There was no disguising the magic necklace. It shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow from around the neck of the tallest goblin, who was bossing everyone else around. “Keep moving on those hats, guys,” he yelled down one aisle of the workshop. “How are we doing on gloves? Let me check the quality.”
Kirsty, Rachel, and Claudia watched him stride down to the glove-making table. He angrily picked up a pair of gloves. “Green gloves? Weren’t you listening to Jack Frost? Everything’s got to be blue, you fools. You’ll have to throw these away and start again.”
The goblins at the glove-making table looked disgruntled. “But we like green,” one of them said with a sulky pout. “It’s much better than blue.”
“No arguing!” snapped the tall goblin. “While I’m wearing this magic necklace, I’m in charge, so you’ll do as I say. Now get back to making blue gloves right now — or I’ll tell Jack Frost how lazy you are!”
Listening to their conversation gave Kirsty an idea. “Claudia, could you use your fairy magic to disguise Rachel and me as goblin workers?” she asked. “I’m wondering if, between us, we can make the supervisor decide he doesn’t want to be in charge anymore.”
Rachel’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes!” She giggled. “And once he takes off that necklace . . .”
“I’ll pounce!” Claudia finished with a grin. “Let’s give it a try. If we go back to the elevator area, I can turn you both into goblins!”
They quietly flew out of the workshop and back into the elevator, where nobody could see them. Then Claudia waved her wand, and there was a bright flash of magic and a cloud of purple smoke. When the smoke cleared, Kirsty and Rachel laughed as they saw that they now looked just like the other goblins on the factory floor. “Time to get to work,” Kirsty said with a grin.
“Actually, time to stir up some trouble!” Rachel replied with a wink.
The two of them split up and joined the other goblins, who were working busily. Kirsty went to the assembly line, where a team of goblins was producing scarves, while Rachel went to the jewelry-making table nearby.
“I’m not a big fan of all this blue, you know,” Kirsty muttered to the goblins closest to her. “I’d much rather wear a green scarf, wouldn’t you? Goblin green — everyone knows that’s the best color, right?”
“Goblin green is definitely my favorite color,” agreed a grumpy-looking goblin with pointy ears.
“It’s a shame we can only make blue things when there are so many other colors in the rainbow,” Rachel added innocently. “You’d look really handsome in purple, for example,” she said, pointing at the goblin closest to her. “And as for you — well, a yellow scarf or hat would really bring out the color of your eyes.” She said this to a small, shy-looking goblin, and he blushed with pride.
“Do you think so?” he said happily. “I do like yellow, I have to say.”
“Red’s my favorite color,” another goblin added. “It makes me think of strawberry jam. And who ever heard of blue strawberry jam?”
Soon, all the goblins were joining in: “Green’s definitely best.”
“I’d like brown, to match my teeth.”
“Orange clothes look lovely on green skin, I think.”
The supervisor was starting to look annoyed. He blew a whistle to make everyone stop talking. “That’s enough!” he roared. “You’re supposed to be working, not chatting. Silence!”
Kirsty dropped her scissors with a clatter. “I’m not doing any more work unless we can use different colors,” she said daringly.
“Me neither,” Rachel agreed, folding her arms. “I’m going on strike.”
As she said the words, she felt her heart thump. If all the other goblins went back to work, then their plan would fail. She and Kirsty might even be thrown out of the workshop — and then they wouldn’t have any chance of getting the necklace.
Thankfully, it seemed the goblins had all had enough of being bossed around, too. All across the workshop, there was the clatter of tools being put down. Every single goblin put his nose in the air.
“I’m not working either,” said one.
“We want colors!” said another.
“We want colors, we want colors!” chorused another group of goblins, stomping their feet in rhythm.
In a matter of seconds, the entire goblin workforce was chanting along and stomping feet. “We want colors, we want colors!”
One of the goblins opened a large cupboard and took out rolls of bright fabric. “Spots! Stripes! Flowers!” he cried happily.
“Red! Yellow! Green! Purple!” other goblins yelled, grabbing the fabrics they wanted to use.
The supervisor looked close to tears. Kirsty felt a little sorry for him, but she knew they had to stick to their plan if they were going to get Claudia’s necklace back.
“Oh, no. Jack Frost’s not going to be happy if he comes in and sees what’s happening here,” she said loudly.
“And to think he trusted you with the magic necklace,” Rachel said to the supervisor, shaking her head. “He’s going to be especially angry with you!”
“I can’t take it anymore!” the supervisor yelled, ripping the necklace from his neck. “I quit!”
Several goblins grabbed at the magic necklace as soon as the supervisor took it off, but Claudia was too quick for them all. Much to the goblins’ surprise, she darted in, grabbed the necklace, and flew out of reach. “The game’s over, boys,” she said sweetly as the necklace shrank down to its fairy size. Then she waved her wand, and the Ice Blue accessories changed to all the colors of the rainbow.
The goblins cheered . . . but then their faces fell as they realized what this meant for them.
“Jack Frost is going to be so mad at us.” One gulped. “Quick! Let’s get back to Fairyland before he sees what we’ve done.” And in the next moment, all the goblins had hurried out of the room. Just two goblins remained, and they were quickly changing back into girls.
Kirsty and Rachel grinned as Claudia turned three happy loops in the air to celebrate.
“Thank you so much, girls!” she said as she floated down toward them. “Your plan was genius. Now let’s head back to the accessories shop where we met. With the help of my magic necklace, I’ll make sure that everything in there looks gorgeous again.”
As soon as Rachel and Kirsty were back in the mall, they realized that Claudia’s magic was already working. The crowd had vanished from around the Ice Blue booth and they saw Jack Frost desperately bellowing into his megaphone, trying to attract customers. When it was clear that nobody was coming to buy anything, he threw the megaphone to the ground and stomped off furiously. “I’ll make everyone wear Ice Blue somehow,” he fumed.
“Not today, you won’t,” Claudia said with a smile, once he was out of earshot. She tucked herself in Kirsty’s pocket as they went into the Finishing Touch store again. Kirsty noticed with excitement that swirls of sparkly fairy magic were coming from Claudia’s necklace and spreading around all the accessories.
In the blink of an eye, the shop was transformed. The dull, broken accessories were gone, and in their place were colorful scarves, hats, bags, and jewelry.
“That’s much better!” Claudia smiled. “I’d better fly now, girls. Thanks again. And good luck with the fashion competition tomorrow. You know the Fashion Fairies will be rooting for you!”
“Bye, Claudia,” Rachel said. “Hope we see you again soon.”
“Good-bye,” Kirsty added. “And thank you. I know making my costume is going to be much easier now that there are so many pretty scarves to choose from!”
Claudia vanished in a swirl of glittering fairy dust, and Kirsty remembered to check her watch. “It’s working again!” she said in relief. “Oh, but we only have fifteen minutes before we meet your dad, Rachel. We’d better choose
something for our outfits and head back.”
“I know just what I’m going to do for mine,” Rachel said, picking up a pack of glittery fabric paints. “After today, I’m tired of wearing blue. I’m going to make these jeans extra special by adding rainbow-colored patterns on them.”
“Great idea,” Kirsty said, sorting through the rack of scarves. She held up some striped scarves in bright colors. “And these are perfect for my dress. Hooray!”
Once they’d paid for the scarves and paints, the two happy friends set off to meet Mr. Walker. They had the design competition tomorrow and the fashion show at the end of the week to look forward to.
“Oh, and look,” Rachel said, pointing to a sign that had just been put up in the mall. “There’s a design competition workshop here tomorrow morning. That sounds like fun, too. What a busy week we’re having!”
“Fun, fairies, and fashion — it sounds perfect to me.” Kirsty laughed. “I can’t wait to see what happens next!”
The girls helped Claudia find her magic necklace. Now it’s time for Kirsty and Rachel to help
Tyra
the Designer Fairy!
Read on for a special sneak peek. . . .
“I can’t wait for the design competition workshop to start,” said Kirsty Tate, peeking into her bag with excitement. “I have my colorful scarves, and I’m going to sew them into a floaty dress.”
“It will be great!” said her best friend, Rachel Walker. “I’m going to paint a glittery rainbow on my old jeans.”
“And I’m going to have lunch with my friend Moira,” said Mrs. Walker. “So we are all in store for an enjoyable day!”
They were standing inside the new Tippington Fountains Shopping Center. Kirsty was staying with Rachel for the school break, and they had been having a very exciting time ever since the new mall had opened. A design competition had been announced on the opening day, and the girls had been working on their ideas ever since. After the workshop, all the creations would be judged, and the winners would model their clothes in a fashion show at the end of the week.
“Let’s go this way,” said Mrs. Walker. “I told Moira I’d meet her outside the wedding-dress shop, Top Hats & Tiaras.”
They walked along slowly, looking from one side to the other at all the exciting stores. Then Rachel nudged Kirsty.
“Look at that lady over there,” she said. “She’s wearing one pant leg long and the other one is short.”
“And her son only has one sock on,” said Kirsty. “That’s strange.”
“New fashions always seem strange at first,” said Mrs. Walker with a laugh. “Look, there’s Moira over there, and she has safety pins on her cardigan instead of buttons. What will the fashion designers think of next?”
As Mrs. Walker went to give Moira a hug, Kirsty and Rachel exchanged a glance.
“These aren’t funny new fashions,” said Rachel. “It’s Jack Frost and his goblins causing trouble!”
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-53928-9
Copyright © 2012 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
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First Scholastic printing, July 2013
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Claudia the Accessories Fairy Page 2