Courtney the Clownfish Fairy Page 2

  Jack Frost shouted angrily when he saw the shining piece of shell in Rachel’s hand. He was closing in on them. He glared and raised his wand.

  An icy bolt of magic sped through the water from Jack Frost’s wand and hit the piece of shell with a smack, immediately encasing it in ice.

  “Ow!” Rachel cried, her hand stinging from the sudden cold. Before she knew what she was doing, she had dropped the piece of shell! An icy hand stretched forward to snatch it.

  “I’ll take that, thank you very much!” snapped Jack Frost.

  But a brave little Squirt flapped a fin to beckon his friends, and a whole group of clownfish launched themselves at Jack Frost.

  Jack Frost looked taken aback at this orange-and-white army that had appeared from out of nowhere. As the clownfish began to tickle him all over, he let out a surprised giggle.

  Rachel and Kirsty stared in amazement as the clownfish flipped their ticklish fins and tails behind Jack Frost’s knees, under his chin, and around his ears. Some even swam down to tickle his toes. The two friends had never seen Jack Frost laugh so hard! It was quite a sight to see him squirming helplessly from all the tickling.

  “Ooh! Ha ha ha! Hoo-hoo-hoo! Stop! Ha ha ha, stop!” He wailed, trying and failing to get away from the fish. Before long, he was completely weak from laughter. He tried to cling onto the piece of ice which contained the shell, but he finally lost his grip on it when the clownfish began tickling his stomach. The fairies saw the ice piece drop from his fingers, and all of them swooped to catch it. This was their chance!

  Kirsty got to the chunk of ice first and managed to grab it. But it was still so freezing cold, she couldn’t hold onto it.

  Luckily, Courtney was able to use her magic to melt the ice around the fragment of shell. Quickly, she transformed it back to its Fairyland size.

  “We did it!” Courtney cried happily. She hugged Rachel and Kirsty, holding onto the shell tightly. “Come on, Squirt, you can leave him alone now. We’re going back to Fairyland!”

  Squirt swam over to his fairy friend. She gave him a big kiss and then shrank him back down to his Fairyland size.

  Jack Frost could only scowl, knowing he was beaten.

  “Never mind, Your Frostiness,” one of the goblins said to him sympathetically. “Come and take a turn on the twisty slide. It’s so much fun!”

  Jack Frost made a sour face. “Fun? I thought I told you, nothing about the ocean is fun, in mg opinion. Although.…” His eyes widened as he saw the octopus ride spinning around, its eight passengers all squealing with excitement. “I suppose that could be… enjoyable.”

  Jack Frost hurried off to join the goblins and Rachel was sure she saw an eager gleam in his eyes. She smiled to herself. Maybe Jack Frost was about to find out that the ocean was a fun place, after all!

  But now it was time for Courtney and the girls to leave. Courtney waved her wand, taking all of them back to Fairyland in another sparkling whirlwind.

  It wasn’t long before the whirlwind cleared, setting them gently on the ground. Kirsty and Rachel saw that they were back in the majestic hall of the Fairyland Royal Aquarium. Squirt was back in his fish tank. King Oberon, Queen Titania, Shannon the Ocean Fairy, and the other six Ocean Fairies were all gathered around, as if they’d been waiting for Courtney, Kirsty, and Rachel’s return.

  When the crowd of fairies saw the golden piece of the conch shell in Courtney’s hands, a huge cheer went up from everyone. The six ocean creatures all swam around excitedly in their tanks as they saw that their friend Squirt was also safely back in Fairyland.

  Shannon rushed over, her eyes shining with happiness. “You found it! Congratulations, all of you!” She took the shell piece gently from Courtney, then stepped over to where the other six pieces had been put together. She fitted the last piece carefully in place, and there was a flurry of golden sparkles. All seven fragments of the shell were magically joined back together, as if the shell had never even been broken!

  With a big smile, Shannon raised the conch shell to her lips and played a beautiful melody that sent shivers down Rachel and Kirsty’s spines.

  The hall was quiet as everyone listened. Once Shannon had finished, however, another cheer erupted, and all the fairies burst into applause.

  “So everything in the oceans will go back to the way it should be,” Shannon said, beaming proudly. “Thanks to the Ocean Fairies, and our very special helpers!”

  Kirsty and Rachel blushed with pride. “We enjoyed every minute of it,” Kirsty said.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” the queen said. “We’d like to thank you for all your help with a little gift.”

  “We hope they’ll remind you of your ocean adventures,” King Oberon said. He smiled as he gave each of the girls a present, wrapped in gold paper and tied with a blue ribbon.

  Kirsty and Rachel unwrapped the presents to find that they’d each been given a smaller version of the magic golden conch shell. “It’s beautiful, thank you!” Rachel cried, gazing at the shiny, sparkling shell in her hands.

  Queen Titania smiled. “Whenever you raise the shell to your ear, you’ll be able to hear Shannon’s special song,” she said. “That way, you’ll never forget how you helped us save the oceans.”

  “Thank you. We love helping our fairy friends,” Kirsty said, holding the shell to her ear and listening to its beautiful music. “Well, we love being friends with you,” Queen Titania replied, “although I’m sad to say it’s time for you to return to your own world now. We hope we’ll see you again very soon!”

  The girls hugged all their fairy friends good-bye. Then Queen Titania threw a handful of sparkling fairy dust over them. The glittering whirlwind appeared one last time. It dropped them right back where they’d been standing on Leamouth Pier when the adventure began. They were regular girls again, without their beautiful fairy wings, but they still had their pretty shell gifts.

  “There you are!” said a voice. Rachel and Kirsty turned to see Kirsty’s gran bustling along the pier toward them. “I can’t believe our week together is almost over. I hope you haven’t been too bored staying here with me.”

  “Bored? Not at all!” Kirsty said. “We’ve had a fantastic time.”

  “I’ve loved staging with you by the beach,” Rachel added.

  Splash! As the three of them gazed out to sea, a pod of dolphins suddenly leaped from the water, surprising them all.

  “Now there’s a treat for your last day here,” Kirsty’s gran said happily. “It’s not every day that you see dolphins, is it?”

  Kirsty and Rachel shared a secret smile as they watched the playful dolphins. This week, they’d seen whales, penguins, octopuses, seals—all kinds of amazing sea creatures! But it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell Kirsty’s gran that. “The ocean is a magical place,” Kirsty replied instead, gazing out at the water happily. “A truly magical place!”

  “Look, Kirsty!” Rachel Walker said excitedly to her best friend, Kirsty Tate. It was a warm summer evening, and the girls were standing on the deck of a little red-and-white ferry as it chugged along the winding river. “I don’t think we’re far from Camp Stargaze now.”

  Kirsty looked where Rachel was pointing and saw a wooden sign on the river bank. The sign was in the shape of an arrow pointing downriver, and it said: THIS WAY TO CAMP STARGAZE.

  “Hooray!” Kirsty beamed at Rachel. “I’m really looking forward to this vacation.”

  The girls and their parents were spending a week of summer break at Camp Stargaze together. Kirsty and Rachel were thrilled. Even though they were best friends, they didn’t live near each other. So they loved meeting up during school vacation whenever they could.

  “Not far to go now, girls,” called Mr. Walker, Rachel’s dad. He was leaning on the side of the boat with Mrs. Walker and Mr. and Mrs. Tate, watching the beautiful countryside pass by. The river was surrounded by open fields and rolling hills, with green trees here and there.

  “Oh, look, girls!” Mrs. Tate exclaime
d, gazing up at the sky. “The sun is setting. Isn’t it pretty?”

  All the passengers on deck, including Rachel and Kirsty, looked up, too. The sun was just beginning to sink slowly, streaking the blue sky with long ribbons of gold, orange, and pink. The light reflected down onto the river and the fields, bathing everything in a soft glow. The water looked like liquid gold!

  “It’s magical!” Rachel breathed, her eyes wide. Then she glanced at Kirsty and flashed her a secret smile.

  Kirsty grinned back, knowing exactly what Rachel was thinking. She and Rachel knew more about magic than anyone else in the whole world. They were friends with the fairies!

  The girls had visited Fairyland many times, and had helped out their magical friends whenever they were in trouble. The fairies’ biggest enemy was mean, grumpy Jack Frost. He was always trying to cause trouble in Fairyland and the human world. Rachel and Kirsty were never quite sure what trouble Jack Frost and his goblins would cause next!

  Suddenly, Kirsty blinked. For a moment she’d thought the gold, orange, and pink colors of the setting sun were fading and changing into something different.

  I must be imagining it, Kirsty thought. But then she looked again and was horrified to see that she was right! The beautiful colors were changing before Kirsty’s eyes.

  “What’s happening?” Rachel asked. She’d noticed exactly the same thing, and so had everyone else on the ferry. They were all staring up at the sky in surprise.

  “Look at the sunset,” Kirsty cried. “It’s turning green!”

  A few seconds later, all the gold, pink, and orange had vanished completely. Now the sunset was casting a strange, spooky green glow on the landscape around it.

  “Everything’s green!” Kirsty went on in a shocked voice. “The sun, the fields, the ferry—every thing!”

  “And so are we!” Rachel pointed out, staring at Kirsty. All of the passengers, including the girls and their parents, were bathed in the same emerald-colored glow.

  “We look like Jack Frost’s goblins!” Kirsty whispered.

  The girls’ parents and the other grownups on the ferry were discussing what could have caused the strange sunset.

  “Maybe it’s just a trick of the light shining through the clouds,” Mr. Tate suggested.

  “Or maybe the sunset is reflecting off the river and the fields, and picking up that green color,” said Mrs. Walker.

  Rachel glanced at Kirsty. “I think there’s something very strange going on here, Kirsty,” she murmured.

  “So do I,” Kirsty agreed. “I wonder if it could be something magical?”

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  e-ISBN 978-0-545-54868-7

  Copyright © 2010 by Rainbow Magic Limited.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Rainbow Magic Limited.

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  First Scholastic printing, March 2011

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