Carly the School Fairy Read online

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  The Spelling Bee

  Competition Countdown

  Goblin Thieves

  Spelling Silliness

  The Suspicious Spellmaster

  Tricks and Treats

  The Science Contest

  Super Science Museum!

  Cool Rain Forest!

  Snowy Scientists

  Flying High

  A Plane and a Plan!

  The Dazzling Dance

  Dance Countdown

  Goblin Students

  Surprising Sounds

  Glitter-Ball Tricks!

  A Magical, Musical Time

  Teaser

  Copyright

  My goblins are such a naughty bunch,

  Why can’t they just behave for once?

  Hmm, I know what would be super cool …

  I’ll send the goblins to human school!

  We’ll steal Carly’s magic objects,

  To help the goblins learn new subjects.

  My goblins will have so much to do,

  And I’ll get some precious time off, too!

  Find the hidden letters in the stars throughout this book. Unscramble all 8 letters to spell a special school word!

  Rachel Walker walked over to the large doors of Tippington Town Hall and peered outside. Buses were pulling up and there were lots of people milling around. So far, there was no sign of the very special person she was looking for, her best friend, Kirsty Tate!

  Rachel’s school was taking part in an exciting competition. Four schools from different parts of the country were competing in two different events. A spelling bee was to be held today at Tippington Town Hall and a science contest was to take place at the Science Museum tomorrow. At the end of the week, there would be a dance at Rachel’s school.

  Rachel was part of the Tippington School spelling bee team, but the most exciting thing was that Kirsty’s school, Wetherbury, was also taking part in the competition. Kirsty was a member of the science team and this meant that she was coming to Tippington!

  “Rachel! Over here!” called Kirsty. Rachel turned around and there was Kirsty! She was standing with three other children and a friendly-looking teacher.

  “There you are! I was wondering when you’d get there!” said Rachel, running over to Kirsty and giving her a big hug.

  Rachel and Kirsty were the very best of friends, and magical things happened whenever they were together. They had met on vacation at Rainspell Island, and since then had enjoyed lots of amazing adventures with the Rainbow Magic fairies. Jack Frost, an icy creature who also lived in Fairyland, was always causing trouble for the fairies. But the girls were always there to help outsmart him and his silly goblins!

  “We came in through the side entrance,” said Kirsty with a smile. “This is my teacher, Mrs. Richards, and this is the Wetherbury science team!”

  Just then, an official-looking man in a nice suit appeared on the stairs leading up to the auditorium. “Attention, please, everyone! I am your spellmaster for today’s competition. Will the four teams taking part in the competition please make their way to the backstage area? Members of the audience should take their seats in the auditorium.”

  “Oooh, not long to go now!” Kirsty smiled, linking arms with Rachel. “Are you nervous?”

  “A little bit,” admitted Rachel. “But I’ve been practicing my spelling as much as I can! Come and say hello to my team, they’re just over here.”

  “How does a spelling bee competition work?” asked Kirsty, once she’d been introduced to Adam, Amina, and Ellie, the rest of the Tippington School team.

  Amina explained to Kirsty that the spelling bee was divided into two parts. “First, there’s the Spelling Play-Off, where the teams take turns to spell a word,” she said. “Then it’s the Quickfire Challenge, when they have to spell as many words as they can in two minutes. The team with the highest number of points wins!”

  “Wow, it sounds very exciting!” said Kirsty with a big smile.

  The four spelling bee teams started to make their way to the backstage area.

  “I’ll join you in a minute!” Rachel called to her team. “I’m just going to walk Kirsty to her seat.”

  The girls split off from the main group of students and teachers in the hall, and made their way toward a side entrance. As they walked along, something in one of the trophy cabinets caught Kirsty’s eye. “Rachel, what is that?” she asked, stepping closer.

  “It’s just the light shining on the Tippington In Bloom cup, isn’t it?” replied Rachel, still walking toward the auditorium.

  “I think it’s something even more special than that!” whispered Kirsty happily, tugging on Rachel’s arm. What Rachel saw made her stop suddenly because there, sitting on the edge of a shiny trophy surrounded by a magical glow, was a beautiful little fairy!

  Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other with excitement. Another fairy adventure was starting!

  The tiny fairy flew toward the glass door of the cabinet. Rachel and Kirsty gasped, worried that she might fly into the glass, but at the last moment she magically appeared in front of the girls!

  “Hello!” the fairy cried, flying a loop-the-loop in the air, “I’m Carly the School Fairy. It’s so nice to meet you both at last!”

  Carly had olive skin and dark hair with blunt bangs. Her eyes sparkled behind cool glasses. She wore a red dress with a bright-yellow scarf and a white top, and two-tone oxford shoes.

  “It’s lovely to meet you too, Carly.” Kirsty smiled. “Quick, let’s hide behind this cabinet before someone spots you!”

  The girls and Carly moved behind the large cabinet.

  “It’s always nice to meet a new fairy friend!” said Rachel, giving the tiny fairy a careful hug. “But why are you here? Is everything OK in Fairyland?”

  Carly sighed and her sparkly wings drooped. “Oh, dear. Something dreadful has happened, and you’re really the only ones who can help me!”

  Rachel and Kirsty exchanged a worried glance. “We’ll do our very best to help,” said Kirsty. “Please tell us what’s gone wrong.”

  “I think it’s easier if I show you,” said Carly. She hovered in front of the glass door of the cabinet. She waved her wand and the surface of the glass started to ripple. The girls knew that Carly was creating a Seeing Pool, a magical pool that could show events that had happened in Fairyland!

  Carly turned around to face the girls. “You see, I have a very important job. My magic makes sure that everyone, both in Fairyland and in your world, enjoys school and learns a lot!”

  Kirsty and Rachel smiled at Carly.

  “That is such an important job!” agreed Rachel.

  Carly nodded. “Everyone has to go to school—even fairy children. My magic objects help me look after the most essential areas of school time. My satchel makes sure that everyone loves words. It helps children read, write, and spell. My safety goggles make sure that science is lots of fun, and that experiments are safe. And my glitter ball makes sure that everyone enjoys music and special events, like dances!”

  The girls looked at the rippling Seeing Pool, where pictures were starting to form. It was like looking at a magical TV! Rachel and Kirsty saw Carly in a classroom, polishing tiny wands. Next to the wands were three glittering objects—a little blue satchel, a pair of yellow safety goggles, and a super-shiny glitter ball.

  A strange noise came from the scene. SPLAT! There it was again!

  Carly flew into a classroom next door. The window was open and in the middle of the room were two giant green snowballs. A moldy leaf with a message was stuck on one of the snowballs.

  In wobbly handwriting it read:
Ha-ha! We tricked you! Silly little fairy!

  “Oh, no!” exclaimed Rachel. “This looks like the work of the goblins!”

  Carly nodded her head sadly. The Seeing Pool showed the poor little fairy fluttering quickly back to her classroom. But everything was in chaos!

  The wands from the cabinet were scattered everywhere and desks were piled on top of each other. Worst of all, the three magic objects had disappeared!

  Carly rushed over to the open window and saw four goblins just reaching the ground. One of them had the satchel clutched in his hand, another was wearing the goggles, and the glitter ball was being worn as a medallion by a third goblin.

  “Stop, thieves!” cried Carly. But the goblins made faces at her and ran away into the forest.

  The Seeing Pool faded.

  “I don’t understand!” cried Kirsty with a frown. “What do the goblins want with your magic objects?”

  “I don’t know!” replied Carly, a little tear rolling down her cheek. “But now that they have them, school time everywhere will be in chaos! And it looks like Jack Frost and his goblins are here, in Tippington, with my magic satchel!”

  “What does that mean?” asked Rachel.

  Carly took a shaky breath. “It means that the spelling bee will be ruined. The satchel looks after reading, writing, and spelling, and it helps people to concentrate. With the satchel in the hands of the goblins, the whole competition will be a total disaster!”

  An announcement came over the loudspeaker. “The spelling bee will begin in five minutes. All contestants please go to the stage.”

  “Oh!” cried Rachel. “I have to go!”

  “Don’t worry, Rachel,” said Kirsty, with a determined look on her face. “Join your team. Carly and I will sit in the audience, and keep our eyes open for Jack Frost and his goblins.”

  “Great idea!” agreed Carly, fluttering into Kirsty’s pocket. “Good luck, Rachel!”

  Rachel headed to the stage. The teams were sitting behind desks on the stage. A large, heavy curtain shielded them from the audience. Rachel could tell immediately that something was wrong.

  Instead of preparing for the competition, Adam was sighing loudly and tearing pages out of his notebook. Amina had her feet up on the desk and was playing her music out loud. Ellie was sitting on the desk, looking absolutely bored.

  Rachel glanced around the stage to see if there was any sign of the blue satchel. She noticed that the other teams were also acting very strangely.

  The students from Wetherbury were arguing, half of the team from St. Martin’s was missing, and two of the students from the Manning school were asleep under their desk!

  Just then, two judges came onto the stage: a woman with curly gray hair and a short man with a large beard. They looked flustered.

  “Where on earth can he be?”

  Rachel overheard the female judge saying.

  “I have no idea,” muttered the bearded judge. “We’ll have to start without him. It’s a good thing that we always have a copy of the questions, otherwise, we would have had to cancel the spelling competition.”

  “OK, everyone!” called the curly-haired judge. “It’s time to begin. The curtain is about to be pulled back. Everyone in their places, please!”

  With a lot of grumbling the teams reluctantly sat behind their desks. A moment later the curtain was pulled back, revealing the audience.

  “Welcome to Tippington Town Hall and to the school spelling bee!” said the bearded judge. “We will begin with the Spelling Play-Off. Each team will take turns spelling words from this list.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, but Rachel could see that it was totally blank!

  “Oh, dear!” mumbled the judge. “Never mind. I know that list like the back of my hand. St. Martin’s, your word to spell is zoo.”

  From the audience, Kirsty and Carly could see the St. Martin’s team looking very confused.

  “Is it Z-U-U-U?” replied a small boy with thick wavy hair.

  “Yes, that is correct. A hundred points to St. Martin’s!” said the female judge. “Excellent spelling.”

  “Oh, no!” whispered Carly, shaking her head. “That isn’t how you spell zoo! Because my magic satchel is missing, the teams have forgotten how to spell and the judges don’t know either. This is a disaster!”

  Back on the stage, it was Tippington School’s turn. “Your word is very simple,” said the judge. “It is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

  “But that isn’t a real word!” cried Rachel.

  “No complaining.” The judge frowned. “Your team has lost a thousand points. Wetherbury, you’re next.”

  “That’s so unfair!” cried Kirsty from the audience. “Come on, Carly. We have to do something. Let’s head straight to the stage!”

  Suddenly, they heard a commotion. Then a tall figure strode onto the stage.

  “Here I am! King Spellmaster, ruler of all who spell and everyone else in the whole world!” cried the figure, sitting down on a large, ornate chair. He was wearing a suit that was too short for him and a giant cloak, which looked like it had been made from one of the stage curtains. Enormous sunglasses covered most of his face.

  As Kirsty and Carly got closer to the stage, Kirsty frowned. “That’s funny. He looks different from earlier …”

  Carly popped out of Kirsty’s pocket for a closer look and squealed.

  “That’s because that isn’t the spellmaster, it’s Jack Frost!”

  Kirsty gasped. Carly was right—Jack Frost was on the stage pretending to be the spellmaster!

  “We have to let Rachel know that Jack Frost is here,” she whispered to Carly. “Let’s creep up the side stairs to the stage.”

  “I’ll turn you into a fairy,” suggested Carly. “We’ll be much smaller and harder to spot.” Kirsty glanced around to make sure that nobody was looking their way. Luckily the lights were low and the audience was chatting and not paying attention. Kirsty knew that their lack of concentration was a sign that the satchel wasn’t with its rightful fairy owner. They hadn’t even noticed that the “spellmaster” was on stage!

  Carly waved her wand and Kirsty felt herself shrinking to the size of a butterfly, with gossamer wings on her back!

  “I love being a fairy!” Kirsty whispered, longing to soar up into the air, but knowing that she had to stay out of sight. The two fairies made their way carefully toward the stage, fluttering a few inches above the ground.

  “ATTENTION!” Everyone on stage jumped at the spellmaster’s loud shout. “I am already BORED of this silly spelling bee. I have decided to make things much more fun. Each team must answer a question about me. After all,” he smirked, “I am the spellmaster and therefore the most important thing about this competition. The team with the best answer gets a million points. The question is: What is my favorite word? Get thinking!”

  Jack Frost sat back on his throne, chuckling to himself.

  The four spelling bee teams started chatting, but Rachel was staring at the spellmaster in shock. She had just realized it was Jack Frost!

  “Pssst! Rachel, over here!” Glancing toward the wings of the stage, Rachel saw Kirsty and Carly behind the curtains. Both fairies were pointing at Jack Frost. Rachel nodded to show them that she knew who he really was. She had to find a way to join Kirsty and Carly so they could work out a plan!

  She quickly decided what to do. If her team’s answer made Jack Frost angry, he was bound to disqualify them! Even though Rachel wanted her school to do well in the spelling bee, the most important thing was to return Carly’s satchel so that the competition would be fair.

  “I think I know what the spellmaster’s favorite word is,” she said to her team, whispering the word into their ears.

  “Fine.” Ellie shrugged.

  “Whatever!” muttered Adam.

  Rachel sighed. She was really impatient to find Carly’s satchel so her friends would return to normal!

  “TIME IS UP!” shouted Jack Frost. “What is my favorit
e word? You may begin!” He stamped over to a girl with curly blonde hair and glasses from the Manning school.

  “Um, we thought it might be sunglasses,” stammered the girl. “Yours are very cool and you’re wearing them indoors so you obviously like them.”

  “Hmm,” said Jack Frost, stroking his beard with his long, icy fingers. “That isn’t my very favorite word but my sunglasses do make me look completely fabulous.” He spun around and pointed at Rachel’s team. “You, there! What do you think my favorite word is?”

  Rachel ducked behind Amina. She didn’t want Jack Frost to recognize her! She tried to make her voice a little deeper than usual.

  “Well, sir, we thought it might be …” Rachel paused before saying loudly, “FAIRIES!”

  Jack Frost stumbled back in shock, his blue face turning purple with anger. “WHAT! That is the most annoying word EVER! Your team is disqualified!”

  Rachel and her team quickly left the stage. As they walked past Carly and Kirsty the two fairies fluttered behind Rachel’s hair.

  “Well done, Rachel, that was a really smart plan!” whispered Kirsty.

  “Thanks, it was really scary though. Oh!” Rachel almost lost her balance as a gang of boys pushed past her and ran onto the stage.

  “Aha, there you are!” Jack Frost said to the four boys. “Everyone, this is the replacement team from Icy Towers!”

  The girls peered out at the stage from behind the curtain. They could hardly believe what they saw! Four goblins wearing baseball caps and odd pieces of school uniforms were standing in front of Jack Frost. One of them was clutching Carly’s blue satchel!

  “Those horrible goblins!” cried Carly, shaking her tiny fist at the stage. “We have to do something quick!”

  “Carly, why don’t you make Kirsty human-size again?” said Rachel. “That way we’ll be able to move around together more easily.”