Serenis

Chapter 22

We walked across the lawn towards the lab building but from the outside it looked more like a nursery. Large glass windows acted as walls and through them, all you could see was a carpet of green plants. The front doors were like the library's thick wooden doors only these ones had huge glass panels in the middle so you could see inside. I stepped through into the large foyer, the air was moist and I regretted wearing jeans as they began clinging to my legs with the humidity.  

The floor was a beautiful polished wood and creaked lightly under my feet as I turned around taking in the open space. The walls were painted in a shade of off-white, the high ceilings were framed with beautiful solid beams running across them and at the very top of the roof was a large glass dome allowing natural sunlight to filter through. It was the kind of room that made you feel as though you were standing in the middle of a magical rainforest.  

Tobias ushered me through the open door into the main lab area which was nothing like the name suggested. I assumed it would have been like my ninth grade science room with benches, test tube holders and Bunsen burners but as I looked around there were no tables at all, just many different types of trees and roughly laid out paths winding between them. 

'Follow me, we're nearly there.' Tobias headed off down the concrete path directly in front of me and disappeared behind a large fern tree.  

I quickly picked up my pace and followed him trying not to get lost in the man-made forest. I continued along the path until I reached the end and came to a large round area with two rows of the familiar looking science tables. I walked forward and sat down at the desk which had four small pot plants sitting on it all in different stages of life. To my right was a large whiteboard and next to that were low set wooden shelves filled with numerous chemistry and biology books scattered in no particular order, the next set of shelves had test tubes and large eye droppers and the third set was the most interesting of the three with what seemed to be dozens of glass bottles both big and small, filled with different color liquids, herbs and powders. 

'I'll just be a minute, make yourself at home. There's a water cooler in the corner if you're thirsty.' Tobias' voice came blaring through the trees behind me.  

I assumed there was another science lab along a different path but I had no desire to move from the high stool I was now sitting on. As I looked at the four plants in front of me wondering if I was in for a photosynthesis lesson, a beautiful black butterfly fluttered down and landed on my arm. I looked up at the glass roof to see hundreds more beautiful colored butterflies fluttering above my head, some of them occasionally dipping low enough to float past my face but they then would quickly retreat back to the safety and warmth of the glass. 

Tobias walked through holding another four plants, only these ones were flowers; miniature roses to be exact, which were, like the ones currently in front of me, in different stages of life. 'Don't mind the butterflies; they won't hurt you; not like the Pickerys who will bite you if you get too close.'  

'What is this place? I feel like I'm sitting in a glass house.' 

Tobias put the roses in front of me; perfectly lining them up before rubbing the moisture away from his glasses. 'That's because young Evie, you are in a glass house. This is one of the greatest achievements that Serenis has helped to create, in my opinion anyway. It is what we call the lab but in reality it's a flora hospital.' 

'A flora hospital?' 

Tobias walked around and sat beside me, lightly shooing the butterfly from my arm. 'Off you go Lesley, we have much work to do, thank you. Yes, this is part of what we do here in our plight to help living things. I have been working in the flora hospital for nearly 29 years now, learning how to interact with plants and more importantly teaching young nature Supers how to talk to and listen to the different types of trees. Like humans, different trees communicate in different ways, kind of like accents or languages they can sound rather different. My job is to establish how to get through to them and also work out their genealogy to assist in helping them grow and fight off any man-made poisons including pollution.'