The Secret of the Fairies is the second book of the Thea Stilton Special Edition book series. It was published on September 24th 2013.
Description[]
- Thea Stilton and the Thea Sisters are on an expedition to the fantastical Land of Erin. While they were searching for a missing friend, they learn that the land itself is in peril! The mouselets are ready to help.
- On their journey, they encounter fairies, pixies and other magical creatures- some helpful, but some out to trick them! Can the Thea Sisters save The Land of Erin before it's too late? It's an adventure full of mystery and friendship!
Plot[]
Thea Stilton is sent on her very first mission for the Institute of Incredible Stories' Seven Roses Unit: to investigate the disappearance of an agent named Nina. Right before she departs to Ireland where Nina was last seen, she tells the Thea Sisters of her mission, which piques their interest and later on urges the girls to call the Seven Roses Unit out of interest. In Ireland, Thea finds a fellow agent, and together they find their investigation leading them to an old Irish castle, where they find a mysterious stairway that opens when a fire is lit nearby. They are warned by a strange mystical force that the passageway will close if the fire goes out, so the agent stays to tend to the fire while Thea goes down the stairs into a mysterious cave with a light at the end of it.
Meanwhile the Thea Sisters are picked up from Whale Island and are taken to the Seven Roses Unit, with Will Mystery as their host and guide through the Seven Roses Unit and the process of becoming agents. Soon after they are registered as agents of the unit, an alarm goes off and they run to a room called the Hall of the Seven Roses, a room containing a living map that displays the maps and conditions of the seven "roses", which are the seven fantasy worlds that the unit is studying. The map of one of the lands, the Land of Erin, shows an indication that it is in severe danger (a crack across the map), so Will and the Thea Sisters hop into the unit's Crystal Elevator, the unit's artificial transport between the real world and the fantasy world, and are whisked away into the Land of Erin.
The Thea Sisters arrive in the Ireland-like Land of Erin and try to find their way. They encounter a lot of creatures along the way that either help them or seek to trap them before meeting up with Thea (who made it to the Land of Erin through the passageway in Ireland) and learning that Nina found the hidden passageway to Erin and is most likely somewhere in it, investigating a King Waveshaker and the cause of his earthquake-creating wrath. Their search and the information on Nina's diary that they found leads them to the Court of the Discontented, but not before Pamela becomes separated from the group and Will goes off to look for her while the rest of the Thea Sisters and Thea go to the Valley of Wishes and Court of the Discontented.
The group is immediately captured by the Red Caps and is taken to the Great Discontented One, who admits to having imprisoned Nina and has the group imprisoned with her. The group introduces themselves to Nina, and while the Red Caps are asleep, Nina reveals that while she was traveling the Land of Erin, the Red Caps captured her and had her tell them all the information she had involving the Land of Erin, and using this information, they were able to steal Waveshaker's treasure. Nina was not released, however, because they wanted to escape the Land of Erin and seek refuge in the real world from King Waveshaker's wrath, which has caused earthquakes that have ravaged the Land of Erin and the real world (the latter including alarmingly turbulent weather). Acknowledging that the Red Caps' plan will put both the Land of Erin and the real world in grave danger, the Thea Sisters agree that the Red Caps must be stopped.
Meanwhile, Will finds Pam and the two approach the Court of the Discontented. They learn that the others were taken prisoner, and they swiftly and silently sneak into the court undetected to find a way to break the Thea Sisters, Thea and Nina out. They quickly hatch a plan to escape involving the Red Caps going to hunt in the morning, leaving the court vulnerable with only a few Red Caps to stand guard. Will and Pam hide back into the shadows to wait for the right opportunity to kick off their plan. As soon as most of the Red Caps leave for their morning hunt, Will kicks his plan into action and frees Nina and the Thea Sisters. Now that they are free, they resolve to find King Waveshaker's treasure and return it to its rightful owner.
The group quickly finds the treasure under the throne of the Great Discontented One and Colette suggests they make haste to Waveshaker's lair before the Red Caps return and discover the thievery, but Thea and Violet suggest they try to convince the Court of the Discontented that moving to the real world is not a good idea. Before the escape attempt, the Thea Sisters learned that the Court of the Discontented had gotten its name because everyone who is part of the court is unhappy with everything and is discontented with their lives; so Violet pitches to the group that they teach the Court of the Discontented that there is so much to enjoy in life and that they don't need silver or gold or any valuable treasure to be happy. Agreeing with Violet's plan, the group assembles a multitude of simple but beautiful things that could be found everywhere in the Valley of Wishes.
When the Red Caps return and realize that the treasure is gone, Thea, Will, the Thea Sisters and Nina explain to the Great Discontented One that the Red Caps possessing Waveshaker's treasure is putting their world in grave danger, and that even though the treasure must be returned to Waveshaker, there is so much more to be happy about in the world around them than some treasure. Appeased and greatly brought to joy by the assembly of fruits, flowers and woodland creatures that the group assembled, the Great Discontented One agrees to allowing the return of the treasure and is left to his newfound happiness, and the group moves onward to return the King Waveshaker's treasure.
The group makes their way to Waveshaker to return his treasure, and after they successfully do so without having to rat the Court of the Discontented out, they make their journey back home. Their original plan was to go through the path Nina and Thea had entered the Land of Erin through, but they found the passageway closed (the agent was unable to keep the fire going because of the worsening weather and chose to report back to the Seven Roses Unit), so Will calls upon the crystal elevator instead. Within a few moments, they arrive back in the Seven Roses Unit.
With the Living Map confirming that the Land of Erin is now safe, the Thea Sisters are quickly promoted to junior researchers of the unit and are sworn to secrecy. Thea and the girls take a quick boat ride back to Mouseford and celebrate the first of many successful missions they will have with the Seven Roses Unit.