Well, Iwasn’tfamous for it. I had never interacted with sandhill rosemary, but there was a first time for everything. Everyone kept telling me how powerful I was, and I was going to put that to the test.
I reached out and connected with the grasses, tugging on their tissues. At my whispered words, their progression slowed.Soon, they were reversing course, shrinking inward until they surrounded Feathergrass.
His eyes wide, he cast his gaze around the group until it landed on me. “You don’t want to cross me, Briar. You could be a powerful ally to the grasses.”
“I might be a powerful ally to the grasses.” I nodded toward where some of the grass affinity students were gathered, watching what Feathergrass was doing in obvious shock. “But I will never be an ally to you.”
I pushed the sandhill rosemary closer around his ankles, and frustration flickered across his face as he struggled to combat my magic.
His eyes narrowed, and he raised a hand.
Before I could react, vines snaked from the forest and wrapped around Feathergrass’s hands, twisting them behind his back in living handcuffs. I recognized that move and cast a glance at Callan, who was concentrating on the former board member.
“That was a quick reaction,” I whispered.
“I could sense what Floracantus he was about to use, and it wasn’t a nice one.”
Right. His power-sensing abilities, the ones theorized to be connected to his wind-manipulating powers.
Feathergrass turned to Callan, obviously realizing where the vines had come from. “Not siding with your own mother? What a disappointment you must be.”
Anger welled up inside me then, and my fingers dug into my palms. I rarely experienced the face-flushing emotion that was coursing through me.
“The only disappointment is you, Feathergrass,” I called. “Claiming to be a leader in our society while simultaneously undermining everything we stand for.” As I said the words, the soil around Feathergrass began to loosen, dropping him lower into the ground centimeter by centimeter.
He tried to free himself from his handcuffs, but Callan’s spell was strong, and I was fast. I connected with the vines that Callan had already moved into place and slid them around the rest of his body, wrapping Feathergrass up like a cocooned butterfly. I stopped the vines just below his neck. “Looks like you’re out of your depth.”
Feathergrass grimaced, looking at the crowd, clearly embarrassed that there was an audience for what was happening to him. Twisting within the vines, he turned to Professor East once more. “Letting the students do the dirty work for you? I expected better.”
“Weren’t you the one advocating for more powerful use of force from botanists just a few moments ago?” Professor East asked, his voice calm, as if he were giving a lecture on pollinator and plant relationships. “Since you insist on not leaving peacefully, I feel compelled to warn you that you are surrounded by botanists with extra-affinity powers.”
Chapter Sixty-Four
Icocked my head to the side, wondering what Professor East was implying. Whispers reverberated through the gathered botanists.
“Which extra-affinity powers?” Feathergrass asked, still squirming slightly within the bounds of the vines that held him in place.
“A wind manipulator.” Professor East nodded toward Callan.
“A soil manipulator.” He nodded at me.
“A water bender.”
At those words, Kai stepped forward, a ball of water forming in his hands. Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
“And a light bender,” Professor East said.
Confusion rippled through me.A light bender?I hadn’t heard of that extra-affinity power yet.
Feathergrass’s eyes were wide as he cast his gaze betweenCallan, Kai, and me. He asked the question that was running through my head. “Who is the light bender?”
With a soft glimmer, Professor East disappeared from where he stood then emerged a few moments later standing right next to Feathergrass.
My mind was swirling, barely able to believe my eyes. Professor East was a light bender? He could make himselfinvisible? I was reminded of how Kai had made us invisible in the water at the aquatics conservatory.
“I believe you’ve wondered, quite vocally at times, how I got this job over you, Feathergrass,” Professor East said to the startled man. “But not everyone chooses to show off all their powers. This one was known to very few until recently, but I think the time has come to remind you—and other members of the Board of Regents—that it isn’t just founders’ descendants who have power. Of the four of us with extra-affinity powers here, only one is a founders’ descendant. The board should think carefully about choosing to create class systems within our society—and especially within our schools and conservatories—going forward.”
The walking palm inched closer, forcing Feathergrass to shuffle backward a few feet, the vines moving with him.
