Anna the Moonbeam Fairy

by Daisy Meadows

  Anna almost jumped out of her skin as the light beamed down on her. She flew up in a panic.

  “Hey!” shouted a goblin, pointing toward her. “There’s a fairy! Someone catch it!”

  Before Anna could escape, one of the goblins thrust out a hand and grabbed her. “Perfect,” he chuckled, examining her. “You’re nice and sparkly—just what we need for our moon.” With his other hand he picked up a length of string and skillfully tied her to the “moon.” “There,” he said with a proud grunt. “You can add to the brightness. Best of all, now that you’re there, you won’t be able to interfere with our plans!”

  “You’re making a mistake,” Anna cried. “Please, let me go. Your moon isn’t a good idea, because—”

  But the goblins wouldn’t let her finish. “Not a good idea? Our moon is a great idea!” one of them told her. “You just look sparkly and keep quiet, all right?”

  Kirsty and Rachel, who were hiding behind a stone, clung nervously to each other. They had to rescue their fairy friend, but how?

  The goblins started to attach the stolen Morse-code lamp to their moon, but they soon got into an argument about how they should do it. “We have to think of a plan,” Kirsty whispered to Rachel. “We need to trick the goblins somehow. Let’s see … What could we use to tempt them?”

  Rachel was finding it hard to think while the goblins bickered. “We need the lamp to go here, to make the moon brighter,” one yelled, grabbing it out of another’s hands.

  “No, you fool, it would be much better on this side,” another argued, grabbing it back.

  Then Rachel smiled. It was obvious what the goblins wanted most of all! “More light,” she suggested. “Anything to make their moon brighter!”

  Kirsty nodded. “Of course,” she agreed. “So what would be the most dazzling light of all? What would they want to have on their moon more than anything?”

  Both girls fell silent as they thought. Then something Peter had said earlier came back to Rachel, about the moon’s light seeming twice as strong as usual when it was reflected in Mirror Lake. “The real moon’s reflection in the lake will be very bright, if it comes out from behind the clouds,” she whispered. “We could convince the goblins to try and catch its reflection!”

  “That’s a great idea!” Kirsty replied. Then her face fell. “But they’ll never believe us if we’re fairies—or even if Anna uses her magic to turn us back into girls. They’ll know we’re trying to trick them.”

  “Then we’ll just have to ask Anna to disguise us,” Rachel said, thinking quickly. “As … as astronomers!”

  “Perfect,” Kirsty agreed. “If we look like astronomers, the goblins will think we’re experts.”

  The goblins were still arguing loudly about where to put the lamp, so Kirsty and Rachel fluttered over to Anna and whispered their plan to her.

  “Good thinking!” Anna smiled. “And don’t worry about waiting for the moon to come out from behind the clouds—I’ll use my magic to melt those clouds away.”

  Anna’s arms had been tied down so that she could hardly move them, but she managed to twirl her wand and mutter some magic words. Seconds later, Rachel and Kirsty were their usual size, and they were wearing white coats and carrying telescopes. Their hair was tied back, and they were also wearing glasses. Hearts pounding, they strode in front of the goblins’ moon and pretended to study it.

  “Marvelous, marvelous,” Rachel said loudly. “It’s incredible the way this has been put together.”

  The goblins stopped arguing and turned to see who was praising their creation.

  “Genius,” Kirsty agreed, looking closely at the brightly lit disk as if she were an expert. “Whoever made this is very smart. Very smart indeed.”

  The goblins looked delighted by her words. “Well, yes, we are smart,” they said happily.

  “Although …” Rachel frowned. “Speaking as an astronomer, I’d say that this moon needs to be much brighter to make sure that the night is never dark again.”

  “Oh, yes,” Kirsty said. “They need much more light here. As a fellow astronomer, I completely agree.”

  The goblins stopped looking so smug and scratched their heads. “More light?” one said. “But we stole—I mean, we gathered every light we could find. Where can we get more light?”

  At that very moment, the clouds around the real moon slid away. The moon’s pearly whiteness shone brightly from the sky. And there in Mirror Lake was its mirror image, a full, round reflection that was every bit as bright as the real thing. Anna had worked her moon magic at exactly the right time!

  “Down there, of course,” Rachel said, pointing at the lake as if it were obvious.

  “All you need to do is gather that reflection and your moon will be the best one around,” Kirsty assured the goblins.

  “No problem!” one of them replied. “Come on, guys. To the lake!”

  The goblins ran off, taking the bag of moonbeam dust with them. They whooped and cheered with excitement.

  As soon as they were out of sight, Rachel and Kirsty untied Anna. The fairy fluttered gratefully up into the air, shaking out her wings.

  They turned off the generator, which made most of the lights go out. Then Anna turned the girls back into fairies, and they soared down the hillside toward Mirror Lake.

  The goblins were splashing around in the shallow water, complaining about their cold, wet feet as they tried to grab the reflected moon. But of course, every time they lunged toward it, the water rippled and the reflection broke up into hundreds of silvery streaks.

  “Those astronomers said we’d be able to catch it,” moaned the goblin who had the bag of magic moonbeam dust. Then he glanced up toward their moon and frowned when he saw how weakly it was shining. “Hey!” he shouted, angrily throwing up his hands. He accidentally let go of the bag of moonbeam dust!

  “Catch it!” Kirsty cried as the bag went flying over the lake. She, Rachel, and Anna all dove frantically to catch the bag. Together, they were able to grab it just before it hit the water. They flew up high and Anna turned the bag back to its usual Fairyland size. The girls grinned. They’d done it!

  Meanwhile, down below, the goblins all looked very frustrated. “That’s not fair,” they whined, stomping back to the shore. “You fairies have spoiled our plan—again!”

  “Sorry,” Anna said, “but I’ll have to spoil your moon, too, by returning all those lamps and lights you took. I know you worked hard on it, but none of those things were yours to use. One moon in the sky is plenty! After all, it is important to have darkness some of the time.”

  The three fairies flew around the lake, away from the goblins, and Anna turned Kirsty and Rachel back into girls. “Thank you so much!” She smiled. “It’s great to have my moonbeam dust again. And now, if you follow the path that way, you’ll be back with your friends soon.”

  She kissed the girls—light, delicate fairy kisses that felt tickly and soft—and they all said good-bye. Rachel and Kirsty both watched as she flew into the dark sky, holding her special bag of dust very tightly.

  Then they blinked as a familiar-looking lamp appeared at their feet. It was the one the goblins had taken from them earlier!

  Kirsty picked it up and they followed the path in the direction Anna had told them to go. Seconds later, they saw Peter, Matt, and Lucas. Rachel shouted, “Look what we found!”

  “Oh, nice work!” Peter said. “Where was it?”

  “Just down there,” Rachel replied honestly. “Maybe somebody was playing a trick on us, but at least we’ve got the lamp back now.”

  “And I know just the message to send,” Peter said with a grin. “Who can remember the signal for the letter H?”

  As they got closer to completing the message, it became clear that Peter was spelling out “HOT CHOCOLATE?” to the other team.

  “Now you’re talking!” Kirsty said with a smile, as Peter pulled out a large thermos and some cups.

  The other team didn’t need to be asked twice, an
d their friends soon joined them. Then, as Peter poured steaming mugs for everyone, he happened to glance up the hill. “Oh, look, the light went out up there.” he said. “That’s good. Everything’s back to normal now.”

  “It certainly is,” Rachel said to Kirsty, and they exchanged a secret smile. Helping the Night Fairies was turning out to be so much fun!

  “Oh, isn’t it sad that this is our last night at Camp Stargaze, Kirsty?” Rachel sighed as she snuggled down inside her sleeping bag. She glanced up at the black sky overhead, where tiny silver stars were glittering like diamonds. “Still, having an outdoor sleepover is a wonderful way to end our vacation together!”

  Kirsty nodded as she unzipped her own sleeping bag and climbed in. “It’s been fun, hasn’t it, Rachel?” she agreed. “I’m so glad we came!”

  It was a warm, clear evening and all the children had brought their sleeping bags out onto the grassy area by the tents. They’d had milk and cookies, and Peter, the camp counselor, had read them a bedtime story.

  “OK, time to turn off your flashlights now,” Peter called. “Good night, everyone.”

  “I want to come back to Camp Stargaze again next year,” said Lucas. He and Matt, two of Rachel and Kirsty’s new friends, were lying on the lawn in their sleeping bags near the girls. “It’s the best vacation I’ve ever had!”

  “I learned a lot about the stars from Professor Hetty,” Matt declared, turning off his flashlight. “And I’m going to keep reading about them when I get home, too. Good night, Rachel and Kirsty!”

  “Good night,” the girls called.

  All the flashlights were off now, and the camp was in darkness except for the pale light of the moon. Gradually, everything fell silent, other than the occasional gentle hooting of an owl in the Whispering Woods nearby.

  “Nobody else knows that this has been an extra-magical vacation for us, Kirsty,” Rachel whispered, smiling at her friend in the moonlight.

  “Yes, we’ve had some amazing fairy adventures!” Kirsty whispered back.

  After the girls had arrived at Camp Stargaze earlier that week, their fairy friends had asked for them to help once more. Rachel and Kirsty had been horrified to learn that Jack Frost and his goblins had stolen seven satin bags of magic dust from the Night Fairies while the fairies were at an outdoor party.

  “I know we’ve found six of the bags,” Rachel said, “But there’s still one fairy left to help—Sabrina the Sweet Dreams Fairy.”

  Rachel, Kirsty, and the Night Fairies had been determined to find the bags of magic dust after Jack Frost’s icy magic had sent his goblins spinning into the human world to hide the bags there. So far, the girls and the fairies had outwitted the goblins time and time again. They had retrieved almost all of the bags!

  “Let’s hope we can find Sabrina’s bag tomorrow before we go home,” Kirsty said with a yawn. “Good night, Rachel.”

  “Good night, Kirsty,” Rachel replied.

  A few minutes later, Kirsty heard her friend breathing deeply and knew she was asleep. Kirsty cuddled down in her sleeping bag, feeling comfortably warm and drowsy. She gazed up at the sky, but suddenly she noticed that the light of the moon had vanished. For a moment, Kirsty thought the moon had slipped behind a cloud, but then it reappeared for a second or two before disappearing again. It was almost like someone was flipping a switch and turning the moon off and on, Kirsty thought, feeling confused.

  Then she saw that the stars were moving. They were zooming around the night sky, mixing up all of the constellations. It made Kirsty dizzy just watching them.

  Suddenly Kirsty heard a cold, icy chuckle. It sounded so close that it sent a shiver down her spine.

  “Ha, ha, ha! Those silly girls and their pesky fairy friends are no match for me this time!” Jack Frost gloated. “I have ALL the Night Fairies’ magic bags, and now I am the master of the nighttime hours!”

  “Hooray for Jack Frost!” the goblins cheered.

  “No!” Kirsty gasped. “This can’t be happening….”

  Suddenly Kirsty shook herself awake. She had broken out in a cold sweat and was tangled up in her sleeping bag.

  “Oh, I was dreaming!” Kirsty sighed with relief. “I didn’t even realize I’d fallen asleep. What a terrible nightmare!” She glanced at Rachel and was surprised to see her friend sitting up, yawning and pushing her hair out of her eyes.

  “Are you OK, Kirsty?” Rachel asked. “I just had an awful dream about Jack Frost and the goblins….”

  “Oh, so did I!” Kirsty exclaimed, and she quickly told Rachel about her dream.

  “My nightmare was that Jack Frost kidnapped all the Night Fairies and locked them in his Ice Castle,” Rachel said with a sigh. “It seemed so real….”

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Rainbow Magic Limited c/o HIT Entertainment, 830 South Greenville Avenue, Allen, TX 75002-3320.

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-54961-5

  Copyright © 2010 by Rainbow Magic Limited.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Rainbow Magic Limited.

  Previously published as Twilight Fairies #6: Maisie the Moonbeam Fairy by Orchard U.K. in 2010.

  SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. RAINBOW MAGIC is a trademark of Rainbow Magic Limited Re. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and other countries. HIT and the HIT logo are trademarks of HIT Entertainment Limited.

  First Scholastic printing, July 2011

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