Page 16 of Evergreen Academy (Society of Magical Botanists #1)

Chapter Fifteen

“ L et’s get dinner. You look like you could use some food.” Callan reached out a hand to help me up from the ground, and I took a deep breath, trying to tell myself I hadn’t just had a near-death experience. I also wondered if I should be offended by his statement.

I glanced down at my clothes and immediately wished I hadn’t. My jeans and T-shirt were crumpled and crisscrossed with dirt.

I decided to change the subject and flip it back to him as I wiped some of the dirt off my jeans. He’d probably breezed through every test even if he didn’t have the affinity. I realized then that I didn’t know which affinities Callan did or didn’t have, aside from the trees.

“Which affinities did you have when you tested? I’m guessing trees, but do you have others?”

Callan looked away, and I wondered if I’d been overstepping to ask. Were these the types of things that magical botanists considered to be personal?

I hurried to cover my faux pas—if I’d committed one. “You don’t have to tell me. I think I’m just looking to make myself feel better, since I haven’t passed any yet.”

“There are still a few tests left.” Callan hoisted open a door to the side of the academy building, and I noticed that he hadn’t answered my question. Still, I was glad that he was acting less frosty than he had when he’d escorted me onto the academy grounds the first day.

Callan led me to another massive glassed-in room where students were piling thin wooden plates with loaded salads, steaming pasta and vegetable dishes, and plump fruits that looked like they were from a Greek painting.

Several students were bustling back and forth from the serving table to the kitchen, slicing the food and replenishing the supply.

Callan saw me eyeing them. “Harvester affinities. Or those on Kitchen Botany rotation. You’ll get a taste of that in the winter.”

I briefly wondered how he knew my schedule. Yasmin popped up at my side then, her long, dark ponytail swishing around her shoulders. “If you’re ever here for breakfast, they make the most incredible smoothies, super-fruit bowls, and loaded oatmeal.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“Hey, Ortega,” Callan said. “I’ll leave you two to it.” He gave me a quick nod then went to join some of the students I recognized from the leaf-collecting activities.

“Tree affinities,” Yasmin said with a sigh.

“They always take their food and run.” She let her eyes drift out the massive glass windows, where the sun was beginning to set.

“They eat up in the tree houses most of the time. That was so weird to hear my last name from him. I didn’t even realize that Rhodes knew who I was.

By the way”—she looked at a delicate watch on her wrist that had a tiny fern engraved into the plate—“do you need to get home at a certain time? I know you left before dinner yesterday.”

I blinked at her words. She was correct.

Yesterday, it hadn’t felt right to be eating dinner with the other magical botanists, but this evening, as I’d walked back from the tree houses with Callan, the idea of eating here had felt completely natural.

Could my comfort here really have changed that quickly, even without having identified any affinity powers yet?

We loaded our plates with food that was more perfect than any I had seen before.

The leaves of my salad greens were more vibrant than usual, with a variety of berry and nut toppings that added crunch and color.

There was homemade bread to eat with cheeses or eggs that were bursting with flavor and a fruit salad containing some fruits I had never tried.

“Where does all this food come from?” I asked Yasmin as we took a seat in the courtyard.

I studied our surroundings as Yasmin took a bite of her salad.

The white stone tables were in the style of something you might see in an ancient European courtyard, and trellises with grapes and other vines provided shade overhead.

“The majority of it is grown here. There are some nearby farms that we pick up weekly orders from for the dairy and meats. We don’t keep livestock on campus, so only plant-based foods come from here.

Which is honestly most of our diet. There’s the fruits and vegetables, of course, but we have wild grains, corn, oats, rice.

With the affinity powers of the students who tend them, we don’t need to take up the normal amounts of space to grow a large quantity of those.

Plus, everything has magically enhanced nutrients, so we don’t need to eat as much of those types of items.”

“That’s incredible,” I said after tasting the first few bites of my salad while Yasmin spoke.

I wasn’t sure if my praise was more for the flavor of the food or the wonder of the abilities of the other students here.

My brain clicked on something then, and I paused eating.

“I saw that Perennial Farms is connected to campus. Is that part of Evergreen Academy?”

She gave me a strange look. “Yes, though that’s not widely known. How’d you find out about it?”

“Online research. I saw their parcels are right next to each other.”

“Got it. Yeah, Perennial Farms has a booth at the local farmers’ market.

We have to sell our blandest, non-enhanced stuff there, since they might be suspicious of why our food is so much more flavorful, but it’s still more nutrient dense than most of what they’re getting.

We have some devoted fans who order seasonal boxes from us every week. ”

“Does that help cover the cost of running this place and the stipends we get for attending?”

Yasmin nodded. “Plus, we have magical botanists in high places. Most of the academy’s operations are donor funded.”

I thought about the high-tech lab equipment I’d spotted in some of the rooms, more fitting for a PhD-granting university than a small college. But nothing about Evergreen Academy was normal, and having access to industry-leading technologies should not have come as a surprise .

Yasmin pulled a piece of paper out of her bag.

“Professor East told me your schedule, so I made a little table for when you officially start classes next week. It can get complicated when you’re dual enrolled.

It’s a good thing all your SCC classes are in the morning.

Hopefully, you can get a similar setup next semester. ”

I looked over the schedule she handed me. She had neatly categorized my SCC and Evergreen Academy classes into Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday columns. Friday simply listed Affinity Studies.

“Wow, this is great. Thanks.” I studied the names of my Evergreen Academy classes again, and nerves seized my stomach. With all the affinity testing, I’d nearly forgotten that I would be attending classes soon. “I’m already a month behind, though.”

“It might be a little challenging at first, but you’ll be fine. These aren’t like traditional college classes, with tests and all that. Yes, we need to learn everything, but I think you’ll find that it’s kind of fun because it’s so applied.”

Her words echoed what Professor East had told me about achievement at Evergreen and that there were no grades. I tried to relax, but that blend of excitement and nerves that had been my constant companion since finding out about Evergreen Academy still kicked in my stomach.

I tucked the schedule into my bag and couldn’t help thinking that Yasmin reminded me a lot of Maci. They were both so organized, not only for themselves but for me.

“Thank you again for this, Yasmin. I don’t know what I would do here without you.”

“It’s my pleasure. I’ve always wanted to mentor someone, and you’re super great to work with, so honestly, you’re doing me a favor.”

Just then, two other girls came and sat beside us. “B, this is Coral and Aurielle. They’re both first years with fern affinities, so they’ll be in your classes as well as your Friday Affinity Studies, if you end up having a lead fern affinity.”

Coral, her dark-brown skin smooth as silk, waved. “Hey, B.” I caught a trace of a Southern accent.

“Yes, we need more people in ferns!” Aurielle said, smiling at me in greeting before diving into her dinner. Her soft blond waves framed a round face that was sporting a slight sunburn.

“Nice to meet you both. I’d be happy to have a fern affinity like you all.”

The ferns in the corners of the courtyard began to rustle.

“I know Yasmin has affinities for mosses too. How do people determine what affinity group to study in on Fridays if they have multiple affinities?”

Coral was the first to answer. “You typically study whichever your strongest affinity is. We call that your lead affinity. You can train your trailing affinities as well, but most students only have one trailing affinity, if any. I’m a one-trick pony with ferns.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the slight twang in her accent, and she quirked an eyebrow at me.

“You’re wondering where I’m from, aren’t you?”

I smiled. “I wasn’t going to ask, but…”

She rolled her shoulders back and grinned. “It’s not a problem. Proud Louisianan here. Though I have to say, I like studying around the lakes here rather than the swamps back home. There are far fewer bugs too. ”

“I’m from Connecticut,” Aurielle offered.

“And I’m from Arizona,” Yasmin said.

Aurielle and Coral looked at me expectantly. “I’m from here.”

“California?” Coral asked.

“Yep, but also here . Weed.”

Their eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Woah. A local. Your family must have moved here at some point because of the academy?” Coral asked.

I shook my head, questions swirling through my mind. Why did they assume there had to be a connection between my family and the academy if I lived here? Despite the friendly tones of the group, discomfort twisted in my stomach. There was still so much about this world—and myself—that I didn’t know.

I smiled at the three girls and stood. “I better get going. I live off campus, and my aunt is expecting me home before it gets too late. It’s great meeting both of you.”

Yasmin joined me on the walk to the entrance atrium. “I hope you didn’t feel like too much of a specimen back there. It’s just rare to have a local attending school here, so they were being a little nosy. Botanical magic runs in families, but most move away after finishing their studies.”

My head whipped toward her. “Botanical magic runs in families?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Of course. It’s a genetic trait. Professor East didn’t tell me much out of privacy for you, but he did mention that you were… new to all of this. So, you don’t know which of your parents it came from?”

My mind reeled. There was no way my father was a magical botanist. We’d only met a handful of times, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t possible.

And my mother… My brain went wild at the thought.

Though she’d loved plants and nature deeply, she’d never mentioned—and I’d never noticed—anything out of the ordinary.

Had my mom been a magical botanist? If so, what had been her affinities? My thoughts shifted to Aunt Vera, my mom’s twin sister. Did she have plant magic? I blew out a breath, suddenly feeling unsteady.

“I’m sorry,” Yasmin said, seeming to sense my discomfort.

“I didn’t realize you didn’t know your magical heritage.

Typically, affinities run in families too.

All of the recent generations of the Ortega family have also had affinities for mosses and ferns, so they’ve been able to pass down some tips. ”

“Maybe that’s why we haven’t discovered any affinities for me yet. There’s no way it came from either of my parents. Wouldn’t there have been signs if they were magical botanists?”

Yasmin’s forehead pinched. “You should talk to Professor East about it. He’s a genetics expert, among other things.”

A million thoughts formed again as I drove home that night, and when I slept, I dreamt of vines of green plants swirling around strands of DNA.