The girls ran across the sand to join Elvis and Mei at a long table. It reminded Amirah of the birthday party table that they’d discovered in the woods—except this one was filled with brilliant colors, from the tablecloth to the bright balloons that bobbed overhead. There were four chairs and four place settings and—
“Four cakes?” Amirah gasped.
Elvis grinned at her. “It’s a B-Bud Birthday Bash!” he exclaimed.
“My unicorn cake!” Amirah cried with glee. “It looks just like the one we made at home for my party!”
“Wow, you are a good baker!” Elvis murmured.
Amirah grinned. “There’s a special surprise inside! Like a piñata!”
“What?” all three B-Buds asked at the same time.
“You’ll see when I cut it.” Amirah giggled.
“That looks exactly like the strawberry shortcake my oba-chan makes,” Mei said, her eyes wide. “How is this even possible?”
“I’ve never had strawberry shortcake at a birthday party,” Amirah commented. “But what a delicious idea!”
Mei nodded. “It’s a popular birthday cake at home, in Japan. You can use any fruit you like, but strawberry is my favorite. It’s also sort of a tradition in my family. My oba-chan has made one for my party every single year!”
“Tell us about your birthday cake,” Amirah encouraged Olivia.
“It’s this one here,” Olivia said as she reached for a platter that was stacked with towers of triangles. “We call it fairy bread in Australia. It’s not cake, exactly, but it’s what we have for birthdays. You cut bread into triangles and spread some butter on it and then cover it—I mean absolutely cover it—with hundreds and thousands.”
“Hundreds and thousands of what?” Elvis asked.
Olivia giggled. “That’s what we call them in Australia,” she explained. “You know. Because there are hundreds and thousands . . .”
As she took a closer look, Amirah’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute. Are those sprinkles?” she exclaimed. “Fairy bread is covered in sprinkles?”
“Yes,” Olivia replied. “Hundreds and thousands!”
“Hundreds and thousands,” Amirah repeated. “I like the sound of that. Sprinkles are better when there are hundreds and thousands of them, after all!”
Elvis rubbed his hands together with anticipation. “I don’t know if I’m more excited that my B-Buds get to have a piece of my peanut butter and banana birthday cake—or that I get to have a piece!” he joked.
“I think we all know the answer to that,” Mei teased him.
As everyone laughed, a swirl of glitter swept over the table. When it disappeared, each special birthday dessert had a flickering candle on top!
“I think I know what this means,” Amirah said, grinning. “Time for the birthday song!”
As the B-Buds sang the birthday song together, Amirah’s heart filled with joy. When the last notes of the song drifted away on the ocean breeze, the B-Buds knew it was time to make their birthday wishes.
Amirah knew exactly what she wanted to wish for. She closed her eyes as she got ready to blow out her candle. Around the table, she could sense that the other B-Buds were doing the same. She took a deep breath and blew hard. When Amirah opened her eyes again, there was no flame on her candle. Just a plume of smoke twirling into the air.
“Remember, don’t tell anyone what you wished for,” Amirah said. “Otherwise, it won’t come true.”
Elvis was already cutting big slices of his peanut butter and banana cake and passing them around.
Amirah waited for Elvis to finish and then picked up a knife next to her special cake. “B-Buds! Watch this!” she cried.
Everyone gathered around as Amirah carefully sliced into the unicorn cake. When she lifted up the first piece, a waterfall of sprinkles—hundreds and thousands!—cascaded out of the cake, spilling over the table. As the B-Buds gasped in delight, Amirah beamed. The unicorn cake was as wonderful as she had imagined it would be!
After the B-Buds shared their special birthday cakes, after they laughed themselves silly, after they played birthday games for hours on the sandy shore, the sun started to set. The sky was a swirl of cotton-candy colors: pink and blue and purple. Though the first stars hadn’t appeared yet, Amirah had a sudden, surprising longing.
She wanted to go home.
Home to her family, home to her friends, home to her birthday party with everyone she loved.
“I didn’t think I’d ever want to leave the Magical Land of Birthdays,” she said. “But . . .”
“Me too,” Mei said.
“My dad always plays the birthday song on his harmonica,” Elvis said. “I’d hate to miss it.”
Amirah smiled at him. Then she turned to Olivia. “What about you?” she asked.
Olivia nodded vigorously. “Yes! I’ve got to hurry home!” she exclaimed. “There’s so much to do for my party—crush up all those graham crackers to make sand, hang the streamers to look like seaweed, make my mermaid dress . . .”
“And make fairy bread with lots of hundreds and thousands,” Amirah added.
“Of course. Can’t forget the hundreds and thousands,” Olivia said with a grin.
“I know we need to get back,” Mei began. “But I’m really going to miss you all. You’re my B-Buds!”
“We come from four different countries, spread all over the world,” Elvis said. “How will we ever see each other again?”
Olivia’s smile began to fade. “I don’t want to say goodbye forever,” she said. “I don’t want this adventure to end.”
“B-Buds! What are you talking about?” Amirah asked in disbelief. “This isn’t the end! And it’s definitely not goodbye forever. It’s just . . . for now.”
“How do you know for sure?” asked Elvis.
Amirah threw her arms out wide. “You don’t think we’ll be back?” she asked him. “After I visited the Magical Land of Birthdays in my dream, and spent the most special day of the year here—our birthday—with my B-Buds? I just know we’ll be back!”
“That’s no guarantee, though,” Elvis replied.
“Here’s my guarantee,” Amirah said, thinking fast. She pulled the container of sprinkles out of her pocket. “Sprinkles—or hundreds and thousands—for everyone!”
“Why?” asked Mei.
“Because sprinkles are magic—just like this place,” Amirah said. “Just like birthdays. Besides, they helped me get here today . . . and I have this
