“Down,” she told her balloon. “Down, down, down.”
The balloon lowered her to the ground until her toes grazed the sandy graham cracker–crumb riverbank. “Thank you,” Amirah told her balloon as she let go of the string. Then she watched as the balloon floated back to the balloon tree. Soon it disappeared among the hundreds of other colorful balloons that were swaying in the breeze.
On the other side of the river, the air was even cooler. It almost felt heavier. Amirah moved closer to Mei and Elvis, and all three of them looked toward the shadowy forest.
“What do you think?” Mei finally asked. “Should we . . . check it out?”
“Let’s do it,” Amirah replied, nodding her head. “After all, we’ve come all this way . . .”
The B-Buds were quiet as they slipped into the forest. The trees here were the most magnificent trees Amirah had ever seen. Where regular trees might have moss hanging from their branches, the trees in the Rainbow Forest had loops of shimmery rainbow-colored ribbons. The ribbons were curled just like the ones used to decorate birthday presents.
“I think this is definitely the Rainbow Forest,” Amirah whispered as she and her friends looked up at the amazing rainbow canopy above their heads. The ribbons brushed against Amirah’s skin, making her shiver a little as the friends moved deeper into the woods. Up ahead, she thought she could see a faint light glimmering in a clearing. Could that be Cara the Unicorn? Amirah wondered. She imagined that a unicorn’s horn would cast a beautiful light.
As Amirah moved faster, Mei and Elvis did too. When they reached the clearing, though, there was no sign of a unicorn.
Instead, the friends realized that they had stumbled upon a party. Well, not a party, exactly. There were no guests anywhere to be seen. Just a long table, decorated with a sea-green tablecloth and blue-and-pink plates. There were shells scattered along the table and tiny sand-castles beside each plate; tall glasses of pink lemonade with cherries bobbing on top; and a beautiful, three-tiered cake decorated with shimmery scales, sugar pearls, and candy stars.
“This is someone’s party,” Amirah observed. “It’s a—it’s a mermaid party.”
“Look at the ground,” Mei said, pointing down. “How did all this sand get into the middle of the woods?”
Elvis licked his lips. “I’m really thirsty,” he said. “Do you think they’d mind if I drank some lemonade?”
Amirah glanced around. “I don’t know,” she said. “There’s no one here to ask. But . . .”
Elvis walked toward the table and reached for one of the glasses. Just as he was about to pick it up, it dissolved into nothingness.
“Wait a minute! None of this is real,” he said, trying to lift one of the seashells. It, too, vanished into a silvery mist.
“This isn’t a party,” Amirah suddenly realized. “It’s like . . . the memory of a party. Or an idea. Something that doesn’t actually exist in the real world.”
“Is it just me, or are all the colors fading?” Mei asked, frowning. “They’re, like, washed out.”
“It’s not just you,” Elvis agreed. “It kind of looks like this whole party is going to . . . disappear.”
“Like the girl!” Amirah exclaimed. “Remember how she was here but not here? And she seemed to . . . flicker? And fade away?”
“Do you think she’s connected to this lonely party?” Elvis asked.
Amirah nodded. She closed her eyes for a moment and listened to what her heart was telling her. “I do,” she said. “I can’t really explain it—I mean, I don’t have any proof—but I really believe they’re connected somehow. And I’m almost positive she’s one of our B-Buds.”
“But everything else in the Magical Land of Birthdays is so bright and colorful,” Mei pointed out. “Why would this gloomy party be connected to us or one of our B-Buds?”
“I’m not sure,” Amirah replied. What Mei said was perfectly rational. But in her heart, Amirah felt certain that the party was somehow connected to the girl, who she was sure was one of their B-Buds. And she needed their help.
“There’s a light,” Elvis suddenly said.
The girls looked where he was pointing. Sure enough, on the other side of the clearing, a silver light glimmered. It hovered in the branches of the trees, just above their heads.
In silence, the B-Buds moved toward the light. Amirah reached out to push aside the tangled ribbons. Then she gasped in amazement.
“B-Buds! We did it!” she cried. “We found Cara the Unicorn!”
“Cara the unicorn is . . . a piñata?” Elvis asked doubtfully, staring into the trees.
“I thought Cara was going to be a real unicorn,” Mei added.
Disappointment flickered through Amirah. She didn’t want to admit it, but she’d expected Cara the Unicorn to be real too. But there was no doubt that the unicorn before them was a piñata. A stunning piñata—gorgeous, even—made of silvery tissue paper, with a rainbow mane of ribbon roses and a silver horn that seemed lit from within. That’s where the light is coming from, Amirah thought.
The piñata hung from a silver ribbon that was tied to a branch. As it spun and twisted in the gentle breeze, Amirah knew that there was nothing real, or lifelike, about it.
But nothing here is what it seems, Amirah reminded herself. If she’d learned anything during her adventures in the Magical Land of Birthdays, it was that anything was possible, anything in the whole world. Especially on a birthday.
“She’s so beautiful,” Amirah whispered, reaching up to rest her hand on the piñata’s side. For the briefest instant, she thought she felt something. A quiver, maybe, or a pulse. But she knew it was just her imagination. Cara the Unicorn was just a piñata, after all.
“Stand back, B-Bud,” Elvis said, his voice interrupting Amirah’s thoughts. She turned around and saw that he was carrying his present. Fully extended, the silver tube was three feet long. It almost looked like a tree branch.
“What’s that for?” Amirah asked.
“That’s a piñata,” Elvis replied, pointing the silver stick at Cara. “And piñatas are
