Page 12

Chapter Twelve

“ H ow did your task with the harvesters go?” Yasmin asked as we settled at the long table in the forest. Leaves were floating by overhead, ferrying tiny gleaming candles.

The grand jacaranda tree was lit by the sunset, its leaves a brilliant yellow. I was still a little bummed that I had missed out on the fantastical bloom on midsummer, but I had to appreciate that it was stunning today too.

“It was fine. I paired up with Kaito. Our conversation was interesting, though. He mentioned that a separation of affinities has been brewing outside of the school. Have you heard anything about that?”

“There have been some stirrings among the ferns, from what I’ve heard. I didn’t think it would trickle into the academy. With the board getting involved with this autumn equinox activity, though… something feels off,” Yasmin said.

“My parents were talking about potential changes within the society of magical botanists this summer, and I wonder if this is related to that,” Aurielle said.

“Callan was hinting at this even last year,” I said. “He was hoping it would get resolved at the midsummer gathering, but I don’t think it did.”

“Historically, the board being too involved in the school hasn’t boded well. We can’t be innovative with too many competing interests trying to have a say, you know?” Yasmin said.

“Kaito didn’t seem too happy about it,” I said.

“Well, I can’t say any of us would be happy to have drastic changes made to the school while we’re here.

Not only would it impact our personal experiences, but societal norms and cross-affinity connections are developed here.

Only those already in positions of power would benefit from any kind of splintering,” Coral said.

“Is there some way we can make our voices heard? Are Board of Regents meetings open to the public?”

Coral let out a soft laugh. “Yeah, right. They have always been closed door, and attempts to change that have never gone anywhere.”

“There must be something we can do.” I buttered a croissant more intensely than I’d planned, and delicate pieces of the pastry disintegrated into flakes that landed softly on my plate.

“As long as founders’ descendants sit on the board and the founders’ descendants have the keys to charging the verdant shield here and at the conservatories, the rest of us will never have an equal say,” Yasmin said.

I contemplated Yasmin’s words as we continued to dig into the equinox feast, and gradually conversation shifted in other directions.

“So, I’m thinking of starting a cartography club this year,” Aurielle said as we moved on to the second course.

“Cartography club? To do what?” Coral asked.

“I did some work with maps over the summer, and I got kind of into it,” Aurielle explained. “We don’t focus on that type of work much here at the academy, but I think others might be interested. ”

“The club would be for learning how to use maps?” I asked.

“To start. But what I’d really like is for us to develop ecological maps of the campus. Things are always changing with the plants, and we could document some of the microenvironments throughout the seasons,” Aurielle explained.

Yasmin swirled a spoon in her bowl of harvest soup. “Sounds interesting. Do you think you’ll have time to host it with field studies?”

“I’ll figure something out,” Aurielle said. “I’m going to run it by Professor Sato this week.”

By the time we finished the harvest meal, the sun had fully set, and the clearing was lit by the candles that were being floated above us on the leaves as well as the tall, tapered ones that lined the table.

Coral rubbed her hands together as she rose. “Time for Orchard Lantern Tag. I’ve been looking forward to this since last year. Waylon tagged me out then, and I’m planning to get him back.”

“Orchard Lantern Tag?” I asked, rising from my seat as well.

“It’s my favorite autumn equinox tradition, after the meal,” Aurielle said. We streamed along with the other students, who were moving in the direction of the orchards.

“Remember when we played Capture the Roses last year? For tag, we split into two teams like that, but instead of finding the other teams’ rose, we illuminate as many of our opponents as possible.

The lanterns have bioluminescent powder in them, genetically modified into the plant powder from algae.

If you hold up your lantern and say Lux dispere , it will cling to your target and their clothes will glow.

It’s one point for every person who is eliminated but one hundred points for whichever team eliminates the other team’s captain first. Sort of like a queen bee situation,” Yasmin explained.

“So you’re pretty much guaranteed to win if you take out the other team’s captain as long as the strengths of the two teams aren’t totally lopsided.

Everyone has to stay within the confines of the orchard,” Aurielle added.

“But we are allowed to use our powers, so we can get creative in deterring others from getting close enough to light us up.”

My stomach sank a little at the realization that I would be the only defenseless one in the group, but I had to admit the game sounded fun.

When we reached the orchard, Professor Bowellia was there, and he began shepherding us into two groups. Since we arrived in a quartet, he immediately split us in half. “Yasmin and Coral, Team Summer. Briar and Aurielle, Team Autumn.”

“Yes! Looks like Waylon’s already been assigned to Team Autumn. I’ll have my chance for vengeance. Wish me luck.” Coral pumped a fist before dashing off to join the others on Team Summer.

“Team Summer, your captain is Hollis. Team Autumn, your captain is Meadow. Circle up, make your plans, and get your lanterns. We start in three minutes,” Professor Bowellia announced.

Aurielle and I joined the group of students gathering around Meadow.

“As far as I’m concerned, the only objective is for you all to not get lit up and to take out a handful of others, and I’m not going to dictate how you do those things.

Leave Hollis to me, but feel free to take a few shots at him in the meantime.

It can’t hurt to keep him busy and let him think we’re trying for him.

Everybody good?” Meadow asked, and I internally chuckled at her vastly different founder’s descendant leadership style compared to how Callan had operated during Capture the Roses last spring.

At the thought of Callan, I glanced around. With the charging of the verdant shield happening in a few hours, shouldn’t he be here by now?

“Team Autumn!” Our group called in a joint cheer, then each person picked up an orange-ember lantern and began to scatter. I looked toward the other side of the orchard and saw green lights beginning to stretch across the orchard like fireflies. Those were our targets.

“Stick together?” I asked Aurielle, and she nodded.

“Of course. Ferns are notoriously good at hiding things. If you’re willing to get low with me, we can hide out until things slow down and then try to take out a couple of targets?” Aurielle suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” I followed Aurielle as we dashed through the trees.

This wasn’t a typical orchard, where trees were planted in neat rows and clear of underbrush.

Instead, a mixed variety of fruit trees were scattered in among the towering trees of the forest, and the floor was littered with grasses, ferns, moss, and fall flowers.

About twenty feet to my left, I saw an orange burst of light as someone from Team Summer was presumably splattered with bioluminescent plant dust. The receiver let out a squeal and a disgruntled, “Well, hollyhocks .”

“ Lux dispere ,” I heard from above and jutted my gaze into the trees, where a tree affinity with a green lantern was aiming their light in my and Aurielle’s direction.

“Aurielle, run!” I shouted. We picked up the pace and veered to the right, away from the large tree above us that was raining down green dust.

After about thirty seconds of sprinting, Aurielle called, “Follow me!” She dove into a thicket of ferns feetfirst and promptly disappeared. I didn’t have time to do anything but pray for luck and follow her.

To my shock, we slid into a smooth, slender hollow in the earth. When my heart rate slowed enough for me to take in our surroundings, I saw that we were covered from above by a perfectly convex ceiling of ferns.

“We made it!” Aurielle gasped. “I was just looking for the right spot to create a thick covering for us. This should protect us from the tree walkers, and most people on the ground will run right past us.”

“Good thinking,” I said, still breathing a little too fast. “I think the ferns are shimmying, though. Won’t that give us away?”

“Oh, fronds . Relax, everyone,” Aurielle said, and the ferns stilled.

We lay on our bellies in the hollow for a few minutes, listening to the commotion outside. There were periods of quiet followed by shouts of “ Lux dispere ” and then usually some level of magical botanist profanity.

We both froze as a quiet but sharp rustle came from overhead, and the ferns began to frantically shake.

“Gahhh!” I shouted as a pair of booted feet came flying into the hollow.

Aurielle screeched, and the ferns rustled closer to us, creeping toward the intruder.

I turned and spotted a swoosh of chestnut-brown hair and a flash of familiar tattoos.

The body wasn’t just anybody.

“Callan!” I gasped.

The tree founder’s descendant had finally made his arrival.