Kayla the Pottery Fairy

by Daisy Meadows

  At first, the goblin seemed to be heading for the potter’s wheel, but then he threw a casual glance at his backpack. He scowled as he spotted Kayla just about to dart inside. The goblin dropped the block of clay on the workbench and lunged at the little fairy!

  “Kayla, look out!” Kirsty shouted.

  Kayla tried to get away, but it was too late. The goblin captured her in his clay-covered hands and held her tightly.

  “Let me go!” Kayla demanded. “I just want my magic vase back.”

  “Well, you can’t have it!” the goblin retorted. “I love pottery. See all these beautiful things I made?” He pointed proudly at the shelf. “No silly fairy is going to ruin my fun!”

  Rachel and Kirsty watched from the potter’s wheel as the goblin lifted the lid off one of the jars on the shelf. He dropped Kayla inside and put the lid on firmly.

  “Kayla’s trapped!” Rachel whispered, her eyes wide. “We have to rescue her, Kirsty.”

  But before the girls had time to come up with a plan, the goblin walked over to the potter’s wheel and sat down to examine the vase he’d made earlier.

  “This vase needs a little more work,” he muttered to himself. He sat down on the stool and pressed his big green foot down hard on the operating pedal. The wheel immediately began to spin around and around, taking Rachel and Kirsty with it!

  “Hold on, Kirsty!” Rachel gasped, clutching the edge of the wheel tightly. Kirsty did the same as the wheel went faster and faster.

  After a moment or two, the girls were spinning so fast that the room became a blur. They both started to feel sick and dizzy! Soon, they couldn’t hold on any longer. Both Rachel and Kirsty were thrown off the wheel, up into the air! They tumbled down into the vase the goblin was making and landed on the damp clay at the bottom. The girls both lay there, unhurt but dazed.

  The goblin hadn’t noticed them. Luckily, just a few seconds later, he brought the wheel to a stop.

  “Thank goodness!” Rachel murmured. “I’m so dizzy, I’m seeing double!”

  “This clay is so wet and sticky,” Kirsty complained, flicking a blob of it off one of her wings. Then Rachel saw her friend’s eyes light up. “Oh!” Kirsty exclaimed. “That gave me an idea!”

  Kirsty quickly whispered her plan to Rachel. Then, together, the two girls popped up out of the vase, just like Kayla had when they’d first met her. The goblin stared at them in disbelief, and then let out a shriek of rage.

  “More fairies!” he roared. “I hate fairies! You’re all annoying, interfering, nosy little busybodies!”

  “We just wanted to tell you how much we love your vase,” Kirsty said with a sweet smile.

  The goblin looked shocked. Then he grinned proudly.

  “In fact, if your vase was a little bit taller, I’ll bet you’d win one of the Crafts Week prizes,” Rachel told him.

  “Yes, I think I would, too — I’m obviously the best potter on Rainspell Island!” the goblin bragged.

  “If you stood on your stool, you’d be able to reach the top of the vase to make it taller,” Kirsty pointed out innocently.

  “You know, that’s not a bad idea for a silly little fairy!” the goblin said. He hopped up onto the stool, stood on his tiptoes, and leaned over the vase. Kirsty and Rachel silently flew up behind him.

  “Here we go, Rachel,” Kirsty whispered. “On the count of three!”

  “One, two, THREE!” whispered Kirsty. The girls zoomed toward the goblin and gave him a big push.

  “Stop that!” the goblin yelled furiously, teetering back and forth on his stool. He lost his balance and fell headfirst into the vase in front of him! All the girls could see were his big, green feet sticking out of the top.

  “Help!” came a muffled voice from inside the vase. Kirsty glanced over at the other goblins. They were still too busy playing with the clay to notice what was going on.

  “Now to rescue Kayla!” Rachel said breathlessly. She and Kirsty flew over to the shelf as fast as their wings would take them.

  “Which pot is she in?” asked Kirsty. But then they heard a tiny voice calling to them.

  “Girls, girls, I’m inside the blue jar with the red lid!”

  Together, Rachel and Kirsty found the jar and struggled to lift up the heavy lid. They managed to raise it just enough for Kayla to fly out. The little fairy looked very relieved, and gave them both a grateful hug.

  “I see you figured out how to deal with the goblin!” Kayla whispered with a grin as she spotted his feet waving in the air. “Good job, girls. Now I can get my beautiful vase back!”

  Kayla swooped toward the backpack. With one quick movement, she scooped up her vase and shrank it to fairy size. It shimmered with a wonderful, magic glow.

  Kayla tucked the little vase safely under her arm before heading back to Rachel and Kirsty.

  “Let’s get out of here, girls,” she began. But suddenly the goblin inside the vase hollered “HELP!” at the top of his lungs.

  This time, the other goblins heard him. They turned around, saw his feet sticking out of the vase, and dashed toward him. But the floor was wet and sticky with all the clay they’d been throwing around, so the goblins began slipping and sliding all over the place! Shouting and squealing, they crashed into the potter’s wheel, knocking the vase to the floor. Then there was a heap of goblins flailing around in a pile of wet clay, with the goblin potter right in the middle.

  “Oh, what a mess!” Kayla sighed.

  One of the goblins heard her and looked up. “That pesky fairy has her magic vase back!” he pointed out, wiping a smear of clay off his nose. All of the goblins looked disappointed, but the one who had made the beautiful pots on the shelf looked saddest of all.

  The goblins climbed to their feet and then, moaning and groaning about how angry Jack Frost was going to be, they trudged over to the door. The goblin potter hung back, taking a long, sad look at the pots he’d made.

  Rachel and Kirsty exchanged a glance. Together, they fluttered over to the shelf and picked up a small but very pretty green pot, the only one they could lift between them. Then they flew over to the goblin and presented him with the pot.

  “Oh!” The goblin’s green face lit up. “Thank you!” He skipped out of the pottery hall, holding the pot as carefully as if it were precious treasure.

  “Girls, you’re so kind,” Kayla said with a smile. “You made a goblin and a fairy extremely happy today — thank you a thousand times over! I can’t wait to get back to Fairyland with the fantastic news. But first I have a little more work to do here. . . .”

  One flick of Kayla’s wand returned Rachel and Kirsty to their human size. A second burst of magic fairy sparkles cleaned up the pottery hall in the blink of an eye. Whew!

  “Someone’s coming, girls,” Kayla whispered as voices came from outside the hall. “I have to go. But I know you’ll be on the lookout for more of our magic objects!”

  “We will, Kayla,” Rachel cried. “Good-bye!”

  “Good-bye,” Kirsty echoed. The girls waved as Kayla vanished in a cloud of sparkly fairy dust.

  Just then, Madeleine Potts walked in with Artie. They both looked surprised to find the pottery hall empty except for the girls.

  “Those boys must have left,” Artie said, looking around. “You can continue your class now, Madeleine.”

  “Thank you so much for cleaning up, girls,” Madeleine said gratefully as Artie left with a smile. “Would you like to try making some pots?”

  “We’d love to!” Rachel replied.

  Madeleine showed the girls how to knead, cut, and layer the clay to make it soft enough to work with. Then Kirsty began to roll lengths of clay to make a coil pot, while Madeleine taught Rachel how to use the potter’s wheel.

  “You’re learning very quickly, Rachel,” Madeleine said with a nod, watching as Rachel carefully molded a s
mall pot on the spinning wheel. Rachel smiled. She didn’t tell Madeleine that this wasn’t her first experience with the potter’s wheel that day!

  More people wandered into the hall as the girls prepared different-colored glazes to use on their pots. Soon the whole place was buzzing with laughter and conversation. Madeleine was very busy helping everyone with their clay creations.

  “I’ll fire your pots in the kiln now, girls,” she told Rachel and Kirsty. “Come back this afternoon, and they’ll be ready for you. I’ll add the glazes you’ve prepared.”

  “I can’t wait to see them!” Rachel said to Kirsty as they headed back to the campsite for lunch.

  Later that day, the girls rushed back to the hall to collect their clay pots. They were both giddy with excitement. Madeleine was helping the last few people finish their pots, but when she saw Rachel and Kirsty, she hurried over to them.

  “I think you girls are going to be very happy!” Madeleine said, leading them over to a table filled with beautiful pots. At the front was Kirsty’s coil pot, coated in a pink and purple glaze that sparkled just like Kayla’s magic vase. Next to it was Rachel’s hand-thrown pot, glazed in red and green, and glittering just as brightly.

  “I don’t know how you two managed to get your glazes to sparkle like that,” Madeleine said admiringly, “but they look wonderful!”

  Kirsty and Rachel exchanged a quick, secret smile. They knew it was fairy magic!

  And even though they’d found Kayla’s vase, the girls knew that this was only the beginning of their Crafts Week adventures. Six magic objects were still missing, and it was up to Rachel and Kirsty to bring them home to Fairyland! It was going to be another magical week on Rainspell Island!

  Rachel and Kirsty have found Kayla’s missing magic object. Now it’s time for them to help

  Join their next adventure in this special sneak peek. . . .

  I think Rainspell Island is my favorite place in the whole world!” said Kirsty Tate, twirling on the spot.

  Her best friend, Rachel Walker, jumped up and grabbed Kirsty’s hands. They spun around in a circle until they both fell down on the grass, dizzy and happy. It was spring, and the campsite meadow was full of daisies and buttercups.

  “The sun always shines on Rainspell Island,” Rachel said, laughing.

  Rainspell Island was the place where Rachel and Kirsty had first become friends — and where they began their adventures with the fairies! Now they were back again with their families for Crafts Week.

  All week, the girls could take different classes in all sorts of arts and crafts, from painting to jewelry-making. On the final day, there was going to be an exhibition and competition with prizes! Everyone who had participated in Crafts Week could enter whatever they had made. Rachel and Kirsty couldn’t wait!

  “Breakfast!” called Mrs. Walker.

  The girls raced back to the tent where the Walkers were staying. Mr. and Mrs. Walker sat outside the tent, cooking eggs, sausages, and home fries on their camp stove.

  “It’s a beautiful morning,” said Mr. Walker. “I bet your parents wish they were camping, too, Kirsty.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Tate were staying in a local bed and breakfast, but Kirsty and Rachel had decided to have a sleepover in the tent so they wouldn’t have to be separated.

  “So, girls, which classes are you taking today?” asked Mrs. Walker.

  It was the second day of Crafts Week, and there were lots of crafts that the girls wanted to try.

  “We haven’t decided yet,” said Rachel, sitting down on a stool and holding out her plate for some breakfast. “What do you think, Kirsty?”

  Kirsty smiled and held out her own plate.

  “There are so many to choose from, I can’t make up my mind,” she said.

  Mr. and Mrs. Walker started to talk about an exhibition they wanted to see, and Kirsty leaned closer to her best friend.

  “I wonder if we’ll meet another fairy today,” she whispered.

  “I hope so,” Rachel replied in a low voice. “There are still six magic objects to find, and we don’t even know where to start looking!”

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  e-ISBN 978-0-545-72317-6

  Copyright © 2014 by Rainbow Magic Limited.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Rainbow Magic Limited.

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  First Scholastic printing, March 2015

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