8 Breakfast in the Branches

CHAPTER 8

Breakfast in the Branches "Have you eaten?" asked Lucas. "Not yet," Clara said. "Good," said the prince. "Let's have breakfast in the new royal tree fort." Clara nodded excitedly. The two friends loved to spend time in the royal tree fort. They played games there and had secret conversations. They called it the new royal tree fort because Ruskin had burned down the first one. Now, after much training, Ruskin had better control over his fire breathing—and Lucas had a new tree fort.

The children went down into the kitchen and asked Cook to help them with their picnic. They packed blueberry muffins, butter, peaches, and two small glass containers of milk in a basket. He added cloth napkins and a butter knife. Then the children walked the well- worn path to the tree house. At the bottom of the tree, Lucas tied the basket to a pulley. He used the pulley to hoist things up and down from the tree house. Clara yanked the rope, and up went the basket. Then Lucas

climbed the wooden ladder nailed to the side of the trunk.

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Clara followed behind. As soon as she got to the top, she poured herself a glass of milk and hopped up on the table. The cook had prepared them a proper morning feast. "I had the craziest dream last night," Lucas said as he buttered a muffin. Clara placed a napkin in her lap. "What was it about?" she asked. "It was about the Mermaid Kingdom," he said. "And it seemed so real." "Just like when you fell overboard?" asked Clara with a slight smirk on her face. "Yes!" Lucas exclaimed. "Only this time I could breathe underwater! And I could see! And hear, too!"