Chapter 1

Katie skipped ahead of Mum all theway home from school, trying to gether to walk faster. As they roundedthe corner into the newly built close,she felt her heart leap withexcitement. The houses were all thesame, small and brown, like tinyLego boxes – well, almost. Katie wasproud that theirs stood out from thecrowd. Mum, an artist, loved allthings bright and beautiful, so she’dpainted the front door a vivid pink.

1

But it wasn’t the house that Katiewas excited about. She just couldn’twait to meet up with her four newfriends. Once inside, she hurriedthrough the living room and kitchen,dropping her school bag on the way.She was heading for the back door,but Mum made her sit down andhave some orange juice and a home-made flapjack first. Then she wasgone, dashing across the garden andunder the wire that separated their

boring square patch of lawnfrom the overgrown,wild-flower-strewn

almost-meadow thatlay beyond. Katieswished through

the tall grass, thickwith dandelions

and poppies,humming a

2

song that one of her newfriends had taught her.

As she reached the oak treeand saw the dolls’ housebeneath it, she couldn’t

help smiling.Although it was just

like any other, it certainlywasn’t ordinary. Incredible as itsounded, Katie’s new friendslived inside it – and they werefairies.

When Katie had first seenthem, she’d hardly believed hereyes.

She’d left the dolls’ houseoutside one night underthe old oak tree, andwhen she returned the

next morning she got a bigsurprise! Four tiny fairiescalled Bluebell, Daisy, Rosehip

3

and Snowdrop had moved in!Together, Katie and the fairies had

transformed the pink plastic dolls’house into a beautiful home.Bluebell had decorated the wallswith pressed-flower pictures andthere were rose-petal covers on thesofas and polka-dot curtains at thewindows. They’d even made astring of tiny sparkling fairy lightsto keep the house cheerful at night.

Then Katie had painted the words“The Fairy House” on the front doorin lovely swirly letters and given itto the fairies for their very own.Luckily Mum had allowed her tokeep it under the oak tree in thealmost-meadow.

Katie loved the way the FairyHouse was becoming part of the landscape, with Snowdrop’swonderful window boxes cascading

4

with pink and purple flowers, andthe grass growing taller around it assummer settled in.

Daisy and Snowdrop poppedtheir heads out of Bluebell’sbedroom window and waved toKatie. “Hurray! You’re back!” Daisycried.

“Come on in!” added Snowdrop.“You’ll have to shrink first, ofcourse!”

Katie grinned at them – she wasreally looking forward to more fairyfun! She crouched down beside theFairy House and pressed the tip ofher little finger on to the tiny bluedoor handle, which Bluebell hadbewitched with fairy dust.

“I believe in fairies, I believe infairies, I believe in fairies,” shewhispered. She gasped in delight asthe top of her head tingled. Then a

5

great whooshing sound roared inher ears and everything around her seemed to be getting bigger

and bigger andbigger. But,

of course, shewas gettingsmaller andsmaller andsmaller. Andsuddenly she

was fairy sized!Just as she

was about togo inside,

Bluebell andRosehip came

whizzing roundthe tree. Bluebell

was flying determinedlyahead, with Rosehip close behind,reaching out to grab her foot.

6

Bluebell spotted Katie and just asshe slowed a little to wave, Rosehiptagged her ankle. “It!” she criedtriumphantly.

“That wasn’t fair!” shoutedBluebell, hovering in mid-air withher hands on her hips. “I onlyslowed down to say hello to Katie!”

Rosehip tossed her fiery orangehair and did a mocking loop-the-loop. “We were still playing so itdoes count, actually,” she cried.“You’re it! Ha ha!” And with that,she zoomed past Bluebell, stickingout her tongue.

Bluebell lunged at Rosehip andKatie laughed as the two fairiesbecame a shrieking ball of flutteringwings and flailing legs. They werethe best of friends, but they also hadhot tempers and were always fallingout!

7

Just then, Daisy and Snowdroprushed out of the door andswamped Katie in hugs. Bluebelland Rosehip came crashing to theground, leapt up and brushedthemselves down, the squabbleforgotten. All smiles, they joined inthe hug.

“We’ve made a skipping ropewith woven grass,” Snowdrop said,pulling a long rope from the pocketof her dress for Katie to see. “Willyou play with us?”

“Of course,” said Katie, “but firstI have to tell you something –something very important. It’sabout your fairy task.”

As soon as Katie said this,Snowdrop reached into the pocketof her dress again and pulled outthe scroll they’d been given by theFairy Queen herself. It said:

8

9

Fairy Task No. 45826

By Royal Command of the Fairy Queen

Terrible news has reached Fairyland. As

you know, the Magic Oak is the gateway

between Fairyland and the human world. The

sparkling whirlwind can only drop fairies off

here. Humans plan to knock down our special

tree and build a house on the land. If this

happens, fairies will no longer be able to

come and help people and the environment.

You must stop them from doing this terrible

thing and make sure that the tree is

protected for the future. Only then will you

be allowed back into Fairyland.

By order of Her Eternal Majesty

The Fairy Queen

PS You will need one each of the twelve

birthstones to work the magic that will save

the tree – but hurry, there’s not much time!

Katie had been given a ring byher Auntie Jane, which turned outto be garnet, the January stone. Sothey’d found one at least, but theystill needed eleven others. Katie hadgot a book out of the library andread up on the twelve birthstones.Some of them were very expensive,like ruby, sapphire and emerald,and she had no idea how they’d laytheir hands on such gems.

“I found out from Mum that theman who built our house and thiswhole close is called Max Towner,”Katie explained. “I’ll bet he’s the onewho’s planning to knock down thetree! And there’s a girl called TiffanyTowner in my class, who’s reallyhorrible and always getting intotrouble. Mum said she’s hisdaughter.” The fairies all lookedimpressed with what Katie had found

10

out. “The problem is that Tiffanywon’t talk to me, because she thinksI’m a goody-goody,” Katie continued.“I wanted to ask about her dad’splans, so I sat with her at lunch today,

but she just ignored me.”“There is another

way we could find out about

Tiffany’s father’splans,” Daisy said

slowly, a thoughtfullook on her face. “One

of us couldmake friends with her.”

Katie stared ather, astonished.“But how?”

“By turning bigand going to schoolinstead of you!”said Bluebell excitedly.

11

“We could pretend it was anexchange day so she wouldn’t besuspicious,” addedSnowdrop.

“What a greatidea!” criedKatie. “Buthow do youturn big? Doyou just usea sprinkling offairy dust?”

There was asilence.

“Well?” Katie prompted. Sherealized that the fairies were allglancing at each other nervouslyfrom under their long eyelashes.

“Erm, not exactly just a sprinklingof fairy dust,” said Daisy reluctantly,fiddling with her long plaits. “Thereis a price to pay. For a fairy to

12

become a human, a human has tobecome a fairy, to take her place.”

“You mean me?” Katie gasped,eyes gleaming with excitement.

“It takes courage,” Daisy warned.“If something happened to one ofyou, the other would be stuck thewrong size for ever. Or if one of youdidn’t want to turn back afterwards,the other one couldn’t. It’s notsomething to be taken lightly.”

All the fairies looked hopefullyup at Katie, who stood perfectlystill, feeling stunned. It was riskierthan she’d thought – what if she gotstuck as a fairy? She’d miss school,and Auntie Jane, and worst of allMum would never see her again!She couldn’t even begin to imaginehow awful that would be!

But then she remembered thefairies’ task, and how she’d

13

promised to help them in any wayshe could. If the tree were knockeddown it would spell disaster forearth as well as Fairyland. Fairieslooked after the seasons, and all theplants, trees and flowers. Withoutthem there might be snow in June,or maybe constant rain, or perhapsthe fruit and vegetables wouldn’tgrow and there would be nothing toeat. They could only imagine whatthe consequences would be – butone thing was certain, theywouldn’t be good! Katie took a deepbreath and stood up. “We have tofind out if Max Towner is behindthis plan to knock down the tree,”she said, “and this is the bestchance we have. I’ll do it.”

“Oh, Katie, thanks!” cried Daisy.“Well done!” added Snowdrop.Bluebell suddenly stood up. “I’ll

14

do it too,” she announced, and theyall whirled round to stare at her. Butno one said thank you or well donethis time. In fact, no one saidanything!

“What’s the matter?” askedBluebell.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,”said Daisy finally, in her gentlestvoice, “but you’ll never be able tokeep calm with Tiffany. What if shesays nasty things about Katie?”

“I’ll control mytemper,” Bluebellpromised. “AsKatie says, wehave to find outif Tiffany’s dad isbehind these wickedplans, and quickly.Besides, it’ll be fun, likebeing a secret agent and

15

going undercover – I’ll blend rightin.”

Katie giggled and clamped herhand over her mouth.

“What? What’s so funny aboutthat?” Bluebell demanded.

“You won’t blend in with thatblue hair!” Katie told her. “But ifyou’re sure you can handle Tiffany,I’m willing to switch with you.You’re very brave, Bluebell.”

Bluebell did a twirl of prideand finished it off with a

curtsey.“I was going to

volunteer too,”Rosehip grumbled.“Bluebell offered

first, so it’s only fair thatshe should turn big,”

Daisy told her. “We’ll allneed to go to school anyway, to

16

look after Katie while she’s small.”“Still not fair,” Rosehip huffed,

but she didn’t say anything more.“So we’re agreed,” said Katie.

“Tomorrow we swap places!” Shelunged over to hug Bluebell andthey had an excited jumping-up-and-downy squealy hug and dancearound together, which the otherssoon joined in, even Rosehip.While the risks worried her, Katiewas impossibly excited aboutbecoming a fairy, even just for oneday!

“I have to go in for tea soon,” shesaid breathlessly, when they finallybroke apart. “But there’s just timefor a turn with your new skippingrope, Snowdrop.”

Snowdrop beamed at her andunravelled the rope. Rosehip madeup a special fairy skipping song

17

which she taught them all, andpretty soon, she and Katie were intogether, chanting, “Flap yourwings and stomp your feet, jump in,Bluebell, don’t miss a beat!” asBluebell jumped in too.

The chant made Katie feel extraexcited – after all, tomorrow shewould be flapping her own wings,

not just singing about it! She’d be areal fairy!

The skipping was so much funthat Katie almost forgot the time,until her rumbling tummy remindedher. Worried that Mum would comeout looking for her and she’d be

nowhere to be

seen, she gave her fairy friends aquick goodbye hug.

For tea they shared one of Mum’shome-made pizzas (Katie knew thatMum hid all kinds of vegetablesunder the cheese, but somehow itwas still delicious!). Then aftershe’d helped with the drying up,Katie dug out her own skippingrope and asked Mum to play withher. They tied one end to the doorhandle and took turns at the other,and Katie couldn’t resist singingRosehip’s skipping song.

“What a lovely tune,” Mumremarked. “Where did you learnthat?”

“Oh, my new friends sing it, aterm, school,” mumbled Katie.

Mum beamed. “I’m so glad you’resettling in so well, darling,” she

20

said, and, grinning, she began toturn the rope faster and faster.

Katie giggled, feet flying. “Mum,stop it!” she cried, not meaning aword.

Katie felt bad for fibbing toMum, even just a little tiny bit, butshe had tried to tell her the truthabout the fairies when she’d firstmet them. The problem was that,like most grown-ups, Mum didn’tbelieve in fairies and couldn’t seethem, so she just thought Katie wastalking about imaginary friendsshe’d invented!

Later that evening, Katie had herbath and did her reading as usual,and soon she was all snuggled up inbed. But she was just too excited tosleep!

Eventually she got up and creptover to her window. Squinting into

21

the darkness she could just makeout the Fairy House, glowing withthe daisy lights she’d helped tomake. Although she couldn’t seeinto its tiny windows, she had afeeling Bluebell was still awake too,gazing out into the almost-meadow,looking forward to her big day.

22