Now the goblins were all fighting over the clef — pushing one another and grabbing at the necklace. “They’re so busy fighting, they might not notice if a couple more goblins join in,” Kirsty said thoughtfully. “Vanessa, do you think you could use your magic to turn me and Rachel into goblins?”
“Of course!” Vanessa said, waving her wand. A flood of fairy dust sparkled around Kirsty and Rachel, and the next moment they found their noses growing bigger . . . and greener!
Now Rachel and Kirsty looked just like goblins, complete with the same leotards as the four goblin dancers, who were still wrestling and arguing.
“You’ll have to be quick,” Vanessa warned. “My magic isn’t at full strength without my clef. The disguises won’t last long.”
“Then there’s no time to lose,” said Kirsty, her heart thumping. “Let’s go!”
Rachel and Kirsty hurried over to the fighting goblins and joined in the noisy scuffle, hoping to grab the clef. The goblins were pushing and shoving as fiercely as ever, and Kirsty barely avoided being elbowed in the face. The sooner they could grab the clef the better, Rachel thought as she was jostled by a bossy goblin.
Then Kirsty noticed that the clef had fallen onto the sand. She dove down to get it.
Kirsty was just fighting her way back out of the crowd of goblins when a tall, skinny goblin saw her holding the clef and promptly tripped her.
The clef went flying out of Kirsty’s hand — but, by a stroke of luck, Rachel made an amazing catch. Now she had it!
But not for long! A heavyset goblin with an enormous wart on his nose grabbed it right from her hand. As Rachel saw the clef vanish from her grasp, she saw something else starting to vanish, too . . . her goblin disguise! It was clear that Vanessa’s magic was already wearing off. She and Kirsty had to get back to their hiding place before the goblins realized who they really were!
Rachel nudged Kirsty and pointed out what was happening. Then both girls ran for the safety of the rocks, just in time. Once they were hidden out of sight, the last tinges of green faded from their skin and they were normal girls again.
“Oh, no,” Kirsty whispered. “That didn’t work as well as I had hoped.”
“It’s getting close to six,” Vanessa said. The fairy peeked at the watch as she fluttered to land on Rachel’s wrist. “The goblins will be going back to the dance tent soon to find Tamara and Sasha for the rehearsal. We have to think of something quickly.”
Vanessa’s comment about the rehearsal gave Rachel an idea. “Vanessa, do you think you could use your magic to make one of us look like Tamara this time?” she asked.
She quickly explained her plan to her friends, and both Kirsty and Vanessa smiled. “I love it!” Kirsty said. “Good thinking. Should I be Tamara?”
Vanessa looked anxiously at her wand. “I don’t have a lot of magic left,” she said. “Disguising Kirsty as Tamara and changing you back to fairy-size, Rachel, is going to use up the last of my power — so we have got to get this right. Otherwise . . .”
She didn’t finish her sentence, but she didn’t need to. Both Rachel and Kirsty knew that this was their last chance. “We’ll give it our best shot,” Rachel promised.
Vanessa waved her wand and more of her sparkly magic poured out. There was just enough to turn Rachel back into a fairy, and to make Kirsty look like Tamara, with curly hair and a purple leotard. The magic also gave her a shiny gold cup to hold.
“In you go,” Kirsty laughed, holding out the cup, and Vanessa and Rachel both flew inside.
“Give us the signal when you need us,” Rachel reminded Kirsty in a whisper. “And good luck!”
“Thanks,” Kirsty whispered back. “Here goes.” She walked out from behind the rocks, straight up to the fighting goblins.
“Hi, boys,” she said to them. “Remember me? I’m Tamara, Sasha Sharp’s assistant.”
The goblins immediately stopped fighting and stared in surprise.
“We’re looking for new talent, and we both thought you danced amazingly well in class today,” Kirsty went on. “In fact, Sasha thought one of you should get an award for such awesome dancing. The question is, who deserves it the most?”
There was a moment of stunned silence as the goblins took in this exciting news. Then they all shouted at once. “Me! I’m the best!”
“I should get the cup!”
“I can do a triple spin — on my head!”
“Whoa, whoa!” Kirsty said to the noisy goblins. “There’s only one way to decide this. We’ll have a dance-off — and I’ll award the winner with this trophy. Who’s going first?”
Peeking over the edge of the cup, Rachel noticed that one goblin had the magic clef necklace wrapped around his wrist. He was smirking. “I am so going to win this,” he said to the others. “You might as well let me have the cup now!”
“That’s not fair! You can’t wear the clef for the dance-off,” the warty-nosed goblin grumbled.
“Yeah, take it off,” a third goblin insisted. “Or else you’re not allowed to compete.”
“All right, all right,” grumbled the goblin with the clef. He took it off his wrist and made a big deal of leaving it on the sand. But then, while the other goblins weren’t looking, he quickly tucked the clef into his sequined belt.
“Are we ready? Let’s see the first dancer,” Kirsty said, and pressed a button on the MP3 player to start the music.
The tallest goblin began to dance while the others watched. “He’s not awful,” Rachel whispered to Vanessa as they both peeked out. “But he definitely danced better when he had the clef.”
Vanessa nodded. “His dancing is still pretty good because he’s close to the clef,” she explained in a whisper. “The closer they are to it, the better they’ll be.”
Then came the second dancer, who also danced well . . . until one of the other goblins slyly stuck out his foot and tripped him! He fell in a pile on the sand, looking furious. “That’s cheating,” he whined, and refused to try again.
Next was the dancer who’d secretly tucked the clef in his belt. He was amazing. He twirled and spun, hopped and jumped, and performed a string of complicated moves with a big smile on his face. Clearly, he was having a lot of fun showing off for an audience!
As he danced, the clef slid out from where he’d hidden it, and dangled temptingly from his belt. Rachel exchanged a glance with Vanessa. “Should we?” she whispered.
“Yes!” Vanessa whispered in reply.
The two fairies snuck out of the golden cup and rushed toward the dancing goblin. They tried to get close enough to grab the clef without being noticed. It wasn’t easy — the goblin was spinning himself around so quickly that Rachel started to feel dizzy from racing around after him.
Around and around she and Vanessa flew, and Rachel was just beginning to feel as if she’d never get close to the clef when the song ended, and the goblin struck a dramatic pose. Quick as lightning, Rachel zipped toward the clef and pulled it from the goblin’s belt. She passed it to Vanessa and, with a bright flash of sparkles, the clef shrank down to its usual fairy size. Hooray — they’d done it!
The two fairies flew a safe distance from the goblin, smiling with delight. The goblin, meanwhile, hadn’t realized that the clef was gone and began dancing to the next tune. Of course, without the clef, he wasn’t nearly as skillful, and he tripped over his big green feet within seconds.
Just then, Kirsty’s disguise as Tamara began to wear off! The goblins stared as they realized what had happened. “We were tricked!” the tall one groaned, his head in his hands.
“Sorry,” Kirsty said cheerfully as she helped up the goblin who’d fallen over. “But you shouldn’t take things that don’t belong to you — and you definitely shouldn’t try to cheat by using magic!”
As the goblins launched into a f
urious argument about whose fault it was that they didn’t have the clef anymore, Kirsty skipped off to find Vanessa and Rachel, with a big smile on her face. They’d found the clef — now everyone’s dance steps would fall into place!
Later that night, Kirsty and Rachel filed onto the stage with the other kids from the dance class. When they’d met for the rehearsal at six o’clock, Vanessa had used her dance magic to ensure that everyone danced wonderfully to Sasha’s routine, including Sasha! They were all so good that it had been impossible for Sasha and Tamara to choose just a few dancers to perform onstage. In the end, she picked them all, so the stage was very full.
“It’s too bad those boys didn’t come back,” Kirsty heard Sasha saying to Tamara. “They were fabulous.”
Kirsty grinned at Rachel. They could guess why the “boys” hadn’t come back — they were probably in big trouble with Jack Frost for losing Vanessa’s magic dance clef!
The lights dimmed onstage, and everyone stood in their starting positions. Then, as the opening notes of “Let’s Dance” played, a roar of applause came from the audience and gave Rachel goose bumps. She couldn’t believe she was here onstage at the Rainspell Island Music Festival, about to dance with Kirsty in front of thousands of people!
“I’d be nervous if it wasn’t for you, Vanessa,” Kirsty whispered. “I’m glad you’re here with us!”
Vanessa, who was tucked inside Kirsty’s pocket, grinned. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” she said. “And now that I have my clef back, my choreography magic will make sure everyone dances like a dream!”
As Sasha launched into the first verse, the girls stopped talking and danced along with everyone else. When Rachel caught a glimpse of her parents clapping and waving in the audience, she felt like she might burst with happiness and pride.
“This has been the best day EVER,” Kirsty said when the song finally came to an end and the audience cheered.
“I know,” Rachel agreed, grinning. “Three fairy adventures in one day — that’s a new record, Kirsty! And with four clefs left to find, who knows what will happen tomorrow?”
Kirsty smiled. “I can’t wait to find out,” she said happily.
Vanessa has her magic clef back. Now Kirsty and Rachel need to help
Miley
the Stylist Fairy!
Join their next adventure in this special sneak peek. . . .
“What’s that noise?” Rachel murmured sleepily. She could hear a steady pitter-patter sound on the roof of the tent above her. Yawning, Rachel sat up in her sleeping bag. At the same time, her best friend, Kirsty, stirred and opened her eyes.
“Oh, it’s raining!” Rachel exclaimed, suddenly realizing what the noise was.
Kirsty sat up, too. “Is that thunder?” she asked a little nervously as a loud rumble echoed through the tent.
Rachel laughed. “No, that’s my dad snoring in the other section of the tent!” she explained. Scrambling out of her sleeping bag, she went over to the tent’s main entrance. Kirsty followed, and together the two girls looked out.
The site of the Rainspell Island Music Festival was soggy with heavy rain. It was morning, but the sky was dark and threatening. The grassy fields where the tents, stages, and performers’ trailers had been set up were already turning to mud.
“What a shame!” Kirsty remarked. “Especially when we had such amazing weather yesterday.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s sunny or rainy, though, does it?” Rachel reminded her. “We still have to keep looking for the Superstar Fairies’ magic clefs!”
Kirsty nodded. “I wonder which fairy we’ll help today,” she said.
“We saw three fantastic concerts yesterday, didn’t we?” Rachel remarked as she and Kirsty went back to their sleeping area. “It’s good that Jessie, Adele, and Vanessa got their clefs back in time, and that they had just enough magic to help The Angels, A-OK, and Sasha Sharp perform well.”
“But the Superstar Fairies need all the magic clefs for things to be right again.” Kirsty sighed. “And even though we’ve seen the goblins, we still haven’t found Jack Frost! I wish we knew where he was hiding. . . .”
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-52057-7
Copyright © 2012 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
Previously published as Pop Star Fairies #3: Vanessa the Dance Steps Fairy by Orchard U.K. in 2012.
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, March 2013
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