Caroline was still watching the race, with her back to them.
“I’ll keep the goblins distracted while you get your tiara,” said Rachel. “Good luck!”
“Good luck to you, too,” said Maddie, giving her a hug. “I think you and Kirsty are really brave.”
Rachel smiled and slipped quickly inside one of the cups.
“What’s that?” she heard one of the goblins say in surprise.
“It’s a toy!” the other goblin exclaimed, picking it up.
Rachel darted out of the cup and the goblin gave a squawk of surprise.
"It’s one of those tricky fairies!” he squealed. "Catch her!”
Rachel flitted and zoomed around and around the goblins, keeping just out of reach of their grabby hands. They looked like giant frogs as they leaped into the air and stretched out their scrawny arms, trying to reach her.
The goblins did a lot of shouting and yelping, but luckily Caroline was just out of earshot.
As Rachel was drawing the goblins farther and farther away from the bag, Maddie was getting closer to it. She stayed close to the ground, hiding herself among the thick blades of grass. The bag was near Caroline’s feet, and Caroline was hopping around in excitement, cheering for the teams. A few times, Maddie had to flit sideways to avoid Caroline’s feet, and that made it difficult to reach the bag.
At that moment, shouts and applause broke out. The race had finished! The goblins spun around, forgetting all about Rachel.
“Now’s our chance!” one of the goblins said to the other.
As Caroline hurried to congratulate the winners, the goblin sprinted toward the bag. Rachel zoomed in front of him and darted back and forth, trying to distract him, but he just batted her away with his hand. Rachel could only watch in horror as he swapped the bags without Caroline noticing a thing. The goblins had the tiara back!
What could Kirsty and Rachel do now?
Kirsty returned from the maze just in time to see the Lions win the hoop race. She glimpsed Maddie and Rachel hiding behind the bush, and flew over to join them. Their sad faces told her that they hadn’t been able to get the tiara.
“The goblins have the bag,” Rachel said. “How are we going to get the tiara back now?”
The Unicorn team trudged up to Caroline, looking very disappointed.
“I hate losing,” said Katie. “It ruins everything.”
“It’s taking part in something that counts,” Louis said, trying to cheer them up. “You had fun — it doesn’t really matter who won.”
But the Unicorn team still looked miserable, and the Lions were laughing about having beaten them.
“This is all because my tiara is missing,” Maddie told the girls. “No one can enjoy the spirit of the game. The Unicorns feel disappointed that they lost, and the Lions are just gloating.”
At that moment, Caroline clapped her hands together and asked for quiet.
“For the final sports activity of the day, we are going to have a rowing race across the lake,” she said. “It’s very shallow, so we have some special small rowboats for you to use.”
She pointed to where several brightly painted rowboats bobbed in the shining water.
“Could the team captains come forward now to lead their boats?” Caroline asked.
“Oh!” Kirsty gasped. “I’m the captain of the Unicorns. I have to go!”
Maddie quickly changed Kirsty back to human-size, and she hurried out from behind the bush to join Arthur and the biggest goblin. The teams climbed on board and Kirsty took her place at the front of the Unicorns’ boat, which was sky blue. The Lions’ boat was sunshine yellow.
“Come on,” said Maddie. “Let’s go down to the lake and watch the race.”
She and Rachel flew down and hid among the reeds, watching as the goblins climbed into the green boat. The third goblin had found his way back from the maze just in time! Rachel could hear that they were still arguing, even though they had the tiara back.
“It’s all your fault that we’ve lost both events so far,” grumbled the freckled goblin to the biggest goblin. “Thanks to you, we almost lost the tiara. Jack Frost would have punished all of us.”
“Oh, shut your mouth,” said the biggest goblin rudely. “I want to win this rowing race — those silly humans must not beat us.”
“Just hold on to the bag this time,” said the third goblin.
The biggest goblin opened his mouth to argue, but just then the freckled goblin shoved an oar into his hands and Louis blew his whistle.
The final race had begun!
The three boats pulled out toward the opposite bank of the lake. Rachel and Maddie could see Kirsty in the front of the sky-blue boat, eagerly cheering for her team.
In the front of the sunshine-yellow boat, Arthur was urging his team on. His boat was neck and neck with Kirsty’s.
“Come on, Unicorns!” said Rachel, wishing that she were with them. “You can do it!”
The green boat was just behind the others, and Maddie and Rachel saw that an argument had started among the goblins. Their voices echoed clearly across the water.
“This is my oar!” yelled the freckled goblin. “Let go!”
“You’re pulling in the wrong direction!” shouted the third goblin.
“How would you know?” demanded the biggest goblin, paddling furiously with his oar.
The boat began to go around in circles, spinning faster and faster. The goblins yelled louder and louder, shoving one another and fighting over the oars. The boat rocked dangerously from side to side.
“Boys, stop fooling around!” Louis called from the side of the lake.
But they ignored him, and the freckled goblin stood up to try to yank the oar out of the third goblin’s hands. He gave one huge tug . . . and the boat turned over in the water!
There was a huge splash as the goblins and the bag plunged into the lake.
“Now’s our chance!” said Maddie.
She gave a little flick of her wand, and a breathing bubble immediately appeared, covering Rachel’s head completely and then disappearing with a gentle pop! Rachel knew from her adventures with Shannon the Ocean Fairy that this meant she would be able to breathe underwater.
“Let’s go!” Rachel said.
Side by side, Rachel and Maddie dove into the sparkling lake water and zoomed toward the place where the goblins had fallen in. They could see three pairs of lanky green legs standing on the lake bottom — and next to them was the gold sports bag!
The goblins were still shaking lake water out of their eyes and ears when Rachel and Maddie reached the bag and pulled open the zipper. Rachel looked up and saw a big green hand reaching down toward the bag.
She pointed urgently, and Maddie swam into the bag at lightning speed.
Half a second later, Maddie zoomed out with the tiara, which had shrunk to fairy-size as soon as she had touched it.
As the goblin’s hand found the bag, Rachel and Maddie darted back toward the reeds. They flew out of the water, and Rachel turned to Maddie, her eyes shining.
“We did it!” she said happily. “You got your tiara back!”
Maddie rested her tiara on top of her long dark braids and smiled at Rachel. “I was afraid I had lost it forever!” she said.
She turned to look at the goblins, who were sloshing their way out of the shallow water. As Maddie and Rachel watched, the freckled one peeked into the bag and then glared at the biggest goblin. Then he put his whole head into the bag, and finally turned it upside down and shook it.
The biggest goblin grabbed the bag and jumped up and down on top of it a few times. Then he stomped away from the lake, followed by the other two goblins. They disappeared among a group of trees, and Rachel heaved a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness they’r
e gone!” she said.
The two fairies flew under the dangling branches of a weeping willow, and Maddie turned Rachel back to human-size. Then she hid inside Rachel’s shorts pocket, and Rachel ran to watch the end of the boat race.
Everyone suddenly seemed much more cheerful. Rachel could hear them all cheering their teammates on.
“Now that my tiara is back where it belongs, everyone is being a good sport again,” said Maddie with a happy laugh.
“Come on, Unicorns!” called Rachel in her loudest voice. “You can do it!”
The boats were still neck and neck, but when Rachel shouted, the sky-blue boat seemed to gain an extra burst of speed. Its bow pushed onto the gravel on the bank just ahead of the sunshine-yellow boat.
“We won!” Kirsty cheered.
“Nice race, Unicorns!” said Arthur.
Louis and Caroline came toward them, clapping their hands and smiling.
“What an exciting finish!” said Louis. “The Unicorn team just won, so that makes one victory for each team.”
“Field day is a tie!” added Caroline.
The two teams helped each other out of their boats, sharing congratulations and patting one another on the back. Kirsty ran up to Rachel and gave her a big hug.
“Kirsty, we got the tiara back,” Rachel whispered in excitement.
“I already guessed that!” said Kirsty with a laugh. “Halfway through the race, the whole mood changed. Everyone started to be good sports — at last!”
While the teams were making their way to the patch of grass where Louis had set out the picnic, Rachel told Kirsty what had happened. Under the cover of the weeping willow, Maddie fluttered out of Rachel’s pocket, wearing a big smile — and her tiara!
“Thank you both for everything you did for me today,” she said. “I need to go back to Fairyland now and tell the other Princess Fairies what happened.”
“Good-bye, Maddie,” said Rachel, smiling at the fairy.
"We really enjoyed helping you find your tiara,” Kirsty added warmly.
Maddie waved at them both, and then disappeared in a twinkle of silvery sparkles.
Rachel and Kirsty ran to join the other kids, who were just sitting down on a large picnic blanket. Louis and Caroline presented each of them with a gold medal for taking part. On one side was an engraved picture of the Golden Palace, and on the other side were the words:
Golden Palace Field Day Champion
“There’s only one thing left for you to do,” Louis announced. “Eat!”
As they munched on the delicious picnic, Kirsty smiled at her best friend.
“There’s only one more day left at the Golden Palace,” she said.
“And one more tiara to find,” Rachel added. “It must belong to Eva the Enchanted Ball Fairy. I wonder what adventures we’ll have with her!”
Rachel and Kirsty have helped all of the other Princess Fairies find their tiaras. Now it’s time for them to help
Eva
the Enchanted Ball Fairy!
Join their final princess fairy adventure in this special sneak peek. . . .
“One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three,” murmured Rachel Walker under her breath, trying to concentrate on what her feet were doing. She and her best friend, Kirsty Tate, were staying at the Golden Palace for a Royal Sleepover Camp. Today, they were in the ballroom, enjoying a dance lesson. The ballroom was beautiful, with huge sparkly chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and dark-red wallpaper that looked like velvet.
It was the last full day of the camp and Kirsty and Rachel had had lots of fun. They’d been on a treasure hunt, taken part in a field day and a pageant, enjoyed a tea party in the palace gardens, and much more. It had been so exciting to stay in a real palace with a drawbridge, moat, and gold-topped towers. Best of all, the girls had also found themselves on more wonderful fairy adventures, this time with the Princess Fairies!
A grand ball was taking place that evening, and everyone was planning on dressing up in their nicest clothes. Louis and Caroline, the directors who had looked after the campers all week, were teaching them the waltz, but nobody was finding it easy.
“Whoops,” said one boy, accidentally stepping on his partner’s toes.
“Sorry,” said a girl as she swung around too quickly and bumped into the person behind her.
“Ow,” said Kirsty as she stumbled, knocking against one of the tables at the far end of the room. The table had been decorated with flower arrangements and elegant glass vases filled with colorful candy, ready for the ball that evening. One of the vases fell over, and Kirsty barely caught it before it hit the floor. . . .
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-51305-0
Copyright © 2011 by Rainbow Magic Limited.
Previously published as Maddie the Playtime Fairy by Orchard U.K. in 2011.
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, August 2012
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