The Weather Fairies Collection Read online

  Cover

  Map

  Poem

  The Weather Fairies #1: Crystal the Snow Fairy

  The Weather Fairies #2: Abigail the Breeze Fairy

  The Weather Fairies #3: Pearl the Cloud Fairy

  The Weather Fairies #4: Goldie the Sunshine Fairy

  The Weather Fairies #5: Evie the Mist Fairy

  The Weather Fairies #6: Storm the Lightning Fairy

  The Weather Fairies #7: Hayley the Rain Fairy

  Also Available

  Copyright

  A Magical Surpise

  Trouble in Fairyland

  A Snowy Start

  The Grouchy Goblin

  A Sneaky Plan

  A Very Unusual Snowball

  “Isn’t it a beautiful day, Mom?” Kirsty Tate asked happily. She gazed out of the car window at the blue sky and sunshine. “Do you think it will stay like this for all of summer vacation?”

  Mrs. Tate laughed. “Well, let’s hope so,” she said. “But remember what the weather was like on Rainspell Island? It was always changing!”

  Kirsty smiled to herself. She and her parents had been to Rainspell Island for vacation during the last school break. Kirsty had made a new friend there, Rachel Walker, and the two girls now shared a very special secret. They were friends with the fairies! When evil Jack Frost had put a spell on the seven Rainbow Fairies and banished them from Fairyland, Rachel and Kirsty had helped the fairy sisters get back home.

  “Could Rachel come and stay with us for a little while, Mom? Please?” Kirsty asked, as they pulled up outside their house. The Tates lived in Wetherbury, a pretty village in the middle of the countryside.

  “That’s a really good idea,” Mrs. Tate agreed. “Now, let’s take this stuff inside.”

  “OK,” said Kirsty, climbing out of the car. “Where’s Dad?”

  Just then, a voice called out from the distance. “Hello, I’m up here!”

  Kirsty glanced up, shading her eyes against the sun. To the left of the house was an old wooden barn. Mr. Tate was standing at the top of a ladder next to the barn, holding a hammer.

  “I’m just repairing the barn roof,” he explained. “It’s been leaking.”

  “Oh, dear,” said Mrs. Tate, opening the car trunk. She handed two shopping bags to Kirsty. “We really have to do something about that barn. It’s falling down.”

  “I like it,” Kirsty replied. Suddenly, she jumped. Something cold and wet had landed on her nose! “Oh, no!” she exclaimed. “I think it’s raining.” Then she stared at the white flakes that had landed on her pink shirt. “It’s not rain,” she gasped. “It’s snow!”

  “Snow?” Mrs. Tate looked shocked. “In summer? It can’t be!”

  But it was snowing. In a flash, the sky had turned gray and snowflakes were floating down.

  “Quick, Kirsty, let’s get inside!” called Mrs. Tate, grabbing the rest of the shopping bags and closing the trunk of the car.

  Mr. Tate was already climbing down from the ladder. They all rushed inside as the snow swirled around them.

  “This is very strange,” said Mr. Tate, frowning. “I wonder how long it will last?”

  Kirsty glanced out of the kitchen window. “Mom, Dad, the snow stopped already!” she cried.

  Mr. and Mrs. Tate joined Kirsty at the window. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. A few puddles of water were all that remained of the sudden snowstorm.

  “Well!” said Mr. Tate. “How strange! It was almost like magic!”

  Kirsty’s heart began to pound. Could there be magic in the air? But why? She and Rachel had found all of the Rainbow Fairies, and Jack Frost had promised not to harm them again. Everything was fine in Fairyland now, wasn’t it?

  “You’d better go and change out of that wet shirt, Kirsty,” said her mom.

  Kirsty turned away from the window. As she did, she spotted something on the kitchen table. It was a rusty old metal weather vane in the shape of a rooster. “What’s that?” she asked.

  “I found it in the park this morning,” her father said. “It will look great on top of the barn once I’m done fixing the roof.”

  Kirsty reached a hand toward the weather vane. As she did, the metal glowed, and glittering sparkles danced toward her fingers. Kirsty blinked in surprise. When she looked again, the sparkles had vanished. All she could see was the rusty metal.

  Confused, Kirsty ran upstairs to change. Had she imagined the sparkles? Maybe. The snow was real, though. She was sure of that. “I’ll call Rachel after lunch,” she thought. “Maybe she’s been noticing strange things, too.”

  Kirsty hurried into her bedroom. There, on a shelf above her bed, was the snow globe the fairies had given her. It was a very special thank-you gift for helping the Rainbow Fairies. Rachel had one, too. It was filled with glittering fairy dust, in all the colors of the rainbow. When the snow globe was shaken up, the dust swirled and sparkled inside.

  Right now, no one was shaking the snow globe — but the fairy dust was swirling around inside the glass! Kirsty forgot about her wet shirt and kept staring at the sparkling snow globe. She couldn’t believe her eyes. “It must be magic!” she whispered.

  She ran across the room and grabbed the glass globe, but then dropped it with a gasp of pain. The snow globe was so hot it had burned her fingers!

  As the globe fell, it hit the edge of the shelf and shattered.

  “Oh, no!” Kirsty exclaimed, upset that she’d broken her beautiful gift. Just then, sparkling fairy dust flew into the air, and floated down around her. Before she knew it, Kirsty was shrinking! It was just like on Rainspell Island. She and Rachel had become fairy-sized when they helped rescue the Rainbow Fairies. Now she was tiny all over again!

  Kirsty twisted around to look over her shoulder. There were her fairy wings, delicate and glittering. “Maybe the fairies want me to fly to Fairyland to see them,” Kirsty said to herself. “But I don’t know how to get there!”

  As she spoke, the fairy dust drifted around her. Suddenly, a strong breeze swept in through the open window. It picked up the fairy dust and whipped it into a whirlwind of glitter. Then, the whirlwind lifted Kirsty gently into the air and carried her right out the window!

  Kirsty was whisked through the sky in a whirl of colorful fairy dust. She flew over rivers, mountains, trees, and houses, passing fluffy white clouds on the way. Soon, she saw the red-and-white toadstool houses of Fairyland below her. There was the river, winding its way through the green hills. The water sparkled like diamonds in the golden sunshine.

  The wind was bringing Kirsty down now, close to the silver Fairy Palace and its pretty pink towers. Kirsty could see King Oberon and Queen Titania waiting for her with a group of fairies. And next to the queen was someone else that Kirsty knew very well.

  “Rachel!” called Kirsty.

  Rachel rushed over as Kirsty landed gently on the grass.

  “I came the same way you did,” Rachel explained excitedly, giving Kirsty a hug. “My snow globe broke, and the fairy dust brought me here.”

  “Do you know why?” asked Kirsty.

  Rachel shook her head as the king and queen and their fairies joined the girls.

  “It’s wonderful to see you both,” said Queen Titania, smiling. “But I’m afraid we need your help again,” she added, looking worried.

  “I hope you don’t mind us bringing you here like this,” King Oberon said.

  “Of course not!” Kirsty said eagerly. “Is something wrong?”

  The queen sighed. “I’m afraid that Jack Frost is up to his old tricks again.”

  Rachel looked shocked. “But he promised not to harm the Rainbow Fairies anymore!” she said, glancing up at the sky with a
shiver. The sun had disappeared, and it had turned suddenly chilly.

  “That’s true,” Queen Titania replied. “Unfortunately, he didn’t promise not to harm our Weather Fairies!” She waved her hand at the seven fairies standing nearby.

  “You mean this strange weather is all because of Jack Frost?” asked Kirsty, as sunshine broke through the gray clouds again.

  The queen nodded. “Doodle, our weather vane rooster, is in charge of Fairyland’s weather,” she explained. “Doodle’s tail is made up of seven beautiful feathers. Each feather controls one kind of weather.”

  “Every morning, Doodle decides on the best weather for every part of Fairyland,” the king went on. “Then he gives each Weather Fairy the correct feather, and they go off to do their weather work.”

  Rachel and Kirsty were listening hard.

  “Come with us,” said the queen. “We’ll show you what’s happened.”

  The king and queen led Rachel and Kirsty into the palace gardens and over to a golden pond.

  The queen scattered some fairy dust onto the water, and it began to fizz and bubble.

  After a moment, the water grew still and clear. A picture began to appear on the surface. It showed a beautiful rooster with a magnificent tail of red, gold, and copper-colored feathers.

  “That’s Doodle,” the queen explained. “Yesterday morning he planned the weather for Fairyland, like he always does.”

  Rachel and Kirsty watched as Doodle flew to the top of the palace and perched on one of the pink towers. He spun slowly around, gazing out over the hills of Fairyland. Then he nodded his feathery head and flew down again.

  “Jack Frost has always helped Doodle and our Weather Fairies with the winter weather,” the king continued. “There’s so much work, with all the ice and snow and frost. But now it’s summer, and Jack Frost has nothing to do.”

  “So he’s bored,” the queen put in. “And that means trouble! Look. …” She pointed at the pictures appearing on the water.

  Doodle was standing on the palace steps, waiting for the Weather Fairies to collect their feathers.

  Kirsty gasped. “Look, Rachel!” she cried. “The goblins!”

  Rachel remembered the goblins. They were Jack Frost’s servants, and they were mean and selfish. They had big feet, pointed noses, and ugly faces.

  Seven goblins were creeping toward Doodle. The rooster did not see them until it was too late. The goblins reached out and snatched Doodle’s tail feathers. Then, they ran away with the feathers, laughing as they went.

  “Oh, no!” said Kirsty, as the rooster chased after the goblins. “Poor Doodle!”

  “It gets worse.” The queen sighed. “The goblins escaped into the human world, and Doodle followed them. And now Doodle is very far away from Fairyland, and without his magic tail feathers, his powers just won’t work,” she explained.

  “Doodle turned into an ordinary metal weather vane,” the king said sadly. “We don’t even know where he is now.”

  “We need you to find the goblins,” the queen said. “It’s the only way to get Doodle’s tail feathers back. Until then, Doodle is stuck in your world, and our weather will be all mixed up!” She looked up at the sky as a few raindrops began to fall. “The goblins are causing weather trouble for humans, too.”

  “Our Weather Fairies will help you,” the king told the girls. “Let me introduce you. This is Crystal the Snow Fairy, Abigail the Breeze Fairy, Pearl the Cloud Fairy, Goldie the Sunshine Fairy, Evie the Mist Fairy, Storm the Lightning Fairy, and Hayley the Rain Fairy.”

  The fairies gathered around Rachel and Kirsty. “Pleased to meet you!” they cried in sweet voices. “Thank you for helping us!”

  “Each Weather Fairy will help you find her own feather,” said the queen. “And we know the goblins are hiding somewhere here. …”

  She sprinkled more fairy dust over the water, and the picture changed. Now, Rachel and Kirsty could see a pretty town surrounded by lush green fields.

  “Oh!” Kirsty exclaimed. “That’s Wetherbury! That’s where I live. So that’s why we had the snowstorm. It was the goblins!”

  “What snowstorm?” asked Rachel.

  Kirsty quickly explained. “And I think I know where Doodle is, too,” she went on eagerly. “I think he’s the rusty old weather vane my dad found in the park!”

  “Thank goodness Doodle is safe!” cried Queen Titania happily.

  “But the snowstorm means that one of the goblins is close to your town,” the king warned. “And he must have Doodle’s magic Snow Feather!”

  Kirsty turned to Rachel. “Do you think your parents will let you come and stay with me?” she said. “My mom said it was OK.”

  “I’ll ask them,” Rachel replied. “Then we can get the feathers back from the goblins!”

  The king nodded. “That would be wonderful,” he said.

  The queen stepped forward. She had two golden lockets in her hand. “Each locket is filled with fairy dust,” she explained, giving them to the girls. “You can use a pinch of this whenever you need to turn yourself into fairies and back into humans again. But remember!” She smiled at Rachel and Kirsty. “Don’t look too hard for magic — it will find you. And when it does, you will know that one of the magic feathers is close by.”

  The girls fastened the lockets around their necks.

  “And beware of the goblins,” the king added. “Jack Frost has cast a spell to make them bigger than usual.”

  “Bigger!” Rachel said, feeling nervous. “As big as humans, you mean?”

  The king shook his head. “We have a law in Fairyland that not even magic can make anything bigger than the highest tower of the Fairy Palace.” He pointed at the tallest pink tower. “But it means that now the goblins are almost as tall as your shoulders — when you’re human-sized.”

  Kirsty shivered. “We’ll have to be careful,” she said. “But of course we’re happy to help.”

  Rachel nodded.

  “Thank you,” said the king gratefully. “We knew you wouldn’t let us down.”

  The queen scattered fairy dust over the girls. It whipped around them, and in a few seconds, a whirlwind was gently lifting them up into the sky.

  “Good-bye!” Kirsty and Rachel called, waving at their friends below. “And don’t worry. We’ll find Doodle’s feathers and bring him safely home.”

  “Rachel’s here!” Kirsty shouted, rushing to the front door.

  The Walkers’ car was just turning into the driveway.

  “Put on your boots before you go out in the snow,” called Mrs. Tate from the kitchen. Kirsty pulled on her boots. It was the day after she and Rachel had been to Fairyland, and Rachel’s parents had agreed that she could come and stay with the Tates. Kirsty had been worried that the Walkers wouldn’t be able to make it to Wetherbury, though. The goblins had been up to their tricks again. There had been a heavy snowfall, and flakes were still drifting down.

  Kirsty ran outside, followed by her mom and dad. The Walkers were unloading Rachel’s suitcase from the car.

  “Hello,” called Mr. Tate. “Sorry about the weather. Isn’t it awful?”

  “I packed my boots, scarf, and gloves in my suitcase,” Rachel whispered to Kirsty as they hugged hello.

  “Would you like to come in for some coffee?” Mrs. Tate asked.

  “That would be nice,” Rachel’s mom agreed. “But we shouldn’t stay too long, in case the snow gets worse.”

  “Come and see Doodle,” Kirsty said quietly to Rachel, as their parents chatted.

  Mr. Tate had put Doodle inside the hall closet. Gently, Kirsty lifted the weather vane out.

  “Oh, poor Doodle!” said Rachel when she saw the rusty rooster. “We have to find his feathers, Kirsty!”

  A knock at the front door made them both turn.

  “I wonder who that is?” Kirsty said, putting Doodle away again.

  Kirsty’s mom had opened the door and was talking to an old lady who was bundled up in winter clothes.


  “It’s Mom’s friend, Mrs. Fordham,” Kirsty whispered to Rachel. “She lives on Willow Hill.”

  “I’m sorry to bother you,” Mrs. Fordham was saying, “but there’s so much snow, I can’t get back to my house. I wondered if I could wait here for a while.”

  “Of course,” said Mrs. Tate, helping her inside. “Come and have a cup of coffee.”

  “I’ve never seen weather like this,” Mrs. Fordham went on, unwinding her scarf. “And it seems to be worse on Willow Hill than anywhere else. I don’t know why.”

  Kirsty and Rachel glanced at each other.

  “Why do you think there’s more snow on Willow Hill?” Rachel whispered to Kirsty.

  Kirsty looked excited. “Maybe that’s where the goblin has taken the Snow Feather!”

  “Let’s go and find out,” Rachel suggested.

  Kirsty ran to ask her mom if she and Rachel could go out to play in the snow. Meanwhile, Rachel quickly changed out of her summer clothes. The girls said good-bye to their parents and hurried outside. It was still snowing.

  “Quick,” said Kirsty. “We have to make it to Willow Hill before the goblin gets away.”

  “Wait for me!” called a tiny voice behind them.

  Kirsty and Rachel spun around.

  A tiny fairy with crystal-colored wings was sliding down the gutter pipe. She wore a soft blue dress with fluffy white edging. Her wand was tipped with silver, and her hair was in pigtails.

  “Look! It’s Crystal the Snow Fairy!” Kirsty gasped.

  The girls rushed over to her.

  “Hello again!” Crystal called. She looked excited. Tiny, sparkling snowflakes fizzed from the tip of her wand. “Look at all this snow,” Rachel said.