“Mrs. Tate,” Kirsty read out loud. “Rachel, that costume’s for my mom!”
With a gleam in her eyes, Flora tapped her wand on the chair. A furry gray wolf costume instantly appeared, with a label that said MR. TATE. Kirsty and Rachel burst out laughing.
“That’s fantastic, Flora!” Kirsty said gratefully. “Thank you so much.”
“And thank you, girls,” Flora said with a wide smile. “But don’t forget that Jack Frost will still be doing his absolute best to stop the party from happening. Or, should I say, his absolute worst!”
Kirsty and Rachel nodded.
“We’ll be careful,” Rachel promised.
“Now I must go back to Fairyland, and you two had better choose yourselves some costumes,” Flora said with a wink. “I’m sure that you’ll find the perfect outfits if you look hard enough!”
As Rachel and Kirsty waved good-bye, the little fairy disappeared in a colorful swirl of glittering fairy magic.
“Hello, girls!” The door opened and Lindsay came in. “Wow! You’ve done a great job with the costumes!” she declared, looking around.
Rachel and Kirsty smiled. Flora had finished tidying up the room with her magic just in time.
“Have you chosen your outfits yet?” Lindsay asked.
Rachel and Kirsty glanced at each other excitedly. Flora had said that she was sure they’d find the perfect dress-up costumes. Had she used her fairy magic to leave special outfits just for them?
Kirsty’s face lit up as she noticed a few blue and green sparkles floating around one of the racks. “Actually, we were just about to take a look,” she said, nudging Rachel.
Rachel spotted the sparkles, too. Together, the two girls hurried over to the rack. Hanging at one end, they found two beautiful angel costumes. The dainty white dresses sparkled with a silver sheen. There were even matching feathery wings, delicate halos, and silver cardboard angel harps. White feather masks glittering with silver sparkles completed the outfits.
Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other in delight as they took the gorgeous costumes off the rack.
“We’d love to wear these outfits,” Kirsty said to Lindsay.
“I don’t even remember seeing those,” Lindsay said with a smile, “but they are beautiful.
They’ll be perfect for you two!”
They all turned around as the door opened again. Mr. and Mrs. Tate came in, followed by several couples.
“All the guests are here now, so we’re bringing them in to choose their costumes,” Mrs. Tate explained.
Lindsay smiled at everyone. “Why don’t you go and change?” she said to the girls. “Then you can go and take a peek at the ballroom decorations.”
Rachel and Kirsty nodded happily.
“Mom, Dad,” Kirsty called as she headed for the door with her angel outfit. “Your costumes are on the chair.”
Mr. and Mrs. Tate laughed when they saw the Red Riding Hood and wolf costumes. Rachel and Kirsty shared a smile as they hurried off to their room to change clothes.
“I’ll help you do your hair, and then you can help me with mine,” Kirsty said as they slipped the pretty white dresses on. “Then we can put the halos on top.”
“Don’t our costumes look fantastic?” Rachel gushed as they stood side by side admiring themselves in the mirror.
“Yes, thanks to Flora,” Kirsty agreed happily.
“Let’s go downstairs and look at the ballroom,” suggested Rachel. “The party will be starting soon. I can’t wait!”
Carrying their harps, the girls went downstairs to the enormous ballroom. The doors were open, so Rachel and Kirsty peeked inside. All the other guests were still getting dressed, so the room was empty.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Kirsty whispered.
The ballroom was decorated in white and gold. There were long white curtains held back by twisted golden ropes at the windows, glittering crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and sprays of white roses on all the tables. There were also white marble statues placed around the room wearing beautiful masks.
“I don’t think any of those masks are Flora’s magic one,” remarked Rachel. “Don’t forget that we have to make sure the goblins don’t get ahold of it, Kirsty, or the party will be ruined!”
Kirsty nodded. “There’s the cake,” she said, pointing to a table at the other end of the room. The girls placed their harps on the table as they went to take a closer look.
“The cake looks even more beautiful here in the ballroom,” Rachel said with admiration.
But Kirsty was distracted by a blue-and-emerald figurine on the cake’s middle tier. “Look!” she exclaimed. “That figure looks just like Flora!”
“Yes, it does,” Rachel agreed.
Suddenly, the figurine winked at them! Rachel and Kirsty were so startled, they almost knocked their harps off the table.
“It is Flora!” Kirsty laughed.
“Hello,” called Flora, fluttering over to the girls with a big smile.
Before Rachel could reply, a movement in the courtyard caught her eye. She glanced out the window and saw a group of odd-looking guests. They were very short and had extremely large feet.
“Goblins!” Rachel gasped in dismay. “They’re arriving for Jack Frost’s party!”
“We have to stop them!” Flora said. The three friends rushed out of the ballroom.
There were five goblins outside, all dressed in top hats and tails. They were heading toward the entrance hall door as Flora, Rachel, and Kirsty emerged in the courtyard.
“Hello!” Rachel called quickly. “Are you coming to Lindsay and Robert’s party?”
“No!” snapped one of the goblins. “We’re going to Jack Frost’s party!”
“Oh, that’s not here,” Kirsty said. “I assume it will be at his ice castle.”
Muttering grumpily, the goblin pulled out a large invitation. “It says here that Jack Frost’s party is taking place at McKersey Castle!” he said loudly.
The girls glanced nervously at Flora, who had ducked behind one of Kirsty’s angel wings. The little fairy grinned and aimed her wand at the invitation. A few magic sparkles went zooming toward it.
“Tell him to check again!” she whispered to Kirsty.
“Are you sure you haven’t made a mistake?” Kirsty asked the goblin.
“Of course!” the goblin said rudely, shoving the invitation under the girls’ noses. “It says —” But then he stopped. His eyes almost popped out of his head as they all read the swirly, silver writing: Jack Frost’s ice castle.
“The party is at Jack Frost’s ice castle!” the goblin mumbled sheepishly.
The other goblins looked confused.
Muttering angrily, they all turned around and slunk away.
“And tell your friends,” Kirsty called after them, “that Jack Frost won’t be happy if his guests are late!”
“Good!” Flora said with satisfaction, hiding on Kirsty’s shoulder as the girls went back inside. “That will keep some of the goblin guests away.”
Inside the entrance hall, people were gathering for the start of Lindsay’s party. Rachel and Kirsty smiled to see a man dressed as a scarecrow. He was standing rigidly in the corner with his arms straight out to the sides.
“He’s acting just like a real scarecrow!” Rachel whispered to Kirsty. “Isn’t that funny?”
Kirsty nodded as a man in a cowboy outfit strolled toward them. “Howdy, girls,” he drawled, tipping his hat.
Rachel and Kirsty couldn’t help laughing.
“Grrr!”
Startled by the sound of growling, the girls looked around. A woman dressed in a tiger outfit was staring at them. Then she sprang forward — and Rachel and Kirsty had to jump out of the way!
“She’s taking her costume a little seriously!” Rachel whispered as the tiger woman began “sharpening” her claws.
Just then, Lindsay rushed into the entrance hall. She wasn’t wearing her costume … and she looked very upset.
“My mask is missing!” Lindsay said. “I don’t know where it could be. It’s a complete mystery! The mask is black with rainbow colored feathers. Have you seen it?”
Rachel and Kirsty shook their heads, glancing at each other in dismay. They recognized the description: It was Flora’s magic mask!
“The goblins must have stolen my mask,” Flora whispered, as Lindsay hurried around the entrance hall, asking the other guests if they had seen it.
“Is that why the guests are behaving so strangely?” Kirsty asked.
Flora nodded. “Yes,” she said anxiously. “The fairy magic in your lockets must be protecting you two, but I think the other guests are turning into their costume’s characters!”
“Oh no!” Rachel whispered to Kirsty. “Remember all those crazy costumes we sorted through? We have to find the magic mask, or this party will be chaos!”
“Lindsay, we’ll help you look,” Kirsty called to her cousin. “Where did you last have your mask?”
Lindsay frowned. “I had it in the ballroom,” she said slowly, “and I took it to the wine cellar when I went to get a bottle of champagne.”
“We’ll look in the cellar while you search the ballroom,” Rachel suggested.
Lindsay nodded. “Thanks, girls.”
The entrance to the wine cellar wasn’t far from the entrance hall. Rachel and Kirsty climbed down the staircase and began to look around.
“What’s that?” Kirsty asked, pointing to the flagstones on the ground.
There was a fine layer of dust on the floor, and the girls and Flora could see footprints. Next to them lay a tiny pink feather.
“That’s a feather from my magic mask!” Flora exclaimed. “And those are goblin footprints! Let’s follow them.”
The footprints led to a wall at the back of the cellar, where they stopped abruptly.
“Did the goblins use Jack Frost’s magic to walk through the wall?” Kirsty wondered out loud.
The girls peered closely at the wall and moved their hands over it carefully.
“I can feel a draft here!” Rachel said excitedly, with her hand on the space between two stones.
“A secret door!” Flora exclaimed.
Just then, Rachel noticed a smooth, round indentation in one of the stones. She pressed it and immediately the wall began to swing back. Rachel, Kirsty, and Flora stared at the dark passageway that stretched away behind the wall.
“The goblins must have escaped down this secret passage with the mask,” Kirsty said.
“I wonder where it goes,” Rachel replied. “It’s too dark to see.” She looked nervous. “Jack Frost and his goblins might be hiding in there!”
Immediately, Flora waved her wand and the tip began to glow with a bright light. Now Rachel and Kirsty could see into the passage ahead.
The three friends crept down the narrow hall until they found themselves face to face with another stone wall.
“Oh!” Rachel said in disappointment. “It’s a dead end.”
“Maybe not,” Kirsty replied. She ran her hands over the stones and found a round indentation just like the one that had opened the other wall. Kirsty pressed it, and the wall began to move.
“Don’t open it all the way, Kirsty,” Flora whispered. “We don’t know what’s on the other side!”
Quickly, Kirsty took her finger off the indentation, so that the wall stayed open just a crack.
The girls and Flora peered through the narrow opening. Behind it was not a hallway, but a cavelike room instead. They could hear a familiar voice….
“Now listen to me, goblins!” it was saying. “I’m going to tell you exactly how to ruin this pesky party!”
“Oh no!” Kirsty whispered. “It’s Jack Frost!”
“I want you to steal every mask in the castle!” Jack Frost declared gleefully, sitting in a big chair before his goblins. His back was to the girls. “And cause as much trouble as you can, while you’re doing it. We have to get these annoying humans out of the castle!”
“Look at the mask in Jack Frost’s hand,” Rachel breathed.
Kirsty and Flora stared at the mask. It was black with rainbow colored feathers, and it shimmered slightly with magic.
“It’s my magic mask,” Flora said softly.
“I’m going to wear this mask because it’s the best one, and I’m the most important person!” Jack Frost boasted, waving it in the air.
“He doesn’t realize it’s the magic mask,” Flora said to Rachel and Kirsty.
“But how are we going to get it away from him?” Rachel asked.
“He’s very close,” Kirsty pointed out. “Maybe I can just grab the mask and we can make a run for it?”
“Let’s try,” Flora agreed. “Once we have the mask, I’ll use my magic to block the entrance to the secret passage so that you can escape.”
Kirsty felt extremely nervous as she edged her way carefully through the gap. She hoped the goblins wouldn’t spot her! Luckily, she was hidden by Jack Frost’s chair.
“Now make sure every human in this castle is gone as soon as possible!” Jack Frost shouted at his goblins, waving the mask around again.
At that moment, Kirsty leaned forward and snatched the mask right out of Jack Frost’s hand.
Jack Frost spun to face her. “Stop that girl!” he roared. All the goblins ran forward as Kirsty darted back into the passageway.
Rachel pulled the door closed behind Kirsty just as Jack Frost lifted his wand.
“This will stop them,” said Flora as she sent a cloud of magical fairy dust toward the wall. The sparkles framed the door with a glittering outline, sealing it firmly shut.
Then Rachel, Kirsty, and Flora hurried off down the secret passage.
A few moments later, they were back in the entrance hall.
“That was close!” Rachel exclaimed. “I’m sure Jack Frost was about to cast a horrible spell!”
“You did fantastically, Kirsty,” Flora added. “Now let’s get the magic mask back to Lindsay as quickly as we can.”
“There are Lindsay and Robert,” Kirsty murmured, pointing across the room. “Don’t they look great?”
Rachel nodded. “They look like the king and queen of the ball,” she said with a smile.
Lindsay was dressed in a beautiful ballgown covered by beads and sparkling jewels. Robert was wearing an embroidered jacket, pants, and a shirt with a ruffly white collar. They both wore gold crowns.
“Lindsay!” Kirsty called. “We found your mask.”
Lindsay stared down her nose at the girls. “How dare you approach me in such a rude manner?” she snapped haughtily. “Be gone, immediately!”
Rachel and Kirsty stared at each other in confusion.
“It’s OK,” Flora whispered from Kirsty’s shoulder. “Lindsay’s acting like a real queen because the mask isn’t back in its rightful place yet.”
Quickly, Kirsty pressed the magic mask into Lindsay’s hand. Lindsay blinked a couple of times and then seemed to wake up, almost as though she’d been in a trance. Robert and all the other guests did the same.
“Thank you, girls,” Lindsay said gratefully, as Rachel and Kirsty glanced at each other in relief. “I’m so glad you found my mask.” She shook her head as she held the mask up in the air. “I felt so strange for a minute there!”
“Now that you’re feeling better, we can start the party!” Kirsty said with a smile.
Lindsay and Robert led the guests to the ballroom, but Rachel and Kirsty hung back until the entrance hall was empty.
“Jack Frost and his goblins will leave now that the magic mask is back in its rightful place,” Flora told the girls. “It will make sure the party goes smoothly. You have nothing else to worry about.”
“Thank you, Flora,” Kirsty said gratefully. “Lindsay and Robert’s party will be great now, thanks to you!”
“We did it together!” Flora declared happily.
&nbs
p; Suddenly, there was a flash of colored light and a magical rainbow streamed into the entrance hall. Rachel and Kirsty grinned as Bertram, the frog footman, hopped off the end of it.
“Good evening!” Bertram said, bowing low. “The king and queen of Fairyland would like to invite Kirsty and Rachel to come to their costume party in the Grand Ballroom.”
“Oh, yes please!” the girls said eagerly.
Bertram ushered the girls onto the end of the rainbow, and Flora flew to join them. Then they were whisked off to Fairyland in a whirl of rainbow colors.
When they arrived at the Fairyland palace, Kirsty and Rachel were thrilled to see everyone waiting for them. The Grand Ballroom had been decorated with glittering white and pink streamers, and all the fairies wore fantastic costumes.
“Welcome!” said King Oberon. He was dressed as King Arthur and Queen Titania was by his side, dressed as Lady Guinevere.
“We want to thank you for making sure all Flora’s magic items are back where they belong,” the queen told them. “That means our party will be a success, too. Even Jack Frost and his goblins are coming tonight. We sent them an invitation they couldn’t refuse!”
Before Rachel and Kirsty could reply, a magic rainbow streamed in through an open window, and a scowling Jack Frost fell onto the floor.
A moment later, another rainbow came through the same window, and all the goblins tumbled off the end of it as if they were sliding out of a chute. Grumbling, they picked themselves up.
Flora the Dress-Up Fairy Page 3
