The Magical Crafts Fairies #2 Read online

  I’m a wonderful painter — have you heard of me?

  Behold my artistic ability!

  With palette, brush, and paints in hand,

  I’ll be the most famous artist in all the land!

  The Magical Crafts Fairies can’t stop me!

  I’ll steal their magic, and then you’ll see

  That everyone, no matter what the cost,

  Will want a painting done by Jack Frost!

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  Camp Breakfast

  Art in the Garden

  An A-Maze-ing Artist

  Litterbugs

  Living Drawings

  Vivid Imaginations

  Teaser

  Copyright

  “I think Rainspell Island is my favorite place in the whole world!” said Kirsty Tate, twirling on the spot.

  Her best friend, Rachel Walker, jumped up and grabbed Kirsty’s hands. They spun around in a circle until they both fell down on the grass, dizzy and happy. It was spring, and the campsite meadow was full of daisies and buttercups.

  “The sun always shines on Rainspell Island,” Rachel said, laughing.

  Rainspell Island was the place where Rachel and Kirsty had first become friends — and where they began their adventures with the fairies! Now they were back again with their families for Crafts Week.

  All week, the girls could take different classes in all sorts of arts and crafts, from painting to jewelry-making. On the final day, there was going to be an exhibition and competition with prizes! Everyone who had participated in Crafts Week could enter whatever they had made. Rachel and Kirsty couldn’t wait!

  “Breakfast!” called Mrs. Walker.

  The girls raced back to the tent where the Walkers were staying. Mr. and Mrs. Walker sat outside the tent, cooking eggs, sausages, and home fries on their camp stove.

  “It’s a beautiful morning,” said Mr. Walker. “I bet your parents wish they were camping, too, Kirsty.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Tate were staying in a local bed and breakfast, but Kirsty and Rachel had decided to have a sleepover in the tent so they wouldn’t have to be separated.

  “So, girls, which classes are you taking today?” asked Mrs. Walker.

  It was the second day of Crafts Week, and there were lots of crafts that the girls wanted to try.

  “We haven’t decided yet,” said Rachel, sitting down on a stool and holding out her plate for some breakfast.

  “What do you think, Kirsty?”

  Kirsty smiled and held out her own plate.

  “There are so many to choose from, I can’t make up my mind,” she said.

  Mr. and Mrs. Walker started to talk about an exhibition they wanted to see, and Kirsty leaned closer to her best friend.

  “I wonder if we’ll meet another fairy today,” she whispered.

  “I hope so,” Rachel replied in a low voice. “There are still six magic objects to find, and we don’t even know where to start looking!”

  The day before, Kayla the Pottery Fairy had whisked them off to Fairyland for the grand opening of the fairies’ own Magical Crafts Week. Kirsty and Rachel had met the seven Magical Crafts Fairies, who showed them the magic objects they used to make sure everyone had fun doing arts and crafts.

  The girls quietly ate their breakfast, thinking about all the things that had happened in Fairyland the day before. While they were standing in a crowd of their fairy friends, King Oberon and Queen Titania had announced that they would be choosing the best crafts to decorate their Fairyland Palace. But at that moment, Jack Frost and his goblins had thrown paint-filled balloons into the crowd, splattering the fairies with bright green paint! While everyone was distracted, Jack Frost and the goblins had stolen the magic objects from the Magical Crafts Fairies.

  “I’m so glad that we managed to find Kayla’s magic vase yesterday,” said Kirsty quietly. “But we have to find the rest of the magic objects — otherwise arts and crafts will be ruined in our world and in Fairyland.”

  “Jack Frost doesn’t care about that,” said Rachel. “He just wants to be the best at everything. Oh, Kirsty, we have to stop him!”

  Jack Frost had decided that he was the greatest artist ever, and he had stolen the magic objects to make sure that no one tried to be better than him. They were hidden somewhere in the human world, so Kirsty and Rachel had offered to help the Magical Crafts Fairies find them.

  Kirsty squeezed Rachel’s hand.

  “We just have to keep an eye out for the magic objects,” she said. “After all, Queen Titania always says that we should wait for the magic to come to us!”

  Suddenly, each girl felt a hand on her shoulder. Mr. Walker leaned forward between them.

  “What did you say about magic?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

  Kirsty and Rachel exchanged worried looks. How much had Mr. Walker heard?

  “I’m glad that you think Crafts Week is magical,” said Mr. Walker with a grin. Rachel and Kirsty let out sighs of relief. He didn’t realize that they were talking about the fairies after all!

  “We’re planning to go to an exhibit this morning,” he went on, handing them a Crafts Week brochure. “A local artist called Sara Sketchley is showing a collection of paintings at her house. Why don’t you come with us? She’s teaching a drawing class in her garden, and you could join in.”

  “That sounds like a fun thing to do on a sunny day,” said Rachel.

  Kirsty nodded in agreement, so the girls hurried into the tent to pack their bags with the right equipment. They picked out two sketchbooks and filled their pencil cases with colored pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpeners. Then they helped Mr. and Mrs. Walker wash and dry the pans and plates from breakfast.

  “Time to go,” said Mrs. Walker, checking her watch. “The drawing class starts in ten minutes.”

  They zipped up their tent and headed across the meadow. Rachel and Kirsty raced each other to the gate, and then waited for Mr. and Mrs. Walker to catch up.

  “We need to keep a lookout for goblins today,” said Rachel. “I bet Jack Frost has ordered them to hide the fairies’ magic objects carefully.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Walker joined them and led the way down the road to Sara Sketchley’s house. It was a pretty little cottage with pink roses around the door and honeysuckle trailing around the windows. The front yard had been turned into an outdoor gallery. Paintings hung from the trees and were propped up in the flowerbeds. Everywhere the girls looked, they saw beautiful art!

  “These roses look so real,” said Kirsty, gazing at a painting that dangled from an apple tree. “I feel like I could reach out and touch them.”

  “Sara Sketchley obviously draws things from her life,” said Mrs. Walker, looking around at the flower-filled garden. “She must be an amazing gardener as well as a talented artist.”

  “Her whole house must be an art gallery,” said Rachel.

  She pointed to a sign painted on a piece of driftwood.

  The arrow was pointing into the house.

  “Should we go inside?” Mr. Walker suggested.

  “Is it all right if Kirsty and I explore a little?” Rachel asked.

  Sara Sketchley’s garden was the size of a small park, and the girls were eager to look around.

  “Of course,” said Mrs. Walker. “We’ll see you later.”

  Rachel and Kirsty found that the garden was full of wonderful secrets waiting to be discovered. They saw a clear stream gurgling
across the garden, over a water mill, and under an old stone bridge. They even spotted a sign pointing the way to a garden maze on the other side of the bridge.

  “That sounds fantastic!” said Rachel, remembering the other magical maze on Rainspell Island where they had met Fern the Green Fairy.

  “I love mazes,” Kirsty said. “Should we check it out?”

  Rachel was about to agree when she saw a group of kids following a young woman to a grassy spot next to the bridge.

  “I think that must be the drawing class,” she said. “We’ll have to check out the maze later. Come on!”

  They ran over to join the others, and took a seat on the grass close to the bridge. The young woman was standing next to an easel, and she smiled at them. She had bright green eyes and brown curls that flowed over her shoulders. Her long skirt was decorated with a chain belt, and her feet were bare except for a silver ankle bracelet.

  “Welcome to my drawing class, everyone,” she said in a warm, rich voice. “It’s wonderful to see so many kids who are interested in drawing. I’m passionate about art, and I believe that doing arts and crafts makes people feel calm and happy. So let’s get started!” She smiled. “Please take out your pencils and drawing pads. I’m going to show you how to draw a lifelike rose.”

  Kirsty opened her bag and put her hand inside. Then she let out a little cry of surprise.

  “There’s something inside my bag!” she whispered to Rachel. “I felt it fluttering against my hand.”

  Rachel just smiled.

  “It wasn’t something, it was someone,” she said. “Look!”

  She pointed, and when Kirsty looked down she couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear. Annabelle the Drawing Fairy was smiling at them over the edge of Kirsty’s bag!

  Annabelle wore a pretty pastel shirt and cropped jeans. Her blond hair was shining in the sunlight.

  “Hello, Annabelle!” whispered Rachel in excitement. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to ask you to help me find my magic pencil sharpener,” Annabelle said in a sweet voice. “Without it, drawings everywhere will be ruined!”

  “Of course we’ll help,” said Kirsty.

  “Thank you!” said Annabelle, ducking down into the bag again.

  “Look carefully at the roses growing all around you,” Sara Sketchley instructed the class. “I’m going to draw one first, and then I’d like you to give it a try.”

  Sara picked up a pencil and turned to the paper clipped on her easel. As soon as she pressed the pencil against the paper, the point broke.

  “Oops,” said Sara with a little laugh. “That happens sometimes!”

  She picked up another pencil, but this one snapped in half. Sara frowned and picked up a third pencil.

  “Start with delicate, light pencil strokes,” she said.

  She drew a line on the paper, but it wasn’t gentle or soft. It was a thick, angry slash that almost ripped right through. Sara gasped.

  “I’m sorry, everyone,” she said. “I don’t know what’s the matter with me today!”

  Kirsty and Rachel exchanged a secret glance. They both knew that it must have something to do with the missing magic pencil sharpener!

  “I’m going to go get a better pencil from inside,” said Sara. “Please start drawing your own lifelike sketches while you wait.”

  Rachel and Kirsty felt sorry for Sara. Jack Frost was ruining her art class, and they had no idea how to stop him! Rachel picked up a pencil, then put it down again.

  “I can’t concentrate on drawing,” she said. “Let’s see how the others are doing.”

  She stood up and walked around the grassy area, looking at the pictures the other kids were drawing. When she had seen two or three, she waved Kirsty over.

  “Come and see these,” she said in a low voice.

  Kirsty picked up her bag and followed Rachel. The other kids were drawing roses — but their pictures were all terrible! The roses looked ugly, with huge thorns and withered petals.

  “These look nothing like the real roses,” said Kirsty. “They’re all pretty bad.”

  “All except that one,” said Rachel.

  She nodded at a boy in green overalls and a beret who was drawing the nearby water mill. His picture was really good! It was so realistic that the girls felt like they could almost hear the stream gurgling.

  Annabelle peeked out of Kirsty’s bag, and just then, the boy looked up from his sketchpad. Annabelle gasped, and Rachel grabbed Kirsty’s hand. The boy had a long, green nose.

  “He’s a goblin!” said Kirsty, shocked.

  “I’ll bet that’s why he’s drawing so well,” said Annabelle. “He must have my magic pencil sharpener!”

  The goblin glanced over at the girls, and his beady eyes spotted Annabelle right away. He jumped up and knocked his easel over as he darted toward the bridge.

  “Catch him!” cried Annabelle. “We can’t let him get away!”

  Rachel and Kirsty ran after the goblin. He raced over the bridge and into the garden maze. The girls followed, their feet clattering on the little wooden bridge. But when they ran into the maze, the goblin was nowhere to be seen. High hedges surrounded them. The girls reached an intersection and stopped.

  “Which way?” asked Kirsty, glancing left and right.

  “Quick, Annabelle, can you change us into fairies?” Rachel asked. “If we fly above the hedges, we can spot the goblin!”

  Annabelle fluttered out of the bag and waved her wand. Instantly, the girls felt a tingling in their shoulders, and wings appeared as they shrank to fairy size. The maze hedges seemed twenty times bigger, but Annabelle, Rachel, and Kirsty zoomed into the air and hovered above them.

  “I see him!” cried Annabelle. “He’s over there!”

  “No, this way!” said Rachel, pointing in the opposite direction.

  Kirsty looked down and groaned.

  “Oh, no! There are four goblins in the maze!” she exclaimed.

  As the girls watched, the goblins all met up at the far side of the maze. One of them was tearing pages out of a sketchbook. He crumpled them up and tossed them at the other goblins, who squawked with laughter and threw them everywhere. Balls of paper piled up on the ground — and even on top of the hedges.

  “How dare they?” Rachel burst out.

  She zoomed down and hovered in front of the goblins, frowning.

  “Stop!” she demanded. “You’re wasting paper and you’re making a huge mess in the maze.”

  “Oh, be quiet, silly fairy!” cried the goblin with the sketchpad. “Mind your own business.”

  “This is our business,” said Kirsty, flying down to hover beside her best friend. “You’re being litterbugs, and it’s everyone’s job to keep things clean.”

  A tall goblin danced around with his fingers in his ears.

  “I can’t hear you!” he squawked in a singsong voice. “I can’t hear you!”

  Just then, Kirsty saw a small, plump goblin throw something the size of a pencil sharpener into the air. Could it be Annabelle’s magic object? She swooped down quickly and caught it in her outstretched hand.

  “Is it my pencil sharpener?” asked Annabelle hopefully, darting down to join Kirsty.

  “No,” said Kirsty with a sigh. She held out her hand and showed Annabelle an ordinary pink eraser.

  “I don’t think these goblins have the magic pencil sharpener,” said Rachel. “They’re just messing around and causing trouble.”

  “You’re right,” said Kirsty. “If they did have it, they’d be using its magic to draw beautiful pictures, like the first goblin we saw.”

  “We have to keep looking,” said Rachel. “He’s somewhere in this maze.”

  “Let’s spread out,” suggested Annabelle. “If we fly low over the hedges, we’ll find him eventually.”

>   The three fairies fluttered above the maze, peering down among the green hedges. It was hard to see, because the bright sunshine made some dark shadows. But finally, Rachel spotted another goblin in the very center of the maze. He was sitting on a stone in a rock garden, drawing a picture of a nearby garden gnome.

  Rachel waved to Kirsty and Annabelle. “It’s him!” she said as they darted over to her. “Look, he’s drawing again — I think he must have the magic pencil sharpener.”

  “But where is it?” asked Kirsty.

  “And how can we get it back from him?” added Annabelle.

  They all thought hard, and then Kirsty’s eyes sparkled.

  “I have an idea,” she said. “But if this is going to work, Rachel and I will need to be human size again.”

  They all flew down and landed on the ground in the shadow of a hedge. Then Annabelle tapped the girls with her wand, and they were transformed into humans again. Rachel looked at Kirsty with an excited and hopeful smile.

  “What’s the plan?” she asked.

  “I think we should try to get the goblin to draw pictures of us,” said Kirsty. “If we can get close to him, we might have a chance to grab Annabelle’s magic pencil sharpener.”

  Annabelle clapped her hands with glee, and Rachel gave her best friend a smile.

  “That’s a really good idea, Kirsty,” she said. “Goblins are so vain about their abilities, we might be able to distract him for long enough to find the pencil sharpener.”