He silenced me with a touch of warm air to my lips. “I know. You want to share this knowledge with everyone. And you will. But the truth is the rest of us can’t create new Floracantus. Only a person with all the lead affinity powers can do that. Which means the Floracantus you choose to make—if any—are yours to decide. Yours to discover.”
Discover.I liked that word much better thandecide. I had been making too many decisions lately. “Thanks for the warning,” I said, though I was grateful for how he seemed to read my every concern.
“Don’t worry. I’m not leaving you high and dry. But remember to trust yourself. Everyone else already does.”
“Are there any scouting vines in here?” I whispered, though I knew the answer. The Root and Vine Society wouldn’t be meeting in the Evergreen Conservatory if it weren’t thoroughly cleared of the little plant spies. I took a step closer.
“You’re killing me, local,” Callan whispered back, our faces only inches apart.
My breath caught in my chest, and all I could do was watch those long, dark eyelashes as he studied me, a slight smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. I knew what he meant. We had both agreed—reluctantly on my part—to keep our romantic distance until the showdown with the Board of Regents was over. But the problems within the society of magical botanists only seemed to be getting more complex, not simpler.How long will we have to wait?
At that moment, a trio of fireflies dove from the ceiling, whizzing right through the tiny space between our faces.
I jumped backward. “I think we have chaperones,” I said, laughing.
Callan smiled, but I caught a flash of longing in his eyes before he cleared his throat and nodded toward the pool of water that would take us out of the cave. “After you.”
Chapter Thirty-One
When I went to the teahouse the next morning, some kind of tournament was in motion. The sun from the giant glass walls cast soft morning light upon several pairs of students who sat across from each other at the tables. Each set of students had a square dish between them, filled with soil and two opposing plants.
“What’s going on?” I asked Yasmin as I brewed a cup of strong coffee.
Yasmin had been watching our classmates, and she smiled. “They’re playing Roots and Xylem. I think humans have a version called Shoots and Climbers?”
“Ladders,” I said, letting out a soft laugh.
“Most magical botanists play it as kids. The goal is to get your plant all the way through the soil and across the dish. But dice rolls allow each player to do different offensive or defensive Floracantus, which can set your plant back.”
“Sounds fun. Do you know who started it?”
“Apparently, it was Hollis. All that talk of us working together and showing the affinities are united must have inspired him. I guess nothing does that better than a game we all have a nostalgic attachment to. They upped the stakes with the rules a bit, though, and there have been some nail-biters. I heard some people stayed up all night playing.”
I took a sip of my coffee and watched as a first-year harvester student rolled her tomato seedling around an herb affinity’s bush of oregano. “Are you going to play?”
“I’m sure I’ll get in on the action at some point,” Yasmin said, her eyes bright. “You want to sit and watch a round?”
I shook my head. “Maybe later. I want to get some sketching in before class.” I patted my bag, where my art materials were stashed.
“Have fun,” Yasmin said, moving back toward the Roots and Xylem game stations.
I was glad the other students had found an outlet from the tension surrounding Feathergrass’s presence at the school, which was floating around the academy like pollen on a windy day. But my mind couldn’t stop working on the problems in front of us and the puzzle my ancestor had created. Callan’s words from the night before played in my mind as I walked to the gazebos.Which means the Floracantus you choose to make—if any—are yours to decide. Yours to discover.
I wondered how da Vinci and the other Renaissance botanists determined what Floracantus to make. They had created an entire book full of them. Was there a method, or did they do whatever came to mind when working with a particular plant? The best way to connect with my ancestor might be tolean into my favorite hobby, one that seemed to run in the family.
I settled into a hammock hanging between two trees near the pond and let my mind wander, getting lost in the movement of the pencil across the page. I must have been subconsciously connecting with the vines in the trees as I worked because I felt a tickle as a tendril of ivy snaked around my shoulder.
“Oops,” I said, straightening and looking around. Thankfully, the area was clear of other botanists, but I would have to be more careful. Aside from Callan, only the members of the Root and Vine Society knew I had my powers back. I wasn’t used to being able to access them on campus, and it was a secret I needed to keep for the moment. Apparently, the plants had other plans. I carefully lifted the ivy from my shoulder and reattached it to the tree.
After finishing a sketch, I reached into my bag, retrieved one of da Vinci’s notebooks, and spent some time imitating his style. As I worked, and scribbles turned into full-fledged art, I reflected on the fact that drawing was creating.Is that how he eventually got the idea to make Floracantus?It was all so long ago, the history so secretive and lost to time, that we would probably never know. Too bad there wasn’t a long-lost library full of references to the Renaissance botanists somewhere.
I sat bolt upright, the hammock rocking underneath me.
“I can’t believe that slipped my mind,” I said, hurriedly collecting my items and racing back to my room. When we had traveled to the tree conservatory a few weeks ago, I stopped in one of the tree library hollows and stealthily borrowed a book.
With all the drama that had followed, including Callan almost getting caught by his brother, Wyatt, me stealing thequill, seeing Alex, Wyatt coming to the academy and our giving him a dummy quill, Professor East getting kicked out of the academy, meeting Oren on the Wildflower Trail and unblocking the quill, traveling to Florida to both the aquatics and defensives conservatories, then finding theVanished Compendiumand having a new riddle to solve… I had forgotten that I was adoublethief at the tree conservatory.
I breezed into my dorm, my heart racing as I hastily sought the travel backpack I had brought to the tree conservatory. After removing the quill on our return, I had cast the backpack into my closet and hadn’t thought about it since. I yanked it open and pulled out the contraband book.
