Eva the Enchanted Ball Fairy

  The fairies are planning a magical ball,

  With guests of honor and fun for all.

  They’re expecting a night full of laughter and cheer,

  But they’ll get a shock when my goblins appear!

  Adventures and treats will be things of the past,

  And I’ll beat those troublesome fairies at last.

  My iciest magic will blast through the room

  And the world will be plunged into grimness and gloom!

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  A Dancing Disaster

  Flight to Fairyland

  Flying Ice Cream

  Trapped in Chains

  An Extra Guest

  Having a Ball

  Teaser

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three,” murmured Rachel Walker under her breath, trying to concentrate on what her feet were doing. She and her best friend, Kirsty Tate, were staying at the Golden Palace for a Royal Sleepover Camp. Today, they were in the ballroom, enjoying a dance lesson. The ballroom was beautiful, with huge sparkly chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and dark-red wallpaper that looked like velvet.

  It was the last full day of the camp and Kirsty and Rachel had had lots of fun. They’d been on a treasure hunt, taken part in a field day and a pageant, enjoyed a tea party in the palace gardens, and much more. It had been so exciting to stay in a real palace with a drawbridge, moat, and gold-topped towers. Best of all, the girls had also found themselves on more wonderful fairy adventures, this time with the Princess Fairies!

  A grand ball was taking place that evening, and everyone was planning on dressing up in their nicest clothes. Louis and Caroline, the directors who had looked after the campers all week, were teaching them the waltz, but nobody was finding it easy.

  “Whoops,” said one boy, accidentally stepping on his partner’s toes.

  “Sorry,” said a girl as she swung around too quickly and bumped into the person behind her.

  “Ow,” said Kirsty as she stumbled, knocking against one of the tables at the far end of the room. The table had been decorated with flower arrangements and elegant glass vases filled with colorful candy, ready for the ball that evening. One of the vases fell over, and Kirsty barely caught it before it hit the floor.

  “Oh, dear,” Louis said with a sigh as he exchanged glances with Caroline. “This isn’t going as well as I’d hoped.”

  Kirsty and Rachel looked at each other, too. They had a good idea why everyone was finding it so hard to learn the waltz — it was all because of Jack Frost!

  At the beginning of the week, the girls had been magically whisked away to Fairyland, where a special ball was being held in honor of the seven Princess Fairies. But mean Jack Frost had turned up uninvited with his goblins. He stole the Princess Fairies’ magic tiaras and took them to the human world!

  The Princess Fairies usually used their magic to look after all kinds of things — costumes, fun and games, adventures, and happiness — but without their tiaras, their magic wasn’t working and normally fun times were turning into extraordinary disasters!

  Luckily, Queen Titania had been able to cast a spell to make sure that the seven tiaras ended up in the Golden Palace. Ever since then, Kirsty and Rachel had been tracking them down. They’d found six of the stolen tiaras, but there was still one missing — the one that belonged to Princess Eva the Enchanted Ball Fairy.

  “Unless we find Princess Eva’s tiara, tonight’s ball is going to be a disaster,” Rachel whispered to Kirsty. “We have to keep an eye out for it.”

  Kirsty nodded, just as Caroline turned off the music and clapped her hands for silence.

  “I’m afraid we’re out of time for our dance class,” she said. “Don’t worry if you’re not sure about the steps yet — we’ll still have plenty of fun at the ball later.”

  All the kids left the ballroom and started to make their way upstairs to get changed for the ball. Kirsty and Rachel hurried up the main staircase to the tower where they were sharing a bedroom.

  “I’m going to wear the party dress that Phoebe the Fashion Fairy made me,” Kirsty said as they walked along.

  “Me too!” Rachel said, smiling.

  They’d helped Phoebe and her friends the Party Fairies during another vacation, and Phoebe had rewarded each of the girls with a beautiful new dress. Even though both girls had grown taller since then, their dresses still fit perfectly, as if there was magic sewn into the seams.

  Up in their bedroom, Rachel pulled open the wardrobe doors — and the girls were in for a horrible surprise. Kirsty’s pink dress had a dark stain down the front that hadn’t been there before, and Rachel’s lilac dress had a large rip in one of the sleeves.

  “Oh, no!” Kirsty exclaimed. “Our dresses look more like Cinderella’s rags than beautiful ball gowns. What are we going to do?”

  Just then, the girls heard a rustling sound — and out of the wardrobe flew a tiny blond fairy! She was wearing a glittery pink ball gown that billowed elegantly around her, and lilac shoes that were decorated with tiny jewels. The girls smiled as they recognized Princess Eva the Enchanted Ball Fairy.

  “Hello,” Princess Eva said, smiling. Then her face fell as she saw the ruined dresses. “Oh, dear,” she said. “You can’t wear those to the ball. If only I had my tiara, I could use its magic powers to make the dresses as good as new for you.”

  “We can wear something else,” Kirsty said, turning away from the ruined dresses. “But more important, we can help you look for your tiara.”

  “Definitely,” Rachel agreed. “We know that Jack Frost and his goblins are hiding in one of the towers. Why don’t we search around there?”

  “Thank you,” Princess Eva replied. “First, let me turn you into fairies. Then we can fly up there together.” She waved her wand and a stream of rainbow-colored sparkles swirled out, twirling all around the girls. In the next moment, they felt themselves shrinking smaller and smaller until they were the same size as Eva — and had their own glittery fairy wings, too!

  Kirsty grinned as she fluttered her wings and swooped around the room. Being a fairy was the best thing ever!

  “Let’s go,” Eva said, and led them out of the room and toward the old tower that Jack Frost had made his hideout. They all flew up the spiral staircase together, high above the crumbling stone steps. As they got near the top of the tower, the air grew much colder and icicles appeared on the walls.

  “Hmmm,” Eva said, a worried expression on her face. “It looks like Jack Frost is up to something. I think it must be his icy magic that has caused the temperature to drop so low. Come on, let’s investigate.”

  At the top of the staircase, there was a large wooden door that was slightly ajar. The three fairies peeked around it to see Jack Frost and his goblins inside. Swirls of icy-blue magic crackled all around them. Jack Frost was wearing Eva’s tiara as he addressed the goblins. “Good news!” he cackled. “The spell cast by Queen Titania that kept all the Princess Fairies’ tiaras at the Golden Palace is wearing off. So we can take this tiara to my Ice Castle,” he announced in a smug tone, “and we’ll have the most amazing ball ever — way better than a silly fairy ball.”

  With that, he clapped his hands, and the icy-blue magic seemed to dance around him and the goblins with a fizzing sound. There was a sudden shower of ice chips . . . and then he and the goblins vanished.

  “We’ll have to go after them,” Rachel said. “We need to get that tiara back!”

>   “Yes,” Eva said. “And there’s no time to spare. To Fairyland!” She waved her wand and more of the rainbow-colored sparkles burst around the fairies, whirling them out of the tower and away.

  When the magic whirlwind slowed and lowered the three fairies to the ground, Kirsty, Rachel, and Eva found themselves outside Jack Frost’s Ice Castle in Fairyland. It was a forbidding place, extremely cold and made of glittering blue ice. But as the girls peeked through the windows into the great hall, they realized that today everything seemed much happier.

  Jack Frost was busy preparing for his ball. He raised his hand, firing an icy bolt of magic — and in the next instant, blue and green decorations appeared around the room. Zap! There went another icy bolt, making silver trays appear on a table, piled high with ice pops and lots of ice cream.

  Zap! Ballroom music started playing. With a final wave of his hand, Jack Frost zapped an outfit for himself — an ice-blue dress coat and bow tie. He was still wearing Eva’s magic tiara, Rachel noticed.

  As the fairies watched, the goblins began pouring into the room, all wearing their party clothes.

  “Let the Ice Castle ball begin!” Jack Frost declared, and the goblins cheered.

  But before long, things started to go wrong. Kirsty put her hands over her ears as the music changed to horrible banging sounds. The ice cream and ice pops started melting into sticky globs on the silver trays. A sudden gust of wind blew the decorations off the walls, and the goblins’ clothes suddenly looked tattered and torn. Jack Frost tried to get everyone dancing to the awful music, but the goblins didn’t want to. Instead, they began pushing one another around and jumping on the tables.

  Eva winced as the music banged and crashed even more loudly. “Jack Frost might think he can have the perfect ball because he has my tiara, but he’s wrong,” she said. “Unless I have the tiara, no one — not even Jack Frost — can have a successful ball.”

  “Oh, dear,” Rachel said. “Look at him now. He’s furious!”

  Jack Frost stamped his foot in rage. “This is not good enough,” he yelled. “I wanted a real ball — with elegant outfits, beautiful decorations, lovely music, and graceful dancing. Nothing has gone right. This fairy tiara is broken!”

  “I wonder . . .” said Rachel thoughtfully to herself. “Yes, that might work. . . .”

  “What might work?” Kirsty asked.

  Rachel smiled, her eyes shining. “I have an idea,” she said. “If Jack Frost wants the perfect ball — then we’ll give him one!”

  Rachel explained her plan. “Eva, if you could use some magic to disguise me as a party planner, I might be able to get into the Ice Castle. I can pretend I’m there to help Jack Frost,” she said. “Hopefully, once I’m inside, I can find a way to sneak the tiara off his head and get it back to you.”

  Eva looked uncertain. “I like the party-planner idea,” she said, “but it might be dangerous to try to get my tiara. We already know what a horrible mood Jack Frost is in — he could become really nasty.”

  “Maybe we could fly in as well,” Kirsty suggested. “And then, while Rachel is helping Jack Frost, we might be able to grab the tiara without him noticing us.”

  “Good thinking,” Eva said. She waved her wand and announced, “One party planner coming up!”

  Rainbow sparkles poured from her wand and swirled around Rachel. When they cleared, Rachel was dressed in bright party clothes and a sparkly wig, carrying bunches of balloons and a bag of party streamers.

  Kirsty grinned. “Good luck,” she said.

  “You, too,” Rachel said. “Let’s do it!”

  Kirsty and Eva fluttered through an open window while Rachel knocked on the door of the castle. When Jack Frost opened it with a suspicious glare, she smiled politely and said, “Hello, I’m from Perfect Party Services. I get the feeling your ball isn’t going as planned. Could I offer you some help?”

  The frown vanished from Jack Frost’s face, and a look of relief appeared in its place. “Yes, please,” he said, pushing the door wide open so Rachel could step in. “You’re just who I need. Come in, come in.”

  Kirsty and Eva fluttered to a dark corner of the room and hovered in the shadows. They watched as Rachel showed Jack Frost how to blow up balloons. “Perfect,” she said cheerfully, tying neat knots to close the balloons. “And now for the streamers — I have some sparkly ones here,” she said, pulling them out of her bag. “These will make the room look fantastic.”

  While Jack Frost was admiring the streamers and draping them over the gray candleholders on the walls, Kirsty and Eva jumped at the chance to fly closer to him. They swooped down to the table with the melting ice cream and hid behind it, waiting for the right moment to grab the tiara.

  The goblins, meanwhile, were getting bored. One of them threw a scoop of ice cream at another, giggling as it splattered on the second goblin’s head.

  “Hey!” the second goblin grumbled. “Two can play at that game!” And he hurled a lump of ice cream back. It wasn’t long before all the goblins were throwing ice cream around the room, making a terrible mess.

  Jack Frost was busy arranging his new streamers and ignored them. Then, as he walked closer to the food table to pin up some of the balloons, Kirsty and Rachel exchanged meaningful glances.

  “Now!” Eva whispered, and she and Kirsty both zoomed out of their hiding place and up toward the tiara on Jack Frost’s head. Unfortunately for the fairies, Kirsty was hit by the flying ice cream as they were fluttering through the air. She let out a squeak of shock.

  “Hey,” called a goblin. “I just saw a fairy. Two fairies!”

  Kirsty and Eva swerved away in fright as the goblins began chasing them around the room. One goblin, who wasn’t looking where he was going, crashed into Jack Frost and sent him skidding through an ice-cream puddle on the floor.

  “Behave yourselves!” Jack Frost roared at the goblins. “You’re ruining this ball!”

  Rachel’s eyes widened as she caught sight of Kirsty and Eva being chased.

  She lifted a corner of the tablecloth, and motioned to the panicky fairies to hide under there.

  “But we saw some fairies,” one of the goblins declared to Jack Frost. “We’re trying to get rid of them for you.”

  “Fairies?” thundered Jack Frost, and Rachel trembled at the anger in his voice.

  “I . . . I think they went that way,” Rachel said quickly, pointing out the window. She desperately hoped that he would believe her.

  Immediately, Jack Frost ran outside in search of the fairies, with the goblins following. Eva and Kirsty flew out from their hiding place, their hearts pounding. “That didn’t work very well,” Rachel said.

  Eva waved her wand at Rachel, turning her back into a fairy. “We need to think of a new plan,” she said, but quickly stopped as she heard the sound of footsteps returning.

  “Jack Frost’s coming back,” she hissed. “Quick — hide!”

  The fairies dove behind the ice-cream bowls again as the door swung open with a crash. Jack Frost stomped back inside. He looked around and gave an enormous sigh. “Even the party planner has had enough of my ball,” he said sadly. He sat on his throne looking thoroughly fed up as he stared at the mess the goblins had made.

  Kirsty and Rachel were surprised that they actually felt sorry for Jack Frost. They’d been looking forward to the ball at the Golden Palace, so they could imagine how disappointed he must feel, now that his own ball had gone wrong. Even his stylish dress coat was covered in ice cream from when he’d fallen over.

  “I wonder if . . .” Kirsty began in a low voice, then shook her head. “No,” she said in the next breath, “I don’t think it would work.”

  “What?” Eva whispered.

  “Well, I was just wondering if there was any chance we could hold another Fairyland Ball and invite Jack Frost to come this time,
” Kirsty said. “But I know he doesn’t deserve to go, after everything he’s done.”

  Eva gazed at Jack Frost, her head tilted thoughtfully. “I don’t know if we can trust him to behave,” she said doubtfully. “He might just try to ruin everything again.”

  “Maybe the thought of dancing, delicious food, and lots of fun will persuade him to be nice,” Rachel suggested. “He’d have to give up the tiara first, of course.”

  “Absolutely,” Eva agreed. “And apologize, too. Let’s see what he thinks.”

  The three fairies flew out from their hiding place and hovered in front of Jack Frost, who was still on the throne, moping.

  “Hi, there,” Kirsty began timidly. “We were just wondering if you might . . .”

  But before she could get any further, Jack Frost clutched the tiara to his head with a look of panic. “You’re not getting this back,” he hissed. Then he fired three bursts of icy magic at the fairies. Zap! Zap! Zap!

  One of the ice bolts hit a chain of streamers that then fell down from the ceiling, landing on the fairies and forcing them to the ground. The fairies lay on the cold stone floor and struggled to get out of the paper chains as Jack Frost approached. Icy magic crackled from his fingertips.

  Eva wrestled her wand free and quickly pointed it at Jack Frost, muttering a magic spell. Glittery sparkles began to whirl around his head so fast that Jack Frost couldn’t see the fairies.

  “What I was trying to tell you,” Kirsty called up while he was busy zapping the sparkles away with ice bolts, “was that we want to invite you to a Fairyland Ball.”