“Good afternoon, girls,” Bertram said. “You’re here for the royal wedding, yes?”
Rachel and Kirsty glanced at each other. Bertram thought they were wedding guests!
“Well, not exactly,” Kirsty replied.
“We’re actually here to see Blossom the Flower Girl Fairy,” Rachel explained.
“We think she might need our help with something, and we could use her help, too!” Kirsty finished.
Bertram looked surprised.
“Well, Blossom is very busy today,” he explained. “But I’m sure she’ll make time to see both of you! I think I know just where to find her. Follow me!”
Bertram hopped down a long passageway, and the girls flew after him. They ended up in an enormous banquet hall, where the wedding reception was in full swing. Some fairies were fluttering around and dancing to the music while other fairies nibbled on dainty, delicious-looking appetizers.
“There she is!” Bertram announced. He pointed to Blossom, who was fluttering around a table with a giant cake stand on it. Then Bertram waved good-bye and hopped back toward the castle’s front door.
The girls noticed right away that there was no cake on the stand. And Blossom wasn’t wearing her flower crown, either. A second later, a beautiful fairy in a shimmering white gown fluttered past them, sobbing.
“Oh, it’s just awful,” she moaned.
Poor Blossom’s wings drooped as she watched the distraught bride fly by. But when she saw Rachel and Kirsty she perked up a little.
“What a nice surprise!” Blossom exclaimed. “What are you two doing here?”
“We thought you might need our help,” Rachel explained. “And we could use your help, too!”
Blossom hung her head.
“You’re right,” she said sadly. “Things aren’t going well. Princess Rosalyn and Prince Arlo are having a terrible fight—and it’s ruining their wedding day! Princess Rosalyn forgot to order the wedding cake, and Prince Arlo is unhappy because there’s no dessert for the guests. But I just know that cake or no cake, they wouldn’t be fighting like this if I still had my flower crown.”
Blossom touched her head as if to check to see if the crown had magically returned. Unfortunately, it hadn’t.
“My crown helps control love in good times and bad, just like it says in the wedding vows. If I had my crown, Prince Arlo would realize the wedding cake isn’t as important as his new bride. But he’s lost sight of what really matters.”
“We thought that might have been what happened,” Kirsty explained. “Everyone’s been fighting at our wedding, too! In fact, the best man and ring bearer left the rings at the hotel and we have to find substitute rings.”
“We thought your crown might be missing,” Rachel added. “But if we can help you find it, we can save both weddings. Maybe we can retrace your steps to find it.”
“That’s a great idea,” Blossom agreed. “I was definitely wearing it earlier today. I stopped by the dressing room on the third floor before the wedding. The bridal party was getting ready there, and I wanted to sprinkle the flower girl with some fairy dust to wish her good luck.”
“To the dressing room, then!” Rachel cried. “We don’t have a minute to lose!”
Kirsty, Rachel, and Blossom flew to the third floor as quickly as they could. The room was empty, but the bridal party had left a lot of extra clothing lying around. Rachel and Kirsty quickly looked through all of the dresses, shirts, sweaters, and shoes that the wedding party had left behind. But the flower crown was nowhere to be found.
Kirsty had picked up a pretty pink sweater as she searched for the crown. She couldn’t help holding the sweater up to herself and stealing a quick glimpse in the mirror.
“Kirsty!” Rachel scolded. “We don’t have time for fashion. Wait—what was that?”
Rachel had caught a glimpse of something green moving in the mirror. She whirled around to look behind her friend.
“I think I just saw a goblin heading down the hallway behind you!” Rachel shouted. She, Kirsty, and Blossom zoomed after the goblin. But the corridor was empty.
“I was sure I saw something …” Rachel mumbled as she glanced in the mirror a second time. There it was again—a goblin! Rachel looked behind her again, but again, there was nothing there.
“I think I know what’s going on,” Blossom explained. “This must be a magic mirror! There’s one in the Fairyland Palace and another in Jack Frost’s Ice Castle. The mirror is a secret portal that leads from one place to the other. The portal only opens when there’s a royal ball, though, and I guess the wedding counts!”
“Wow,” Kirsty murmured. “That’s so cool.”
“And I thought being a fairy was magical!” Rachel agreed. “Does that mean that goblin I saw is in Jack Frost’s Ice Castle?”
Blossom nodded.
“And there’s a good chance he took your flower crown, isn’t there?” Kirsty asked.
“Yes,” Blossom replied. “We should be able to follow him through the mirror. I just have to remember the spell my grandmother taught me when I was a young fairy. It was so long ago, I need a minute to think of it.”
Rachel and Kirsty waited as patiently as they could as Blossom muttered to herself, trying to recall the secret spell. Finally the fairy yelped happily.
“I’ve got it!” she said. Then she closed her eyes and recited the following:
“Magic mirror on the wall,
Today there is a fairy ball.
So open up your secret door,
And let fairies travel through once more.”
Suddenly the center of the mirror began to spin, and a glowing ring of purple sparkles appeared.
“Let’s go, girls!” Blossom called. “Fly straight through the ring of fairy dust!”
Kirsty and Rachel held hands and followed Blossom through the mirror.
“Wow,” Rachel said as they emerged from the mirror inside Jack Frost’s Ice Castle. “That was amazing!”
“I know,” Kirsty said, still in awe at having flown through a magic mirror. Fairyland was always full of surprises! “Now how do we find the goblin who stole your crown?”
“I’m not sure,” Blossom admitted. “I’ve never been inside the Ice Castle before, so I don’t know where to go.”
Rachel thought about it for a minute. Where would the goblin be taking the flower crown?
“I know!” Rachel cried. “We don’t need to follow the goblin—we just have to find Jack Frost! The goblin will be bringing the crown to him.”
“You’re right,” Kirsty agreed. “That’s a great idea. But how do we know where Jack Frost is?”
As if in response, a chilly breeze wafted down the corridor to the right.
“Brrr,” Blossom said, rubbing her arms to try to warm them up. “It’s so cold here. I should have worn a sweater!”
“That’s it!” Kirsty realized. “If we follow the cool breeze, it’s sure to lead to Jack Frost.”
They made a few turns and headed up a flight of stairs. The chilly air kept getting colder and colder until it felt as though they were inside a giant freezer. Finally, they came to a room that was being guarded by two goblins in suits of armor.
“Hide!” Blossom whispered quickly. “Don’t let the guards see you until we have a plan.”
Kirsty, Rachel, and Blossom ducked behind a plant stand. The air was so frigid the poor flower was frosted over.
“Jack Frost must be in that room,” Rachel said. “Otherwise those guards wouldn’t be standing there.”
“But how are we going to get inside?” Kirsty asked. “We need that crown back or both weddings will be ruined!”
As Blossom and the girls tried to come up with a plan, the goblins began to argue.
“I can’t wait until my shift is over,” grumbled the first goblin.
“I know,” moaned the second. “This armor is so uncomfortable.”
“Ugh!” the first goblin agreed. “I have an itch on my leg and I … just … can�
�t scratch it.”
He looked so silly wiggling around in the metal suit that Kirsty had to stifle a giggle. But the awkward suit had also given Kirsty an idea.
“The armor!” Kirsty whispered. “If the goblins can’t see us, we can slip past them into the room.”
She leaned over and quickly explained her plan to Rachel and Blossom.
“Let’s do it!” Blossom said. Then she, Rachel, and Kirsty flew out from behind the plant and darted way up and around the goblins. Luckily the pair of guards was so distracted they hadn’t even noticed. Rachel and Kirsty hovered just above one of the goblin’s heads, where he couldn’t see them. And Blossom fluttered over the other goblin.
As planned, Blossom and the girls pushed the eye covers on the metal suits down so they slammed shut.
“Icky icicles!” one goblin exclaimed. “I can’t see!”
“Me, neither!” the other goblin cried as he stumbled into the first guard. With a crash, both goblins tumbled to the floor in a heap of clanking metal. Meanwhile, Blossom, Kirsty, and Rachel flew past them into the room they had been guarding. Sure enough, it was Jack Frost’s throne room, complete with a giant icicle-covered chair in the center of the room.
Jack Frost was standing in a corner of the room in front of a full-length mirror. He was wearing Blossom’s crown!
“Oh, look at me!” Jack Frost cackled. “I’m an itty-bitty fairy. La-tee-da! I’m so silly with my fluttery wings and my sparkly fairy dust.”
“Is that what you think I sound like?” Blossom asked loudly, startling him.
Jack Frost whirled around, quickly removing the crown.
“Fairies!” he shouted in surprise. “W-what are you doing here? And how did you get inside my castle?”
“The same way your goblins got inside Fairyland Palace,” Rachel explained. “Through the magic mirror.”
“Oh, drat!” Jack Frost muttered. Then he pointed his wand at Blossom’s crown. “Cold and chilly is just as nice, freeze this crown until it’s ice!”
“No, stop!” Blossom cried. “Don’t freeze my crown. I need it back to save the royal wedding!”
“Blech!” Jack Frost spat. “Royal weddings are so boring. Who wants to go to a big, fancy party anyway?”
“Just because you didn’t accept your invitation doesn’t mean that others don’t want to go,” Blossom tried to reason with the grumpy troublemaker.
“Well, I might have gone if I’d been invited,” Jack Frost grumbled, pouting. “But Queen Titania and King Oberon didn’t send me an invitation.”
“Really?” Rachel asked, puzzled.
“Yeah, it doesn’t sound like the king and queen of the fairies to exclude anyone,” Kirsty agreed.
Blossom flew over to a huge stack of unopened mail on a table in the corner of the throne room.
“Of course you were invited!” Blossom explained. “The king and queen actually considered taking your name off the guest list because the last time you attended a royal wedding, you almost ruined the party. But they wanted to give you a second chance. Your invitation is probably buried in this pile!”
Blossom waved her wand at the unopened mail and a letter floated out of the stack and into Blossom’s hand.
“Here it is,” Blossom said matter-of-factly. Then she turned to Jack Frost and gave him a stern look. “Maybe next time you should read your mail! Now can I please have my crown back?”
“Of course not!” Jack Frost snapped, placing it back on his head. “Now that I have it, I want to keep it. I like it.”
Blossom sighed. “I tried to ask nicely, but I guess we’ll have to take back the crown, girls. On three … one, two, three!”
Blossom pointed her wand at the pile of mail, and a tornado of unopened letters swirled around the chilly villain.
“Ah, help!” Jack Frost cried. “I’m being attacked by mail!”
Rachel and Kirsty tried not to laugh as they swooped in and grabbed Blossom’s crown off Jack Frost’s head. It quickly shrank to fairy-size as they passed it back to Blossom.
“Thanks, girls!” Blossom cried happily as the letter tornado died down.
“No problem,” Rachel replied. Then she flew down to pick up the piece of paper that had landed in front of her. She was curious: who had been sending Jack Frost so much mail? It was a letter from a publishing company.
“Dear Mr. Frost,” she read aloud. “We regret to inform you that we are unable to publish your memoir, Fantastic Jack Frost: The Story of My Life.”
Jack Frost crossed his arms grumpily and scowled at her.
“Go ahead, rub it in,” he said. “But I’m not giving up. I’ll be a famous author someday. And I’ll be super rich!”
“Good luck with your book,” Rachel told him. She turned to Kirsty. “Now that Blossom has her crown back, we really need to find rings for Aunt Angela’s bride and groom!”
Blossom, Kirsty, and Rachel flew back to the mirror as quickly as they could. Blossom pointed her wand at the mirror and recited the spell, and they flew through the portal and back to Fairyland Palace.
“Let’s go find the king and queen,” Blossom suggested. “They’ll know what to do about the rings.”
Back in the ballroom, Kirsty and Rachel were delighted to see that Princess Rosalyn and Prince Arlo were happily twirling above the dance floor.
“They’re not arguing anymore!” Kirsty exclaimed, pointing to the happy couple.
“It’s all thanks to you, girls,” Blossom said with a smile. “Now that I have my crown back, their love will stay strong.”
“And look!” Rachel cried. The Sugar and Spice Fairies had rolled a giant container of ice cream out onto the dance floor. They were busy scooping the treat into cups and handing them out to all the wedding guests. “It looks like someone figured out how to solve the dessert problem!”
At that moment, King Oberon and Queen Titania appeared.
“Thank you girls so much for your help,” Queen Titania said. “You really saved the day.”
“You’re welcome,” Rachel replied. “Now we’re hoping the fairies can help us. We need to find something to use as wedding bands, and then we need to get back to our world.”
King Oberon exchanged a glance with his wife. Then the king and queen slipped their own wedding rings off their fingers. Blossom waved her wand and—poof! A red satin box appeared. Blossom nestled the rings snugly in the box and handed it to Rachel.
“You can borrow these,” King Oberon said. “Blossom will attend the wedding with you, and she’ll bring them back after the ceremony. They’ve been sprinkled with fairy magic, too, so the rest of the wedding should be just perfect!”
“Thank you so much!” Kirsty said. “That’s very generous! And even if it’s not perfect, the wedding will turn out just fine because love will stay strong—in good times and bad.”
The king and queen chuckled merrily in agreement, then shooed the girls on their way.
A moment later, Kirsty and Rachel were behind the lavender tree at the botanical garden. Their fairy wings were gone, and they were human-size again. Blossom landed on a tree branch next to them and kicked up her feet.
“What a day!” she said with a sigh. “I’m going to take a rest here while you get those rings to your ceremony. I’ll be right here when you’re done. But take your time … and have fun!”
“Thanks!” Rachel said as she and Kirsty waved to the little fairy, who had nestled herself in beside the tree’s leafy branches. Then the girls dashed back to the rose garden to find Aunt Angela.
“There you are, girls,” Aunt Angela greeted them with a relieved sigh.
“Here you go,” Rachel said as she handed her aunt the red box, which had grown to human-size once the girls left Fairyland.
“Wherever did you get these?” Aunt Angela asked with a gasp. “They’re beautiful!”
“Let’s just say we had a little help from some friends,” Kirsty replied, winking at Rachel. “These are just on loan until the best man gets the
real rings from the hotel.”
“Yes,” Rachel chimed in. “We have to return these after the ceremony.”
A few minutes later, the ceremony was ready to begin. Rachel and Kirsty took seats in the last row of chairs. A string quartet began to play the wedding march.
“Oh, look!” Kirsty cried. “Here come the flower girls.”
She and Rachel watched proudly as the little girls marched down the aisle, sprinkling flower petals behind them, huge smiles on their faces. The bridesmaids and groomsmen followed. Then the music notes changed and the bride appeared.
“She looks so beautiful,” Kirsty breathed as the bride walked down the aisle to meet the groom.
Rachel and Kirsty watched as the couple exchanged their vows and slipped the rings on to each other’s fingers. As soon as they did, a cloud of sparkling butterflies burst from the flower arbor over their heads, sending a shower of glitter raining down on the happy couple.
“I guess that’s what King Oberon meant when he said the rings had special fairy magic on them,” Rachel whispered to Kirsty with a little laugh.
Based on their gasps and giggles, the flower girls were delighted by the glitter. And the bride was equally enchanted.
“What a magical surprise!” she said to her husband, squeezing his arm happily. The groom just smiled and leaned in to kiss his new wife.
“Fairy magic is fantastic!” Kirsty cried.
“It sure is,” Rachel agreed. Now it was time for the reception, and she couldn’t wait for the celebration to start!
Copyright © 2016 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. 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.
Blossom the Flower Girl Fairy Page 4