3. Rachel in Danger

"It's Storm the Lightning Fairy!" cried Rachel, hurrying to open the case. She found a tiny hook on the side and unlatched it so that the glass door swung open. "Hello, again," said Storm. "I'm so glad to see you two!" Rachel and Kirsty had met all the Weather Fairies at the beginning of their feather-finding mission. The King and Queen of Fairyland had brought the girls to Fairyland to ask for their help, so now they recognized the fairy right away. Storm had long, straight blonde hair and wore a bright purple outfit. A golden lightning bolt hung on a chain around her neck, and her purple wand sent out little crackling lightning bolts whenever it moved.

"Hello, Storm!" said Kirsty, as the fairy fluttered out of the glass case. "I was wondering when we were going to see you. What were you doing in there?" Storm tossed her hair. "The goblin with the Lightning Feather trapped me in there," she explained, annoyed. "He's still somewhere in the museum. Have you seen all the lightning he's been making?" She put her hands on her hips. "Please help me get my feather back from him. Lightning is powerful stuff, you know."

"We know," Rachel told her. "We were under a tree when lightning struck. One of the branches broke!" Storm looked horrified, so Kirsty tried to make her feel better. "It was very pretty lightning, though, Storm," she said. "All sparkly!" Storm smiled. "It is beautiful, isn't it?" she said. Then she sighed. "But I have to get the feather back before that mean goblin does any more damage. Those goblins have no idea—" Storm broke off in the middle of her sentence. "Someone's coming," she whispered. "It might be the goblin. Hide!"

The girls pressed themselves back against the wall and Storm swooped down onto Kirsty's shoulder. They were half-hidden by a display case in the darkness. Thunder rumbled again, and Kirsty realized that her heart was pounding. She really hoped the noise they heard was just the tour guide coming back, not the goblin. Jack Frost had cast a spell to make all the goblins bigger, so now they were almost as tall as the girls' shoulders. That made it even harder for Kirsty and Rachel to get the Weather Feathers back from them!

The door creaked open, and the girls and Storm all held their breath. Through the darkness they could see that it was the goblin. And, he was a particularly scary-looking one— with extra-narrow red eyes, long, pointed ears, and a thin, bony body. The lights were still out in the museum, but the goblin lit up the room. He was waving the Lightning Feather around so that golden bolts of lightning whizzed all over the place. They crackled and fizzed, sending electric blue sparks shooting from everything they touched. Storm put her head in her hands. "I can't watch," she groaned. "What does he think he's doing?" "Oh!" gasped Rachel, ducking as a lightning bolt zoomed past her head. "We have to stop him before he hurts someone," she hissed.

"Who said that?" the goblin snapped. "Fairy, was that you? Or is somebody else in here?" Kirsty's heart pounded so loudly that she was sure the goblin would hear it. He was turning around, looking everywhere to see who'd made the noise. At last, his red eyes fell upon the girls, and he grinned a horrible grin. "Oh!" he cried. "Planning to sneak up on me, were you?" And with a wave of the feather, he sent three fiery lightning bolts whizzing right at them!