“How so?” Wyatt asked. I could see the gears in his head turning as he strategized various scenarios.
“We’ve been thinking through ideas,” Callan said. “We could hold on to the book until they agree to our terms. Briar could create a Floracantus that could sway their hand somehow. We’re still deciding.”
Wyatt nodded, then he looked at me and tilted his head slightly. “What if we did something that changed the balance of power at the school? Something that would bury two weeds with one shovel.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
“What if you use the book to reset the verdant shield?” Wyatt’s voice was low, and his eyes never moved from my face.
“How would that even work?” I asked.
Callan glanced at me, and I could tell by his expression that the proposal had him intrigued.
“The verdant shield was set up with a Floracantus by the combined magic of each of the founders. If you could override that Floracantus with a new one—one you create—the founders’ descendants would no longer have such a grip on the academy.”
Callan turned to his brother. “How do you think the Board of Regents would react to that?”
“The verdant shield is the ultimate source of authority that founders’ descendants have always had over the school and the professors. Most of the board members are founders’ descendants. If they were taken out of the charging equation, things could shift around here and quickly. That would have ripple effects into the broader society. We would just be bloodlines then and not hoarders of power.”
I swallowed. The fact that Callan and Wyatt were willing to do something that reduced their own power in society had not escaped me. Both brothers turned to me as if asking a silent question.
“Itwouldsolve the problem of the current shield’s weakening that’s happened over time and accelerated with the poisoning last year. Do you really think it’s possible?” I asked. “The original Floracantus was established by nine founders all working together. It was an incredible show of magic. Even if we could figure out how to make a Floracantus, how could I muster up enough power to replace that?”
Callan touched a hand to my knee. “I’ve been telling you, local, you’re more powerful than you know. If you can figure out how to make the Floracantus, I believe you can do this.”
I nodded. If Callan believed it, I could too. I considered Wyatt’s suggestion, and the more I mulled it over, the more sense it made. But there were so many unknowns. We didn’t know how to interpret the riddle. We didn’t know how to make new Floracantus. And if we figured it out, we didn’t know how long it would take to make a Floracantus that could replace the one on the verdant shield. And if I managed to make it, how would I get access? Feathergrass had locked down admittance to the charging circle except for founders’ descendants on the solstices and equinoxes.
“Ifit were possible,” I said, “when would we do this? The board’s control over the academy is growing daily. And the spring equinox is my last charging date here as a student.”
“Then the spring equinox, it is,” Wyatt said.
I balked at him. “That’s only five weeks away.”
“Then I guess you’d better get to work solving that riddle.”
With that, Wyatt stood, and I knew there would be no changing his mind. We had set a date, and we had to find a way to make it happen.
“As for the book down there in the flower gardens…” Wyatt nodded toward the window. “I’ll have a word with Feathergrass. The DBI is officially classifying all information about where or how it was found. If he asks you about it, remind him of that.”
I nodded, glad to avoid an interrogation from Feathergrass.
“When will we hear from Professor East?” Callan asked.
“He’ll make himself known when the time is right. I’ll keep him apprised of important updates. For now, he’s busy working his contacts and trying to stop the land grabs from humans.”
“Tell him good luck,” I said.
If Professor East was working on the rest of the society while he couldn’t be with us, the Root and Vine Society could work on preserving the integrity of the academy in his absence.
Doubts about my powers whirled in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t help seeing the merit in the plan and being bolstered by the fact that both Rhodes brothers believed it could be done. If we could pull it off, it would be a miracle. And a miracle was exactly what Evergreen Academy needed.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
On an early March morning, a few weeks after the Floral Fete and all of Wyatt Rhodes’s many revelations to Callan and me, Feathergrass called the students and faculty of Evergreen Academy into the teahouse for an announcement.
The place was already half full of botanists playing Roots and Xylem, which had only grown in popularity since its introduction. Some of the tree affinities had created a tournament board on a thin tree ring they hung on the wall, and names were being crossed off one by one as they worked toward an overall winner.
“What do you think it’s about this time?” Coral asked.
