Clare the Caring Fairy

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  The Last Day

  Barbecue Bickering

  Mystery VIP

  Tempting Jack Frost

  True Friendship

  A Surprising Party

  Teaser

  Copyright

  The Friendship Fairies like big smiles.

  They want to spread good cheer for miles.

  Those pests want people to connect,

  And treat one another with respect.

  I don’t agree! I just don’t care!

  I want them all to feel despair.

  And when their charms belong to me,

  Each friend will be an enemy!

  It was a beautiful summer’s afternoon on Rainspell Island. Rachel Walker shut the door of the Sunny Days Bed & Breakfast behind her and skipped down the steps. Her best friend, Kirsty Tate, was waiting for her on the path, and their parents had already started walking toward the park.

  “I’m really looking forward to this barbecue,” said Rachel. “I’m starving!”

  “I think the hot weather makes us hungrier than usual,” said Kirsty with a grin. “Just thinking about burgers is making my stomach rumble!”

  Rachel laughed and reached out to hold Kirsty’s hand.

  “This has been one of the best trips ever,” she said as they hurried to catch up with their parents. “I can’t believe that we’re going home tomorrow.”

  “Vacations on Rainspell always go too fast,” said Kirsty.

  The two girls shared a secret smile. Rainspell Island was the place where they had met and become best friends, and where they had had their first adventures with the fairies.

  “It’s a great idea to celebrate the last day of the Summer Friends Camp with a barbecue,” said Mr. Walker with a twinkle in his eye. “I love barbecues!”

  At the start of their vacation, the girls had joined the Summer Friends Camp, a day camp for children who were staying on the island on vacation. Now that they had reached the end of their stay, it was time to say good-bye to all of their new friends.

  “It actually has been harder to make friends than I thought it would be,” Kirsty said to Rachel.

  “I agree,” Rachel replied. “It’s all because of mean Jack Frost and his goblins. They’ve caused a lot of trouble.”

  Walking a short distance behind their parents, the girls talked quietly about the adventures they had been sharing with the Friendship Fairies over the last few days.

  “It’s been nonstop magic since the day we arrived,” Kirsty remembered. “Esther the Kindness Fairy whisked us off to Fairyland for a tea party with her and the other Friendship Fairies.”

  “It was wonderful until Jack Frost turned up,” Rachel added.

  Jack Frost and his goblins had sneakily stolen the fairies’ magical objects while no one was looking. He wanted to use them to get lots of friends that he could boss around. And, as long as he had the magical objects, friendships in the human and fairy worlds would suffer.

  “Jack Frost loves trying to ruin everyone’s fun,” said Kirsty. “This time he’s made it really hard for friends to get along. Even Jen and Ginny have argued a few times.”

  Jen and Ginny were the teenage best friends who ran the Summer Friends Camp.

  “Thank goodness that Florence the Friendship Fairy cast a ‘Friends through Thick and Thin’ spell on our friendship bracelets,” said Rachel. “I can’t imagine ever fighting with you. It would be horrible!”

  Kirsty smiled, but she still looked anxious. Ahead, her parents were laughing with Rachel’s parents. Even their friendships would be ruined if Jack Frost could not be stopped.

  “Florence said that the magical bracelets won’t hold out for long if the fairies don’t get their objects back quickly,” she said worriedly. “And there is still one missing—Clare the Caring Fairy’s magical mood ring.”

  “We have a whole day left to find it,” said Rachel. “We’ve already found the other three objects—I’m sure we can find it if we try our best.”

  “We have to,” said Kirsty. “Without it, the Summer Friends Camp barbecue will be a disaster, and friendships everywhere will be destroyed!”

  The girls followed their parents into Rainspell Park and saw Heather the ice cream seller. She usually sold her ice cream in the town, but today she had set up a little stand next to the gravel path that ran around the park.

  “She must think the park is going to get really busy because of the barbecue,” said Rachel with a smile.

  They both liked Heather. She was always kind and happy, and she seemed to really love her work.

  “Selling ice cream must be one of the best jobs in the world,” said Kirsty as they waved to Heather. “Just imagine being able to eat as much ice cream as you want!”

  “I think you’d get sick of it pretty quickly,” said Mrs. Walker, overhearing their conversation.

  The girls looked at each other and laughed.

  “Never!” they said at the same time.

  The barbecue had been set up beside the tent where the camp was based. There was already a big crowd of people there, and the delicious aroma of grilled food wafted over toward them.

  “There’s Lara!” said Kirsty, spotting one of their new friends from the camp.

  “Hello, Lara!” called Rachel, walking toward her.

  Lara waved at them. She was carrying an ice cream cone from Heather’s stand. As Rachel and Kirsty reached her, Oscar, another friend from the camp, bumped into Lara. Her ice cream was knocked out of the cone and fell to the ground.

  “Oh no, look what you did!” Lara cried out. “You ruined my ice cream! I only had one lick of it. You should look where you’re going, clumsy!”

  “I don’t care,” said Oscar with a shrug. “You should have been looking where you were going.”

  Lara stormed off, and Rachel and Kirsty exchanged a knowing look. Oscar and Lara were not usually bad-tempered, but today they didn’t seem to care about anyone.

  “I know exactly why they are being so mean,” said Rachel in a low voice. “Jack Frost still has the mood ring, so people have stopped caring about one another’s feelings.”

  They walked closer to the barbecue and saw a nice seating area made from long, thick logs. Several of the other children from the Summer Friends Camp were there, but they didn’t look very happy. They all had their arms crossed, and they were arguing in loud, angry voices about who should sit where. Suddenly, there was a crash and a splash. Eric had kicked his soccer ball into some drinks on a table and knocked them all to the ground.

  “The drinks!” exclaimed an elderly lady. “You should be more careful, young man!”

  Eric just smirked at her.

  “Why should I?” he asked. “It’s not my problem.”

  He kicked the ball again, and it crashed into the log seats and sent some of them tumbling down.

  “What a rude little boy,” said the elderly lady.

  The girls felt very embarrassed. They knew that Eric wasn’t usually rude at all.

  “Things are getting worse,” Kirsty whispered. “If we don’t find the mood ring soon, Florence’s magic might start to wear off and we might start not caring as much about each other’s feelings.”

  The best friends looked at each other in dismay, and then hooked their little fingers together.

  “We won’t let that happen,” said Rachel in a fierce voice. “We will find a way to stop Jack Frost!”

  They went to find their parents, who were standing in the busy line for the barbecue. All the adults looked irritated, and a few of them were pushing others out of the way to try to jump ahead in the line. As the girls watched, a couple of men were n
udged aside and Mr. Walker elbowed his way through the crowd. He had a burger clutched in his hand.

  “I got one!” he shouted. “It’s the very last one, and it’s all mine!”

  Kirsty, Rachel, and the other parents all stared at him in astonishment.

  “What about burgers for the rest of us?” asked Mrs. Walker in a surprised voice.

  Mr. Walker just shrugged as if he didn’t care, and took a big bite of the burger.

  “Dad?” asked Rachel in a whisper. “This isn’t like you!”

  But her dad took no notice. He was usually kind and thoughtful, but right then he seemed like a completely different person. Rachel turned to Kirsty, her eyes brimming with tears.

  “What are we going to do?” she cried.

  Kirsty gave Rachel a hug.

  “Come on,” she said. “This is all because of Jack Frost, and we will find the last magical object and stop him. Let’s go say hello to Jen and Ginny, and then try to decide what to do.”

  But when they walked up to Jen and Ginny, the teenagers were in the middle of a big argument.

  “I don’t want to give the silly speech,” Jen was saying. “What’s the point of it, anyway?”

  “What speech?” asked Rachel.

  Jen and Ginny glanced at her, but they didn’t even smile.

  “We’ve written this speech about the Summer Friends Camp,” said Ginny. “All about how successful it’s been and how much fun we’ve all had. Blah, blah, blah.”

  “You can give the speech,” Jen went on, glaring at Ginny.

  “I don’t care about the camp or the speech,” Ginny snapped back. “You should do it.”

  They both crossed their arms and turned their backs on each other.

  Rachel and Kirsty exchanged a worried look.

  “Everyone is acting like they don’t care about anyone else,” said Rachel, feeling a lump in her throat as she thought about her dad.

  “Or about anything else,” said Kirsty. “And it’s all because of Jack Frost and his goblins.”

  Jen and Ginny marched off in opposite directions, and Rachel sank down on a nearby log and sighed. “I’m starting to worry that Jack Frost might really beat us this time,” she said in a gloomy voice.

  Suddenly, something beside the log caught her eye. It was a small watercooler, and it was glowing. Rachel jumped to her feet.

  “Kirsty!” she cried. “That’s magic!”

  The girls kneeled down beside the little watercooler and opened the lid together. Out fluttered Clare the Caring Fairy, shivering a little.

  “Hello!” she said in a bright voice, rubbing her hands together. “Thanks for letting me out—it’s so chilly in there!”

  She was wearing a romper covered in red roses, a sky-blue jacket, and a pair of brown ankle boots. Her gleaming auburn hair hung loosely to her shoulders.

  “Hello, Clare,” said Kirsty, feeling excited to see the last of the Friendship Fairies. “You’ll warm up soon—it’s another hot day here on Rainspell.”

  Rachel let out a sigh and Clare looked around at the angry faces of the people at the barbecue. A frown creased her forehead.

  “It might be a warm day, but the mood here looks as cold as ice,” she said.

  “Everyone is grumpy with one another,” said Rachel. “They just want everything their own way.”

  “I have to get my magical mood ring back from Jack Frost and the goblins,” said Clare. “It’s the only way to make sure that people care about one another again. Please, girls, will you help me?”

  “Of course!” said Kirsty and Rachel together.

  “Where should we start looking?” asked Kirsty, glancing around and seeing that the crowd of people had started waving and pointing at someone. “Oh, someone very special must have arrived!”

  Rachel looked over, too, and saw that Jen and Ginny were going to get a table and chair.

  “He has to be able to sit and eat in comfort,” she heard Ginny say to Jen.

  A man scurried over to the crowd with an umbrella.

  “Are you feeling too hot?” he called out, shoving people aside. “This will shade you from the sun!”

  “I’ve got a plate of hot dogs for you,” a woman said, pushing her way into the crowd. “I thought you might be hungry.”

  “Who is this amazing visitor?” asked Kirsty in astonishment.

  “Cushions!” voices were calling out. “How is he feeling? Here’s a footstool! Let me care for him!”

  “Can we do anything to make you feel happier?” the girls heard Ginny asking.

  “Why does everyone care about this visitor so much?” asked Rachel. “He must be someone very special to make all these people fuss over him and his feelings.”

  “Yes,” said Kirsty, frowning. “It’s even stranger when you think about how uncaring they’ve all been to one another. Who could he be?”

  But the crowd was tightly packed around the mystery visitor, and the girls couldn’t see anything.

  “We have to find out who he is,” said Rachel. “But how?”

  “Clare, can you turn us into fairies?” Kirsty asked in an urgent voice. “If we fly overhead, we should be able to see the visitor and find out what’s going on.”

  Clare fluttered up and gently rested her wand against Rachel’s golden hair. Magical sparkles twinkled among her curls as fairy dust sprinkled down over her shoulders. She shrank to fairy size as Clare fluttered over to Kirsty’s shoulder and cast the same spell on her. The girls smiled at each other as they spread their wings and flew up into the sky beside Clare. It was always exciting to become a fairy—even if it wasn’t for a happy reason.

  “Keep out of sight in the tree branches,” said Clare.

  From among the leafy branches, the three fairies gazed down at the crowd gathered around the mysterious visitor. Kirsty gave a gasp of shock when she saw him. He had a long beard and a long nose, and he was dressed in a glittery ice-blue polo shirt and shorts. There were even glittery blue sandals on his big blue feet.

  “It’s Jack Frost!” Rachel cried out. “Why is he here in the human world? I thought he’d be in his Ice Castle, trying to keep the magical mood ring away from Clare.”

  “It looks like he’s trying to make new friends that he can boss around,” said Kirsty. “And I think he’s succeeding.”

  All around him, grown-ups and children were fetching and carrying, bowing, and doing everything he said.

  “Let’s get closer,” said Clare. “Maybe we can somehow stop him from bossing everyone around.”

  Staying high above everyone, they fluttered nearer. Clare let out a squeak of surprise and pointed at Jack’s hand. A beautiful ring was glimmering on his finger—a ring that seemed to change color every time it moved.

  “My magical mood ring!” Clare exclaimed. “We’ve found it—but how are we going to get it back?”

  There were too many people around Jack Frost—someone would be sure to spot them if they flew down to him there. Rachel glanced around and spotted a straggly line next to Heather’s ice cream stand.

  “I have an idea,” she said. “If we can get Jack Frost thinking about ice cream, maybe he will send some of these people to bring him some, and we’ll have a chance to get the ring.”

  The fairies perched on a branch as close to Jack as they could get. There were too many people nearby to be able to get right behind him, but they were near enough for him to hear them if they spoke loudly enough.

  “Heather makes the most delicious ice cream I’ve ever tasted,” said Rachel.

  “Mmm, it’s so good,” said Kirsty. “The perfect thing for such a hot day.”

  “The strawberry flavor tastes as juicy as real strawberries,” Clare added. “It’s so refreshing.”

  They were watching Jack Frost as they talked, and they saw him lick his lips.

  “What else can we do to make you comfortable?” called a voice from the crowd.

  “Bring me ice cream,” Jack Frost said immediately. “A yummy ice cream
cone—a strawberry one. Now!”

  The crowd around him turned and raced off across the park toward Heather’s stand. Jack Frost let out a happy sigh and leaned back against the cushions, his hands clasped across his tummy. The sun beat down on his face and his eyes flickered and then closed. A tiny snore escaped his lips.

  “This is our chance,” Kirsty whispered. “Let’s swoop down and try to slip the ring off his finger.”

  “What if he wakes up?” asked Clare, biting her lip.

  “We have to risk it,” said Rachel, squeezing Clare’s hand. “Don’t be scared—we’ll all be together!”

  The fairies flew down and hovered beside Jack Frost’s hands. The finger wearing the mood ring was on top.

  “All we have to do is slide it off without waking him up,” Kirsty whispered. “Come on, we can do it!”

  They each got a grip on the ring and started to pull as slowly as they could. Luckily, the ring was a little loose on his bony finger. It was possible to move it along without brushing against his skin. They just had to be very careful, and very slow.

  But suddenly, there was a rumbling sound in Jack Frost’s chest. Then he let out a loud burp and opened his eyes.

  “Fairies!” he exclaimed. “Get away from me!”

  He swatted at them with his hands. Clare darted backward, but Rachel and Kirsty crossed their arms and hovered just out of his reach.

  “You are causing big problems for everyone,” Rachel said. “Give Clare her ring and let everything go back to normal.”

  “No!” Jack Frost snapped.

  He jumped up and ran away from them.

  “Quick, follow him!” Kirsty cried. “We can’t let that ring out of our sight!”