Page 56 of Evergreen Academy (Society of Magical Botanists #1)
Chapter Fifty-Four
I spent the next few weeks splitting my increasingly limited time among my SCC classes, Evergreen Academy courses and Affinity Studies, meetings with Professor East to review my family tree, and retracing my schedule leading up to the winter solstice with Callan, which I was struggling to remember.
We’d already combed through my school notebook, my SCC class schedule, and my phone calendar.
We had a few leads to explore but nothing that seemed promising.
“What are we going to do if we don’t figure this out in time?” I asked Callan. “Professor East is going to have to alert the Board of Regents, and some of them are going to have to come out here. And it’s all going to be my fault.”
“Your fault? There are many interesting things about you, local, but the fall of the verdant shield is not one of them. If you weren’t here, it wouldn’t even be a question.
Professor East would have contacted the Board of Regents already, and they would already be planning their trip for the spring equinox. ”
I supposed Callan had a point, but I still couldn’t help feeling there was more I should be doing. I dangled my legs back and forth over the tree branch we were currently sitting on. Callan had my notebook in his hands.
“The equinox is next week. How much notice does he have to give them?”
“I think he’s going to hold out on you as long as possible, but… he’ll probably give them at least two days’ notice.”
I clenched my hands. We were running out of time.
“Try to relax. You being a tangle of stress doesn’t help the situation.”
“But that’s the problem. Most people on campus don’t even know there is a situation.
I can’t talk to Yasmin, Coral, or Aurielle about this.
I mean, they know the shield flickered after Capture the Roses, but it was so quick that I think most of them have already let it pass from their minds entirely.
” Professor East had asked me not to discuss what was going on with anyone other than him and the founders’ descendants, since he didn’t want there to be panic around campus.
“I’m sorry you can’t tell your friends. But it’s just a few more days. Then, hopefully, everything with the shield will be back to normal. For a while, at least.”
For a while . The words were ominous. Was all of this just a short-term solution? Would it be the new normal for alumni founders’ descendants to travel to Evergreen Academy to help charge the school at each equinox and solstice? And what if even that stopped being enough?
“What about the soil method that Eli did? Is that something that could be refined and repeated?”
Callan let out a breath. “After what happened to Eli, the tribe does not want to share the Floracantus he used. Officially, that Floracantus doesn’t even exist , since it’s not in the Compendium Floracantus .
They don’t want to be seen as responsible if the outcome was worse for another student who used it.
” Eli had made a full recovery and was attending class again, most of the school seeming to be none the wiser about what had happened.
“And I don’t blame them,” Callan continued. “Plus, soil can only hold so many nutrients. Eli wasn’t fully restoring the quality of the soil, more like giving it a brief boost with fertilizer. So that’s not a permanent solution, either, and not worth the risk.”
“But there has to be a way.” I was mulling it all over in my brain, trying to search for a solution, but I came up short.
Besides, what could I come up with that Professor East, the other instructors, and all of the founders’ descendants couldn’t?
I was a novice here, barely educated on matters of magical botany.
Still, my desire to help was almost overwhelming.
Callan turned and took my face in his hands, and I stopped breathing.
I met his eyes, reminded of how full and dark his lashes were.
His palms were warm against my cheek, and I savored the feeling of rightness of his hands on me like this.
His voice was gentle when he spoke. “This isn’t on you, okay? ”
I nodded, unable to speak. Callan had successfully calmed the anxiety of my thoughts, though he’d sent my heart rate spiking for a whole other reason.
We stayed like that for a moment longer, my breath stalling in my chest, everything in the room blurring so that all I could see were Callan’s eyes, and all I could feel was the sensation of his warm skin on my face. Callan gently removed his hands, closed my notebook, and handed it back to me.
“I’ve got to go do some research with Eli. See you later, local.”
Before I could blink, he was back on the ground, but my heart was beating as if he were still right next to me.