The Magical Land of Birthdays

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