I snorted. “All right, then. Sneak me out of here so Hollis can maintain his dignity and put his shirt back on.”
“With pleasure.” Callan pushed out of the apothecary room where I’d been recovering and—faster than I could have imagined—we were outside, darkness falling over us.
Callan settled me in the front seat of his truck so delicately that I might have been a newborn. I couldn’t melt over the attention too long, though. The fever was making it hard to focus on much of anything.
“Let’s get you off campus,” Callan said, shifting the truck into drive. Once we were through the gate, he pulled to a stop. “Okay, Briar. You have access to your powers again. Can you try to counteract some of the poison?”
I pushed myself to sit up straighter and let out a soft moan.
“Here, take this. I think you’re ready for a second dose of the brain fog reducer.” He held out a glass vial, and his face wasso distressed that I took it and swallowed it in full, even though the idea of drinking anything sent my stomach turning.
As soon as his concoction kicked in, the fever reduced slightly, and I took a deep, calming breath and imagined I was at the cabin on Mt. Shasta with Petra, developing counterpoisons and working on unlocking my powers. I searched through my body for the source of the poison and wrapped my powers around it. As I sliced through it, I let out a gasp, feeling its powers snap.
I sagged against the truck seat, devoid of energy.
“Briar.” Callan’s warm voice was reassuring. “Did it work? How do you feel?”
I nodded. “I think so. I don’t feel the effects of the poison anymore. I just feel… tired.”
“Here.” He was opening the bag from Professor Sage. “These are going to have extremely high levels of nourishment. Get some of that in you and see how you feel.”
I followed his instructions, remembering that in less than an hour, I had a flight to catch.
I ate while we drove, and twenty minutes later, we were nearing the Weed airport, with me checking my backpack for the tenth time, ensuring that the quill compass was safely within it.
“Professor Sage is a miracle worker,” I said. The food had perked me up within minutes. While I still wasn’t at full strength, I didn’t feel like I had been poisoned in the past hour either. “And so are you. That brain fog reducer worked like a charm.”
Callan reached over and ran the back of his hand from myforehead down the side of my face. “Fever’s gone. Your color’s back. Everything looks good.”
“Are you calling me pretty?” I teased.
A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. “Always.”
Warmth kindled in my stomach. “I wish you could come with me.”
Callan took my hand and squeezed it. “Say the word, and I will.”
I shook my head reluctantly. “I still think this is the safest plan.”
We kept our hands entwined as Callan took the exit to the tiny, one-runway airport, savoring our last bit of time together. We had sworn off kissing and publicly dating for the time being, but neither of us could resist each other’s hands when no one else was around.
When we arrived at the airport, Nalin was already waiting.
I recalled my first nervous flight in the four-seater plane to the moss and tree conservatories. “Nalin’s a qualified pilot, right?”
“I wouldn’t be sending you with him if he wasn’t. We’ve trained together a bunch over the years. He is a top-tier pilot. And I came out and checked the plane this morning. Everything is good to go.”
Callan’s reassurance calmed my nerves—mostly. “Make some good trouble while we’re gone?” I asked.
Callan’s lips pulled up at one corner. “You know we will. If Feathergrass is busy with us, he won’t think to check up on how you’re convalescing. One last thing.” Callan reached into his pocket and removed a large leaf that was rolled and tied with a piece of twine.
“What’s that?”
“It’s from a fiddle-leaf fig. I’ve enchanted it for communication.”
I stared at the leaf. “Don’t tell me the leaf is going to start talking to me.”
Callan laughed. “I’m not aware of any Floracantus that can make a leaf do that. We can write messages to each other on it, though. Whatever I scrawl onto the matching leaf on my end will appear on your leaf and vice versa. Cell service is nonexistent at the aquatics conservatory, so we can use this to keep in touch.”
