The Music Fairies Collection Read online

  “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all!” Kirsty said anxiously.

  The goblins bumped into the table leg, and the wedding cake began to wobble dangerously.

  “The cake’s going to fall!” Kirsty cried.

  “Maya, HELP!” Rachel shouted.

  Maya glanced up, saw the cake beginning to topple, and instantly waved her wand. A stream of magic sparkles swirled toward the cake and surrounded it, keeping it upright.

  Kirsty breathed a sigh of relief. But at that moment, the second goblin managed to knock the tiny harp from the first goblin’s hand. Maya, Rachel, and Kirsty watched in dismay as the harp sailed through the air.

  “It’s heading straight for the wedding cake!” Rachel cried.

  Before Maya and the girls could do anything, the harp landed right on the top tier of the cake.

  “At least the harp is tiny, so it couldn’t have damaged the cake very much,” Maya reassured the girls. “Now, let’s grab the harp before the goblins do!”

  The goblins had rushed over to the table. Both were standing on their tiptoes, trying to reach the harp. But as Maya, Rachel, and Kirsty flew toward the cake, the door suddenly opened again. Maya grabbed the girls’ hands and pulled her friends behind one of the vases of tulips, just as a girl wearing a pink silk dress and a beautiful flower in her hair breezed into the room.

  “That’s Kerry’s bridesmaid!” Kirsty whispered. “Isn’t her dress beautiful?”

  “Oh, please leave that cake alone and come help me!” the bridesmaid told the goblins with a smile. “There’s still so much to do.” She glanced at the cake and then gave a gasp of delight. “Oh, Kerry will love that harp decoration — it’s the perfect finishing touch!” She turned to the goblins. “Follow me,” she ordered, grabbing their hands and pulling them over to the door. “You can collect gifts from the guests before the ceremony begins and put them on the table over there.”

  The goblins glanced anxiously at the harp, but they couldn’t take it without the bridesmaid noticing. Maya, Rachel, and Kirsty laughed quietly as the bridesmaid ushered the reluctant goblins out of the room.

  “Come along,” she said bossily. “The wedding’s starting soon, and we’ve got work to do!”

  As soon as the bridesmaid and goblins had left the room, Maya flew over to the cake and picked up her harp. She drew her fingers gently across the strings, filling the room with magical music.

  “The cake did look nice with the harp on top,” said Kirsty. “It’s too bad it won’t have one now.”

  Maya smiled. As her harp transformed back to its Fairyland size, she began to play a special melody. As she did, a glittering spiral of fairy sparkles swirled around the top tier of the cake. Rachel and Kirsty watched in wonder as the top of the cake shimmered and glowed.

  “Look, Rachel!” Kirsty cried. “There’s a new harp on the cake!”

  “And it looks exactly like Maya’s,” Rachel added.

  “It looks exactly the same, but there’s one big difference.” Maya pointed her wand at the harp on the cake. “This one is made of white chocolate, so you can eat it!”

  The girls laughed.

  “What’s that?” Rachel asked suddenly, as she heard the faint sound of sweet music in the distance. “It sounds like another harp.”

  “The wedding’s starting!” Kirsty exclaimed.

  Quickly, Maya sprinkled the girls with fairy dust. They instantly grew back to their normal size.

  “Thank you for everything!” Maya said. “Now I must take my harp back to Fairyland, and you must go to Kerry’s wedding!”

  With a wave, Maya vanished in a mist of glittery sparkles. Following the sound of the harp, Kirsty and Rachel rushed to the large hall where the wedding was being held. They could see the harpist playing at the front of the room.

  “Here comes Kerry!” Kirsty whispered as they sat down next to Mr. and Mrs. Tate. “We’re just in time!”

  Beaming, the girls watched as Kerry, looking beautiful in a long, ivory wedding dress, walked down the aisle to the heavenly sound of the harp.

  “The harp sounds amazing, doesn’t it?” Rachel sighed happily.

  “That’s because the magic harp is back in its proper place in Fairyland!” Kirsty replied. “We only have Victoria’s violin and Sadie’s saxophone to find now!”

  Listen to the Band

  Goblins on Stage

  Ring! Ring!

  Curtain Call!

  Two Violins

  Fly Away!

  “I like that song,” Rachel Walker said, pointing at the computer screen. She and her best friend, Kirsty Tate, were downloading music from the Internet, using a gift card that Kirsty had received for her birthday.

  Kirsty nodded. “Me, too,” she said, clicking the mouse to download the song. Rachel was staying with Kirsty’s family for a week over school break — and so far, the girls had been having a very exciting time! A very musical time, too — helping the Music Fairies find their lost magic instruments!

  Mr. Tate, Kirsty’s dad, came into the room at that moment. “I was just talking to my friend Charles on the phone,” he told the girls. “Kirsty, do you remember him? He works at Wetherbury College, and he’s been telling me about a really talented band that has been practicing there. He’s sure they’re going to do well in the National Talent Competition tomorrow.”

  Kirsty’s ears perked up on hearing her dad’s words. She and Rachel knew someone else who was determined to go far in the National Talent Competition — Jack Frost! He was so desperate to win the contest, he’d ordered his goblins to steal the Music Fairies’ magic instruments. That way, his group, Frosty and his Gobolicious Band, would sound the best. Jack Frost wanted the first place prize — a recording contract with MegaBig Record Company — but Kirsty and Rachel knew that would be a disaster. Once the public discovered that Jack Frost wasn’t human, all the girls’ fairy friends would be in danger of being discovered by curious people everywhere!

  “The band is rehearsing at the college,” Mr. Tate went on, “and Charles asked if we’d like to go over and listen.”

  “Oh, yes,” Kirsty said. “We’d love to!”

  Mr. Tate nodded. “I’ll drop you off there,” he replied. “But I can’t stay — I’ve got some errands to run.”

  Rachel smiled and got to her feet. “It’ll be so cool if we get to see the winning band before the Talent Competition tomorrow,” she said.

  “And you never know,” Kirsty murmured as Mr. Tate went to get his car keys, “we might spot another one of the magic musical instruments while we’re there….”

  Rachel nodded. She and Kirsty had helped the Music Fairies find five of their missing instruments so far, but there were still two left to track down — the violin and the saxophone. The instruments were very important, because their fairy owners used them to make music fun and tuneful in Fairyland and throughout the human world. Since the instruments had gone missing, music just hadn’t sounded the same.

  Mr. Tate drove Kirsty and Rachel to Wetherbury College, and Charles let them in. “Bye, Dad,” Kirsty said to Mr. Tate. “See you later!”

  “Thanks, Charles,” Mr. Tate said to his friend, then waved good-bye to Kirsty and Rachel. “Enjoy yourselves!”

  As Charles led the girls down a hallway, his phone rang with a loud ringtone.

  Charles quickly took the call as they walked along. Then he hung up and pushed a door open. “Here we are — the auditorium,” he said. “Let’s go in.”

  Rachel and Kirsty followed Charles into a large hall, which had a wide stage and rows of seats. They could see four figures on the stage with their instruments, rehearsing a song.

  “Have a seat,” Charles whispered. “You’re welcome to stay for as long as you like! Just make sure you’re quiet and don’t disturb the band.”

  Kirsty and Rachel sat down at the back of the hall, and listened to the music. The band was playing a lively, original tune that made Kirsty want to dance. “They’re great!” she whis
pered to Rachel, tapping her feet.

  “They have a really unique sound,” Rachel agreed. “And they look so young!”

  Kirsty gazed at the band members, who were far away on the stage. One was playing maracas, one had a banjo, another was playing a violin, and the fourth had a recorder. Rachel was right — the band didn’t look much older than the girls themselves.

  “How come those boys can play so well?” she said in awe. “That’s amazing!”

  Just then, a thought struck Rachel. The fairies had told the girls that the power of the magic musical instruments meant that whoever played them, or was close to them, was able to make perfect-sounding music. “I wonder if one of the magic instruments is nearby.” Rachel whispered to Kirsty. “That could be why the band sounds so fabulous — because the powerful fairy magic is helping them play!”

  Then another thought hit her. “Kirsty — what if the band members are goblins?” she whispered in alarm.

  Kirsty leaned forward immediately to take a closer look. She and Rachel knew that Jack Frost had cast a spell over his goblins to make them blend in better with humans — so now the goblins were all the size of boys and were no longer green. The spell hadn’t changed everything about the goblins, though. They still had big noses and large feet — and that was how Kirsty and Rachel had been able to see through their disguises so far.

  The girls stared at the members of the band, but it was difficult to tell whether they were goblins or not. The auditorium was very big, and Kirsty, Rachel, and Charles were sitting at the very back. “Charles, we’re just going a little closer to the front,” Kirsty whispered to him.

  “Sure,” he whispered back. “They’re great, aren’t they?”

  “Really good,” Kirsty agreed. Then she and Rachel tiptoed quietly up the aisle, heading toward the bottom of the stage so they could see the musicians better.

  It wasn’t long before both girls had no doubt.

  With those noses and ears, the performers on stage were definitely goblins!

  Kirsty and Rachel slid into seats near the front, ducking low as the band finished their song. They didn’t want to be spotted by the goblins!

  “That sounded great,” the goblin on the banjo said. “I’m really getting the hang of this now. Not as good as when I had that magic guitar, of course, but still…. We sound amazing, guys. Jack Frost will be really happy the next time he hears us.”

  “When is Jack Frost going to be at one of our rehearsals?” the goblin on the maracas asked. “I know he thinks he’s such a great singer that he doesn’t need any practice, but I think it would be a good idea for us to rehearse together at least once or twice before the competition.”

  “You’re right,” the goblin on the recorder agreed. “But you know what the boss is like. He does things his own way. Come on, let’s practice our next song.”

  As they listened to the goblins’ conversation, Kirsty and Rachel could hardly breathe from excitement. So this was Frosty’s Gobolicious Band — without “Frosty” himself, of course!

  “There are only two magic instruments left to find, right?” Kirsty whispered to Rachel as quietly as she could. The band started playing again. “Violin and saxophone. I’m pretty sure that violin up there must be Victoria the Violin Fairy’s magic instrument, don’t you think?”

  Rachel nodded. “It must be,” she agreed, whispering right into Kirsty’s ear so that the goblins wouldn’t hear her. “But what can we do to get it back? With Charles sitting back there listening, we can’t disturb the band. He’d be upset with us — and then the goblins might get away.”

  Kirsty thought for a minute. Rachel was right — they couldn’t make Charles suspicious by interrupting the rehearsal. But she and Rachel really needed to get the magic violin for Victoria!

  As she was thinking, her gaze fell on the footlights at the front of the stage. They were all shining a golden light on the band. But one of the lights was glowing with different colors, in a very magical kind of way….

  Kirsty nudged Rachel, suddenly hopeful. “Rachel, look at that multicolored light,” she whispered. “I think it might be a fairy!”

  Kirsty and Rachel glanced at where Charles was sitting. His eyes were shut and he was leaning back in his seat, lost in the music. “Let’s investigate,” Rachel whispered.

  The two friends carefully made their way toward the footlights, hiding in the shadows all the way.

  Suddenly, a small cloud of colorful sparkles rose from the footlight, and a tiny fairy appeared, listening to the music with one hand cupped to her ear.

  She had long, dark hair and wore a pretty T-shirt decorated with a butterfly pattern. Her jeans were tucked into cowboy boots. The girls recognized her immediately from a few days before when they’d met all the Music Fairies.

  “It’s Victoria!” Kirsty murmured happily, smiling in delight to see their new fairy friend again.

  The girls tiptoed up to Victoria. “Hi, there,” Rachel whispered.

  Victoria beamed when she saw Rachel. “Hello,” she said in a silvery voice. “I’m so glad to see you. Those goblins have my violin, and I really need it back!”

  Kirsty slid to the floor in front of the stage, where she’d be out of sight. She motioned for Rachel and Victoria to do the same. “Hi, Victoria,” she said softly. “We guessed that might be your violin — we recognized the goblins, and thought their playing was too good to be true!”

  “The only thing is,” Rachel added, “we’ll have to get a man named Charles out of here before we try to trick the goblins. He’s sitting at the back of the auditorium listening. He told us we shouldn’t disturb the band,” she explained.

  Kirsty suddenly remembered how loud Charles’s ringtone had been when he’d gotten a call earlier. “If he got a phone call, he’d have to leave the room!” she said thoughtfully. “I wonder if we could get his number somehow and call him….”

  Victoria smiled. “Or I could make his phone ring with my wand,” she suggested. “And I’ll use some special fairy magic to make sure that when Charles answers his phone, there’ll be someone on the other end to keep him chatting for a while!”

  Rachel and Kirsty grinned. “Great!” Rachel said. “Let’s try it.”

  Victoria pointed her wand toward where Charles was sitting, and gave it a few flicks. The air shimmered with magic, then Charles’s ringtone echoed through the auditorium. He jumped up, patting his pockets frantically to find his phone. “Sorry — so sorry!” he called to the band, looking flustered and embarrassed. He immediately rushed out, the phone to his ear.

  The goblins stopped playing, and looked annoyed at the interruption.

  “Should we start that one again from the top?” the goblin with the maracas suggested.

  The goblin with the violin shook his head. “I want to practice ‘Goblin Serenade’ now,” he said.

  “Not again!” the goblin with the recorder moaned. “We’ve already rehearsed that one tons of times!”

  “He only wants to play that one because he has a long violin solo in the middle,” the goblin with the banjo said sourly.

  “That’s why I need to practice it, banjo-brain!” argued the violinist.

  While the goblins bickered, Rachel, Kirsty, and Victoria whispered about what to do next. “We’ll have a better chance of getting the magic violin if we can separate the goblin with the violin from the others,” Rachel said. “Otherwise, we’ll be outnumbered.”

  Kirsty had an idea. “What if we shine a light at the front of the stage?” she said slowly, thinking as she spoke. “If the violinist has a solo, he’ll probably step into the spotlight. And when he does, we could lower one of the scenery backdrops behind him, cutting him off from his friends!”

  Victoria grinned. “And when he’s on his own, we can get my violin!” She laughed. “Kirsty, that’s a wonderful idea!”

  Rachel was smiling, too. “Great idea,” she said, gazing at the side of the stage. “It looks like we can lower the backdrop by pulling on thos
e ropes over there — do you see?”

  “And I can turn on and aim the spotlight with my magic,” Victoria added. “It’s a perfect plan!”

  The goblins had started playing another song by now, and the girls tiptoed to the side of the stage and hid in the folds of the curtain.

  Victoria hovered above them. As soon as the goblin with the violin began his solo, she waved her wand at the center spotlight above the stage. The spotlight swiveled, then turned itself on, shining a bright pool of light at the very front of the stage.

  The goblin with the violin looked delighted, and walked forward to stand in the center of the light. He shut his eyes and continued to play beautifully. The melody sent shivers down Kirsty’s spine. The violin had to be very magical. How else could the lumpy-fingered goblin produce such incredible music?

  “I think this is the rope, Kirsty,” Rachel said just then, putting her hands on the thick brown cord that dangled from the top of the curtains. “If we both pull on it, we should be able to lower the scenery panel — and separate the goblins.”

  Kirsty took hold of the rope, too, and looked at Rachel. “Ready?” she whispered. “One, two, three … PULL!”

  The two friends held their breath as they yanked on the rope. Would their plan work?

  “Yes!” cheered Rachel softly as the scenery panel slowly dropped down behind the violinist. Now he was completely cut off from his goblin friends.