Silence filled the room, and a smile pulled at the corner of Callan’s mouth.
Hollis quit playing with the fern he had been annoying Coral with and turned his full attention to me.
“What do you mean?” Yasmin asked.
“The founders used a Floracantus to put the shield in place, including stipulations that only founders’ descendants could recharge the shield. What if we were able to change that?”
“You really think you can create a Floracantus to reset the verdant shield?” Ravenna asked. “Isn’t that going to be much harder than making petals glow?”
“I’m going to practice and work on harder manipulations, but I have to believe it can be done. Wyatt—Callan’s brother—was the one who suggested it. He thinks it’s possible, and he’s pretty well acquainted with the verdant shield. We’ll need to do more research on how the shield was set up. That book Meadow stole for her Root and Vine initiation might have some information. We can’t guarantee this will work, but we need to try. Part of what the society is doing that we disagree with is consolidating power into the hands of founders’ descendants. If we can remind them of why Evergreen Academy was created in the first place—to be somewhere forallmagical botanists to study together, then maybe we can turn things around.”
“It’s a bold plan,” Hollis said. “I like it.”
Meadow nodded. “I’ve been reading the book about the founders. It’s proving to be pretty illuminating. The shield design was initiated by Douglas Vitalis, Callan’s ancestor.” She nodded toward Callan. “And it was put in place by all of them, using a protective Floracantus from theCompendiumFloracantus. The mechanism that made it so only founders could recharge it was implemented by the defensives founder, Jean-Claudia Callahan. The poison from her magic was what Briar experienced when she tried to help charge the shield last year.”
“So are we all going to need to help reset the shield?” Heath asked.
“According to the book, it was a time-consuming process for the founders to all merge their magical abilities like that,” Meadow said. “There’s no guarantee we will get that much uninterrupted time. And none of the founders had all the lead affinity powers like Briar does. Theoretically, she should be able to do it all herself. Especially if she’s using a similar but new Floracantus of her own creation.”
A few nods came from around the group, but I could tell some of them wouldn’t be fully convinced until we successfully pulled it off. I couldn’t blame them, because I felt the same way.
“Do you have a plan for how to get to the charging ring? Feathergrass still has it locked down,” Hollis said.
“Not yet. We’ll have to get creative in figuring out how to distract him.”
Playfulness lit up Hollis’s eyes when he nodded in approval at my response.
“And we’ll have to do it quickly, since the vernal equinox is just around the corner,” Callan said, stepping forward and effectively calling the meeting to a close.
After a few more side conversations, the members of the Root and Vine Society left the cave in waves, heading off in different directions. We didn’t need other students tracking usdown and reporting what we were doing so they would get to use the Dandelion of Desire.
When just Callan and I remained, I stared at the lily of the valley flowers, which were still glowing in the cave from my Floracantus.
We were one step closer. We had solved the riddle. I could make new Floracantus. Wyatt’s plan was out in the open, and our friends were on board.
When I turned to Callan, he was studying me.
“Do you really think we can pull this off?” I asked, voicing the concerns I hadn’t wanted to express in front of the others. “What if I can’t figure out how to make the right Floracantus to replace the current one?”
“I know you can, and youwill.” Callan took my hand. “We’re going to figure out how to make a Floracantus to reset the verdant shield, then on the vernal equinox, the Board of Regents is going to find outexactlyhow powerful you are.”
I nodded at him in response, the cave seeming to clear of everything else as we looked at each other. I had a newfound power, one that had been lost—at least in my family—for generations. And I was going to do whatever it took to use it to help save Evergreen Academy.
Chapter Forty-Five
“Capture the Roses is going to operate a little differently this year.” Feathergrass stretched his arms wide, as if he were an orchestra conductor.
The students and faculty of Evergreen Academy were gathered at the edge of the flower gardens, preparing for the annual Capture the Roses competition. I thought back to the previous year, when I had been put on Callan’s team. With Callan and Eli as co-team captains, we had secured a victory.
“To allow you all to stretch your skills to the best of your abilities, there will no longer be only two teams. Instead, there will be eight,” Feathergrass continued.
I listened carefully, though I was pretty sure I knew where he was going.
“Each affinity group will have its own team. Team captains have been pre-selected by your instructors. The team that can hold on to its rose for the longest will earn twenty points. Claiming the roses of other teams earns you ten points each.The group with the most points at the end gets a special prize.”
His designation of eight teams instead of nine felt like a subtle insult. I was the only defensive affinity student at the academy, and as far as most people knew, I didn’t have access to my powers, making me effectively useless in the game.
“What kind of prize?” The question came from a student by the snapdragons, the bright blooms of which came up to our shoulders and extended around the floral affinities, nearly caressing them.
