Clara the Chocolate Fairy Page 2

  “Come on, girls!” Clara cried. Without a second to waste, she, Rachel, and Kirsty flew into the castle after Jack Frost. He began dodging in and out of different rooms, trying to get away, but Clara and the girls could always hear him yelling at the greedy goblins as he ran by.

  “Stop eating my dining room!” Jack Frost shouted at some goblins munching on a table and chairs made from mint-chocolate wafers. Clara, Rachel, and Kirsty flew close behind as he rushed through the Great Hall, where a goblin was nibbling at a picture frame made of golden honeycomb.

  “Soon there will be no Candy Castle left!” Jack Frost wailed. He gave a yelp of rage as he ran past another room. “Don’t eat my ice cream!” he shouted. Kirsty peeked into the bathroom as she, Clara, and Rachel flew by. She could see a goblin gobbling scoops of Esme the Ice Cream Fairy’s green ice cream from the tub.

  Jack Frost dashed up the winding staircase, where a goblin was munching on the cookie steps. Then he turned down a chocolate-paneled hallway. Clara, Rachel, and Kirsty zoomed after him and saw that the hallway was a dead end.

  “We’ve got him cornered, girls!” Clara sighed with relief.

  But Jack Frost cackled at them and pressed a white chocolate button on one of the panels. A secret door slid open and Jack Frost smiled smugly.

  “Good-bye, foolish fairies!” he shouted. He rushed through the door, but instead of closing it behind him, Jack Frost stopped short and let out a shriek of horror. “Oh, no! My candy bedroom is ruined!” he wailed. “Ruined! ”

  Clara, Rachel, and Kirsty flew into the room behind him. An enormous bed made of soft marshmallow had big bites taken out of it. The dark chocolate furniture had some drawers and doorknobs missing. On the nightstand, Rachel saw the throne decoration from Coco the Cupcake Fairy, but all that was left of the cupcake it had been on were a few crumbs.

  Jack Frost gazed at the floor, sniffling.

  Why is he so upset about the floor? Kirsty wondered, staring down at it. The floor was covered with tiles of white, milk, and dark chocolate, but some of them had obviously been nibbled away. Kirsty peered at it more closely — and finally realized that the floor had been a tile portrait of Jack Frost. Now some of the tiles had been gobbled up by the goblins, including Jack Frost’s nose! Kirsty pointed this out to Clara and Rachel as Jack Frost sobbed.

  “My beautiful floor!” he groaned, icy tears dripping down his face. “It was a wonderful work of chocolate art.”

  Rachel fluttered forward. “Clara can help you fix the missing tiles,” she pointed out, “if you give her magic charm back.”

  “I’m not giving it back!” Jack Frost snapped. “Can’t you see? I need the magic of the cocoa bean charm more than ever now!” He pointed at the ruined floor.

  Kirsty stared down at the chocolate tiles. Suddenly, her own favorite chocolate, the Sticky Toffee Galore, popped into her head. That gave her an idea!

  Kirsty turned to Clara and Rachel and whispered her plan.

  Clara smiled. “I know a fairy who can help you,” she told Jack Frost.

  The girls watched as Clara waved her wand, writing a glittering word in the air — Lizzie. A second later, Lizzie the Sweet Treats Fairy appeared in a cloud of magical sparkles.

  “Hello, everyone!” Lizzie cried.

  “Hello, Lizzie,” Kirsty and Rachel said together, beaming at their old friend. Lizzie was one of the Princess Fairies.

  Jack Frost groaned loudly. “More fairies!” he muttered. “Go away and leave me alone!”

  “Lizzie’s going to make your chocolate tile floor even better than it was before,” Rachel told him. She murmured something quietly to Lizzie, who smiled and nodded.

  “Hurry up, then!” Jack Frost said rudely.

  Lizzie waved her wand. Sparkling fairy dust flew to the four corners of the room, floating softly down onto the ruined tiles. In a flash, the missing tiles were replaced. The floor looked as good as new, complete with a tile picture of Jack Frost’s face!

  “Hooray!” Jack Frost cried excitedly. “My chocolate floor is perfect again! Don’t I look handsome?” He proudly tried to rush forward to get a better look at his giant portrait, but his feet wouldn’t move. Rachel and Kirsty grinned at each other.

  “What’s going on?” Jack Frost roared. “I’m stuck! My feet are stuck to the floor!” He bent over and stared at the tiles more closely. Then he gave another scream of rage. “These tiles aren’t chocolate — they’re toffee!”

  Furious, Jack Frost swatted at the four fairies hovering above him, but they flew out of his reach.

  Jack Frost tried to stamp his feet in a rage, but he couldn’t — he was completely stuck to the toffee! Rachel fluttered over to him. Dodging his flailing arms, she managed to unhook the cocoa bean charm from his necklace.

  “I think this belongs to someone else,” Rachel said, shaking her head.

  “Give it back!” Jack Frost demanded, but Rachel ignored him and flew over to Clara. Clara beamed when Rachel handed her the glowing charm. It became fairy-sized the instant Clara touched it.

  “Thank you, girls! And thank you, Lizzie, for all your help!” Clara declared, clasping the magic cocoa bean tightly. “Now Lizzie and I need to return to Fairyland and share the good news with everyone.”

  “But we can’t leave Jack Frost stuck in the toffee!” Kirsty pointed out.

  “Oops, I almost forgot!” Clara giggled. With a flick of her wand, the toffee tiles turned back into chocolate. Jack Frost stopped yelling and looked thrilled, instead.

  “My beautiful floor is back!” he exclaimed, dancing around with glee. “And the chocolate me looks marvelous!”

  Rachel, Kirsty, Clara, and Lizzie laughed.

  “But that’s all the chocolate you’re getting!” Kirsty warned Jack Frost as he continued to dance happily around the room. Then, a flick of Clara’s wand whisked Rachel and Kirsty back to Candy Land.

  Before long, the girls were back in the Candy Land factory again, and at their normal human size. They hurried out from behind the Sticky Toffee Galore machine to join the rest of the group. Kirsty was relieved that no one seemed to have noticed they were missing.

  “And now you’re going to see where we keep our chocolate before they’re sent out to the candy stores,” Matt was saying. “Follow me, everyone.”

  Matt led the way across the factory floor and down a hallway. The girls exchanged anxious glances.

  “This is the way we chased the goblin with the cart,” Rachel whispered to Kirsty. “Matt’s taking us to the storeroom.”

  “But we know the storeroom’s empty!” Kirsty said, looking very worried. “Jack Frost took all the chocolate for his Candy Castle. What’s Matt going to say when he sees there’s nothing there?”

  “Here we are.” Matt stopped outside the door marked STOREROOM. The girls held their breath as he pushed the door open.

  To Rachel and Kirsty’s delight, they could see that the room was full of chocolate again! But this time, the gift boxes were arranged in neat piles, the chocolate bars were stacked nicely, and there were no heaps of chocolate on the floor.

  “Clara must have used her magic to return it all,” Rachel whispered happily. “And she cleaned up the mess Jack Frost and his goblin made, too.”

  “Look, she even left us some more samples to try!” Kirsty said, pointing to a tray of chocolate sitting on a table.

  Matt was checking out the samples, looking surprised. “Well, we usually put out all our samples in the tasting room,” he said with a smile. “But let’s try these, too.”

  Kirsty chose another Sticky Toffee Galore, and so did Rachel. This time, the chocolates tasted delicious.

  “Mmm!” was all Rachel could say for a moment as she enjoyed the combination of delicious chocolate and sticky toffee. The rest of the tour group was also oohing and aahing as they ate their samples. Even Matt picked a Sticky Toffee Galo
re and popped it in his mouth.

  “Magical!” he said.

  Rachel and Kirsty grinned at each other.

  Rachel laughed. “That’s exactly what I think, too!” she said.

  After the tour, the girls thanked Matt and then hurried to meet Aunt Helen in the cafeteria. She was sitting at a table, waiting for them.

  “I hope you had a good time, girls,” Aunt Helen said with a smile. “And I hope you’re not too sick of chocolate, because there’s chocolate cake for dessert!”

  “Yum!” Kirsty said. “We’d never get sick of chocolate, would we, Rachel?”

  “No way!” Rachel agreed. “And we’re having a great time.”

  “Well, I hope you’ll have fun this afternoon with me in the cookie department, too,” Aunt Helen said. “Now, let’s go and order our lunch.”

  Rachel and Kirsty glanced meaningfully at each other as they followed Aunt Helen to the cafeteria counter. Treat Day was getting closer and closer! They’d returned four of the Sugar and Spice Fairies’ magic charms, but there were still three left to find. Could they get them back before Treat Day was ruined for everyone in Fairyland? Or would they run out of time? One thing was for sure — they were in for a lot more magical adventures!

  Rachel and Kirsty found Lisa, Esme, Coco, and Clara’s missing magic charms. Now it’s time for them to help

  Join their next adventure in this special sneak peek. . . .

  The yellow walls of the Candy Land factory were gleaming in the midday sun, and the colorful flags on its roof waved in the spring breeze. In the factory cafeteria, Rachel Walker and Kirsty Tate were finishing their sandwiches and chatting with Kirsty’s aunt Helen.

  “You’re so lucky to work here,” Rachel said. “It’s my dream job!”

  “You wouldn’t say that if you saw all the paperwork I have to do,” replied Aunt Helen with a laugh.

  “Yes, but you get to taste all the new candy,” said Kirsty with a giggle. “That sounds like the best job in the world!”

  Aunt Helen laughed and glanced up at the clock on the wall.

  “It does mean I was able to organize a tour of the factory for my favorite niece and her best friend!” she said with a smile. “Have you enjoyed the tour so far?”

  Tomorrow was Kirsty’s birthday, and this special day at Candy Land was an early birthday treat. Since Rachel was staying with Kirsty over spring break, she had gotten to come along. Lucky her!

  “It’s been amazing!” said Rachel. “The chocolate department was really cool.”

  “Yes, thank you for the tickets, Aunt Helen,” said Kirsty. “Today is one of the best birthday presents I’ve ever had!”

  “It’s not over yet,” said Aunt Helen with a grin. “You’ll be spending this afternoon with me in the cookie department. But first, I have another little treat for you. Wait here! I’ll be right back.”

  She winked at them and headed up to the cafeteria counter. Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other with shining eyes.

  “I don’t know how this day could get any better!” said Rachel. “Isn’t this just perfect?”

  She waved her arm around at the cafeteria tables and chairs. Everything at Candy Land was made to look like sweet treats, so the tables were huge cakes and the chairs were enormous cookies.

  “Look,” whispered Kirsty, nudging her best friend. “That boy’s got a Sticky Toffee Galore. They’re my favorite.”

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Rainbow Magic Limited c/o HIT Entertainment, 830 South Greenville Avenue, Allen, TX 75002-3320.

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-62243-1

  Copyright © 2013 by Rainbow Magic Limited.

  Previously published as Sweet Fairies #4: Clara the Chocolate Fairy by Orchard U.K. in 2013.

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

  SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. RAINBOW MAGIC is a trademark of Rainbow Magic Limited. Reg. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and other countries. HIT and the HIT logo are trademarks of HIT Entertainment Limited.

  First Scholastic printing, March 2014

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