The Magical Land of Birthdays

golden sparkles danced around Amirah’s hand, she suddenly realized something. “Mama! This is it!” she exclaimed. “This is my birthday cake!”
“Well, of course it is,” Mama teased her. “It says so right there.”
“Can we make it? For my birthday?” Amirah asked.
“Of course we can,” Mama replied. “No other cake in the world would do!”
Sparkles of joy lit up Amirah’s heart as she read all the ingredients aloud so Mama could make a shopping list for their next trip to the grocery store.
“I wish we could bake it tomorrow,” Amirah said sleepily.
Mama bent down to kiss Amirah’s forehead. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Your birthday will be here soon enough. Good night, my princess.”
When Mama turned out the light, Amirah’s bedroom was plunged into darkness—except for the rainbow night-light in the corner. Amirah watched the colors swirl across the night-light. First pink . . . then orange . . . all the way to purple, when the cycle began again.
It was the only light in the room; Amirah’s fingers were normal now, without a hint of glittery gold around them. Yet she suspected that if she opened The Power of Sprinkles again, those sparks would once more dance across her hands.
Amirah knew that she should get out of bed and put the cookbook with the other books on her shelf. It wouldn’t be right to just drop it on the floor. But Amirah was suddenly so tired. She didn’t want to get out of her warm, cozy bed, which was as soft as a giant marshmallow. Instead, she slipped The Power of Sprinkles under her rainbow pillow. It will be safe there, she thought as another wave of sleepiness washed over her. Amirah couldn’t keep her eyes open if she tried. She fell, almost instantaneously, into a deep sleep.
Wait.
Was she asleep?
That night, Amirah didn’t just sleep.
She dreamed.
Amirah stretched her arms high above her head. The golden sunshine felt so good, like the sky was smiling on her. She wasn’t exactly sure where she was, but Amirah wasn’t worried. This place was safe. It was special.
Amirah took a deep breath. All the delicious smells she could dream of tickled her nose—from sugar to cinnamon to caramel to vanilla. It was like visiting a bakery at dawn, when trays of cakes and cookies and breads were pulled from the oven to cool.
No, the scent in the air was even more specific than that. Amirah inhaled again and realized the air smelled exactly like . . . birthday cake. Delicious, sweet birthday cake.
She soon realized that it wasn’t just the aroma carried on the gentle breeze that ruffled her curly hair that made her think of birthdays. The path beneath her feet was not dotted with little stones or leaves, but with confetti. And the colorful flowers that lined the path were actually cake balls!
As she wandered, Amirah started to wonder where everyone was. Surely, she wasn’t the only person roaming this mysterious and delicious world? She could hear music—no, not just hear it. She could see it! Glittering musical notes danced in the air; she plucked one as it fluttered over her head and realized that it was actually a sugar cookie decorated with sparkling sugar.
Amirah couldn’t resist. She popped the cookie in her mouth and closed her eyes in delight as it dissolved into sweetness on her tongue, the musical note ringing through her head with a clear, bright tone.
This is incredible, she marveled. A cookie you can taste and hear!
Amirah decided to follow the musical notes to see if she could find the musician. She stepped off the path, into the green confetti grass, and started walking. Not too far away, she could see a boy standing on the crest of a hill. He was rocking out on a . . . guitar? As Amirah squinted to try to see better, she realized that the guitar he was playing had a big bite taken out of it! That made her even more curious.
Amirah had taken just a few steps when she saw something unexpected: a caterpillar as big as her arm, crawling through the grass. Not just any caterpillar, though. It was clearly made of fudgy chocolate cake, with a white chocolate face, tiny chocolate shoes, and candy buttons making a polka-dot pattern along its back. That caterpillar cake must be someone’s birthday cake, Amirah thought.
“Must find Ziggy!” the caterpillar cake huffed as he passed by. He stopped moving and took a quick look at Amirah. “You’re not Ziggy!” he mumbled before scurrying on.
“Wait!” Amirah cried. But the caterpillar cake wobbled and bobbled away, until it disappeared into a tunnel in the cocoa-dirt.
Just then, a flash of color caught Amirah’s attention. She turned and saw a graceful girl twirling long, flowing purple party streamers in a field across the way.
Strawberries, Amirah thought as she sniffed the air.
She decided to talk to the girl to find out if she knew anything about where they were. But just as Amirah set off in that direction, she noticed something else.
There was a thick-trunked tree nearby, its branches laden with shiny candy apples. That wasn’t all, though. There was a person—a girl—standing under the tree.
At least, Amirah thought it was a girl. It was a little hard to tell; the person shimmered like a shadow, a pale, faded figure that stood in stark contrast to all the vivid colors around her.
What really struck Amirah, though, was the sadness that radiated off the girl. Unlike the girl with the streamers and the boy with the guitar, this girl seemed so weighed down by sorrow that she couldn’t shake it off. Even standing at a distance, Amirah could sense it. No. Not sense it. She could feel it, in her very own heart.
No one should feel so sad, Amirah thought. Especially not here, in this magical place.
She started walking straight toward the girl, determined to find a way to make her feel better. Determined to help, however she could.
There was a silvery mist rising from the ground; it snaked around the girl’s ankles