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Chapter Sixty-Three

“ H ello to you,” Wyatt said, a tense smile forming on his face.

He shifted his gaze to me, and I saw his eyes take note of my auburn hair.

“And this must be the famous Briar. This is a pleasant surprise. I thought I might have to track her down.” The words were delivered with a note of humor that I thought should probably unnerve me.

But as much as I was in shock at Wyatt’s appearance at the academy, I couldn’t help studying him, not having gotten a glimpse of him at the tree conservatory.

Both brothers had the olive skin tone and rich chestnut hair of their mother, but Wyatt was a tad stockier and had a thick beard that was speckled with a few flecks of red, obviously from their father.

“What brings you to Evergreen Academy, Wyatt?” Callan asked, his voice pleasantly neutral.

Wyatt stepped closer, lowering his voice. “I think you know what,” he said to Callan then sliced his eyes to me, a slight smile still lingering on his face.

I shifted my weight on my feet.

“You’re going to have to elaborate,” Callan said, voice still unnervingly calm .

“Someone stole a little”—he moved two fingers in the air, as if using a writing utensil—“artifact.”

My stomach sank. Our fake quill at the tree conservatory had worked for a whole day or two, but now we were busted.

“I’m here to retrieve it,” Wyatt continued.

“I wish you good luck,” Callan said, his eyes never leaving his brother’s. There was a soft rustling sound, and vines from trees on both sides of the atrium began snaking casually across the ground.

Wyatt eyed the vines that were heading for his ankles. “I thought we could handle this more casually—family to family, you know,” Wyatt said.

“Callan,” I said slowly, hoping to cool the situation. The vines receded, just slightly.

“Yes, family to family,” Callan agreed. “Briar, can you give us some space? My brother and I have some business to sort out.” He shot me a look, and his eyes were filled with a depth of expression I knew well. He was buying me time.

“Sure, take all the time you need,” I said, trying to convey that I understood.

“Not so fast,” Wyatt said. “Something tells me this concerns you too.”

“It doesn’t,” Callan said firmly, and to my surprise, Wyatt relented with a casual shrug.

As I headed toward the central vein, movement along the floor caught my eye, and I noticed a vine pull back, snaking into a small vacancy near the door.

I didn’t have time to dwell on whether Callan was going to threaten his brother with vines again, and I hustled into the hallway.

There, I had to make a decision. I could either run for the exit door and go to the petal portal, like Callan wanted, or I could pursue the plan that was rapidly forming in my mind.

Callan’s plan for me to hide the quill somewhere was the logical choice on such short notice, but how long would that work?

Wyatt obviously knew that the quill had been taken.

If the quill—and, subsequently, the Vanished Compendium— were as important to the magical botanical community as the Root and Vine Society suggested, we needed to throw them off the trail.

And I needed a way to make sure this didn’t come back to Callan. He had sacrificed enough for me.

I squared my shoulders and ran up the stairs to the second level instead.

I nearly tripped on the last step but steadied myself and headed straight for my room.

My heart was beating faster than an unfurling fern coil as I dropped to my knees and sifted through my trinkets shelf, suddenly very grateful that Yasmin hadn’t returned from winter break yet.

If Wyatt wanted a quill, I would give him one. “ Family to family ,” I murmured. Well, when your family was as sketchy as Callan’s, you made your own. And today, that was me.

Callan thought he needed to protect me. That was all well and good. But this time, I was going to be the one to look out for him. I just needed to buy us a little time. I found what I needed then carefully settled the silk pouch into my satchel.

I was heading to the entrance atrium when the door to Professor East’s office swung open. He ushered me inside. “The elder Mr. Rhodes is here for the quill, isn’t he?”

My eyes widened as shock coursed through me. Professor East knew about the quill?

“Do you have it on you?” Professor East asked, obviously realizing that I was too startled to answer his first question.

“How…”

“Do you trust me, Ms. Whelan?”

I nodded without hesitation. “Of course.”

“Give me the quill. I’ll take care of it.”

“But I was going to?—”

“Your plan is a good one, but you will get in serious trouble. We don’t need the DBI or the board having any reason to target you right now, Briar. Give me the quill. ”

I opened the flap of my satchel and passed the goose feather to my instructor.

He took the quill and twirled it slowly. “Clever, Ms. Whelan.”

My stomach clenched. Did he know?

Before I could respond, he said, “Thank you. And Briar…”

I met his eyes, which were kind but shadowed with sadness.

“I hope I can buy you some time,” he said. “Make good use of it, all right?”

“Professor East, what are you?—”

“I’ll take it from here. Go on back into the entrance atrium, and I’ll join you in a minute.”

Adrenaline was still pumping through my veins, but I nodded and had to keep myself from running back to where I had left Callan.

I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t have time to process the hollow feeling that Professor East’s words left in my stomach.