Melodie the Music Fairy

  Musical Mayhem

  The Trembling Tambourine

  Melodie’s Mission

  Goblin Discovered

  A New Problem

  The Show Must Go On!

  “Kirsty, you’re an amazing dancer!” Rachel Walker smiled, clapping her hands as her friend took a bow. Kirsty had just finished practicing the ballet steps she would be performing later that evening.

  “It will look even better tonight, when I’m with the other dancers and everyone is in costume,” Kirsty replied with a grin. “And wait until you hear the beautiful music.”

  Rachel was staying with her best friend, Kirsty Tate, for the week. That evening, the girls were going to the village hall for a very special occasion—the first anniversary of Kirsty’s ballet school.

  “It’s going to be a great party,” Kirsty went on. “My ballet teacher decorated the hall and is organizing some games, and all the parents are bringing food.” “It sounds like fun,” Rachel agreed. “But if it’s a party, then we’ll have to be on the lookout for goblins!” Kirsty nodded. She and Rachel shared a magical secret: They were friends with the fairies! But right now, there were problems in Fairyland, and Kirsty and Rachel had promised to help.

  The fairies were planning a surprise celebration for the 1000th anniversary of the fairy king and queen’s rule. It would be taking place in five days, and the Party Fairies were in charge of making it as special as possible using their party bags of magic fairy dust.

  But nasty Jack Frost had other plans. Banished to his ice castle by the fairy king and queen, he had decided to throw a party of his own on the very same day! Jack Frost knew that whenever a party in the human world went wrong, the Party Fairies would fly to the rescue. So he had sent his goblins to ruin as many human parties as possible. Then, they would grab the fairies’ party bags when the fairies flew in to set things straight. Jack Frost wanted the fairy magic to make his party spectacular. Without magic, the anniversary celebration would be ruined!

  Suddenly, the girls heard Mrs. Tate’s voice. “Time to go, girls!” she called.

  Kirsty and Rachel hurried downstairs to join Kirsty’s mom and dad.

  Mr. Tate held up a cake tin. “I made cupcakes for the party,” he explained, lifting the lid.

  “Cupcakes, my favorite!” Rachel said with delight. “You couldn’t have made anything better.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Kirsty grinned, carefully taking the tin.

  Mr. Tate drove them all to the village hall. When they arrived, it was already full of friends and families who had come to join the celebration.

  “The hall looks so different!” Kirsty gasped. Rows of chairs had been set up to face the stage, just like in a real theater. Shiny silver streamers hung from the ceiling, twinkling Christmas lights bordered the stage, and bunches of silver and white balloons floated above each table of food.

  While Mr. and Mrs. Tate chatted with other parents, Rachel and Kirsty arranged the cupcakes on a plate. They weren’t the only things that looked delicious.

  “Yum, chocolate éclairs!” Kirsty pointed out. Then she frowned. “They look almost too good to be true.”

  “Maybe we should test some of these—just to make sure the food hasn’t been spoiled by a goblin!” Rachel suggested.

  Kirsty nodded. She took an éclair, and Rachel ate one of Mr. Tate’s cupcakes. Then the girls smiled at each other—the treats were delicious. No goblins had been anywhere near this party food!

  Just then, the ballet teacher, Miss Kelly, joined them. “Kirsty, it’s time for you to go and get ready now,” she said. “And you must be Rachel,” she added with a smile. “Kirsty said you would be coming.” “Can I help Kirsty and the other girls get ready?” Rachel asked eagerly.

  Miss Kelly nodded. “Thank you, Rachel. I could certainly use another pair of hands.”

  Kirsty led the way to the dressing room, which was behind the stage. While the dancers slipped into their tights and tutus, Rachel helped Miss Kelly apply rosy powder to the girls’ cheeks and a dab of pink gloss to their lips. Finally, the dancers put on their ballet shoes. They tied the pink satin ribbons firmly around their ankles.

  There was a feeling of excitement in the air as the audience took their seats. Watching from backstage, Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. The decorations, food, and costumes were all perfect. It looked like Jack Frost’s goblins hadn’t heard about the ballet-school party, after all!

  Miss Kelly walked onto the stage. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present our very first class of ballerinas. They will perform for you tonight in honor of our school’s anniversary,” she announced.

  The audience clapped as Miss Kelly hurried into the wings. Then the curtain rose, and the music began.

  With their arms held gracefully over their heads, the dancers ran daintily onto the stage. She’d seen Kirsty practice, so Rachel knew what was coming next. But she hadn’t seen the dance with the costumes and music. The girls all looked as beautiful as fairies in their pretty tulle tutus!

  But suddenly, the music changed. It seemed to speed up, and the dancers started to have trouble staying in time. Although they kept dancing, Rachel could see from Kirsty’s face that something was wrong.

  She watched in dismay as one or two of the girls stumbled. They stubbed their toes on the stage as they tried to spin and leap more quickly.

  The music was still getting faster and faster. Soon, the tune was just a squeaky jumble of noise. Rachel glanced across at Miss Kelly. The teacher was frantically pressing the buttons on the CD player, but it wasn’t making any difference. The dancers whirled and spun more and more quickly, but it was impossible for them to keep up with the music. Two dancers bumped into each other, and another tripped over her own feet.

  “I can’t stop the CD player!” Miss Kelly gasped. “I don’t know what’s wrong.”

  But Rachel knew. She was sure that this was the work of one of Jack Frost’s sneaky goblins!

  The girls stopped dancing and rushed offstage. A couple of the parents came, too, to help Miss Kelly with the music. But nobody seemed to know what was wrong with the CD player.

  “This is definitely the work of goblins!” Rachel said under her breath. She looked for Kirsty, but couldn’t see her in the crowd of people backstage. “Well, I’m going to find him and stop his tricks!”

  Rachel glanced around the village hall, and her heart sank. She could see lots of places where a goblin might hide. Backstage, there were trunks and racks of costumes, plus the big cardboard set from the last performance — not to mention two dressing rooms, a music room, and a tiny office.

  But then, just as Rachel was wondering where to start looking, she saw a pile of musical instruments stacked in the wings on the other side of the stage. One of the instruments, a tambourine, was shaking — all on its own!

  Rachel gulped. She could see that there was no one on that side of the stage, and none of the other instruments were moving. She knew the tambourine was too small to hide a goblin, but what would make it shake like that? Could a goblin have brushed past it? she wondered. And could the goblin still be over there?

  Quietly, Rachel slipped across the stage to the other side. She tiptoed toward the stack of instruments, looking around in case the goblin was hiding nearby. She wanted to spot him before he spotted her! But she couldn’t see anything suspicious.

  With her heart pounding, she knelt down beside the tambourine. Very carefully, Rachel lifted it with one finger. As she did, a golden light glowed from under the rim.

  Rachel grinned and eagerly lifted the tambourine all the way. She had already guessed what she would find. Sure enough, a tiny, shimmering fairy was sitting there, with her face buried in her hands.

 
; “You’re a Party Fairy!” Rachel exclaimed with delight.

  The fairy raised her head. She was sobbing so hard that she had been making the tambourine bells jingle. Her tears shimmered in the light like tiny diamonds as they rolled down her cheeks. “That’s right, I’m Melodie the Music Fairy.” She sniffed as she adjusted her pink headband. “And you must be Rachel.”

  Melodie stood on tiptoe. She was wearing a beautiful pink dress, with black music notes around the hem. Her golden hair was in braids that swung as she turned her head.

  “Where’s Kirsty?” Melodie asked.

  “She’s not far away,” Rachel told her. “But why are you crying?”

  Melodie wiped away a last sparkling tear. “I came to fix the music,” she explained. “If I had known one of those nasty goblins was to blame, I would have been more careful.”

  Rachel frowned. “Was a goblin waiting for you?”

  “Yes,” Melodie wailed. “He grabbed my party bag and ran off with it. Now I can’t fix the music for the ballet. And if I don’t get my party bag back, there won’t be any music for the king and queen’s anniversary party, either!”

  Rachel felt very sorry for Melodie. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Kirsty and I will help you get your party bag back.”

  Melodie brightened immediately. “Oh, do you mean it?” she cried.

  Rachel smiled. “Of course I do,” she replied. “Now let’s go and find Kirsty.”

  Quickly, Melodie picked up her glittering wand and fluttered into the pocket of Rachel’s skirt. Then Rachel made her way back toward the people gathered around the CD player.

  Kirsty spotted her friend coming across the stage, and hurried to meet her. “Rachel, I think I know what happened to the music,” Kirsty whispered in her ear. “It’s goblin trouble!”

  Rachel nodded. “Look!” she said, and held her skirt pocket open so Kirsty could peek inside.

  Melodie waved at her. “Hello, Kirsty. I’m Melodie the Music Fairy,” she called in her soft voice.

  “Oh, Melodie, I’m so happy to see you,” Kirsty said. “If anyone can help us, you can.”

  “She came here to fix the music,” Rachel explained. “But a goblin stole her party bag.”

  Kirsty’s face fell. “Oh, no!” She groaned. “We have to get it back before the goblin escapes and takes it to Jack Frost!”

  Melodie nodded eagerly. “But where should we start looking?” she asked.

  Rachel thought for a moment. “There are so many people in the main hall, I don’t think he would risk hanging around there,” she said. “Let’s check the other rooms backstage.”

  With all the noise and confusion, the girls were able to slip away without being noticed. They hurried along the backstage hallway, and ran into the ladies’ dressing room. Rachel looked in the lockers where the dancers had left their clothes, while Kirsty checked the closets and searched through the costumes. There was no sign of a goblin.

  Next, they tried the office. Melodie flew out of Rachel’s pocket to check under the desk, Rachel looked out the window, and Kirsty opened all the drawers in the filing cabinet. There were papers and folders everywhere, but no goblin.

  The three friends returned to the hallway feeling a little glum.

  “Do you think he’s already gone?” Rachel asked.

  Melodie shook her head. “He wouldn’t have gotten out with so many people around,” she replied. “He must be hiding somewhere until the coast is clear.”

  Suddenly, Kirsty frowned. “I can hear something!” she exclaimed, listening closely. “Someone’s playing the piano.”

  Now Rachel could hear it, too, very faintly. “Maybe someone is practicing in the music room,” she suggested.

  “But who would practice the piano while a party’s going on?” asked Kirsty.

  Rachel listened again. “Well, whoever it is, they certainly need the practice,” she said, making a face. “It sounds terrible!”

  Melodie’s eyes lit up. “Only a goblin could play that badly!” she cried. Immediately, she zoomed off toward the sound. The girls ran after her. As they got closer to the music room, the jangling sound of the piano grew louder.

  They found the door cracked open, and peeked cautiously into the room. They could hear the terrible music clearly now, and they could even see the piano standing in the middle of the floor. But to their surprise, there was nobody playing it!

  The girls stared at the piano in amazement. Even Melodie looked confused. But then Kirsty had an idea. “Maybe the goblin’s hiding inside the piano!” she said. “He could be playing it from there.”

  “Let’s all go and look,” Rachel suggested.

  “No, let me go,” Kirsty replied. “Ballet shoes are soft. If the goblin is in there, he won’t hear me coming.”

  “Good idea,” Rachel agreed. If the goblin was hiding in the piano, they didn’t want to give him any warning.

  Kirsty slipped through the open door and tiptoed over to the piano. Holding her breath, she carefully lifted the lid and peeked inside.

  And there he was—a tiny, nasty-looking goblin, laughing gleefully and running up and down the piano strings, with Melodie’s party bag swinging from one hand. As he ran, he sang to himself in a croaky voice: “I’ve got the fairy’s bag, I’m such a smarty. I’ll take it to Jack Frost, and he’ll throw a party!” Very gently, Kirsty lowered the piano lid. Then she turned to the door and nodded at her friends.

  “What do we do now?” Rachel whispered to Melodie. “How are we going to get your party bag back?”

  Melodie frowned thoughtfully, as Rachel looked around the room. There was a set of drums not far from the piano, and on one of the drums lay a pair of cymbals. They gave Rachel an idea! “See those cymbals?” she said, pointing them out to Melodie. “Do you think you could lift one?”

  “I think so,” Melodie replied, looking at Rachel curiously.

  “Great! I’ll take the other one,” Rachel said.

  “But how will you get over there to pick it up?” Melodie asked. “If you walk across the room, the goblin might hear you coming.”

  “Not if I’m a fairy …” Rachel smiled. Melodie nodded and waved her wand. A cloud of glittering fairy dust showered down on Rachel, and she felt herself shrinking.

  By the time the dust had settled, Rachel was as tiny as Melodie. She fluttered her wings happily and flew around in a little circle. Then she flitted across the music room, with Melodie close behind.

  The cymbals were heavy! Melodie and Rachel both had to struggle to lift them, but at last they managed it.

  They flew over to Kirsty, who had been watching them in confusion. Rachel whispered in Kirsty’s ear so the goblin wouldn’t hear.

  “When I wink, open the lid of the piano,” she said.

  Kirsty nodded, wondering what Rachel was planning.

  Rachel and Melodie held up the cymbals and hovered in the air, face to face. Then Rachel winked at Kirsty, who immediately lifted the piano lid. At the same moment, Rachel and Melodie rushed toward each other. With a crash that shook the room, the cymbals clashed together—right above the goblin’s head!

  The goblin let out a loud scream, clapped his hands over his ears, and dropped Melodie’s party bag. “What a horrible noise!” he shrieked in surprise. “My head aches!” He jumped out of the piano and ran out of the room at top speed.

  Rachel smiled. She agreed that the cymbals had made a deafening noise, but at least she and Melodie had been ready for it. She heard a smaller crash. When she looked around, she saw that Melodie had dropped her cymbal and swooped into the piano to grab her party bag.

  “Ooh, that was fun!” Melodie exclaimed. “The goblin escaped, but I have my party bag back, and that’s all that matters.” She opened the bag and peeked inside. As she did, some golden, glittering music notes drifted out. “And it’s still full of magic fairy dust,” she declared happily.

  At that moment, Kirsty heard footsteps in the hallway outside. “Someone’s coming,” she whispered. “
Quick, you two, hide in the piano!”

  Rachel dropped her cymbal with a clatter and flew to join Melodie inside the piano. Kirsty put the lid down quickly. She was just in time! The door to the room swung open, and Miss Kelly came in. “Hello, Kirsty, are you all right?” she asked anxiously. “What was all that noise?”

  Kirsty had to think very quickly.

  “Um, I thought that there, uh, might be another CD player in this room,” she explained. “I was looking for it when I knocked over the cymbals.”

  Miss Kelly laughed. “Well, we need you on stage now. I think we’ll be able to start the ballet again in a minute. Melissa’s dad is an electrician, and he’s fixing the CD player.”

  Kirsty frowned. Could a human electrician fix a machine that was broken by a goblin? She had a feeling that only fairy magic would get that CD player working again. And she knew just who could help. But Melodie was stuck inside the piano with Rachel!

  “I’ll come in a minute, Miss Kelly,” Kirsty said, thinking fast. “Some sequins fell off my costume. I just need to find them first.”

  “Your costume looks fine,” the ballet teacher told her briskly. “A sequin or two makes no difference. Besides, there’s no time to sew them back on, and we don’t want to keep our audience waiting any longer.”

  Kirsty had no choice. Reluctantly, she followed Miss Kelly out of the music room, leaving Rachel and Melodie trapped inside the piano.

  What would they do?

  “Oh, no!” Rachel cried after Kirsty and Miss Kelly had left. “Who knows how long we’re going to be stuck in here now?”