Just then, a little boy dressed as a pirate walked up to the food table, right next to Jack Frost. Jack Frost stretched his bony fingers toward the magical caramel apple. “Shiver me timbers!” the young pirate bellowed suddenly, lifting up his eye patch for a better look. “I like your Jack Frost costume, matey. Did you make it yourself ?”
The three friends hiding behind the door were surprised to see Jack Frost blush. “Um, well, my mother made it,” he said.
Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other and giggled.
“It looks so real,” the little boy said. “That’s cool. I want to be Jack Frost next year.”
“You make a good pirate,” Jack Frost chuckled quietly. Then, without even looking, he reached out and grabbed the caramel apple with the glitter wrapper.
Trixie and the girls held their breath.
“Would you like this?” he asked the boy.
Rachel thought for sure that Jack Frost was teasing the little pirate, but his smile looked genuine. Just as the boy was about to take the apple, a goblin ran up and snatched it from his hands. “I got it!” the goblin shrieked.
“What? No! It was for him!” Jack Frost cried, but the goblin didn’t seem to notice that Jack Frost was even there. Just then, another goblin snatched the caramel apple away and held it up in the air.
“Hee, hee! Hooray for me!” the goblin hooted. “I’m going to give it to Jack Frost!” Then he took off, holding the apple in the air.
“What’s happening?” Rachel asked. “Don’t they know Jack Frost is right here?”
“I guess not!” Trixie laughed, shaking her head.
“We have to do something!” Kirsty declared.
“Let’s wait and see what happens,” Trixie advised.
Just then, the Peter Pan goblin leaped up and clutched the caramel apple. “It’s mine now!” he yelled, running across the room.
The parents at the party rolled their eyes, assuming the goblins were kids with horrible manners. The Peter Pan goblin cackled with joy as he ran, but he didn’t watch where he was going. He tripped over a witch’s broom and went sprawling forward. The magic caramel apple flew from his hands and up toward the ceiling.
Suddenly, Trixie, Rachel, and Kirsty spotted Moonlight, perched on the chandelier. With a swat of his paw, Moonlight batted the caramel apple toward a bunch of balloons. The apple bounced right off ! Everyone at the party was trying to ignore the bratty goblins, so no one noticed the apple whiz over their heads and through a tiny open crack in the secret door.
“Wow! You caught it!” Rachel cried, gazing at Kirsty with excitement. “This time, the magic really did come to us!” she said with a laugh.
“Good catch!” Trixie exclaimed.
“Thank you so much.” The Halloween fairy beamed as she tapped the apple with her wand and it shrank back to its Fairyland size. “I guess Moonlight had a plan all along. Now I need to hurry back to Fairyland, so everyone can share in the magic of Halloween! I’ll be back soon.”
As Trixie disappeared in a whirl of fairy dust, Rachel and Kirsty slipped out the secret door and joined the party.
Rachel smiled. “I can’t wait until Trixie gets the last piece of candy back to Fairyland.”
“The party feels more fun already,” Kirsty said, looking around. Then her eyes stopped on an unusual sight. Kirsty tugged on Rachel’s sleeve and pointed. Jack Frost was sitting in the corner with his young pirate friend, and they were both eating caramel apples.
“Hmm. Is it possible that he wasn’t after the magic caramel apple at all?” Kirsty wondered.
Then she and her best friend looked each other in the eye. “No,” they agreed, shaking their heads and giggling.
“And he’s certainly not letting the people have all the fun. He’s enjoying himself as much as anyone,” Rachel admitted.
“Maybe Jack Frost just didn’t want to be left out of the magic of Halloween,” suggested Kirsty.
The band started back up, and the dance floor filled with ghosts and ghouls and goblins (some dressed as limes and lima beans). Rachel saw her parents laughing with Frankenstein and his bride.
Out of the corner of their eyes, the girls noticed a burst of glittery stars brighten the night sky. “Maybe it’s Trixie,” Kirsty said. The best friends rushed out the door and found Trixie sitting atop a round pumpkin.
“I wanted to come back and thank you,” the fairy said. “And give you these pumpkin cookie jars from the king and queen. They are so grateful for all of your help. Now everyone can have a happy Halloween!”
“Thank you, Trixie. We had a lot of fun,” said Rachel, lifting the lid off her cookie jar. It was filled with candy corn, chocolate bars, and caramel apples — all in orange glitter wrappers.
“This is so nice of you, Trixie,” Kirsty added. “But are you sure that’s the only reason you came back?”
At once, a little black cat bounded from the shadows. As Moonlight leaped toward Trixie, he magically shrank to his Fairyland size and landed in the fairy’s lap. “Oh, Moonlight!” Trixie said with glee. “Now it is my happiest Halloween of all.”
With that, the fairy and her kitten vanished under a shower of stars.
“I guess it’s time to join the Halloween party,” Rachel said, smiling at her friend.
“We should celebrate,” Kirsty agreed. “We got to help our friends, the fairies, and there’s nothing sweeter than that.”
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-28692-3
Copyright © 2009 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
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First Scholastic printing, July 2009
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Trixie the Halloween Fairy Page 4