The Rainbow Opal Read Online Free PDF

woke up in the middle of the night. Her bed was shaking slightly. Sleepily, she switched on the light and found that Rosalind was sitting on the end of the bed.
    “Hello.” Rosalind had a serious look in her blue eyes. “I need to talk to you.”
    “Huh? What time is it?” Summer sat up in bed. Custard woke up too and shivered.
    “It’s nearly midnight.” Rosalind walked over to Summer’s window and pulled the curtains open. “And it’s stopped raining.”
    A bright crescent moon shone in the cloudless night sky.
    “But it’s still dark.” Summer rubbed her eyes. “Why are we talking about the rain in the middle of the night?”
    “I couldn’t get to sleep,” said Rosalind. “And then I started thinking … what if the opal’s magic is the kind of thing that takes time? What if we came away from the river before it even started? What if it’s down there under the water working right now?”

    “I hadn’t thought of that.” Summer felt a fluttering in her stomach. “Rosalind! You’re a genius!”
    “Well, we don’t know if I’m right yet or even if we’ll be able to find the opal,” said Rosalind sensibly. “But I think we should go down there and look.”
    The bedroom door creaked open, letting in a rectangle of light from the passageway. “You guys
do
know you’re talking really loudly, right?” said Lottie.
    Rosalind explained her plan to Lottie and then they had to wake up Maya and explain it all over again.
    “So we should definitely try to find the rainbow opal right now,” Lottie finished.“In fact, there’s only one problem.”
    “What’s that?” asked Rosalind.
    “If we find the rainbow opal, how do we get it out of the water?” said Lottie. “The river’s too fast and too deep for any of us to go in.”
    “Have you got a fishing net, Summer?” said Maya. “A small one that’s like a stick with a net on the end.”
    “No, I don’t.” Summer picked up Custard and hugged him. “I
wish
there was a way to reach it …” An idea popped into her head. “Wait a second! The frills on that awful dress are just like a net. That’s why the dress is so itchy!”
    Maya ran to Summer’s bedroom and brought back the dress. “You’re right; these frilly bits are the same material as a net. We just need to cut them off and sew them together. Are you sure your mum won’t mind?”
    Summer shrugged. “I hate the dress and it’s ruined already. At least this way we can do something useful with it.”
    So Maya and Lottie got to work, quickly cutting the scratchy frills off the dress and sewing them together. Finally, after a lot of thought, Rosalind stuck four rulers together with sticky tape to make the stick part of the fishing net.
    “It looks a bit strange,” said Rosalind, picking up the net and turning it round.
    “I’m sure it’ll work,” Lottie told her.
    “One of us must stay here with Custard,” said Maya. “He shouldn’t go out into the cold night air. I’ll stay if you like.”
    “Thanks, Maya,” said Summer gratefully.
    Maya sat down on the bed next to Custard, who was leaning against the pillow with his eyes shut. He didn’t openthem when Maya picked him up. She stroked his fur, her forehead creasing. “His breathing is very slow,” she said anxiously.
    The other princesses watched, waiting to see whether Custard would wake up. But he didn’t.
    Maya looked at his still face and swallowed. “You’d better go and find that rainbow opal. And hurry!”

Chapter Eight
Rainbow Creek at Midnight
    Summer, Lottie and Rosalind crept downstairs, found their shoes and slipped out of the front door. Then Lottie switched on the torch that she’d brought and lit their way across the palace lawn. Their pyjama legs brushed against the wet grass. Rosalind carried the home-made fishing net.
    Summer stopped at the gate and looked back at the palace. There was a faint light at her bedroom window. Maya would beinside, looking after Custard. Her throat tightened.