Esme the Ice Cream Fairy Read online

  “I love it,” Esme said. “But how can we encourage them to have a food fight?”

  Rachel grinned. “By starting one ourselves,” she suggested. “Could you use your magic to disguise us as goblin ice cream sellers, Esme? We could set a very bad example for them. . . .”

  Esme’s eyes twinkled. “Perfect,” she said. “I’ll just get rid of this crowd of people first. I would hate for any of them to get splattered!”

  Esme tapped herself lightly on the head with her wand and murmured a magic spell. Then she began to speak, but her words came out much louder than usual. In fact, she sounded exactly like a loudspeaker announcement!

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” she boomed. “I regret to inform you that the Bright Green Ice Cream Machine has now run out of ice cream, and we are no longer able to serve you. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

  A sigh of dismay went up from the crowd that had gathered around the truck. The goblins were still arguing, and didn’t even notice their line wandering away!

  Esme tapped her head again, breaking the spell on her voice. “There — now for part two of the plan,” she said with a mischievous smile. “Two new ice cream sellers!”

  She waved her wand, and a flurry of magic sparkles flew around Kirsty and Rachel.

  The girls grew bigger and greener, with pointy noses and big ears.

  Rachel giggled at the sight of her and Kirsty. They looked just like the goblins, and had trays of ice cream hanging around their necks. “We definitely look nicer as fairies than goblins!” she said.

  “I don’t feel very dainty anymore, with these enormous feet,” Kirsty agreed with a grin. She adjusted her tray of ice cream. “But never mind. We have a plan to try out. Let’s hope it works!”

  Rachel took a deep breath as she and Kirsty walked out around the front of the truck. She knew that Esme’s magic wouldn’t last long. They only had a few minutes before their goblin disguises wore off. They had to get this right!

  Kirsty gave Rachel a wink, then launched right into their plan. “You did it again, didn’t you?” she said in a loud, angry voice. “I TOLD you not to keep eating the ice cream. We’re supposed to be taking it back to Jack Frost, remember?”

  “I know that!” Rachel snapped. “And it’s not ME who’s been eating the ice cream, anyway. It must be you!” With that, she grabbed a scoop of ice cream from a tub left on the counter by a lazy goblin.

  The ice cream flew through the air, knocking Kirsty’s hat off.

  “How dare you?” Kirsty cried, pretending to be outraged. “Take THAT!” She grabbed a nearby stack of cones and threw them back at Rachel.

  As she bent to pick up her hat, Kirsty saw the goblins’ faces light up with glee. Goblins could never resist a fight! Within moments, they had all joined the food fight — hurling ice cream, sprinkles, and cherries at one another. One goblin even used the can of whipped cream like a water pistol, squirting the other goblins in the face.

  Rachel and Kirsty grinned. Their plan was working! They each grabbed more ice cream and began hurling lumps of it into the truck.

  Splat! One lump knocked off the first goblin’s paper hat . . . but nothing was hidden underneath.

  Splat! Kirsty had to aim high since the next goblin was tall, but the gooey scoop she threw sent his hat flying, too. She held her breath as it fell . . . but his head was bare beneath it.

  Now there was only one goblin left wearing a hat. Kirsty and Rachel both took careful aim. Splat! Splat! Kirsty’s scoop of ice cream just missed, hitting him on the ear and sliding down his neck. Rachel’s scoop, however, was a direct hit, and sent his paper hat flying!

  Underneath was a small pink and gold ice cream cone charm, sparkling as it lay on the goblin’s head!

  “Quick, Esme!” whispered Rachel in delight.

  Hiding in Rachel’s pocket, Esme had seen everything. She darted out like a bright ember of light, flying straight for the magic charm.

  Just as Esme was about to reach out and grab it, one of the other goblins noticed her. “Hey, watch out! There’s a sneaky fairy in here!” he cried, swatting at Esme with his ice cream scoop.

  “She’s after the magic cone!” the tall goblin realized. He snatched the charm off the third goblin’s head and dashed out of the truck as fast as he could.

  Rachel opened her mouth to shout “After him!” but remembered at the last second that she was still disguised as a goblin. Instead, she cried, “Don’t worry, I’ll catch that fairy!” and ran behind Esme, who was already flying after the tall goblin.

  Kirsty joined her. “Come back here!” she yelled. Really, both girls hoped Esme would catch up with the tall goblin. Unfortunately, he was a fast runner and showed no sign of slowing down.

  “He’s getting away,” Rachel realized with a groan as they raced along behind the goblin and Esme.

  “And our plan had been working so well!” Kirsty sighed. “Now what are we going to do?”

  “The goblin’s too fast! I don’t think Esme can catch him,” Rachel said. “Unless he ends up in a dead end somewhere. . . .”

  Kirsty grinned. “Wouldn’t it be awful if his goblin friends sent him the wrong way?” she said with a wink. “There’s an alley just off the main road that’s a dead end. Let’s try to send him down there.”

  “Genius!” Rachel smiled, then called ahead to the goblin. “There’s a shortcut on your left!” she yelled. “You can get away from the fairy if you go that way.”

  He glanced back, saw Rachel — still disguised as a goblin — and gave her a thumbs-up. Then he ducked down the alley, with Esme, Kirsty, and Rachel all following him.

  Of course, the alley wasn’t a shortcut at all — it ended in a high brick wall. There was no escape! The goblin spun around. “This isn’t a shortcut!” he yelled. His eyes widened at the sight of Esme darting toward him. “Now what?”

  “Throw the charm to me, I’ll keep it safe!” Rachel called.

  Thinking she was a goblin, the tall goblin did just that. Rachel deftly caught the charm and held it out on her palm for Esme.

  The goblin’s jaw dropped as Esme flew down to take it. In the next second, the girls’ goblin disguises wore off.

  “You tricked me!” the goblin wailed, stamping his foot. “No fair!”

  The other two goblins had caught up now, panting and clutching their sides. They groaned when they realized what had happened. “And we used up almost all the ice cream in our food fight,” one of them complained nervously. “Jack Frost is going to be so angry!”

  The goblins looked so worried, the girls felt a little sorry for them. “It’s not your fault that Jack Frost is so greedy,” Kirsty said.

  “Nobody needs an ice cream swimming pool,” Rachel added.

  Esme smiled. “Do you think an ice cream bath would be OK, instead?” she asked, twirling her wand. Suddenly, a large white bathtub on wheels appeared . . . filled with glittering green ice cream!

  The goblins looked much more cheerful. “Thank you,” they said, and wheeled the bathtub away down the alley.

  Esme fastened her magic charm bracelet around her wrist. A sudden bright flash of light sparked in the air. “There,” she said happily. “Now ice cream everywhere should be super-tasty again.”

  Rachel grinned. “Well, there’s only one way to find out,” she said. “Come on, let’s pay another visit to Charlie.”

  The three friends went back down the alley. To their delight, they saw that Charlie had opened his ice cream truck again and had a long line of customers waiting eagerly.

  “Hooray!” Esme cheered at the sight. “Thank you both so much. I’d better go back to Fairyland now to work on my new flavors for Treat Day. Enjoy your ice cream!”

  “I’m sure we will,” Kirsty said. She and Rachel watched Esme fly away until she was just a tiny dot in the sky. Then she vanished! The girls joined Cha
rlie’s line. After all that running, they felt awfully hungry!

  It took a while for Rachel and Kirsty to reach the front of the line, but when it was finally their turn, they noticed two new flavors on the display board. “Ooh, Strawberry Sparkle sounds good,” Kirsty said, opening her purse.

  “And I’d like the Marshmallow Magic flavor, please,” Rachel said.

  Charlie smiled and handed over their ice cream cones. Just as he went to serve the next customer, a pinch of glittery sprinkles appeared on their ice cream, and the girls beamed. They knew the sprinkles were a gift from Esme. Fairy magic was so wonderful!

  Rachel and Kirsty walked away, licking their ice cream. “Mmm,” Rachel said. “Marshmallow Magic is absolutely delicious.”

  “So is Strawberry Sparkle,” Kirsty said happily. Then she remembered something. “Oh — and we still have Aunt Helen’s surprise for us back at home! I wonder what it is.”

  “One thing’s for sure,” Rachel said as they walked along. “With all of these Sugar and Spice Fairy adventures, we’re in for a tasty time!”

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

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

  “This has been such an exciting day,” said Rachel Walker, licking her Marshmallow Magic ice cream. “We’ve already been to Fairyland and helped two fairies get their magic charms back from Jack Frost.”

  Rachel and her best friend, Kirsty Tate, were walking home from the Wetherbury village square, where they had been looking around the market. Rachel was visiting Kirsty for spring break, and it looked like they were going to have an exciting week.

  “The day’s not over yet,” added Kirsty, smiling. She paused to lick her Strawberry Sparkle ice cream, which was melting in the hazy afternoon sun and running over her fingers. “I have a feeling that now that magical things have started happening, they’re going to keep happening!” she went on, licking her fingers one by one.

  No one in the human world knew that the girls had been on many adventures in Fairyland. They were always excited to make new fairy friends and help outwit Jack Frost and his naughty goblins. That morning, Honey the Candy Fairy had visited them to ask for help again. This time, Jack Frost and his goblins had stolen the seven magic charms belonging to the Sugar and Spice Fairies. Without them, all of the candy and treats in both the human world and Fairyland were ruined!

  “We’ve already rescued Lisa the Lollipop Fairy’s magic lollipop charm and Esme the Ice Cream Fairy’s magic ice cream cone charm,” Rachel said, chewing on a deliciously sticky marshmallow. “But there are still five more charms to find.”

  “And if we don’t find them fast, Fairyland’s Treat Day will be ruined!” said Kirsty, biting her lip.

  The day after tomorrow was Treat Day in Fairyland. King Oberon and Queen Titania always gave a basket of special treats to each fairy to thank them for their hard work all year. But Jack Frost was using the Sugar and Spice Fairies’ magic charms to get all the treats for himself. There weren’t any left for the fairies! He was planning to build a giant Candy Castle, and he had given the magic charms to his goblins for safekeeping.

  The goblins had come to the human world to find even more treats to steal for the Candy Castle. Rachel and Kirsty kept a careful lookout for the little green troublemakers as they walked past the village hall. They knew that goblins could pop up anywhere!

  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 978-0-545-62238-7

  Copyright © 2013 by Rainbow Magic Limited.

  Previously published as Sweet Fairies #2: Esme the Ice Cream 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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