“Has Professor East said anything about it? Offered any… support for managing dual enrollment?”
“He did set me up with the stipend for attending here so that I can quit my job. I dropped down from three days a week to one, but I don’t want to quitcompletely because—” I stopped then, not wanting to let Callan know that I wasn’t sure I was going to last the entire year here.
We emerged from the woods, and I headed in the direction of my car. Callan stayed in lockstep with me. “Do you make it a habit of escorting everyone to their cars after dark?”
“Just the ones with no affinity powers to protect them.”
My mouth fell open, and I quickly snapped it shut. So he knew about the results of my tests. “Protect me from what?”
“We’re on a magically enchanted campus, but these are still the woods at night. The enchantments only work on humans.”
I looked around us then, suddenly realizing how utterly dark it was and how thick the trees were. Cougars were known to roam these woods at night, but would they be inside the wall? “Well, thanks for the escort,” I said as we reached my car.
He nodded, and as I drove away and checked my rearview mirror, I thought I saw him watching. What I couldn’t understand was why.
Chapter Twenty-Six
During my Saturday work shift, I’d looked up hopefully each time the doorbell tinkled, wishing to see Alex. He’d alluded that he might stop by, but the closer it grew to noon, I realized that it had been more of a passing phrase than a commitment.
I spent Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday cranking out my SCC homework and flipping through theCompendium Floracantuswhen my aunt wasn’t around. Any time I came across a Floracantus that sounded interesting, I wrote it down.
There was one for sustaining a flower’s bloom for a long period of time, and I decided to try it out on one of the flowers on my aunt’s balcony. Her petunias were still blooming, but it wouldn’t be long before the colder weather caused them to die.
“Longum flore,” I whispered, even though my aunt wasn’t home. I did my best guess on the pronunciation. Nothing happened, and I wasn’t sure if I was even supposed to see anything visibly. The petunias didn’t move or change color ordo anything to indicate a magical botanical spell had been used on them. I made a mental note to try to observe if they bloomed longer this year then put theCompendium Floracantusaway for the night.
By the time Monday came around, I rolled from my SCC history class to math class with a yawn. I was starting to wish I had my Evergreen Academy classes in the morning instead of the afternoon just so I could have some of their magically enhanced coffees and teas.
Despite my tendency to wake up early, I required a dose of caffeine by midmorning. The caffeine from my cup of basic light roast barely seemed to be taking effect this morning, and the hard seat of my math chair felt like an assault on my senses.
“You look like you need one of these.” A far too familiar voice came from my left, and I looked up to see Callan sliding into the desk next to mine, his hand outstretched with a paper to-go cup stenciled with leaves.
I stifled a gasp but attempted to pull myself together quickly. “Callan, hi. Um, what are you doing here? Do you have a message from Evergreen?” I whispered the last question, taking a furtive look at my SCC classmates. Most were slumped in their chairs or nursing their coffees, trying to wake up for the early morning math class.
“You assume I’m here because of you? Maybe I need remedial math.” He nudged the cup onto my desk, and I wrapped my hands around it instinctively, inhaling the sweet scent of orange blossom tea.
I snorted. “Yeah, right.”
Callan turned toward me then, one elbow resting casuallyon the desk as he eyed my textbook. “If I’m going to tutor you, it’s easiest to know where you’re starting from.”
I flicked my gaze to his eyes, unable to continue feigning nonchalance. “What do you mean, you’re going to tutor me?”
“Professor East thinks we need to help you get up to speed in some of your math and science skills.”
I narrowed my eyes. On Friday night, Callan had asked if Professor East had offered me any support, and now, here he was, beingsentto tutor me. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
“And you volunteered for the job.” I said it flatly, but my brain was disbelieving. Callan was one of the busiest and most powerful students at Evergreen. He had founder duties that I didn’t even know about. I couldn’t imagine him having an abundance of time to tutor anyone, let alone me.
“Something like that.”
My mind swam, trying to imagine what this was going to be like. With all the ways Evergreen Academy had upended my world in the past few weeks, my time at Siskiyous Community College felt like a sea of normalcy. I was an average student at SCC. Sure, I wasn’t a star pupil in any class besides Art, but I wasn’t a lifetime behind in magical scientific plant studies either.
And now, my two worlds were colliding.
“I’m assuming I don’t get a say in this?”
Callan shrugged. “No one’s going to force you into tutoring. But if you want to stay at Evergreen, you’re going to need to keep up. Especially since you don’t have any affinities yet.”
I tried not to bristle. Did he really have to point out that we hadn’t been able to identify any affinities for me? And what didhe mean by “yet”? I swished my hair over my shoulder and turned my face toward the front of the classroom.
