The Jewel Fairies Collection Read online

She and India hurried over to the nearest flowerbed and began to look through the shrubs. Meanwhile, Rachel went across the patio to say hello to Ellie. But as she walked toward the stroller, Rachel began to shiver. Suddenly, there was a chill in the air.

  A loud wail came from the stroller as Ellie started to cry.

  Ellie must be feeling the cold, too! Rachel thought. But it was warm just a minute ago!

  Mrs. Palmer rushed out of the house and ran over to the stroller. “It’s very strange, Rachel,” she said. She pushed back the shade and bent down to pick up the baby. “Ellie’s always had trouble sleeping. Then yesterday, we got this mobile for her stroller, and she’s been sleeping so well.” Mrs. Palmer frowned, lifting Ellie out from under her blanket. “Something seems to be upsetting her today, though. She’s been restless all morning.”

  As Mrs. Palmer picked up Ellie, the baby stretched out her chubby little hand to grab one of the decorations hanging from the mobile. Rachel looked at the mobile more closely. It was hung with silver stars, yellow suns, and pale moons. And then, suddenly, her heart skipped a beat. There, glittering in the middle of the mobile, was a cream-colored stone that flashed with pink-and-blue light.

  The moonstone! Rachel thought excitedly. No wonder Ellie’s been sleeping well. She must have had extra-sweet dreams!

  “I’m going to take Ellie inside, but feel free to keep looking for your ball,” said Mrs. Palmer. “I don’t want Ellie to catch a cold. It’s a little chilly all of a sudden.”

  I hope that doesn’t mean that some of Jack Frost’s goblins are nearby, Rachel thought.

  As Mrs. Palmer turned to go inside with Ellie, Rachel ran across the grass toward Kirsty and India. They were searching around the birdbath in the middle of the yard.

  “I found the moonstone!” Rachel whispered triumphantly. “It’s hanging in the middle of the mobile on Ellie’s stroller.”

  “Wonderful!” India gasped.

  “Way to go, Rachel!” added Kirsty.

  “Mrs. Palmer’s taking Ellie inside,” said Rachel. “We can get the moonstone as soon as she’s gone.”

  The girls and India watched as Mrs. Palmer carried Ellie into the house. Then Rachel and Kirsty immediately ran toward the stroller. India flew along beside them. But before they reached it, the door of the garden shed crashed open, and two green goblins rushed out!

  “The moonstone is ours!” one of the goblins yelled. “We’ll never let the fairies have it back!”

  “Never! Never!” shouted the other goblin.

  As Kirsty, Rachel, and India watched in horror, the second goblin jumped up onto the stroller and grabbed the mobile.

  “He’s going to take the moonstone!” Rachel gasped. “Stop him!”

  As the girls rushed toward the stroller, the other goblin panicked. He rushed to push the stroller away from the girls.

  But the stroller was much bigger than the goblin, who was only knee-high. He couldn’t control it!

  The stroller bumped and bounced over the grass. The goblin inside was caught off-balance! With a screech of rage, he tumbled over and got tangled in the baby’s blankets before he could grab the moonstone.

  Kirsty, Rachel, and India chased after the goblin as he charged across the grass, pushing the stroller in front of him. They could see the moonstone swinging wildly on the mobile, but they couldn’t reach it. The goblins were too far ahead!

  The stroller jolted along, while the goblin inside struggled to free himself from the tangle of blankets. He shouted at his friend to stop, but with no luck.

  Then, all of a sudden, one wheel hit a large stone lying in the middle of the yard. The stroller was moving so quickly that it flipped over! Both goblins let out cries of alarm as they flew through the air. They landed in a heap underneath a large pine tree, covered by Ellie’s blankets.

  “India, can you keep them from getting away?” Kirsty panted as she and Rachel ran across the yard toward the goblins.

  “I only have a little dream magic left. It might be enough to put the goblins to sleep,” India replied.

  She flew ahead of the girls and hovered over the goblins, waving her wand. A few sparkles of fairy dust drifted down. The goblins stopped struggling to free themselves and began yawning and rubbing their eyes instead.

  “I’m so tired!” one of them said with a sigh.

  “And this blanket is really warm and cozy,” the other one said sleepily. “I think I might take a little nap.”

  “Me, too,” the first goblin agreed. “Sing me a lullaby.”

  “No, you sing a lullaby!” the second goblin demanded.

  “No, YOU!” yelled the first.

  “They’re waking themselves up with their silly argument!” Rachel exclaimed. “What are we going to do?”

  “I think I have an idea!” Kirsty whispered. Without saying anything else, she hurried toward the goblins.

  Rachel and India watched as Kirsty walked right up to the goblins and began to tuck them into the blankets.

  “Now, now, settle down,” she said in a soft, sweet voice. “It’s time for your nap.”

  The goblins stopped arguing and started yawning again.

  “I am sleepy,” the first goblin mumbled, snuggling down under the pink blanket.

  But the second goblin was trying hard to keep his eyes open. “Isn’t there something we were supposed to do?” he asked.

  Rachel hurried over to help Kirsty. “Go to sleep now,” she said in a soothing voice. “You can worry about that later.”

  Then Kirsty began to sing a lullaby to the tune of “Rock-a-bye, Baby”:

  “Rock-a-bye, Goblins, under a tree,

  out in the backyard, sleeping with glee.

  When you wake up from your little nap,

  you’ll find that India has her stone back.”

  By the second line of Kirsty’s song, both goblins were snoring loudly.

  “Nice job, Kirsty,” Rachel said with a grin. “But we can’t leave the goblins here for Mrs. Palmer to find!”

  “Leave that to me,” India chimed in. She waved her wand over a large branch of the pine tree. Immediately, the branch drooped lower, so that it completely covered the sleeping goblins.

  “Perfect!” Kirsty declared. “The goblins are green like the leaves, so they’ll be well hidden until they wake up.”

  India and Rachel laughed.

  “Then they’ll have to go back to Jack Frost and tell him they lost the moonstone,” India said. “They’ll be in big trouble!”

  Chuckling quietly, the girls picked up the stroller and pushed it back to the patio. Then, as India watched happily, Kirsty carefully took the moonstone from the middle of the mobile. It flashed and gleamed in the sunlight.

  “We can’t ruin Ellie’s mobile,” India said. She waved her wand, and a glittering, shiny bubble appeared in place of the moonstone.

  As it caught the light, it sent rainbow colors sparkling in all directions.

  “And now,” India went on, “the moonstone is going right back to Fairyland and Queen Titania’s crown, where it belongs!” She touched her wand to the jewel. Immediately, a fountain of sparkling fairy dust shot up into the air. The moonstone vanished.

  “Thank you, girls,” India said, grinning at Rachel and Kirsty. “I must go home now, but I hope you can help the other Jewel Fairies find their magic jewels, too.”

  “We’ll do our best!” Rachel promised.

  “Good-bye, India!” Kirsty added as their fairy friend flew away in a cloud of sparkles.

  “I wonder where the six other jewels are hiding,” Rachel murmured.

  “And I wonder if we’ll have to face many more goblins,” Kirsty said with a frown.

  Rachel shivered, remembering her nightmare. “I just hope I don’t dream about them again tonight,” she said.

  Kirsty laughed. “Don’t worry, Rachel,” she told her friend. “India has the moonstone back now. And you helped her find it. She’s sure to send you sweet dreams!”

  A Walk on
the Farm

  Seeing Red

  A Scary Surprise

  Kidnapped!

  Dogs to the Rescue

  Goblins on the Run

  “Time to get up!” Rachel Walker called, bouncing on the end of her friend Kirsty’s bed. Kirsty Tate was staying with the Walker family during their school break, and Rachel didn’t want to waste a single second.

  Kirsty yawned and stretched. “I just had the best dream,” she said sleepily. “Queen Titania asked us to help the Jewel Fairies find seven stolen gemstones from her magic crown, and …” Her voice trailed away and she opened her eyes wide. “It wasn’t a dream, was it?” she said, sitting up in bed. “We really did meet India the Moonstone Fairy yesterday!”

  Rachel nodded, smiling. “Yes, we did,” she agreed.

  Kirsty and Rachel shared a wonderful secret. They were friends with the fairies! They had had all sorts of wonderful adventures with them in the past — but now the fairies were in trouble.

  Mean Jack Frost had stolen the seven magical jewels from the Fairy Queen’s crown. He had tried to keep the jewels for himself, but their magic was so powerful that his ice castle had started to melt. In a rage, Jack Frost had thrown the jewels far away into the human world. Now they were lost.

  King Oberon and Queen Titania had asked Rachel and Kirsty to help return the jewels to Fairyland. The day before, the girls had helped India the Moonstone Fairy find the magic moonstone. But there were still six jewels left to find!

  “I’m glad the moonstone is safely back in Fairyland,” Rachel said. “And I had a great dream last night, so we know for sure that India’s dream magic is working again.”

  The Fairy King and Queen had told the girls all about the jewels from Queen Titania’s crown. They controlled some of the most important kinds of fairy magic. Every year, in a special ceremony, the fairies would recharge their magic by dipping their wands in the magical rainbow that streamed from the crown. But Jack Frost had stolen the jewels right before this year’s ceremony. And that meant all the fairies were running low on a lot of their special magic.

  “We have to track down the other jewels before the fairies’ magic is gone,” Kirsty said, getting dressed quickly. “Maybe we’ll find another jewel today!”

  Rachel agreed, and together the girls hurried downstairs for breakfast. Unfortunately, it drizzled all morning. There was no sign of any jewels or any fairies! After lunch, though, the clouds cleared to reveal a blue sky and sunshine.

  “Who wants to come with me to Buttercup Farm?” Mrs. Walker asked, clearing the lunch table. “We need some vegetables and eggs — and you two look like you could use some fresh air.”

  “We could!” Rachel agreed, grinning at Kirsty. She held up crossed fingers while her mom wasn’t looking. “Maybe we’ll find another jewel,” she added in a whisper.

  A few minutes later, the girls and Mrs. Walker headed down the street toward the farm. Buttons, the Walkers’ dog, trotted happily alongside them, sniffing at interesting smells on the side of the road.

  “He loves going to the farm,” Rachel told Kirsty, patting Buttons. “He’s known the Johnsons’ sheepdog, Cloud, since they were both puppies. The two of them go crazy whenever they see each other. Don’t you, boy?”

  Woof! barked Buttons, as if he agreed with her.

  As the girls walked behind Mrs. Walker, something caught Kirsty’s eye. “Look at those,” she said, pointing to some red-and-white toadstools under a nearby tree. “They’re exactly like the Fairyland toadstool houses, aren’t they?”

  Rachel nodded. “Oh, I hope we meet another fairy today, Kirsty!” she said.

  Kirsty crunched through the fallen leaves. “You know what Queen Titania always says,” she whispered as Mrs. Walker bent down and let Buttons off his leash. “Don’t go looking for magic …”

  “It will find you!” Rachel finished.

  Kirsty linked her arm through Rachel’s. “It is hard not to look, though,” she confessed. “I keep wondering where we’re going to meet our next fairy — and who it’s going to be!”

  “Here we are,” Mrs. Walker said as they turned onto a long driveway.

  An old stone farmhouse stood up ahead. It had a pretty thatched roof and smoke curling from the chimney.

  A smiling woman opened the front door. “Hello,” she called warmly. “Come in, all of you. Oh, Buttons, too! Cloud will be so happy to see him.”

  “This is my friend Kirsty. She’s staying with us,” Rachel said. “And Kirsty, this is Mrs. Johnson.”

  “Hello,” Kirsty said, returning Mrs. Johnson’s smile.

  “Nice to meet you, Kirsty,” Mrs. Johnson said, leading the way into the sunny farmhouse kitchen. “I just picked the last few plums from my plum tree. Would anyone like one?”

  “Yes, please!” the girls replied.

  A chorus of barks greeted them in the kitchen. Cloud, a black-and-white sheepdog, danced around their legs. Buttons ran joyfully after him, barking just as loudly.

  “Should we take the dogs for a walk?” Rachel offered as Buttons’s tail almost knocked over a basket of eggs.

  “Good idea,” Mrs. Johnson replied, giving each girl a handful of plums. “Oh!” she added as they were about to head out the door. “I should warn you that Mr. Johnson is in a pretty bad mood. His new tractor disappeared, and he thinks one of the farm boys took it for a ride.” She winked at the girls. “So if you see him and he seems grumpy, don’t take it personally.”

  The girls nodded and followed Buttons and Cloud out into the meadow. Suddenly, Cloud trotted back over to the girls, looking very pleased with himself. He dropped something at their feet.

  “What’s this?” Kirsty asked, bending to pick it up. “Oh, look, Rachel!” she said. “It’s a tiny toy tractor.” She giggled. “Do you think we should give it to Mr. Johnson to make up for the one he lost?”

  Rachel grinned. “I don’t think he’d appreciate that,” she replied. “We’d better leave it here, in case somebody comes back for it.”

  Kirsty put the tractor down on a flat patch of grass where it was easy to spot. As she straightened up, she noticed some strange-looking shiny stones. “Are those rocks over there?” she asked.

  Rachel turned and looked where her friend was pointing. She saw a few big brown objects under the chestnut tree on one side of the meadow. “That’s funny,” she said, frowning. “I’ve never noticed those before. Let’s go and take a closer look.”

  Kirsty and Rachel ran over to the tree. The things that Kirsty had spotted were about the size and shape of soccer balls. They were a glossy chocolate brown color. “Well, they’re not rocks,” Kirsty said, touching one of them. It felt cool and smooth under her hand. “They look more like … giant chestnuts!”

  Rachel touched one, too. “They do look like chestnuts,” she agreed. “But whoever heard of a chestnut this big?”

  Before Kirsty could reply, Buttons bounded over, barking excitedly.

  Then he ran back to a patch of grass a few feet away, sniffed it eagerly, and barked again.

  Rachel went to see what he’d found. “Kirsty, quick!” she called, her eyes wide. “Come and look at these sheep!”

  “Sheep?” echoed Kirsty, running over to join her friend. She couldn’t see any sheep, but as she got closer to her friend she heard a tiny but clear Ba-a-a-a-a!

  Rachel pointed down at the grass and Kirsty looked down, too.

  “Tiny sheep!” Kirsty gasped in surprise. “Oh, wow! Are they real?”

  Down by their feet was a flock of the tiniest sheep Kirsty and Rachel had ever seen. Sheep the size of mice! Chestnuts the size of soccer balls! What was going on?

  Rachel’s eyes were bright. “There is definitely magic in the air today,” she breathed.

  “There must be another magic jewel nearby,” Kirsty added, feeling a thrill of excitement.

  Quickly, the girls put the dogs on their leashes and tied them to the fence, so that the tiny sheep wouldn’t accidentally get stepped on.
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br />   Just then, Rachel clutched Kirsty’s arm. “Kirsty!” she squealed. “Look!”

  Both girls stared. A large golden leaf was floating down from the chestnut tree in front of them. And there, sitting on top of it as if she was riding a magic carpet, was a tiny beaming fairy.

  “Wheeeeee!” squealed the fairy breathlessly. “Hello, girls!”

  Kirsty and Rachel laughed as the golden leaf sailed down to the ground. The fairy jumped off and twirled up into the air, her wings beating so quickly they were a blur of glittering colors. She had wavy dark brown hair, and wore a scarlet dress decorated with a pretty flower. She also wore little, glittery red shoes that twinkled in the sunlight.

  “It’s Scarlett the Garnet Fairy,” Rachel cried, recognizing her right away. “Hello, Scarlett!”

  “Of course!” Kirsty said, as she remembered something King Oberon had told them. “The garnet controls growing and shrinking magic!” she exclaimed. “That’s why the chestnuts are so huge… .”

  “And the sheep are so tiny,” Rachel added with a smile.

  “Exactly,” Scarlett said. She waved her wand hopefully, but only a few red sparkles scattered from it. They fizzled and sputtered out in the grass. “And unfortunately, without the garnet, I don’t have enough magic to turn things back to their proper sizes. We have to find the garnet before it changes anything else.”

  She flew over to perch on Kirsty’s shoulder. “India told me that you had a run-in with Jack Frost’s goblins yesterday,” she said, shivering at the thought. “Let’s try and find the garnet before any goblins show up today!”