Debbie the Duckling Fairy Read online

  Instead, a crowd of fluffy little ducklings surrounded them. They were yapping, chasing their tails, and chewing everything in sight. There wasn’t a single quack to be heard or waddle to be seen.

  “Oh my goodness, the ducklings are acting like puppies!” Kirsty exclaimed.

  Rachel clutched Kirsty’s arm and pointed at a group of ducklings over by the sink. One of them had feathers that glimmered with a tint of gold.

  “Debbie, I think we found Splashy!” she said.

  They heard a loud squawk, and a goblin barreled across the kitchen toward Splashy.

  “Come here!” he screeched. “I want to cuddle you!”

  The other ducklings scattered sideways as the goblin dove among them. Splashy yapped and ran around in circles as the goblin crashed into the oven door. He sat up, rubbing his head.

  “I just want to cuddle,” he wailed. “Splashy, don’t run away from me. Come back!”

  As he stood up and kept chasing Splashy, Debbie flew out of Rachel’s pocket.

  “These poor ducklings are so confused,” she said, her voice shaking as she called out to the goblin. “Please go away! I need Splashy back so the ducklings can start acting like ducklings again.”

  The goblin paid no attention to her.

  “Greenfields Farm can’t open to visitors with ducklings that act like puppies,” said Kirsty. “Please listen to us.”

  But the goblin continued to chase Splashy around the kitchen as the tiny barks of the ducklings grew even louder.

  “He’s too interested in Splashy to notice us at the moment,” said Rachel. “We have to get Splashy back before he does. But how?”

  “I’ve got an idea,” said Kirsty. “If the ducklings think they’re puppies, then let’s treat them as if they really are. Every puppy I’ve ever met has loved to chew slippers. Debbie, could you magic up a slipper for us?”

  “Of course,” said Debbie.

  She flicked her wand, and a checked slipper appeared in Kirsty’s hand. Kirsty waved it at Splashy.

  “Come on, Splashy,” she called. “Come and chew this lovely slipper!”

  Splashy started running toward her, but then another duckling tugged the slipper out of Kirsty’s hand. That duckling dashed into a corner and started chewing the slipper with his beak.

  “We need another plan,” said Rachel. “What else do puppies like? Walks … games … I know! How about a game of fetch? Debbie, could you magic up a dog toy?”

  In a flash, Rachel was holding a blue rubber toy in the shape of a duck. It quacked when she squeezed it, which made all the ducklings turn to look. Rachel squeezed it again and then threw it across the room.

  “Fetch, Splashy,” she called.

  Splashy ran after the toy, yapping in excitement. But the goblin spotted him and lunged forward. This time, he managed to catch the little duckling in his long, bony fingers.

  “Got you,” he said. “Now you’re mine!”

  He raced out of the farmhouse kitchen into the cobblestone yard, clutching Splashy to his chest. Debbie zoomed after him.

  “Come on,” she called to Rachel and Kirsty. “We can’t lose him this time.”

  The girls ran after the goblin, and all the other ducklings dashed after them. They scrambled between the girls’ legs, making them stumble.

  “They almost tripped us!” said Rachel.

  “Oh, that gives me an idea,” said Kirsty.

  She raced back into the farmhouse and came out holding the blue rubber toy. She squeezed it and the ducklings turned to look.

  “Fetch,” said Kirsty.

  She threw the toy across the yard, and it landed beside the goblin’s big feet. Yapping, panting, and barking, the ducklings bounded after it. They bumped against and between the goblin’s legs, knocking him this way and that. The goblin screeched, wobbled, and fell head over heels into a muddy puddle. In the confusion, he let go of Splashy.

  At once, Rachel ran to scoop up the magical duckling. She held him gently in her arms and turned to Debbie.

  “Splashy!” cried the Duckling Fairy in delight.

  She flew to him with her arms held out wide. As soon as she touched him, he shrank to fairy size. Quacking, he snuggled up to Debbie.

  “He’s back to his old self,” said Debbie, cuddling him and kissing his fluffy feathers.

  “So are all the other ducklings,” said Kirsty.

  She smiled as the little ducklings waddled out of the yard toward the pond, quacking at the tops of their lungs.

  “They’re very noisy—whether they’re being puppies or ducklings,” said Rachel with a laugh.

  The goblin was watching the ducklings waddle away, too, and he looked very sad. Kirsty felt sorry for him.

  “Are you feeling worried about what Jack Frost will say?” she asked.

  The goblin gave an awkward little wriggle as he looked at Kirsty.

  “Yes, a bit,” he said. “I expect there will be a lot of shouting when Jack Frost finds out that he won’t have Splashy at his petting zoo. But most of all, I’m going to miss the sweet little ducklings. They’re so soft and cuddly and cute.”

  “You can always visit a pond and see the ducklings splashing around,” said Debbie. “Ducklings love visitors. But you have to promise that you will never again try to take one away. They belong with their moms and dads, just like Splashy belongs with me.”

  “I promise,” said the goblin, cheering up at once. “I’m going to find a new duckling pond to visit right now.”

  After he ran off, Rachel, Kirsty, and Debbie exchanged happy smiles.

  “We did it,” said Rachel. “Splashy is safe, and the ducklings are back to normal before the grown-ups noticed anything was wrong.”

  “If we don’t want the grown-ups to notice anything, we’d better clean up the farmhouse kitchen,” said Kirsty, laughing. “Ducklings don’t make neat and tidy houseguests!”

  Rachel plucked a feather out of Kirsty’s hair. “They sure don’t!” she agreed.

  Laughing, they went back into the farmhouse kitchen. It was covered in feathers and the muddy prints of tiny webbed feet. Bowls had been overturned, cupboards and drawers had been emptied, and dish towels had been chewed. The contents of the kitchen pantry were spread across the floor.

  Kirsty and Rachel started to roll up their sleeves, but Debbie stopped them with a smile.

  “Leave this to me,” she said, raising her wand.

  Splashy perched on Kirsty’s fingertip, and they all watched as Debbie waved her wand and spoke the words of a spell.

  “Sweep feathers up, wipe mud away.

  Reverse what happened here today.

  Return each item to its place,

  And do not leave a single trace.”

  Instantly, the kitchen was spick-and-span. Debbie fluttered over to the girls and took Splashy into her arms again.

  “Thank you for helping me get him back,” she said.

  Splashy quacked loudly, and they all laughed.

  “I think he’s trying to say thank you, too,” said Debbie with her bubbly laugh.

  “It’s good to see you so happy again,” said Rachel. “We loved meeting you both—and being able to help.”

  “I can’t wait to tell Francis and the other Farm Animal Fairies that Splashy is safe,” Debbie went on. “I hope that we can find the other magical babies quickly, too.”

  “We’ll do everything we can to help,” Kirsty promised.

  “I’m going to take Splashy back to the Fluttering Fairyland Farm now,” said Debbie. “I hope I’ll see you both again soon. Good-bye!”

  As the girls waved, Debbie disappeared back to Fairyland in a flurry of sparkling fairy dust. At that moment, the girls heard footsteps on the cobblestones and voices laughing. Then Mr. and Mrs. Tate came in with Niall and Harriet.

  “Here you are,” said Mrs. Tate. “We went to find you at the pond, but all we saw were the sweet little ducklings.”

  “They’re very cute,” said Rachel. “I think they’re m
y favorite farm babies.”

  “I thought that lambs were your favorite farm babies,” said Kirsty.

  “All farm babies are my favorites,” said Rachel with a laugh. “I can’t choose between them!”

  Niall and Harriet were gazing around the kitchen with wide eyes.

  “What on earth’s happened here?” asked Harriet.

  The girls exchanged a worried look.

  Had Debbie’s magic missed something?

  “We left the kitchen in a real mess this morning,” said Niall. “Who cleaned it up for us? Girls, was it you?”

  “It wasn’t us,” said Kirsty truthfully.

  “You must have elves,” said Mrs. Tate, laughing.

  Harriet laughed, too.

  “I’ll take all the help I can get,” she said. “There are only a few days until opening day, and we still have so much to do.”

  Soon everyone was sitting around the big farmhouse table, digging in to a delicious dinner.

  “Why does working outside always make you so hungry?” asked Mr. Tate as he had his third helping.

  Harriet looked at the girls.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed meeting our ducklings,” she said. “I hope that our visitors will love them, too.”

  “Of course they will,” said Rachel. “The ducklings are so sweet and so much fun. I could watch them splashing around for hours.”

  “It’s really interesting to see them play together while their moms and dads watch,” Kirsty added. “They’re just the same as little children at the park.”

  “You know, Harriet and I would really like some help with the baby animals over the next few days,” Niall said. “Would you two like to be in charge of looking after them?”

  “Really?” asked Kirsty, her eyes wide. “Oh yes, please.”

  “We’d love it,” Rachel added.

  “That’s decided, then,” said Harriet. “We’ll show you what needs to be done in the morning.”

  As the grown-ups continued to chat, Rachel and Kirsty exchanged a secret glance. Looking after the baby animals sounded like the most delightful job on the farm.

  “We’ve got three more animals to find before Greenfields Farm opens to visitors,” Kirsty whispered to Rachel. “Looking after the animals here might help us to get the rest of the magical baby farm animals back from Jack Frost and the goblins.”

  “This is going to be an unforgettable spring break,” said Rachel. “A whole week of magical adventures and sweet baby animals. I can’t wait!”

  COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!

  Kirsty Tate and Rachel Walker sat up in bed at exactly the same moment. For a few seconds, they couldn’t figure out where they were. Then they remembered and shared an excited smile.

  “You know you’re on a farm when a rooster is your alarm clock,” said Rachel, bouncing out of bed. “Quick, let’s get dressed. I can’t wait to say good morning to all the animals.”

  This was their first full day at Greenfields Farm, just outside Wetherbury, where they were going to spend all of spring break. The farm was owned by Harriet and Niall Hawkins, friends of Kirsty’s parents, and they were getting ready to open it up to paying visitors at the end of the week. The Tates and Rachel had come to help them.

  Kirsty slipped out of bed, too, and threw open the yellow curtains. The walls of the farmhouse were so thick that the windowsill was big enough to sit on. Kirsty put the blanket from her bed on the sill, and then perched there, gazing out over the farm. She could see the barn where they had met Blossom the cow, and the trees that hid the sparkling duck pond. Over to the left, she could see a green pasture, with sheep dotted around it like little puffs of cotton wool.

  “It’s going to be a lovely sunny day,” said Rachel, joining her at the window. “This is perfect weather for working outside.”

  “I wouldn’t mind rain or snow, as long as we get to spend the day with baby animals,” said Kirsty with a smile.

  The day before, the Hawkinses had asked the girls to look after the baby animals on the farm. Rachel and Kirsty were thrilled. They both loved animals, and they usually found that animals loved them, too.

  As soon as the girls were dressed and had made their beds, they hurried down the creaky farmhouse stairs to the big kitchen. Niall and Harriet Hawkins were already there with the Tates.

  Copyright © 2017 by Rainbow Magic Limited.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. 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.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 978-1-338-20689-0

  First printing 2018

  Cover design by Angela Jun

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-20693-7

  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 Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

 

 

  Daisy Meadows, Debbie the Duckling Fairy

 

 

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