Humans loved stories about magic trees. There were of course the tales about the tree of life . Those cropped up in almost every culture. Lian kept his own Tree Of Life their backyard. It was a strange bronze bush with leaves made out of green imperial jade. Lian insisted that once every three thousand years it would sprout a peach that when eaten would give a person eternal youth. It had yet to happen and Henrietta suspected her father had been tricked into buying a very expensive fake plant.
Then there were the children's stories such as The Magic Faraway Tree which seemed to be written by a woman who had snorted far too much reality instability powder.
Then there were the ones inhabited by talking whimsical animals wearing floral dresses.
No human had ever told a story about Daithi's magic tree.It was probably for the best considering it was such a depressing and grim place. At some point during the 1980's Daithi had dumped an old caravan in the tree branches. Over several decades the branches had grown around it, shattering through the windows and doors in order to create a muddy dark cave. Daithi rarely left the tree cave, preferring to spend all his time devoted to his "life's mission" - spying on people for money.
The walls of the cave were filled with old television screens, computer monitors, vintage radios and mobile phones tied together with leafy tree branches and vines. In the centre of the room there was a large gaming chair where Daithi worked, ate and slept. Daithi was sitting there now. His hair that resembled ginger dreadlocks were really more twisted branches sprouting upwards towards the roof. Next to him sat the magic cauldron that had once belonged to Henrietta and Daithi's great grandfather Dadga. Daithi couldn't be bothered cooking and would have likely starved to death if his mother hadn't placed the magic cauldron in front of his gaming chair.
Daithi was sitting in the chair with his back to them, pulling handfuls of popcorn out of the cauldron while watching one of the screens. The screen showed Milky dressed in a gold sequined mini skirt, knee high gold boots and a white fur coat standing outside a bar typing on her phone.
"She's messaging you, wondering why you haven't shown up yet," Daithi remarked, spinning around in his chair.
Daithi and Henrietta's mothers were identical twins which resulted in Henrietta and Daithi looking more like siblings then cousins. They both had the same supernatural auburn hair although Daithi's tended to burst into flames.They both had the same pointy ears but Daithi's ears jingled with half a dozen golden hoops. The only big difference was Daithi's darker skin and large brown eyes.
"Why are you spying on my friend?" Henrietta asked, folding her arms and Daithi merely rolled his eyes.
"I was trying to track you down and you usually spend every second together," Daithi said, shifting in his chair and causing the blanket around his knees to fall aside.
Daithi's feet were gigantic and twisted backwards.
"You're a Pichal Peri!" Azoom gasped with delight.
"And you call me a bigot!" Daithi sneered. "I'm not some flimsy ghost girl flying around trying to seduce men! my father was the king of the Curopira!"
"The what?" whispered Azoom to Henrietta.
" Forest demons from Brazil, almost extinct," Henrietta whispered back helpfully. "In the old days they used to kill hunters that took more then what they needed from the forest" Henrietta explained.
"And now?" Azoom asked and Daithi snorted.
"My father now spends his days burning down logging trucks, it never ends" Daithi said and then his eyes flickered towards Henrietta.
They were the white milky eyes of a blind person.
"Where's my payment?" He growled.
Henrietta handed Daithi the jar. Daithi unscrewed it with one giant hand and tipped his head back, causing his jaw to dislocate, revealing a row of fangs. In a swift moment he chugged down the entire jar's contents and then burped loudly, wiping his mouth with minimal effort. For a second his blue eyes glowed red and then he laughed.
"That will keep me awake for at least a month! Now what do you need help with?" Daithi asked and Henrietta sat on the floor gathering her fluffy skirts around her lap.
"This is Azoom, he's been tasked with finding a kid who has been kidnapped by a Fairy," Henrietta said and Daithi rolled his eyes, turning back to the screen.
"Hundreds of kids get kidnapped by Fairies every year," shrugged Daithi. "Hardly any of them get returned."
Daithi clicked his fingers and the screens exploded with sparks as Milky's image vanished, replaced by the exterior of a shop.
"Well he's forcing me to help him," Henrietta said, glaring at Azoom.
"I'm not forcing you to do anything! I'm just gently persuading you by stealing your tooth," Azoom said with a charming smile and Daithi chuckled.
"Good job! Taking away something she cares about so she'll have to help you! I used to steal her dolls when I needed someone to do my food shop.. This was before the miracle of online shopping, " Daithi replied with a smirk.
"Instead of the running commentary, maybe you could help me figure out which Fairy took the kid?" Henrietta snapped back irritably. The last thing she needed was Azoom ruining her exam.
"I'll need something from the changeling to track it," Daithi remarked and Henrietta rolled her eyes.
"Luckily for you, Azoom found this," Henrietta said, taking the smooth stone out of her utility belt. In a matter of hours the stone had turned inky black, its surface glossy and cold.
"Changeling brain! And in pristine condition" Daithi said with an impressed twitch of his eyebrow. "Your dad could get around ten thousand dollars for this on the black market".
"Well I'll hand it over when we're done" Henrietta replied as Daithi used his tail to push his chair across the floor.
One of his dreads twisted and reached towards one of the monitors while another wrapped around the stone.
"I know I've been asking this a lot today but what on earth is that?" Azoom asked, gesturing towards the monitor
"I can't even begin to describe what a computer is to a person who has only ever seen a movie made in 1914" Henrietta sighed.
"I know what a computer is!" Azoom said. "The Jinn realms have had their own internet for over a decade….I I mean what on Earth is that?"
Henrietta realised he was pointing at a shadowy figure that had emerged on the iPad's screen.
"I'm accessing the Changeling's memories," Daithi merely said as the screen shimmered like liquid gold.
Slowly the gold dripped from the computer's surface, forming into a twisted shape.
"Is it supposed to be doing that?" Henrietta asked Daithi curiously, and he made a faint squealing sound.
"No, this is fascinating," Daithi whispered and suddenly the liquid gold solidified into the shape of a giant clawed hand swiping its long fingers at Daithi's chair.