Birthday

"So what are we doing today?" asked Annie as she was dressed more casually than the last time she looked like a stuffed pillow, but now, she just wore jeans and a magenta sweater.

"Target training" replied Curtis

"Ooooh that sounds cool, so where are the targets?" asked Annie as she looked around to find the targets.

"You both are the targets" said Curtis

"Awww what??" said Maddie, as she was dressed as much as yesterday, or even more, she tied a green scarf around her neck, she wore a red woolly hat with a pom-pom on top of it, and she wore black gloves on her hands.

"You have to use your shields to dodge the snowballs, and this time, your shields must not break" said Curtis

"Okay, no problem. Maddie we can just do what we did yesterday" said Annie

"Oh right" said Maddie

"No, you must make your own shields, no joining magic" said Curtis firmly.

"Ahh what, no fair Curtis, the shield that we even made yesterday with both our magic broke" said Maddie

"Then I just you just have to make a stronger one... alone" said Curtis

"Okay then" said Annie

"Fine, to make is easier for you, I will stand over there" said Curtis as he pointed to the far left of the garden.

"I will shoot the snowballs from there, you both have to dodge and use your shields, if you can make it to me, and touch me, then you win, as long as your shield is still intact" said Curtis

"Okay that seems fair" said Annie

"Yes it does" said Maddie as she looked relieved.

"Haha" said Curtis as he chuckled, the girls didn't know what they were actually getting into, there was no way that they would manage to touch him.

"I will go over there, and you both make your shields" said Curtis as he began to walk away.

"Okay Curtis" said Annie

"So Maddie, our shields have to be stronger, or at least, hold till we touch Curtis" said Annie

"Welp, I don't think that I have enough energy to make a very strong shield, so what if we coat our shields, with a small protective layer, that way they would be able to last longer" said Maddie

"Haha okay then lets do that" said Annie as she picked up some snow.

"Ahhh bad idea" she said as she quickly dropped the snow.

"The snow looked so pretty that I forgot it was so cold" she said as she laughed and blew on her now cold hand.

"Haha, I told you to wear gloves" said Maddie

"Yeah yeah" said Annie

"Are you both ready?" asked Curtis as he shouted from the far corner that he was in.

"Yes" shouted both Annie and Maddie back and turned to face him, and he could see that they both had shields in their hands.

"Okay then, this will be fun" he said as he smiled and threw a snowball at them.

"Haha that was weak" said Maddie as she laughed, the snowball didn't even hit them, but she regretted what she said because the next moment all they knew was that they were getting hit by many snowballs.

"Take cover" said Annie as she raised the shield over her head, to make sure she did not get hit by the snowballs.

"Wow, how did that happen so fast??" asked Maddie in shock.

"I think that's why" said Annie as she pointed over to Curtis who was now surrounded with about 5 snowball cannons, when did he have time to make them all??

"Hey Curtis you are cheating, how come you get to use cannons?" said Maddie

"I never said that I wouldn't" said Curtis

"And you better pay more attention to the snowballs and not on me" said Curtis as he smiled and another horde of snowballs came flying.

"We cannot stay open like this, we will loose in no time" said Annie

"Then we need a wall" said Maddie as she bent down and whispered something to the snow, and suddenly a tall wall built from ice grew from the ground, and it was enough to give them shelter.

"Good thinking Maddie" said Annie as she smiled and ran over to where Maddie was behind the wall.

Meanwhile the snowballs were still shooting as fast as ever, at this rate, either Curtis would increase the size of the snowballs or they would freeze here from the cold.

"You cannot stay behind there for long" said Curtis

"What Curtis, is this just an excuse to have a snowball fight" shouted Maddie from behind

"Whatever you say, you still have to touch me" he said

"Drats he's right" said Maddie

"So what do we do?" asked Maddie as she looked at Annie.

"Well we make a run for it" said Annie

"What, are you crazy we would get hit like crazy" said Maddie

"I know, so you stay and cover me while I run and go get him" said Annie

"Ahh I see, but then, what are you going to do?" asked Maddie and Annie whispered and Maddie smiled as she heard what Annie planned to do.

"They are way too quiet" said Curtis as he ceased his fire... which was more like ice in this case.

Curtis was so suspicious of them that he was taken aback when Annie suddenly stepped out from the wall Maddie made, and she just started running straight for him.

"Interesting" he said to himself as he continued to shoot snowballs directly at Annie, but they were being blocked by Maddie who was throwing snowballs to counter his.

The next thing he knew, Annie now had two shields in her hands, and she looked like she was about to throw one.

"No way, Annie would throw something that heavy at me" he said to himself, but what happened next caught him off guard.

Annie threw the shield in her left hand at him, and he was shocked, that he flinched and moved back, but he made the wrong move, because the shield started to disappear and it poofed away, like it was never there in the first place, and before he knew it, Annie poked him and said "Hahah we win"

"Yayyyyyyy" said Maddie as she jubilated.

"Hmm lucky one" said Curtis as he composed himself.

"Lucky indeed, me and Annie destroyed you" said Maddie

"Annie that duplication spell was awesome" said Maddie as he high-fived Annie

"Haha Thank you, I learn from the best people I have around me" said Annie as she smiled.

"Awww Thank you Annie" said Maddie as she smiled.

"Mhmm" said Curtis as he was still sulking about loosing, he really underestimated Annie.

"Hahah Anyway see you later Annie, me and Curtis have to talk about something" said Maddie as she pulled Curtis' hand walked back inside.

"Okay??" asked Annie as she was confused as why Maddie and Curtis suddenly rushed inside.

...

"Where is everyone?" asked Annie as she walked through the halls, after training Maddie and Curtis just suddenly disappeared and it was like the Palace was empty.

She looked in the lounge and in the dining room, and in the Kitchen but she saw nobody there.

"Ahh why am I troubling myself??" asked Annie as she laughed.

"I can just do a location spell" she said

"Locato" said Annie and just then a trail of yellow dust shone on the ground and she followed it.

"Hmm weird" she said as the trail ended right in front of one of the spare halls in the Palace.

She opened the door and to her surprise the lights were switched off, and she started looked for the light switch when they suddenly switched on and Annie heard voices say.

"Surprise!!! Happy Birthday Annie" said Everyone in a chorus, with balloons and birthday decorations everywhere.

"Awwww you guys, you know I feel bad for forgetting my own Birthday" said Annie as she laughed sheepishly.

"Hahaha don't be Annie, you have been very busy" said Evie as she walked over with a smile on her face.

"Happy Birthday" she said.

"Awww thank you Evie" said Annie as she smiled and hugged Evie.

"Thank you mom, Thank you dad" said Annie as she hugged them both

"You are welcome dear" said Mrs. Grey

"Happy birthday my girl" said John

"Thank you, Levi" said Annie as she hugged all of them one by one.

"Thank you Aunt Luc and Uncle Lucas" said Annie as she smiled.

"Aww you are welcome dear" said Lucinda as she hugged her and Lucas smiled.

"Thank you Matt" said Annie as she smiled and hugged Matt, she didn't know why she felt weird hugging Matt he was her friend after all, Matt had gotten taller and Annie only reached up to his chest.

"Happy Birthday Annie" he said as he smiled and hugged her back.

"Gosh you guys, that's why you were so weird in the morning" said Annie as she hugged Maddie

"Haha Happy Birthday" said Maddie a she smiled and hugged her.

"Happy 16th Birthday Annie" said Curtis

"Thank you Curtis" said Annie as she hugged.

You know it was very funny, just a year ago, her life turned way upside down, and it was weird to think back, and see where she was now.

"Now it's time for cake" said Mrs. Grey

"You have cake??" asked Annie

"Haha yes we do, it's chocolate your favourite" said Maddie as she put on a party hat on Annie's head.

"Hahaha Aww you guys are just the best" said Annie as she smiled.

After the cake was cut and everyone got a piece, it was time for gifts and Curtis' gift was saved for last

"Here is my gift Annie" said Curtis as he smiled and handed Annie a rectangular object that was wrapped.

"Haha Thank you Curtis" she said as she smiled and opened it, it was a purple book.

"It's a book, of all our adventures" said Curtis as he smiled.

"Awww what Curtis, this is so cool Thank you, I Love it" said Annie as she smiled.

"But it doesn't have an ending" said Annie as she skimmed over to the end which was left blank.

"That's because you determine the ending" said Curtis

"Hahah that's so cool, but it's missing something" said Annie

"What is it?" asked Curtis

"It's missing a title" she said as she looked at the front cover which was blank.

"Ahh yes, so what do you have in mind, just trace on the cover" said Curtis

"Okay" said Annie as she smiled and started tracing the cover

"There" she said as she smiled and showed everyone the title.

"Annie Grey" said Curtis

"Haha a wonderful name for a wonderful book" said Maddie

"Thank you" said Annie as she smiled.

"Thank you everyone, today was by far the best Birthday I have ever had" she said as she smiled very sweetly.

"Awww you are welcome Annie" replied Everyone as they smiled back, while Noey was stuffing his face with cake.