“We’ll drop the bags here. Put your phones and anything else valuable in there.” She paused at a glass window and slid it open, then typed a few numbers onto the screen, set our bags on the platform, closed the glass window, and pressed a button.
I startled as our bags disappeared into a chute below the window.
Nevah continued down the hall then exited the back door. Outside, we walked down a path along a swampy shore.
“Should I be concerned about alligators around here?” I asked, squinting at the dark water and keeping my feet clear of it.
“Nope. We planted an engineered species of seagrasses they don’t like. Evergreen Academy’s new director actually had a hand in its creation,” Nevah said, continuing to guide us near the water’s edge.
“Feathergrass?” I asked.
“Yep. I believe he patented the gene he edited.”
“For a second there, I thought we had discovered his one redeeming feature,” Nalin said.
“Why would he patent it? Don’t all magical botanists have access to it?” I asked.
“For now,” Nevah replied. “But eventually, when the human scientific market begins to catch up, he will release it there. Everyone in Florida will use it for natural gator defense on their property. He’ll be rich.”
“If he isn’t already,” Nalin quipped.
“True. Okay, this is where we get in,” Nevah stopped by the edge of the water.
“In?” I looked around, confused. The only building nearby was the one we had just left, and we were well over a hundred feet away. There were no boats in sight either.
“The water, B.” Nevah smiled and elbowed me. “Didn’t forget how to swim, did you?”
“We’re swimming?” I asked, dropping my gaze to the water, which was nearly black except for the reflections of moonlight bouncing across its surface.
“It’s the aquatics conservatory. How else did you think we would get there?”
Chapter Seventeen
Ibreathed underwater and kicked my legs with ease, feeling as if I had a snorkeling mask and fins on. Even though I was wearing clothes, the water slid right over me, and I sliced effortlessly through it. Swimming with an aquatic affinity was always a life-changing experience, yet my few swims in rivers and lakes couldn’t compare. We were in theocean.
Nevah led us through a tunnel made of the woody prop roots of the mangrove trees that sank into the soil beneath us. I gracefully moved my arms through the salty water to keep up with her.
After a few moments, she paused and pointed to her right. When I followed her finger, I saw a school of gray-and-yellow fish flitting around a tree’s widespread roots.
Nevah continued to point out plant and animal life as we swam for about half a mile in the dark, shallow water, Nalin occasionally darting off to swim with the fish, then she turnedand touched my arm. She pointed ahead, and I saw the mangrove root tunnel was narrowing and angling down.
I took it as a sign to stay with her then followed her into the tighter space. We swam for only thirty seconds before Nevah veered upward, me right on her heels.
A tightening sensation came over me, and I could feel access to my powers cut off, instantly dissolving the connection to the aquatic plants I had been experiencing. Just like at Evergreen Academy and the tree and moss conservatories, I wouldn’t be able to use my magic there thanks to the founders’ curse. I refocused on Nevah, and moments later, we popped our heads out of a shallow pool.
I gasped at the sudden influx of air then pushed my hair out of my face, taking in the sight around me. “By the ferns,” I murmured.
“No fern affinity expressions here, B. Welcome to the aquatics conservatory.”
She helped me out of the pool of water, and Nalin emerged a few moments later, a grin splashed across his face. We were in a large glass dome, the ocean on the other side of it.
“We’re underwater?” I was so surprised that my eyes must have been nearly as large as the dome. We had been swimming, but I imagined we would emerge on a barrier island. Instead, we were on the ocean floor, the sea a pool of life above us.
“Yep. The whole conservatory is down here, except for a few research outposts.”
“And this is where youlive?”
Nevah smiled. “Pretty swell, right?”
