“Sooo,” Hollis said, flopping onto a smooth boulder as if it were a pool chair. “Heard you have some big news for us, B. In addition to getting access to your powers back.”
A few cheers went up around the room, and I did a little pose and smiled to show my gratitude.
“I did regain access to my powers. For now, that’s a secret just for this group. But the biggest news is about the book. You’ve probably all heard by now that I found theVanished Compendium. I can’t say where, exactly, but it was hidden in Florida, near the aquatics conservatory.”
Petra hadn’t needed to remind me that the location of the defensives conservatory was secret from all nondefensives and that, even though the conservatory moved around, I wasn’t to share its current location with anyone unless strictly necessary.
The eyes of every member of the Root and Vine Society, plus Yasmin, Coral, and Aurielle—our newest informal recruits—were plastered to me.
I took a breath and continued. “The book seems to be a sequence of riddles created by the Renaissance botanists who authored it. There is a theory that the riddles contain the instructions for creating new Floracantus.”
Everyone stilled. They had known I found the book, but that was new information.
“So it wasn’t filled with ready-made Floracantus, like theCompendium Floracantus?” Laurus, the herbs affinity botanist, asked.
“It wasn’t. Which came as a big surprise, obviously.”
“You really think there’s a way to make new Floracantus?” Meadow asked.
“It’s never been done in recent times,” Callan said. “But the botanists who created theCompendium Floracantusobviously had a method for doing so. It seems plausible that these riddles could contain instructions for this process.”
“We think that each botanist had their own recipe for making Floracantus. It was likely that only their family line could use the method, which is why making new Floracantus eventually ceased when the Renaissance botanists tied up their magic in their journals. Over time, they had fewer and fewer descendants with access to their magic, and the book of instructionswas well hidden. Which means we need everyone’s help to decipher the riddle that was created by my ancestor, Leonardo da Vinci. I don’t want to share the book publicly until we figure that out.”
“That’s the plan, then? Share the book publicly?” Kaito asked.
“I think that’s what our community deserves, but we can vote on it.” I searched the room and, one by one, each person nodded.
Callan stepped forward. “For security purposes, we won’t be sharing printed copies of da Vinci’s riddle—the one we need to solve for Briar to use—but it’s short. I expect you all can memorize it, if you’ve ever survived one of Dr. Lemna’s tests.”
A ripple of laughter relieved some of the tense excitement filling the cave.
Callan nodded to me, and I recited the riddle a few times, until everyone confirmed they had it memorized.
“In regard to the other riddles in the book, written by other Renaissance botanists, if you ever want access to any of them, please let me know,” I said, wanting my friends to have all the information. I planned to share the Cesalpin riddle with Oren as soon as I had a chance to visit his tree house above the Wildflower Trail.
Kaito spoke up first. “We appreciate it, but we think your plan to focus on da Vinci’s riddle is a good one. The others aren’t useful to us without someone who can use them.”
Murmurs of agreement spread through the cave.
Meadow peeled a piece of moss from the back of her hand and tossed it in my direction. I caught it and set it on my wrist,where it immediately formed a delicate bracelet. “So, B, what’s the first Floracantus you’re going to create when we crack this riddle?”
I played with the moss on my wrist, unsure of the answer. “I hadn’t thought about that. I’m focused on figuring out if this book is even what we think it is.”
“Well, start thinking. I’m picturing one that moves all the pollen from the flower gardens into Feathergrass’s hair, dying it yellow.” Meadow smirked, and our friends laughed.
The conversation popcorned around the room, each person sharing something they thought I should do to Feathergrass to drive him out of the academy.
When we’d shared enough potential antics, Callan spoke again. “All good ideas, but in the meantime, we have our own sabotage to do that doesn’t involve new Floracantus.”
Hollis rubbed his hands together and leaned forward. “Put me in, coach.”
“We want to avoid trouble, so don’t do anything that can lead directly back to you. But get with your affinity group friends and get creative. We need Feathergrass to know that we’re united if he decides to do anything big against the academy.”
As the other members of the Root and Vine Society left the cave, they were all brainstorming ideas. Callan hung back, so I did too. When we were alone, after Hollis shot a wink over his shoulder at us, Callan spoke.
“What Meadow said about the first Floracantus you create, then everyone sharing their ideas after… I just wanted to remind you that this power is yours.”
“I—”
