“I have no idea what to do with my present either,” Mei said as she held up a pair of glasses. Instead of smooth glass, though, the lenses were faceted like a gemstone. She put them on and made a funny face. “How do I look? I feel like a fly.”
“They look great! But too bad those glasses give you a fly’s eyes instead of a fly’s wings,” Amirah replied.
“I could always wear them like a headband,” Mei said, laughing as she pushed the glasses on top of her head.
“Pretty! Like a tiara!” Amirah said.
“Open your present, Amirah,” Elvis encouraged.
When Amirah opened her gift, she understood why the B-Buds seemed a little disappointed. “Huh. A tin whistle,” she said. Then she held it out to Elvis. “There must be a mistake. This one’s probably for you. After all, you’re the musician.”
Elvis shook his head. “I don’t think the Magical Land of Birthdays makes mistakes,” he said. “That gift definitely said ‘Amirah’ on it. I’ll play you a song, though.”
When Elvis tried to play the whistle, though, it didn’t make a sound. “Too bad,” he said as he handed it back to Amirah. “It’s broken.”
“Well, just because we can’t hear it doesn’t mean it’s broken,” Amirah pointed out.
Mei looked alarmed. “Are you talking about the bats?” she asked. “Bats can hear at different frequencies than humans! It was one thing when they were flying away from us, but do we really want them flying toward us?”
“Uh . . . that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Amirah replied. “But now that you mention it—let’s get out of here!”
The B-Buds raced out the tunnel, laughing and shrieking. In the bright sunshine, they paused so Amirah could wipe off her feet and put her shoes back on. Then they set off down the other side of the mountain. The B-Buds soon discovered that it was even easier to climb down the mountain than up. As they made their way down the trail, the rock candy smoothed back into candy buttons. Eventually even the candy buttons receded until the friends found themselves walking on a smooth surface.
“The ground has changed,” Mei commented.
Amirah leaned over and used her finger to draw a heart on the path. Then, to everyone’s astonishment, she popped her finger in her mouth!
Amirah laughed at the B-Buds’ shocked expressions. “Don’t worry,” she told them. “It’s just cake frosting! The glossy kind that you can pipe designs on.”
“Of course it is,” Elvis said as he started to laugh too. Then he tilted his head to the side. “Do you hear that, B-Buds?” he asked.
“More music?” Mei guessed.
“No . . . not this time,” Elvis replied, still listening intently. “It sounds like a . . . rushing noise.”
“Rushing?” Amirah asked. “Would a unicorn rush? I guess if she did, it would be more like a gallop. They have hooves, after all.”
“Like horses,” Mei chimed in.
“I’m pretty sure it’s not a unicorn,” Elvis said. “Or anything alive. I just can’t . . .”
Amirah shivered as a cool breeze blew past them. Were they so close to the Rainbow Forest that they could feel cooler air circulating around the shade-giving trees?
When the friends rounded a curve in the path, they solved both mysteries. They found themselves standing on the bank of a rushing river, with whipped-cream whitecaps swirling over the deep waters.
“There’s the rushing sound,” Elvis said.
“And that’s where the cool breeze came from,” Amirah added.
Mei scrunched up her face. “Oh no,” she said. “I don’t remember seeing the river on the other side of the mountains. I remember seeing something about a stream, but not a giant river. I’m sorry, B-Buds. How are we going to cross it?”
“It’s not your fault!” Amirah assured her. “This land is new to all of us! Besides, there has to be a bridge somewhere, right?” Amirah asked.
“Or maybe a boat?” Elvis suggested.
“Look at those rapids,” Mei said. “I don’t know how to pilot a boat through such rough water. Do you?”
“No . . . I guess not,” Elvis admitted. “But we’re in the Magical Land of Birthdays! So the boat has got to be magical too!”
“But there is no boat,” Mei reminded him.
“Oh. Right,” Elvis said. “Well, let’s check the map. There has to be a way to cross the river. I mean, surely somebody before us has figured out a way to get across.”
Amirah took a few steps away from the riverbank and turned around so that the spray wouldn’t get on the map. “This explains it, Mei!” she cried a moment later. “The river is called the Silly Stream River! That’s why you thought it was a stream! That’s a really easy mistake to make!”
Mei smiled gratefully at Amirah.
Amirah studied the map. The Silly Stream River wound its way across the entire land, swirling and swooping as it cut a path through the fields and the forest. If there were any bridges—or even any docks with boats—the map didn’t indicate them.
What if there really isn’t a way across? Amirah wondered. She didn’t want to say those words aloud. She didn’t even want to think them. The Magical Land of Birthdays was no place to lose hope . . . or admit defeat.
The river on the map sparkled like sapphires and diamonds, as if actual sunlight was glinting on real water. Amirah kept studying it, trying to find a way across. But the map didn’t offer any solutions to their problem.
Finally, Amirah stood up and looked around for her B-Buds. Elvis and Mei had wandered off a little way and seemed to be checking out an incredible tree. Instead of leaves, the tree was covered in helium balloons of all colors. The balloons swayed back and forth in the breeze, making rainbow shadows on the ground.
Amirah guessed that it was the incredible tree that had first captured her B-Buds’ attention. Now, though, Elvis was drumming a cool rhythm on the tree trunk while Mei gracefully twirled on one of
