Page 30 of Evergreen Academy (Society of Magical Botanists #1)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

W hen we parked at the fanciest restaurant in town, a little boutique American place, I didn’t move to get out.

“Yeah, this place is definitely closed.” I eyed the empty parking lot and dark windows.

But Callan came around the side of the truck and opened the door for me. “I didn’t say we were going somewhere that was open.”

Before I could ask a follow-up question, he walked to the back door of the restaurant and pulled out a key.

“Wait, do you work here?”

“Not exactly. But Perennial Farms supplies some of their produce. I make sure they get top quality every week. It comes with some perks.”

“Like a key to the restaurant?” I raised an eyebrow. That didn’t seem likely.

“The owner is a family friend. ”

Right. Callan’s family was bound to have made some connections with the locals over the years.

“But what are we going to do in a closed restaurant?” We stepped inside, and Callan turned on the lights in the small commercial kitchen.

“I’m going to cook.”

“You’re going... to… cook?” I wasn’t sure why I was so surprised. But the words spluttered out of me.

Callan smiled in a way that nearly stopped my heart. Then he slung an apron over his chest. “Don’t look so shocked. I have herb affinities.”

“You do? Trees are your lead affinity, right? What other affinities do you have?” I felt that we knew each other well enough for me to try broaching this subject again.

Callan busied himself pulling vegetables from bins as he replied, “All of them except for mosses.”

I gasped. “All of them?”

“Except for mosses. The founders had all of the affinities, and that’s why they considered themselves most suited to start the academy. While magical lines have decreased over time, we’ve kept our family lines… magically potent since then.”

“Magically potent?” A thousand questions were stirring themselves up in my mind.

Callan sighed. “Has no one ever explained to you how magical blood works?”

“Not exactly.” I thought of my conversation with Professor East that had been cut short by his needing to teach a class. With all of the other things I’d been learning lately, my magical inheritance was no longer top of mind.

“We think that, originally, every magical botanist had all of the affinity powers. Over time, as they married non-magical people, the genes were mixed with non-magical ones. Some families retained only a handful of the affinities. Many magical botanists these days only have one or two affinity powers. But my family and some others around the world have kept their powers up by only marrying other magical botanists.”

“So you couldn’t marry a non-magical person even if you were in love with them?” I wasn’t sure why the idea bothered me, but it did.

Callan whisked the vegetables that he had prepped in a ridiculously short period of time into a skillet then dumped some noodles into a pot of boiling water. “‘Couldn’t’ is a strong word. But it would be discouraged.”

I wanted to press, but something on Callan’s face told me not to. “So, you have all of the affinity powers—except mosses,” I added quickly when I could tell that he was about to say it. “No wonder you’re such a wiz in every class.”

Callan laughed. “That certainly makes it easier. That and the intensive tutoring I’ve had since I was a kid.”

“And lucky me gets to be tutored by you.” The words were out of my mouth before I could contemplate how he might interpret them.

“Depends on your definition of luck.”

“Be honest. Why are you tutoring me? Wouldn’t your skills be better used on someone who actually has powers?”

“Haven’t you heard that the rarest blooms are the most interesting?” His voice was as smooth as silk as he whisked the food in the skillet.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Was it another one of those magical botanist idioms that I wasn’t used to ?

But Callan didn’t respond. Instead, he plated us each a delicious-smelling mix of noodles, vegetables, and spices that would have taken me an hour to prepare.

“Bon appétit, local.”

I bit into the mouthwatering meal, the atmosphere in the dimly lit kitchen a stark contrast to the pounding sounds of the Halloween house party.

“So, what was it like growing up here?” Callan asked.

We both reached for a shaker of pepper, and our hands bumped. I laughed and pulled my hand away quickly, trying not to notice the goose bumps that had pricked my arms when we’d touched.

“Oh, the usual. Friends you’ve known since kindergarten. Neighbors who watched you grow up. A whole town of people cheering for you to succeed. Nothing to do on the weekends except bowling, movies, or bonfires in the woods.”

“So you’re telling me it’s the stereotypical small town?”

“Some things are, in fact, just like how they’re portrayed in movies. But how about you? I take it you’re not from a small town.”

Callan waved a fork at me. “Nice try, but the conversation’s sticking on you tonight. Who was that guy you had to say goodbye to at the Halloween party?”

“A friend from SCC.” I briefly stuttered on the word “friend.” I’d thought Alex and I were headed toward more than friendship, but after the way our first time away from school had gone, I wasn’t so sure. But the change in conversation reminded me of something.

“Are you ready to tell me the real reason you were at that party? There’s no way you just happened to pop by. ”

He seemed conflicted for a moment, but finally, he spoke. “I thought I sensed… Did you use your powers there?”

“What? No, of course not. I don’t have any.”

Something flickered across Callan’s face. “I must have imagined it.”

“Wait, you can sense powers? Can all magical botanists do that?” Admittedly, I wasn’t far into my Evergreen Academy schoolbooks, but I’d never come across mention of anything like that.

His eyes rested on me for a moment, something like curiosity lingering there. “It’s rare, but yes, I can.”

“How rare are we talking? Seeing-a-comet-shower rare or witnessing-a-total-solar-eclipse rare?”

Callan tilted his face and looked bemused at my analogy but said, “The latter.”

Holy cow. My friends hadn’t been kidding when they’d said Callan was powerful.

We continued to eat, with Callan steering the conversation away from himself and the academy.

He asked me about working at the bakery and what it was like living with my aunt.

He deflected the remainder of my questions about himself so seamlessly, turning the conversation back to me so smoothly, that I hadn’t noticed he’d been doing it until after we cleaned up from dinner and were driving back to Alex’s house.

Alex, who had completely left my mind over dinner with Callan. How had this night flipped on its head so completely?

When Callan dropped me back at my car, the Halloween party was still raging inside. Before I could open my driver’s-side door, Callan was there, doing it for me. He draped an arm across the top of my door as I got inside .

“Tell me I’m going to see that outfit again,” he said in a pleading voice with a devilish smile. I touched a leaf in my hair, having completely forgotten that I was still in my plant lady outfit.

“Be careful what you wish for,” I said in a singsong.

He didn’t say anything, but his smile met the corners of his eyes, and I wanted to spend the rest of the night like this, even if he wouldn’t answer my questions. But it was over as quickly as it had begun, and he closed the door softly and walked back to his truck.

And as he drove away, I had to sit in my car for a few full minutes, forcing my pulse to slow down.

The night had taken a hard left turn—and not in a bad way.

I sighed, trying to bring myself back down to earth.

I was wading a little too deep into the allure of Callan Rhodes. I just hoped it wasn’t a trap.