4. Up, Up and Away!

"How are we going to get up there?" Rachel asked. "Easy!" Abigail told her. "We use fairy magic!" The girls immediately reached for their shining golden lockets. The lockets were full of magic fairy dust. They had been special gifts from Titania, the Fairy Queen. A pinch of the dust would turn the girls into fairies, and another pinch would turn them back into humans again.

Rachel sprinkled herself with sparkling fairy dust, then laughed with delight as she shrank to fairy size. The grass was as tall as she was, and the buttercups now seemed as big as trees! Kirsty did the same, and turned around to look at her silvery wings. "Wow! I'm a fairy again!" "We have to hurry!" Abigail said, zooming up into the air. She was quickly followed by Kirsty and Rachel. The higher Abigail and the girls flew, the more the wind tried to blow them off course. Kirsty and Rachel's wings soon felt really tired. "Fly right behind me," Abigail urged the girls. "It might be easier for you."

Rachel and Kirsty gave it a try. Luckily, it was less of a struggle to follow the experienced flying fairy. Abigail seemed to create an invisible path through the sky. Gradually, they drew closer and closer to the balloon's basket. "We were right. Look!" cried Kirsty. An ugly face peered over the edge of the balloon's basket. It was a goblin with pointed ears and a big, lumpy nose. "He's a very big goblin," said Abigail nervously.

"I don't think he's seen us yet," Rachel whispered. "Let's creep up behind him." The goblin was staring at Twiglet, who was still barking down below. "Ha, ha! Silly little doggy. You can't catch me!" he sneered. Kirsty and Rachel heard the goblin's tummy rumble. It sounded like mud being stirred in a bucket. The goblin gave a huge burp, and a blast of stinky breath blew over Rachel, Kirsty, and Abigail. "Ugh!" Abigail held her nose. "What a terrible smell!" complained Rachel. "What has that goblin been eating?" "Can't catch me, doggy!" The goblin continued to taunt Twiglet, jumping up and down and waving a shining bronze feather. Down on the ground, a strong gust of wind swept Twiglet off his feet. The puppy tumbled over, got up again, and shook his head

angrily. Then he looked up and began barking even more loudly. The goblin jumped back, surprised. Then he recovered. "I'm safe up here!" he said to himself, and laughed. Rachel was confused. The goblin's afraid of Twiglet, she thought. I wonder why. "He's holding the Breeze Feather!" whispered Abigail. Her leaf- green eyes flashed with anger. "Yes. And he's using it to tease poor Twiglet!" said Kirsty. "What a mean goblin! We have to get that feather back." Rachel was thinking hard. "I've got a plan," she told her friends.

"Kirsty, you land in the basket. Then Abigail can make you human-sized, and the two of you can distract the goblin while I fly up and turn off the balloon's burner. The balloon will sink, and we'll have a better chance of getting the feather back once that goblin's back on the ground." "That's a good idea," said Abigail. "But Kirsty and I will be very close to the goblin. Can you be quick, Rachel?" "I will," Rachel promised. "Okay, then here I go," Kirsty said. She checked to make sure that the goblin wasn't looking, and then flew up and over the edge of the basket. Abigail hovered next to her. With a wave of her wand, she turned Kirsty back to her normal size. When he saw Kirsty, the goblin's eyes grew as big as golf balls. "Who are you?" he demanded. "I'm Kirsty, a friend of the Weather Fairies," Kirsty declared firmly. "And I'm Abigail the Breeze Fairy," Abigail added in her soft, musical voice. The goblin glared at Abigail. "Boo!" he shouted, and lunged at her.