Cornelia Hale, resident Earth Guardian, was not happy. Throughout the course of the day, she had been late to school, had gross cafeteria milk spilled down her front, and fought with her mother. Will had been in a bad mood, Hay Lin had been too perky. Irma had talked too much and Taranee hadn't talked at all. Caleb was in Meridian with Elyon for the week, and Lillian was off on a "father-daughter-bonding-trip" in the mountains.

"What a birthday," she sighed. No one had paid her birthday any attention at all. No one had paid her any attention at all. And Cornelia Hale, resident Earth Guardian, hated not being the center of attention.

Wallowing in self-pity, Corny stumbled into the shower. The worst of it was, she decided, that she couldn't be mad at anyone. Except her mother, of course. Will had just found out that she didn't make the varsity swim team. Hay Lin was just being Hay Lin and Irma was just being Irma. Taranee was quiet, but that was because she was upset about something Nigel had done. Cornelia hadn't bothered to find out what-by that time she had been too depressed to listen to anyone else's troubles. As for Caleb, well, this observer suspects that our dear Corny could rationalize anything to make Caleb exempt from blame. However, he was Elyon's advisor and one of Meridian's top officials, so Cornelia supposed she could (should) spare him for a week to ensure that everything was running smoothly. The fact that it happened to be her birthday week and that he hadn't even acknowledged it bugged her, but again, she excused him (this time by supposing he must have a lot on his mind at the moment).

Cornelia stepped out of the shower and got dressed. As she began to brush her long blond hair, she heard a noise form the kitchen. At first she thought nothing of it: her mother wasn't going to get her forgiveness just by rousing her curiosity. The she remembered-just after she had stormed off to her room, her mother had yelled "I'm going out!" and had slammed the pent house door behind her. Cornelia hadn't heard her mother return yet. She panicked slightly.

"I am a guardian of the veil (or whatever) and I am not afraid of a noise in my kitchen. It was probably just a pot or something falling," she said to herself, raising her chin determinedly and getting up to investigate.

Her long, wet hair swinging behind her, Cornelia stalked into the kitchen, half expecting (hoping) to see her friends jumping out to surprise her. She found nothing. Nobody hiding, nothing fallen to the ground, no apologetic friends wishing her a happy birthday. For some strange reason, this made her angry and she turned on her heel and stormed out, not noticing the tiny box on the windowsill.

An hour later, her mother came home, knocking softly on Cornelia's bedroom door. Corny turned down the music she had bee listening to (the depressing sort you listen to when you're feeling sorry for yourself-She Falls Asleep, Bad Day, and pretty much all the James Blunt songs:P) and opened the door. Her mother wordlessly handed her a tiny white box and promptly left. Cornelia looked at it, surprised. She raised the lid of the box and saw a folded note. Moving it aside to read in a moment, she saw a stunning crystal bracelet resting on some clumsily folded tissue paper. Opening the note, she read:

Cornelia,

Happy Birthday! Sorry I couldn't be there today. I tried to get away for longer, but I could only escape for a second to find Blunk. Speaking of which, I hope you get this ok (meaning, I hope he doesn't decide to steal it), but I think it'll be ok. So I have to urry back-the next meeting's about to start. I've been thinking about you all day (Elyon got mad at me for not paying attention to some stuffy old guy who was complaining about…actually, I have no idea what he was complaining about!).

-Caleb

Smiling as she slipped the bracelet over her wrist, Cornelia Hale, resident Earth Guardian, felt her bad mood lighten just a bit.