Lily the Rain Forest Fairy

  The Earth Fairies must be dreaming

  If they think they can escape my scheming.

  My goblins are by far the greenest,

  And I am definitely the meanest.

  Seven fairies out to save the earth?

  This very idea fills me with mirth!

  I’m sure the world has had enough

  Of fairy magic and all that stuff.

  So I’m going to steal the fairies’ wands

  And send them into human lands.

  The fairies will think all is lost,

  Defeated again — by me, Jack Frost!

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  Food From the Forest

  Amazing Rain Forest

  Goblins in Bulldozers

  Fruit Storm

  Animal Army

  All Tied Up

  Teaser

  Copyright

  “Look, Kirsty,” Rachel Walker called as she hurried through the trees. “I think I found some wild onions!”

  “Oh, great!” Kirsty Tate, Rachel’s best friend, ran to join her, swinging her basket. The two girls were on a nature walk in the forest near their vacation cottage on Rainspell Island, where they were spending the school break with their families.

  Rachel and Kirsty knelt down and gazed at the onion plants. They had long, thin leaves and greenish-white flowers. The girls knew that not so far underground there were onion bulbs.

  “The Junior Naturalist class we went to this morning was fun, wasn’t it, Kirsty?” Rachel said with a smile. “I never realized there were so many things growing wild on Rainspell Island that you can eat. Do you have the soup recipe the teacher gave us?”

  Kirsty took a leaflet labeled MUSHROOM SOUP out of her basket.

  “Remember, Jo told us that we should only take as much as we need,” Kirsty reminded Rachel. “Otherwise the plant won’t be able to reseed itself, and then there won’t be new onion plants next year.”

  Rachel checked the recipe ingredients. Then she carefully pulled some of the onion bulbs from the ground and put them in Kirsty’s basket. The girls had already collected some sprigs of sweet-smelling wild thyme and other herbs.

  “Now we just have to find some mushrooms, and we can make soup for dinner tonight!” Rachel jumped to her feet. “We have to remember to check the booklet about mushrooms that Jo gave us, because we need to make sure the ones we find aren’t poisonous.”

  “Isn’t it amazing how many different plants and animals there are in the forest?” Kirsty remarked as they wandered along the path again.

  “I know,” Rachel agreed. “It was so interesting this morning when Jo explained how all the plants and animals and birds rely on one another, and on the forest, for their food and shelter.”

  Kirsty glanced around. The leaves on the trees were turning red, gold, and yellow, and squirrels were busily leaping around, collecting nuts to store for the winter. “I love Rainspell,” Kirsty said happily. “I’m so glad we came back.” Rachel nodded in agreement.

  Rainspell Island was really special to Rachel and Kirsty because it was where they first became friends, and where they first met the fairies!

  No one else knew about Rachel and Kirsty’s magical friendship with the fairies. In the past, King Oberon and Queen Titania had often asked for the girls’ help whenever they had problems with Jack Frost and his goblins. But this time, it had been Rachel and Kirsty’s turn to ask the fairies for their help.

  The girls had been shocked when they returned to Rainspell Island to find litter on the beautiful golden beach, so they’d used their special lockets to visit Fairyland and ask the king and queen to help clean up the human world.

  The king and queen had named seven fairies-in-training the Earth Fairies for a trial period. If they completed their allotted tasks, their special jobs would become permanent. Rachel and Kirsty had been thrilled to find out that these fairies would work to make the world a cleaner, greener place. But they knew that humans had to help, too.

  But just as the Earth Fairies were about to be presented with their new wands, Jack Frost and his goblins had zoomed in on an ice bolt. The goblins had grabbed the wands, and then Jack Frost’s icy spell had sent them spinning away into the human world.

  Jack Frost was trying to prevent humans from becoming greener, but Rachel and Kirsty were determined to find the wands and return them to their rightful owners. The Earth Fairies needed to start their important work!

  “I wonder if we’ll find another wand today,” Kirsty remarked as the girls made their way through the woods.

  “Remember what Queen Titania always says,” Rachel replied. “We have to wait for the magic to come to us! But four of the wands are safely back in Fairyland now, at least.”

  “And we know that fairy magic can’t fix all our environmental problems,” Kirsty added. “We humans have to do everything we can to help as well!” She pointed at a tree ahead of them. “Look, Rachel, isn’t that a silver birch?”

  “Yes,” Rachel agreed, admiring the tree’s beautiful silvery trunk.

  “Jo showed us one this morning. And look,” she went on, “there are some wild flowers growing at the foot of it.”

  As the girls were looking at the tiny purple flowers, Kirsty felt a drop of rain splash onto her face. Suddenly, more rain began to pour down on them from the darkening sky.

  “Quick, Kirsty!” Rachel called to her friend. “We can take shelter under that cluster of trees over there.”

  The girls ran toward the trees and huddled underneath them.

  “That’s better!” Kirsty said, shaking her damp hair out of her eyes. “The rain’s really coming down now, Rachel.”

  Rachel was about to reply when suddenly she cried out in delight.

  “This is amazing!” She pointed down at the grass at her feet, where there was a circle of gleaming white mushrooms.

  “Fantastic!” Kirsty laughed. “Isn’t it lucky that we came here to find shelter?” She opened the leaflet their teacher had given them, and checked the pictures carefully. “I think these mushrooms are safe to eat, but we’ll ask our moms, too,” Kirsty said at last. “They’ll be wonderful in our soup! I’ll gather as many as we need, and no more than that.”

  Kirsty bent down to pick a few mushrooms. But then she gasped with surprise.

  There, hidden under one of the mushrooms, was Lily the Rain Forest Fairy!

  As Rachel bent to look, Lily fluttered out from under the mushroom. She wore green wide-legged pants, and an off-the-shoulder green top. Her long black braids flew out behind her as she hovered in front of Rachel and Kirsty.

  “Girls, I’m so happy to see you!” Lily announced joyfully, turning a cartwheel in the air. “I’m on the trail of my wand, and there’s no time to lose. Rain forests everywhere need my help!”

  “Do you know where your wand is, Lily?” asked Rachel eagerly.

  “Is it close by?” Kirsty added.

  Lily’s face fell a little. “My wand isn’t on Rainspell Island,” she replied. “It’s far away, in a rain forest!”

  Rachel and Kirsty looked disappointed.

  “As you know, girls, I only have a little fairy magic without my wand,” Lily went on. “I have just enough to take the three of us to the rain forest, but unless I find my wand, I may not have enough magic to bring us home again!” She looked solemnly at Rachel and Kirsty. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to take the risk and come with me.”

  “We’ll come,” Rachel said, a determined look on her face. Kirsty nodded in agreement.

  After all their many adventures with the fairies, the girls were confident that they’d be able to help
Lily outwit the goblins and get her wand back! They also knew that time stood still in the human world while they were in Fairyland or on a special fairy mission.

  Lily looked relieved. “Thank you, girls,” she said. “We’ll go right away.”

  Their hearts thumping with excitement, Rachel and Kirsty linked hands as Lily snapped her fingers. Immediately, a faint mist of glittering fairy dust floated down around the girls. They shrank down to fairy-size, and soft, fluttery fairy wings appeared on their backs.

  Then Kirsty and Rachel noticed that the raindrops still falling from the sky were beginning to sparkle and shimmer. Soon the raindrops became so bright and dazzling that the girls had to close their eyes. The next moment they felt themselves flying through the air.

  “Welcome to the rain forest, girls!” Lily announced with a laugh.

  Rachel and Kirsty could feel the heat on their skin before they even opened their eyes. When they did look around, both girls gasped in utter amazement.

  The three fairies were hovering among the treetops of the rain forest, high above the ground. The trees were growing so close together, their branches intertwined to form a thick, leafy canopy. Hot, dazzling sunshine shone here and there through the gaps. Long ropes of vines hung from the trees, swaying lazily in the slight breeze. The air was warm and damp, and all the leaves, exotic flowers, and ripe fruits were wet with drops of moisture that made their colors glisten. Rachel and Kirsty could see bananas, coconuts, and mangoes growing near them. They could also hear the noisy songs of tropical birds, as well as the calls of animals hidden among the trees.

  “This is the most amazing place I’ve ever seen!” Rachel murmured, her eyes wide.

  “And the hottest place I’ve ever been!” added Kirsty, as the three friends fluttered down to the rain forest floor.

  Lily smiled. “The rain forest is very hot and wet,” she explained. “It gets lots of sunshine and rain every day, and that’s why it looks so green and beautiful.” She pointed up at the canopy of overlapping branches and leaves above them. “You might be surprised to know that most of the plant and animal life in the rain forest is up there in the canopy, not down on the ground.”

  “Really?” Rachel began, but then she gave a gasp of surprise as a golden-colored monkey suddenly jumped out from the middle of a tree near her. Chattering to himself, the monkey began to swing through the rain forest from branch to branch.

  Meanwhile, Kirsty had spotted a bright green frog with large red eyes sitting on a nearby leaf. As Kirsty watched, the frog hopped away.

  “The animals that live in the canopy have different ways of getting around,” Lily explained. “They fly, they hop, they jump, and they swing from branch to branch! Come and have a closer look.”

  Rachel and Kirsty followed Lily as she zoomed up to the treetops, zipping neatly among the interwoven branches. The girls saw lots of birds, insects, flowers, and fruit in the canopy that were strange and unfamiliar. There was so much to see, they hardly knew where to look next!

  “The rain forest is very important because it provides a home for many different kinds of plants and animals,” Lily explained. “It’s also very important for humans, because the trees help to produce the planet’s oxygen.”

  “This is fantastic!” Kirsty sighed happily as a beautiful red-and-blue dragonfly fluttered past. “But we can’t forget that we came here to look for your wand.”

  “You’re right,” Lily agreed. “And I can sense that my wand is around here somewhere. We’ll start searching for it right away.”

  But at that moment, Rachel thought she heard a noise above the cries of the birds and animals. She frowned. Had she really heard something, or had she just imagined it?

  “What’s the matter, Rachel?” asked Kirsty.

  “I thought I just heard something kind of weird,” Rachel replied. “Can you and Lily hear it?”

  Kirsty and Lily listened hard, but at first they couldn’t hear anything unusual. Then, all of a sudden, a loud noise echoed through the canopy.

  A creature was screeching anxiously at the top of its voice!

  Rachel, Kirsty, and Lily were horrified by the distressed call.

  “The sound is coming from over there.” Kirsty pointed to a thick clump of trees. “I think we should go and see who it is!”

  “Good idea,” Rachel replied, and the three friends flew toward the trees.

  “Let’s split up and take a look around,” Lily suggested in a low voice. “It’ll be faster that way. But be careful, girls!”

  Kirsty fluttered up higher to search the canopy while Rachel and Lily began looking among the trees down below.

  Suddenly, Lily cried out. “Girls, over here!”

  Kirsty and Rachel zoomed over to her. Lily pulled them behind a large leaf so they were out of sight. She then pointed to the next tree. A big scarlet-and-blue parrot sat on a branch, squawking loudly.

  “I wonder what he’s saying,” Rachel whispered.

  “Let’s go and ask him!” Lily replied.

  Kirsty, Lily, and Rachel flew toward the parrot. The bird looked surprised when they landed on the branch next to him. It screeched again.

  “A little magic will help us understand what he’s saying,” said Lily. She snapped her fingers and a few glittery sparkles drifted around the parrot.

  “Hello, I’m Lily the Rain Forest Fairy,” Lily went on. “And these are my friends, Kirsty and Rachel. What are you trying to tell us?”

  The parrot fluffed out his bright feathers, looking very upset. “Green hurts trees!” he said.

  Lily, Kirsty, and Rachel looked bewildered.

  “Help save trees!” the parrot screeched, flapping his wings frantically.

  Lily shook her head, baffled. “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell us. Can you show us what you mean instead?” she asked.

  The parrot nodded. Instantly, he spread his wings and zoomed away through the trees.

  “Quick!” Lily gasped. “Or we’ll lose him!”

  The three friends dashed after the parrot as fast as their wings could carry them. They ducked and dived between branches and leaves, occasionally coming face-to-face with surprised birds and monkeys.

  “There he is!” yelled Rachel, catching a glimpse of scarlet and blue ahead of them.

  Lily, Rachel, and Kirsty rushed toward the parrot. Luckily, he was slowing down so they could catch up with him a little.

  “Look, he stopped in that clearing,” Kirsty said. She could see the parrot perched on the branch of a tree.

  “But what’s that terrible noise?” Rachel asked.

  Lily and the girls flew closer. To their amazement, they saw five big bulldozers roaring around the clearing. The bulldozers were knocking into one another and banging into the trees. As Kirsty, Rachel, and Lily watched, one of the smallest trees was hit particularly hard by one of the bulldozers and toppled over. There were shrieks and cries of fear as panic-stricken birds flew out of the branches, and monkeys swung to safety in nearby trees.

  “This is terrible!” Kirsty exclaimed. “We have to stop them!”

  Rachel glanced at the bulldozer drivers, who were wearing hard hats. She looked more closely and pointy spotted green ears and noses peeking out from under the hats.

  “The drivers are goblins!” Rachel gasped.

  Then Kirsty noticed something else. One of the goblins was holding a stick, and every time another bulldozer got too close, the goblin leaned out of his cab and poked the other driver with it. As he did so, the stick shimmered in a faint cloud of fairy dust.

  “That goblin has Lily’s wand!” Kirsty exclaimed.

  “Now I understand why the parrot kept saying ‘Green hurts trees,’ ” Lily exclaimed. “My rain forests are in danger because humans are chopping down the trees — and now the goblins are destroying them, too!”

  “We need to stop them, and get the wand back!” Rachel said anxiously.

  The three friends zoomed into the clearing, keeping
high above the bulldozers. They flew over to the parrot, who was still sitting on a branch, his wings drooping miserably.

  “We’re going to do everything we can to stop the goblins. We won’t let them destroy the rain forest,” Lily told him. “Why don’t you go home, where you’ll be safe?”

  “Thank you,” the parrot squawked, and he flew away.

  “STOP!” Kirsty yelled as one of the bulldozers crashed into the tree the parrot had been sitting in.

  “They can’t hear us over the noise of the engines,” said Rachel. “Let’s fly down lower.”

  Quickly, Lily and the girls darted toward the bulldozer of the goblin holding the wand.

  “Stop!” Rachel shouted, as they hovered around the driver’s cab. “What are you doing?”

  The goblin looked up at them and scowled.

  “Playing bumper cars, of course!” he retorted, sticking his tongue out at them. He reversed his vehicle and rammed into a tree with a jolt, before racing toward one of the other bulldozers.

  Lily and the girls dashed after him.

  “Please give my wand back!” Lily shouted at the goblin as she, Rachel and Kirsty landed on the window of his cab. “I need its magic to look after rain forests all over the world, and to help all the creatures that live in them!”

  Before the goblin could say anything, two other goblins in bulldozers rumbled straight toward him. The three bulldozers all crashed into one another, and the impact sent the three fairies tumbling off the window. They hurtled through the air, but landed safely on a large, soft leaf.