Guy Diamond and the Rainbow Roundup (DreamWorks Trolls) Read online

  To Donna, who always helps me round up the rainbows! —D.L.

  DreamWorks Trolls © 2018 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, and in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto, in conjunction with DreamWorks Animation LLC. Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  rhcbooks.com

  ISBN 9781524772680 (trade) — ISBN 9781524772697 (lib. bdg.) ebook ISBN 9781524772703

  v5.3.1

  ep

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  One fine day in Troll Village, Poppy sat out in front of her fuzzy pod, ready to teach the young Trolls surrounding her in a circle. They loved Queen Poppy, and they were excited to learn from her.

  “Hooray for Queen Poppy!” shouted a little Troll named Keith. “Teach us something new!”

  The other young Trolls took up the happy chant. “Teach us something new! Teach us something new! Teach us something new!” They were so excited, they jumped up and started dancing in a conga line to the rhythm of their chanting. “Teach us something new!” KICK! “Teach us something new!” KICK!

  Poppy grinned. She loved seeing the excited looks on the little Trolls’ faces and hearing the amazement in their voices when she told them something they didn’t know. She just knew they were going to love today’s lesson. She’d planned a special surprise.

  “Okay!” she said, gesturing for everyone to sit down again. They sat, but most were much too excited to sit still, so they wiggled and squirmed and bounced. “Today we’ve got a really fantastic treat. A guest speaker!”

  “YAY!” the young Trolls cheered, even though most weren’t exactly sure what a guest speaker was.

  “Does anyone want to guess who our guest speaker is?” Poppy asked.

  “Um, King Peppy?” asked one little girl Troll with bright purple hair.

  “Nope,” Poppy said, shaking her head. “That’s an excellent guess, Jody, but it’s not King Peppy. At least, not today. Maybe next time.”

  “King Gristle?” squeaked a tiny boy Troll named Rooty. Kings seemed to be a popular guess.

  “No, not King Gristle, Rooty,” Poppy said, smiling. “It’d be hard to hide him. You would probably already know if he was in the village.”

  The young Trolls nodded. That made sense. King Gristle was really big. They squinched up their faces, thinking hard. Who could the special guest be?

  “Oh! I know! I know!” Keith said, waving his hand in the air frantically.

  “Yes, Keith?” Poppy asked. “Who do you think our special guest speaker is?”

  “Queen Poppy!” Keith said confidently.

  Poppy looked confused. “Um, I’m Queen Poppy.”

  “I know!” Keith said. “Who could be a better guest speaker than you?”

  Laughing, she said, “Thank you! But our guest speaker isn’t Queen Poppy, or King Peppy, or King Gristle.” She got to her feet and gestured toward the nearest tree. “No, today it is our honor to welcome our very special guest speaker…GUY DIAMOND!”

  “Yay!” cheered the young Trolls, hopping and dancing around. They clapped and whistled as Guy Diamond popped into their circle from behind the tree and took a bow.

  “Thank you, thank you! Thank you very much!” said the friendly Troll in his shimmery voice. He shone and sparkled as though he’d been dipped in silver glitter from head to toe. His bluish-white hair stood straight up, doubling his height. And his handsome wide nose was as green as the strap on his Hug Time watch. “It’s great to be here today! I’m so glad Queen Poppy invited me to be your special guest speaker!”

  “So,” Poppy said as she settled down to listen, “please tell us what you’re going to talk about today, Guy Diamond.”

  “All right,” Guy said, standing with his feet apart and his fists on his hips. “First, a quick question. Does anyone here like…HOLIDAYS?” Guy’s voice hit three different notes, and the little Trolls went wild.

  “Me!” “Me!” “I do, I do!” they shouted. As Guy knew very well, ALL Trolls loved holidays!

  “Well,” he continued, “today I’m going to tell you about a very special holiday! Can anyone guess what it is?”

  The young Trolls thought hard.

  “Naked Day?” guessed one.

  “Burp Day?” suggested another.

  “The Solar Equinox?” ventured a particularly clever young Troll.

  Guy was impressed by all the guesses. “Nope. Those are fantastic holidays, but I’m here to talk about my personal favorite holiday, THE RAINBOW RAVE! Who here likes rainbows?”

  A forest of hands shot into the air. “Me!” “Me!” “I LOVE rainbows!”

  Guy nodded. “I totally agree. One hundred percent. Rainbows are terrific. Never met one I didn’t love. What do you like about them?”

  “The bright colors!” Jody cried.

  “The way they hang in the sky!” Rooty yelled.

  “The way they demonstrate the refraction of sunlight by drops of water in the atmosphere,” stated the clever young Troll, whose name was Leif. The other Trolls turned and stared at him.

  “Dude,” Keith said. “I’m not sure you belong in this class.”

  Leif nodded, considering. He thought perhaps Keith was right….

  Guy Diamond smiled. “I love all those things about rainbows, too. Most of the time when we see a rainbow in the sky, there’s only one. Maybe two. But there’s one special day of the year when the sky is FULL of rainbows! All the conditions are just right for the sky to fill up with lots and lots of rainbows. You’ll see them everywhere you look! It’s like a natural fireworks display—only during the day. While the sun is shining! Way before your bedtime!”

  “Does it rain?” a small girl Troll named Twiggie asked.

  “No!” Guy answered. “It doesn’t even rain! The sun is shining, but the sky’s full of rainbows! And on that special day, we celebrate the rainbows with a Rainbow Rave!”

  “Yay!” Keith cheered. “Um, what’s a Rainbow Rave?”

  Guy explained that during a Rainbow Rave, Trolls spend the whole day celebrating rainbows with all kinds of fun activities. They sing songs about rainbows. They dress up as rainbows. They eat cupcakes frosted with rainbow icing. They style their hair into rainbows. And they dance the Rainbow, lining up by color in an arc that stretches through the village. As an enthusiastic dancer, Guy was especially fond of that activity.

  Jody raised her hand. “Um, Mr. Diamond, I have a question.”

  “Yes?” Guy said.

  “When is the next Rainbow Rave?”

  Looking serious, Guy pretended to think hard about the answer. “Let’s see, when is the next Rainbow Rave? After all, the conditions have to be exactly right. Hmm. Oh, that’s right. The next Rainbow Rave is…TOMORROW!”

&n
bsp; The little Trolls sat for a second, stunned by the sensational news. Then they leapt to their feet, squealing and cheering! The very next day, every Troll in Troll Village would celebrate at the Rainbow Rave! Needless to say, Queen Poppy’s guest speaker was a big hit.

  That night, most of the young Trolls were so excited, they could hardly sleep a wink. (Except Leif, who knew the importance of getting at least eight hours of sleep every night.)

  Guy couldn’t sleep, either. He lay in bed in his glittery pod with his eyes wide open, wiggling his toes, thinking about the next day’s festivities. Around midnight, he decided to get up and take a short walk, hoping to tire himself out so he could fall asleep and be rested for the big day.

  The moon was full. As Guy strolled through the quiet village, he sparkled in the bright silvery moonlight. Looking up, he studied the night sky. To him, the conditions looked perfect. He was sure the next day would be one of the finest Rainbow Raves anyone had ever seen. Satisfied, he went back inside his pod, climbed into bed, and quickly fell asleep, dreaming of the perfect Rainbow Rave.

  But the next morning, when Guy woke early and rushed out to see all the rainbows in the sky, he was shocked.

  THERE WASN’T A SINGLE RAINBOW!

  Guy couldn’t believe it. Where were all the rainbows? The sky over Troll Village should have been full of them!

  He stood there, staring, his mouth hanging wide open in disbelief. Then he thought maybe the rainbows would suddenly start popping into the sky one by one.

  But they didn’t. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and there were a few puffy white clouds drifting by—but no rainbows.

  Guy headed toward the center of Troll Village to see if anyone knew what was going on. As he hurried along, the first Troll he met was Branch, who was gathering sticks.

  “Branch!” Guy asked breathlessly. “Where are all the rainbows?”

  “Usually in the sky,” Branch answered matter-of-factly. “Oh, and on Poppy’s invitations. I’m surprised you didn’t already know that, Guy.”

  “No,” Guy explained. “I KNOW rainbows are usually in the sky. But this is the day of the Rainbow Rave, and there are supposed to be dozens of rainbows up there!”

  Branch looked up. He’d completely forgotten about the Rainbow Rave, so he hadn’t even noticed that the rainbows were missing.

  “Hmm,” he said. “You’re right. Not a single rainbow. Clouds, yes. Rainbows, no.”

  “I TOLD you!” Guy said.

  “Are you sure this is the right day?” Branch asked. “Maybe the Rainbow Rave’s supposed to be tomorrow. Or maybe we missed it.”

  Guy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “MISSED it? How could we possibly miss it? It’s one of the most fantastic days there is!”

  Branch nodded slowly. “You’re right. We wouldn’t miss it. It’s way too colorful.” He thought a moment. Then he got an idea. “Maybe the rainbows are missing because of some kind of deep, dark conspiracy!”

  Guy looked puzzled. “Conspiracy? By whom?”

  “Secret anti-rainbow forces, of course,” Branch explained, lowering his voice and looking around to see who might be eavesdropping. “A powerful group of rainbow haters working together to ruin our rave! It makes complete sense when you think about it.”

  Guy thought about it, but it didn’t make complete sense to him. It didn’t even make partial sense. Why would anyone be against rainbows? They were so pretty!

  “Okay, well, that’s one theory,” Guy said politely. “I think maybe I’ll go see if anyone else knows what happened to all the rainbows.”

  “Fine,” Branch shrugged. “But I’m sure you’ll find it’s all a big conspiracy. It always is.”

  As Guy headed on through the village, he spotted Biggie coming out of the bakery with a big tray full of cupcakes. They were frosted with rainbow icing and dusted with rainbow sprinkles. Guy hurried over to him.

  “Good morning, Biggie!” Guy said. “Happy Rainbow Rave!”

  “Happy Rainbow Rave!” Biggie answered cheerfully as he set the tray down on a table he’d set up outside. “I’ve got the rainbow cupcakes all ready! Have one! Or two! There are plenty!”

  The cupcakes looked delicious—and beautiful, with their colorful icing. Guy was tempted. But this was no time to enjoy sweets. They had a crisis to confront! A mystery to solve!

  “No, thank you,” Guy said. “They look delicious, but I’m too worried about the rainbows!”

  “What rainbows?” Biggie asked, puzzled.

  “Exactly!” Guy said, flinging his arms out. “Where are all the rainbows? The sky’s supposed to be full of them!”

  Biggie looked up. He’d been so busy getting his rainbow cupcakes ready that he hadn’t had a chance to study the sky.

  “Hey,” he said, “where are the rainbows?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know!” Guy said.

  Biggie’s lip started to quiver. “But if there aren’t any rainbows,” he asked, his voice choked with emotion, “how are we supposed to have a Rainbow Rave?”

  “I don’t know,” Guy admitted.

  They both stood there for a moment, staring sadly up at the sky. Then Biggie looked hopeful. “Hey, maybe they’re just late!” he suggested. “Maybe they overslept!”

  Guy looked doubtful. “I don’t think rainbows sleep. But maybe you’re right. Maybe they’ll show up a little later this morning.”

  But as the morning went on, no rainbows appeared in the sky. The Trolls went ahead and put up their decorations anyway, getting ready for their rainbow dances and rainbow games. Every few minutes, they’d sneak another glance at the sky, hoping the rainbows were there.

  But they weren’t.

  The young Trolls Guy had talked to the day before were especially disappointed. They’d really been looking forward to the Rainbow Rave. When they saw Guy, they surrounded him, jumping up and down and bombarding him with questions.

  “Mr. Diamond, where are the rainbows?”

  “What happened to them?”

  “Are they still coming?”

  As Guy was trying to think of what to say, Poppy hurried over.

  “Guy!” she said. “Thanks again for your terrific talk yesterday! That was awesome!”

  “Yeah, it was awesome,” Keith agreed. “But the rainbows not showing up today is NOT awesome!”

  “TOTALLY not awesome!” said Rooty.

  Even though Poppy was worried about the rainbows not being there for the Rainbow Rave, she smiled, determined that everyone was going to have a good time anyway. “Don’t worry! We’ve got cupcakes and dances and songs and games. We’re going to have a fabulous day even if the rainbows don’t show up! Which they will! Eventually. I’m pretty sure….”

  The young Trolls looked uncertain.

  “It seems kind of weird to have a Rainbow Rave with no rainbows,” Twiggie said. The others nodded.

  Secretly, Guy agreed. He didn’t want to say it out loud, but without a sky full of rainbows, what was the point of singing songs about rainbows and dancing the Rainbow? It just wouldn’t be the same. The magical thing about the Rainbow Rave was celebrating under a sky full of bright, shining rainbows. Without them…

  “I saw something,” said a voice behind Guy. “I think the rainbows were TAKEN!”

  Guy spun around. He saw Karma, the Troll who loved nature more than any other Troll. She had leaves and sticks wound into her green hair, and she wore a skirt the color of sunshine.

  “What did you say?” Guy asked.

  “I said I saw something,” Karma repeated. “Something that makes me think maybe the rainbows were taken!”

  The little Trolls, Poppy, and Guy gasped. Who would take rainbows on the day of the Rainbow Rave? What a terrible thought!

  Poppy rushed over to Karma. “What did
you see, Karma? Tell us!”

  “Well,” she began, “early this morning, just as the sun was coming up, I was walking in the woods, when—”

  FWEE FWEE DEE DEE DWEEEE FWEE DOODLY DOOOO! Suddenly, loud music drowned out Karma’s story. The Trolls looked around to see where it was coming from. Cooper strolled up to the group, blowing into his harmonica. FWEE DOODLY DEEDLE DEEE!

  “COOPER!” Poppy shouted, startling the four-legged Troll with the long neck. He stopped playing his harmonica.

  “Oh, hi, Poppy! Hi, Guy Diamond! Hi, Karma! Happy Rainbow Rave! I was just practicing a new song I wrote for our celebration. It’s called ‘Rainbows Are the Rainbowiest Bows Made out of Rain!’ ” Cooper said. He looked around conspiratorially, then whispered, “It’s about rainbows.”

  “That’s wonderful, Cooper,” Poppy said, “but in case you haven’t noticed, there aren’t any rainbows in the sky.”

  “Really?” Cooper said, surprised. “I was too busy working on my new song to check out the sky.” He looked up, craning his long neck all around. Then he looked back at his fellow Trolls. “You’re right! No rainbows! On the day of the Rainbow Rave! What happened to them?”

  Guy shrugged. “We don’t know, Cooper. But Karma saw something this morning that makes her think somebody took the rainbows!”

  Cooper’s eyes grew wide. “Took?” He turned to Karma. “What was it, Karma? What did you see? WHY WON’T YOU TELL US?”

  Leif tugged on Cooper’s leg. “Excuse me, Mr. Cooper, but I can explain. Ms. Karma was about to tell us what she saw when you came in playing your harmonica. Your music drowned her out, so she stopped speaking. Now that you’ve finished playing, at least for the moment, she’ll be able to resume her fascinating story.”

  Everyone stared at the little Troll.

  Cooper bent his long neck down until his head was close to the clever young Troll’s face. “You are very smart! Thank you for that excellent explanation,” Cooper told him.