Rachel caught the smell in her nose, and she let out a sneeze. “Aaaaah-choo! We’ve really got to stop him,” she said.
“I agree!” said Kirsty. She looked thoughtful. “But how?”
The three fairies fell silent, each trying to think up a plan of action. As she racked her brain for a good idea, Kirsty noticed that the goblin had become quiet, too. She peeked out and saw that he was shaking his air-freshener cans, then scowling and throwing them on the ground. “They’re empty,” she realized out loud. “He ran out of the spray!”
The friends watched as the goblin tried the cans one by one, but there wasn’t anything left in them. The goblin wasn’t happy and kicked at the empty cans. Then he took the wand from his belt and tried waving it over the pile. “Magic yourselves full again!” he commanded — but nothing happened.
“This is our chance,” Rachel whispered to Kirsty and Isabella. “He can’t threaten us with the air freshener if it’s all gone. Maybe we can snatch Isabella’s wand before he figures out how to use it!”
“I agree,” said Isabella. “Come on, we’ll try to surprise him.”
The fairies zoomed out of the bushes toward the goblin. A look of panic fell over his face, and he pointed the wand at them. “Freeze!” he commanded, but once again, nothing happened. He shook the wand irritably. “Always works when Jack Frost says it,” he grumbled to himself. “Work, you silly wand! Freeze those fairies!”
Isabella raised an eyebrow. “What he doesn’t know is that a fairy’s wand can never be used to do harm,” she whispered to Kirsty and Rachel. “So don’t worry. He won’t be able to cast any freezing magic over us — or any other horrible spells, either!” She grinned. “Let’s try and grab it.”
“If Kirsty and I fly around his head, maybe he’ll be distracted, and you can take the wand, Isabella,” Rachel suggested.
“That’s good thinking,” Kirsty said. “Let’s try it!”
Kirsty and Rachel began zooming around the goblin, both in different directions. He went cross-eyed, trying to keep up with them. “Can’t catch me!” Rachel giggled as she whooshed over one of his big green ears.
The goblin swiped at the girls, trying to bat them away with his big hands. “Get away!” he yelled, sounding grumpy. “You just watch it or . . . or . . .” He scratched his head, trying to think of a threat.
“Or I’ll tickle you with this wand!” He waved it in midair. “Yeah — that’s what I’ll do. Goblins are very ticklish — I bet fairies are as well.”
He began jabbing the wand at them, as if he were a swordfighter, trying to tickle them with the end of it.
Then, as he waved the wand around, Isabella suddenly caught hold of its other end. She held on with all her might. “Help me,” she called to Kirsty and Rachel. “We can pull it out of his grasp!”
Rachel and Kirsty flew to help their friend at once, and all three of them pulled at the wand, trying to tug it from the goblin’s hand. Unfortunately, the goblin was much stronger. He flicked the wand with force — and flung all three fairies off the end of it. They tumbled down toward the bushes.
“Help!” cried Rachel as she plunged backward.
Flutter flew out with some of her new butterfly friends. “Are you OK?” she asked, as the three fairies crashed into the leaves.
Kirsty wriggled free. “I’m fine,” she said, feeling comforted by the soft breeze from Flutter’s wingbeats. It actually tickled a bit, she thought . . .
And then it struck her. Hadn’t the goblin said that he was ticklish? She grinned. “I just had a great idea!” she said.
Rachel smiled back at her friend. She couldn’t wait to hear Kirsty’s plan. It was sure to be a great one.
Kirsty beckoned the butterflies closer and told them her idea. “Do you think you could swarm around the goblin and tickle him with the tips of your wings?” she asked. “If we can get him to really giggle, he won’t be able to concentrate on holding the wand . . . and hopefully we can grab it!”
Flutter beat her wings eagerly. “Sure!” she said. “That sounds fun. Are the rest of you up for that?”
The other butterflies looked excited, too.
“Absolutely!” said Flit. “Let’s do it!”
The butterflies flew out of the hedge in a multicolored stream and swirled around the goblin, fluttering just close enough to his head and body so their wing tips brushed against his skin.
“Oohhh . . . ooh, that tickles,” he sputtered, hunching forward helplessly. “Hee-hee . . . Ooh! Ha-ha-ha!”
Soon the goblin was breathless with giggles. His whole body shook as he twisted and turned, trying to get away from the ticklish butterflies. And then Rachel spotted the wand slip from his fingers and tumble to the ground — the plan had worked!
Rachel, Kirsty, and Isabella immediately swooped down toward the fallen wand.
As soon as Isabella reached out and touched the wand, it shrank down to its Fairyland size. It immediately lit up and glowed between her fingers.
“Hooray!” Isabella cheered, twirling the wand like a bandleader’s baton. “We did it! Nice work, butterflies!”
“Yes, thanks, butterflies! You can stop now,” Kirsty called. She, Rachel, and Isabella flew a safe distance away.
The butterflies fluttered behind them.
Now alone, the goblin collapsed onto the ground, still giggling uncontrollably. Then the expression on his face changed to anger as he realized he no longer had the wand. “Hey!” he shouted as he saw it in Isabella’s hand. “That’s mine!”
“Oh, no it isn’t,” Isabella retorted. “It’s mine — and I’m keeping it. I think it’s time you went home now, before anyone spots you!”
The goblin scowled and stomped off, muttering something about not taking orders from silly fairies. Rachel gave a cheer and turned to smile at Kirsty. She noticed her friend was looking at something else. “Is that Flutter?” Kirsty asked, puzzled.
Rachel couldn’t see the butterfly anywhere at first. She stared where Kirsty was pointing. “But that’s a blue butterfly,” she said, confused. “Unless . . . Flutter, is that really you? You’re not gray anymore!”
Flutter glanced at her wings and gave a squeak of delight. “I’m blue, I’m blue!” she cried, flying a figure eight in excitement. “Look at my lovely wings!”
“The gray on Flutter’s wings must have been dirt from the pollution in the air,” Kirsty realized. “Just like the flowers we saw near the movie theater, Rachel.”
“Yes, and all that tickling must have brushed off the gray dust,” Rachel figured out. She smiled at the happy butterfly. “You look great, Flutter!”
Isabella flew over and gave Flutter a little kiss. “Now that I have my wand, I can start cleaning up the air in this town,” she said, “so no butterflies have to have soot-covered wings again!” She smiled. “I’ll start with the parks and green areas. Trees are amazing at absorbing carbon dioxide and turning it into oxygen, which we can breathe. More trees and fewer cars, that’s what we need!” Her eyes fell upon the discarded spray cans that were still lying on the ground. “But first, I’m going to do a little cleaning up right here. . . .”
She waved her wand and a flood of magical blue sparkles swirled from it and onto the cans. Kirsty and Rachel watched as, one by one, the cans sailed through the air to the nearest recycling bin, where they dropped inside.
Kirsty, Rachel, and the butterflies all cheered, and Isabella made a little curtsey.
“Thank you, girls, you were fabulous,” she said, hugging them one at a time. “Now I should send you back to Seabury. It’s almost time for you to meet your parents.”
“Good-bye, Isabella,” said Kirsty. “I hope your clean-up magic goes well.”
“We’ll do what we can to help, too,” Rachel promised. “Bye!”
Isabella waved her wand and with a whirl of glittering fairy magic, the two girls found themselves in Seabury once again, back to their normal sizes. They walked toward the movie theater to find their parents.
>
“Wow, look at that!” Kirsty said as a street car went by, heading for the seaside. “I’d love to go on one of those while we’re on vacation.”
“Much more fun than traveling by car,” Rachel said. “And when we’re back at home, I’ll ask my teacher if we can do a project about different ways to get to school, other than using the car. I should get out my old scooter.”
“Or a skateboard would be fun!” Kirsty laughed.
As they approached the theater, they could see crowds of people exiting after having just seen a movie there. “That was so exciting!” Kirsty and Rachel heard a boy say to his friend.
The girls exchanged glances. “Not half as exciting as our fairy adventures, I bet!” Rachel whispered with a grin.
Kirsty smiled. “Let’s hope we have some more adventures with the Earth Fairies very soon!” she said happily.
Rachel and Kirsty found Nicole and Isabella’s missing magic wands. Now it’s time for them to help
Join their next adventure in this special sneak peek. . . .
“It’s another beautiful day, Kirsty!” Rachel Walker exclaimed happily as she and her best friend, Kirsty Tate, hurried along a winding country lane. The blue sky above them was dotted with fluffy white clouds, and the sun was warm on their faces. “Isn’t Rainspell Island just the most magical place?”
“I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather go on vacation,” Kirsty replied, gazing across the lush green fields. The aquamarine sea sparkled in the distance and seagulls wheeled through the crisp, salty air.
The Tates and the Walkers had arrived on the island three days ago to spend the fall break there.
“It’s great that we’re helping to keep Rainspell clean and beautiful, isn’t it, Rachel?” Kirsty added. “Do you have the flyer that came yesterday?”
Rachel pulled the fluyer out of her pocket. PROJECT GREEN was written at the top, and underneath it read:
Would YOU like to help the Rainspell Gardening Club make a NEW garden out of an area of unused land? Then please join us at our site on Butterfly Lane tomorrow. Wear old clothes!
“I’m glad we decided to volunteer,” Kirsty said as they studied the flyer. “We might have our friends the Earth Fairies to help us with the environment, but we humans have to do our part, too!”
Rachel nodded. Rainspell Island was a very special place because it was where she and Kirsty had first become good friends with the fairies. Since then the girls had shared many magical, amazing adventures while helping the fairies outwit cold, sly Jack Frost and his goblins.
But now it was Rachel and Kirsty’s turn to ask the fairies for help. When the girls had arrived on Rainspell Island, they’d been shocked to see lots of litter scattered across the golden beach. They decided to ask the king and queen of Fairyland to help clean up the human world with fairy magic. . . .
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-62219-6
Copyright © 2009 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
Previously published as Green Fairies #2: Isabella the Air Fairy by Orchard U.K. in 2009.
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, July 2014
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