Page 58 of Evergreen Academy (Society of Magical Botanists #1)
Chapter Fifty-Six
“ Y ou never told me your parents were on the Magical Botanical Board of Regents!” I whisper-hissed when Callan approached me after the dinner.
“It never came up.” He put a hand on my back, gently guiding me away from any prying ears.
“Never came up? Surely one of the times we were discussing the board would have been a good time to mention it.”
Callan winced. “I wasn’t sure how to… explain it.”
I let out a deep breath. I wasn’t truly mad at Callan.
He was even more tangled up in all of this than I’d realized.
I thought about everything Nevah had said on the rowboat, about not wanting Callan to be alone next year.
Had she truly thought that his own parents were going to cause a problem for him?
“Let’s just hope everything goes smoothly with the recharging. Your parents have agreed to help?”
“My father is just tagging along. He’s not a founder’s descendant. But between my mom and Saxson, Professor East thinks it should be enough.”
Saxson. He said the name of the other regent so casually, I realized that he must have grown up in a circle of people even more powerful than I’d assumed from a founder’s descendant.
I nodded, my brain processing the increase in power the founders’ descendants would have. With two more people, their odds of charging the shield successfully were greatly increased. I was about to ask Callan more about his parents when Eli Quinn appeared at our side. “It’s time.”
Callan nodded and squared his shoulders. “I’ll find you after,” he said to me.
“Shouldn’t I come, just in case?”
“Just in case what? You know the consequences if you aren’t a founder’s descendant. We can’t risk it. It’s out of the question.” His jaw clenched again.
I nodded and watched Callan and the rest of the group walk away until they disappeared into the trees, then I quickened my pace to follow.
I found a hiding place behind a massive lilac bush and watched as the five founders’ descendants—Eli, Nevah, Callan, Oliver Saxon, and Wendy Rhodes—surrounded the stone circle on the ground.
Professor East and Callan’s father stood off to the side.
A breeze blew a few sprigs of lilac into my hair, and I inhaled deeply, the delicious scent calming me slightly.
The founders’ descendants stepped into the ring and knelt, touching their hands to the soil as one. I felt a vibration around my ring finger, and I nodded with relief. It was working.
But the sensation lasted for only a second, and the warmth that usually accompanied it petered out .
“The charge isn’t holding,” I heard Eli Quinn say. “We don’t have enough power.”
Their heads collectively turned to Professor East, who stepped forward. He looked at the sky and then at his watch, expression grave. “There’s less than an hour left of the equinox. We won’t be able to get another founder’s descendent here on time.”
My hands clenched into balls as I saw the realization wash over each of them. They weren’t going to be able to charge the verdant shield tonight. The salt and cadmium that was poisoning the soil had increased to such a level that even this group wasn’t going to be able to establish a full recharge.
That meant the school was going to be without magical protection until the summer solstice.
I inhaled another strong whiff of the lilacs and rolled my shoulders back. Without pondering it for another second, I stepped out from my hiding place.
“I’m here too.”
All heads in the circle whipped to mine, though no one removed their hand from the soil.
“Briar,” Callan said quietly, pronouncing both syllables of my name so distinctly that it sent a shiver down my spine.
“I have to try.” The words came out in a whisper, but with the silence that had fallen over the area, I knew they’d all heard me. I looked to Professor East, our eyes meeting, and he nodded, though his expression was tight.
“Wait—” Callan said sharply, but before he could reiterate all the protests I already knew, I thrust my hand into the circle and touched the soil inside the ring of stones.