The Mystery of the Birthday Basher

by Amirah Kassem

  All except for Amirah. Sure, she thought the cake was gross too. But the feeling it most inspired in her wasn’t disgust.

  It was sadness.

  How terrible, she thought sadly, to hate your birthday so much that your cake becomes this . . . this . . . this monstrosity. How—how heartbreaking.

  Suddenly, despite all the damage he’d caused, Amirah couldn’t feel angry at the Birthday Basher. Instead, she felt pity. And maybe even compassion.

  That was when Amirah realized she wasn’t just determined to help the Magical Land of Birthdays.

  She was determined to help the Birthday Basher too.

  Amirah tore herself away from the rotting cake to look for the card. It was shrunken and smudged, but she could still read it:

  Amirah gasped. She knew that name. And the Billy she knew lived in Mexico.

  It couldn’t be a coincidence . . . could it?

  “Amirah?” Lacey asked, placing a hand on Amirah’s arm. “Are you okay?”

  “Um, yeah,” Amirah said. “I just—I think I know him.”

  “You know him?” Elvis exclaimed. “You know the Birthday Basher?”

  Amirah nodded. “I think he’s my neighbor,” she replied. “But I have to go home to check. I can’t remember his exact birthday, but I know I’ve got it written down.”

  “You have your neighbor’s birthday written down?” Olivia asked in surprise.

  Amirah grinned at the B-Buds. “I write down everybody’s birthday,” she said.

  Elvis stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m Amirah,” he said, pretending to introduce himself. “When’s your birthday?”

  All the B-Buds laughed—especially Amirah!

  Just then, the low lights in the Hall of Birthday Cakes went out—all at the same time. The B-Buds were plunged into darkness, their laughter turning into shrieks.

  “I guess the Hall of Birthday Cakes is closing,” Mei said.

  “How are we going to find our way back to the entrance?” Olivia asked, sounding worried.

  “I have a light on my watch,“ Ziggy said. “If I could just find the right button to push . . .”

  The B-Buds waited in the darkness while Ziggy fiddled with his watch. Then, suddenly, a thin beam of light shone out of the screen. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for them to find their way through the long corridors back to the entrance.

  Cara was waiting outside, just where they’d left her. Even in the growing darkness, though, Amirah could tell that she was anxious.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered close to Cara’s ear. “We’re getting closer to fixing everything. I’m sure of it.”

  Cara whinnied softly, and Amirah reached out and gave her a hug. Then she turned to the B-Buds. “We’ve got to get home, but the carousel is all the way back at Celebration Shore,” she said. “It will take us hours to walk that far. Plus, it’s so dark now!”

  “What carousel?” Lacey asked.

  Amirah turned to look at her. Instantly, her whole face brightened. “Last January, we took a carousel to get home,” she said. “How did you and Ziggy get home?”

  “By swing!” Lacey replied. “Come on, there’s a big park in the middle of Sparkle City . . .” Then she paused. “Except I’m not exactly sure where we are . . .”

  Cara shook her head confidently. Her golden horn gleamed in the silvery moonlight. As she trotted down the street, the B-Buds hurried to follow her.

  Cara led them straight into the heart of Sparkle City, where a beautiful, emerald-green park stretched out as far as they could see. Just beyond the entrance, Amirah could see a swing set with six swings.

  A pink swing. A yellow swing. An orange swing. A green swing. A blue swing. And a purple one.

  The colors corresponded perfectly to the carousel that Amirah and her B-Buds had used to travel home last January—and to the B-Buds’ favorite colors!

  “Wait,” Olivia said. “Is this goodbye? Until next January? What’s going to happen next?”

  “I don’t know,” Amirah said. “But I don’t think it’s goodbye. Just—see you later. Until the power of sprinkles brings us back here.”

  “In Jamaica, we say ‘inna di morrows’ instead of goodbye,” Lacey spoke up. “Like—see you in the tomorrows.”

  “In the tomorrows,” Amirah repeated thoughtfully. “I like that a lot! Inna di morrows!”

  “Inna di morrows,” the B-Buds chorused. It was a promise.

  “Tell us what to do,” Amirah said to Lacey and Ziggy.

  “It’s easy!” Lacey said as she hopped onto the orange-colored swing. “Just swing as high and as fast as you can!”

  The other B-Buds found their swings too. Then they started to pump their legs.

  “Higher!” Lacey encouraged them.

  “And faster!” added Ziggy.

  As Amirah pumped her legs, her swing zoomed back and forth. Soon she was swinging higher and faster than ever before. The wind whipped her hair as she went up, up, up—

  Oh wow, she thought suddenly. I’m going to go over the top!

  Whoooooosh!

  Amirah squeezed her hands tighter on the chains as, sure enough, her swing soared over the top of the swing set—not just once, but again and again. The stars above Sparkle City began to change colors, turning pink and green and blue and purple. They stretched and swirled until they looked like so many sprinkles tumbling through the night sky.

  Amirah, dizzy, closed her eyes and waited for the spinning to stop.

  Amirah awoke with a start. It was so dark that she wasn’t sure, at first, where she was. Then she spotted her rainbow nightlight glowing on the wall and realized, all in a rush, that she was back home, safe in her room, safe in her bed.

  And completely wide-awake!

  All of Amirah’s memories from her visit to the Magical Land of Birthdays came rushing back. She scrambled out of bed and turned on the light. There were two things she needed: her birthday book and The Power of Sprinkles. Intuition told her she was getting close to finding out the identity of the Birthday Basher, and she knew that there was no time to lose.

  Amirah opened her birthday book and frantically flipped the pages to July 8. Sure enough, there was the name she expected to see: BILLY BONILLA.

  Her own neighbor.

  “What happened, Billy?” Amirah whispered sadly. “Why do you hate birthdays so much?”

  Amirah was beyond curious, but she knew the reason didn’t matter as much as the solution. She opened The Power of Sprinkles and scanned each page, searching for Billy’s name.

  Just then, Amirah realized that she hadn’t seen Billy’s name in the book before. What if he didn’t have a special birthday cake anymore? His cake in the Hall of Birthday Cakes was so rotten that she couldn’t even tell what kind it was.

  Amirah shook her head as she continued to page through the book. The Power of Sprinkles had never let her down before.

  Just then, the page beneath her fingertips started to glow with a warm golden light. Tiny sparks traveled from the page onto her fingers, then up her hand, past her wrist, over her arm . . .

  Amirah’s heart leaped. She remembered when this had happened before and her very own special birthday cake had been revealed. Was another special cake about to be unveiled?

  The words appeared as if by magic—birthday magic.

  BILLY’S BIRTHDAY CAKE:

  THIS GOLDEN CARROT CAKE IS FIT FOR ROYALTY!

  Fit for royalty? Amirah thought in surprise. The Birthday Basher had once been the Prince of the Magical Land of Birthdays. This seemed like another sign that she was on the right track.

  Wistfully, Amirah glanced toward her bedroom door. She wished she could go down to the kitchen right now and start baking Billy’s special birthday cake. But Mama and Baba would probably hear her banging around the kitchen, and they would not be happy to find her baking in the middle of the night. No, it would just have to wait until morning.

  As Amirah climbed into bed, a new thought struck her. There could be dozens of
people named Billy Bonilla in the world. Hundreds! And surely some of them share the same birthday. Maybe even July 8.

  As Amirah rested her head against her smiley-face pillow, she remembered that Billy had named his dog Fiesta. Didn’t that suggest that he loved birthdays and parties?

  The Birthday Basher used to love birthdays too, she reminded herself.

  Amirah’s eyes started to close from sheer exhaustion. She knew it didn’t really matter if her neighbor Billy was the Birthday Basher or not. His birthday was just a couple days away.

  And who wouldn’t love to be surprised by a special birthday cake?

  Amirah awoke with the first light, filled with energy and purpose. She jumped out of bed, put on her pink baking overalls, and went straight to the kitchen—only to realize that she was up so early that even her parents weren’t awake yet.

  Amirah knew that she wasn’t supposed to use the oven without an adult nearby, but she could still prepare all the ingredients for the cake. Sugar and cinnamon, flour and vanilla. And of course—carrots!

  “You’re up early.” Mama’s voice carried into the kitchen from the doorway.

  Amirah looked up and grinned. “Good morning!” she called out. “It’s Billy’s birthday tomorrow, so I thought I’d make him a cake.”

  “Billy . . . ?” Mama said, looking confused.

  “You know, the boy who lives around the corner? He’s always walking all the dogs?” Amirah reminded her.

  “Oh yes, of course,” Mama replied. If Mama was surprised that Amirah was baking a cake for someone she barely knew, she didn’t show it. “Do you need any help?”

  Amirah looked at the recipe and the neat line of ingredients she had set upon the counter. Then she listened to her heart.

  “I got this,” she said confidently. “But I’ll call you if I get stuck.”

  “Sounds like a good plan,” Mama said with a smile.

  Then Amirah went to work! She grated carrots and whisked eggs. She measured sugar and vanilla. She sifted flour and cinnamon. Then she poured the batter, the color of an orange sunrise and flecked with specks of fragrant cinnamon, into the sheet pan—and popped it into the oven.

  Mama never needed to use a timer to know when a cake was perfectly done, but the Birthday Basher had been so disappointed in his birthday before that Amirah didn’t want to take any chances. Not only did she set the timer, but she refused to leave the kitchen until the cake was done. Soon the whole house smelled like the sweet spices of carrot cake.

  While the cake cooled on the countertop, Amirah mixed up the frosting. This cake called for a special step after it was cooled and frosted: It would be painted gold to make it gleam like the real precious metal! Amirah couldn’t wait to see what the finished cake would look like.

  After Amirah finished frosting Billy’s cake, she carefully painted the whole top and sides gold. She stood back to admire it. It really is fit for royalty, Amirah thought, remembering how the cake was described in The Power of Sprinkles.

  If Billy truly was the prince of the Magical Land of Birthdays—at least, before he became the Birthday Basher—would this special cake be enough to restore his birthday magic?

  At this point, Amirah could only wait and see—and hope.

  Billy’s birthday was tomorrow, so Amirah slid the cake into the fridge to keep it fresh for him. It smelled so good that she couldn’t help wondering how it tasted. She tried to imagine it: the richly spiced, delicately sweetened cake . . . the smooth and creamy frosting . . .

  Amirah had never tasted gold cake frosting before, though.

  Then Amirah noticed a little smattering of crumbs on the counter and a smear of frosting in the mixing bowl. It wasn’t much. But it would be enough for a taste.

  Amirah swiped her finger through the frosting, then dabbed it onto the crumbs. When she tasted it, a grin spread across her face. It was even more delicious than she had imagined! I think Billy will—

  Amirah didn’t have a chance to finish her thought. The creamy frosting had barely dissolved in her mouth before all the colors around her began to swirl like a kaleidoscope—the walls of the kitchen started to fade away—the floor fell from beneath her feet—

  Anticipation surged through Amirah as she shut her eyes. Just like when she’d made her own special cake from The Power of Sprinkles, a single taste was enough to transport her back to the Magical Land of Birthdays. She knew that was where she would be as soon as the world stopped spinning.

  What she didn’t know, though, was what would happen next.

  When Amirah opened her eyes, she was back in the Magical Land of Birthdays—but something seemed off. She tried to figure out what it was. The world seemed brighter and more enchanted than she’d ever seen it before. But something was still wrong.

  Amirah reached out to grab a shiny pink balloon as it drifted by, but she recoiled when she saw her hand. The edges were fuzzy, almost like a picture out of focus. She stared at her feet, her legs, and her arms and realized that the fuzziness—or whatever it was—had overtaken her entirely.

  It’s not the Magical Land of Birthdays that’s changed, she realized. It’s me.

  Amirah may have looked fuzzy and out of focus, but her mind felt clearer than ever. A strong sense of urgency pushed her forward. She could hear the sounds of a party—snippets of music, loud laughter, the clinking of forks on cake plates—and decided to follow the sounds. Maybe her B-Buds were nearby. Maybe they could help her figure out what was going on.

  Amirah walked a short distance until she reached a clearing, where she found a birthday party underway. The table was crowded with B-Buds, she realized—but not her B-Buds. This was a different group of friends, bonded by a different shared birthday.

  “Hi,” Amirah said with a little wave. She hoped that they wouldn’t think she was intruding on their celebration.

  No one responded. They didn’t even look her way.

  “Hello!” Amirah tried again.

  Still nothing.

  Amirah, feeling bolder than ever, walked straight over to the table and squeezed in between two chairs. “Can I have a piece of cake?” she asked.

  Still no one responded. And this time, when Amirah tried to lift a cake plate from the table, she realized that her hands weren’t able to grasp it.

  I’m not really here, she suddenly thought. They can’t see me or hear me. But I can see—and hear—them.

  But Amirah wasn’t scared. Something was going to happen; she could just tell. And the Magical Land of Birthdays wanted her to see it.

  There were seven kids at the table. There were eleven candles on the cake. Eleven, Amirah thought. That was the same age she and her B-Buds were when they had discovered the Magical Land of Birthdays last January.

  Amirah began to study the kids at the party. Three girls, four boys—at first she didn’t recognize any of them. There was a boy sitting at the far end of the table who was partially turned away from her. There was something familiar about him, though all she could see was his brown hair and the side of his neck.

  Then he turned his head as he laughed, and Amirah recognized him at once.

  It was Billy.

  Her mind whirled as she tried to put everything together, remembering all the details from the story of the Birthday Basher. Billy seemed way too joyful to be single-handedly stripping the happiness from the Magical Land of Birthdays. What could have possibly happened to change him so drastically?

  Be patient, Amirah told herself. She had a feeling that before long, all would be revealed.

  As soon as the partygoers finished eating birthday cake, their plates disappeared like magic and a present appeared where each plate had been. The B-Buds gasped in delight. Amirah smiled to herself, knowing in her heart that those presents had come from the special tent filled with gifts she had discovered and that each friend was about to open their very own perfect present.

  She watched as the B-Buds opened their gifts. A pair of ballet shoes . . . a soccer ball . . . a pai
nt set . . .

  And then it was Billy’s turn.

  He lifted the lid off his present and leaned over to look inside. Whatever was in the box cast a golden light across his face, which seemed to glow with wonderment. Then Billy reached into the box and lifted up a golden crown. Each point was tipped with a glittering gem in a different color of the rainbow.

  Or, Amirah thought, beaming, the color of sprinkles.

  The B-Buds gasped when they saw Billy’s gift. “Look! There’s a tag!” a girl cried. “What does it say?”

  “Read it!” one of the boys added.

  Billy lifted up the tag and read. “For the prince of the Magical Land of Birthdays,” he said.

  Silence fell upon the party.

  A sheepish, almost embarrassed smile crossed Billy’s face. “This can’t be right,” he said. “There must be some mistake. I’m not a prince. I’m just—me.”

  “Maybe in the regular world,” the girl said. “But here—you’ve always had more birthday magic than anyone else.”

  “Alicia!” Billy said in surprise.

  “It’s true, though,” Alicia insisted. “You discovered how to get here a whole year before the rest of us. And when we arrived, you found each one of us. You explained what was happening. You showed us how to love birthdays even more than we already did.”

  “You know she’s right,” another girl chimed in.

  Billy’s smile grew more confident. “Birthdays really are the best,” he said.

  “All hail Prince Billy,” one of the boys announced.

  Amirah suspected he was just kidding, but in the somber quiet of the clearing, his words rang too true to be a joke.

  Alicia stepped forward and, without a word, took the crown from Billy. She placed it carefully on his head, making sure his crown was straight. “All hail Prince Billy,” she repeated.

  Billy sat very still for a moment, as if he needed to get used to the weight of the crown on his head. Then he lifted his glass of lemonade for a toast. “To the happiest birthdays, and the best B-Buds ever,” he announced. “Cheers!”

  “Cheers!” the B-Buds chorused.

  Then they began to sing the happy birthday song. Amirah joined in, even though she knew they couldn’t hear her. It was her favorite song, after all.