Alicia the Snow Queen Fairy Read online

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  The Magical Snowflake

  Dull December

  The Magical Tower

  Winter in Fairyland

  The Snow Queen Appears

  Spinning Snowflake

  The Enchanted Mirror

  A Frosty Night

  Fairies in Danger

  Bewitched!

  Turning Up the Heat

  Bad Is Good!

  The Everlasting Rose

  Devious Divers

  Alicia Appears

  Sparkling Skates

  A Fishing Trip

  The Magic of Winter

  Teaser

  Copyright

  Wintry weather’s my domain.

  I love the hail and freezing rain.

  Alicia’s magic makes me sneer.

  The winter gloom should last all year!

  I want the winter winds to bite

  And folks to shiver day and night.

  I’ll steal her icy spells and then

  The spring will never come again!

  Find the hidden letters in the stars throughout this book.

  Unscramble all 6 letters to spell a special Snow Queen word!

  Dull December

  The Magical Tower

  Winter in Fairyland

  The Snow Queen Appears

  Spinning Snowflake

  “What an icy, gray December this is,” said Rachel Walker, blowing on her fingers and shivering. “I’m starting to wonder if it will ever be Christmas!”

  It was Saturday morning, and Rachel was in her backyard with her best friend, Kirsty Tate. They had come out to play a game of ball, but sleet was coming down. Kirsty shivered, too, and buried her hands deep into her pockets.

  “I’m really glad I’m staying with you for the weekend, but I wish the weather wasn’t so horrible,” Kirsty said.

  “We had such awesome plans,” said Rachel. “But nature walks and boating on the lake won’t be much fun when it’s so miserable and freezing. It looks as if we’ll be spending most of the weekend inside.”

  “Never mind,” said Kirsty, smiling at her friend. “We always have fun when we’re together, no matter what we’re doing.”

  “You’re right,” said Rachel, trying to forget about the dark clouds above.

  “Let’s go inside,” Kirsty said. “I think it’s starting to snow.”

  “Oh, really?” said Rachel, feeling more cheerful. “Maybe we can go sledding.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Kirsty. “I only see one snowflake.”

  She pointed up to the single, perfect snowflake. It was spiraling down from the gray sky. The girls watched it land on the edge of a stone birdbath.

  “That’s funny,” said Rachel after a moment. “It’s not melting.”

  Kirsty took a step closer to the birdbath. “I think it’s getting bigger,” she said.

  The snowflake began to grow bigger and bigger. Then it popped like a snowy balloon, and the girls saw a tiny fairy standing in its place. She was as exquisite as the snowflake had been. Her blond hair flowed around her shoulders, and she was wearing a long blue gown, decorated with sparkling silver sequins. A furry cape was wrapped around her shoulders, and a snowflake tiara twinkled on her head.

  “Hello, Rachel and Kirsty,” said the fairy. “I’m Alicia the Snow Queen Fairy.”

  “Hello, Alicia!” said Rachel. “It’s great to meet you!”

  “What are you doing here in Tippington?” Kirsty asked.

  “I’ve come to ask for your help,” said Alicia in a silvery voice. “It’s my job to make sure that everyone stays happy in winter—in both the human and fairy worlds. I went to visit Queen Titania this morning, and when I came home I got a terrible shock. Jack Frost had gone into my home and taken my three magical objects. Without the magical snowflake, the enchanted mirror, and the everlasting rose, I can’t look after human beings or fairies this winter.”

  “Oh no, that’s awful!” Rachel exclaimed. “Is there any way that we can help you?”

  Alicia clasped her hands together. “Please, would you come to Fairyland with me?” she asked. “Queen Titania has told me so much about you. When I discovered that my objects were missing, I thought of you right away. Will you help me find out what Jack Frost has done with them?”

  Kirsty and Rachel nodded at once.

  “Of course we will,” Kirsty replied.

  “Then let’s go!” exclaimed Alicia, holding up her wand.

  Glittering snowflakes burst from Alicia’s wand like a fountain and landed on the girls.

  “They’re as light as butterfly kisses,” said Rachel, laughing.

  She and Kirsty had already shrunk to fairy size, and their glittery wings were fluttering, eager to fly. They felt a cool wind whirl around them, lifting them into the air. They were carried up toward the dark clouds with Alicia at their side.

  “I think the world’s getting even more gloomy,” said Kirsty, looking down.

  Sleet was driving down all over Tippington, and the girls were glad to be leaving the bad weather behind. Better yet, they were going to Fairyland!

  Rachel and Kirsty were secret friends with the fairies, and they always adored the magical adventures they shared.

  Swirling snowflakes surrounded them now, until all they could see was glitter. When the snowflakes cleared, they were standing beside a tall white tower, and they were wrapped in warm fluffy capes, just like the one Alicia was wearing. All around, as far as they could see, were tall blue mountains, topped with snow.

  “Welcome to my home,” said Alicia, smiling at the girls.

  The tower walls were not solid like the walls of the Fairyland Palace. Standing close to them, Rachel and Kirsty saw that they were made of swirling snow.

  “That’s amazing,” said Rachel.

  She reached out to touch the wall. It felt cold and coarse.

  “But where’s the door?” Kirsty asked.

  “There is no door,” said Alicia with a laugh. “You just need to trust me.”

  She took their hands and led them forward.

  “We’re going to walk into the wall!” Rachel exclaimed.

  But she remembered what Alicia had said, and she kept walking. Instead of hitting the wall, they all walked straight through it and into Alicia’s home!

  It was warm and welcoming, with thick rugs, a roaring fire, and big sofas covered in cozy, colorful throw blankets. Hundreds of tiny golden lights hung around the room in graceful loops. When the girls looked up, they saw that the walls of the tower were covered with twinkling lights all the way to the roof.

  “Why doesn’t the fire melt the tower?” Kirsty asked.

  “It’s a magical fire,” Alicia replied. “I know spells to make it easy to live in cold weather. I have lived here for a long time, you see.”

  “Where are we?” asked Rachel.

  “We are in the most remote part of Fairyland,” said Alicia. “I live among the Blue Ice Mountains, far beyond Jack Frost’s castle. He had no idea that I even lived here until this morning. His goblins drove his carriage the wrong way, and he arrived here while I was at the palace. I knew it was him because I saw goblin footprints in the snow. So he has my magical objects, and now both Fairyland and the human world are in danger.”

  “What do your magical objects do?” Kirsty asked.

  Alicia waved her wand, and three pictures appeared in the air in front of the girls—a snowflake, a mirror, and a rose.

  “The magical snowflake makes winter weather just right,” she said. “ The enchanted mirror helps everyone to see the difference between good and bad. The everlasting rose ensures that new li
fe is still growing underground, and that flowers will appear again each spring. Without them, winter will be miserable for everyone, and my home will start to suffer, just like the rest of Fairyland.”

  With another wave of her wand, the pictures broke into tiny pieces and melted away to nothing.

  “What do you mean?” asked Rachel.

  “Come with me and I will show you,” said Alicia.

  She flew upward, and they followed her, higher and higher, until they passed through the roof and fluttered up into the snow clouds above.

  “It’s like flying through fluffy balls of cotton,” said Kirsty with a giggle.

  Alicia led the way, and the girls sped after her. Suddenly, there was a break in the clouds, and they saw that Jack Frost’s Ice Castle was directly below them. They were flying in the direction of the Fairyland Palace!

  As they flew closer to the palace, the snow clouds separated a little. When Rachel and Kirsty gazed down, they gasped in surprise. They had been to Fairyland in winter before and knew how snowy and beautiful it usually looked. But today the snow was streaked with mud. It looked hard and icy instead of soft and powdery. There were no fairies playing outside at all, and spiky icicles hung from their toadstool houses.

  “I don’t understand,” said Rachel. “Why is the snow so dirty?”

  “And why is it so cold?” Kirsty asked. “There’s hail in the wind.”

  “It feels like needles on my face,” Rachel said with a frown.

  Alicia stopped and fluttered above a frozen pond. She looked worried and upset.

  “This is happening because my magical snowflake is missing,” she said. “You see, it makes wintry weather beautiful and calm, and never too harsh or too cold. I share that magic across the human and fairy worlds, but Jack Frost has taken it all for himself. Now everyone else will suffer. Jack Frost’s home will have pleasant, snowy winter weather, but Fairyland and the human world will have nothing but gray skies, solid ice, and muddy snow.”

  “That’s really strange,” said Kirsty. “Jack Frost usually loves the harsh ice and bitter cold. Why would he want his home to be snowy and calm?”

  “I think we should go to the Ice Castle and try to find out,” said Rachel.

  Alicia nodded. “I hope that he is keeping my magical objects there,” she said. “Do you think we can find them?”

  “Of course we can,” said Rachel. “We just have to figure out what he’s planning—and stop him!”

  It was strange for the weather to get better when they reached the Ice Castle. Fat snowflakes were floating down over the castle. When the fairies flew over the battlements, they saw goblin guards building snowmen.

  “Look down there,” said Rachel, pointing to a lawn in the castle gardens. A large group of goblins was gathered, sitting on garden chairs and swinging their legs. The chairs were facing a small bandstand, where Jack Frost was sitting on a throne of ice.

  “You’ve found him!” Alicia said. “Good job!”

  Rachel, Kirsty, and Alicia fluttered to the ground and crouched behind a bush. Peeking around it, they could see that Jack Frost had a book in his hands, and he seemed to be reading aloud. Beside him was a table, and on the table was a glass case covered with a dome.

  “Look!” said Alicia in an excited whisper. “Look inside the glass case!”

  Rachel and Kirsty saw a single snowflake that was floating magically in the middle of the dome. It was perfect in every detail.

  “Is that your magical snowflake?” asked Kirsty. “It’s beautiful!”

  “We’ve found it!” said Rachel, giving a little hop of triumph.

  “Yes,” said Alicia, her face falling. “But how are we going to get it back when it is being guarded by Jack Frost and all those goblins?”

  The three fairies thought for a moment, but they couldn’t think of a single idea. They looked around at the goblins. Some of them were listening to their master, but most were fidgeting and whispering to one another.

  “What is Jack Frost reading to those goblins?” Kirsty asked.

  They strained to hear, and caught a few words drifting toward them. “Gerda and Kay heard the church bells ringing and knew that they were home.”

  “I know that story!” Rachel exclaimed. “It’s The Snow Queen—my mom always reads it to me at Christmas. But why is he reading it to the goblins?”

  Just then, the story ended, and Jack Frost turned to the front of the book again. The fairies saw two of the nearest goblins fidget and lean toward each other.

  “He’s going to read it again,” said one with a groan.

  “We’ve already had to listen to it three times,” grumbled the other. “I wish somebody would stop him!”

  A goblin closer to Jack Frost stood up.

  “Um, can we have a different story this time?” he asked. “I’m bored of that one.”

  “Boring! Boring!” chanted a few of the other goblins.

  “Be quiet!” Jack Frost snarled at them. “I’m the boss, so you have to do what I say.”

  “What’s the point of reading a book over and over again?” asked another goblin.

  “And who cares about the Snow Queen, anyway?”

  “You silly goblins!” Jack Frost yelled. “You wouldn’t know a good story if it bit you on the nose!”

  He almost threw the book at the goblin who was standing up, and then thought better of it.

  “You need to learn about the Snow Queen,” he said through gritted teeth, “because she’ll be giving you orders very soon. She will rule everything with me, as soon as she sees that my powerful magic has turned everywhere else to treacherous ice. Together we will rule both Fairyland and the human world! She is the only one who can enjoy the cold as I can, so obviously she will want to find me. I am going to read about her until she arrives, and you will listen, like it or not.”

  “He doesn’t know that The Snow Queen is a fairy tale,” said Kirsty. “He thinks that there is a real Snow Queen—and he wants to rule the world with her!”

  “That’s why he’s taken the snowflake,” said Rachel. “He has used all its magic to make the Ice Castle snowy and beautiful, so that everywhere else is just ice.”

  As Jack Frost started reading the story again, Kirsty clasped her hands together and turned to Rachel and Alicia. “I’ve got it!” she whispered. “Alicia, could you make a snow queen out of ice? Something that could fool Jack Frost?”

  “Certainly,” said Alicia.

  She flicked her wand, and a ribbon of ice shot from the tip. In a few seconds, it had formed an ice statue of a beautiful woman. She looked proud and haughty, and she wore a high crown and a set of flowing robes. She was very beautiful, and she had one hand raised as if she were waving.

  The statue stood at the back of the crowd of goblins, so it was a few moments before Jack Frost spotted it.

  He stopped reading at once and jumped to his feet, waving one hand and smoothing down his beard with the other.

  “Welcome, Your Majesty!” he said, clearly groveling. “I am honored to see you in my frosty domain.”

  The goblins turned around and squealed with excitement.

  “The Snow Queen is here!”

  “I want her autograph!”

  “What’s she wearing?”

  “I want to shake her hand!”

  They leaped toward the frozen statue, and Jack Frost sprang after them.

  “Don’t crowd her!” he bellowed. “Show some respect!”

  “Now’s our chance!” said Kirsty.

  While the goblins and Jack Frost had their backs turned, she and Rachel zoomed over to rescue the magical snowflake. But as they lifted the glass dome, an unlucky gust of wind sent the snowflake dancing through the air—straight toward Jack Frost!

  Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other in alarm. They had to catch the snowflake before Jack Frost noticed what was happening!

  “No!” cried Alicia.

  She flew out from her hiding place, and the goblins and Jack Frost saw
her.

  For a brief moment, no one moved. Jack Frost stared first at Alicia, then at Rachel and Kirsty, and then at the Snow Queen ice statue.

  “What?” he stammered. “Who … how … ?”

  Another gust of wind made the magical snowflake spin faster, and it seemed to shake Jack Frost out of his surprise.

  “Get that snowflake NOW!” he roared.

  The goblins flung themselves forward, charging across the powdery snow, their arms stretched out to catch the snowflake. Several of them fell flat on their faces and sank into the snow. Some went in too deep and got stuck. Not one of them could lay his hands on the slippery snowflake.

  Rachel and Kirsty darted toward the snowflake, too, zigzagging around the jumping goblins. The snowflake danced above them, pushed this way and that by all the hands flapping around it. Then the girls heard an outraged screech. They turned to see Jack Frost holding the hand of the Snow Queen statue. He had tried to shake her hand and then realized that she was made of ice!

  “I’ll teach you to try to trick me!” he shouted, glaring at Alicia. “I’ll make sure you’ve lost all your magical objects forever!”

  “I will not let you selfishly spoil winter for everyone,” Alicia declared.

  “My goblins outnumber you three pests,” Jack Frost cackled. “Any moment now they will catch your magical snowflake, and it will be mine!”

  “That’s never going to happen!” Rachel exclaimed.

  Just then a goblin touched the snowflake. He batted it toward Jack Frost, who laughed and reached out to catch it. But one more gust of wind lifted it above his head, a little out of arm’s reach. Still laughing, Jack Frost rose on his tiptoes, but this time the wind was lucky. The snowflake was blown away from Jack Frost … and straight into Alicia’s arms!