Page 25 of Evergreen Academy (Society of Magical Botanists #1)
Chapter Twenty-Four
O n Friday, I showed up at Evergreen Academy first thing in the morning. Even though I didn’t officially have Affinity Studies, I wanted to spend most of the day studying before the garden party that night.
As I walked across the campus, I noticed clusters of students in the forest, in the gardens, and out by the pond. Affinity Studies were clearly in full swing. I stopped into the teahouse to get a smoothie then made my way up to the library, which I found empty.
The morning sun was shining through the massive windows, the green of the plants adding to the sense of peace that I felt each time I walked in here. I couldn’t think of a better place to tackle everything I needed to do.
I’d downloaded a language-learning app on Tuesday and had been practicing my Latin between classes at SCC and during downtime in the evenings, so I was starting to understand a few basic words and phrases.
After a few moments of sorting through my journal, I decided to focus on Biostatistics, the area in which I had the most work to do.
The morning passed quickly, and I began to hear voices outside the library as students returned to their rooms before lunch. Soon, Yasmin popped into the library and whisked me downstairs, where we met Aurielle and Coral. The atmosphere in the teahouse was different today. Charged, somehow.
Once we got our food and sat down, it became clear why. Everyone was talking about the first garden party of the year that was happening that night.
“Should we all get ready in your room?” Aurielle asked Yasmin.
“Absolutely. And you too, B.”
“Thanks,” I said. “How late do these usually go? I have to work early tomorrow.”
“That’s totally fine. It starts at sunset, so you can be out of here by, like, eight or nine o’clock.”
“If you’re not having so much fun that you want to stay,” Coral added.
“I always heard about these parties from my sisters. It’s surreal to be going to one myself now,” Yasmin said.
“You guys make this out like it’s some huge deal. It’s just a casual hangout in the forest,” Aurielle said, and Yasmin shrugged.
I tried to suppress a thread of nerves. While I’d been getting along great with these three, this party would be my first real social interaction with the larger academy community.
It didn’t seem likely that everyone was as friendly as my fern-affinity crew.
And with me not having affinity powers of my own, what would I have in common with the other students ?
My attention was caught by a small gathering outside.
“So, what’s up with those three?” I asked, seeing Callan standing with the two students he sat with in Basic Plant Biology. “I notice that everyone acts a little differently around them.”
Coral lowered her voice. “Those three are all founders’ descendants.”
My pulse notched up, remembering what they’d told me about founders’ descendants being more powerful than other botanists and being responsible for charging the verdant shield. Something had seemed different about Callan from the beginning, but I’d never been sure what.
“Callan descends from the tree founder, as you could probably guess. He’s rumored to be the most powerful magical botanist in generations, stronger than any of the professors, even.
Eli Quinn—” Yasmin nodded toward the tall boy with a sharp jaw, brown skin, and dark hair in a topknot “—comes from the herbal founder’s family.
He’s also a member of one of the Northern California native tribes.
Nevah Trinity”—her eyes shifted to the girl, and mine followed.
She had warm brown skin and silky, wavy brown hair that reached her waist, even in a ponytail.
“—is a descendant of the aquatic founder. She is a wiz with everything related to water, even those things that have nothing to do with plants. She swims like a fish.”
“Wow,” I said, watching as the three founders’ descendants said a few words to one another then went their separate ways. Callan headed off toward the forest, and I assumed he was aiming for the tree houses.
“They’re as close to royalty as you can get around here, not that botanists care about that sort of thing,” she winked, and I smiled, though my head was spinning.
I thought back to when Callan had caught me as I’d fallen from the trees during my tree affinity test. Did all students with tree affinities have that ability or just the strong ones?
And was this ability the reason he had been the one to charge my emerald gemstone?
Instinctively, I felt for the gem on my finger and twisted it casually.
Just as I touched it, Callan glanced back over his shoulder to where we were all sitting in the courtyard.
I realized I’d been staring, and I quickly turned my eyes back to my friends, trying not to wonder what he and the other tree affinities did when they went out to the woods.
I had my hands full enough at Evergreen Academy without getting distracted by the mystery of the founders’ descendants.