After a minute or two, the jellyfish had passed by, and the three friends were able to set off in search of the goblins again. They plunged deeper into the reef, looking everywhere for a glimpse of green. Rachel had lost count of how many times she’d mistaken a patch of jade seaweed for a goblin leg. Then, all of a sudden, she heard voices again.
“He shoots . . . and he scores! What a goal!”
Kirsty and Coral had heard the voices, too, and they all stopped swimming to hide behind the reef and peek out.
The goblins were a short distance away. This time they were kicking and throwing a ball of seaweed through the water.
“And look — they’re using the reef as a goal!” Kirsty sighed.
Coral had had enough. She swam out, furious. “You goblins are damaging the reef,” she told them. “You have to be more careful — it’s a living thing, you know!”
The three goblins stuck out their tongues as if they didn’t care.
“We’re just having a little fun,” the first one told Coral scornfully.
“Why don’t you keep your fairy nose out of our business?” the second goblin chimed in.
“Just ignore her,” said the third goblin, who was carrying the wand. “She can’t do anything to move us away from the reef while I’ve got this — and she knows it!”
Coral gritted her teeth and seemed on the verge of losing her temper, but Rachel whispered in her ear. “Actually, you can move them if you want to,” she reminded Coral in a low voice. “The same way you moved the snorkelers away from the reef.”
Kirsty, who’d come close enough to hear, joined in. “And maybe you can use your magic to move other things, too — like your wand, out of the goblin’s hand!” she suggested.
“I’ll try,” said Coral, “but my magic might not be strong enough.”
She took a deep breath, then waved her hands and chanted some magic words. A stream of pink bubbles suddenly appeared around the wand, and the goblin who was holding it looked startled.
“Hey!” he yelled, as the bubbles dragged him forward a little. “Something’s pulling this wand. Help me!”
His two friends swam to him at once and grabbed ahold of him, tugging him back. “Hold on tight,” one of them urged him.
“Don’t worry,” the goblin with the wand replied. “I’m not letting go of it — not ever!”
He clung on and after a few minutes, the bubbles popped. He yelled at Coral. “Is that the best you can do? Pathetic!” Then he kicked the seaweed ball back to the other goblins. “Let’s go back to our game.”
Kirsty’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. It hadn’t worked. “We need another plan,” she said. “And quick, before they decide to swim away again.”
Rachel gazed around, hoping to find inspiration. She shivered when she saw that another cluster of jellyfish had appeared above them . . . and then an idea popped into her head.
“I think I’ve got it,” she said slowly, thinking it through. “What if the goblin thought the wand was leading him into danger? Surely that would be enough to make him let go of it?”
A frown creased Coral’s face. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean, what if you could make the wand move again, but this time don’t send it toward us,” Rachel said, the words tumbling out of her with eagerness. “Send it toward the jellyfish. If the goblin thought the wand was dragging him up to the stinging jellyfish, I bet he would let go of it!”
Coral’s eyes twinkled. “Good thinking, Rachel!” she said.
Kirsty grinned at her friend’s clever plan and then spoke in a voice loud enough for the goblins to hear. “Come on, let’s leave the goblins to play their game. It’s too dangerous to hang around here anymore.”
The goblin with the wand looked triumphant. “At last — someone is making sense,” he sneered. “Hear that? Dangerous, she said. She’s obviously scared silly of us goblins. And she should be!”
Coral stared up at the jellyfish, pretending to be terrified. “Yes, those are the really dangerous jellyfish,” she said loudly to Kirsty and Rachel. “Come on, girls, we have to get away quickly.”
The goblins all looked up. Their faces dropped as soon as they spotted the jellyfish. “Oh, no,” one of them said fearfully. “They’re not scared of us. They’re scared of those jellyfish!”
Kirsty, Rachel, and Coral turned and swam away from the goblins, then hid behind the reef so they could keep an eye on them.
All the goblins looked worried about the jellyfish, but it seemed like none of them wanted to admit it. “I’m not scared,” blustered one. “The jellyfish are right up near the surface and we’re all the way down here. We’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
Coral winked at Kirsty and Rachel. “Let’s see if he’s still so sure after I do this,” she whispered, waving her hands and muttering some magic words.
A stream of bubbles immediately moved through the water and surrounded the wand, tugging it upward. The goblin holding the wand was taken by surprise as it dragged him toward the jellyfish.
“Hey! What’s happening?” he yelped, his eyes bulging with fear as he rushed through the water. “Help me! Help!”
His friends grabbed his legs as he whooshed upward, but this time they couldn’t pull him back down. Now all three goblins were heading straight for the cluster of jellyfish.
“Noooooo!” they screamed.
“They’re going to get us!” wailed the goblin with the wand.
“Let go of the wand, then!” one of his friends shouted.
Rachel and Kirsty could tell by the first goblin’s face that he really didn’t want to let go, but as he came just inches away from the jellyfish tentacles, he gave a squawk of fright and threw it away. As he let go of the wand, he fell back through the water, and so did his two friends.
Down tumbled the goblins, their arms flailing. Coral zoomed out from her hiding place and used her special bubble magic to bring the wand back into her hand. “Hooray!” she cheered in delight.
“Aarrrrgh!” the goblins shouted as, one by one, they plunged into a huge bed of slimy brown seaweed.
Kirsty and Rachel couldn’t help laughing as the goblins, all tangled up, with seaweed draped over their heads and bodies, broke into furious fighting.
“I think the three of you should go back to Fairyland as soon as possible.” Coral chuckled. She waved her wand to send them on their way with one last blast of bubble magic. The bubbles carried the arguing goblins into the distance, and they vanished.
“That was so funny.” Kirsty giggled, and then hugged Coral.
“And it’s wonderful that you got your wand back!”
Coral smiled. “I know,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of work to do now, to make sure the reefs aren’t damaged any further. I feel really flattered that the king and queen have trusted me with such an important job. I’m determined to do my best for them — and for the oceans!” She twirled her wand in her hand. “Thank you for helping me, girls. I should send you back to Rainspell Island now.”
Rachel hugged the fairy good-bye. “Glad we could help you,” she said. “Bye, Coral.”
“Bye!” called Kirsty, just as Coral waved her wand. A stream of sparkling bubbles enveloped the girls and they found themselves whirling around very quickly.
A few moments later, they were back on the beach where they’d started their adventure. They were their usual sizes again, and completely dry. And, just like Coral had promised, it was as if no time had passed.
“Wow,” Rachel said, smiling happily at Kirsty. “That was so exciting.”
“Wasn’t it amazing, being near a real coral reef?” Kirsty sighed. “I hope Coral can keep it healthy with her magic.”
Rachel nodded. “We’ll have to help her,” she said. “We can spread the word about the problems facing the reefs so that everyone knows how to protect them.”
“Maybe we can make some posters to put up in the surf store and the snorkel rental shop?” Kirsty suggested. “We should es
pecially mention being careful with flippers around the reef. That will get the message out, won’t it?”
“Good idea,” Rachel said.
Kirsty linked an arm through Rachel’s as they wandered back to the food stands. “This is turning out to be such an amazing week,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what will happen tomorrow!”
Coral the Reef Fairy now has her wand back! Next, Rachel and Kirsty need to help . . .
Join their next adventure in this special sneak peek. . . .
“Look, Kirsty,” Rachel Walker called as she hurried through the trees, “I think I found some wild onions!”
“Oh, great!” Kirsty Tate, Rachel’s best friend, ran to join her, swinging her basket. The two girls were on a nature walk in the forest near their vacation cottages on Rainspell Island, where they were spending the school break with their families.
Rachel and Kirsty knelt down and gazed at the onion plants. They had long, thin leaves and greenish-white flowers. The girls knew that, not so far underground, were the onion bulbs.
“The Junior Naturalist class we went to this morning was fun, wasn’t it, Kirsty?” Rachel said with a smile. “I never realized there were so many things growing wild on Rainspell Island that you can eat. Do you have the soup recipe the teacher gave us?”
Kirsty took a leaflet labeled MUSHROOM SOUP out of her basket.
“Remember, Jo told us that we should only take as much as we need,” Kirsty reminded Rachel. “Otherwise the plant won’t be able to reseed itself, and then there won’t be new onion plants next year.”
Rachel checked the recipe ingredients. Then she carefully pulled some of the onion bulbs and put them in Kirsty’s basket. The girls had already collected some sprigs of sweet-smelling wild thyme and other herbs.
“Now we just have to find some mushrooms, and we can make soup for dinner tonight!” Rachel jumped to her feet. “We have to remember to check the booklet about mushrooms that Jo gave us, because we need to make sure the ones we find aren’t poisonous.”
“Isn’t it amazing how many different plants and animals there are in the forest?” Kirsty remarked as they wandered along the path again.
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-62226-4
Copyright © 2009 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
Previously published as Green Fairies #4: Coral the Reef Fairy by Orchard U.K. in 2009.
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, July 2014
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