Sure enough, there lay a piece of the missing golden conch shell, glinting in the moonlight!
Excited, Kirsty waved wildly at Rachel and Tess.
“It’s here!” she mouthed silently, pointing at the bucket.
The goblins hadn’t noticed Kirsty this time. They were huddled together, staring in panic at the baby turtles. The turtles, unaware of the goblins’ fright, were patiently waiting for them to start moving again.
“We can’t get away from these baby pogwurzels,” the biggest goblin muttered. “They’re going to follow us all the way back to Jack Frost’s Ice Castle!”
“Then Jack Frost will be really angry with us,” the third goblin added. “We need a plan to get away from them. Any ideas?”
“We could jump in the ocean and swim away,” the goblin with the bucket suggested. “That’s a great idea,” said the biggest goblin eagerly. “Except that we can’t swim!” the third goblin snapped. As the goblins squabbled, Kirsty flew quickly over to Rachel and Tess.
“We need a plan, too!” Kirsty whispered. “How are we going to get the shell piece out of that bucket?”
“We also need to stop the baby turtles from following the goblins, and lead them back to the ocean,” Rachel added.
Tess’s face lit up. “Pearl can help us do both!” she replied with a beaming smile. “Come on, girls!”
The three friends left the goblins to their arguing and flew along the beach back to where Pearl was waiting for them. Tess dipped down and whispered something to her. Pearl agreed, nodding her head.
“What do you think their plan is?” Rachel whispered to Kirsty. Kirsty could only shrug.
Rachel and Kirsty watched as Pearl began to move toward the baby turtles, pulling herself along the sand with her flippers. As Pearl got closer, her shell began to glow with dazzling fairy magic, as bright as the moon shining above them.
Slowly, the baby turtles turned their heads to look at the glowing light of Pearl’s shell. Losing interest in the goblins, they all turned and hurried over to Pearl instead.
“Look!” shouted the biggest goblin with relief. “The baby pogwurzels are going away!”
“Yippee!” yelled the other goblins. They jumped up and down with glee.
“Let’s go home to Jack Frost right now,” the goblin with the bucket suggested. “He’s going to be very happy when he sees what we’ve found!”
The biggest goblin nodded. “Give me the bucket,” he said. “It’s my turn to carry it.”
“No, it isn’t!” The goblin with the bucket hugged it protectively against him. “You can’t have it!”
“Stop arguing, you two,” said the third goblin. “I’ll carry the bucket!” The goblins were so busy fighting over the bucket, they didn’t notice that Pearl was now leading the crowd of baby turtles right at them!
Rachel, Kirsty, and Tess watched as the baby turtles followed Pearl closer to the goblins. In just a few moments, the goblins were completely surrounded by lots of scampering turtles. Suddenly, the biggest goblin looked down and shrieked. “The pogwurzels snuck up on us!” he cried. “We’re trapped!” “Help!” shouted the goblin with the bucket. In a panic, he let go of the handle.
As the bucket hit the sand, the glittering piece of the golden conch shell fell out and rolled toward Tess and the girls. Instantly, Rachel swooped down and picked it up.
“Those fairies have our shell!” the biggest goblin yelled. “We have to get it back!”
“We can’t,” cried the goblin who had dropped the bucket. “We’re surrounded by baby pogwurzels!”
“Just a minute…” The third goblin frowned as he peered more closely at the baby turtles around them. The glow from Pearl’s shell was lighting up the darkness and making the turtles more visible. “I don’t think these are baby pogwurzels,” the goblin announced at last. “They don’t look scary at all. It’s just another fairy trick!”
The goblins scowled at Rachel, Kirsty, and Tess.
“Give us our shell piece back!” the biggest goblin demanded.
Tess turned to Rachel and Kirsty.
“We have to take the shell back to Fairyland before the goblins can grab it,” Tess said urgently. “But first we need to guide the baby turtles safely to the ocean!”
Tess beckoned to Pearl, who nodded. The turtle hurried in the direction of the ocean, her shell still glowing brightly. The baby turtles began to follow her.
Tess waved her wand around herself, Rachel, and Kirsty as they hovered in the air. A shimmering, silvery light surrounded them.
“Now the baby turtles will follow us, as well as Pearl,” Tess told the girls.
Bathed in the shining glow, Tess, Rachel, and Kirsty flew toward the ocean.
“The turtles are coming!” Kirsty called with delight as she looked down and saw all the babies rushing to the water.
“STOP!” the biggest goblin roared, chasing after Tess and the girls. “Give us back the shell!”
“She has it!” the third goblin yelled, pointing at Rachel as she new past him. “Grab her!”
“We can’t reach her,” the biggest goblin said with dismay. “There are too many of these!”
He pointed down at the crowds of baby turtles at his feet. There were so many of them, they were creating a barrier between Rachel and the goblins. Rachel sighed with relief, clutching the shell piece more firmly.
The turtles were now slipping into the water and swimming safely away as Pearl, Tess, Rachel, and Kirsty watched over them. As the last turtles scurried up to the water’s edge, the goblins glanced at each other.
“We can get the shell piece now!” the biggest goblin shouted triumphantly. “Come on!”
“We need to get back to Fairyland right now!” Tess cried.
With a burst of golden sparkles from Tess’s wand, Pearl shrank down to fairy-size.
Then the four of them were whisked away on a cloud of fairy magic, leaving the goblins standing on the beach, jumping up and down with rage.
A few seconds later, Tess, Rachel, and Kirsty were back at the Royal Aquarium. Shannon, Ally, Amelie, and Pia were waiting for them, all looking very excited. Pearl was already back in her tank, next to Echo the dolphin, Silky the seal, and Scamp the penguin. The other magic ocean creatures were thrilled to see that Pearl was back! They splashed around in their tanks, waving their hellos.
“That was close,” Tess said with a smile. “But we just made it!”
“Good job, everyone!” Shannon beamed at them. “Now let’s replace another missing piece of the golden conch shell!”
Rachel handed her the fragment of shell. Shannon walked over to the table where the pieces that had already been found were sitting on a golden stand. As Shannon held the shell out in front of her, there was a flash of dazzling light and the fragment sprang from Shannon’s hand. It fused magically with the other pieces, leaving no crack.
“Only three more pieces to find before our golden conch shell will be whole again!” Shannon said happily. She turned to Rachel and Kirsty. “It’s getting dark in Leamouth, so it’s time to send you home, girls. Thank you again.”
“Thank you,” the fairies chorused as a shower of magic sparkles from Shannon’s wand floated down around Rachel and Kirsty. “See you again soon!”
The girls waved good-bye. A few seconds later, they found themselves back on the beach in Leamouth near their sandcastle.
“Wasn’t that an exciting fairy adventure, Rachel?” Kirsty sighed happily. Then she gave a gasp. “Look at our sandcastle!”
A beautiful silver flag, glittering in the last rays of the sun, had been placed on top of one of the towers.
“Fairy magic!” Rachel exclaimed. “I’m so glad we found another shell piece, Kirsty. And we helped all the baby sea turtles get safely into the ocean, too.”
“Yes—and now it’s time for us to go home!” Kirsty laughed as they ran off toward her gran’s cottage. “The magic did come to us, didn’t it, Rachel? Even though we had to wait until the very
end of the day!”
Rachel nodded. “I hope we find another piece of the magic conch shell tomorrow,” she added. “Four found, three to go!”
“The ocean sounds so much louder at night, doesn’t it?” Kirsty Täte said to her best friend, Rachel Walker. They were making their way down to Leamouth beach in darkness. Stars twinkled in the sky above them and a full moon cast silvery streaks on the waves.
“It feels completely different at night,” Rachel agreed. “No noisy sea gulls, no ice-cream trucks, no families making sandcastles…”
Kirsty smiled. “It’s really nice,” she said, hugging herself to keep warm as a cool breeze swept in from the water. “Just like everything else about this vacation!”
Tonight they’d been invited to join Gran’s astronomy club for an evening picnic on the beach.
Kirsty and Rachel helped set the food out as the guests arrived. Then, as the sky grew darker still, Gran pointed out some of the constellations.
An excited cheer went up among the astronomy club members at that moment, and the girls saw that some of them were pointing at the sky. “A shooting star!” Gran exclaimed. “Well, I never. That’s very special. Make a wish, girls!”
“I wish we could meet another Ocean Fairy soon,” Rachel murmured at once.
Kirsty heard her.
“That’s what I wished for, too,” she whispered.
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-54864-9
Copyright © 2010 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
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First Scholastic printing, March 2011
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Tess the Sea Turtle Fairy Page 2
