Rachel, and Kirsty giggled.
“The goats won’t really eat the costumes, will they?” Kirsty asked anxiously as the goats sniffed at the pile of clothes.
Flora shook her head. She shrank all the costumes, including the magic cape, so that the girls could gather them up in their pockets. “Goats like young thistle plants best of all,” she said. And with another wave of her wand, she turned a large patch of purple heather into a field of thistles. The goats immediately bent their heads, took a sniff, and began to stuff themselves on thistles.
“Thank you, goats!” called Flora and the girls as they set off back to McKersey Castle.
“Weren’t the goblins silly?” Rachel laughed as they hurried back across the drawbridge.
Kirsty nodded. “And they did look funny wearing all those costumes,” she added.
Soon they were back in the room where the dress-up costumes were stored. The girls looked dismayed as they glanced around.
“I’d forgotten how much of a mess the goblins had made!” Kirsty sighed, staring at the overturned rack and the costumes lying everywhere. “How are we going to get this all cleaned up before Lindsay comes back?”
“No problem!” Flora announced cheerfully. “Leave it to me.”
The little fairy danced around the room, flicking her wand here and there, and sending little puffs of magical fairy dust whirling down onto the costumes. Rachel and Kirsty watched in delight as the clothes lifted off the floor and floated in the air. They danced over to the racks, their sleeves waving happily. The ha
ts and wigs bobbed through the air, too, and all the shoes began to tap-dance over to join their costumes.
“Look!” Rachel said to Kirsty. “All the clothes, hats, and shoes are sorting themselves into the right outfits!”
Kirsty nodded as the curly pink wig drifted past to join the red nose, striped pants, and enormous shoes of the clown costume.
Then the tiny clothes began floating out of the girls’ pockets. As they danced through the air, the costumes grew back to their normal sizes before finding their places on the racks. Rachel even noticed that, now that the magic cape was safe and sound, the sleeves on the embroidered jacket weren’t loose anymore.
“This is amazing, Flora!” Kirsty exclaimed as the last few pieces of the costumes moved into place. “Look at this, Rachel. All the men’s costumes are here and the women’s costumes are on this rack here.”
“And the animal costumes are on a separate rack,” Rachel added, pointing to where the striped tiger costume was hanging. “Thank you so much, Flora. All the costumes look perfect!”
Flora beamed at them. “You’ve got one item left in your pocket, Kirsty,” she said. As she spoke, the magic red cape floated out. “I want someone special to wear it,” Flora said thoughtfully. “Let me see … a-ha!” Her face lit up and she lifted her wand. Immediately, the Red Riding Hood dress and basket lifted themselves off the rack and floated over to settle on a chair. The magic cape drifted over to join them, growing back to its normal size along the way. Last of all, a big white label appeared in a burst of magic sparkles and pinned itself to the cape.
Flora the Dress-Up Fairy Page 2
