“Oooh!” the goblins cried, their eyes lighting up.
“I’d make the pages green, too,” Florence went on. “And I’d even add some special magic so that you can add your favorite smells to the book — IF you give me my book back.”
“Favorite smells,” the knobby-kneed goblin said longingly. “We could put in the smell of moldy toadstools.”
“And stinky feet!” another suggested.
All of the goblins looked at one another. “It’s a deal!” they chorused.
“Hooray!” cheered Kirsty, Rachel, and Florence. The little fairy got to work right away. She waved her wand and muttered some magic words. Seconds later, a big green book appeared in the tallest goblin’s hands. It was oozing with some yucky-smelling slime, and had a sticky, prickly cover.
“Oh,” said the tallest goblin, stroking the book. “It’s so ugly. It’s perfect!” He turned to the smallest goblin. “Go ahead, hand over her book,” he ordered. “This is worth fifty silly fairy memory books!”
The smallest goblin thrust Florence’s memory book toward the little fairy. With a smile of delight, she waved her wand, and it shrank to fairy-size in the goblin’s hand. Then she fluttered down and picked it up. “Thank you,” she said happily.
The goblins wandered off, excitedly discussing what smells they’d add to their new book and how Jack Frost would love their horrid handiwork.
“Take your time,” Florence called after them. “Memory books, like true friendships, can’t be rushed!” Then she smiled at Kirsty and Rachel. “And now it’s time to repair my memory book — and all the others that have been ruined!”
She touched her wand to her memory book. Bright, shimmering waves of magic began to pulse from it, spreading through the air in sparkling ripples of light.
“There,” she said happily, as the last light flickered and disappeared. “Everything should be fixed, and your memory book will be full again.” She smiled. “Thanks, both of you,” she said, fluttering over to give the girls tiny fairy kisses. “I’d better go back to Fairyland now, to finish getting everything ready for tomorrow’s Friendship Day. See you soon, I hope! Oh, and maybe you should take a look in that shopping bag?”
“In the shopping bag?” Kirsty asked, glancing down at the empty canvas bag that still hung from her arm.
“Bye!” Florence called mischievously, vanishing.
Kirsty opened the bag and peeked inside. Then she smiled.
“What is it?” Rachel asked, trying to see.
Kirsty pulled out two pink invitations with their names written in silver ink. “You are invited to the fairies’ Friendship Day at the Fairyland Palace,” she read, beaming. “Oh, Rachel! How exciting!”
“Hooray!” Rachel cheered, hugging Kirsty happily. She grinned as they began walking toward the stores. “I knew this was going to be another good vacation together, Kirsty. I just knew it!”
Party Preparations
Off to Fairyland!
Goblin Games
Ribbons for Racing
Party Time!
“Good morning, everyone!” Mrs. Tate said to the gathered crowd. “And thank you so much for offering to help out. There’s a lot to do!”
It was the next day, and Kirsty and Rachel had come to the village hall with Kirsty’s mom and a group of villagers. They were all there to help with preparations for the grand reopening party.
The hall had recently been redecorated, with the whole community’s help. It was being renamed the Wetherbury Friendship Hall.
“We have balloons, streamers, and ribbons to sort through and hang up,” Mrs. Tate said, “music to organize, lights to arrange . . . Oh, and the banner! Kirsty and Rachel, would you help me unroll it, please?”
Rachel, Kirsty, and her mom carefully unrolled the large white banner, until everyone could see what was written on it: WELCOME TO THE WETHERBURY FRIENDSHIP HALL!
“It doesn’t look very exciting at the moment, but I brought some colorful paints,” Mrs. Tate went on. “And since this party is all about friendship and working together, I thought it would be nice if lots of different people could each paint in a letter of the banner,” she explained. “That way, it’ll look really bright and eye-catching. OK? Let’s get started!”
The team of helpers immediately got to work — some blowing up balloons, others untangling the long strings of ribbon and sparkly strands of lights.
“Should we paint our letters on the banner first?” Kirsty asked Rachel.
“Good idea,” Rachel said. “Let’s take it into one of the side rooms, so it won’t get in anyone’s way.”
The girls carried the banner and paint into a smaller room off the main hall. The room had a piano at one end, and lots of chairs stacked up along the walls. They spread the banner out on the floor, then chose their colors and brushes. Kirsty took the pink paint, while Rachel decided on purple. Then both girls carefully filled in one letter each.
“This is going to look great when everyone’s painted their letters,” Rachel said, admiring their work.
“Definitely,” said Kirsty with a smile. She was just about to go and wash out her paintbrush when she heard a tiny sigh of relief from behind her.
“There you are!” came a familiar voice. “I’m so glad to see you both. I really need your help again!”
Both girls turned to see Florence the Friendship Fairy flying through an open window, her pretty face looking pale and anxious.
“What happened?” Rachel asked. “Are you OK?”
Florence fluttered down to land on the jar of green paint, her wings drooping. “No, not really,” she said sadly. “Today is the fairies’ Friendship Day, but everything is going wrong . . . and it’s the goblins’ fault again! They ran off with my friendship ribbon. If I don’t get it back, the party will be a disaster!” She sighed. “Can you come to Fairyland with me and help look for it?”
“Of course!” Kirsty said at once. Then she paused and bit her lip. “The only thing is, we’re supposed to be helping my mom here.”
“Don’t worry,” Florence said. “Time will stand still in the human world while you’re with me in Fairyland. Is that all right?”
Rachel nodded, her eyes lighting up at the thought of another fairy adventure. “Perfect,” she replied.
Florence smiled. “Then let’s go — there’s no time to lose!”
Florence waved her wand and a stream of pink sparkles swirled all around Rachel and Kirsty, lifting them off the ground in a glittering whirlwind. The room became a blur of colors before their eyes! They felt themselves spinning through the air, growing smaller and smaller and smaller. . . .
A few minutes later, their feet touched the ground, and the sparkly whirlwind slowly vanished. Kirsty realized that they were on the grounds of the Fairyland Palace. Lots of fairies she recognized were busily working away. The girls were back in Fairyland — and they were fairies now, too, with their own shimmering wings!
Rachel beamed at Kirsty. Fairyland was the most exciting place ever!
“Look, there’s Polly the Party Fun Fairy,” she said, pointing as she spotted the little blond fairy across the courtyard. “Oh, and Melodie the Music Fairy, too.”
Polly appeared to be working on a new party game that involved teams of fairies competing to fly up and collect glittering gold stars from a nearby tree. Melodie was busy listening to the Music Fairies rehearse. But both fairies seemed to be having problems!
Florence bit her lip anxiously as Polly’s fairies bumped into one another in mid-air and crashed to the ground with surprised shouts. Melodie put her head in her hands at the squeaks and squawks the musicians were making.
“Oh, no.” Florence sighed. “Things are still no better here. We have to find my friendship ribbon! Without it, the party is going to be awful.”
“What is the friends
hip ribbon?” Kirsty asked, confused.
Florence opened her mouth to reply, but then gave a shout of warning instead. “Phoebe! Watch out!”
Rachel and Kirsty turned to see Phoebe the Fashion Fairy pushing a rack of gorgeous party dresses along a cobbled path nearby. The clothing rack was bouncing on the cobblestones, and some of the dresses and accessories had slipped off their hangers onto the ground without Phoebe realizing. Phoebe heard Florence’s shout and spotted the fallen items. Before she could pick them up, Zoe the Skating Fairy zoomed up behind her carrying a huge box . . . and roller-skated right over the dresses, completely ruining them!
“Oh, no!” Phoebe wailed in dismay. “My dresses!”
Zoe skidded around to see what had happened, and threw up her hands in horror — dropping the box she’d been carrying. It landed with a crash. “Oh, no!” she echoed. “Your dresses — and the best royal china plates — are ruined!”
Florence looked like she wanted to cry.
“This is getting worse and worse!” she said. She turned back to Kirsty and Rachel. “The friendship ribbon is always tied to the maypole,” she explained, pointing to where a tall golden pole stood in the center of the lawn. The three fairies fluttered over to it. “While it’s there, it means that friends can work together well, and have fun. It was going to be used in a special friendship dance around the maypole tonight — but the goblins saw the ribbon and decided they wanted to play with it. And ever since they took it down, things have been going all wrong.”
“We’ll help you find the ribbon,” Rachel promised her. “Come on, let’s start looking for it — and those sneaky goblins, too!”
Florence, Kirsty, and Rachel fluttered up into the air and flew above the palace grounds, keeping a lookout for any signs of goblins below. They passed the bakery, where it smelled as if something was burning. Then they flew over the party-decoration workshop.
Grace the Glitter Fairy had just accidentally knocked over a huge barrel of sequins, which poured out in a sparkling flood all over the floor. “Oh, no!” they heard her cry in exasperation.
Florence had told them that the friendship ribbon was long, bright blue, and covered in stars. As the three friends flew past the palace stables and across the lake, there was no sign of it — or the goblins — anywhere.
“Let’s try looking in here,” Florence suggested, pointing to a small wooded area up ahead. Kirsty and Rachel followed their fairy friend as she swooped between the shady trees.
Birds sang sweetly and a light breeze rustled the leaves as the three fairies flew through the woods. Then Florence landed abruptly and turned, putting a finger to her lips before ducking behind a large tree trunk.
Rachel and Kirsty could hear muffled shouts and cheers. They hurried to hide behind trees of their own as they realized that there was a group of goblins gathered in a clearing up ahead. Peering around their trees, they could see that six goblins were playing with the magic ribbon — using it as a sparkly jump rope at first, and then as a rope for tug-of-war.
Florence’s eyes were wide with alarm. “They better not rip my ribbon!” she murmured. “I can’t bear to watch!”
The goblins were split into two teams of three for the game. Eventually, one team pulled the others over a branch on the ground that they were using as a marker.
“We win!” cried the tallest goblin on the winning team. He let go of the ribbon to celebrate with his teammates. Then he taunted the other team. “Losers! Losers!”
“Your team cheated!” argued a frowning goblin on the other team, putting his hands on his hips. “That’s not fair. I don’t want to be friends with you anymore.”
The two goblins started fighting, and another goblin had to break them up. “Hey, stop it! This is supposed to be our Friendship Party,” he reminded them. “Anything the fairies can do, we can do better — right?”
“Right,” muttered the tall goblin.
“How about a game of blind goblin’s buff?” the smallest goblin suggested. “We can use the ribbon as a blindfold.”
Florence beckoned Kirsty and Rachel behind a shrub while the goblins began arguing over who was going to be the blind goblin first. “I really need to get that ribbon from them,” she whispered, “but I don’t know how we can. They keep using it in all their games!”
Kirsty nodded. “They’re really enjoying playing with it, aren’t they?” she murmured.
The girls watched as the smallest goblin ended the argument about who would be blindfolded first by tying the ribbon quickly around his own head. The other goblins dodged him, giggling as he blundered around, arms outstretched, trying to catch one of them.
But the goblins didn’t play nicely for very long. One of them picked up a stick and used it to jab the blindfolded goblin in the ribs.
“Ow!” he yelped, flailing around. The others cracked up laughing.
Then another one of the goblins threw a handful of acorns at the blindfolded one. He cried out in surprise as they pinged off his pointy nose. “Stop it!” he yelled, running toward the noise of the other goblins’ cackles. “Stop!”
Rachel, Kirsty, and Florence, meanwhile, were still trying to come up with a plan to get the ribbon. It was hard to think straight, with the noise of the squabbling goblins in the background. Then Kirsty smiled. “I have an idea!” she whispered.
“Florence, could you use your magic to make some other ribbons that look the same as the friendship ribbon?” Kirsty asked.
Florence nodded. “Of course,” she said. “They won’t be quite as sparkly as the friendship ribbon, but—”
“That’s fine,” Kirsty said, interrupting. “In fact, that’s perfect! Let’s tell the goblins that a three-legged race is the only way to tell who are the best friends. We can use the ribbons to tie up their legs. Hopefully they’ll be so distracted by the race that we’ll be able to sneak up, take the friendship ribbon, and fly off!”
Florence grinned. “I love it!” she said. She waved her wand and spoke some magic words under her breath. Then, in a swirl of pink sparkles, two matching ribbons appeared in her hand. “There!” She smiled. “Now let’s put our plan into action.”
Rachel, Kirsty, and Florence all fluttered into the clearing, just as the smallest goblin ripped off his blindfold. “I’m not playing this game anymore,” he grumbled. “You guys are so mean! You’re the worst friends ever!”
“Uh-oh,” Rachel said loudly. “Worst friends ever? That’s not good. We were just wondering which of you are best friends.”
The goblins all replied at once, pointing as they talked. “I’m best friends with him, but he likes him better than me.”
“I don’t like him or him or him, but he’s OK, I guess.”
“I’m the best at everything, so I must be the best friend,” another boasted.
“Well,” Kirsty said over their chatter, “what about having a competition to decide who are the best friends of all? We have some extra ribbons here, so you can have a three-legged race. Get into pairs as quickly as you can!”
Kirsty spoke so firmly that the goblins all scurried to find a partner and tie their legs together.
“The first pair to reach the weeping willow tree wins!” Rachel said. “Ready, set, GO!”
The goblins began hobbling off in pairs, all looking very determined. But as they ran, Kirsty began to doubt that her plan would work. The goblins were actually all really good at running three-legged! Would any of them fall over?
“Hmmm,” said Florence, as if reading Kirsty’s mind. “Maybe I should make things a little trickier for them. . . .” She waved her wand and whispered some more magic words. A stream of sparkles swirled out of her wand tip. Suddenly, lots of stones and acorns rolled in front of the goblins’ feet!
“Ooh! Ahh!” wailed the goblins. One by one, they stumbled and fell on top of one another!
They weren’t hurt, but the goblins were soon a big tangle of arms and legs, all shouting and arguing.
“Quick!” Rachel urged. “Now’s our chance to get the ribbon!”
Florence didn’t need to be told twice! She zoomed through the air and untied the sparkliest ribbon from the tangle of goblin legs, then fluttered up high. “Got it!” she cheered. “Come on, let’s fly back and tie it to the maypole!”
Rachel and Kirsty soared into the air after Florence, and the three of them flew all the way back to the palace grounds. There, Florence tied the magic ribbon back on the maypole. “Hooray!” they cheered, hugging one another in triumph.
“Is that Kirsty and Rachel I see?” came a booming voice. The girls turned to see the fairy king and queen walking into the courtyard with big smiles on their faces.
Rachel and Kirsty smiled back politely and dipped into curtsies.
King Oberon and Queen Titania were always really nice, but the girls still felt shy in front of them. “Hello,” they said together.
Florence flew down from the maypole. “Kirsty and Rachel have helped me twice in the last two days, Your Majesties,” she said. “Yesterday they helped me get my magic memory book from the goblins, and today they helped rescue the friendship ribbon. They are true friends to the fairies!”
Queen Titania smiled and nodded. “Girls, we would be honored if you two could declare our Friendship Party officially open,” she said. She waved her wand, and the sound of a bell ringing majestically echoed through the air. All the fairies fell silent and turned to see what was happening.
Florence the Friendship Fairy Page 2