Page 22 of Evergreen Academy (Society of Magical Botanists #1)

Chapter Twenty-One

T he following Monday, my history and algebra classes at SCC passed uneventfully, though my mind kept wandering to Evergreen Academy and what was in store for me with my first classes.

Yasmin greeted me with a smile in Art, and I was finally able to relax as we worked on drawing faces.

I completely tuned out all thoughts of plant powers, affinity tests, and Evergreen Academy itself as I sketched, pouring all my energy into capturing the tiniest of details—the curve of the jaw, the fullness of the lashes. I jumped when the instructor said that it was time to clean up.

I glanced over at Yasmin’s paper. She put her pencil down with a sigh.

“I really messed up the proportions. The eyes are way too high.”

“The trick is to always start the eyes much lower than you think you should. About halfway down the face. Don’t worry, we’re working on human faces for another few weeks.”

“Holy smokes. You are amazing ,” Yasmin said, eyeing my work. Our instructor passed behind our shoulders then and echoed Yasmin’s words.

“Very impressive, Briar. You really shine in the details.”

I beamed, and Yasmin gave me a high five once our instructor walked away. “Let’s keep up that energy for your first Evergreen classes today,” she whispered, and I experienced a jolt of adrenaline. I was really doing this.

Based on the schedule Yasmin had made for me, I would take Basic Plant Biology followed by Biostatistics for Botanists on Mondays and Wednesdays.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’d take Latin then another session of Basic Plant Biology.

Apparently, the instructors in plant biology rotated out, and there was enough content to cover that we took it every day.

We traveled together to the academy and to my first-ever magical botany class. Basic Plant Biology was held in a large classroom on the second floor of the academy building. Wooden lab tables were arranged in neat rows throughout the room.

I was grateful for Yasmin as we entered because she immediately made a space for me at her table with Coral and Aurielle. I spotted the only other student I knew at the academy—Callan—at a lab table across the room with two other students.

Callan’s eyes flicked to mine then straight to where Professor Bowellia was standing at the front of the room.

My thumb instinctively went to my emerald ring, which I’d been wearing ever since Callan had charged and assembled it for me.

Why had Callan been the one to charge the ring—whatever that meant—instead of Professor East?

Had it just been a convenience factor because he was in the passenger seat?

Did all magical botanists have the ability to charge gemstones?

My thoughts were broken when Professor Bowellia began to speak. “We’re continuing with the molecular structure of plants today. Pick your plant of choice, and claim your microscope.”

Yasmin began riffling through a drawer attached to our desk and pulled out a large fern frond. “We usually keep a stash in here,” she whispered to me.

Coral and Aurielle began setting up a complex-looking microscope. It was certainly more advanced than the ones we used at SCC.

All around the room, students began to pull plants from drawers, backpacks, or the large aquarium that was nestled into a corner of the room. A few students left the class, presumably to get fresh samples from outside.

There was a soft riffling noise as papers began to drift to each lab table from Professor Bowellia’s desk, and I remembered the moment when Callan had caught me with a mixture of wind and leaves outside.

As the affinity instructor for tree powers, I realized that Professor Bowellia had that same ability.

Though this time, no leaves were swept along with the breeze.

I looked over the handout and swallowed.

Complex molecular equations dotted the page.

Yasmin seemed to sense my lack of confidence because she said, “We can work as a pair. Just follow my lead. You’re only a month behind, and you can start working in your botanist’s notebook with the textbook for each class in the evenings to catch up. ”

I appreciated her words, but I knew I was much more than a month behind.

If what I’d been hearing was true, most of these students had grown up in families of magical botanists and had been studying plant science since childhood.

I tried not to let that discourage me and dove into what my friends were doing, closely monitoring every step.

Yasmin, Coral, and Aurielle led the way through the lab, sprinkling in small talk with the discussions of the molecules that we could somehow see moving around inside the fern plant.

“There’s a garden party this weekend,” Aurielle said after we’d completed the first section of the lab. “Are you going to come out for it?”

The question was directed at me, and I looked up from the paper I’d been doodling on. “A garden party?”

“They happen once a month or so. They’re the main unsupervised social event around here. We have the solstice and equinox parties, of course, but the instructors come to those.”

I thought of all the catching up I was already going to need to do, not to mention my homework for SCC. “Maybe. We’ll see how far I get with all my catch-up reading.”

“Oh, you have to come. Just for an hour or two. You’ll have plenty of time for your academic work,” Coral said, giving me a pleading pout.

“I’ll try. When is it?” In reality, I wanted to go so I could get to know more about the school, including its social events. But I’d made a promise to Professor East to try my hardest. I couldn’t blow off that promise so soon with the allure of a fun evening.

“Friday night. You can stick around after Affinity Studies.” Yasmin’s face fell in alarm, and I knew she’d just remembered that I didn’t have any affinities to study. “I mean, you can study all day Friday then get ready here with us afterward. It will be perfect.”

I nodded in tentative agreement, and we finished up the lab. All the while, I was wondering what a garden party for magical botanists might entail.

We went to Biostatistics for Botanists next, which was even more challenging than Basic Plant Biology had been.

Professor Variegata was the teacher, and while her presence was calming, with her smooth voice and the constant movement of the vine snaking around her hands, it didn’t make up for the fact that I was desperately behind.

Math was a challenge for me on a good day.

Throw in the aspect of botany that I was majorly ignorant of, and the stage was set for failure.

I walked out of class with my shoulders tense, feeling extremely discouraged but trying not to show it.

“Let’s grab some dinner, and then we can hit up the library,” Yasmin suggested. I followed her lead to the teahouse. We all ate together, with me mostly listening to the conversation of the other three rather than participating in it.

Today had solidified how behind I was, and my anxiety about doing well was creeping in faster than the vines that had shot up Professor East’s arms on my first day here.

“You’re quiet over there,” Coral said when we were all almost finished eating.

“Just thinking about the mountain of studying I’m going to have to do to even begin to catch up. ”

“Good thing you made friends with a bunch of nerds, then. We spend most of our evenings in the library, anyway,” Aurielle offered, and I smiled. At least I’d had the good fortune to meet these three.

We took a tray with a pot of steaming hot tea and four mugs up to the third-floor library and settled in to work. I’d received textbooks for my class that day, and I decided the best approach was to start at the beginning.

My friends sank onto some cushions in the corner, chatting quietly as they sipped their fragrant teas, but I peered inside the tiny room nestled in the tree hollow and found it empty.

I stepped inside and took a seat at the small round table that was lit by the tea lights that were nestled inside the tree’s bark.

After a moment of marveling at the magic of the space, I opened my backpack and focused on the task at hand.

The textbooks at Evergreen Academy were similar to those for my classes at SCC, but there were a few distinct differences.

Latin was scattered throughout, and many of the illustrations were two-dimensional.

Instead of just a picture of a plant or a molecule on the page, there was texture and sometimes even smell.

I leaned in to sniff a pine needle and was delighted by the sensation of being transported out into the forest.

I read the first chapter of each and found myself enjoying it immensely.

While the chemical formulas and mathematical equations jumbled together, I allowed myself to relax about that for now and simply concentrate on the wonder of the story the words were telling.

Magical botanists had a connection with plants, and that connection was somehow both supernatural and scientific .

The fact that this power existed and I had never known about it was stunning. Each page was like discovering a hidden secret, a forgotten language.

And somehow, even though I didn’t feel it physically, this magic ran through me.