Page 34 of Evergreen Academy (Society of Magical Botanists #1)

Chapter Thirty-Three

T hat week in Basic Plant Biology, we studied a rotting log in the forest. Professor Bowellia had us doing detailed drawings and documentation of plants that were making their home on the decomposing wood.

Yasmin, Coral, and Aurielle were having a field day studying the ferns and mosses, and I was enjoying putting my drawing skills to use.

“How old do you think the tree was?” Yasmin asked, filling in a table in our notebooks.

“Fifty,” Aurielle guessed.

“Ninety-one,” I said, the number popping into my mind out of nowhere.

Coral’s eyes widened as she checked the answer key. “It is ninety-one. Nice guess, B.”

“So, Callan’s back,” Yasmin said. “Are you resuming your ‘tutoring arrangement’?” She put the last two words in quotes, and I gently shoved her shoulder with mine. I glanced at the area where Callan was working with Eli and Nevah, making sure none of them were listening.

“Why the innuendo? He is tutoring me. Only tutoring me.”

It was obvious to me that my skills had improved dramatically since he’d started working with me, and Algebra and Biostatistics for Botanists were not as miserable as they’d once been.

The truth was, I was starting to remember why I’d liked the patterns and logic involved in math as a kid, and my scientific skills were rapidly progressing under Callan’s careful direction.

My Latin was eking along at an infant level, but I was making progress.

“Sure, if tutoring entails being holed up in a cozy tree house together every night,” Coral teased.

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help feeling a little glow at my friends’ words.

I glanced at Callan as he worked at the other end of the log, his hair a perfectly mussed chestnut brown as he carefully lifted a piece of moss, muscles flexing under his tattooed forearms. I blew out a sharp breath and refocused on my notebook.

It’s just tutoring .

“I can’t believe the winter solstice is next week,” Yasmin said. “There are so many preparations to do. And we’ll be switching classes after the solstice, so we need to wrap up all our projects. How are you doing with all this, B?”

“Not bad, actually,” I admitted. And it was surprisingly true.

Between Callan’s tutoring and all the extra time I was putting in on my own on Fridays while the others were doing their affinity studies, I was at least able to keep up in classes.

I still felt behind in Latin, but Professor Bowellia was happy with my progress.

And we would take Latin all year, so I had more time to continue learning.

“I’m just glad finals are over at SCC so I can fully enjoy the solstice celebrations,” Yasmin said.

Grades had been posted the previous day.

I’d managed to pull a high B average. But I’d signed up for three winter intersession classes—abbreviated courses in which you squeezed in a semester’s worth of work in four weeks.

I wanted to get as ahead on credits at SCC as I possibly could, since my regular semesters were so crunched with my Evergreen Academy studies.

“You’re all going home for winter break, right?” I asked.

“Yep, I can’t wait. As much as I love the food here at the academy, there’s nothing like my mom’s cooking, especially over the holidays,” Coral said.

“My family is taking a trip to the fern conservatory for Christmas this year,” Aurielle said.

Coral’s eyebrows rose. “You’re going to Alaska in the winter? That’s brave.”

Aurielle shrugged. “My parents are adventurous.”

“I’m jealous,” Yasmin said. “I’ve always wanted to go. Maybe I’ll get the opportunity to intern there.”

I’d been trying to track the conversation, but I needed clarification now. “Did you say ‘fern conservatory’? What is that?”

“It’s like the hub for all fern affinities.

There’s a conservatory for each of the nine affinities.

They were set up by the founders and are hubs for each affinity’s research and community.

The one for the ferns is in Alaska,” Yasmin explained.

“Most botanists try to visit their lead affinity conservatory at some point in their lives. We’re not allowed to visit the other conservatories unless by special invitation. ”

My brain snagged on that point. Without having a lead affinity—or any affinity at all—this was another part of the magical botanist world that I was never going to be able to experience.

“Please bring me back a souvenir from the fern conservatory, Aurielle. I’ve been dying to have something from there,” Yasmin said.

“Me too!” I said, perking back up at the thought of the holiday season. Even with the SCC coursework I would need to crank out each day, between finals being over and thoughts of the winter solstice celebrations and Christmas, the end of the year was shaping up to be magical.

Nothing, not even a lack of affinity powers, could ruin it.