Page 20 of Evergreen Academy (Society of Magical Botanists #1)

Chapter Nineteen

T he next morning, I approached Evergreen Academy with a sense of determination. Today was the day I was finally going to figure out what my affinity power was.

It was Friday, a day I had no classes at SCC and the first time I’d been on the Evergreen Academy grounds before noon.

As I parked and walked to the campus, the air was calm and quiet, as if the academy was still waking up.

But a strange feeling lingered in me as questions about what had happened with the so-called shield during my herbs affinity test the previous day arose.

Yasmin met me in the central vein that connected all the rooms on the main floor. “Hey, B. Want to grab some breakfast before your tests?”

The teahouse felt different in the morning as well.

Students were scattered around the indoor-outdoor eating areas, speaking quietly and drinking from mismatched mugs.

A massive tea bar seemed to be popular at this time of day, with a variety of loose-leaf teas and honeys ranging from pale gold to deep amber scattered across the shelves.

“Now I see why they call it a teahouse.”

We served ourselves, and I tried a bowl of oatmeal enriched with chia and flax seeds and topped with a mound of fresh fruit.

Yasmin was eating toast with eggs, avocado, and a pile of seasonings that I was sure were bursting with flavor.

A crisp morning breeze was flowing in through the fifteen-foot-tall glass doors that were propped open between the white arches that supported them.

I jumped in with my first question. “Did you feel what happened yesterday? With the shield? How does that work anyway?”

“Yeah, that was an eerie experience. The verdant shield is what really keeps the campus hidden from prying eyes. It is also tied into the powering of a few things here, which is why the lights flickered.”

“Is that a common occurrence?” I asked.

Yasmin shook her head. “It’s never happened that I’m aware of. Not since I’ve been here and not when my sisters were here either. There have been rumors that the verdant shield has been weakening over time, but that was the first time I’ve seen any real evidence of it.”

“But why would it be weakening?”

“There’s speculation that has to do with how magical botanists’ powers have decreased over time.”

“I heard something about it getting recharged on midsummer. Who recharges it?”

“The founders’ descendants. Or, if none of them are studying at the school in a given year, recent alumni or upcoming students will come to charge it.”

“Founders’ descendants?” I raised a brow at the unfamiliar term.

“Descendants of the original botanists who created the school. Founders’ descendants’ affinities are super powerful, and most of them have multiple.

Plus, when the founders created the school, they infused their magic into the soil here, effectively ensuring that their descendants would be the only ones who could charge the school’s verdant shield.

It keeps power in the family, I guess.” She made a face suggesting what she thought of that arrangement.

Coral and Aurielle joined our breakfast then.

“So, you’ve got your last two tests today,” Yasmin said, changing the subject. “Ferns”—she grinned at the mention of one of her affinities, and the ferns in the room shimmied—“and defensive plants.”

“Do you know which test I’ll have first?”

“You already met Professor Sato when you tested for mosses. She’ll test you for the ferns too.

Since it’s affinity studies day, I’ll be working with her for most of it.

You can start with that then meet up with Professor East for the defensive plants test. He never arrives until after lunch since he teaches at SCC. ”

Yasmin finished her toast as I polished off my oatmeal, not wanting to leave one drop of the delicious meal in the bowl.

“Friday mornings are a little slow around here. Everyone gets started on their affinity studies at their own pace. Well, except for Dr. Lemna’s students.

Do you want to do a walk around the pond before your fern test? ”

When I agreed, we said goodbye to Coral and Aurielle then each prepared a mug of tea to go before making our way outside. The late September mornings were starting to feel chilly, and I zipped up my sweatshirt.

“So, what do you think of the academy so far?”

We approached the pond, and I smiled as dragonflies whizzed across it, hovering centimeters above the lily pads and water hyacinth. A few students sat in the nearest gazebo, chatting with mugs in hand. One of them was strumming a guitar.

“It’s… incredible,” I said, not able to fully express my thoughts. The tests had been flying at me so quickly all week that I’d hardly had time to process what I’d seen and experienced.

“I’ve been excited to come here for as long as I can remember,” Yasmin said.

“My sisters are quite a bit older than me, so I watched them come here when I was in elementary and then middle school. They had nothing but great things to say about it. It’s the only time in our lives when we’ll be fully immersed in a community of magical botanists our own age like this. ”

I wondered what it would have been like to grow up knowing that magical botany existed and to look forward to one day attending school here. Perhaps I wouldn’t feel so out of place.

We looped the pond once—witnessing Dr. Lemna’s aquatics students already at work at the pond’s edge—then we met Professor Sato, Coral, Aurielle, and the others with fern affinities in an area of the forest that was covered with ground ferns.

“Welcome back, Briar,” Professor Sato greeted me, and the few students that I didn’t know yet turned toward me. “Everyone, you are welcome to get started on your affinity studies. Briar will be completing her affinity test for ferns today.”

Yasmin gave me a subtle thumbs-up then walked away to join the other fern affinity students. It was time. I had a fifty percent chance of passing this test, which was higher than any I’d taken so far.

“Do you know anything about the life cycle of a fern?” Professor Sato asked.

I shook my head.

“They’re unique in that they don’t reproduce with seeds or flowers but with spores.

And they have two separate plants through the process of growing—a gametophyte and a sporophyte.

What you see here”—she ran her finger over a tall green stalk that was tightly coiled at the end and reminded me of a seahorse’s tail—“is an adult sporophyte. It’s getting ready to unfurl and become the ferns that you see all around us. ”

As soon as she removed her finger, the coil unwound, and a beautiful fan of fern emerged. “When someone has a fern affinity, the simple act of touching the sporophyte will cause it to rapidly mature and open.”

She nodded toward another of the coiled plants, and I touched it delicately with my finger. I pulled my hand away, as she had done, and waited expectantly. But nothing happened.

“What affinities have you tested positive for so far, Briar?”

I felt my palms begin to sweat. This did not bode well. “None.”

Her eyebrows knitted together, barely distinguishable under her broad sun hat. “And you’re doing the tests in order? Which are remaining?”

“Yes. After this one, just the defensive plants test. ”

“Hmm. Perhaps we should try another test. That one isn’t always conclusive. We’d better be sure.” I followed her lead deeper into the forest, where the ferns were slightly more spread out on the forest floor.

“Ferns have a surprisingly large genome. Some of the largest, in fact, of any species, humans included. A lot of this extra DNA comes from repetitive DNA and something called transposable elements. These are often referred to as jumping genes .”

“Jumping genes?” I knew what a gene was from high school biology. I envisioned a picture of a chromosome, with the genes lined up to compose the shape. But I’d never heard of a jumping gene.

“So named because they move around in the chromosomes.”

My eyes widened. “Is that… normal? Or is it caused by magic?”

“Normal, amazingly. But non-magical scientists don’t have a good handle on these genes yet. We do.” She pulled out her lighter and held it near the edge of a fern frond but didn’t touch it.

“Do you… feel anything?”

I stepped closer, desperate to be able to say yes, but the only sensations I experienced were a slight breeze, the chirping of birds, and the voices of the fern affinity students beginning their research in the distance. “I don’t think so.”

She sighed and turned off the lighter. “I can feel the transposable genes jumping around in that fern like popcorn kernels in response to the increased heat.”

Disappointment was creeping through my veins.

“May I have your notebook? ”

I pulled it from my bag and cast my eyes toward Yasmin. How disappointed would she be that I hadn’t passed the fern affinity test? And now, the only thing left was the defensive plants test.

After Professor Sato was finished writing non par under the ferns in my notebook, she passed it back to me. “Don’t be a stranger. There’s a lot to learn from the ferns.”

I nodded and forced a smile, trying not to let my discouragement show. Yasmin jogged over to me while Professor Sato went to join her students.

“So, how did it go?”

I shook my head, swallowing hard.

“Really? I was sure you’d have fern affinity. Oh, well, don’t stress. This means you must have affinity for defensive plants. That’s a really cool and more rare affinity. Professor East will be here after lunch and will conduct the test. Until then, why don’t you hang out with us?”

Yasmin’s kindness made my heart swell, and I agreed, though I worried I would feel like an outsider the whole time.

To my surprise, though, the hours until lunch passed quickly.

While I was still slightly dejected about the ferns, I had to admit that it was fun to watch the others interact with the plants during their affinity studies.

The ferns were constantly shimmying around us, as if glad their affinity partners were nearby.

I watched Yasmin and the others unfurl the adult sporophytes, as Professor Sato had done during the first test, and collect fern samples for a project they were doing on fern-based sunscreen capabilities.

They used Floracantus, the Latin phrases I’d seen in the library book, to beckon their plants to do all kinds of things. I listened in awe as the Latin phrases rolled off their tongues like it was their native language.

By the time lunch came around, I was feeling much better. Watching how this group did their research, in a completely synergistic and self-directed way, made it look fun . It reminded me of why I had enjoyed the subject so much as a child.

Suddenly, I was excited for my last test. I was guaranteed to pass it and finally get started on classes and my own affinity studies.

I dined with Yasmin, Coral, and Aurielle again in the teahouse, making myself a salad with all different toppings this time. The options were endless, and I didn’t know if I’d ever make the same dish twice.

We chatted about ferns—each of the women practically glowing as they described their affinity studies projects—and then I went to find Professor East.

“Good luck. Don’t have too much fun without us,” Yasmin said. The ferns shimmied in response.