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Chapter Fifty-Nine

“ Y ou two must have had quite the night.” Hollis nodded toward where Callan was loading the plane with a vigor that was more appropriate for chopping wood than loading luggage. “He went tree walking before sunrise. It’s kind of one of his stress signals.”

“Did he?” I asked evasively.

“Something tells me it’s related to you,” Hollis said, voice dripping with implication.

I sighed. “The stress of everything that’s going on is leading him to put… parameters on our relationship.”

Hollis nodded again, as if he wasn’t surprised. “Aww. Yeah, I kind of saw that one coming, especially after his brother showed up.”

“I take it those two don’t have the best relationship?”

“Things are changing right now. It has us all on edge. And with you having the power that you do, Rhodes doesn’t want to see you taken advantage of.”

“Yeah, it seems like yesterday spooked him. We spoke with Lira—the mosses representative on the Board of Regents—last night, and she brought up how ‘cozy’ the two of us looked.” I put the word in quotes.

“And she made a strange comment about my field studies, but it seems like the board relinquished their control of my field studies assignment. So shouldn’t that make Callan less worried?

” I had been thinking about it overnight, and more questions had arisen.

Hollis glanced toward the plane again, making sure Callan was still preoccupied and out of earshot. “What did she say about your field studies?”

“That the board didn’t get to have the final say on it. Callan said Professor East was allowed to select my study.”

Hollis hesitated before his next words. “Did Callan ever tell you why he started the school year so late?”

“He was helping set up the field studies assignments.” I said it slowly, wondering where Hollis was going with this.

“Yes, but do you know why he agreed to do that?”

“I kind of assumed his parents made him.”

“Listen, he’s going to be pissed at me for telling you this, but I think you should know.

He wasn’t forced into it. Callan made a deal.

He agreed to serve as a student ambassador and take on the field studies assignment his mom wanted for him.

In exchange, the board agreed to allow Professor East to have control over one field study of his choice. ”

“What?” Something was twisting uncomfortably inside me even as the words confirmed what Lira had hinted at. “And Professor East chose me?”

“Either he did, or someone”—his eyes darted to Callan—“helped him arrange the whole thing all along.”

My stomach dropped. “So he agreed to do his parents’ bidding and work on a project he has no passion for… for me?”

“That pretty much sums it up. I wasn’t privy to all the details, but based on what I know, it’s not a hard leap to make.”

“No… Oh no.” My stomach was twisted into knots. All this time, I had been enjoying a field studies assignment with Petra that was exactly what I needed and free of any kind of pressure from the bo ard, all because Callan had elected to forgo his dreams on my behalf. “I feel awful.”

“You shouldn’t. That was Callan being Callan. He’s a born protector. But I’m not sure that he’s ever had anyone he cares about as much as you. He’s going to make decisions that keep you out of harm’s way even if it costs him something.”

Startled by the unexpected insight from Hollis, I cast my eyes toward Callan. He seemed to be double-checking every inch of the exterior of the plane.

“I wish he would have told me. Maybe we could have made some other arrangement. Not that I want to be under the board’s thumb, but I hate that he had to take all that on.”

Hollis shook his head. “I know him better than almost anyone, and even if he had told you what was going on, I don’t think it would have changed how things shook out. There’s a battle of wills in that family, and Callan’s is as strong as the rest of them.”

A door slammed behind us, and Meadow emerged from her house, hair wild and backpack hanging off one shoulder. “Is it time to load up?”

“Someone stayed up too late dyeing all the party favor moss soaps purple.” Hollis smirked.

Meadow scowled. “Hey, you helped. It was satisfying to break up some of the green in the room. Especially after the outcome of the meeting.”

“The outcome?” I asked.

“I’ll fill you in on the flight. But it’s not the one we were hoping for.”

As I followed her to the tiny plane, I took one last look around the towering forest that surrounded her home. Our trip had been bittersweet.

Callan had taken me into his arms, and we had both finally poured everything we felt about each other into that kiss.

We’d gotten the quill. Our main mission was accomplished.

But Alex and Wyatt had set Callan even more on edge than he already was, and things were shifting within the society that could have implications far beyond the four of us.

Our focus had to be on combating those changes, on fighting to preserve the world that had become my second home.

The magic that had overtaken us in the tree conservatory and caused Callan to let his guard down long enough to give me two kisses I would never forget was being left behind in Washington.

It was time to go home, where real life, including an Alex-sized problem, was waiting.