Sky the Blue Fairy (9780545308137) (7 page)

“Remember what the Fairy Queen said?” Rachel reminded Kirsty.

Kirsty nodded. “She said the magic would come to us.” Suddenly, she looked scared. “Maybe the rain is Jack Frost's magic. Maybe he's trying to stop us from finding Inky.”

“Oh, no!” Rachel said. “Let's hope it stops soon. But what will we do while we're waiting?”

Kirsty thought for a minute. Then she went over to the bookcase. It was filled with dusty, old books, and she pulled one out. It was so big, she had to use two hands to hold it.

“
The Big Book of Fairy Tales,
” Rachel read out, looking at the cover.

“If we can't find fairies, at least we can read about them!” Kirsty grinned.

The two girls sat down on the bed and put the book on their knees. Kirsty was about to turn the first page when Rachel gasped. “Kirsty, look at the cover! It's purple. A really deep purplish-blue.”

“That's indigo,” Kirsty whispered. “Oh, Rachel! Do you think Inky could be trapped inside?”

“Let's see,” Rachel said. “Hurry up, Kirsty. Open the book!”

But Kirsty had spotted something else. “Rachel,” she said shakily. “It's
glowing
.”

Rachel looked. Kirsty was right. Some pages in the middle of the book were gleaming with a soft purplish-blue light.

Kirsty opened the book. The ink on the pages was glowing indigo. For a moment, Kirsty thought that Inky might fly out of the pages, but there was no sign of her. On the first page was a picture of a wooden soldier. Above the picture were the words:
The Nutcracker
.

“Oh!” Rachel said. “I know this story. I went to see the ballet at Christmas.”

“What's it about?” Kirsty asked.

“Well, a girl named Clara gets a wooden nutcracker soldier for Christmas,” Rachel explained. “He comes to life and takes her to the Land of Sweets.” They looked down at a brightly colored picture of a Christmas tree. A little girl was asleep beside it, holding a wooden soldier.

On the next page there was a picture of snowflakes whirling and swirling through a dark forest. “Aren't the pictures great?” Kirsty said. “The snow looks so real.”

Rachel frowned. For a moment, she had thought the snowflakes were moving. Gently she put out her hand and touched the page. It felt cold and wet!

“Kirsty,” she whispered. “It
is
real!” She held out her hand. There were white snowflakes on her fingers.

Kirsty looked down at the book again, her eyes wide. The snowflakes started to swirl from the book's pages, right into the bedroom, slowly at first, then faster and faster.