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Chapter Twenty-Four

“ W hen do you think you’ll get your first call out to the coast?” Yasmin asked Aurielle as we topped off our evening tea.

“Hopefully soon. I’m ready to find out whether I’m going to love it or hate it. I wonder how things are going for Coral,” Aurielle said.

Coral was away on her second field studies mission already, studying ferns alongside a secluded section of river deep in the woods outside of campus.

I was trying not to get concerned each time field studies assignments came up, but I was beginning to become genuinely nervous.

It felt like it was all the second-years were talking about around campus lately.

But I was sticking to my plan of waiting until the first of November to bring it up with Professor East.

Still, my stomach was unsettled. What if Callan had been wrong in his theory about the envelopes being prepared by the instructor’s magic?

What if I was never going to find one because my magic was blocked?

Though, with the way Yasmin and Coral had both seemed less than thrilled about the direction of their projects, maybe it was just as well that I didn’t have an assignment yet.

“I’m sure she’ll be exhausted when she gets back. They left at, what, five a.m.?” I glanced at my watch. “It’s almost nine now.”

At that, Yasmin yawned. “And that’s my cue to head to bed. Are you staying up for a bit?”

I sighed. “I have that pollinator study for floral affinities tonight.”

“That’s right. The bats,” Yasmin made a face.

“Where’s the study?” Aurielle asked.

“It’s out in the north corner, near the Perilous Grove.”

“Want me to tag along? I haven’t explored that area with my cartography club yet. It could be interesting to see how the plants behave at night.”

“Really?” I brightened. Waiting around for up to a few hours to observe bats would be much easier with a companion.

“Well, now I feel like a bad friend. Want me to come too?” Yasmin stifled a yawn.

“No way. You’ll fall asleep on the walk over there. Aurielle and I have it under control,” I said.

We packed a few supplies from one of the first-floor lab rooms, then Aurielle and I headed into the woods. The moon was nearly full tonight, but we both carried lanterns to have a clear view of our notebooks when we reached the research site.

“So, how is cartography club going? I wish I had time to join you,” I said once we set out into the woods.

“It’s been fun. There are maps of the campus, of course, but not to this level.

The plant life is changing all the time, so that’s what we’ve been documenting.

I don’t know if anyone will ever use it, but it’s nice to have a record of the species here and the strange little microecosystems they create. ”

“Do you have a favorite area you’ve explored?”

Aurielle thought for a moment. “There’s an interesting spot in the southeast corner where licorice ferns are growing over a bunch of stumps. They remind me of heads of hair on a mannequin.”

I laughed. “That sounds awesome.”

“Oh, and we did make one funny discovery, though it’s not related to plants.

We were surveying some grasses along the wall, and I spotted a miniature arch carved into it.

It kind of reminded me of a fairy door. I’m guessing it was created by one of the moss affinities a long time ago. Seems like something they would do.”

I nearly tripped on a root but steadied myself. “Where did you find it?”

“West side of campus, by the citrus orchards.”

I chewed my lower lip. The arch I had seen at the petal portal was on the south side of campus. How many of those doors were there? And did they each allow passage if you had a pendant, or was that just a coincidence?

Somehow, the topic of how Meadow and I had snuck onto campus had never come up with my friends. They probably assumed we’d come through the front gate. After Callan’s reaction to the pendant, I decided not to share that piece of the story.

“Interesting,” I said. “Remember how I told you about coming to campus this summer? I saw one of those fairy doors along the wall where I parked.”

“Huh,” Aurielle said. “Maybe you could take me by it sometime? I’d like to map that one too.”

“Sure,” I agreed. “Okay, I see the marker.” I reached out for the florescent green tag that had been left on the tree.

We trudged off the trail until I spotted the M. evenia vine I was going to be tracking, the tree it was hanging from denoted with another green tag. “Let’s stretch out here.”

We set up our blanket and readied our supplies. I handed Aurielle a pair of night-vision binoculars.

“Mind if I look around?” she asked, palming her cartographer’s notebook and lifting her lantern toward a nearby tree. The freckles scattered across her nose were illuminated by the light, and her soft blond curls tousled in the gentle breeze.

“Not at all. I’ve heard it can sometimes take hours for a bat to come by.” I was grateful we had a clear night, free of rain.

Aurielle began to walk a perimeter while I sketched the unique flowers, leaves, and nectar cup of the M. evenia vine by lantern light.

After about twenty minutes, Aurielle returned and flopped her notebook onto the blanket beside me.

“Find anything?” I asked, putting my pencil down.

“I saw some night-blooming phlox and caught a scent of their honey-like fragrance. It was amazing. Any sign of the bats?”

“Not yet.”

There was movement down the trail, and I lifted my binoculars.

“The bats?” Aurielle asked.

I shook my head. “Students.”

As they drew closer, the outlines became familiar. It was Callan and Hollis, floating some plant materials on leaves along the narrow trail that ran by where we sat. Glow stick lights were hanging from their belt loops.

Hollis glanced in our direction, saw us looking, and winked before continuing along the trail.

Callan’s gaze caught mine as he walked past, and even in the dim light, I felt the intensity of it. Then he glanced at the tree where the M. evenia vine hung. “Pollinator studies?” he asked. There was a playfulness in his expression but a little heat too. I sucked in a breath.

“You got it,” I said.

“I heard Professor East planted that vine himself, and he does something to increase the echolocation response on research nights so that students have a better chance of seeing the bats,” Callan said .

“I hope you’re right. I’m sure Aurielle doesn’t want to camp out with me all night,” I said.

Callan glanced down the trail where Hollis was already disappearing, only the flicker of his glow stick indicating where he was. Callan dropped his voice low, locked eyes with me, and said, “I could think of worse ways to spend an evening.”

My stomach flipped .

He raised his voice and nodded to Aurielle. “Good luck, you two . ”

“Thanks,” Aurielle called as I struggled to recover from the way his words had made me feel.

“ Fronds , Hollis is a flirt. Did you see that wink? Too bad he doesn’t realize his charms don’t work on everyone,” Aurielle said once Callan’s light began to disappear.

Aurielle had never expressed interest in anyone at Evergreen Academy or mentioned a significant other back home. In fact, a few times she’d been vocal that she had no interest in romantic relationships.

“Coral might have tried to fling a fern at him for that wink,” I said, and Aurielle laughed.

The heat of Callan’s gaze was still lingering in my mind. I studiously tried to force myself to refocus on watching the M. evenia vine. I couldn’t miss the bat because I was distracted by a certain someone .

A moment later, there was a soft graze against my outer thigh, and I looked down to see that a flurry of leaves had surreptitiously slid up the side of my legs where I sat.

Automatically, I set down the binoculars and pulled the note out of the pile. So much for being focused.

You look cute in reconnaissance gear .

I felt my cheeks flush. For a guy who wanted whatever was going on between us to stay under the radar, he sure knew how to play. I was debating what to send on a note back to him when Aurielle pointed into the trees above us to the north. She held her binoculars to her eyes.

“There! I see a bat.”

My binoculars were back in place in an instant, and I focused on the nectar cup dangling from the vine like a succulent treat for the bats.

Time seemed to freeze as we watched the winged creature approach the M. evenia vine, attracted by its own sonar echoing back from the vine’s disc-shaped leaves. We were lucky to be witnessing this since, outside of Evergreen Academy, this vine was endemic to Cuba.

The bat flitted in and got to the nectar in the cup hanging below the flowers, and the M. evenia vine successfully transferred its pollen.

The whole thing was over in seconds. I put down my binoculars and finished the anatomical sketch I’d been working on then listed the new observations while they were fresh in my mind. I had a timer and sonar sensor running, and I recorded each value.

“All in a night’s work,” Aurielle said as she closed her notebook and stood.

“I have to admit, that was worth the late night.” I moved my pencil quickly across the page, putting the finishing touches on my notes.

A sensation like electricity began trickling up my arms, and I dropped the pencil. I loosely ran my hands over the blanket, trying to decipher where it had come from.

“Are you ready to head back?” Aurielle asked, not appearing to have experienced it.

The electricity rippled to the right, and I glimpsed a glowing moonflower off the side of the path, seeming to beckon in the direction of the Perilous Grove. “I’m going to make a stop first. You head back.”

“You sure?” Aurielle asked, obviously wondering why I wanted to linger in the dark forest after midnight. “Oh, are you planning to meet up with C?—”

I cut her off with a slice of my hand and a laugh.

“That’s not it! We’re close to the Perilous Grove, and I haven’t been out there yet this school year.

I want to check it out while I’m here.” I couldn’t explain what was drawing me there to Aurielle, but it had to be a message from the Root and Vine Society.

Aurielle’s face was uneasy, but I reassured her. “I’ll be fine. Just a pit stop, and then I’ll head back. You go and get some sleep.”

“Okay. Good luck, B.”

I was grateful for Aurielle’s tendency not to pry, knowing I likely would have been peppered with a few more questions if Yasmin or Coral were here.

I picked one of the two lanterns off the ground, and Aurielle lifted the other.

“Thanks. And thanks for keeping me company on the bat mission. See you in the morning.”

The soft earth crunched under my feet as I cut off the trail and ventured into the thicket deeper in the woods, holding the lantern aloft to light my path.

The moonflowers did indeed lead to the Perilous Grove, and when I got there, I turned around in a circle, unsure where to look. Why hadn’t the message drawn me to the Evergreen Conservatory? There was a chill in the air that was a staple of the fall in Weed, and I tugged up the collar of my coat.

The sound of soft creaking set me on high alert, and I swiveled, anticipating seeing Kaito or possibly Callan.

But the eerie noise had come from the ten-foot-tall corpse plant.

It wasn’t due to open for a few more months when it would emit the carcass-like smell that—in a human botanical garden—would draw a crowd of visitors a mile long.

But as I stepped toward it, the massive green exterior unfurled in front of my eyes. It folded outward to reveal a purple interior while the spadix remained standing tall, like a thick sword protruding from a flower.

I inhaled sharply and stepped closer. It wasn’t until I was right next to the plant that I realized I didn’t smell anything.

Despite my lack of ability to perform Floracantus on campus, it seemed that some of my innate powers were still intact and my defensive plant affinity was kicking in to block the pungent odor.

That, or this wasn’t an official bloom and the plant wasn’t producing the smell at all.

I wasn’t sure which possibility was most surprising.

My eyes landed on a letter made of green leaves, nestled in the giant open plant. With shaky hands, I reached out and removed it from the corpse plant.

Once the envelope was in my hand, the corpse flower creaked and slowly reversed its previous actions, folding up once more.

I stumbled to a nearby stump and sat down, dizzy from what had just occurred. I’d been attending Evergreen Academy for a year now. I’d seen magic. But that display had been breathtaking .

My hands shook as I broke the seal of deep myrtle-green wax and opened the letter that had been so elaborately delivered.

You have been invited to a field study in counterpoison development. This study is classified. If you accept, submit this invitation to Professor East for further instructions.

I let out a laugh of exhilarated disbelief. Counter-poison development ? Classified ? Was this why it had taken so long for me to receive an invitation?

I turned to the corpse flower and gave a small salute of thanks.

It was difficult to contain my awed smile as I walked back to campus, envelope securely in hand. I finally had a field studies assignment, and I had a feeling it was a good one.