Mimi the Laughter Fairy

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  Mr. Twinkle’s Tumble

  A Gaggle of Grumblers

  Goblin Antics

  Bad Jokes!

  Pie Pandemonium

  A Lot of Laughter

  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!

  Kirsty Tate was spinning her way across the park, her arms outstretched as she soaked up the early morning sunshine. It was making the dew sparkle on each blade of grass, and it was shining on the golden hair of Kirsty’s best friend, Rachel Walker.

  “I wonder what Jen and Ginny have planned for us today,” said Rachel, skipping along beside Kirsty.

  It was their third day on Rainspell Island, the beautiful place where they had first met—and where they’d had their first fairy adventure! They were attending the Summer Friends Camp, a day camp for children staying on the island on vacation. The camp was held in the park every morning.

  “We’ve already played soccer, had a water-balloon fight, and painted a mural,” Kirsty remembered. “I’m so glad we’ve been going to camp.”

  They reached the tent where the camp was based and stepped inside. Oscar and Lara, two of their newest friends, dashed over to them.

  “Good morning!” said Lara, a big smile on her face.

  “Do you know what we’re doing today?” Oscar asked.

  “We have no idea,” said Rachel with a grin. “But I think we’re about to find out!”

  Jen and Ginny, the teenage best friends who ran the camp, were beckoning everyone to gather around them. They looked as if they were about to burst with excitement.

  “Today we have something really fantastic for you all to enjoy,” said Ginny. “We’re going to watch a special performance by Mr. Twinkle himself!”

  Everyone gasped and squealed. Mr. Twinkle was the funniest, most famous magician on TV. Like all the others at the camp, Rachel and Kirsty watched his show every week.

  “I can’t believe we’re actually going to see him in real life!” Oscar said in a breathless voice. “When I grow up, I want to be just like him and make everyone laugh!”

  “Where’s the performance going to be held?” Kirsty asked.

  “Right here in Rainspell Park,” said Jen with a smile. “We have to wait for him on the steps of the fountain square. I thought you could all race one another to see who gets there first. Ready? Set? Go!”

  Everyone sped out of the tent and sprinted across the grass to the fountain in the middle of the park. A girl named Anouk won the race, and everyone gathered around to congratulate her. Then they each found a place on the steps to sit and wait for Mr. Twinkle.

  “My heart’s thumping,” said Rachel. “I don’t know if it’s because of running fast or because I’m so excited!”

  “There he is!” Kirsty exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

  Riding toward them on a unicycle was a very strange-looking man. He was wearing a long purple cape covered in sparkly stars and a black top hat almost as tall as he was!

  “It’s so amazing to see him in real life!” said Rachel.

  Mr. Twinkle waved at the children, his sparkly cape flying out behind him and a magic wand held high in his left hand. The children clapped and cheered, but as he reached them he started to wobble. He zigzagged left and right, his arms waving wildly, but it was no use. CRASH! The unicycle shot into a nearby bush and Mr. Twinkle landed on his bottom, all tangled up in his magnificent cloak.

  Rachel and Kirsty burst into laughter, but no one else seemed to think it was funny.

  “He’s better when he’s on TV,” Oscar said under his breath.

  The other children had stopped clapping. Mr. Twinkle jumped to his feet, pulled off his hat, and swept a deep bow. Then he waved his magic wand over his hat and pulled out a flower.

  “Look at this beautiful bloom!” he cried, holding it up in front of the children. “Take a sniff!”

  Everyone leaned forward, and a stream of water squirted out of the flower and straight into their faces!

  Rachel and Kirsty were helpless with giggles, but the other children still weren’t amused.

  “Why aren’t you laughing?” Kirsty asked Lara.

  “I’m not really in the mood for jokes,” said Lara.

  “I’m all wet,” Oscar complained.

  “It’s only a few tiny drops of water,” Rachel said, trying to make him see the funny side of it.

  But Oscar and Lara shook their heads.

  Rachel and Kirsty exchanged a worried glance.

  “I have a terrible feeling that I know exactly why people aren’t laughing,” Kirsty whispered into her best friend’s ear. “It’s because of the Friendship Fairies’ magical objects!”

  On the first day of their vacation, the girls had met the Friendship Fairies. Esther the Kindness had whisked them away to a magical tea party in Fairyland with her, Mary the Sharing Fairy, Mimi the Laughter Fairy, and Clare the Caring Fairy. Everything was perfect—until Jack Frost and his naughty goblins had crashed the party and stolen the Friendship Fairies’ magical objects. The Ice Lord had thrown the objects to his goblins and sent them to hide in the human world.

  Rachel and Kirsty had managed to get back Esther’s heart brooch and Mary’s yin-yang charm, but two of the magical objects were still missing.

  As they watched everyone frowning at Mr. Twinkle, Rachel and Kirsty knew exactly why the other children didn’t feel like laughing. It was because Jack Frost still had Mimi’s magical smiley-face pendant!

  “The Friendship Fairies need their magical objects to keep all friendships strong and happy,” said Rachel, remembering what their fairy friends had told them.

  Kirsty nodded. “One of my favorite things about being best friends with you is laughing and having fun together. But until Mimi gets her pendant back, no one is going to find anything funny! Why does Jack Frost always have to be so mean?”

  The girls looked back at Mr. Twinkle. He was still trying to make his audience laugh, but everything he did seemed to make them more grumpy.

  “Jack Frost is only thinking about himself,” said Rachel. “He ordered the goblins to find some friends for him, remember? He said that if he has lots of friends, he can boss them around and be super-powerful.”

  “But friends don’t boss each other around,” Kirsty said. “Oh, Rachel, thank goodness our friendship isn’t being affected by the missing magical objects!”

  Luckily, Kirsty and Rachel’s friendship was protected by a “Friends through Thick and Thin” spell cast on their friendship bracelets by their old friend Florence the Friendship Fairy.

  “Not yet,” Rachel agreed. “But Florence said that the spell won’t last long if the fairies don’t get their objects back soon. We have to keep looking.”

  Just then, Mr. Twinkle raised his voice.

  “I know what’ll cheer you all up!” he exclaimed. “New clothes are always a treat. I’m going to make a brand-new tie for myself with magic. Get ready to be amazed, boys and girls!”

  Mr. Twinkle waved his wand over the hat, but the wand suddenly flopped over like a piece of limp celery. With a confused expression, Mr. Twinkle pulled an enormous cream pie out of his hat instead of a tie.

  “Now, that’s not right,” he said, scratching his head and looking puzzled.

  Rachel a
nd Kirsty doubled over with laughter, but the other children just shrugged. Jen raised an eyebrow at Mr. Twinkle, and he grinned at her.

  “There’s only one thing to do with a pie like this,” he said. “It’s just begging to be thrown! Cream pies are supposed to end up on people’s faces.”

  He took one step toward her, and then another. He raised the pie and took aim.

  “Don’t you dare,” said Jen, who didn’t look amused at all.

  She backed away, but Mr. Twinkle just kept coming toward her, faster and faster, until he was chasing her around in a wide circle. Rachel and Kirsty thought it was funny at first, until they saw how annoyed Jen looked.

  “Stop it!” she shouted at him. “This is silly!”

  Mr. Twinkle’s shoulders slumped.

  “But I am silly,” he said in a miserable voice. “That’s what I do. People usually love it.”

  “Not today,” Jen snapped.

  Mr. Twinkle put the pie down on the ground next to Rachel and Kirsty, climbed onto his unicycle, and rode away.

  “Poor Mr. Twinkle,” said Kirsty sadly.

  The other children were busy grumbling about how Mr.Twinkle wasn’t funny when Rachel noticed something strange. The cream pie seemed to be glowing. She leaned closer, and saw tiny sparkles glittering on top of the cream.

  “Kirsty,” she whispered. “I think something magical is about to happen!”

  Rachel and Kirsty stood in front of the pie so that none of the other children could see what was happening. The girls were always careful to keep the fairies a special secret.

  The cream at the center of the pie seemed to lift into the air, and Mimi the Laughter Fairy fluttered out from the middle.

  Mimi was wearing a simple denim overall dress with navy tights and white shoes. A swirl of cream from the cake was sitting on top of her reddish-brown hair like a funny hat. Cream had also caught on her shoulders like a cozy cape, and there was even a dot of cream on the tip of her nose.

  Rachel and Kirsty couldn’t help giggling.

  “It’s not funny,” said Mimi, looking annoyed. The girls stopped laughing immediately, and Mimi sighed.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m the Laughter Fairy, but even I’m not laughing and keeping things light today. I have to get my magical smiley-face pendant back from the goblins before the Fairyland Funny Show tonight, but I have no idea how. Please, will you help me?”

  Rachel and Kirsty nodded immediately.

  “Of course we will,” said Kirsty. “What’s the Fairyland Funny Show?”

  “It’s usually one of the best nights of the whole year,” said Mimi, looking anxious. “All the fairies tell jokes and perform tricks to make one another laugh, and the funniest fairy wins. But without my pendant, the show will be a disaster and friends will never laugh together again!”

  Just then, Lara let out an excited yell and pointed down the path. Three more magicians were riding toward them on unicycles. They were all dressed similar to Mr. Twinkle, with green capes and matching green top hats. They were much more wobbly than Mr. Twinkle, and they kept bumping their unicycle wheels together and knocking one another off.

  “I’d better hide,” said Mimi, slipping into Kirsty’s zippered pocket.

  Rachel peered at the magicians as they got closer.

  “They’re wearing an awful lot of green,” she said.

  “Yes, and they have big feet and long noses,” added Kirsty. She gasped. “Oh, Rachel—they’re goblins! Do you think they might be the ones who have Mimi’s pendant?”

  “I bet they are,” said Rachel. “That must be why they’re dressed up like Mr. Twinkle—they want to make everyone laugh.”

  One of the goblins stood up on his unicycle, waving his arms as he tried to keep his balance. Another stood on his head and used his hands on the pedals. The third lay on his stomach with his arms and legs splayed out as if he were flying. They all looked so silly that even Rachel and Kirsty had to smile at their antics.

  “Whichever goblin makes the other children laugh must be the one with Mimi’s magical smiley-face pendant,” Kirsty said.

  But the other children were all still looking grumpy. The girls watched them closely, but they couldn’t see even a flicker of a smile. Not one person was laughing.

  One by one, the goblins jumped down from their unicycles and pulled out green magic wands.

  “Now for some magic!” the tallest goblin declared. “Get ready, pesky humans—er—I mean, boys and girls!”

  He waved his wand around his head and nearly knocked his hat off, but there was not a single giggle from the audience.

  “Abracadabra!

  Stinky-winky!

  Fill this fountain

  With a slimy green drinky!”

  “That’s a terrible rhyme,” said Rachel.

  “It’s a terrible spell, too,” Mimi added.

  “Thankfully, it won’t work. The goblins don’t know how to do magic.”

  The goblin was staring eagerly at the fountain. When nothing happened, he threw his wand down and jumped on it.

  Next, the other two goblins held their wands up in the air.

  “On the count of three, we will cast a spell to turn the trees into green pom-poms!” the smallest goblin squawked. “One … two … THREE!”

  The goblins tapped their wands on one another’s noses, and several green pom-poms dropped out from under their capes. The audience groaned.

  “Booooo!” called Oscar.

  “Cheaters!” Lara exclaimed.

  “I can’t understand it,” said Kirsty. “One of these goblins must be hiding Mimi’s magical object. But whoever has the pendant should have the audience in stitches!”

  “Something must have gone wrong,” said Mimi.

  “Mimi, could you turn us into fairies?” asked Rachel. “We’ll have a better chance of finding out what the goblins are up to if we can keep out of their sight.”

  Jen, Ginny, and all of the other children were still staring at the goblins, who were now performing a strange dance routine that involved kicking their legs up high and banging their wands together as hard as they could. No one saw Rachel and Kirsty slip away to hide behind the fountain. As soon as they were sure that no one was watching them, Mimi fluttered out of Kirsty’s pocket and tapped the girls with her wand. At once they felt the familiar thrill of their wings unfurling as they shrank to fairy size. Suddenly, the world seemed bigger and brighter.

  “Everything looks a little bit more beautiful when we’re fairies,” said Kirsty, twirling around in a few sparkling drops of water that splashed out from the fountain.

  Rachel looked up at the fountain, too, and saw something interesting. There was a little platform at the top, almost hidden by the water that poured out around it.

  “That’s the perfect hiding place,” she said. “From there, we might be able to see which goblin has the pendant.”

  Hand in hand, the three fairies zoomed up and perched at the top of the fountain. Through the tumbling water, they were able to see everything.

  The goblins finished their show, but no one in the audience clapped. Looking angry, the goblins grabbed their unicycles and dragged them around to the other side of the fountain. They sat down on the dusty path and glowered at one another.

  “That was a disaster,” said the smallest goblin. “I blame Jack Frost.”

  “Me, too,” said the middle goblin, pulling a stray green pom-pom from under his armpit. “If he hadn’t taken that magical pendant from us, everyone would have been crying with laughter.”

  “I don’t know why he wants it, anyway,” added the tallest goblin. “Jack Frost doesn’t like making people laugh.”

  Kirsty drew in her breath sharply.

  “That’s it!” she whispered. “I bet Jack Frost has taken the pendant because he wants to perform at the Fairyland Funny Show. If he has the pendant, everyone is sure to think he’s the funniest act, and he’ll win.”

  “And Jack Frost loves winning,” Rach
el said with a groan. “Mimi, there’s no time to lose. Jack Frost is going to cheat, and that will ruin the whole show. We have to go to Fairyland and stop him!”

  Before Rachel had finished speaking, they arrived in Fairyland in a swirl of magical sparkles. They looked around and saw that they were in the garden of the Fairyland Palace. The lawn was dotted with picnic blankets and chairs where lots of fairies were sitting. They were all facing a little stage, complete with a red velvet curtain. Mimi led Rachel and Kirsty to stand in the left wing of the stage just as the Showtime Fairies ran onto the stage from the right.

  “Welcome to the Fairyland Funny Show!” cried Isla the Ice Star Fairy. “We’re so excited to present—WHOOPS!”

  She squealed as she stepped on a banana peel and skidded across the stage. Madison the Magic Show Fairy grabbed the microphone as Isla slid past.

  “We’ve got jokes, sketches, and tricks,” she announced. “But don’t worry—I’m sure the whole show will go according to plan—OOOH!”

  The microphone jumped out of her hand as if it were as slippery as soap! Rachel and Kirsty spluttered with laughter, especially because Isla was still sliding around on the banana peel behind Madison. One by one, the Showtime Fairies started to do cartwheels across the stage, but their legs got tangled until they all ended up in one great big cartwheel made of seven fairies. It spun into the air and then twirled downward and landed with all the fairies upside down. The fairies flipped over backward and bowed—with their backs to the audience. Rachel and Kirsty howled with laughter and clapped until their hands were sore, but none of the fairies on the grass so much as smiled.

  “No one’s laughing,” shouted a rough voice. “You’re not funny.”