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Chapter Fifty-Six

A bout ten minutes into our hike to the moss conservatory, I understood why Meadow had provided me a pair of trekking poles.

Shortly after leaving her house, we had stepped off the main trail into a section of the forest with a sign on the ground that read “No walking in this area. Sensitive ground plants.”

Now, the path began to increase in incline, and soon we were climbing a set of natural stairs, made of earth and moss and tree roots. Meadow extended her trekking poles, and I followed her lead.

The soft sounds of the forest and the birds and critters within were soon replaced by the rushing of water. We had to be approaching a waterfall. We rounded a bend on the steep, narrow trail, and I paused to admire the streaming expanse of water trailing off the rocks to our left.

Heavy mist sprayed my face as we climbed, so close to the waterfall that it felt like it was raining. Rainbows danced inches above the moist ground below us.

Finally, Meadow stopped her ascent. She waited for the three of us to reach her then stepped between two trees in the thickest part of the forest. When I got closer, I saw that one tree was growing to the right, the other to the left, forming an intertwining of branches that created an arch.

Moss covered nearly every inch of the bark.

“Here we go,” Meadow said before disappearing through the arched thicket.

I glanced back at Callan, and he nodded. “Go ahead.”

With one last glance at the waterfall to my left, I turned and stepped through the arching trees. We were at a moss-riddled entrance to a green building, the entire area camouflaged to the outside, perfectly protected by trees and draping moss.

“Has anyone ever stumbled across this who wasn’t supposed to?” I asked. I assumed that any person who came through here without knowing what they were looking for would stroll right past—that was how well hidden it was.

Callan nodded toward the emerald ring on my finger. “Everyone needs a charged gemstone to pass through and see what’s really there, just like at the academy. If someone did get close, a botanist dressed as a park ranger would quickly arrive to escort them away from the sensitive plants .”

“Ready to go in?” Meadow asked, and we nodded. “Okay, then. Time to meet my mom.” Meadow pushed open a door concealed with a curtain of moss, and we followed her inside.

Just like when we entered the tree conservatory, I felt access to my power leave me, but I couldn’t dwell on it for long as I took in the area.

My eyes traveled everywhere as I examined the spacious room.

Everything about it felt alive. There were bright, warm lamps of various shapes and sizes littering the floor, and a domed glass ceiling let in natural light.

There was a modern reception counter to the right for visitors to the conservatory to check in, a large open area with tables and displays of various plants and equipment, and then four hallways that I assumed led to other rooms off of this central, rounded glass pod. The entire floor was a carpet of moss.

We walked to the reception counter, and Meadow waved at the man behind it.

“Meadow! Your mom said we could expect you and some friends today. I’ll page her.”

I tilted my head upward, taking in a few slashes of light from outside. The light in the room had a soft green cast, due to the moss that was creeping over the dome above.

“This is spectacular,” I said, imagining what it would be like to grow up with this as your playground and study area.

“Meadow, there you are!” Meadow’s mom pulled her into a hug, and I watched with amusement as Meadow tried to escape the full force of it.

I recognized her mom from the brief glimpse I’d had on the summer solstice at Evergreen Academy.

Meadow’s mom had the same heart-shaped face and espresso eyes as Meadow, but instead of the black hair touched with a few faded pops of purple, her hair was a more natural black, her skin a warm brown, and she stood with much better posture.

Her outfit indicated she was already dressed for the gala, and she looked regal in an evening gown of deep-green. Still, there was a hint of working scientist remaining in her formal dress. She wore a badge hooked to a lanyard hanging from her neck, showcasing her credentials.

Meadow’s mom finally released her from the hug.

“Callan, Hollis, hello again. And you must be Briar. I’m Marisol.

It’s a pleasure to have you here. Now, I wish I could chat longer, but you all need to get changed for the gala.

Meadow tells me you have some observations you need to make for a school project?

Help yourself to any equipment. Enjoy yourselves tonight. ”

“Let’s get this over with,” Meadow murmured and led us to a multipurpose room that was reminiscent of a swanky spa. The walls were wood-paneled, the air a touch humid. Callan and Hollis peeled off to the rooms on the right, and Meadow and I stepped behind separate curtains to get dressed.

When I emerged in a business-casual outfit I had prepared for the annual strategic meeting, Meadow shook her head. “Sorry, that’s not going to cut it. Luckily for you, I keep a few outfits here.”

Meadow riffled through a closet that was camouflaged to the room behind a wood-paneled door and then held up a silky basil-green dress.

“You’re a little taller than me, so it might be a bit short, but this is more on dress code.

Now, you know I don’t care about those sorts of things, but if you stick out like a sore thumb, it’s not going to do us any favors. ”

I took the dress from Meadow and changed, and then we both tackled styling our hair. Other magical botanists began to enter the room, entering in hiking clothes and leaving runway ready.

“I’m not in a hurry to get out there. It’s going to be a social nightmare for me,” Meadow said. Both of us were fully ready, but we plopped down on some cushioned benches and snacked on nuts and hummus.

“Everyone wants to talk to the daughter of the moss conservatory caretaker, I’m guessing?” I asked.

“Not only that, but they want to know about school, what I’m planning to do afterward, etcetera, etcetera.

Sometimes, I try out different outrageous responses just to see how they react.

We can hide out in here for a bit and pretend we’re working on the ‘research project’ you all supposedly traveled here for. ”

I laughed. It felt good to unwind with Meadow like this after the intensity of the morning and before we put on our party faces and joined the others.

“How long will your mom be the caretaker here? Is it an elected position?”

“It’s application-based. Or, at least, it was. ”

“What do you mean? Is something changing?”

Meadow’s expression tightened. “There’s a proposal out to shift the position to a founder’s descendant appointment only.

My mom might be safe, but she’s in an interesting position.

She’s not a founder’s descendant, but my dad was before he passed away, and I’m obviously a founder’s descendant.

It’s hard to say what will happen if this proposal goes through.

My mom has put on a brave face, but I think she’s privately nervous. ”

Something clicked into place then. “Is that why you were eager to join the Root and Vine Society?” I whispered even though the lounge was now empty. “Are you against that proposal?”

Meadow sighed but nodded. “Callan, Hollis, and I are a new wave of founders’ descendants.

Or maybe an old wave. We want things to remain fair across the society of magical botanists, like it was for our grandparents.

But there are a few powerful people in the current generation of control who are trying to move power back into the hands of founders’ descendants as the fracturing between the affinities is brewing.

They seem to think that will make us stronger. ”

It tracked with everything Callan had ever told me. “And that’s why we need the book.”

“There are groups trying to resist these changes in other ways, but the book would be a major point of leverage, for sure. If this proposal passes tonight… a lot is going to change for the mosses who aren’t founders’ descendants.”

“It’s being voted on tonight?”

“Yep, and word is that some of the other affinities have similar proposals up for discussion at their annual meetings this week as well.”

My stomach dropped. No wonder Callan had been so eager to get the search for the book underway.

While I didn’t fully understand the structure of the society, it was clear from the reaction of these three that things were changing.

And if they—founders’ descendants who stood to benefit from these changes—were actively resisting it, what did that mean for people with less power, like my friends back at Evergreen Academy?

“Well, I guess we’ve left Hollis and Rhodes on their own for long enough. Ready to do this?”

I took a deep breath and smoothed the skirt of my borrowed dress. “Lead the way.”