“Hi, Mom,” said Rachel, tapping Mrs. Walker on the shoulder.
Rachel’s mom turned around, and the girls gasped in shock. Mrs. Walker’s face was caked in heavy makeup. Her eye shadow was emerald green, her mascara was bright blue, and she had two circles of deep red blush, one on each cheek. She looked like a circus clown!
“What’s the matter?” Mrs. Walker asked, turning around to look in the mirror. She stared at herself in complete horror. “Oh, my goodness! I look awful!”
“I’m so sorry,” the girl in the white smock mumbled. She seemed embarrassed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.”
The girls glanced around the room. Rachel’s mom wasn’t the only woman getting a terrible makeover. There were plenty of other customers who looked disappointed. Their faces were all caked in thick and unflattering makeup.
“This is all because my magical lipstick is missing!” Miranda whispered from Kirsty’s bag. “All the makeup looks horrible, and everyone has lost the smile that makes them naturally beautiful.”
“Maybe we can help you fix it, Mom,” Rachel suggested, but Mrs. Walker shook her head gloomily.
“I’m going to the ladies’ room to wipe it all off,” she said, sliding off her stool. “Why don’t you girls meet me at the Sweet Scoop Ice Cream Parlor in twenty minutes?”
“OK, Mom,” Rachel replied.
“Maybe we should take a closer look around this store before we go,” Kirsty whispered to Rachel as Mrs. Walker left. “It’s the perfect place to hide the magic lipstick! No one would notice it here.”
Rachel and Kirsty began to wander quietly around Beautiful You, keeping their eyes open for Miranda’s magical object. A few minutes later, Rachel noticed three women sitting in a corner. They all had long, flowing hair, and they were doing makeovers on one another, applying lipstick and patting on face powder. Rachel could tell that two of the women looked just as badly made-up as her mom and the other customers. But she was surprised to see that the third woman didn’t look the same at all! Her makeup was simple and beautiful, and she was smiling happily.
“Isn’t that weird, Kirsty?” Rachel murmured, pointing out the woman to her friend. “Why does her makeup look so good?”
Kirsty was about to reply when she noticed the clothes the three women were wearing. All of them were dressed in ice-blue outfits exactly the same color as Jack Frost’s jacket.
“Rachel, they’re goblins!” Kirsty whispered. “Look at their clothes! They must be wearing wigs, and the face powder is hiding their green skin.”
“And the one who is smiling and has such perfect makeup must also have my lipstick!” Miranda realized. “Jack Frost must have given it to the goblins to hide.”
“And now they’re distracted, playing around with all this makeup!” Rachel guessed. “So how are we going to get the lipstick back?”
Before the girls and Miranda could decide on a plan, the three goblins got up and left the store.
“I’ll turn you into fairies,” Miranda decided. “That will make it much easier to follow the goblins. Otherwise, we might lose them in the crowd.”
Rachel and Kirsty quickly ducked behind the nearest makeup counter. With just one flick of Miranda’s wand, the girls began to shrink. They became smaller and smaller until they were fairy-size, with fluttery wings like Miranda’s on their shoulders.
Miranda motioned to the girls. They silently flew from behind the makeup counter and out of the store.
At once, they spotted the goblins
staring into the window of a chocolate shop, pressing their noses against the glass. Miranda and the girls flew toward them. They kept out of sight by flitting behind the pillars and banners. But then the goblins were on the move again.
“Have you noticed all the shoppers look just as miserable as the people in Beautiful You?” Kirsty asked, frowning. “We have to get Miranda’s lipstick back — and all the other magical objects, too!”
The goblins had now reached the fountains in the middle of the mall. They squealed with delight and stopped to admire their reflections in the clear blue pool.
“This could be our chance!” Miranda decided.
Kirsty sniffed the air. “What is that horrible smell?” she asked, wrinkling her nose and making a face.
“It smells like pond scum!” Rachel said. “Where’s it coming from?”
Miranda pointed at the Bath Bliss shop on the other side of the pool. “All of Bath Bliss’s products smell awful because my lipstick is missing!” she explained.
Kirsty could see that the shoppers walking past Bath Bliss were holding their noses in disgust. “The goblins don’t seem to mind,” she remarked, gazing down at them. They were still staring at their reflections in the water.
“Oh, goblins love bad smells!” Miranda told her.
Just then, Rachel spotted a big sign in the Bath Bliss window.
“Try our beautiful bubbles for free!” she read aloud. “We’re giving away a free trial bottle of our chocolate-and-orange-scented bubble bath, while supplies last.” There was a big stack of bubble-bath bottles next to the sign.
Rachel’s face lit up. “Oh, that gave me an idea!” she exclaimed. “But I need to be my normal size again, Miranda.”
The three friends flew to hide behind another pillar, and Miranda’s magic quickly turned Rachel to her human size again. Immediately, Rachel hurried to Bath Bliss, while Kirsty and Miranda fluttered over to the pot of tropical flowers closest to the three goblins. There, they hid inside one of the large scarlet blooms.
The horrible smell grew even stronger as Rachel went inside Bath Bliss, so she wasn’t surprised that the shop was empty. The girl sitting behind the counter looked miserable.
“Hello, can I help you?” she said.
“Could I try one of your free bottles of bubble bath?” Rachel asked, pointing at the window display.
“Are you sure?” the girl asked with a sigh. “I don’t know what happened with this batch, but something went wrong. They smell really bad!”
“I’d really like one,” Rachel assured her. The shop assistant took a bottle out of the window and handed it to her. Rachel thanked her and then hurried back to the fountains. To her relief, the three goblins were still there.
“Oh, hello!” Rachel said. “I just had to come over and tell you that I think you all look very beautiful.”
The goblins smiled smugly.
“We already know that!” said the one with perfect makeup.
“Maybe one day you’ll be as beautiful as we are, if you try hard enough!” one of the others told Rachel. All three goblins roared with laughter. Meanwhile, Kirsty and Miranda were peeking out of the tropical flower, watching what was going on.
“Wouldn’t you like to smell beautiful, too?” Rachel asked, holding out the bottle of bubble bath. “Maybe the three of you would like to share this.”
The third goblin grabbed the bubble bath, twisted off the cap, and smelled it. “Ooh, yum!” He sighed. “I’m keeping it all for myself.”
“I’m the most beautiful, so I should get it!” the goblin with the perfect makeup insisted. He grabbed for the bottle, but the other goblin held it high above his head, out of his reach. Rachel smiled as the third goblin snuck up behind the second goblin, jumped up high, and snatched the bottle. Laughing triumphantly, he waved it in the air.
“Give me that!” shouted the goblin with the perfect makeup. He lunged at the bottle, and all three goblins began wrestling for it. As they did, the top of the bottle flew off.
Rachel waited quietly as Miranda and Kirsty flew out of the scarlet flower. They circled the goblins, trying to spot the lipstick. Kirsty managed to slip her hand into the pocket of the goblin with the good makeup. To her dismay, it was empty, and she didn’t have time to search his other pocket
. Quickly, she and Miranda flew behind one of the pots of flowers again before the goblins saw them.
There was a sudden splash as the bottle slipped through the goblins’ fingers and fell into the pool.
“Now look what you’ve done, you fool!” the goblins all shouted at one another.
The water began frothing up into big soapy bubbles. Rachel made a face as the smell of pond scum grew stronger, too.
“Oh, that smell’s getting worse!” a passing shopper said to her friend.
“Such pretty perfume!” One of the goblins sighed happily, as he flicked some of the bubbles at the others.
That was when an idea popped into Kirsty’s head!
“Miranda, could you use your magic to make a lot more of the stinky bubbles? We need to distract the goblins,” Kirsty whispered.
“Of course!” Miranda said, surprised. She pointed her wand at the fountain pool, and a few magical sparkles landed on the surface of the water. The water began to foam and froth. Hundreds of bubbles appeared and floated up into the air, drifting around the goblins. The smell of pond scum was now so overpowering that the shoppers who were nearby ran for cover. Rachel covered her nose with both hands.
“Bubbles!” shrieked the goblins with delight. “Beautiful, smelly bubbles!” They began scooping up armfuls of bubbles and throwing them at one another.
Kirsty motioned to Miranda. They both took a deep breath, held their noses, and flew out from behind the pot of flowers. They watched the goblins for any sign of Miranda’s magical lipstick.
The goblins were running around the fountain, enjoying their bubble fight and getting very wet. Suddenly, Kirsty saw something golden fall to the ground and roll across the floor of the mall. It was the magic lipstick! But the goblins were having so much fun, they didn’t even notice.
Kirsty and Miranda flew toward it as fast as they could. As soon as Miranda touched the lipstick, it immediately shrank down to its Fairyland size. Miranda picked it up, smiling at Kirsty, and Rachel clapped her hands with delight.
In an instant, the stink of pond scum vanished and was replaced with the yummy, rich scent of chocolate and oranges.
“Yuck!” one of the goblins shouted, making a face. Rachel noticed that his beautiful makeup had started to disappear. “What’s that horrible smell?”
“Let’s get out of here!” another yelled. Holding their noses, they scurried out of the mall.
The shoppers began to return, and Rachel hurried to join Kirsty and Miranda, who were hiding behind one of the small fountains.
“Look, everyone’s smiling again, and there are lots of customers going into the Bath Bliss store!” Rachel pointed out.
“And everyone’s crazy makeup is much more natural now,” Kirsty added as she saw some of the customers from Beautiful You walking by.
“I’m smiling, too!” Miranda said with a big grin. “Thank you so much, girls. You did it again! Everyone in Fairyland will be thrilled when I return with this!” She held up her lipstick. “But you will keep looking for the other magical objects, won’t you?”
“We promise!” the girls said.
Quickly, Miranda’s magic turned Kirsty back to her human size. Then, waving her wand in farewell, Miranda disappeared in a puff of rainbow-colored magic.
“Time to meet my mom at the Sweet Scoop Ice Cream Parlor,” Rachel said, glancing up at a clock.
“I think we deserve a little celebration!” Kirsty laughed.
The girls hurried off.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about the design competition,” Kirsty remarked as they waited outside the ice-cream parlor for Mrs. Walker. “All those bright, tropical flowers around the fountain gave me some ideas!”
“I’d like to use lots of colors in my outfit, too,” Rachel agreed. “Oh, here comes Mom — and she looks like herself again, thank goodness!”
Mrs. Walker was coming toward them, smiling. To the girls’ relief, her clown makeup had vanished, and she looked naturally beautiful again.
“Everyone’s happy now that Miranda’s lipstick is back where it belongs,” said Kirsty.
“But there are still six magical objects missing,” Rachel reminded her. “I hope we find the next one very soon!”
Kirsty and Rachel helped Miranda find her magic lipstick. Now it’s time for them to help
Claudia
the Accessories Fairy!
Read on for a special sneak peek. . . .
“Here we are,” Mr. Walker said, parking the car at Tippington Fountains Shopping Center. He glanced over to where his daughter, Rachel, and her best friend, Kirsty Tate, were sitting in the backseat. “I know you girls were here yesterday, but I need to pick up a shirt. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Rachel said, exchanging a secret smile with Kirsty as they got out of the car. “We don’t mind at all. Take as long as you need!”
It was the second day of school vacation, and Kirsty was staying with Rachel’s family. Whenever the two friends got together, magical things always seemed to happen — and they certainly had yesterday! Rachel’s mom had taken the girls to the new mall to be part of the opening-day celebration. There were lots of free activities and a whole parade with colorful floats. It had been really fun and exciting . . . especially when the girls found themselves whisked off to Fairyland and thrown into an exciting brand-new fairy adventure. Hooray!
“I hope we meet another fairy today,” Kirsty whispered eagerly to Rachel, as they made their way through the parking lot to the elevators.
“Oh, me too,” Rachel replied. “Yesterday was amazing. But you know what Queen Titania always says: We can’t go looking for magic. We have to wait for it to come to us.” She grinned. “I just hope it finds us again soon!”
The three of them went up in the elevator. “First floor,” a voice from the speaker announced after a few moments. “Welcome to Tippington Fountains Shopping Center!”
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-53927-2
Copyright © 2012 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
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First Scholastic printing, July 2013
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Miranda the Beauty Fairy Page 2