Katie the Kitten Fairy Read online

  Fairies with their pets I see

  and yet no pet has chosen me!

  So I will get some of my own

  to share my perfect frosty home.

  This spell I cast, its aim is clear:

  To bring the magic pets straight here.

  The Pet Fairies soon will see

  their seven pets living with me!

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  A Very Unusual Kitten

  Surprise Attack!

  Missing Pets!

  Girls on Guard

  Shimmer’s Plan

  Grasping Goblins

  Teaser

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “Catch!”

  Kirsty Tate tossed a baseball into the air. She watched as her friend Rachel Walker ran across the grass to catch it. It was the first day of spring vacation, and Rachel had come to stay with Kirsty’s family for a whole week. The two girls were playing in the park while Kirsty’s parents were out at the grocery store. The sun was shining brightly, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It felt like perfect spring weather.

  Rachel held up the ball triumphantly. “Your turn,” she called. “Ready?”

  Before Kirsty could reply, loud barking rang through the air. Both girls spun around to see a large black dog bounding past them.

  Rachel jumped back as the dog raced by. “Is that a squirrel it’s chasing?” she asked, watching the dog run off.

  Kirsty shielded her eyes from the sun to take a better look. “No, it’s a kitten!” she exclaimed. Her eyes widened at the sight of a tiny white-and-gray kitten scrambling across the grass. “What’s a kitten doing in the park?”

  “I don’t know — but that dog’s about to catch it,” Rachel said in alarm. “Come on!”

  The two girls started to run after the animals. But they hadn’t gotten very far before a sudden flash of bright light flickered through the air. A cloud of amber-colored sparkles swirled around the kitten. Seconds later, the kitten had vanished — and an enormous striped tiger had appeared in its place! The tiger turned toward the dog and roared.

  Right away, the dog stopped short and put its ears back. Then, with a frightened whimper, it turned and bolted away as quickly as it could.

  Kirsty and Rachel watched in disbelief as the tiger turned back into a kitten with another flash of bright sparkles. Then the kitten shook itself off, licked one paw, and padded off happily through the grass.

  Rachel rubbed her eyes. “Did you just see that?” she asked, her eyes still fixed on the kitten.

  Kirsty nodded. “That looked like fairy magic!” she exclaimed.

  Rachel grinned. “That’s exactly what I thought,” she replied. Whenever she and Kirsty were together, they always had the best magical adventures. This looked like it might be the start of another one!

  Rachel paused thoughtfully. “But . . . we haven’t seen any fairies here!”

  Kirsty frowned. “That is strange, isn’t it?” she said. “Let’s follow the kitten. Maybe it will lead us to a fairy!”

  The two girls hurried after the small kitten. It didn’t seem to be in any real rush as it wandered along, stopping to pounce on a daisy or bat at a blade of grass.

  “Where do you think it’s going?” Rachel whispered. “It seems like it’s heading right for the fence.”

  They both watched as the kitten walked cheerfully toward a wooden fence at the edge of the grass. The fence was too high for the kitten to climb over, but it showed no sign of changing direction.

  “How is the kitten going to —” Kirsty started. Then she broke off in surprise.

  With another swirl of sparkles, the kitten had suddenly shrunk! Now it was the size of a mouse, small enough to squeeze through a tiny hole at the bottom of the fence. Kirsty’s eyes widened as she watched its little gray tail disappear through the hole.

  “Wow!” Rachel gasped, staring after the kitten. “Quick — there’s a gate in the fence over that way. We can’t lose track of that kitten!”

  Both girls rushed through the gate, and saw that the kitten was full-size again. The only sign that it had ever been any different was a faint trail of magical sparkles glimmering behind it.

  Just then, the kitten twitched its whiskers and bounded toward a fast food cart. As the girls got closer, they saw it run up to a man who was standing by the vendor.

  “Fish sticks and fries, please,” the girls heard him say.

  The kitten meowed loudly. It wound itself between the man’s legs as the vendor handed him a plateful of food.

  The man chuckled. “Sorry, kitty,” he said, sitting down on a nearby bench. “This is my lunch, not yours.”

  As the man began to eat, Kirsty elbowed Rachel and nodded toward the kitten. Its eyes were glowing a bright green. A small cloud of amber-colored sparkles glittered in the air as the kitten looked up hopefully at the man’s food. A second later, a fish stick tumbled off the man’s plate and landed at the kitten’s feet!

  With a happy meow, the kitten pounced on the fish stick and began to eat it.

  The man laughed. “It’s your lucky day, kitty,” he said. “How did I knock that off the plate?”

  Rachel and Kirsty grinned at each other. They knew that the sneaky kitten had used magic to make the fish stick fall to the ground.

  “That was definitely fairy magic!” Kirsty exclaimed. She watched as the kitten gobbled up the fish stick, cleaned its whiskers, and trotted off down a tree-lined path.

  “Yes,” Rachel agreed. “Something strange is going on! Let’s see where the kitten goes now.” The girls set off after the kitten again.

  They hadn’t gotten far when they heard a scuffling sound along the side of the path. Suddenly, six green goblins jumped out from behind a tree! They were all clutching butterfly nets.

  “There it is!” shouted one of the goblins, pointing at the kitten. “Get it!”

  “Goblins!” Kirsty cried in surprise. “Oh, no!”

  At the sight of the goblins, the kitten’s fur stood on end and its tail fluffed up like a prickly brush. It hissed at the goblins, then turned and ran away from them, toward the girls. With nowhere else to go, it leaped right up into Rachel’s arms!

  “Oh!” Rachel gasped, surprised to find the little bundle of fur in her arms. She held the kitten to her body protectively as the goblins approached.

  “Give us that kitten!” one of them ordered. “It belongs to Jack Frost, and we’ve been sent here to bring it home,” he added.

  Kirsty and Rachel hesitated. They’d met Jack Frost’s goblins many times before, and knew what sneaky creatures they could be. Could they really trust the goblins to be telling the truth?

  The kitten gave a soft meow, and both girls looked down at it. Its eyes were shining bright green again. Sparkles streamed out of its mouth and swirled around in the air! The kitten meowed again, but this time the girls could hear words in its meows.

  “Don’t believe those terrible goblins,” the kitten declared. “I belong to Katie the Kitten Fairy, but I’m lost!”

  Kirsty’s fingers quickly closed over the locket around her neck. She and Rachel had been given matching gold lockets full of fairy dust by the fairy king and queen. The fairy dust would take them straight to Fairyland if they ever needed help. Now seemed like a very good time to use the lockets!

  “We don’t believe you,” Rachel told the goblins. “And you’re not getting this kitten!” Just then, Kirsty threw golden fairy dust all over herself, Rachel, and the kitten.
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  With angry cries, two of the goblins dropped their butterfly nets and dove toward the girls. They stretched their gnarled green hands out to grab the kitten.

  Rachel yelped and tried to dodge out of the way, but luckily, the fairy dust was already working its magic. The girls were swept up into the sky. Below them, the goblins pounced on empty air and fell onto the grass.

  Rachel and Kirsty laughed in relief as they felt the fairy dust whisking them through the air. After a moment, they couldn’t see the park below, just a blur of bright, sparkling colors all around them. Rachel held the kitten close, in case it was frightened. It seemed used to fairy magic, though, and snuggled up happily in Rachel’s arms. Its little ears blew back in the warm, sparkly breeze.

  Moments later, the girls floated softly down to the ground. As the magical breeze died away, they both smiled to see that they were back in Fairyland.

  “We’re fairies!” Rachel exclaimed happily, fluttering her delicate wings.

  “And there’s the fairy palace, and the king and queen!” Kirsty cheered, waving as King Oberon and Queen Titania approached. Then she frowned. “They don’t look very happy, though.”

  Rachel watched as the king and queen came closer, followed by a crowd of anxious-looking fairies. Her excitement at being back in Fairyland disappeared as she saw how unhappy they all looked. What was wrong?

  “Hello, Your Majesties,” Rachel said politely, giving the king and queen a curtsy with the kitten still in her arms. “Is everything all right?”

  A fairy in a pale yellow dress with long, dark hair suddenly caught sight of the kitten. A happy smile lit up her face. “You’ve brought Shimmer back!” she cried. “Oh, thank you, thank you!”

  The kitten jumped out of Rachel’s arms and scampered over to the pretty fairy. The fairy scooped her up, burying her face in Shimmer’s soft, silky fur. “Thank you so much,” she said again, putting Shimmer down and turning to hug Kirsty and Rachel.

  “I’m Katie the Kitten Fairy, and I can’t tell you how glad I am to see Shimmer back in Fairyland!”

  “You’re welcome,” Rachel said, smiling.

  The king and queen stepped forward. “How nice to see you again, girls,” the king said warmly. “These are our Pet Fairies. You’ve already met Katie. This is Bella the Bunny Fairy, Georgia the Guinea Pig Fairy, Lauren the Puppy Fairy, Harriet the Hamster Fairy, Molly the Goldfish Fairy, and Penny the Pony Fairy.”

  Each fairy stepped forward when her name was called and curtsied to the girls with a little smile. Kirsty couldn’t help noticing that their smiles looked a bit sad.

  “So where are all the other pets?” she asked curiously.

  The fairies all sighed. “Jack Frost stole them,” Queen Titania told the girls sadly. “He took them to his ice castle, and then sent out a ransom note. It said that if the Pet Fairies couldn’t find him a pet of his own, he would keep all their magic pets for himself!”

  “Oh, no!” Kirsty cried out. “He can’t do that!”

  “He already has,” the king responded. “And without their magic pets, the Pet Fairies can’t look after all the pets in your world.”

  “The Pet Fairies are responsible for helping pets that are lost or homeless,” the queen explained. “But they can’t do that if their own magic pets are missing.”

  “Can’t we give Jack Frost another pet, so that he’ll let the magic pets go?” Rachel suggested.

  The queen shook her head. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple.” She sighed. “In Fairyland, pets choose their owners. And no pet has ever chosen Jack Frost.”

  “I’m not surprised!” Kirsty blurted out. Jack Frost was always causing trouble in Fairyland. No wonder none of the magic pets wanted to live with him!

  The king was gazing at Shimmer with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Kirsty, Rachel, where did you find Shimmer?” he asked. “We thought all the magic pets were locked in Jack Frost’s ice castle.”

  “She was wandering around in the local park,” Kirsty replied. “She looked lost!”

  The kitten gave a sudden loud meow, as if she was joining in the conversation.

  Katie listened hard, then nodded. “Shimmer says that all the magic pets were being kept in Jack Frost’s castle,” she said. “But they managed to escape, and now they’re all roaming around in the human world.”

  The Pet Fairies looked very happy to hear this, but Shimmer was still meowing. Katie listened again, then bit her lip. “Jack Frost has sent out a group of goblins to catch them and take them back to the ice castle,” she announced anxiously. “Oh, our poor little pets!”

  The other Pet Fairies gasped, and the king and queen looked worried, too.

  “We have to find the pets before the goblins do!” the queen said, sounding determined.

  Kirsty and Rachel looked at each other. Then, at the same time, they said, “We’ll help!”

  All the fairies cheered when the girls agreed to help.

  “Thank you!” King Oberon said, smiling. “It’s very kind of you to help us again.”

  “The magic pets may be hard to find,” Queen Titania warned them. “In Fairyland, they are tiny, fairy-size pets, but in the human world, they can be any size they wish. They can also work some fairy magic of their own, so you will have to look very carefully.”

  Shimmer meowed suddenly and Katie bent her head to listen. Her face turned serious.

  “Shimmer said that a kitten in the human world needs our help,” she told the others. “It has no home. Shimmer and I need to find one for it!” Katie turned to the king and queen. “Can we go rescue the kitten?”

  The king and queen both hesitated. “We’d love for you to help . . .” the queen began slowly.

  “But we don’t want the goblins to catch Shimmer,” the king finished.

  “Maybe we could go with Katie and Shimmer,” Kirsty suggested. “We could protect them from the goblins!”

  The king and queen looked at each other. Then Queen Titania nodded. “That would be all right,” she said. “That’s very nice of you girls. But you must all be careful. You know how tricky and mean the goblins can be.”

  “We’ll be careful,” Katie said, her face lighting up. “Let’s go!” She waved her wand, and a trail of amber-colored fairy dust trailed from it. The dust trickled down around Kirsty and Rachel, and suddenly Fairyland blurred before their eyes. A magical wind swept them up, and they flew through the air with Katie and Shimmer.

  In a rush of color and light, the girls found themselves back in their own world. They were human-size again!

  “We’re back in the park,” Rachel said, looking around. “Watch out for goblins, everyone!”

  Katie was still holding tiny Shimmer. She flew to hide on Kirsty’s shoulder while the girls looked around for goblins.

  Then the magic kitten jumped down from Katie’s arms and curled up on Kirsty’s shoulder. Kirsty could feel his little tail twitching back and forth.

  “That tickles!” she giggled as Shimmer batted playfully at her hair.

  “The coast is clear,” Rachel said, after the girls had scanned the park. “Let’s start looking for a homeless kitten.”

  “We’ll have to search carefully,” Katie advised. “If it’s scared, it could have hidden somewhere.”

  The four of them set off, keeping their ears open for meows. Katie flew between the girls at shoulder height, while Shimmer padded along beside her in midair. It’s so much fun to watch him, Kirsty thought. Even though the tiny kitten was hovering magically in the air, he moved just as if he were on the ground. Sometimes he padded along, occasionally he pounced, and every so often he stopped to stalk a floating dandelion seed, or to chase his own fluffy tail. He seemed particularly interested in the elastic holding Rachel’s ponytail, which had a couple of pink stars dangling from it. A few times, he leaped up t
o catch the stars between his tiny paws.

  “Come on, Shimmer, we’ve got work to do,” Katie reminded him. She fluttered over to scoop him out of Rachel’s hair. “Where could that lost kitten be?”

  Suddenly, Shimmer pricked up his ears and stopped. His little pink nose turned up and his whiskers twitched as he sniffed the air. Then he took a flying leap down to the ground. In a bright burst of sparkles, he grew to the size of a normal kitten! Shimmer raced off ahead of the girls toward the playground.

  “I think he found the kitten!” Katie smiled, flying behind her pet. “Come on, girls!”

  Rachel and Kirsty ran after Shimmer as he bolted through the grass. Just before he reached the playground, he swerved toward a tall elm tree and sat at the bottom, looking up at it.

  Kirsty, Rachel, and Katie gazed up to see what Shimmer had found. On one of the highest branches, huddled against the trunk and looking down at them with big golden eyes, sat a tiny tabby kitten.

  “Poor little thing!” Kirsty exclaimed. “It’s only a baby!”

  Just then, a breeze blew through the tree, and the tabby kitten pounced on a leaf that was flapping nearby. It almost lost its balance and tumbled out of the tree!

  “Careful, kitty,” Katie called up. The kitten sat down and started washing its paws.

  Shimmer ran a little way up the tree toward the tabby kitten and started meowing. The kitten meowed back eagerly.

  “Oh, the poor kitten climbed the tree to get out of the wind last night, and now it’s stuck!” Katie translated Shimmer and the other kitten’s meows. “It’s too scared to climb back down.”