The Magical Land of Birthdays

by Amirah Kassem

Suddenly, Elvis stopped. He held up his hand. “Did you hear that?” he asked.

  “Hear what?” Amirah asked. Of course they’d all heard the jumble of musical notes chiming through the air.

  “It sounded like a song,” Elvis said.

  Mei and Amirah exchanged a glance. Amirah could tell that Mei hadn’t heard a song either.

  But Elvis was a musician and he loved music more than anything. Maybe he’d heard something the other B-Buds had missed.

  “Did . . .” Mei began. Her voice trailed off when she noticed the intense look of concentration on Elvis’s face.

  “Dah-dah-dah-dah,” he hummed under his breath.

  Amirah tilted her head and listened carefully. The tune was familiar. She felt certain that she’d heard it before.

  “Dah-dah-dah-dah,” Elvis hummed again. Then, carefully he leaped from a blue rock candy, to a green one, to a pink, to a purple—

  Incredibly, the candies chimed out the exact same notes that Elvis had hummed!

  “Wow!” Mei exclaimed.

  “How did you do that?” Amirah asked.

  Elvis grinned and shrugged. “My music teacher says I have a good ear,” he replied.

  “Can you do it again?” Mei said.

  “I think so,” he replied. “Actually, I’m going to try to play a whole song.”

  The girls watched as Elvis jumped from stone to stone. The notes filled the air in a recognizable pattern, a tune that Amirah could almost name. Even cooler, though, was that Elvis’s jumps along the rock-candy trail looked like a dance.

  Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah

  Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah

  Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah

  Suddenly, Amirah recognized the song—just in time to sing the last line.

  “Happy birthday to youuuuuuuuuuu!” she sang out.

  “Amazing!” Mei cried as she burst into applause. Amirah started clapping too, and Elvis couldn’t hide his pleased smile.

  “Show me how,” Amirah said.

  “Sure,” Elvis replied. “Each color of rock candy represents a different note. So, just like a piano, or a xylophone, if you touch them in a particular order . . .”

  “It will play a song,” Mei finished for him.

  “Exactly. It’s really pretty simple,” Elvis said. “The right notes, in the right order, and boom—you have a song. Come here, Amirah, and I’ll show you how to play ‘Happy Birthday.’”

  Amirah skipped across the rock candy, making a jumble of notes drift into the air. She soon memorized the pattern of rocks she had to step on to play the familiar tune.

  Elvis’s eyes twinkled. “Now, if we really want to take it to the next level,” he began.

  “I’m listening,” Amirah replied.

  “You could play the melody—that’s the part I taught you—and I’ll play the harmony,” he replied. “A duet!” Then Elvis turned to Mei. “And you can sing,” he said.

  Mei blushed and put her hands on her cheeks. “Me? Sing? All by myself?” she asked.

  “Sure. Why not?” Elvis asked. “You have such a nice speaking voice that I bet you’re a great singer.”

  “But—what if I mess up?” Mei asked. “What if I sing a wrong note? I’d be so embarrassed!”

  “Don’t be!” Amirah assured her. “We’re your friends! Your B-Buds! You never have to feel embarrassed in front of us!”

  “Besides, mistakes happen sometimes,” Elvis added. “Even in music. It’s no big deal. Just keep going to the next note.”

  “Okay,” Mei finally said. “If you’re sure . . .”

  “On my count,” Elvis said. “A one, a two, a one, two, three!”

  Amirah concentrated so hard on stepping on the right pieces of rock candy that she didn’t even glance at her friends. But she could hear the music they were making—Elvis’s harmony complementing the melody she played, and Mei’s sweet, strong voice spiraling into the sunshine.

  It was the most beautiful rendition of the birthday song Amirah had ever heard.

  As the last notes drifted into the air and slowly faded, the three friends were quiet. Then, after a moment of pure silence, they began to cheer.

  “That was incredible!” Elvis exclaimed. “What a jam session!”

  “Let’s do it again!” Amirah said.

  But before anyone could move, something incredible happened. A bolt of golden light snaked around the rock candies, lighting each one up in turn, until it zipped into a large hunk of rock candy by the side of the trail. The rock began to glow, lit from deep within.

  Then, in a glittering flash of light, it cracked open like an egg!

  “Did you see that?” Amirah cried. She raced across the rocks, which played a cacophony of musical notes, to reach the rock. She peered into the crack and gasped in surprise.

  There was something inside.

  “B-Buds!” she yelled. “Check it out!”

  Amirah plunged her hand into the opening, rummaged around . . .

  “Be careful,” Mei cried. “Those edges look rough!”

  “I’m fine,” Amirah said, still feeling around. “I thought I saw . . .”

  Then, her fingers brushed against something smooth and papery.

  Amirah pulled out her hand, which clutched a scroll of paper. Instantly, the crack in the rock sealed up, as though it had never existed.

  “It’s a message!” she cried, unfurling the scroll. “No—wait—it’s a map!”

  In a flash of blazing light, letters appeared along the top of the map. They read:

  “‘Welcome to the Magical Land of Birthdays,’” Amirah read aloud. “Well, B-Buds, I guess we’ve finally figured out where we are.”

  “It makes sense,” Elvis said, nodding his head. “I mean, everywhere we look is cake and birthday stuff like streamers and confetti—”

  “We played ‘Happy Birthday’ on the rock-candy trail,” Mei added.

  “And it’s our birthdays,” Amirah said. “All on the same day. I’ve never seen anything like this map before. It’s practically a work of art.”

  Amirah wasn’t exaggerating. The map was beautiful, with tiny, intricate drawings illuminating each area of the Magical Land of Birthdays. There were rolling hills and craggy mountains, gentle meadows and thriving fields. At the top of the map there were a bunch of buildings clustered together that Amirah thought must represent a city. In the very center was a dense forest that looked like it was made of thousands of trees. The candy-button trail cut through the entire land, and so did a roaring river that cascaded over several small waterfalls and split off into smaller streams. The biggest revelation, though, was that the Magical Land of Birthdays was actually an island, surrounded by ocean on all sides.

  Mei’s finger hovered over the map. “Look at the path,” she said in a hushed voice. “It lights up!”

  “Will it tell us where to go?” Amirah wondered. She felt a little silly as she said the words. After all, it was a map, not a person.

  Then again, nothing in the Magical Land of Birthdays was quite what it seemed.

  “It’s worth a try,” Elvis said, shrugging. He cleared his throat. “Where will we find Cara the Unicorn?”

  The map glittered and gleamed, but nothing else happened. No special path lit up. No trail suddenly appeared.

  “I guess we could go back to our original plan of exploring,” Amirah said. “But at least this time, we’ll be exploring with a map.”

  “Where would a unicorn be?” Mei asked, still staring at the map.

  “It’s impossible to guess,” Amirah said. “A magical creature, in a magical land . . .”

  Amirah racked her brain, trying to remember everything she’d ever read about unicorns. There were so many legends about them. They had magical powers, of course, which made humans so determined to capture them that unicorns had nearly become extinct. They were solitary creatures . . . They liked to be alone . . . They liked to be quiet and peaceful . . .

  Amirah pulled the container of sprinkles out of her
pocket and munched on a handful. Their sweetness dissolved on her tongue as she continued to think through their options. Should they head deeper into the mountains, toward the woods, or head north, toward the city?”

  The B-Buds huddled together to look more closely at the map. Amirah pointed to the area on the map that showed the Party Hat Mountains, which would lead them to the Rainbow Forest. Then her finger trailed up to gently tap the area called Sparkle City at the top of the map.

  “Rainbow Forest or Sparkle City?” Amirah asked.

  “You pick!” Mei said, and Elvis nodded.

  “Let’s make our way to the Rainbow Forest,” Amirah finally said. “We can keep searching for Cara there.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Elvis replied. “Back down the mountain!”

  “Actually,” Mei began, “look at this.”

  Everyone followed her finger as Mei traced a different route, one that climbed the tall mountains and took a shortcut through them.

  “What do you see? Is that a passage over the mountains?” Amirah asked.

  Mei shook her head. “It’s a cave that seems to be a tunnel. It’s called Candle Cave.”

  “A tunnel right through the mountains?” Elvis asked.

  “Yes,” Mei replied. “Yes, look! Candle Cave seems to run through the Party Hat Mountains, just like a tunnel. See how much quicker it will be? We’re not too far from the entrance. Then we zip right through the tunnel and climb down the other side of the mountain and we’ll be at the forest.”

  “I get it,” Amirah said, nodding her head. “This way, we don’t have to go all around the mountain. It really does look like a shortcut. I’m in.”

  “Me too,” Elvis announced.

  As the B-Buds stood up, Amirah shook the container of sprinkles. “I almost forgot,” she said. “You guys want some?”

  “Sure,” Mei said, holding out her hand. “Do you, uh, just carry sprinkles with you wherever you go?”

  “Absolutely, I do,” Amirah said, laughing. “I mean, first, they’re delicious.”

  “You can say that again,” Elvis said as he popped a handful into his mouth.

  “And second, I just happen to believe that sprinkles make everything better,” Amirah continued. “If the weather is gloomy . . . if I’m having a bad day . . . well, I just remember my sprinkles and maybe eat a few and I know it sounds weird, but I feel better instantly. That’s the power of sprinkles!”

  “I know what you mean. It’s not weird,” Elvis replied as the trio set off along the path. “Music is kind of like that for me . . . but it’s not as easy to carry around in my pocket.”

  “No, I guess not,” Amirah said.

  “But you do carry music with you,” Mei pointed out.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “Like humming, or snapping your fingers, or drumming on stuff,” Mei said.

  “I never thought about it like that,” Elvis replied.

  “What about you, with gymnastics?” Amirah asked Mei. “Do you do little moves all day to keep it with you?”

  Mei nodded. “I guess I do, when I can. It’s hard for me to sit still all day at school! But mostly I just think about gymnastics a lot. I’ll plan routines in my head, or imagine what it would be like to win a medal in the Olympics.” Mei paused to hop gracefully over a large rock on the path. “I guess that sounds pretty wild, imagining myself at the Olympics, but it’s my biggest dream.”

  “I think that sounds amazing,” Amirah said. “I hope you make it there. I’ll cheer for you!”

  “Me too!” Elvis added.

  Finally, they reached a shadowy opening in the mountain. It was so dark inside that Amirah couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead of her.

  “Well,” Mei said, a note of doubt in her voice. “This looks like the, ah, tunnel.”

  “Did anybody bring a flashlight?” Elvis asked.

  The other B-Buds shook their heads.

  “I hate to state the obvious,” he continued. “But it’s really dark in there. I mean, really dark. How will we know where we’re going?”

  “That’s a good point,” Mei admitted. “I know it’s a cave, but I thought Candle Cave wouldn’t be so dark inside!”

  “We came all this way, though,” Amirah said. “We should at least go inside. Maybe there’s a light source somewhere and we just haven’t spotted it yet.”

  When no one replied, Amirah knew that her B-Buds needed a little extra encouragement. “Come on, B-Buds! It’s our birthday and this has the potential to be the greatest birthday adventure in the history of the world!”

  “Or the greatest birthday misadventure,” Elvis cracked.

  Amirah could tell Elvis was a little scared, which she definitely understood, yet she felt deep down that they had absolutely nothing to be worried about. She just had to convince him of that without making him feel bad about being scared.

  She marched over to Elvis and Mei and linked arms with them. “Safety first,” she smiled. “We’ll just go in a little ways. And we’ll stick together at all times.”

  Mei nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I’m in!”

  Elvis took a deep breath. “Let’s do this!”

  With their heads held high, the B-Buds bravely marched into the dark, shadowy cave. Their footsteps echoed in the darkness.

  “Okay it’s really dark in here.” Inside the cave, Elvis’s voice echoed. “Maybe we should go back now.”

  “Just a little farther.” Amirah pushed on. “If only we could see—”

  Whooosh!

  A sudden sizzling sound zipped through the air, followed by the smell of smoke. Amirah grabbed Elvis’s and Mei’s arms tighter. If there was a fire somewhere in this cave, they’d have to get out—fast!

  But an instant later, two soft flickering lights appeared. Amirah was so relieved that she laughed out loud. “Torches!” she exclaimed.

  Sure enough, two torches on the cave wall gleamed with warm light.

  “Those aren’t torches,” Elvis said, pointing. “They’re overgrown birthday candles!”

  “I think you’re right,” Amirah replied. “That’s why this is called Candle Cave! Those are definitely jumbo birthday candles! Look at the colorful swirls on their sides.”

  “Look at everything!” Mei cried. “Have you ever seen anything like it? Ever, in your whole life?”

  Amirah took a moment to look around the cave in astonishment. Overhead, the ceiling was made of rainbow glitter; it sparkled and glowed from the light of the torches. The ground below their feet was covered in confetti. A trickling stream caught Amirah’s eye and she walked over to check it out. Next to the stream she saw what appeared to be oversized bubble wands.

  “I wonder what happens when I dip one of these in the stream,” Amirah murmured. She decided to find out. She dipped the wand in the stream, waved it, and laughed in delight as a group of bubble bats skittered overhead.

  “Are those bats?” Mei cried.

  “It’s okay!” Amirah said quickly. “They’re bubble bats!”

  Elvis ran over and grabbed a wand and dipped it in the stream to create more bubble bats.

  “This is so cool!” he cried.

  “As cool as this is, what if these turn into real bats?” Mei wondered, biting her lip.

  Amirah didn’t think that would happen, but she could tell Mei was nervous. “We should probably keep moving anyway,” she said, smiling at her B-Bud and putting the wands back where they had found them.

  “Let’s see if we can get one of those torches down,” Elvis suggested a moment later. “We can carry it through to the other side of the tunnel.”

  Elvis reached up and tried to pry one of the candle-torches off the cave wall, but all he got for his trouble was a handful of melted wax.

  “Well, that was a failure,” Elvis said as he peeled the colorful wax off his palms.

  With a flicker and a fizzle, the candle-torches unexpectedly burned out.

  “Uh-oh,” Mei said as the B-Buds were plunged
into darkness once more.

  “They may be bigger than regular birthday candles, but they still burn out pretty quickly,” Elvis said nervously.

  “Let’s keep going,” Amirah encouraged them.

  “Are you sure?” Mei exclaimed. “It’s just as dark as it was before—except now we know there are bats and who knows what else!”

  “Bubble bats,” Amirah gently reminded her. “Look, I know it’s dark and we can’t exactly see anything, but when we needed light before, it just sort of . . . appeared. Let’s see if it happens again.”

  “Okay,” Mei said. “But we shouldn’t go too much farther without any light. We don’t want to get lost in here and never find our way out.”

  “I know,” Amirah said quietly.

  The B-Buds took slow, careful steps in the darkness. Finally, Elvis said, “Amirah . . . did you hear that rustling noise?”

  “The floor was covered in confetti, remember?” Amirah replied. “Just a little farther. It’s just like your bedroom at night. It can be a little spooky when you can’t see, but it’s still just your room, with all your stuff, and nothing scary. Just like that!”

  “Just like that,” Elvis repeated. “Of course, there’s a night-light in my bedroom,” he joked. “A green gummy bear. But it’s not like I use it all the time . . .”

  Amirah laughed. She was glad Elvis was being so brave even though he was scared. “I have a night-light too. A rainbow one!”

  “Me three,” Mei added. “But mine’s a purple butterfly.”

  The group walked a few more careful steps as they talked. Amirah could feel the tension in her B-Buds’ arms. She hoped they wouldn’t give up. The thought that they’d come so far, only to turn around and have to start over, made her even more determined to find a way through the pitch-black tunnel.

  Then, without warning—whoosh!

  “New birthday candle-torches!” Amirah exclaimed. “Look—you can see the old ones that burned out back there.”

  “So, maybe if we keep going, even through the darkness, new candle-torches will keep lighting up,” Elvis said.

  “Maybe we’re the ones who make them light up,” Amirah said. “Maybe they can, I don’t know, sense us approaching or something . . .”

  “In that case, we’d better move fast,” Mei said, pointing at the birthday candle-torches. “These ones are burning out as fast at the others did.”