Episode 9: Marco's Sweet 15th Part 2

Synopsis: Star tries to throw the best birthday party for Marco, but he's feeling a bit under the weather. Will Star actually notice before its too late?

Special Thanks to my Betas:

Sabrina06
PaintedPetrichor

Credit to Kprovido for the cover art

Enjoy!

Two Days before Marco's Birthday

"Star, since you're going to be helping us with the festivities, it's important that you know 'Las Mañanitas'," Mr. Diaz said.

Star tilted her head to the side, in curiosity. "Las Mana-wha?"

"Las Mañanitas!" Mrs. Diaz's face beamed in delight. "It's a traditional Mexican birthday song, sung right before the cake is eaten."

"It's also supposed to be sung as Marco wakes up," Mr. Diaz explained, "but Marco hates the sound of mariachi bands in the morning. So we just do during the face cake smashing."

"Face cake smashing?" Star asked. "Is this another one of your Earth traditions?"

"In our family—"

"And other Mexican families," Mrs. Diaz chimed in.

"—it is." Mr. Diaz nodded. "After a rousing chorus of 'Las Mañanitas', the birthday person's face is slammed into the cake."

Star blinked, her lips displaying no emotion. "That sounds hardcore."

Mrs. Diaz chortled and said, "Well, in any case, we don't have much time, so let's learn 'Las Mañanitas' together."

"Repeat after me," Mr. Diaz ordered, "estas son las mañanitas que cantaba el rey David."

Star cleared her throat. "Est-ass son las mananitas que cantaba el ray Day-vid."

Mr. and Mrs. Diaz looked at each other with a pained gaze.

Mr. Diaz took a deep breath. "Hoy por ser día de tu santo, te las cantamos a ti."

"Ho per ser die de tu san-ta, te las coma-tose a ti." Star's smile radiated through the room.

Mrs. Diaz forced out a nervous smile. "You'll learn it."

"I hope so. Well, I'm sure Marco will enjoy the party we have in store," Star said.

Now

Marco pressed his face against the aquarium glass, watching the schools of fish swim by. A parade of specimens of varying sizes and a diverse range of colours glided through the reefs and seaweed that filled the tank. Marco recognized two orange clownfish swimming side-by-side, while a blue surgeonfish lagged behind. Even further behind, a barracuda barrelled its way toward them, piquing Marco's interest.

Something nudged Marco's shoulder.

Marco turned to his right to see Ferguson.

"Hey, Marco, you've been staring at the fish for about fifteen minutes now," Ferguson said.

Marco raised an eyebrow. "Yes, and?"

"Don't you want to do something else?" Ferguson studied Marco's gaze, still fixed on the aquarium. "Isn't kinda, boring?"

"Nonsense, Fe—Fer…"

"Ferguson."

"Right yes, Ferguson," Marco quipped. "I've never seen such specimens before. I can't let this opportunity go to waste."

Ferguson and Alfonso, stared at each other as they gritted their teeth.

Marco kept his eyes glued to the barracuda, then stuck his tongue out.

"Hey, why would they put a barracuda in a tank with a bunch of small fish?" Ferguson asked. "This is practically an open buffet for it." Ferguson noticed parents walking beside with their children. One of the parents pointed towards something in the tank, leaving their daughter astonished. "And a PR nightmare waiting to happen."

"Who cares?" Marco's tongue moistened, leaving a trail of purple, viscous saliva flowing down the aquarium glass. "Sure looks tasty." Marco knocked on the aquarium. Marco held his fist out, ready to strike on the glass. "I'm hungry, do you guys want some barracuda?"

Alfonso and Ferguson pulled him away from the aquarium.

"No, Marco, we can't eat the barracudas." Ferguson grasp on Marco began to slip away.

"Why not?" A line of spittle escaped Marco's lips. "Why parade their pray in these containment chambers, when we can feast on their supple, extravagant meat?"

"Marco," Ferguson said, with a pinched expression, "this is a sea park. Not a restaurant! You're supposed to look at the fish, not eat them!"

Marco tilted his head over to the side. "That's stupid."

Ferguson sighed as he pulled Marco along. "Let's go, Marco." The boys made their way out of the tunnel.

Marco looked all around, to see even more undersea creatures wade in their aquariums. One aquarium hosted a school of Manta Rays. Marco watched them wade through the tank as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead and more drool poured down his chin.

Ferguson turned Marco's head to the front. "Seriously, Marco, what's with your obsession with eating all the fish? I thought you hate seafood."

"When have I ever said that?"

"I don't know," Ferguson said, "How about every time we go out to eat?"

Alfonso laid a finger underneath Marco's drooling mouth. After a bit of saliva dripped onto his finger, he examined it—swivelling his finger around to keep it from dropping to the ground—and reeled back, gritting his teeth as he pressed his thumb on the purple fluid.

"Uh, Marco," Alfonso piped up, "why is your spit all purple?"

Marco jerked back slightly, unwittingly uncovering his sleeve. "Oh, well, uh, skin condition, you know?"

Ferguson noticed something "Let me see something, Marco." Ferguson pulled Marco's arm close to him and rolled his sleeve all the way up. Bile rose from Ferguson's stomach. With his free hand, Ferguson covered his mouth before any vomit gushed forth. "Marco, what the heck happened? Why are your arms purple and blotchy?"

Alfonso sniffed the arm before covering his own mouth. "And rotten smelling?"

"It's… just a skin condition," Marco said, forcing a toothy smile.

Alfonso examined his teeth, finding them to be noticeably sharper.

A mother and her young daughter passed by. The daughter saw Marco's discoloured arm and shrieked in horror.

Alfonso and Ferguson turned to see the mother cover her daughter's eyes and sprinted away, screaming at the top of their lungs. Everyone else followed suit, running away as Ferguson struggled to re-cover Marco's horrific arm.

Marco made a calm smile. "Listening to the screams of terror in person is always a wonderful delight," Marco muttered to himself.

"What's that?" Ferguson asked.

"Oh, nothing." Marco forced another toothy grin.

The three made their way out of the tunnels of aquariums. Ferguson released Marco's arm, shuddering over its rough yet slimy texture.

"Seriously, Marco, get that arm checked out, I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be purple." Ferguson noticed some viscous, purple goop dripping from his hand. "Oh, gross, it's even coming out of your arm!" Ferguson walked off, away from Marco and Alfonso. "I'll be right back, I need to clean this off."

Marco and Alfonso made their way to a shark exhibit, watching several varieties of shark swim in a spacious tank. Alfonso turned his head toward his friend, staring at the disheveled, dirty mess of Marco.

Marco observed the pack, focusing on the largest one, constantly bumping into the other sharks.

"Alfonso, my friend, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Hm."

Marco pointed to the tank of sharks. "What are they doing in there? They should be in the ocean, scouring for unsuspecting prey. How did they end up trapped in glass containers?"

"Well, Marco, you watched Dark Ocean, right? You've seen the how they catch everything in the ocean and then ship them to the sea parks. It's kinda horrifying, the more you think about it—"

Marco's arm glowed underneath his sweater. He stood up and began walking off.

"Where you going?" Alfonso asked.

"Oh, I'm a going to the bathroom," Marco replied, "don't follow me."

Alfonso raised an arm as Marco disappeared

Ferguson made his way to Alfonso, drying his hand on his shirt.

"Ugh, I thought I'd never get that muck off my hand." Ferguson looked both sides, then towards Alfonso. "Hey, where'd Marco go?"

"I think he went—"

Shrill screams pierced their ears as Ferguson and Alfonso looked over to the shark tank. They watched Marco pull one of the sharks from the tank.

Taking one of the sharks, Marco ran off to find an exit while holding a shark overhead. Several park employees chased after him.

"My brethren!" Marco called. "I will free you!"

Star examined the cake herself. She made audible gasps as she carefully eyed the decadent frosting covering the top. She glided her finger over the surface of the cake, nipping on the thin layer of icing stuck on the tip. Her eyes shifted to the side as she swallowed the bit of frosting whole.

"Well, Star, what do you think?" Mrs. Diaz asked.

"It's okay, I guess…" Star pointed her wand towards the cake. "This is Marco's birthday, so we need something a bit"—The cake expanded into a multi-tiered goliath, squished by the ceiling—"bigger." Star reactivated the wand, shrinking it into something reasonable. "Like this."

Manny tiptoed his way to the cake, lifting a paw over it.

Star pushed Manny's paw down. "No, boy, not until Marco has some."

Manny emitted a low growl.

From the backyard, Mr. Diaz rushed in the kitchen and said, "Okay, all the food tables have been set-up and Mama Diaz is coming with the rest family. Star, how many more people are we going to be expecting?"

Star's eyes shot open. "Oh no, I forgot to invite everyone in town."

"Wait, what do you mean, 'everybody?'"

Star powered her wand "Mr. Diaz, I'm going to need you to set up more tables for food." Star aimed out the window and fired a pink beam straight to the sky.

Marco looked up to the sky and watched as heaps of flyers rained down Echo Creek. Marco grabbed one, examining it. An image of a crystallized heart with a fifteen inside stood in the middle of the page

You're cordially invited to Marco's Sweet 15th, the page read.

Awh, she's throwing a birthday party for you, and she's going all out, how sweet, 'Marco' thought.

Ferguson and Alfonso grabbed one of their own from the air.

"Hey, what time are we supposed to be back at your place Marco?" Alfonso asked.

Marco shrugged.

Ferguson flailed his arms outwards. "Ugh, I can't believe you actually got us kicked out of the sea park."

Alfonso walked in-between them. "Yeah, I thought Ferguson would get us kicked out."

"Not the point," Ferguson said, holding a hand out. "Seriously though, Marco, what were you thinking? That's not how Black Ocean wants us to save the sea creatures."

"Eh." Marco's gaze wandered away. "I was probably gonna eat them anyways."

Ferguson seethed up, balling his hand into a fist. He looked up and noticed a sign with a sea trout sticking out. An open sign posted on the door window welcomed all customers

"If you want to eat so bad, come with me, Marco"—Ferguson dragged Marco inside—"This is probably the best seafood place in Echo Creek."

Alfonso caught up inside.

"I come here every chance I get," Ferguson said. "You're gonna love this place, Marco—"

Marco lingered by a table where customers were seated. Purple dribble leaked out of Marco's mouth, almost landing in their food.

Ferguson pulled Marco away. "Marco, what the heck? You know better than this." Ferguson made Marco sit down at one of the tables. "Stay here, I'll go get you some food." Ferguson walked over to the counter. "Alfonso, make sure Marco doesn't drool on anyone else's food."

"Okay!" Alfonso looked at Marco, remarking that Marco's skin turned to an even darker shade of purple. "I think we need to get you to the hospital again, Marco."

"What are you talking about?" Marco asked. "I feel great. Perfectly fine."

Marco leaned back in his chair. "Absolutely fine.

The boy in the red, tattered hoodie closed his eyes. "Just fi—"

Marco's body trembled, shaking the table alongside. He slammed his head on the table, while seething in pain. Marco sat up straight and opened his eyes.

Alfonso noticed the black shading disappear from Marco's irises.

Marco pounced towards Alfonso.

"Alfonso, you have to help me!"

"Marco, what are you—"

Marco pressed his slimy hands on Alfonso's shoulders, staining it with the thick, purple fluid. "I can't keep fighting it; it's winning and I don't know how much of me is still me."

"Fight what? Marco what's going—"

"It's taking over my mind, its controlling everything I do!" Marco stared at his own discoloured, bruised hand. His right arm looked unrecognizable, as his palm was covered with suckers similar to that of a squid.

Marco whimpered.

Alfonso rocked in his chair, shirking back as customers turned their attention to the boy in the red hoodie.

"There's so much noise in my head, I can't even think!" Marco slammed his head on the wooden table. "Get me to Star. She's our only chance to stop him."

"Stop who?"

Marco rose up from the table, sitting back down properly. "I'm not sure. What were we talking about?" The black shading on Marco's eyes returned.

"Okay, here ya go, Marco." Ferguson set down several baskets of seafood on the table.

Marco's mouth watered as he stared at the delicacies laid in front of him. Steam rose from the basket of crispy shrimp fried in a thick batter. A basket of fried cod laid next to the shrimp, causing more thick purple saliva drip onto the table.

Ferguson had filled the entire table with seafood entrees.

"Um, enjo—"

Marco swallowed the baskets whole. The natural flavors of the fish were masked with spicy seasoning and thick batter. Still, Marco craved every bite. Marco looked down at the empty table then back towards Ferguson. "More…"

"But that costed me—"

Marco slammed his fist on the table, splashing purple fluid into Alfonso and Ferguson's face. "It's my birthday."

Ferguson held his hand out, backing away. "Okay, okay Marco, I have some extra money to spare, don't worry."

"Ferguson, can I speak with you in private?" Alfonso pulled Ferguson off to the side. He made sure he and Ferguson were an earshot away from Marco. "Dude, we need to do something about Marco."

"I know, that entire platter costed sixty bucks," Ferguson said.

"Not about the food!" Alfonso pointed to the disheveled mess that was Marco. He leaned close to Ferguson's ear. "I think he might be, possessed."

"Possessed?" Ferguson asked, "that's crazy, don't be ridiculous man." Ferguson placed his hand underneath his chin, feigning deep thought. "Have you and Janna been watching Supernatural Slayers without me?"

"Come on, Ferg, think about it. He's been doing things Marco would never do."

Ferguson watched Marco swat over for a basket of shrimp, as the customer struggled to keep it away from him. "Well, he's always hated seafood, hasn't he?" Intrigued, Ferguson considered the idea of possession even further. "Plus, he's just had a weird obsession with fish in general, all day."

Something went off in Ferguson's head. "Plus, ever since we watched Black Ocean, he's hated sea parks." Ferguson looked deep into Alfonso's eyes. "Dude, I think you're right."

"We have to call Star, now!" Alfonso screamed.

Ferguson pulled out his phone. "Way ahead of ya." He mashed through the list of contacts, trying to find Star's name in the crowd before pressing the phone next his ear. "Come on, pick up, pick up…"

Someone on the other end picked up.

"Star, listen, Marco is messed up and we need your help," Ferguson said, tapping his fingers on the side. "Yes, this is a bigger deal than your piñata. We think Marco is possessed."

Ferguson didn't say a single word for a while. Alfonso leaned in close. Then he pulled his phone away from his ear as soon as he could, as garbled noise shot out from the receiver.

Alfonso covered his own ears.

Ferguson pressed the phone back to his ear and said, "No, we're not joking, he's really messed up right now." Ferguson bellowed out a loud groan. "His skin is getting worse, he's leaking this purple liquid everywhere—"

"—and he got us kicked out of the sea park," Alfonso added.

"Yeah, that too. Basically, we need you or else who knows how much worse Marco will get." Ferguson waited and listened, nodding repeatedly.

Alfonso looked over Ferguson's shoulder, feeling his own jaw clench on instinct. He barely contained his own scream, making an audible yelp that got many customer's attention. Alfonso tapped Ferguson shoulder. Ferguson brushed it off.

"Yeah, sure, I'll hand it over to Marco." Ferguson turned towards their table and noticed a lack of Marco. A few shrill screams rang from the kitchen as Ferguson and Alfonso heard the sound of the back door shattering. "On second thought, I'll call you right back." Ferguson hung up his phone and stared eye-to-eye with Alfonso.

Soon after, the owner kicked Ferguson and Alfonso out for excessive noise.

Star stared at the two piñatas Mr. Diaz held up. She compared the one covered in blue mache with the pink piñata wearing a moustache. Meanwhile, she kept her phone next to her ear.

"Okay, pass the phone over to Marco," Star ordered, nudging her shoulder over so it held her phone in place. "I want to talk to him myself."

"On second thought, I'll call you right back," Ferguson said before hanging up.

"What, no, let me talk to"—Only a dial tone remained—"oh my, ugh." Star hung up herself and shoved her phone back into her bag.

"So, Star, which one?" Mr. Diaz asked.

Star pondered for a moment, pressing her fingers underneath her chin. "Why can't we have both?"

"We only have enough candy to fill one of the piñatas," Mr. Diaz said. "I mean, it's not like we can magically conjure up more candy out of nowhere."

"Um…" Star pointed at her own wand. "Yeah we can."

"Oh right, I forgot."

Star gasped as a thought occurred to her. She powered her wand, pointing it at the pink piñata with the moustache. The piñata expanded, until it covered the middle of the yard. Star rose the piñata into the air, ready to be smashed.

"There should be enough candy in there to put everyone in a sugar coma," Star said.

Mrs. Diaz sniggered as Star heard the sound of cars parking in the driveway. "We'll see about that."

A short, hunched-over elderly lady hobbled her way over, as several other members of Marco's extended family followed her in.

"Mama!" Mr. Diaz knelt down, ready to embrace his own mother.

"Rafi!" Grandma Diaz wrapped both arms around her son as tight as she could. "It's so good to see you."

Mr. Diaz coughed out his lungs, feeling the pressure exerted from her mother's embrace. He pushed back in a vain attempt to get some air. "It's, ugh, great to see you too, Mama."

Grandma Diaz let him go, giving Mr. Diaz some time to catch a breath. From the corner of her eye, she saw Mrs. Diaz walk by. She hugged Mrs. Diaz, who reciprocated back. "Angie, mi morra, how is my wonderful daughter-in-law doing? How's my son treating you?"

"Oh, well." Mrs. Diaz let Grandma Diaz go and leaned close to Mr. Diaz, tenderly caressing his arms. "You've raised a wonderful son."

Grandma Diaz snickered under her breath. "It's my specialty." She looked towards Star, zooming in on her. "You must be Rafi's new house guest."

Star made an audible gasp. "I am! How did you know?"

"Rafi's told me a lot about you." Grandma Diaz extended an arm over to Star. "Please, call me Grandma Diaz."

Star offered her own hand. "Star. Star Butterfly."

"Pleased to meet you, Star. Now, where's Marco?" Grandma Diaz asked. "How are we supposed to have a birthday celebration without the birthday boy?"

"Oh, Star sent him out with a couple of friends," Mr. Diaz said. "We have a wide variety of surprises ready for him."

"Like this baby." Star presented the massive piñata to Grandma Diaz, knocking on the side of it.

"Oh, dios mio," Grandma Diaz muttered. "Young Rafi would have been so happy to see this on his 15th."

The crowd of kids waiting behind Grandma Diaz grew antsy.

"I wanna hit it first!"

"No, me first!"

"No, let me!"

A deafening roar echoed through the backyard. Everyone turned to see a manticore scratch his sleepy eyes as a litter of hyperactive puppies sprinted from the house, firing a laser or two out of their eyes.

"Woah."

"Any of you kids want a ride on Manny the Manticore?" Star asked, kneeling down with a smile. "Or play with the laser puppies?"

"Yeah!"

Jackie slid to a stop, tucking her board inwards. She hopped off and signaled Janna, who was sitting on the bench. Noticing something fly by, she caught the bottle of cola with her free hand, twisting the cap open.

"So, Jackie, the new skateboard, good? Bad?" Janna asked. "Garbage?"

Jackie picked up her board and rolled the wheels over and over again. "These wheels are messed, so it's impossible for me to turn properly." She blew on wheels, turning the board in different directions, examining it. "This was not worth the 50% off I paid. Mr. Wong should've given something like, a 90% discount"

Janna reached out for it. "I can take it off your hands if you wish."

Jackie moved it out of Janna's reach.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Janna snickered. She checked her flyer once more. "We should probably head off to Marco's b-day party now."

"We will," Jackie replied. "I just need to pick something up from my place."

The crowd of skaters running away caught Jackie and Janna's attention. Neither of them heard each other through the cacophony of screams. A skater was hurled towards Jackie, who caught him as he was about to face-plant onto the concrete.

"What's going on?" Jackie asked the skater.

The skater pointed over to the skate park entrance. Jackie and Janna looked over, as they tensed up, eyes popped open.

"No, no, no!" A skater struggled to crawl against the concrete, as an arm wrapped around his foot. He tried to kick it away, but he couldn't escape its grasp. The skater stared up, whimpering.

"It's been a while since I've tried something human," Marco said, as he pulled the skater close. "You'll do." Marco bared his pointy, sharpened teeth towards him.

"Marco?"

Marco staggered back, dropping the skater to the ground.

"It is Marco," Jackie said, examining his darkened, purple arms, exposed by his ripped sweater. "Kinda hard to tell from a distance."

"Sick tats, bro." Janna pointed to the dark markings painted across Marco's arms.

Jackie approached Marco, moving one step at a time. "You alright, Marco? You don't look to swell."

"I feel fantastic…" Marco's mouth seeped a sticky, purple froth. "I'm just really hungry. And it's been a while since I've seen such a delicacy."

"Delicacy?"

Marco dashed towards Jackie, waving his deranged, squid-like arms out in front.

Jackie held out an arm over her face. She lowered her arms as soon as she heard the sound of splintering wood. Jackie found half her skateboard shattered on the ground while Janna poked an unconscious Marco with the remaining half of the skateboard.

"Janna, did you just—"

"Wait…" Janna kept prodding Marco. "Yup, he's still alive.

Jackie placed a hand next to her chest, breathing out in relief. Then she saw the broken skateboard parts. "You owe me a new deck."

"Hey, I panicked, I couldn't find anything else to hit him over the head with." Janna looked down, noticing a perfectly fine steal pipe lying on the ground.

Closing in, Ferguson and Alfonso ran up to Marco, dropping to their knees and heaving for breath as they finally caught up to Marco.

"We found him!" Ferguson said.

"Oh, thank goodness, he's down." Alfonso coughed onto the pavement.

"Ferg, Alf, what's up with Marco?" Janna asked.

Jackie lifted Marco's arm up. "Why's he rotting, and smelly and…" Jackie dropped his arm, looking at the purple fluids sticking on her hand. "Ew."

"Can we find another place to talk about all this?" Ferguson asked.

"Yeah." Alfonso pointed behind, showing the girls the path of destruction Marco plowed on his way to the skate park. A trail made up of wreckage and small fires littered the scene. Several people "Somewhere private, where no one is gonna disturb us."

Jackie looked down to the passed out Marco, then straight down the street to see other people putting out fires or cleaning up any wreckage.

Jackie pulled Marco up by his hoodie. "My garage, now."

"Yeah, mom, don't come into the garage for a bit," Jackie yelled as she closed the only door leading to the garage, locking it for good measure.

Alfonso and Ferguson rushed to secure Marco's legs to the wooden chair.

Janna moaned under her breath as she rubbed vertically along Marco's thick, slimy, viscous arm, amazed by its smoothness despite the extensive discolouration. Curiosity compelled her to taste the seeping fluids, against her better judgement. It was an unusual, yet pleasant experience.

"Janna, stop stroking his arm already!" Jackie ordered. "Just tie him up."

"Yeah, yeah, I was doing that." Janna ensured Marco's arms were behind the chair. She bonded Marco's hands together with duct tape, applying the entire roll in one go.

"So, I was asking…" Jackie mulled over Marco's limp, decaying body. "You guys have any idea what's wrong with him?"

"Nope," Ferguson said.

"Not a clue." Alfonso held in place for a moment. "Well, Ferguson and I believe he's possessed, but that's just crazy."

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"Marco has not been himself all day," Alfonso said. "Aside from morphing into a dug-up corpse, Marco's started having weird obsessions with eating fish."

"Yeah, he nearly blew my allowance on a seafood platter." Ferguson lamented over his lighter wallet. "He wasn't even nice enough to share."

"Really?" Janna asked. "He hates seafood though."

"I know," Ferguson said. "That's what so weird about this whole thing."

"At this point, we believe he's possessed by some fish-crazed ghost."

"Or demon—"

Marco groaned as he seemed to begin to shake himself awake. Janna readied a steal beam as he drifted back into an unconscious state. Janna set the beam down.

Janna noticed a strange marking underneath Marco's arm. She went up to him and pulled his arm close, inspecting the marking.

Jackie gritted her teeth. "Janna, what did I say about strokin—"

"I'm not," Janna replied, pointing to the line of markings engraved on Marco's arm. "This thing on Marco's arm is legit bugging me, I swear I saw something similar." She tilted her head, rotating his arm as well, to no avail. Janna couldn't figure out where it came from. "If only there was a way to identify markings electronically." Janna pulled out her phone. "Oh wait, there is."

"You talking about that three dollar scam of an app?" Jackie asked. "You know most of the info on that thing is probably—"

"Hey, if you want to be a respectable cryptologist, you must use Crypt-Dentifier. The ultimate identification tool for crytids." Janna opened the app, taking a picture of Marco's arm as it prompted her. In an instant, a result popped up. Janna made a wry grin. "Told ya it works."

The text box read:

Identified as: Maaarkign of rel'kETh.

Summary: iS thing that conSuMs alot.

Janna grimaced, closing the app. "Okay, never mind, this thing is trash."

"In any case." Jackie sighed. "We need Star."

Everyone in the garage nodded.

"Wait, isn't Star still busy?" Alfonso asked.

The space unicorn ringtone echoed from Marco's pocket. Ferguson went up and picked Marco's phone from his pocket. Ferguson answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Marco, your whole family is here!" Star yelped. "They're getting antsy, get back here as soon as you can!"

Ferguson dropped the call and said, "Star's waiting on us to come back.

"Well"—Jackie grabbed a hold of the chair, careful not to wake him—"we better get a move on."

Star took one final look at the crowd, mixed with Marco's extended family and surprisingly quite a few people from town. Marco's cousins and Star's admirer kept themselves preoccupied with Manny the Manticore. Grandma Diaz chased the laser puppies around the backyard, knocking into the other guests by accident. Even Sabrina arrived, waving 'hello' to Star as she went in.

Star checked her phone and saw a text from Jackie that said:

Coming now, it's super urgent. A terrified emoji appeared beside the message. Star didn't think much of it.

"Okay, Birthday Boy is coming this way." Star conjured up a portal floating over the backyard. "Everyone get in either of those, and on my signal, jump out."

All the guests and Star hopped into the portal.

"What is this place?" One of the guests asked.

Star shrugged. "I have no idea." The space expanded as more people entered. "But, there should be enough space for everybody."

Star smiled in anticipation, ignoring the crowd of people for a moment. She ran through the checklist of everything needed for the party.

Food tables are prepped.

The piñata is set.

Star flipped her wand in the air. I can make a dance floor in seconds . And…

Star checked her bag. A chrome-coloured, luminescent star rested on the bottom. I hope Marco likes it.

Star heard the patter of footsteps from the backyard. Her wand shined. "Now!"

Everybody hopped out the portal, as fireworks blasted in the air.

"Happy Birthday, Marco!" Everyone cheered. Then everyone went silent.

"Oh sweet Mewni…"

How will Star and friends get out of this kooky predicament? Well, I know, but that's for a later chapter.

Thanks for reading!