My baby brother turned nineteen today. That was such a surreal thought. And we were going to give him his first proper birthday since he was four.

Since he was four...

I could still remember when Phoenix was first born. At two years old, I should've been too little to remember but I did.

I was watching from in Mother and Daddy's room. I was sitting in a chair with Mahri. She was bouncing me on her knee. Looking back, while she was trying to entertain me, she was nervous, too.

Mother, who wore a flowing white dress, cradled a sleeping Phoenix in her arms. Daddy stood at her right hand, and he was absolutely beaming. He clearly had pride in his newborn son.

"Friends, family, fellow Engrads, thank you for gathering here this morning." Mother was as poised as she ever was. "Last night, on October 17, a beautiful prince came into this world. We've chosen to name him Phoenix Kellen Cunningham."

The crowd cheered. "Congratulations, your majesties! Long live Prince Phoenix!"

Mahri looked down at me. "Are you alright, princess?"

I nodded. "He's mine."

"That's right." Her smile accentuated her expression lines. "He's your baby brother."

That was one of the best days of my life. I didn't know what lay ahead but that didn't matter. No one could ruin this.

Anyway, we were having a party for him tonight. I couldn't explain exactly why to the others, but I invited Aunt Sarah. I didn't know if anyone invited Uncle, though.

Ai might have been coming, too, seeing as she didn't come down for Lie's birthday. I wasn't sure since Ali had to take care of that, though.

Oh, and of course, we invited Noah and his brothers. Phoenix would definitely want them there. They were his friends, after all.

His brother, Alastair, was so sweet, too...

***

We ran into Noah and his brother while we were at the carnival. They had apparently run into Lie, Duke, and Recah before they texted Ali. And they took Duke and the birthday girl on their first roller coaster ride.

Recah had decided to go with their sisters, Len and Ivy, while they were on the roller coaster. I had a feeling she did this since she felt like an extra wheel. I'd have to see if there was anything, I could do to make it up to her. Anyway, Ali went to check on his girlfriend.

Noah took Phoenix so they could have some fun of their own. His brother went to check on Lie and Duke and their other siblings. That left me by myself, but I didn't mind. Leon was going to send me the stuffed animal our parents got him when he was little, but I wanted him to have more than one. I could work on winning the stuffed animal in peace.

Kayleigh didn't seem to want to give it to me, though. I didn't know if my hand was shaking or what, but I couldn't seem to hit the pins. I'd burned through five whole tries and was ready to throw in the towel and try my hand at the water gun game when Alistair approached with his dog. His dog was wearing a red vest.

He looked at me then at the lady who was running this game. I had a feeling she went to school with him or one of his siblings. She gave him a bucket with three balls.

His dog moved away and went into a sit-stay. She wagged her tail, seemingly eager to watch him win this frustrating game. Honestly, I had no idea why Ali was so good at this game.

He knocked down all the pins before his three balls were up. He then motioned for me to pick a stuffed animal.

I chose to get him an elephant. I knew my little brother wasn't little anymore, but it was cute... Phoenix would just be happy I got him a gift, anyway.

The lady motioned for him to pick another stuffed animal. He picked a silver swan.

The lady said, "Tell them I said happy birthday!"

After that, we moved, so other people could play, too.

Alastair put the swan on the elephant. "Keep it."

"But you won these. You should keep one, sweetie. I already got what I wanted."

His dog rubbed her nose on my knee.

Alastair went all red. "Keep it. I'll be fine. The people that work here won't let me walk away empty handed."

I laughed. "If you insist..."

I put the stuffed animals in separate shrinking capsules then tucked them away in my purse.

His eyes got big. That was when I noticed they were a golden like Annie's. "I have a bottomless pit in my watch and I still can't get used to tech like that..."

"That's not a problem. I'm only used to it cuz Ellie has been pulling improbable things out of her pockets for so long. One time, she brought us a kids' table."

"I used to have a friend who kept a shower in her phone..."

"Kayleigh! That definitely tops my table!"

We smiled and went our separate ways after that.

***

Anyway, back to Phoenix's birthday. Marshall, Lie, and Duke took him out for us. He wanted to use his camera. That gave us, Recah, and his parents room to work in peace. Ali and I wanted to see the look on his face when he saw all the decorations and everything.

Uncle was using this thing with a pump to blow up balloons all colors of the rainbow. "So, how old is your friend gonna be?"

"My brother is nineteen," I replied.

He looked at me sideways.

"I'm twenty-one."

"When?"

"Mid-august."

Uncle muttered under his breath, "That boy doesn't look like he should be nineteen." He went back to the balloons. "Why did you want to throw him such a big party, anyway?"

I was holding the ladder, so Ali could hang this banner. "We weren't able to do anything for his birthday last year, so we wanted to make it up to him."

"What are you planning to do?" Aunt Sarah asked.

"We don't have cake for birthdays like you do, so he's gonna get his first taste today. I'm saving a gift for tonight, but of course, we got other gifts for him, too."

Recah was at the oven baking. She'd gotten a bit of help, but she was baking the cake. We wanted the best for Phoenix, so a store-bought cake wasn't enough.

"Have you ever had cake, Tiana?"

I found myself laughing. "If I have, it's been a really long time."

"When will the rest of your friends be back?" Uncle asked.

"We told them six," Ali replied. "That should give us enough time to get this all set up."

Uncle raised his eyebrows. "You really think your friends can keep him distracted for that long? You didn't say what you were up to, right?"

Aunt Sarah laughed at her husband. "Oh, ye of little faith..."

"He wanted to use his camera," Ali replied. He finished hanging the banner, so he got off the ladder. "I'm sure they can entertain him long enough for us to be able to get this done in peace."

"My brother loves his camera," I added.

"So, he wants to be a photographer?" Uncle asked.

Ali blushed. "We don't know. Not sure if he knows what he wants to do yet."

Had I asked Phoenix if he knew that yet? I supposed I should ask. As the queen of Engrada, I had access to most anything he needed. Anything I couldn't get, Annie could. We would do anything we could to help him succeed.

"Nothing wrong with that." Uncle pumped up his last balloon. "Most young people don't know that straight out of school."

Aunt Sarah smiled at Recah. "Need a hand with that cake, sweetie?"

"I think I got it." She took a peek at the cake in the oven. "Tell that lady I said thank you for her help."

"I will," Aunt Sarah said.

Uncle tied a green balloon to the chair to the chair where we planned to have Phoenix sit. "You know you didn't have to cook, right?"

Ali went into Japanese. I assumed he said we knew that. We could ask Uncle's staff, but we didn't want to. We wanted the best for Phoenix, so this was just a labor of love for us.

Uncle went outside, probably to get air.

"He doesn't understand why we're doing this ourselves, does he?"

"My husband might not like buying a cake from a store, but he doesn't mind paying someone to make it." Aunt Sarah perked up. "The lady I had you talk to is actually the main person who cooks for him. I'm surprised she let you do this."

I looked at Ali.

"She is great with cakes. She's the only person we'll pay to make one."

***

Anyway, I was in charge of making the actual dinner. We were going to have seasoned ground beef mixed with chopped potatoes. I wasn't sure who used to make it for us, but it was his favorite dish. Recah also prepped salad for anyone who wanted some last night.

Noah arrived soon after I finished dinner. It was around 5:45 by this point, so the others would be home soon. Ali was in the front room waiting to intercept them. We didn't want to ruin the surprise.

Noah came into the kitchen and smiled. "You guys did a great job. Eni's going to be so happy."

My cheeks got hot. "Aw, shucks. This is nothing. He didn't even get a birthday last year since Ali was evolving."

"It's not like he cares. He loves you guys. He just wants to be with you."

I knew Noah was right. He looked at his own brothers the same way Phoenix looked at me and Ali. But that didn't mean that I liked knowing we forgot his birthday last year.

Anyway, the others just got back from taking Eni to explore with his camera. Aunt Sarah and Uncle were waiting with Recah and I now. Lie and Duke were the first ones through the door. Ai came in, too, so Ali must have just gotten her.

Ai pulled Lie into a hug. "Happy late birthday, sweetie."

Lie relaxed into her hold. "Missed you..."

That was when my brothers came in with Marshall. Ali was walking with his hands on Phoenix's eyes.

Lie jumped to give Phoenix a hug when Ali took his hands off his eyes. "Happy birthday!"

When she let go, Phoenix practically tackled Ali and I into a hug. "Love you!"

We said, "We love you, too."

We had a nice dinner, but that wasn't my favorite part of our meal. Dessert was my favorite.

Ali put a one candle and a nine candle on the cake. He then lit them with a lighter since his parents were watching. He then put it in front of Phoenix.

"Okay, Eni." Ali smiled. "Think up a wish and blow out these candles."

Phoenix did it like our brother told him to.

Aunt Sarah pulled out the candles and Recah got to work cutting the cake. Naturally, Phoenix, Lie, and Noah got the first pieces.

Noah snuck Phoenix his first bite of cake. Ali and I wanted to do that, but we weren't comfortable doing it in front of Uncle in particular. We'd have to thank him for it later.

His eyes got big. I could tell he enjoyed it. I was tempted to sneak him another piece before he went to bed. Ali probably had the same thought.

We got his presents out after cake.

Lie and Duke asked Hannah since they wanted to get Phoenix some new audio books. Recah got him a new blanket while Marshall got him a sketch book and colored markers.

Ali's gift was one Phoenix couldn't use until we got home. He had bought this strange paint. It would allow Phoenix to draw on the walls like I allowed him to while we were in limbo. Anyway, he sent it to Leon, so our staff could paint his room while we were gone.

Then came my first gift: the watch Leon had entrusted me with the day I took Aunt Sarah to see Mother's grave. After what felt like an eternity, I could finally give it to my baby brother.

Phoenix was entranced when I put the watch in his hand. "What's this called, T?"

"It's called a pocket watch." I flicked it open. "This one belonged to our Daddy. Leon told me Daddy wanted you to have it. He found it in Daddy's things after we left."

"So warm..."

After that, Noah and Ai followed my brothers and I into Phoenix's room. They were the only ones I wanted to watch him get these last couple gifts.

Ali shut the door behind us.

Ai opened her bag. "Leon asked me to bring this to you. He found it when he was going through some old things."

"Roary!" Phoenix cuddled his stuffed lion.

I pulled a storage capsule out of my pocket. "I got this for you, too." I opened it to reveal the stuffed elephant Alastair won for me at the carnival.

Phoenix pulled it to his chest and gave it a squeeze. "You're the best, T-T."

"It's called an elephant." Ali knelt in front of him. "Are you going to give it a name?"

"Elfie!"

Elfie? Why did that name feel so familiar? Did we even have elephants back home? I wasn't sure. Not to mention things were very different from before we were sent into limbo.

Ali and I put our arms around him. "Happy birthday, little brother."

Phoenix relaxed into our hold. He looked like he was about to fall asleep. He must have had a great birthday.

***

Yay! Happy birthday to Eni! Thoughts on the character interactions? T and Star?