“But what if Jack Frost notices that the shell is missing before we get away?” asked Kirsty.
Rachel glanced out at the beach. She had an idea! “If we found a shell that looked like the magic shell, we could swap them! Then Jack Frost wouldn’t know we’d taken it, and we could escape before he figured it out.”
“Oh, yes!” Kirsty said.
Joy beamed. “Great idea! Let’s go!”
The three girls flew down to the beach, staying in the shadow of the castle walls. Luckily, none of the goblins noticed them — the creatures were too busy squabbling in their boats.
“How are we going to get into the castle?” Kirsty asked.
“Let’s hide under this seaweed while we decide what to do,” suggested Rachel. It was scary being on the beach with so many goblins around, especially when she was fairy-size. She lifted up a strand of seaweed.
“Hey!” a voice exclaimed. A large hermit crab without a shell glared at them from under the seaweed. “That was keeping me warm,” it said, snapping its claws.
Rachel and Kirsty backed away. “Oh, I’m sorry …” Rachel stammered.
“Henry!” cried Joy. To Rachel and Kirsty’s surprise, Joy hurried over and threw her arms around the crab. Smiling broadly, she turned to them. “Didn’t I tell you about Henry? I built him a house because he’d lost his shell.”
“Oh, yes!” Kirsty and Rachel both exclaimed.
“Henry, this is Kirsty and Rachel,” Joy said. “They’re helping me get the Rainspell Shells back. I’m sorry we moved your seaweed, but we were trying to hide so the goblins wouldn’t see us.”
“Oh,” Henry said. “I’m sorry if I was a little bit snappy just now, but I hate not having a shell. That’s why I came here, to Jack Frost’s beach. I thought I might find myself another one.”
“There are tons of shells over here,” said Rachel, turning around to tug at the seaweed. She stopped with a gasp. “Hide! Jack Frost is looking out of the tower!”
A tall, bony figure was staring out of the window at the top of the tallest tower. His spiky hair stood out around his head, and his beard was frozen into icicles. As he gazed around, the girls and Joy ducked down under the seaweed.
“Why aren’t you racing?” Jack Frost shouted angrily to the goblins below.
Looking panicked, one goblin raised his megaphone. “Race, everyone!” he shouted. “Race!”
Immediately, all of the goblins tried to sail in different directions. Four of the boats crashed into one another, and two tipped over.
Splash! The goblins fell into the sea!
Grabbing a sun hat, Jack Frost shoved it on his head and leaned out of the window. “Ridiculous goblins! You couldn’t entertain an icicle! Do something else. Play me some music, instead. The goblin who plays me the best music will get as much candy as he can eat.”
“Candy!” the goblins murmured greedily.
“The rest of you will get” — Jack Frost grinned nastily at the hopeful goblins — “absolutely nothing!”
Laughing, he ducked back inside his tower.
The goblins on the beach scrambled around, grabbing anything they could use for a musical instrument. They banged on upside-down buckets and blew into shells as if they were horns. Rachel, Kirsty, and Joy clapped their hands over their ears. The noise was terrible!
Rachel realized that this was their chance. The goblins were all so busy that the back door of the castle was completely unguarded. “Quick!” she hissed. “Let’s sneak in while they’re not looking.”
“We need to find a shell that looks like the magic shell first,” Joy pointed out.
“There are some over there.” Kirsty pointed to where a group of goblins was arguing over a pile of conch shells.
A goblin with a big wart at the end of his nose was holding a beautiful cream shell.
“I want that one!” grumbled one of the other goblins.
“Well, you can’t have it! It’s mine!”
Clutching the shell, the warty-nosed goblin hurried away. He sat down on the sand near the girls and started blowing into the shell. A few strangled toots came out.
The goblin shook the shell and tried again.
“That shell would be perfect,” Kirsty breathed. “It looks just like the magic shell!”
“Yes,” agreed Rachel, watching the goblin. “But we need to convince him to give it to us!”
Just then, Henry scuttled out from under the seaweed. “That looks like it might be a good shell for me,” he said, heading toward a yellow-and-white shell nearby. Then he shook his head. “No,” he said, sighing. “Its end is too pointy. Pointy shells are not comfortable homes. They’re good for blowing in, but not for living in.”
Joy gasped. “Oh, Henry, you just gave me an idea! Let’s get the goblin to trade his conch shell for that pointy shell.”
“How?” Kirsty asked.
Joy grinned. “With a little bit of magic, of course!”
She waved her wand, filling the air with golden sparkles and tiny, glittering shells. As they fell on the pointy shell, the faint sound of a merry-go-round echoed through the air.
The goblin looked up. “What’s that?”
“I’ve enchanted the shell so that it makes summery music,” Joy whispered to Rachel and Kirsty. Picking up the shell, she flew over to the goblin. “Excuse me!” she called.
Rachel and Kirsty joined her. Was this going to work?
The goblin frowned. “We’re not supposed to let fairies anywhere near the castle. Get lost!”
“But we brought you a shell that plays beautiful music,” Joy said.
“Music?” The goblin’s eyes narrowed slyly. “Music that’s good enough to win Jack Frost’s competition?”
“Oh, yes!” Kirsty said.
“Listen.” Joy held up the shell. Merry-go-round music tinkled out.
“You’d definitely win the competition with this shell,” Rachel told him.
The goblin looked at them suspiciously. “My friend got into trouble when three pesky fairies tricked him and stole one of my master’s shells. How do I know you’re not playing a trick on me?”
“Us?” Rachel said, opening her eyes wide.
“We don’t want to trick you,” Kirsty said, trying to sound like she meant it. “We just want to help.”
“Don’t you want to win that competition?” added Joy. “Just think of the candy!”
“Sugary and delicious,” Rachel said. “Sticky and sweet …”
It was too much for the greedy goblin. “Give me that shell!” he shouted. Throwing the conch shell to the ground, he grabbed the pointy shell and blew hard. Lively music echoed through the air.
The goblin’s face lit up. “I’m going to win the competition!” he cried. “I’m going to get all the candy!” He hurried back to the other goblins. “Listen, everyone!”
The girls and Joy watched as the other goblins crowded around him while the shell played its magical music.
“Come on!” Rachel urged Joy and Kirsty. “Let’s go, while they’re busy!” She flew up into the air, but then stopped. “Oh, no!” she exclaimed. “Look at the doorway!”
The goblins were all pushing and shoving to get into the castle. They all wanted to play their music for Jack Frost.
“We’re never going to get in that way now!” Kirsty cried.
“What are we going to do?” Joy asked, frowning.
“You could always go a different way,” Henry said.
He scuttled toward the castle walls and called, “Sally! Are you there? I have some friends who need your help!”
Kirsty and Rachel stared in surprise as a small brown-and-black beetle suddenly popped its head out of the sand. “Hello!” the beetle said.
“Sally, these friends of mine are trying to rescue a magic shell from the tower,” Henry explained.
“Pleased to meet you,” Sally said. “Follow me!” Swinging around, she pushed her head against the castle wall and began to burrow. Her legs moved in a blur, and s
and flew up all around. A few seconds later, she was gone, leaving a hole behind her.
“She made a tunnel!” Rachel gasped.
“Of course!” Joy beamed. “Sand beetles love burrowing through sand. Come on! Don’t forget the conch shell!”
Rachel and Kirsty carried the shell over to the tunnel. Joy stopped to kiss the hermit crab. “Good-bye, Henry. See you soon.”
“Bye, Henry,” the girls called. “Good luck finding a shell!”
It was a tight squeeze in the tunnel. Rachel, Kirsty, and Joy pushed the shell in front of them. The sandy walls were rough against their knees and elbows.
“It’s very dark,” Kirsty puffed.
“I can fix that,” Joy replied. She waved her wand and a glow lit up the dark, like sunlight.
“Almost there!” Sally called out from up ahead. “We can’t go all the way to the top of the tower because the sand is too soft. But I can take you to a staircase that will lead you there.”
Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other nervously. What if they bumped into some goblins inside the castle, or, even worse, into Jack Frost himself?
A few minutes later, a circle of light appeared overhead.
“I’m out!” Sally called. “The coast is clear.”
Rachel, Kirsty, and Joy scrambled to the end of the tunnel and stepped cautiously into a narrow hallway.
Opposite them, in the sandy wall, there was an arched doorway leading to some stairs. Floating down the stairs came the sounds of goblins blowing on shells and Jack Frost’s voice snapping like broken ice.
“Useless! No! That won’t do, either! No, that’s useless, too. Is that the best you can do?”
Rachel shivered. “That staircase must lead up to Jack Frost’s room. Do you think the goblin has played music from the enchanted shell yet?”
“It doesn’t sound like it,” said Joy.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to head back now,” Sally said. “I don’t like goblins, with their big clumsy feet. My aunt nearly got squashed last week. Good luck!” Waving a leg, she burrowed back into the wall.
“Thanks, Sally!” the girls and Joy called. Then they flew to the end of the hallway and found the stairs that led to the tower. They flew up them until they reached a big door at the top. Pushing it open, they peeked out.
“We’re here!” Joy exclaimed.
“And there’s Jack Frost’s window!” Rachel hissed, pointing to the next tower over.
“Come on, let’s swap the shells and get out of here,” Kirsty said.
“But which one is the magic shell, again?” Rachel asked.
They looked at the conch shells. The sun was hidden behind the clouds. Without it, all of the shells looked exactly the same!
“I know a way to tell, even when the sun isn’t out,” Joy said. “All conch shells make a noise, except for the magic Rainspell Shell. It doesn’t make a sound when you blow in it; it just makes the wind change.”
The girls and Joy flew to the first shell. Pushing their hair out of their eyes, they began to blow into the conches.
Whoop! went the first shell that Kirsty chose.
Toot! blew Rachel’s.
“Whoa!” cried Joy as a gust of wind almost whisked her off the tower. She grabbed at the nearest conch shell to steady herself and blew into it. It made a loud noise like a foghorn.
“Oh, no!” Kirsty gasped, glancing down. “The goblins in the boats are looking this way!”
She was right. A few goblins were still bobbing around in the sea, and now they looked up. Some of them began to point and shout.
The girls and Joy flew frantically from shell to shell. They had to find the right one, and fast!
The goblins started to paddle toward the beach.
“We have to go!” Joy exclaimed.
Kirsty couldn’t stand the thought of giving up when they were so close. She looked around desperately. Which one was the magic shell?
“Come on, Kirsty!” cried Joy.
Kirsty suddenly had an idea. “I know! Why don’t you use your wand, like you did in the tunnel? The light that came from it then was just like sunlight. It might light up the magic shell!”
Joy grinned. “You’re right!” She waved her wand. There was a loud tinkling sound, and the wand lit up with a golden glow. Joy swept the wand through the air, and the glow moved like a beam from a flashlight through the gray air. As the light fell on the shells, one near Kirsty began to sparkle.
“The magic conch shell!” Kirsty gasped, flying toward it. She blew into the shell, just to make sure.
The shell didn’t make a sound.
“Rachel!” Kirsty cried. “We found the shell!”
“I know!” Rachel replied. “And look at the goblins!”
Kirsty looked down. The magic shell had made the wind on the beach whip up. The goblins started yelling as their boats were tossed on the waves.
“Did I just do that?” Kirsty said.
Joy nodded. “Quick! Let’s swap the shells!”
Rachel pulled the magic shell out of the wall, and Kirsty stuck the new shell in its place. Hearts racing, they hurried back to the door and flew down the stairs. As they entered the empty hallway, they could see the hole in the wall where Sally’s tunnel started.
Suddenly, Joy stopped in her tracks, and the girls nearly crashed into her.
The goblin with the warty nose had come running into the hallway. He carried the pointy shell under one arm and charged right at them!
Rachel and Kirsty froze.
“I have the best shell and I’m going to get all the candy!” the goblin muttered, running toward them.
Joy gasped. “He hasn’t seen us yet!” Grabbing Rachel’s and Kirsty’s arms, she pulled them up to the ceiling.
Licking his lips, the goblin charged through the door that led to Jack Frost’s tower. The shell’s music seemed to be slowing down, getting fainter every second, just like a real merry-go-round when it comes to a stop.
“The magic’s about to wear off!” Joy exclaimed. “Come on, let’s get out of here before Jack Frost realizes he’s been tricked!” She dived into the tunnel.
“If we slide down, it’ll be quicker,” Joy called back over her shoulder.
She touched the sand at the bottom of the tunnel with her wand. The surface began to glitter like glass. With a loud “Whee!” Joy whizzed down the tunnel as if it were a giant slide.
Kirsty and Rachel jumped in after her. Sandy walls flashed by as they hurtled down the twisting tunnel. Fairy dust sparkled all around them.
Clutching the magic shell, Rachel shot out onto the pile of seaweed at the bottom of the tunnel. Kirsty almost landed on top of her.
“Wow! That was amazing!” Rachel gasped, scrambling to her feet.
Suddenly, above them, there was a yell so loud that it made the castle walls shake. “WHAT?! You’re telling me you got this useless shell from three fairies?”
Although Jack Frost was in his tower, the girls could hear him loud and clear. “Well, it doesn’t make music now!” he shouted. There was a pause. “What do you mean, you swapped it for a conch shell? A conch shell!”
“Quick!” Joy looked alarmed. “I think Jack Frost knows that we tricked the goblin!”
As the three friends flew up into the air, they saw Jack Frost storm to the window. “Pesky fairies!” he shouted. “Come back here with my magic shell!”
But he was too far away to stop them. With a final look at the castle, the girls and Joy flew away.
“Phew!” Rachel said as they reached the harbor at last. “That was scary!”
“Yes,” Joy agreed. “But at least we rescued the second magic shell! Do you want to come to the underwater cave and help me put it back where it belongs?”
Joy the Summer Vacation Fairy (Rainbow Magic) Page 3