I gave a little squeal of glee when the adult sporophyte fern uncoiled for me, and as moss grew along my skin, the cells of my body seemed to embrace it in response. For the first time since I’d arrived, I finally knew what it felt like to be a magical botanist and have an unspoken bond with the plants around me.
Professor Sage invited me to help cook dinner to redo the herb affinity test. I crafted one of the dinner recipes and created another healing tincture then watched with a nervous flutter in my stomach as Professor Sage tasted the meal I’d created.
His eyes flew open in delight, and he rolled his wheelchair closer to the counter for another taste. “Marvelous,”he breathed.
I chanced a tentative smile.
“A strong affinity for herbs, for sure. This is quite the turnaround.”
“I’m not sure why,” I admitted.
“Professor East will help you figure that out. He’s not in today, so you’ll have to do your defensive plants test tomorrow.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, remembering my hallucinations from before and not eager to be poisoned again. Today had been overwhelming enough without adding that into the mix.
“I look forward to seeing what all you cook up with us this year, Briar.” He packed away my soup and handed the travel pot to me. “Make sure your family gets a taste of this. They won’t soon forget it.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Be careful on the roads this week, Briar Rose. There’s supposed to be a big storm coming,” Aunt Vera said as she came into the house after closing the bakery. She shrugged off her knee-length puffer jacket and unwound the scarf from around her neck. Even the short outside walk from the bakery to our upstairs apartment was cold enough to require bundling up.
People didn’t tend to think of California as a cold state. But here, near the Sierra Nevada mountains and close to the border with Oregon, winters meant freezing temperatures and treacherous roads.
“I’ve got my snow tires on,” I said, ladling two bowls of the soup I’d made at Evergreen Academy that day. I still hadn’t tried it, and I was eager to see if either my aunt or I noticed anything out of the ordinary. I’d sliced up one of the fresh loaves from the bakery that was always in our bread box to go with it.
“And that’s good, but it’s the other drivers I’m worriedabout. You know how people can be on the highway when they don’t know how to drive in the snow and ice.”
“That’s true. I’ll be careful. I’m going up to the ski park with Maci this weekend. Hopefully, we get a powder day with the storms.”
We took a seat at the table together, one of the rare occasions we were both here at the same time to share an evening meal. These moments had become even fewer and further between now that I’d been spending so many evenings studying at Evergreen Academy.
I watched as my aunt took a spoonful of the soup, and her eyes widened. “Did you make this?”
“Yep, it’s a new recipe I tried at Evergreen.”
“Wow, it’s delicious. Is the recipe covered by that NDA? Because this would sell well at the bakery.”
I laughed. “Maybe.”
“Seriously, I had no idea they made food there. There’s a kitchen and everything?”
“Yep,” I said casually, and fortunately, she switched gears.
“Oh, I meant to tell you. I got a phone call from one of your professors. Professor East.”
My head snapped up from the soup I’d just been about to taste, and I slowly lowered the spoon. Why was Professor East calling my aunt?
“He said you’d been doing well at Evergreen Academy and was hoping to meet me at some point.”
I felt my eyebrows knit together but masked my concern by dipping a piece of bread into my soup and finally tasting it. An explosion of curry, cardamom, and more subtle spices melted in my mouth. Damn. This soupwasgood.
“He wants to meet you? Did he say why?”
“He left a message on my voicemail, so it was brief. I was planning to call back tomorrow.”
I racked my brain for what to do. There was only one reason I could think of that Professor East would want to meet my aunt.
He wanted to know if she was also a magical botanist. Apparently, my newfound affinity powers were getting attention.
