5. Cotton Candy Clouds

Quickly, Pearl flew over to Kirsty. "Which cloud is Rachel in?" she asked. "That one…" Kirsty began, pointing. Then she stopped. There were so many clouds floating around, she'd lost sight of Rachel. "Oh, I don't know anymore, Pearl. That awful goblin did it!" she said. "I have a few things to say to him! Can you make me human-sized again?" Pearl nodded. "Don't worry," she said, "I'll find Rachel. I promise. You get the feather back."

With a wave of her wand, Pearl turned Kirsty back to her normal size. Then she flew off to search through the clouds. Kirsty stormed over to the goblin. She was usually scared of the nasty creatures— especially since Jack Frost had used his magic to make them even bigger than before. But Kirsty was so annoyed, she didn't care. Rachel was in danger, and it was all the goblin's fault. The goblin was lying on top of his fluffy cloud, still eating cotton candy. When he saw Kirsty marching toward him, he looked nervous. Quickly, he stuffed the Cloud Feather right into his mouth. "Give me that feather!" Kirsty demanded. "Wha' fe'er?" the goblin spluttered, trying to keep his mouth closed.

Kirsty frowned. How was she going to get the feather out of the goblin's mouth? Just then, she spotted a peppermint stick lying on the floor. That gave her an idea. She picked it up, and began tickling the bottom of the goblin's leathery foot! The goblin began to laugh, but he kept his mouth shut. "Shtop it," he mumbled. But then he couldn't hold his laughter in anymore. "Oh, ha ha ha," he laughed. As his laughter burst out, so did the magic Cloud Feather! Kirsty tried to grab the feather, but the goblin was quicker. "Oh, no!" He grinned, snatching the feather away. "This is my feather! I'm the only one who knows how to make it work." "Actually, I know how to make it work, too!" called a silvery voice. Kirsty turned to see Pearl flying toward them. To Kirsty's relief, she was pulling a pink cloud behind her with Rachel inside.

Rachel's head was sticking out of a hole in the cloud, and she grinned at Kirsty. "Hey, this cloud's made of cotton candy!" she called. "And it's delicious. I can eat my way out!" She took another big bite of the cloud. Pearl flew down to Kirsty and the goblin. "I can make the clouds do

all sorts of things," she said. "They will float exactly where I tell them to. I can even make them dance around me." She held out her hand to the goblin. "Why don't you give me the feather and let me show you?" The goblin looked sly. "No, it's mine!" he said. "Anyway, I can do those tricks myself." "Go on, then," Pearl challenged. The goblin began to concentrate. He waved the feather around in the air. Very slowly, all the clouds in the room drifted toward him. He twirled the feather, and the clouds began to spin around him in a circle, faster and faster. "See?" the goblin bragged. "OK, you know what to do, Rachel," Pearl whispered to her.

Pearl let go of Rachel's cotton candy cloud, and she and Kirsty watched as it flew over to the goblin. Rachel's cloud began to whirl around him with the others. It got closer and closer to the goblin. Then, suddenly, as her cloud sped past the goblin's hand, Rachel stuck her arm out and grabbed the Cloud Feather!