This time, when Olivia smiled, it was less wavery than before.
“The thing about birthdays is that their joy can last you the whole year,” Amirah continued. “I call it living the birthday lifestyle.”
“Like—every day is your birthday?” Elvis asked in confusion.
“Not exactly,” Amirah said. “Your birthday is one and only! But the way I feel on my birthday—special and loved and happy—well, I want to feel like that every day. That’s another reason why I always carry sprinkles in my pocket. Here—hold out your hands!”
The B-Buds stuck out their hands so Amirah could shake some sprinkles into their palms. Then everyone munched on the sprinkles together.
“See what I mean? Sprinkles make everything feel a little bit like a party!” Amirah said. Then she turned back to Olivia. “I don’t know if your birthday party would feel un-magical at your house. I mean, I think all birthdays are magic . . . even when they’re not perfect.
“But here’s what I do know,” she continued. “We’re in the most magical place in the universe. I mean, it’s right in the name—the Magical Land of Birthdays! So this is my idea . . . let’s celebrate here!”
“Here?” Olivia repeated.
“Right here,” Amirah said, holding her arms open wide. “There’s a table set up for a party right over in the clearing. It’s not, you know, the beach, but I know we can make the best of—”
“Oh!” Mei suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Amirah. She pulled out the map and unrolled it. “Sorry I cut you off! But I thought I remembered seeing a beach on the map. Look, there’s one right here. It’s called Celebration Shore!”
“Genius!” Amirah’s eyes lit up. “We can have your beachy birthday party there!” she told Olivia. “I’m certain that birthdays never get rained out in the Magical Land of Birthdays.”
“One question, though,” Elvis said. “How are we going to get to Celebration Shore? It’s really far away according to the map.”
“That’s a good point,” Mei said thoughtfully as she traced a winding path across the map. “The forest is in the very center of the island, which means a long journey to the beach, which is way off to the east side of the island.”
Amirah snapped her fingers. “The balloon tree,” she suggested.
“That’s possible,” Mei said. “But . . . dangerous.”
“Dangerous? What do you mean?” Olivia asked, her eyes growing wide.
Mei told Olivia about how they’d traveled by balloon across the river. “Here’s the thing, though,” she said. “That was a pretty short trip—just a few minutes, from one side of the river to the other. To travel by balloon all the way across the Magical Land of Birthdays would take a lot longer. What if one of the balloons popped and dropped us somewhere without a balloon tree? Then we’d have to walk anyway . . . and I don’t think we’d make it before dark.”
“Does it even get dark in the Magical Land of Birthdays?” Amirah wondered. But no one knew for sure.
“Here’s another thing that could go wrong. What if the wind blew us in the wrong direction?” Elvis added. “Those balloons were not exactly easy to pilot.”
“True,” Amirah said. She was still determined to think of another way to get to the beach.
Then Amirah remembered the whistle in her pocket. She pulled it out and turned it over and over in her hands.
Just because we can’t hear it doesn’t mean it’s broken, she remembered.
Cara the Unicorn nudged Amirah’s shoulder. Amirah absentmindedly reached up to stroke Cara’s mane.
The unicorn nudged her again, more insistently this time. When she nudged Amirah even harder, Amirah almost dropped the whistle.
“Whoa!” Amirah cried. “Okay, I get it. You’re trying to tell me something. Is it about . . . the whistle?”
Cara nodded enthusiastically.
Amirah took a deep breath and put the whistle to her lips. She didn’t know any songs, but she moved her fingers along the small holes as she blew into it. The sweetest melody filled the air. It was like a cross between wind chimes and bird trills and was so beautiful that even after the last note faded, no one spoke.
For a few moments, nothing happened.
Then . . .
Amirah felt it before she heard or saw what was happening. The ground trembled underfoot again, just like it had when the sprinkles had spelled out a secret message for her. Amirah knelt down to see if there was another message to decode.
Before she spotted any sprinkles, though, she heard the unmistakable sound of hoofbeats galloping toward them.
More unicorns? Amirah wondered in astonishment as she scrambled to her feet.
No. Not this time. Cara was the only unicorn in the Magical Land of Birthdays.
But the B-Buds would soon realize that Cara had three very special friends.
“Carousel horses!” Olivia shrieked with glee.
Cara’s friends were the most beautiful horses that Amirah had ever seen. White and silver, dappled gray, glossy black. Their manes were entwined with velvet ribbons and real roses; their bridles gleamed with tiny bells that chimed whenever they moved. Amirah could have gazed upon them for hours.
Then, as if on cue, the horses knelt before the B-Buds. It was an invitation to mount them and set off for a ride!
Olivia laughed as a dappled horse adorned with blue roses licked her hand. Amirah and Mei looked at each other and smiled. Olivia’s mood was already brightening—just like the Magical Land of Birthdays, now that the mist was evaporating.
Then a look of concern passed over Mei’s face. “Hold on,” she said, her forehead wrinkled with worry. “There are four of us . . . and only three of them.”
Could one carousel horse carry two B-Buds? Maybe. But it seemed like too great a favor to ask. Amirah set her thoughts to spinning once more, trying to think of a new plan, any plan, when something astonishing happened.
Cara the Unicorn, that most enchanting and magical creature, nuzzled Amirah’s face . . . and knelt
