Page 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

“ W hoever had the idea for these fairy costumes was a genius. Oh wait, that was me!” Coral said as she put on her orange wings.

“We’re not fairies. We’re woodland sprites,” Aurielle corrected.

The four of us were in coordinating costumes—with Yasmin in lavender-purple, Aurielle in cornflower-blue, and me in dark-green.

We had vines and moss adhered to our outfits and earthy glitter tones highlighting our eyes and cheeks.

For people who didn’t celebrate Halloween, magical botanists sure knew how to do a costume.

“Don’t forget your foliage.” Yasmin settled a thin orange flower crown on Coral’s head.

We gathered our moss-covered lanterns—the final piece of our attire—and headed outside. Callan had dodged the question of whether he would come out tonight, but I couldn’t help searching the group, hoping to see him. As far as execution went, this costume far outdid my plant lady one.

When we reached the clearing where the garden party was being held, glowing moonflowers encircled the ground as well as beeswax candlelit pumpkins carved with botanical shapes.

Most of the costumes around us were nature-inspired in some way. I jumped to the side when a student started walking toward us that I almost didn’t see, their tree-person costume camouflaged so completely with the forest nearby.

“Gahh!” Coral shouted, apparently noticing the man a moment after I did. “You scared the spores out of me.”

The tree-costumed botanist smiled, white teeth appearing from somewhere in the greenery. “Sorry,” an amused voice said, and the tree continued on to join a group of students by the fire.

The four of us mingled with some of the other fern students and sampled the various snacks provided, all of which were served in tiny hollow pumpkins that my friends and I had prepared.

“Look at that costume! Wait. Is that… Hollis?” Coral’s voice was low as I followed her gaze to one of the firepits.

Hollis was wearing fabric that looked like a terracotta pot around his waist and had fern fronds splaying across his stomach, chest, and arms. He wore a spiked crown made of fern leaves that somehow made him look manly instead of ridiculous.

He was like a Greek god, if they’d ever dressed up in that much foliage.

“Coral, you might want to pick up your jaw before he notices,” Aurielle said.

“I just wasn’t expecting to see him in a costume, let alone one as good as that. He had to have put some real thought and planning into it.” Her eyes shot to Waylon, who was laughing with friends at another firepit. He hadn’t dressed up.

“Is someone acknowledging that the fern founder’s descendant might not be a total jerk?” Yasmin asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I give credit where credit is due,” Coral said.

Once we all managed to get over the shock of Hollis’s incredibly detailed costume, we wandered around the field, chatting with classmates and admiring costumes.

After about an hour of socializing, there was a whisper of a breeze at the back of my neck.

I turned, and a light glowing in the forest caught my attention.

I wandered toward it, wondering if it was part of someone’s costume.

But then a swirl of leaves kicked up around my ankles, and I snagged a piece of paper from the air.

The paper had the familiar design of roots and leaves printed on it and was shaped like an arrow. As I held it, the arrow spun so that it was pointing deeper into the forest. I glanced back toward the clearing.

Yasmin was deep in conversation with a classmate, Coral was laughing with Waylon, and Aurielle was admiring the beadwork on a rainforest-inspired costume, complete with living butterflies flitting around it.

I clutched the paper and stepped deeper into the forest, knowing exactly what was going on. After weeks of wondering when it would happen, my initiation to the Root and Vine Society was about to begin.