Today's the day! It's my birthday! The day starts off with a bang! Literally! Gordon had set up a small prank in my room that accidentally blew up instead of playing my favourite songs. It definitely woke me up! I fell off my bed, startled. John came running into the room, the rest of the Tracy's following him. He immediately rushes over to me and checks that I'm ok before searching for what blew up. Eventually, with the help from the cameras, Gordon was given a good telling off before being pushed into the pool. For breakfast, Kyrano had made my favourite, crepes, chocolate muffins and bagels. Thankfully, before the ravenous Tracy's could devour all the food, I was given the first pick of food first. Then the Tracy's were let loose. After breakfast, we congregate in the living room, the table covered with wrapped gifts. Jeff starts by handing me a pastel blue wrapped gift. I quickly open the gift to discover a thunderbird suit, identical to the others suits, with purple lining. I thank Jeff before continuing through the pile. Scott gets me some books on space, Virgil gets me the new albums from Linkin Park and Panic! At The Disco, Gordon gets me a suitcase full of prank supplies (I'll have fun with those later), and Grandma Tracy gets me a cookbook. "At least one of us should know who to cook properly." She says, winking. Kayo gets me some new clothes and makeup, while Brains and Fermat give me some science books. Alan gave me a gorgeous locket with two photos in it. One of him and I, the other being John, himself and me. I give him a massive hug for it when I notice the engraving on the back of the locket. It reads "No matter how far you are, wherever you are, you'll always be loved by John and I. Love Alan."

Finally, John pulls me to one side and hands me a small parcel. When I open it, it turns out to be a lovely bracelet with different charms on it. There was a rocket, to symbolise IR, a star, to represent my love for stars. There also was a heart, to symbolise my love for John, and one had two hands, one big, one small, hand in hand, to represent my bond with Alan. There are more charms dangling from the links. It's beautiful. I turn to John, tears in my eyes. "Do you not like it? I can get you something different if you want." He asks. I shake my head, pulling him into a massive hug.

"I love it, thank you. It's perfect." I whisper in his ear. He pulls away and rids of my tears. We head back into the living room, where there were no traces of wrapping paper anywhere. Anywhere except Virgil's hair. I stifle a laugh, knowing how much Virgil takes pride in his hair. "Ok, everyone together! Let's take this photo!" Grandma Tracy exclaims. I'm pushed to the centre of the group, everyone surrounding me making funny faces. When the photo is shown to everyone, Virgil's face turns red. "WHO PUT WRAPPING PAPER IN MY HAIR?!" He yells. We all burst out laughing.

"Thank you for finally noticing! I would have died from holding in my laughter!" Alan giggles. Gordon is the only one not giggling, slowly edging towards the door. Virgil spots him and turns to face him. "GORDON, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!" He yells. "You can't if you can't find me!" Gordon sings as he runs off.

The rest of the day is filled with fun and laughter. Towards sunset, John and I meet up in my room. But there's one problem. "We need two people to witness this, Alan's obviously going to be one, but who else can we trust?" I ask. John just shrugs his shoulders. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. It's Virgil. "Hey you two. I overheard what you guys were talking about on the balcony a few nights ago. Anything I can do to help?" Virgil asks.

"Well, we do need a second person to witness our bonding ceremony, it's quite similar to a wedding ceremony. You are not allowed to breathe a word to anyone about this, ok?" John commands.

"Very well then, when are you planning on doing the ceremony?" Virgil questions.

"When I return with Ali. Back in a moment." I answer, walking out of the room. I enter Alan's room down the corridor, to see him jumping on his bed. I laugh, catching Alan's attention. "Nix! When is the thing happening?" He asks.

"Now, come on or else we'll be late!" I exclaim.

"We can't be late if you're in the ceremony, everyone will have to wait for you!" Alan laughs as we walk down the corridor.

"True, now in you go." I smile, as we enter the room.

"John, do you take Phoenix to be your soulmate, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?" Virgil asks, reading off the sheet of paper John handed him with the bonding ceremony question on it.

"I do." John smiles.

"And do you Phoenix, take John to be your soulmate, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?" Virgil repeats the question, facing me.

"I do." I smile.

"And now, by the power vested in me by the GDF, I hereby pronounce you soulmates." Virgil finishes. Suddenly, John and I glow for a few seconds, surprising everyone but me. "What was that, Phoenix?" Alan asks.

"It's the phoenix side of me finishing the bonding ceremony. Don't worry, it's normal for these ceremonies." I explain.

"Very well then, I'll take Alan to bed now, it's past midnight. Goodnight you two." Virgil announces, taking Alan back to bed.

We lie on my bed, my head on John's chest. "When can I become a phoenix?" John asks, playing with my hair.

"When the seeds I planted today are made into a tea, so sometime tomorrow." I answer.

"Ok, so now that your powers are fully developed, can I see your phoenix form?" John inquires.

"Sure, just give me a moment to get ready." I reply, getting up and standing in the middle of the room. I start by lighting my hands on fire, just gentle, little flames first, before letting them engulf my body. Whilst covered in flames, I begin my first transformation. The first transformation is a slow one, but thankfully not a painful one. Soon, I'm fully transformed and whizzing about the room, singing an enchanting melody.

The first transformation isn't supposed to last long, so I manage to sit on the carpet long enough without setting it alight, to transform back. Unfortunately, I am exhausted, so I can't answer any more questions. John notices this so he sets me down under my covers, kisses me goodnight and turns the lights off before closing the door behind him. I quickly drift off to sleep, dreaming of me in my phoenix form with a blue phoenix and a smaller green phoenix. I wonder who they are?

The golden rays of sun shine through my open windows, as a soft breeze filters through my slightly open balcony doors, the sound of birds chirping in the forest echoes throughout the house. I lie in my cozy duvet, sleeping peacefully. Peacefully, it is until a nightmare strikes. I toss and turn and eventually, my newer, slightly unstable powers set the kitchen below me alight. The smoke alarms start going off, waking most of the sleeping residents, of the house, including me. My first instinct is to escape from my balcony, but my phoenix instincts tell me to get my family safe first. I listen to my phoenix instincts and run into Alan's room. The amazing thing is, he's still sleeping even through the blaring alarms. I quickly shake him awake and usher him onto his balcony, where I instruct him down the ivy which is crawling up the wall. Once he's down, I tell him to meet me on the beach. Then I run for John's room, but when I get there, John's gone. I head towards my room, making sure all bedrooms are evacuated until I reach my own. There's only one problem now. There's no ivy beside my balcony, no way for me to get down. I look around for another way to get down, but there's no other option apart from turning into my phoenix form. Just before I start transforming, Virgil appears below my balcony. "Virgil! I can't get down!" I yell down. He turns and looks up. "Phoenix, what are you still doing inside the house? No matter, just jump, I'll catch you, I promise." Virgil exclaims. Without even thinking, I jump, landing in Virgil's arms. He sets me down before I start to run down to the beach, where Alan and John are waiting for me.

By the time the three of us find the rest of the family, the fire has been put out and Jeff's inspecting the damage. It's nothing major, just under half the kitchen, including the stove and microwave had been damaged, so it's an easy repair. The amount of smoke was alarming though, so we all get checked out by Virgil. Thankfully, no one was badly injured, we all had minor smoke inhalation, though. The main question everyone's asking is how the fire started. When the house was announced safe, Jeff checked the security cameras and declared that the stove must have blown a fuse. We head to our rooms to get changed from our pj's. John comes to my room shortly afterwards to see me watering some plants on my balcony. He walks up and hugs me from behind. I lean in and smile. "What are you doing?" He asks.

"I'm watering those flowers so that I can make the tea later. They're almost ready." I explain, pointing to the three flowers. "One flower for you and one for me. The other one is relevant to something I've been meaning to talk to you about. Come inside." We walk inside, close the balcony doors and sit down in my hanging chair. "So, there's a possibility that we can 'adopt' Alan in phoenix terms. If a child has been raised practically since birth by at least one phoenix, if the child is willing, they can become a phoenix and be 'adopted' by that phoenix. They just have to drink the tea also. So, what do you think, should we 'adopt' Alan since we practically raised him from birth?" I ask.

"Well, only if Alan wants to." John replies with a smile.

"I'll ask him in a bit. Now, what do you want to do today?" I inquire.

"Well, we have less than a week until I head up to TB5, so probably spend it on the beach with you and Ali" John states, as he plays with my hair.

"Sounds good, meet you down there in ten?" I ask, getting up.

"Sure." John smiles, standing up. "See you in a bit." He kisses my forehead before heading off. I smile, grabbing a towel before heading down the corridor to Ali's room.

I open the door slightly to see Ali out on his balcony. Not wanting to surprise him, I gently knock on the door. "Hey Ali, we need to talk." I say.

"Sure Nix, what's up?" Ali asks, sitting on the bed.

"So you know how I'm a phoenix, well, I was wondering if you wanted to become a phoenix and be John and I's 'adopted' son in phoenix terms?" I inquire.

"Really? You actually are asking me?! Of course!! I'd love to!" Ali exclaims.

"Ok, the tea should be ready by this evening, but until then, John and I are heading down to the beach. Do you want to join us?" I ask.

"Sure. Be down in a couple of minutes." Ali smiles. I smile back before heading down to the beach, grabbing an umbrella on my way out. John is nowhere in sight but his towel is laid out, so I lay out my towel next to his and set up the umbrella. John has already brought down a cooler full of soft drinks, ice cream and cold food. He also has some water activities set up. Ali arrives a few minutes after me, setting up his towel beside mine. "Where's John?" He asks.

"Dunno, we'll probably find out in a few minutes." I reply. After a few minutes, we can hear the purring of an engine. "I know what he's at now, John's gone to get the jet ski!" Alan exclaims. Sure enough, John arrives at the dock on the jet ski. Running up, I exclaim "I didn't know that you guys had a jet ski!"

"Yeah, we don't often use it though. You're welcome to use it when you need to. Just don't go out after dark." John explains.

"Ok, so what are we going to do first?" I ask.

"Well I was thinking we could play some volleyball? We can play 1v1 and the other person will be the referee. I'll be referee first round!" Alan suggests.

"Good idea Ali! Let's get started!" John smiles. As John heads to set up the volleyball net, Ali walks over to me. "I bet two pounds that John will beat you by a mile." He whispers.

"I bet five pounds that I beat both of you!" I whisper back, confident in myself.

"You're on!" Ali exclaims, as we shake hands.

Let's just say that Alan owes me five pounds. I beat both him and John. When they played against each other, John won, but it was very close between the two. After volleyball, we move onto water sports. We start off with skiing, where we discover that I'm very bad at water skiing. Then we head onto paddleboarding. It was really fun, Alan and I really enjoyed it, but John couldn't get the hang of it. Then, to cool off, we swam around, a few splash fights were inevitable, though. We dragged ourselves to our towels and lay there, wallowing in our thoughts. After a while, John got up and started to pack everything up. "Do we have to go?" Ali asks.

"Yeah, it's almost time for those flowers to bloom, that's when they have to be picked." I reply, standing up to help John. Ali sighs before getting up to help us. We quickly packed everything up before racing each other back to the house. John, being the fastest, got there first, but waited to hold the door open for us, allowing Ali to win the race overall. We take a breather before I go out to my balcony to pick the flowers. It took a few moments, but soon the tea was ready.

"Is it supposed to shift colours?" Ali asks.

"Yes, it represents all the elements. There's fire, the red shades, air, the yellow and grey shades, earth, the green shades and water, the blue shades. It shifts as your element hasn't been decided, look at my tea, it's red as my element is fire. The tea regenerates your powers and the ability of transforming. You have to take the tea every Monday, or else you won't be able to transform or use your powers that week, until you get a cup of tea." I explain.

"Ok, so on the count of three." John says.

"One... Two... Three!" I count before drinking my tea at the same time as Ali and John. Once all the tea is gone, John and Alan start to glow different colours. "John, you're glowing blue, meaning that you have the element of water. Ali, you're glowing green, meaning that you have the element of earth. Ok?" I ask

"Wow. Ok, that's fine, you ok Ali?" John inquires.

"Ok, I feel amazing! I can feel a very strong bond." Ali exclaims.

"That does happen, the bond between us has developed and will continue to grow over the years. Now, the transaction takes a lot of energy, so it's bedtime now." I firmly command.

"But Nix!!" Ali complains.

"No buts Alan. You heard Phoenix, it's bedtime. Come on, I'll tuck you in, ok?" John smiles.

"Fine, night Nix." Ali huffs, pulling me into a hug.

"Night Ali, night John." I smile, as John pulls Alan out the door, calmly closing it behind them. I sigh before getting changed into my pj's and sliding into bed. I was out like a light the moment my head touched the pillow.