Savannah laughed.
“There’s no need for magic,” she said. “The zebras are our friends. All we have to do is ask.”
The girls split up and flitted among the zebras, asking each one to head to the watering hole. They flew low and stayed close to the zebras so the goblins didn’t spot them. A few minutes later, the whole herd set off for the watering hole. At first they trotted and then they started to run, their hooves pounding and shaking the ground. They ran faster and faster, and soon only two zebras were lagging behind—the goblin zebra … and Ziggy.
By the time the goblins reached the watering hole, most of the other zebras had already finished drinking. The front goblin trotted up to the hole. As soon as it dipped its head, Savannah’s magic key chain dropped into the shallow water.
“There it is!” said Kirsty. “Come on!”
The three fairies swooped off Ziggy’s back and darted down to the water, but then a hand reached out from the middle of the zebra costume. It was the goblin who was disguised as the back legs of the zebra, and he snatched the zebra charm from under their hands.
“Fairies!” he yelled. “Pesky fairies! RUN!”
The front goblin panicked and ran in one direction, while the back goblin darted another way.
“This way!” squealed the front goblin.
The pretend zebra stumbled off across the grassland, followed by Ziggy.
“Ziggy, come back!” cried Rachel.
The fairies flew after them at top speed.
“Even if we catch those rotten goblins, how can we stop them?” asked Kirsty.
“I wish we had the lasso those other goblins had!” Rachel puffed.
Savannah grinned and waved her wand. Instantly, a long lasso appeared in Rachel’s hands.
“Fabulous!” said Rachel.
With Kirsty and Savannah holding the other end of the rope, Rachel whirled the lasso in the air and then aimed it at the goblin zebra. Could she make the throw?
Rachel flung the lasso over the pretend zebra’s front end and pulled it tight. Then she flew around and coiled the rope around its back legs. She’d captured the goblins! Frightened, Ziggy gave a cry of alarm and ran back to his parents and the herd. The goblins struggled in the lasso, and the pretend zebra head came off and flopped to one side. Underneath was a very hot, very angry-looking goblin. He wiggled, but his arms were trapped at his sides by the lasso.
“Let us go!” he squawked. “You’ll be sorry if you don’t!”
“You can’t scare us with your threats,” Kirsty replied.
The back end of the green-and-white zebra wiggled from side to side.
“I can’t move!” came a muffled wail from the zebra’s bottom. “Set my legs free!”
“Give us back Savannah’s key chain first,” said Rachel. “Then we’ll let you go.”
The goblins both stuck out their tongues and scowled in reply.
“All right,” said Rachel. “We can’t force you to give the key chain back. But we can’t let you hurt Ziggy, either. So we’ll just have to tie you up until we can be sure that Ziggy is safe.”
She winked at Kirsty and Savannah, and started to wind the rope around the goblins some more.
“Stop that!” shrieked the front goblin.
“I can’t move!” wailed the goblin in back. “Let us go!”
“Give Savannah her magic key chain and then you can go free,” said Rachel.
“Jack Frost will be so angry if we go back without the zebra,” cried the back goblin.
“He’ll be even angrier if we don’t go back at all,” said the front goblin. “Besides, it’s lunchtime and I’m hungry. Give the silly fairy what she wants and let’s get out of here.”
Making loud grumbling noises, the back goblin put one hand out of the bottom of the costume and threw the magic zebra charm at Savannah. She caught it, and it returned to fairy-size at once.
Rachel let go of the rope and the goblins shook themselves free. The front goblin glared at the fairies and put the pretend zebra head back on.
“Let’s get back to the Ice Castle,” he said. “I’m sick of zebras, and I’m sick of fairies.”
The goblins staggered away, still in their green-and-white costume.
“Let’s go and make sure Ziggy’s OK,” said Savannah.
The three fairies zipped back to the watering hole, where all the zebras were waiting for them. Savannah fluttered over to Ziggy, who was breathing heavily. She stroked his velvety muzzle and whispered to him. Steadily, his breathing slowed down and he started to look happier.
Ziggy’s mother trotted over to where Rachel and Kirsty were hovering in the air.
“Thank you so much for helping to protect my son,” she said. “We will never forget what you did for us today.”
The whole herd gave the fairies three cheers, and then Savannah put her arms around Rachel and Kirsty.
“It’s time for you to go back to the nature reserve,” she said. “There are animals there who need you, too.”
Kirsty and Rachel couldn’t wait to get back to Wild Woods. The deer would be waiting for them!
Savannah waved her wand. In the blink of an eye, the girls found themselves behind the tree in the meadow at Wild Woods Nature Reserve. Rachel and Kirsty looked around. The deer were still eating, the visitors were still listening to Becky’s talk, and the cute little fawn was still too shy to come out from behind the trees. Kirsty reached up and took her hat down from the tree.
“No time has passed since you left,” said Savannah. “No one noticed anything. Girls, I can’t thank you enough for helping me to find my magic key chain. It will really cheer up the other Baby Animal Rescue Fairies to hear what happened today.”
“Are you going back to Fairyland now?” Kirsty asked.
Savannah nodded. “I’m so happy that the zebras are safe,” she said. “I hope you enjoy the rest of the week here, girls.”
Savannah gave the girls a tiny kiss and then raised her wand. She made a zigzag in the air, and black-and-white fairy dust fell all around her. When the sparkles cleared, she had disappeared.
“I’m so glad that we were able to help Savannah,” said Rachel. “I just wish that we could help that shy little fawn, too.”
“Maybe we can,” said Kirsty. “Remember how Savannah calmed Ziggy down?”
She turned to the fawn, who trembled as she stepped closer to him.
“Hello,” she said. “My name’s Kirsty.”
She reached out her hand and very, very gently stroked his nose. The fawn shifted his feet around, but he seemed to like the attention.
“Don’t be afraid,” Kirsty said in a soft voice. “We’re your friends. All those people waiting to see you are your friends, too.”
The fawn tilted his head to one side, then nibbled at her sun hat. Kirsty giggled and pulled it away from him. Rachel fetched a handful of feed and held it out to him.
“Come on,” she said in a gentle voice. “Come into the open.”
Slowly, Rachel and Kirsty led the little fawn out into the meadow. Step by step, he moved closer to the fence, nibbling tasty treats from Rachel’s hand as he walked.
The visitors had noticed what the girls were doing, and were watching in breathless silence. The little fawn looked over at all the curious faces staring at him. He looked at Rachel and Kirsty, and they gave him reassuring smiles and nods. The fawn’s head went up, and then he trotted over to the fence to say hello to the visitors.
“You two have a magic touch with animals,” said Becky, walking over to them. “No one else has been able to get that little fawn into the open.”
Rachel and Kirsty shared a secret smile. Becky had no idea that she was speaking the absolute truth!
“Thank you for doing such a wonderful job this morning,” Becky went on. “Here are your badges.”
She handed each of them a badge with a picture of a deer to put on their backpacks.
“Thank you!” said the girls together.
As they walked across the meadow to pick up the empty feed buckets, Rachel squeezed her best friend’s hand.
“I wonder what kind of animal we’ll be helping next,” she said.
“Whatever it is, it’ll be amazing,” Kirsty replied. “I can’t wait!”
Rachel grinned in response. This week at Wild Woods Nature Reserve was turning out to be one of their best vacations yet!
Rachel and Kirsty found Mae, Kitty, Mara, and Savannah’s missing magic key chains.
Now it’s time for them to help
Join their next adventure in this special sneak peek …
“So, here we are again at Wild Woods. Maybe we’ll get another badge today,” Kirsty Tate said hopefully, smiling at her best friend, Rachel Walker.
The girls were outside the wildlife center with the other junior rangers. They were all waiting for Becky, the head of the Wild Woods Nature Reserve. Rachel and Kirsty had volunteered to spend a week of summer vacation working at the reserve, which was near Kirsty’s home. Every day, Becky gave the junior rangers a job to do. If they successfully completed the tasks, they each received a badge.
“It would be amazing to get another one!” Rachel exclaimed, patting her backpack proudly. The girls’ hard work had already earned them four badges, and they’d pinned them to the pockets of their backpacks. “It’s great to know that we’re helping wildlife, and it’s really fun, too.”
“And helping out at Wild Woods isn’t our only job this week,” Kirsty reminded Rachel. “We’re helping the Baby Animal Rescue Fairies, too!”
“I wonder if we’ll help rescue another baby animal today,” Rachel murmured. “The four we’ve met so far have all been so cute!”
Becky came out of the wildlife center, holding a clipboard in one hand and a bag of equipment in the other. “Morning, everyone,” she called cheerfully. “I have lots of jobs for you today.” She consulted her clipboard, then smiled at Rachel and Kirsty. “OK, girls, you’re first. Follow me!”
Copyright © 2013 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Rainbow Magic Limited.
SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. RAINBOW MAGIC is a trademark of Rainbow Magic Limited. Reg. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and other countries. HIT and the HIT logo are trademarks of HIT Entertainment Limited.
First Scholastic printing, January 2015
e-ISBN 978-0-545-72308-4
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Savannah the Zebra Fairy Page 2