Nia the Night Owl Fairy Read online

  “And I got the flattest pillow,” the goblin with the big ears grumbled loudly. “It’s not fair. Everyone else’s is much fluffier than mine!” Then he lunged forward, trying to steal the fourth goblin’s pillow.

  “Stop it!” the fourth goblin squealed, swinging the pillow at him and almost hitting Nia, Rachel, and Kirsty. They fluttered out of the way just in time. Instead, the fourth goblin accidentally hit the long-nosed goblin right in the face.

  “Oh, no you don’t! Now I’m really angry!” the long-nosed goblin howled. He grabbed his own pillow and began whacking the fourth goblin. Meanwhile, the smallest goblin had unrolled himself and began attacking the big-eared goblin. Soon, a huge pillow fight was underway! Nia and the girls had to keep flying around the treehouse to avoid getting hit.

  “I wonder where Nia’s bag of sleep dust is.” Kirsty gasped as she dodged get another pillow. “It must be here somewhere.”

  “Just make sure you don’t get hurt, girls,” Nia advised as the big-eared goblin hurled his blanket on top of the smallest goblin, trapping him underneath. “The goblins will calm down soon, and then maybe we can find my magic bag.”

  Rachel nodded. It was then that she saw the long-nosed goblin sneaking over to the door of the treehouse.

  The others hadn’t noticed that he was creeping away while they kept fighting and arguing. But Rachel could also see that he was holding a rag doll goblin.

  Curious, Rachel flew a little lower. The rag doll was green, like the goblins, and it was wearing patched overalls with a big pocket on the front. Rachel almost burst with excitement as she spotted Nia’s satin bag poking out of the ragdolls pocket.

  “Kirsty!” Rachel called quickly. Her friend was closer to the door and the long-nosed goblin. “Look at the ragdoll!”

  Kirsty immediately glanced down and saw the doll the long-nosed goblin was holding. Her eyes widened and she swooped toward him to grab it. Rachel rushed to help her, but the girls weren’t quick enough. The long-nosed goblin skipped out of the treehouse and jumped onto the twisty slide. “Ha, ha, ha! Missed me!” he teased as he zoomed down the slide toward the underground fort.

  The other goblins rushed after him and followed him down the slide. Nia, Rachel, and Kirsty flew after them, but they couldn’t catch up. They were just in time to see the smallest goblin shoot into the underground fort and slam the door shut behind him.

  “What are we going to do now?” Rachel panted, feeling very tired all of a sudden. “The bag of sleep dust is hidden in that ragdoll, but we can’t get into the underground fort!”

  “We’ll have to wait until the goblins come out,” Nia replied as they fluttered back to the treehouse. “When it’s dark, they’ll wake up again.”

  Kirsty yawned widely. “I hope I can stay awake until then!” she remarked. “I suddenly feel really sleepy.”

  “Me, too.” Rachel slumped down on the floor of the treehouse and began yawning as well.

  “Oh, no!” Nia frowned, looking from Kirsty to Rachel. “Now Jack Frost’s topsy-turvy sleep is affecting humans, just like I thought it would!”

  “I’m sorry, Nia,” Kirsty murmured, curling up on the floor next to Rachel. “But I’m just so sleepy.”

  “I can’t keep my eyes open,” Rachel whispered as she rested her head on her arm.

  The last sounds the girls heard were the baby owls chirping in their nest, still wide awake. And just a few seconds later, Rachel and Kirsty were both fast asleep.

  “Oh!” Rachel opened her eyes and sat up. She blinked, trying to remember where she was. “What’s that noise?”

  Kirsty sat up, too. “What’s happening?” she asked in a dazed voice. Both she and Rachel were now back to their human size.

  “You fell asleep, girls.” Nia was perched on the window ledge, smiling down at them. “The sun set while you were asleep, and now that it’s dark, you’ve both woken up again. I made you humans again, just in case anyone came along and found you.”

  “But what is that noise?” asked Kirsty as they heard shouting and loud, stomping footsteps.

  “The goblins are awake, and they’re coming out to play!” Nia replied with a frown.

  Rachel and Kirsty rushed over to the window and peeked out of the treehouse. The Adventure Playground was now lit up by a pale moon and a sky full of shining silver stars. Below, they could see the goblins rushing out of the underground fort, yelling with delight.

  “Yippee!” the smallest goblin shouted gleefully. “It’s nighttime!”

  Nia and the girls watched as the long-nosed goblin came out of the underground house behind the others. He was still carrying the rag doll, but now it was strapped to his chest in a carrier, like a baby.

  “Here’s the magic sleep dust!” the long-nosed goblin said proudly. He took Nia’s bag from the ragdoll’s pocket, opened it, and sprinkled a handful of magic sleep dust into the air. It burst around the goblins in a shower of dazzling sparkles.

  As Nia and the girls watched, several gray squirrels suddenly scurried past the treehouse. They were bright eyed and wide awake as they leaped from branch to branch. “Those squirrels should be asleep!” Nia murmured, looking upset. Meanwhile, Rachel had cocked her head to one side. Now she was listening hard.

  “I can hear the cows mooing and the sheep baaing in the distance,” she said. “They should be asleep, too.”

  “I can hear something else!” Kirsty pointed in the direction of the campsite. “It sounds like people talking.”

  “Yes, people who should be getting ready for bed by now!” Nia sighed. “Jack Frost got his wish. Everyone’s sleep is all mixed up! Girls, we have to get my bag back somehow, and fast.”

  “We need a plan,” Kirsty said thoughtfully. She stared down at the goblins who were climbing up the ladders to the treetop walkways. “Maybe you should turn us into fairies again, Nia.”

  But Rachel shook her head. “No, I think I have an idea,” she said. “You know how the goblins love to show off?”

  Nia and Kirsty nodded.

  “Well, maybe Kirsty and I can fool them into thinking we’re scared of the Adventure Playground,” Rachel explained. “Then, while they’re showing off, Nia can fly down and grab her bag.”

  “Good idea!” Nia exclaimed.

  Rachel and Kirsty hurried out of the treehouse. Nia followed, but remained in the shadows out of sight.

  “Be careful,” Kirsty called to the goblins. “I almost fell off one of those ladders.”

  “That’s because you’re not as strong and brave as we are!” the smallest goblin snapped back, sticking his tongue out at her. He rushed up the ladder and jumped onto the walkway where the girls were standing. Rachel gave a squeal as the walkway shook a little.

  “Don’t do that!” she exclaimed. “I don’t like it.”

  Grinning, the goblin ran toward them. Making small pretend squeaks of fear, Rachel and Kirsty ran along the walkway toward one of the other trees. But then the big-eared goblin climbed up and blocked their way.

  “Oh, no! Rachel!” Kirsty wailed, secretly winking at her friend. “We’ll have to cross the wobbly bridge to get away from them.”

  “But that’s really scary!” Rachel complained.

  All four of the goblins were laughing now as they chased the girls across the wobbly bridge.

  “Go away!” Kirsty shouted.

  “Scaredy-cats!” the long-nosed goblin sneered. Rachel noticed that he still had the rag doll tucked safely inside the carrier on his chest. “Why don’t you go on the zipline?”

  “Oh, I couldn’t do that!” Kirsty gasped in a frightened voice. “The seat zooms so fast.”

  “I’ll show you how to do it!” the long-nosed goblin boasted. He climbed onto one of the ziplines and sat on the seat. “Here goes!”

  The goblin set off and flew confidently along the cable toward the opposite tree. As he did, Kirsty saw Nia fly out of the shadows. The fairy swooped down from above the long-nosed goblin and made a grab for the bag in the rag dol
l’s pocket.

  But the goblin spotted Nia immediately. He screamed with anger and clutched the rag doll tightly to his chest with one hand while holding onto the zipline with the other. Nia darted forward again and again, but there was no way she could pull the bag of magic dust away from the goblin.

  Kirsty and Rachel looked at each other with disappointment.

  “Nia can’t get close enough to grab the bag!” Kirsty said. “What do we do now, Rachel?”

  Before Rachel could reply, Shadow the owl suddenly came swooping down from the trees. She rushed toward the goblin. Her magic white-and-silver feathers glittered in the pale moonlight as she flapped her wings and hooted loudly.

  The long-nosed goblin looked terrified.

  “Leave me alone!” he yelled, trying to shoo Shadow away with one hand and hold onto the zipline and the rag doll with the other.

  Rachel saw her chance. She leaped onto the second zipline, which ran next to the one the long-nosed goblin was on, and zoomed off. Rachel was a long way behind the goblin, but Nia spotted her on the zipline and guessed what she was up to. The fairy pointed her wand at the goblin and a burst of sparkling magic slowed his zipline down.

  The goblin didn’t notice because he was so focused on fighting off Shadow. He didn’t even see Rachel coming toward him! Rachel tensed as she got closer and closer, her eyes fixed on the ragdoll’s pocket. Then, as she swept past the goblin, Rachel reached out and grabbed for the bag of magic dust. But she ended up pulling the whole ragdoll out of the carrier as she zipped by.

  “Nice work, Rachel!” Nia called. The goblins, who were waiting below for their friend, had seen what had happened and groaned loudly. Meanwhile, Nia flew over to Rachel and took the magic bag from the ragdoll’s pocket.

  Still holding the ragdoll, Rachel reached the bottom of the zipline and jumped off. Looking very sheepish, the long-nosed goblin climbed off his zipline, too.

  “What’s Jack Frost going to say, now that the fairies have the bag of magic sleep dust back?” the smallest goblin yelled at him.

  “Oh, be quiet!” snapped the long-nosed goblin. “I’ll tell him it was all your fault!”

  Grumbling and bickering, the goblins trudged off through the trees. The long-nosed goblin was last, dragging his blanket with him and muttering under his breath.

  Rachel ran after him and handed him the ragdoll. “Thanks!” the goblin mumbled, glaring at her.

  Meanwhile, Kirsty had zipped down the twisty slide from the treehouse to join Nia, Rachel, and Shadow.

  “I can’t hear the farm animals anymore,” Kirsty said happily. “And the camps quiet now, too. Listen!”

  They listened, but all they could hear were the sounds of the mother, owl and her babies hooting in their nest, and the rustle of badgers sniffing around for food in the bushes.

  “Everything’s back to normal!” Nia exclaimed happily. “Thanks to you, girls—and Shadow, of course! Now I need to rush back to Fairyland. Everyone will be awake now, and I can give them the good news.”

  Nia waved her wand, and a mist of sparkles shrank Shadow down to her fairy size. Then, calling good-bye, Nia and Shadow flew off to Fairyland, their wings glowing against the dark night sky.

  Quickly, Rachel and Kirsty hurried back through the campsite to their tent where everyone was getting ready for bed.

  “I really thought we wouldn’t be able to get the bag back from the goblin,” Rachel whispered. “I’m so glad we did!”

  Kirsty nodded. But as they reached their tent, both girls heard a very loud rumbling sound.

  “My dad’s already gone to sleep—and he’s snoring!” Kirsty murmured to Rachel, trying not to laugh. “I wish I had a little of Nia’s magic sleep dust to stop him from making so much noise. Then we could all have a peaceful night!”

  It was a cool, dark evening. Kirsty Tate and Rachel Walker were standing with a group of children at the edge of Mirror Lake—a wide, still expanse of water surrounded by hills. The two friends were staying with their families at a vacation spot called Camp Stargaze. They were having a wonderful week so far.

  As its name suggested, Camp Stargaze was the perfect place to see the night sky in all its glory, and there were lots of unusual and exciting activities for the campers to do every night. So far, Kirsty and Rachel had been to a campfire midnight feast, gone firefly-watching in the Whispering Woods, and studied the stars from the Camp’s observatory. Tonight, they were about to set sail on a moonlit boat ride!

  “Come on, you landlubbers,” called Peter, the camp counselor. He led them along a small wooden dock, and Kirsty and Rachel saw that a motorboat was tied to the dock. “All aboard, me hearties!”

  Chatting and laughing, the children climbed aboard. The boat was lit with lanterns that cast golden reflections onto the dark water of the lake. The boat rocked gently as people took their seats, and Kirsty excitedly squeezed Rachel’s hand once they’d sat down. “Every time I go on a boat it reminds me of the first time we met,” she said. “Do you remember?”

  Rachel smiled at her. The two girls had met on a ferry one summer when their families were both going on vacation to Rainspell Island. Kirsty and Rachel had liked each other immediately, and had ended up having the most amazingly magic time together that week—and they’d shared lots of adventures ever since!

  “Of course I remember,” Rachel replied. “And I hope—” She broke off as Lucas and Matt, two boys that they’d become friends with, sat down nearby. The girls knew that they couldn’t let anyone find out their secret: that they were friends with the fairies—friends who were often called to Fairyland to help on important missions!

  Kirsty could guess what Rachel had been about to say—that she hoped they had another fairy adventure that night! “I hope so, too,” she whispered quickly. The girls had been helping the Night Fairies search for their stolen bags of magic dust all week, but there were still two bags they hadn’t been able to track down.

  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 978-0-545-54960-8

  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.

  Previously published as Twilight Fairies #5: Yasmin the Night Owl Fairy by Orchard U.K. in 2010.

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

  First Scholastic printing, July 2011

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