Small comfort, I thought, wondering how strong a storm could get before being classified as a hurricane. My hair began to swirl around my face, propelled by the wind that was now gusting through the atrium. I peeked at Professor Variegata out of the corner of my eye and saw that her hair lay perfectly still, and she didn’t seem to be squinting against the wind like I was.
She nodded, as if she’d seen enough, and returned to the control box. Within moments, the wind died down, and the full daylight returned. She signed my notebook once more then extended it back to me. “Well, Briar. It looks like you do not have any harvester affinity.”
I tried not to let the disappointment show on my face, but I felt my shoulders crumple slightly, and my gait was shallow as I followed her out of Mendel’s Atrium.
When we emerged in the central vein, the instructor and I went separate ways. Yasmin had said I would only be doing tests with Professor Tenella and Variegata today,so I wasn’t sure where I should be headed next. Should I go home? But then I remembered the library, and I strode purposefully to the stairs.
The library was even more breathtaking than I remembered. A few students lounged in hammocks or papasan chairs, some with books, others with plants. I tried to stroll in casually as I entered the room, hoping none of them found me out of the ordinary.
I turned my attention to the nearest bookcase, scanning the titles. The entire shelf seemed to be dedicated to plants local to the area. There were nature guides like you might see in any bookstore, but there were other tomes as well, which looked much older. I took one off the shelf, carried it to a nearby table, and opened it.
After a few minutes of paging through the book, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Each page contained botanical images and illustrations, but most of the writing was in Latin. There were lists of phrases next to scientific processes, such asAccelerated root growth.
I was getting ready to turn the page when I heard my name and looked up to see Yasmin.
“Hey! How did it go?”
I shook my head. “No affinities yet.”
“Well, that’s nothing to be worried about. A part of me always wished I had an affinity for florals just because they’re so pretty, but I’ve learned they’re really not the coolest plants. Mosses and ferns have way more going for them.”
I perked up a little at that. The idea of sharing an affinity with Yasmin was promising.
“So, tomorrow you’ll do your aquatic plant affinity testwith Dr. Lemna first. She can be a little… brisk, so just be prepared. It’s nothing personal.”
I swallowed. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
“I’m heading down to dinner. Want to join?”
We both pushed back our chairs from the table and stood.
“Thanks, but I’d better get home.” I wasn’t entirely sure why I turned down her offer. It wasn’t like I had a fancy dinner waiting at home. But the idea of eating the evening meal here, like I belonged, didn’t feel right. I wondered if it ever would.
“No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Oh, Yasmin, I have a question. Can you tell me what the Latin phrases in this book are for?”
Yasmin smiled. “Those are the phrases we use when we need to get our plants to do something. We call themFloracantus. But you might think of them as spells.”
Chapter Thirteen
Yasmin and I traveled to Evergreen Academy together after art the next day. As it turned out, she didn’t have a car and usually caught rides with other dual-enrolled students or with Professor East in his van.
Once we were at the academy, she directed me to the greenhouse by the pond for my aquatic plant affinity test with Professor Lemna. I breathed in the heady fragrance of the flowers as I passed through them toward the back of the academy.
A group of students were walking ahead of me, and I saw the flowers arch their stems toward them. Would I ever get used to seeing little signs of the affinity magic that the botanists here supposedly had?
The pond emerged into view, overflowing with flowering plants. A few ducks of various shapes and sizes floated across the glimmering surface of the water. As I drew closer, I recognized some of the plants from the summerswe’d spent at my grandmother’s cabin. The otherwise clear water was covered with water lilies, hyacinths, and hawthorns. Dragonflies flitted from plant to plant, their narrow bodies seeming to skim the water.
I itched to sketch the scene in my journal, but I wasn’t sure if Professor Lemna knew I was on my way, and I wanted to make a good impression on each of the instructors here. So I reluctantly turned away from the pond and walked toward the greenhouse at its edge. Like all the other buildings at Evergreen Academy, the glass shelter had plants creeping all over it.
The temperature felt a full five degrees warmer as I stepped inside and saw a small group of students tending to fruits, vegetables, and other plants. One of them—a tall student with dirt all over the front of his shirt—looked up at me. “Can we help you find something?”
“I’m here to see Professor Lemna.”
He nodded toward a far door. “She’s just through there.”
I thanked him and passed through the greenhouse to open the door he had indicated. My eyes widened at the sight before me. The room—an extension of the greenhouse—had a floor made entirely of glass. The clear material stretched out over a portion of the lake, so I had an unobscured view of the clear water and the fish and plants that were moving below the surface.
