“Girls, I have an idea!” Rihanna announced, treading her wings in the water. “I have a friend who lives here in the deepest part of the lake’s underwater canyon. I think he’ll be able to help us find Bubbles more quickly!”
“Oh, I hope so!” Kirsty said eagerly.
Rihanna began to sing:
This is a special message
Rihanna sends to you,
We need your help,
We need it fast,
Please don’t delay,
Come right away!
“Charlie!” Rihanna called when she had finished her song. “Charlie, where are you?”
Rachel and Kirsty exchanged a confused look as the water around them began to fizz and bubble.
Who was this mysterious creature named Charlie?
Suddenly, Rachel grabbed Kirsty’s arm.
“Look!” she cried.
A large shape, the color of an elephant, was swimming toward them through the bubbles. The strange creature had a long neck and a humped back.
“What is it?” Kirsty whispered. “It looks kind of like pictures I’ve seen of the Loch Ness Monster!”
“Charlie!” Rihanna called, waving at the creature. “Over here!”
Charlie was smiling warmly at them as he swam closer. Rachel was relieved, because otherwise she might have been extremely scared of him. Charlie was so big!
“Girls, this is my friend Charlie,” Rihanna announced with a grin. “He’s lived in the lake for years. In fact, people tell stories about him, although no human has ever really seen him.”
“Oh!” Rachel gasped. “Charlie must be the mythical creature that Catherine was talking about!”
Rihanna nodded, her eyes twinkling. “Charlie is actually a retired magical animal!” she explained. “Now he lives a nice, quiet life at the bottom of Adventure Lake. Charlie, these are my friends, Rachel and Kirsty.”
“Hi, Charlie,” the girls said together.
“We’re searching for Bubbles, my magic seahorse,” Rihanna continued. “We were wondering if you’d seen him.”
Charlie looked thoughtful.
“Funny you should ask!” he replied in a booming voice. “I overheard some of the other lake creatures talking about a new kid who’s really friendly. I’ll send out a message and ask if anyone’s seen him today.”
Rachel and Kirsty watched in fascination as Charlie began to hum a deep, low sound that created long ripples in the water. They waited. Then, after a moment, the water began to move again. This time, the ripples of sound were coming back toward them. Charlie cocked his head and listened.
“Bubbles was last seen near the middle of the lake,” Charlie announced. He pursed his mouth and blew out a stream of shining bubbles. “This underwater trail will help you find him,” he said, as the bubbles floated ahead of them. “But hurry, before it disappears. My magic doesn’t last long in the human world!”
“Thank you, Charlie!” Rihanna and the girls called as they zoomed off.
The three friends swam quickly toward the center of the lake, following Charlie’s magical trail. But, to their dismay, they could see that the bright bubbles were already fading away.
“Swim faster, girls!” Rihanna cried.
Panting hard, Rachel, Kirsty, and Rihanna reached the middle of the lake just as the trail finally fizzled away. But there was no sign of Bubbles anywhere!
“Bubbles is such a friendly little seahorse,” Rihanna said, as a large brown trout swam by lazily. “I’m sure he’s made lots of friends here in the lake.”
She turned to the trout. “Hello, there,” Rihanna called. “Have you seen a seahorse around here?”
“I just saw one heading in the direction of Leggy Garden,” the trout replied helpfully. “There were some really rude green creatures heading that way, too!”
“Goblins!” Rihanna gasped.
Rachel was just about to ask where Leggy Garden was — but then a hook with some bait on it plopped down into the water from overhead.
“As if I’m falling for that old trick!” the trout said scornfully. “Humans are so predictable!” He quickly swam away.
Kirsty glanced up and saw the bottom of a boat above them.
“Some of the campers must be fishing,” she said. “We’d better move away so we don’t get hooked!”
“But where’s Leggy Garden?” Rihanna asked as they swam away from the boat.
“Let’s head in the direction the trout came from,” Rachel suggested.
As they swam through the water, Kirsty kept looking upward. She could see the bottoms of kayaks, canoes, and boats overhead on the surface of the lake. Suddenly she laughed.
“I know exactly where Leggy Garden is!” she announced. “Follow me!”
Quickly, Kirsty led Rachel and Rihanna toward the floating dock. Then Rachel and Rihanna burst out laughing, too. They could see the kicking legs of some of the campers as they swam around the dock!
“What a great name — Leggy Garden!” Rachel said, giggling.
“Girls!” Rihanna exclaimed in a dismayed voice. “I see goblins ahead! Quick, we have to make sure the swimmers don’t spot them!” And she swam off, away from Leggy Garden.
Rachel and Kirsty rushed after Rihanna, toward the goblins. As they got closer, the girls were horrified to see that the goblins had formed a circle around a beautiful golden seahorse.
“It’s Bubbles!” Rihanna cried.
Bubbles was trying to swim out of the circle of goblins. But every time he darted forward, the goblins tried to grab him, making the circle smaller as they moved in closer.
“Bubbles can’t escape, and I can tell he’s getting tired!” Rihanna said anxiously as the little seahorse bobbed around inside the ring of goblins. “What can we do?”
Just then, the big goblin glanced around and spotted them.
“Oh, hello!” he said, waving in a friendly way. “Sorry about this. We don’t like to come between good friends, but we have to do what Jack Frost says, you know!”
“Yes, it’s a nasty job, but somebody has to do it!” added the smallest goblin with an apologetic smile.
“The goblins are even being nice to us,” Kirsty whispered to Rachel. “Bubbles’ magic must be working overtime!”
“How on earth are we going to get Bubbles back?” Rachel wondered. Then an idea popped into her head. “Rihanna, do you think Charlie might be able to help us again?”
Rihanna’s face lit up. “I’m sure he will!” she said eagerly. “I’ll call him.” She began to sing her little song once more.
The goblins turned to stare at Rihanna, looking confused.
“What are you doing?” asked the big goblin, as the water around them began to swirl with sparkling bubbles. “This is no time for singing!”
“What’s happening?” The third goblin gasped. “Why has the water become all fizzy?”
“Well, a big old lake monster is on his way here right NOW!” Rachel said loudly. “And he won’t be happy when he finds out you’re trying to steal the magic seahorse. So you’d better let him go before the monster arrives!”
“Ha!” scoffed the smallest goblin. “You don’t scare us! There’s no such thing as a lake monster, and these bubbles are just a silly fairy trick!”
Laughing, he rushed forward, breaking the circle. This time, he managed to grab Bubbles and hang onto him.
“Hooray!” the other goblins cheered. “Group hug!”
“OK, but I can’t let go of this seahorse!” the smallest goblin yelled.
As the goblins huddled together again, Charlie appeared through the mass of sparkly bubbles.
“Charlie, the goblins haven’t seen you because they’re too busy hugging!” Kirsty whispered. “We need to get Bubbles away from them.
Can you be as scary as possible?”
With a big grin, Charlie nodded. He swam silently toward the goblins, who were still congratulating themselves on capturing the magic seahorse.
Charlie tapped the smallest goblin on the shoulder with one of his huge fins. . . .
The goblins turned around.
“BOO!” Charlie yelled in a thunderous voice that sent the water around them rippling in all directions.
The goblins’ eyes opened wide in horror. They screamed loudly, and the smallest goblin instantly let go of Bubbles. Then all three goblins bolted through the water, disappearing into the distance at record speed. Rachel, Kirsty, and Rihanna burst out laughing.
“Charlie, you were wonderful!” Kirsty cried. She and Rachel both gave him a big kiss on each cheek.
“Bubbles!” Rihanna called, her face shining with delight. “Here I am!”
The golden seahorse bounced joyfully through the water toward her. With each flap of his fins, Bubbles shrank a little. By the time he jumped into Rihanna’s arms, he was fairy-size again! Rihanna gave him a hug, and Rachel and Kirsty gathered around to pet him, too.
“Girls, I need to take Bubbles back to Fairyland,” Rihanna said. “But first, let’s get you back to your canoe. I think the quickest way will be to ride on Charlie’s back.”
“Climb aboard!” Charlie called.
Rachel and Kirsty clambered onto Charlie’s gray back, as did Rihanna, with Bubbles snug in her arms. Then Charlie swam through the water. Once again, they passed underneath the boats and canoes, and through Leggy Garden.
“None of our friends would believe that we are right below them, riding on the back of the lake creature with a fairy and a magic seahorse!” Kirsty whispered to Rachel, who laughed.
Very soon, they reached the canoe.
“Thank you, girls,” Rihanna said, her eyes sparkling. “Because of you, four of our beloved magical animals are back with their fairy friends. I know we can count on you to do your best to find the others!”
“We will,” Rachel and Kirsty promised.
Rihanna smiled. “You two are very lucky because you already have the wonderful gift of friendship,” she said. “But now Bubbles will be able to spread the magic of friendship even more. Good-bye!”
“Good-bye,” Rachel and Kirsty called.
Rihanna pointed her wand at the girls, and a burst of fairy magic sent them shooting up out of the water in a whirlpool of glitter. A moment later they were back in their canoe, and back to their normal size.
“Look, we’re not even wet!” Rachel marveled. “Isn’t fairy magic wonderful?”
“I’m so glad Bubbles is safe and sound.” Kirsty sighed happily.
“Me, too,” Rachel said. “A world without friendship would be like . . .” She stopped and thought for a moment. “Fairyland without magic!” Rachel finished, and Kirsty smiled and nodded in agreement.
Rihanna the Seahorse Fairy has her magical animal back! Now Rachel and Kirsty need to help . . .
Sophia
the Snow Swan Fairy!
Join their next adventure in this special sneak peek. . . .
Kirsty Tate bit into a warm, sticky marshmallow and smiled. Yum! It had been another fantastic day at the adventure camp where she and her best friend Rachel Walker were staying for a week. The sun was going down and everyone was sitting around a fire, singing songs and toasting marshmallows. “I’m having such a wonderful vacation,” Kirsty said happily to Rachel.
“Me, too,” Rachel agreed. Then she lowered her voice. “Especially with our new fairy friends!”
Kirsty smiled at her friend’s words. She and Rachel shared an amazing secret. They had met lots of fairies and had shared all kinds of exciting adventures with them! This week, they were helping the Magical Animal Fairies find their lost animals because Jack Frost had stolen them. The girls had already helped the fairies find a young dragon, a magic black cat, a phoenix, and a seahorse . . . but there were still three animals left to return to Fairyland.
“Listen up, guys!” came a voice just then. Kirsty and Rachel turned to see Trudi, one of the camp counselors, standing on a tree stump. “There’s such a wonderful full moon tonight, we’re going to take a night hike. I have something very special to show everyone. Can you get into pairs, please?”
The campers immediately hurried to pair up. Kirsty and Rachel went together, of course, and smiled at each other. They always had their most exciting times when it was just the two of them.
Two other counselors, Jacob and Lizzy, began passing out flashlights.
“Why are we going hiking in the dark anyway?” a girl named Anna wanted to know.
“Nature looks very different at night,” Jacob told her. “All kinds of birds and animals come out that you don’t see during the day. And the surprise waiting for you at the end of the trail will definitely make it worth the walk!”
When everyone was ready, the campers set off, flashlight beams bobbing across the grass. First they went through some dark woods. Because they heard strange scufflings all around them, Rachel and Kirsty kept close together.
Twigs snapped beneath their feet, and Kirsty stumbled on a long, twisted root. It was a relief when they came out from under the trees and into the open, where the moonlight lit the path and covered everything with a silver haze.
“It’s so pretty,” Rachel marveled as they walked alongside a bubbling stream. The moonlight glittered on the water as it rushed by.
“And look at that little swan!” Kirsty exclaimed. “It’s so beautiful with the light reflecting on its white feathers — almost as if it were shimmering. . . .”
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-54918-9
Copyright © 2009 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Rainbow Magic Limited.
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First Scholastic printing, March 2012
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Rihanna the Seahorse Fairy Page 2