Page 50

Chapter Fifty

I n the morning, Meadow allowed us to raid the fruit and oatmeal in the kitchen, and then we loaded up our packs.

“You three good?” she asked, shrugging into a raincoat the color of peas.

“I think so. Thanks for giving us a place to crash, and I promise we’ll be back in time for the annual strategic meeting tonight. You’ll meet us here?” Callan asked.

Meadow nodded. “Enjoy your little covert operation,” she said wistfully. “I get to spend the entire morning shadowing my mom at work.” She lifted her travel coffee cup in a cheers gesture, grabbed a pair of trekking poles, and we followed her out the door.

In the light of day I could see that Meadow’s home was the only structure around.

Its architecture was designed in such a way that the walls reflected light and blended into the forest. Someone could walk by a few feet away and might not even notice it was there.

I imagined that from a short distance, it was practically invisible.

“Is this a special home for the caretakers of the conservatory?” I asked .

“You got it,” Meadow said.

“Is there one like this for the tree conservatory?”

“Kind of,” Callan said. Then, more quietly, “I’ll show you sometime, when all this is over.”

“Is that a promise?” I asked.

Meadow looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

I hurried to change the subject. “How close are the two conservatories?”

“Very. They even have a research area that overlaps. But the entrances are a few miles apart, and we can’t cross between the two without the proper credentials,” Callan explained.

Meadow came to a halt and pointed to a golf cart that was parked under a tree near the house. “I know you all probably wanted to tree walk, but that will be faster, and Hollis will be less likely to die.”

Hollis tipped an imaginary hat in Meadow’s direction.

“Good luck. I don’t want to bail any of you out if things go south.” Meadow waved with her trekking pole and continued onto an almost-imperceptible trail in the forest and disappeared into the woods.

The outside of the golf cart was covered in moss so that it was nearly camouflaged with the forest. The three of us climbed aboard, with Hollis immediately jumping into the driver’s seat.

Callan leaned toward me where we sat in the back, and his forearm brushed against mine. “Ready?”

I smiled. “Let’s do this.”

As Hollis steered us through a narrow trail through the trees, I took in the majesty of the rainforest in the daylight. Moss clung to each tree like scarves.

It was chilly in the morning, but we all wore layers, and I enjoyed the humidity in the air as it soaked into the skin on my face.

That feeling hit me again—the sensation of being hyperaware of every plant around me, from the tallest of trees to the tiniest of wood sorrels.

I stretched out my connection toward a nearby moss and murmured a Floracantus for growth then smiled in delight as it filled in a small empty patch on the tree.

I noticed Callan watching me out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t say anything.

The ferns along the trail were shimmying as we drove past, an obvious nod to the presence of Hollis, who was periodically whistling.

“Pull over here,” Callan said after about fifteen minutes, and Hollis parked on the side of the trail. When we stopped, I looked around in confusion.

We climbed out of the golf cart, and Hollis and I studied the towering trees and fern-covered forest floor around us, the mist settling around our ankles like touches of unscented smoke.

“Where do we go?” I asked.

Callan pointed up, and a smile spread over my face as realization dawned.

“Of course,” I murmured, already itching to scale the nearby maple.

“And this is where I leave you?” Hollis asked.

I glanced down at a slight movement near his feet and noticed that fern sporophytes were uncurling at a rapid rate around him. Would this entire trail be covered in ferns when we got back?

Callan nodded. “If you see anything unusual, send word.”

“You got it, boss.” Hollis put the shuttle back into gear and sped off. I had a feeling he was going to have fun patrolling the forest. We weren’t expecting anything unusual, but being prepared was always better than the alternative.

I scaled the tree after Callan, and when we reached the canopy, the branches automatically formed a trail for us, as if they were used to doing this, perhaps with more demanding botanists.

“How is Hollis going to send word?” I asked absently, marveling at the canopy as we walked.

Everything was so lush and green . I thought I was used to green—growing up in Weed and then living at Evergreen Academy—but nothing could have prepared me for this.

With no manmade structures to be seen, I felt like I had been transported back in time.

This could be a Jurassic-era world, not the twenty-first century.

“I primed some leaves for him. They’re already connected to me, so all he has to do is write down a note, and they’ll come to me.”

The air smelled prominently of pine, crisp and refreshing. As we tree walked, I let my hands skim the leaves, marveling at the variety of soft, smooth textures ranging from the size of my thumbnail to as large as one of the baskets we used to transport food from the fields at the academy.

We walked for about ten minutes, with the only sounds around us being the tweeting and singing of birds, and then Callan slowed. I followed his gaze and stuck out my arms to steady myself as the vision ahead formed in front of my eyes.

A perfectly camouflaged, slightly oblong door with rounded edges was embedded in the trees, right here, twenty feet off the ground. Vines swirled around it, as if beckoning us forward.

We had arrived at the tree conservatory, and our mission was about to begin.