Why Do Trees Float?

[Andi Hart]

Continued from here

Andi wasn't entirely sure where Hayden's, The Cafe, was, but she was sure they'd be able to find it. Getting there in half an hour was another thing, but excited for answers and to prove to Doroteya that she wasn't a crazy person, Andi zoomed on her bike there as fast as she could. She kept glancing around to make sure that Doroteya was still coming, and hadn't abandoned her, and every time she saw her, she grinned. Andi couldn't believe that she finally had a proper friend, someone to do stuff with, and that she was going to find out about the floating tree.
They finally got to the area where the shops were, and Andi looked around eagerly for Hayden's, The Cafe. Her eyes landed on it, and she shouted "This way!" At Teya, zooming there again, almost falling off the bike in her enthusiasm to get off. She left the bike on the pathway, running quickly into the cafe, looking for the face of the nice actor man.

 

[Doroteya Melnik]

It was a good thing Doroteya felt safer cycling at high speeds, because Andi rode like the wind. Her legs still ached from the journey to the mansion, but the way back into the city was mostly downhill, so Doroteya held on tight and let gravity do the work, swerving every now and then to follow Andi around a turning she hadn't realised was coming. When they arrived at the café, she had to perform such a hard stop that she nearly flew over the handlebars. She got off and looked around. The back wheel of Andi's bike was still spinning, but its rider was long gone. Doroteya propped both bikes up carefully against a rack, which at least gave the illusion they might be locked to it, and then went inside the café. There was a young family sitting by the window and an old lady on her smartphone in the corner, but otherwise the place was empty. "We are here first," she said to Andi, still panting slightly. "Are we buy food now...?"

 

[Andi Hart]

Andi turned around when she heard Teya speak, wondering what had taken so long for her to come inside. She let out a small huff for the fact that the man wasn't there yet, but shook her head to Teya's question. "No, I don't have money. We'll just...grab a seat and wait for him to come? Back here?" Andi asked, moving towards a table, now hoping the nice man was actually going to come and tell them about the tree, and it wasn't just a mean trick to get them away.

 

[Doroteya Melnik]

Doroteya followed Andi and hesitantly sat down. She hadn't been in many nice cafes before. In her scruffy jeans and shirt, she felt a bit out of place. "Do you know the man, who he is?" she asked, glancing around at the pretty landscape paintings on the walls.

 

[Andi Hart]

Andi nodded her head. "Yes, I met them a couple of weeks ago, remember? And he was really nice, and looked after me and even gave me a coke! He'll be the one with the answers, I'm sure." Andi paused, then reached for Teya's hands. "Thank you for coming with me." She was glad that T had forgiven her so quickly and was going to stay being her friend.

 

[Doroteya Melnik]

Doroteya continued to study the paintings as she listened, only turning her attention back to Andi when she took her hands. "It is OK," she said. Now she felt even worse for shouting at her - even if she had been very stupid to disrespect the other man at the house. Doroteya picked up a salt shaker, as if this were the sole purpose of moving her hands away, and sprinkled some salt into her palm. She dipped the end of her tongue into it. Not the best idea she'd ever had. Replacing the shaker, she pointed to a sandwich on the menu and said, "Look - this is rich people café. Twenty dollar! Man has a lot of money."

 

[Andi Hart]

Andi laughed as Teya tried the salt, before looking at the menu at what she pointed it. "For a sandwich?! That's ridiculous!" Andi exclaimed, looking at the other items before looking around the cafe and realizing just how fancy it was. "I hope he shows up soon before they realize we don't belong." Andi said with a giggle, avoiding eye contact with one of the waitresses.

 

[Doroteya Melnik]

Ridiculous, yes, but Doroteya absolutely had to try one. And the fizzy elderflower. And the chocolate fudge cake. She sat back, sliding her feet as far underneath the table as possible so that the waitress wouldn't see her dirty trainers. They were definitely getting strange looks. Not a moment too soon Doroteya spotted the nice man from the mansion coming down the street. "Him," she said to Andi. "Him - he is here."

 

[Lucan White]

Lucan's doubts were multiplying. He had grabbed his wallet and stepped into the fireplace before he could give himself a chance to overthink things, but now, walking down the street towards the café, he felt sure the real danger was that he had allowed himself to underthink things. Keevan would forgive him for going behind his back and against his wishes, but there would be arguments, and tension, and then at least a good week of quiet resentment, all of which Lucan could do without. His intervention wasn't even necessary; if 'Sarah' was as old as she claimed, she would find out about magic soon enough by means of her Hogwarts letters arriving in the mail, and, as she seemed to know nothing yet about her powers, presumably a visit from somebody who would fill in the gaps. Yet Lucan felt sorry for her. She had obviously seen something on the grounds on her first visit that she could not explain. Her curiosity was natural, and to expect her to quash it or attempt to rationalise what she had seen was simply unfair, especially when she had no parents of her own to question.

He wondered how much her friend knew - the one with the dark hair. Perhaps they were related. It wasn't impossible, though the whole situation seemed very unlikely. Then again, any of the possible circumstances were unlikely, and it had to be one of them. He took a deep breath and entered the café. He had been several times before and knew it to be a quiet establishment - quiet enough that they would not be overheard. As he thought this, the young family by the window stood up to leave. Good. Maybe it was going to work out for the best, after all.

"Awright?" Lucan said, taking off his scarf. "Well done, you beat me. Have you chosen what you want to order? I'm Lucan, by the way - Keevan's brother. I hope you don't mind me sitting here, but that old lady having a snooze in the corner might not like it very much if I shout at you from across the room - what do you reckon?"

 

[Andi Hart]

Andi sat slouched in her seat, watching hungrily as the waiter took the left over food from a table away, but sat up straight as soon as Teya mentioned the man. About time! Andi didn't think they were going to last much longer before being told to leave. She listened as the man spoke, asking to sit there, and Andi nodded her head enthusiastically. Of course she wanted him to sit there! She wanted to know everything. Andi remembered the man wanted a "cup of" something before he told them anything. Lucan, he said he was, and the mean man was Keevan. "A sandwich?" Andi asked, wondering what kind of gold would be in the twenty dollar sandwich.

 

[Doroteya Melnik]

The sandwich was going to have to be amazing for Doroteya to put up with this. She edged her chair back slightly, as if to make room, though really she just wanted to be further away. Then she pointed to the menu. "This, please." On second thoughts, she decided not to ask for the drink and the cake. She didn't even know why Lucan had brought them here. Andi seemed to think it had something to do with the tree, but that was all rubbish as far as Doroteya was concerned. So what did he want to talk about?

 

[Andi Hart]

The sandwiches had been ordered, and the side of fries had already been devoured before Lucan began explaining. It didn't come as a shock to Andi; she believed him straight away and listened eagerly as he spoke, explained and even secretely showed a tiny bit of magic to the girls. It took Teya a lot longer to come around, and Andi was the one that asked all the questions, and whispered a few explanations to T, but mostly, mostly Andi just sat in awe. Things had always happened that were unexplainable, things like the floating tree, the matron's scissors disappearing when she wanted to cut Andi's hair, or the 'nasty weed' that Andi thought was pretty growing overnight, every time it was mowed down. And the fact that Teya and Andi had found each other, before even knowing that they shared such a... magical secret, well that was just sorcery itself. Once Lucan had explained why he had even bothered helping them, and sharing what he knew, and all other questions were answered, the nice man paid and left, leaving the girls sitting, stunned in their chairs. "Holy s***."

*godmod approved

 

[Doroteya Melnik]

Doroteya didn't know why this man had met them in this café to tell them elaborate fairytales, but the only thing that impressed her was the food. She wasn't at all sorry when he left - about time. Andi, on the other hand, seemed to have believed every word he'd said. Either she really had seen a floating tree, and was desperate to make sense of it, or they were still on a prank show. Doroteya knew which was more likely. "You think all is real!" she said, laughing. "You, are believing really?"

 

[Andi Hart]

Andi looked at T, confused when she started laughing. "How are you not believing?!" Andi asked, incredulously. "Teya - he even showed - and then the things that don't make sense that now do - like the tree and my hair and - aren't there things that just haven't made sense to you? That now does?" Andi asked, leaning forward with her arms stretched across the table, unable to control her excitement. "We're magical, T."

 

[Doroteya Melnik]

Doroteya considered Andi's question. Nothing in her past struck her as totally inexplicable. There had always been some explanation or other, even if she'd had to go digging for it. Although... well, there was the book. The memory of it was so brief that Doroteya was almost certain it had been a dream, or something she had imagined up during a bad bout of flu, and yet it had a vividness and tangibility that could only be ascribed to reality. In the memory, somebody was reading to her a very old book. She thought that she was in bed, and she was comfortable, although she didn't recognise the room as her own. Her attention was entirely fixed on the illustrations - not only because they were very beautiful, depicting some Russian fairytale, but because they were moving. Images on computers and phones moved all the time, but never again since that day had Doroteya seen an image in a book move. Indeed, if the memory was to be believed real, she had never found a way to explain it.

No! She wouldn't allow herself to look silly on television. Even if magic was real, stuff like this would never happen to a kid like her. "You are crazy," she said. "If you have magic, do magic! I want see. Go on."

 

[Andi Hart]

Andi watched T excitedly as the girl sat for a moment. Surely she was coming 'round to it, thinking of all her exciting experiences and things to come. But instead Teya told her she was crazy again. "I can't just do it. You heard the guy, we have to go to a school or something. And you said you were crazy too earlier!" Andi wriggled her fingers around, trying to do something like move the salt or turn the lights off, but nothing happened. She sighed. "If you saw the tree, you'd believe too."