The Petal Fairies Collection Read online

  “The goblins are on their way to the flower shop,” Rachel groaned.

  “They might even find Pippa’s magic petal!” added Kirsty.

  “I don’t want to think about all the damage those awful goblins could do in the flower shop,” Pippa said. “Girls, we have to go after them!”

  “I’m sure our parents will let us go to the village,” said Kirsty. “It’s just at the end of the hotel driveway.”

  “But we’ll need a reason to go to the flower shop,” Rachel pointed out.

  Kirsty nodded thoughtfully. At that moment, she noticed a crumpled piece of paper lying on the gravel driveway. She picked it up.

  “What’s that?” asked Rachel curiously.

  Kirsty smoothed out the paper. Across the top, she could see the words, “Petal Perfection Flower Shop, High Street, Blossom Village.” There was some writing underneath.

  “One basket of pink roses, one bouquet of pink-and-white tulips,” Kirsty read out loud. “This is the hotel’s order for next week. Bill must have dropped it.”

  “Perfect!” Rachel beamed happily. “We can go to the flower shop to return it.”

  Pippa was so excited, she twirled out of Rachel’s pocket in a shower of red sparkles. “Hurry, girls!” she said eagerly. “You’d better go and ask your parents’ permission.”

  “I’ll do that,” Rachel replied. “Maybe we could borrow some of the hotel’s bikes, Kirsty. The driveway’s really long, and riding would be much faster than walking.”

  “Good idea,” Kirsty agreed. The girls knew that Blossom Hall kept bicycles for guests to use to explore the countryside. “I’ll go into the lobby and ask Jenny.”

  “I’ll wait here,” Pippa said, zooming out of sight behind a nearby bush.

  Rachel hurried off to find their parents while Kirsty went back into the hotel lobby to talk to Jenny.

  “Of course you can borrow some bikes, Kirsty,” Jenny said kindly. “Come with me.”

  The receptionist took Kirsty to a large garage behind the hotel where the bikes were stored. She gave Kirsty padlocks and chains for the bikes, and two helmets. Then she helped Kirsty wheel the bikes around to the hotel driveway, before returning to the reception desk.

  “That was quick!” Pippa whispered, popping out of the bushes as soon as Jenny had disappeared.

  “And here comes Rachel,” said Kirsty.

  “We can go,” Rachel announced, “but we can’t leave the village and we have to be back in an hour.”

  Pippa immediately flew into the basket on the front of Rachel’s bike and settled down comfortably. “Let’s go,” she cried. “We don’t have a moment to lose!”

  The girls put on their helmets, climbed onto the bikes, and pedaled off as fast as they could. The driveway was long and winding, and soon Rachel and Kirsty were breathing hard.

  “Look at the fields,” Pippa pointed out, as the gates at the end of the driveway finally came into view. “Even my beautiful wild poppies are dying!”

  Rachel and Kirsty could see that the scarlet poppies were wilting. Not only that, but many of the primroses and snapdragons in the field were dying, too, even though they were supposed to be in full bloom.

  “We have to get all the magic petals back,” said Rachel in a determined voice, forcing herself to pedal faster.

  The Petal Perfection Flower Shop was on High Street near the village green.

  “Let’s hope the goblins haven’t found my magic petal yet,” Pippa whispered as she slipped into Rachel’s pocket.

  Kirsty and Rachel locked up their bikes, took off their helmets, and hurried into the shop. Nobody was inside except for a woman standing behind the counter. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, so the girls could easily see that she was frowning. She shook her head as she put blue irises and yellow roses together in a beautiful arrangement.

  “Oh, dear!” The woman sighed as she laid aside a drooping rose. Then she spotted Rachel and Kirsty. “Hello,” she said, looking flustered. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I’m having some problems with my flowers.”

  Rachel and Kirsty glanced around the shop. They could see that there were many flowers on display in tall silver vases, and they were almost all looking sad and bedraggled. The poppies were especially bad, their stems bending and their thin petals withering at the edges.

  “We have lots of orders to fill. I don’t know how I’m going to manage,” the woman went on. “Anyway, I’m Kate. My husband, Bill, and I own the shop. What can I do for you?”

  “We’re staying at Blossom Hall,” Kirsty explained, holding out the piece of paper. “Bill came in this morning with the flowers, but he accidentally dropped next week’s order when he left.”

  Kate smiled at them. “Oh, thank you, girls,” she said gratefully. “Bill got back a little while ago, but he just took the van to deliver another order.”

  Rachel and Kirsty glanced at each other. They wondered if the goblins had managed to escape from the van and get into the shop.

  “I need to finish this bouquet for a new mom,” Kate explained. “But why don’t you go through to the back room and choose some flowers to take home as a thank you?”

  “Sure!” Rachel and Kirsty chorused.

  Kate pointed at a door behind the counter. “It’s through there,” she said. “Just help yourselves.”

  “Perfect!” Pippa whispered, peeking her head out of Rachel’s pocket as soon as the girls had closed the door behind them. “Now we’ll have a chance to look for my magic petal!”

  “And maybe for the goblins, too,” added Kirsty.

  Quickly, the girls and Pippa hurried into the back room.

  “Oh, no,” Rachel groaned, freezing in the doorway. “The goblins are here!”

  The goblins were running around, frantically looking for the magic petal. The room was a complete mess! Pippa and the girls stared at the buckets of flowers that had been kicked over, and at the spilled water on the floor. There were stray petals and leaves everywhere.

  But the goblins were having a lot of fun! One had wrapped himself in a roll of pink, flowery wrapping paper. He looked like an Egyptian mummy, with just his big green ears, nose, and feet sticking out. Another had draped himself in colorful ribbons and was swinging another long ribbon over his head like a lasso. The goblin with the wand had a large daffodil stuck behind each ear and a garland of daisies around his neck.

  “I don’t think they’ve found the petal yet,” Kirsty whispered. She, Rachel, and Pippa couldn’t help laughing at the goblins’ antics, even though they were horrified by the mess.

  “No, they’re having too much fun!” Rachel replied. “Look, one’s stuck!”

  The biggest goblin was upside-down in an empty flower bucket, his arms and legs waving in the air. He was yelling loudly, but his voice was muffled, so nobody could hear what he was saying.

  Pippa and the girls watched as two other goblins grabbed his legs and yanked him out.

  As his head came out of the bucket, the girls could see that he was grinning. “I found the magic petal!” he shouted triumphantly.

  Rachel, Kirsty, and Pippa stared as the goblin held up a beautiful scarlet poppy petal.

  “I’m going to take it straight to Jack Frost!” he boasted.

  “No, I want to!” one of the others yelled. All the other goblins immediately joined in, trying to grab the fragile petal.

  Rachel couldn’t watch! The goblins could easily rip the petal apart. “Give that back!” she demanded bravely. The goblins all turned to glare at her.

  “I don’t think so!” the biggest goblin sneered. He dashed out of the back door of the shop, followed by all the other goblins.

  “We can’t follow them or Kate will wonder where we’ve gone,” Rachel said. “We’d better go out the front door.”

  “Can you clean up this mess, Pippa?” asked Kirsty.

  Quickly, Pippa waved her wand and a shower of fairy sparkles magically cleared up the whole room, rolling up the wrapping paper
and ribbons, and putting the flowers back into their buckets.

  “I can’t make the wilting flowers bloom properly, though. Not without my magic petal.” Pippa sighed, fluttering back into Rachel’s pocket.

  The two girls raced back into the shop.

  Kate looked at them in surprise. “Didn’t you find any flowers you liked?” she asked.

  “We, um, just remembered something we have to do in the village first,” Kirsty stammered.

  “We’ll come back later to get some flowers, if that’s OK,” added Rachel.

  “That’s fine,” Kate replied.

  The girls quickly unlocked their bikes and pedaled around to the back of the store.

  “There they go!” Rachel shouted, catching a glimpse of the goblins running into the park.

  The girls pedaled after them. But by the time they had biked into the park, the goblins were nowhere to be seen.

  “They must be here somewhere,” Kirsty said. She gazed around as they came to a stop underneath an oak tree. She could see trees and flowerbeds, and a hill nearby, but no goblins.

  Ssshhh!

  The sound came from above, startling Kirsty. She glanced up and saw a very odd-looking green branch. Kirsty clapped a hand to her mouth as she realized that it was a goblin’s leg!

  As quietly as she could, she got off her bike, tapped Rachel on the shoulder, and pointed upward. Rachel and Pippa saw the leg, and they both nodded. Quickly, Rachel climbed off her bike.

  “We’ll fly up there and try to grab the petal,” Pippa whispered with a wave of her wand.

  Rachel and Kirsty felt a rush of excitement as a cloud of crimson sparkles transformed them into fairies. Silently fluttering their wings, the three friends flew up into the branches of the tree.

  “There!” Pippa said softly, pointing with her wand.

  The goblins were sitting in a long line on a sturdy branch. Their legs dangled down. The biggest goblin was at the end, holding the magic petal.

  Rachel, who was closest, immediately flew down and made a grab for it. But at the last moment, the goblin saw her coming and swatted her away.

  “It’s those pesky girls again!” he cried furiously. “Do something!”

  “I’ll cast a really powerful spell,” yelled the goblin with the wand. “Uh, um …”

  “Hurry up!” shouted the biggest goblin as the three fairies flitted around him, trying to grab the petal.

  “OK, I’ve got it,” replied the goblin with the wand. “To escape these girls would be quite nice —” he began, shaking the wand.

  “Nice!” shouted the biggest goblin angrily. “It would be amazing! Not just nice!”

  “I don’t know any words that rhyme with ‘amazing!’ ” the goblin with the wand said miserably. Pippa and the girls laughed.

  “To escape these girls would be quite nice,” the goblin said again, pointing the wand at the ground. “I demand an icy slide. I mean — I demand a slide of ice!” he finished.

  Immediately, a huge chute of ice appeared, running from the branches of the tree to the grass below. One by one, the goblins jumped onto it with gleeful shrieks and slid to the ground. The biggest goblin took one last swipe at Pippa and the girls before he followed his friends down the slide.

  “They’re escaping with the magic petal!” Kirsty cried as the goblins dashed away.

  Pippa and the girls flew down from the tree as the goblins raced up a nearby hill. With an easy flick of her wand, Pippa made Rachel and Kirsty human-sized again. Then the girls jumped on their bikes.

  “After them!” Rachel cried.

  The girls zoomed off behind the goblins, with Pippa riding in the basket on the front of Rachel’s bike. They reached the foot of the hill really quickly, but then they began to struggle.

  “It’s hard to pedal uphill!” Kirsty panted, straining to go faster.

  Pippa leaned out of the basket and waved her wand. Dazzling poppy-red sparkles swirled down onto both bikes’ wheels.

  “Oh,” Rachel yelled happily, “I’m going much faster now!”

  “Me, too,” Kirsty agreed. “Thanks, Pippa!”

  With the help of fairy magic, the girls started gaining on the goblins.

  “We’re going to overtake the goblins soon,” called Rachel.

  “Let’s try to grab the petal as we pass them,” Kirsty suggested.

  “Look, the goblin with the petal is a little behind the others,” Pippa pointed out.

  “Kirsty, I’ll ride past on his right side, and you ride past on his left,” Rachel said. “Then he can’t escape.”

  “Good plan,” Kirsty said, nodding.

  As the two girls came up behind the goblin, Rachel went right and Kirsty went left. The goblin was clutching the petal in his right hand, and Rachel reached out for it as she rode up behind him.

  But at the last moment, the goblin spotted her. “Trying to trick me?” he jeered. “You’ll have to try harder than that!” And, laughing gleefully, he switched the petal from his right hand to his left.

  Just then, Kirsty sailed past on the other side of the goblin. She reached out and grabbed the petal from his hand while the goblin was still laughing at Rachel.

  “Hooray!” Pippa cried, as they raced past the other goblins.

  “Hey!” shouted the big goblin angrily. “Give that magic petal back!”

  The other goblins had now realized what had happened, but they were too late.

  Rachel and Kirsty were speeding away on their bikes. Behind them, they could hear the goblins shouting and arguing with each other because they’d lost the magic petal.

  “Girls, I can never thank you enough,” Pippa announced as they finally came full circle and arrived back at the park gates. “Now all my poppies and lovely red flowers will bloom beautifully again,” she went on. “I must take my petal back to Fairyland where it belongs.”

  She waved her wand over the petal, and it immediately shrank back to its Fairyland size. Pippa took the petal from Kirsty’s hand and smiled. “Good-bye, girls,” she cried, “and good luck finding the other petals.”

  Rachel and Kirsty waved as Pippa disappeared in a burst of poppy-red sparkles.

  “Another magic petal found,” Kirsty said happily. “Now we’d better get back to Blossom Hall!”

  “Ooh, let’s pick out our flowers from the shop first!” Rachel reminded her.

  The girls rode back to Petal Perfection.

  Kate was looking much happier when they walked in. “Hello again,” she called cheerfully. “Look at my flowers. Some of them have completely perked up since you left.”

  Kirsty and Rachel could see that all the poppies and the red flowers were now looking bright and healthy. The girls grinned at each other.

  “Pippa’s magic petal is working again already!” Kirsty whispered.

  “Tell me which flowers you’d like,” said Kate. “You have more to choose from now.”

  The girls chose red and orange poppies, and Kate made them up into two pretty bouquets. Then Rachel and Kirsty said good-bye and biked back to Blossom Hall.

  “Look, Rachel,” said Kirsty, “all the poppies in the field are blooming again!”

  “Don’t they look beautiful?” Rachel said happily, looking at the silky crimson clusters nodding in the warm breeze. “I’m so glad we helped another Petal Fairy today.”

  “Now we can look forward to tomorrow!” Kirsty said with a smile.

  Woodland Walk

  Island Surprise

  Splash and Grab

  A Wave of Panic

  Lost and Found

  Lovely Lilies

  “Blossom Lake, this way!” Rachel Walker called out, seeing the wooden sign ahead. Buttons, her dog, trotted by her side. He sniffed at the trees and bushes along the way.

  Kirsty Tate smiled at her best friend, Rachel. The girls were taking a nature walk with their parents. Buttons started to speed up as they turned onto the trail, heading deep into the woods. Kirsty was so glad they were all spending spring break
together this year. It made her think about when she first met Rachel. The two families had stayed next door to each other one summer on Rainspell Island. Since then, Kirsty and Rachel had become best friends — and they always had the most exciting adventures whenever they were together!

  Now the two families were staying at Blossom Hall, an old mansion, for a whole week. Today they’d planned to visit Blossom Lake.

  “I can’t wait to see the lake,” Kirsty said, as she, Rachel, and Buttons led the way down a sloping path through the trees. “There was a picture in Mom’s guidebook, and it looked really pretty.”

  Rachel grinned at Kirsty. “I wonder what else we’ll see today,” she said quietly.

  Kirsty knew exactly what her friend meant. “Oh, I really hope we meet another Petal Fairy,” she whispered. “But remember what the fairy queen always says — we have to wait for the magic to come to us!”

  Kirsty and Rachel shared a wonderful secret. They were friends with the fairies! They’d had all kinds of fairy adventures together, and just two days before, they’d started a whole new adventure. This time, they were helping the seven Petal Fairies.

  “Ah, there’s the lake,” said Kirsty’s mom, making the girls jump. Both Kirsty and Rachel had been so busy thinking about fairies that they hadn’t realized they were coming out of the forest. There, ahead of them, was a stretch of blue water with sunlight sparkling on its surface.

  They stepped out into the sunshine near the water’s edge. “It’s beautiful!” Rachel sighed happily, gazing at the woods that surrounded the water. “Is that an island in the middle?”