Planteria

Chapter 6

"Well," I said, "thanks for at least trying to help me find the Angel Dew, Kaiden."

"No problem," he told me. I was trying to figure out what to do next when Kaiden asked, "Do you want to come to my sister's birthday party? My mom is always complaining that I don't bring home enough friends."

I cracked a smile at that. "Your mom and sister wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all," he said, "I'm sure my sister is always happy to meet someone new. And don't be surprised if she tries to rope you into doing make up with her."

"Has she ever gotten you to consent to a makeover?"

"One time."

"What makeup did she make you wear?"

"Okay," I think that's enough about that," he told me, "come on, my house is just a couple of minutes away."

As we walked, he could probably feel me staring at his back, partially wondering what kind of weirdo guy he was to let his sister give him a makeover, but it's also kind of sweet. Not many boys I know in Foz Forest would do that for their sisters. Maybe one. And my best friend Wendell might have done it for me when I was young. I'm sure there was a reason Kai asked. Perhaps she was supposed to have friends over, and none of them could make it, so she did Kaiden's makeup instead. A couple minutes later, we rounded a corner and what I assumed was his house came into view.

"That's your house?" I asked, a bit confused.

He looked at the small brick cabin.

"Yeah," Kaiden said, "what's wrong with it?"

"Nothing," I said, probably a little too quickly, "It's just that I live in a tree, and I guess I hadn't really thought that anyone else lived in anything other than trees."

Kaiden turned and looked at me. "You live in a tree?"

"Yes!" I said, "and so do a couple dozen or so other families, and that's just in one forest."

"Sounds like fun," he said. Just then, Kai came running out of the house.

"Kaiden!" she shouted. "Your back!"

Kai ran into her brother and hugged him so hard that he almost fell over.

"Yeah, hey Kai!," he said. He took the MoonGlows we had found out of his bag. "Look what we found!"

"Oh my bortzys, you found MoonGlows! Thank you Kaiden." she said. Then his other words registered. "We?" Kai asked.

Kaiden turned her towards me.

"This is Kaia," he said, "she is a new friend of mine and she helped me find the flowers."

Kai looked at me, tilting her head until her ear touched her shoulder. "Hi!," she suddenly said, springing her head up into a normal position. "I'm Kai! But you probably already know that. Will you stay for my party? A couple of my friends are coming over. Do you like kids? Are you good at makeup? How old are you? I'm 10!"

As Kai peppered me with a dozen questions, I looked at Kaiden and asked, "Is she always this hyper?"

"Yep," he told her, "and this is her without any sugar, just wait until she has cake."

I sighed. "How do you live with this everyday?" I asked, "I barely have enough energy for my sister at times and she has half the energy."

"You learn to live with it," he said.

"Okay," I took a deep breath and turned back to Kai, who was waiting for me to answer her questions, "nice to meet you, yes I already knew that, yes, cool, yes, sort of, and 14."