Carly the School Fairy Read online

  “Oooooh, we’re having a great time flying around!” Rachel said, doing a figure eight in the air. “We can go wherever we want!”

  “Don’t rub it in.” The goblin sniffed. “Jack Frost used his magic to put me up here so I could look after the silly goggles. But I’ve been stuck here in this plane forever. I’m scared, cold, and hungry!”

  “Poor you,” said Kirsty, “and all your friends are having so much fun down on the ground!”

  “I’d do anything to get down,” said the goblin wistfully, peering out of the plane window at the ground far below.

  “Well,” said Carly, pretending to think. “You’ve done such a good job of looking after the goggles that I’m sure Jack Frost would want you to go and join your friends. After all, the goggles can’t go anywhere! I’m too little to carry them to the ground. Why don’t I help you get down and we’ll look after the goggles up here?”

  Kirsty and Rachel gave each other a small smile. Clever Carly was telling the truth! She couldn’t carry the goggles down to the ground by herself when they were big, but with the goblin out of the way she could use her magic to shrink them to fairy-size!

  “Hmmm,” said the goblin, thinking hard. “I guess so. After all, you pesky fairies are the size of fleas so what harm could you do?”

  Carly frowned. What a rude goblin!

  “I’m going to make you small and give you wings,” she said. “The magic won’t last for very long so you have to fly straight down to the ground.”

  Carly waved her wand and the goblin shrank to fairy-size, complete with leathery green wings! He looked very scared. Kirsty felt sorry for him so she took his hand and flew with him down to the ground, being careful to stay close to the wall out of sight and out of the way of the model planes.

  They landed just behind the glider and immediately the goblin became his normal size again. He was so happy to have his feet on the ground that he immediately ran off to find his friends. It looked like he had forgotten all about Carly’s goggles!

  A moment later, the blue model plane landed and Rachel and Carly climbed out. The goggles were now fairy-size! Carly turned Kirsty and Rachel back to their normal size.

  “Thank you, girls!” She smiled. “It’s time for me to return the magic goggles to Fairyland and it’s time for your science presentation, Kirsty!” She blew a kiss to the girls and disappeared in a glittering cloud.

  The two friends raced back to the main hall. As they ran through the different zones, they could see that things were back to normal again: the model planes were under control, the steam wheel was turning quickly, and the space rocket was surrounded by hundreds of glowing stars. There was no sign of the goblins. The girls thought they must have gone back to the Ice Castle when they realized they had lost the goggles.

  Kirsty reached stand 1D and quickly pulled on her lab coat and safety goggles. Rachel stood at the front of the crowd to watch the Wetherbury experiment.

  It involved making multicolored bubbles in lots of different sizes. The bubbles floated and flew around the area like a magic moving rainbow! Everything went perfectly and the audience cheered as Kirsty’s school was awarded first place.

  Rachel was pleased to see that the other schools, whose experiments went badly when Carly’s goggles were with the goblin, had the chance to do them again and they all worked really well.

  “What an exciting day!” said Kirsty a little later, as the two friends sat in the Science Museum’s café, enjoying frothy hot chocolate with marshmallows.

  “It was,” agreed Rachel. “And the adventure isn’t over yet. Tomorrow is the school dance, and we still have one more magic object to find!”

  “Phew! There’s so much to do,” said Rachel, looking at the huge pile of decorations in front of her.

  “I know,” replied Kirsty, untangling a long string of sparkly crepe paper. “But the hall will look great when it’s decorated!”

  The two friends were at Tippington School, starting to get things ready for the dance that evening. They had spent the last few days together, as their schools and two others were taking part in a competition, which had included a spelling bee and a science contest. Both events had almost been a disaster because Jack Frost and his goblins had stolen Carly the School Fairy’s magic objects! But the girls and their fairy friend had outwitted them.

  Now there was just one of Carly’s objects left to find—the magic glitter ball. This made sure that all special school events, such as field days and dances, went well.

  “I wonder where everyone else is?” asked Rachel, looking at the clock on the hall wall. “We said we’d meet here at ten o’clock.”

  “How many of you are there on the organizing committee?” asked Kirsty while searching in the bag of decorations. “Oooh!” she cried, snatching her hand away from the bag.

  “Are you all right?” asked Rachel.

  “Something tickled my hand,” said Kirsty, looking surprised.

  All of a sudden the crepe paper flew up into the air. One of the triangles of material unfurled and a tiny fairy shot out!

  “Hello, girls!” called Carly, shaking her wings and smoothing her dark hair. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you by appearing so suddenly.”

  “Hi, Carly,” said Rachel. “It’s wonderful to see you again!”

  “Thank you so much for helping me get my satchel and goggles back,” said Carly, landing on Rachel’s shoulder. “But I’m afraid that your dance tonight will go horribly wrong if we don’t find my glitter ball soon!”

  Suddenly, the friends heard an enormous crash, followed by loud howls. The noise startled Carly so much that she shot back up into the air like a tiny firework!

  “What is that racket?” cried Kirsty, covering her ears with her hands.

  “I think it’s coming from one of the music rooms,” said Rachel. “Let’s investigate!”

  The three friends made their way toward the music department. As they approached the door to the practice room, the noise stopped, and instead, the girls heard familiar voices … goblin voices!

  Kirsty, Rachel, and Carly peered into the room. The five missing members of the organizing committee were sitting down on the floor, paying close attention to three goblins. The goblins were dressed in oversized T-shirts, baggy pants, and baseball hats. They were standing by a drum kit, and each one was holding a microphone.

  “Well, that explains the noise,” muttered Carly. “But I can’t see my glitter ball.”

  “Let’s listen in to see if they give us any clues,” said Kirsty.

  “You see,” they heard one of the goblins say, “as we’ve just demonstrated, we are fantastic musicians. We’re going to play at your dance tonight!”

  “Awesome!” said Phil, who was in Rachel’s class. “It’s going to be great when you start at Tippington School!”

  “What?” spluttered Rachel, as Kirsty quickly closed the door. “Why are the goblins coming to my school? And why don’t the others notice how strange they look? Something funny is going on.”

  “Yes.” Carly frowned. “My glitter ball must be nearby and its magical powers are making your friends think the goblins are just cool, funny kids. But I don’t know why the goblins think they’ll be coming to school here.

  I’m going to go to Fairyland and see what I can find out. I’ll be back soon!” Carly blew a kiss to the girls and disappeared in a whirl of sparkles.

  The door of the music room opened, and the boys and girls came out. “Oh, hello!” said one of the girls. “Sorry we’re late. We’re ready to help out now.”

  Kirsty and Rachel exchanged a glance. They really wanted to stay close to the goblins, but they had to get things ready for the dance that evening.

  “OK.” Rachel smiled. “Let’s get decorating.” Hunting for the glitter ball would have to wait until later!

  “Your dress is so pretty,” said Rachel, smiling at Kirsty as she twirled in front of the mirror. “I love the sequins on it!”

  “Thanks,�
�� said Kirsty. “Yours is beautiful, too. Blue really suits you!”

  The two friends were at Rachel’s house, getting ready for the school dance. They had spent most of the day at Tippington School, decorating the hall and getting all the tables set up for the party food and drink. It had been hard work. With Carly’s glitter ball missing, lots of the decorations kept falling down or were mysteriously broken. The girls and the rest of the committee had done their best, but they knew they had to get the glitter ball back to Carly as soon as possible!

  “I wonder what those sneaky goblins were up to today,” said Rachel, fastening her hair with a glittery clip. “It seems strange that we didn’t see them all afternoon.”

  “We should head back to school soon,” said Kirsty. “If we get there before everyone else, hopefully we’ll find the goblins and the glitter ball!”

  The girls ran down to the kitchen to see what time they could get a ride to school. Both of Rachel’s parents were making party food for the school dance. As Rachel pushed open the kitchen door, a cloud of smoke drifted out.

  “Is everything OK?” Kirsty coughed. “What happened?”

  “Oh, dear, things aren’t going well at all with the dance food!” said Mr. Walker, wiping a smudge of flour from his nose. “Normally my cheese straws are delicious but these are terrible.”

  “My brownies aren’t very tasty either.” Mrs. Walker groaned. “And they seem to have a strange green tinge. Girls, do you want a ride to school soon? I think I’ll drop you off and then come back here to try to figure out the food.”

  Kirsty suddenly spotted a flurry of sparkles in the corner of the kitchen. There was Carly, hiding behind a box of flour! She nudged Rachel, who moved closer to Carly so the pretty little fairy could flutter behind her hair.

  “Yes, please, Mom,” Rachel said. “Can we leave in about five minutes? We just need to get a few more things together for the dance.”

  The girls quickly ran back up the stairs to Rachel’s room.

  “Hi, again, girls,” said Carly. “I’ve had a very busy day in Fairyland, trying to find out what’s going on and why Jack Frost wanted my magic objects. I’ll create a Seeing Pool so I can show you what’s been happening.”

  The little fairy fluttered up to Rachel’s mirror and waved her wand. A rippling picture emerged.

  The scene showed Jack Frost and his goblins in a classroom. Jack Frost seemed to be trying to teach the goblins math. But the goblins used the pen and paper he had given them to draw silly pictures of each other and to make paper airplanes. The scene faded. Then, Rachel and Kirsty saw Jack Frost peeking into Carly’s classroom in Fairyland. Sitting at their desks were lots of well-behaved fairy children, all listening carefully to Carly’s lesson.

  “AHA! School is what my silly goblins need,” cried Jack Frost. “I’ll send them to a real school in the human world. That will teach the goblins to respect my authority and listen to ME! We’ll steal the objects that belong to that silly fairy, so my goblins get a head start at school. Hee hee!”

  With the sound of Jack Frost’s icy chuckle ringing in everyone’s ears, the Seeing Pool faded. Carly turned to the girls, her pretty face serious. “You see, Jack Frost stole my magic objects to control the goblins. He thinks that sending them to school in the human world will make them better behaved.”

  The girls nodded at Carly. This was terrible news!

  Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other in shock. “But … but the goblins can’t go to school in our world,” said Kirsty. “People will soon notice that they are anything but human!”

  “You’re right,” said Rachel. “We must get the glitter ball back and make the goblins go home to the Ice Castle before they cause any more trouble.”

  The girls put their shoes and coats on, and waited in the hall for Mrs. Walker. They felt a little sorry for Rachel’s mom and dad—as long as the glitter ball was missing, all the food her parents made for the dance would taste awful!

  Just a few minutes later, Kirsty and Rachel arrived at Tippington School, with Carly hiding in Rachel’s bag. They made their way to the school gym, looking in each room to see if they could spot any goblin activity, but all was quiet. The dance wasn’t due to start for another half an hour and there was nobody around.

  The gym should have been beautiful after all the decorating, but instead it looked messy. The crepe paper had fallen down and the helium balloons were on the floor.

  “Let’s see if the colored lights work,” said Kirsty, flicking the light switch. The lights came on and flashed prettily, sparkling against the disco balls that were hanging in front of the stage. Kirsty and Rachel smiled at each other happily. But then, one by one, the lights went out until just the green light remained on, casting a spooky green glow around the room.

  Suddenly, the girls heard a familiar icy voice coming from the side of the stage.

  “Get out of my way. I’m the lead singer in this group and I need to check my vocals!” It was Jack Frost!

  The three friends quickly ducked under the party food table. Then they peeked out and saw three goblins following Jack Frost. Each goblin was wearing a tight white jumpsuit, decorated with silver lightning bolts. Two goblins carried guitars and the third headed to the drum set already on stage.

  Jack Frost was wearing a baggy white and silver jumpsuit with a pair of huge silver high-top sneakers that made him even taller than usual. Perched on his spindly nose was the biggest pair of sunglasses the girls had ever seen. And around his neck, worn as a pendant, was Carly’s glitter ball!

  “One two, one two!” called Jack Frost loudly into the microphone. He turned around to count the goblins in and then began to rap:

  My name’s Frosty and I’m the best,

  I’m way cooler than all the rest!

  My goblin crew is called The Gobolicious Band,

  We make the iciest sounds in all the land!

  “Wow,” cried Kirsty, looking surprised, “they sound amazing!”

  “That’s the power of my glitter ball,” said Carly sadly. “And they’re going to use it to show off at the school dance!”

  “Hmm,” Rachel pondered. “I think I have an idea for how to get your glitter ball back. What does Jack Frost care about more than anything in the world?”

  Kirsty thought for a moment. She frowned, and then her eyes lit up. “Himself!” she cried.

  “Exactly.” Rachel smiled. “Let’s use that to get the glitter ball from him!”

  The two girls and their fairy friend bravely walked toward the big stage to speak to Jack Frost.

  “Jack Frost, can we have a word with you, please?” Rachel called politely. Jack Frost peered down at the girls and Carly through his enormous sunglasses.

  “What do you silly girls want?” he asked rudely.

  “We just wondered, who will do the chores in the Ice Castle when all the goblins are at school in the human world?” asked Kirsty innocently.

  Jack Frost scowled. “The goblins will only be in school for a few hours each day, so they’ll have plenty of time to spend on me.”

  Rachel stepped forward. “The thing is, after the goblins have finished the school day, there’ll be after-school activities, and lots of homework. There won’t be much time for anything else.”

  “But who will serve me yummy ice cream and massage my feet?” Jack Frost wondered.

  Carly fluttered forward to address Jack Frost. “Why don’t you let me teach the goblins? I can organize lessons at your Ice Castle. That way the goblins will have lots of time to help you. But first, I need you to return my glitter ball to me.”

  The girls exchanged a worried look. Would he be convinced?

  Jack Frost narrowed his eyes. “I don’t want them picking up even more bad habits! No, the goblins will be going to school here, and that’s the end of it. Now, get out of my way before I turn you all into icicles!”

  Jack Frost pointed his icy wand at the friends and they quickly ran down the stage.

  “What do we d
o now?” cried Carly, her little wings drooping unhappily.

  “It’s time for action!” Kirsty said with a determined look on her face. “Carly, can you turn us into fairies? And would you be able to magic up one large glitter ball that’s light enough for Rachel and me to carry? I’ve got an idea!”

  “Of course!” said Carly, waving her wand. The girls felt themselves grow smaller and smaller. Shiny wings appeared on their backs and a sparkly giant glitter ball, as light as a feather, appeared in their hands!

  Rachel and Kirsty flew back onto the stage, clutching the new giant glitter ball between them.

  “Yoo-hoo!” they called to Jack Frost. “We just came to say we don’t need your glitter ball any more because we have this amazing new one!”

  “A new, giant glitter ball?” he exclaimed, his eyes widening. “Look how big it is. I want it!”

  “You can have this new, super-sparkly glitter ball,” said Kirsty firmly, “as long as you return the one you have to Carly. It’s hers and she needs it back.”

  Jack Frost wasn’t too sure. He looked at Carly’s glitter ball around his neck and suddenly realized how small it was. “Fine,” he grumbled. “This one isn’t big or glittery enough anyway!” With that, he took off the glitter ball.

  “Now, Carly!” called Rachel, and Carly flew onto the stage and picked up her magic glitter ball. She hugged it tight and fluttered a happy loop-the-loop in the air!

  “Here you go,” said Kirsty, and the two friends handed the giant glitter ball to Jack Frost.