Page 65

Chapter Sixty-Five

I let out a soft gasp.

Callan ushered me through the slender entrance he had just revealed, and we began to climb the narrow, curving stairs inside the wall. The door slid closed behind us.

“What is this?” I asked, the words barely more than a whisper.

“An old hideaway of the founders.” We climbed a dozen more steps and emerged in a small wooden room with leaf-shaped stained glass windows the size of my hand running along the top of the wall. Sunlight streamed through, casting rainbows all around us.

“We’re in the roof of the academy?”

“Basically. A small corner of it.” Callan pushed open a large, oval window, and I saw that thick tree branches reached right to the window.

“Wait. Do you get to the treehouses this way sometimes?”

Callan nodded. “It’s a shortcut.”

I turned my attention back to the room, which had a few wooden seats with deep-green cushions, three or four small, rounded tables, elegant gold lamps, and a few dusty bookshelves filled with thick books.

A large skylight porthole window above provided all the light the room needed at this time of day.

“Are there more of these?” I asked, but when I twirled around toward Callan, he was watching me intently.

“What happened back there?”

“I was hoping you could tell me. Do you know why Professor East helped us?”

Callan’s jaw flexed. “I believe I do. Let’s just say that his goals align with ours. Unfortunately, I think he just fell on his sword for us. And now that Wyatt has the quill… our plans are going to have to change.” He ran a hand through his hair, his brain already roving through the options.

I didn’t let him rove for long before I took his hands in mine. His words about Professor East chilled me, but I had one sliver of hope to offer. “Wyatt doesn’t have the quill,” I said softly.

“What do you mean? Professor East let him take it.”

“Professor East let him take a quill. The quill I gave him.”

Callan’s eyes narrowed then widened. “What did you do, local?”

“I did what any member of the Root and Vine Society worth their salt would do. What are the tenets? Detect, distract, decoy…” My lips twisted into a smile.

Callan tilted his head. “Decoy?”

“Oh, Mr. Rhodes, you didn’t think I let your brother walk off with the real quill, did you?” I could barely contain my mirth now.

“But he tested it out. He said it was real.”

I pulled the eagle feather out of my bag and gently ran a finger along its edge. “Is he sure about that?”

Callan eyed the eagle feather, cocking his head. “That’s not the quill from the tree conservatory.”

“It doesn’t look like it is,” I conceded.

A smile spread across his face so slowly that it was like watching the sun rise over Mount Shasta. Glorious.

“You didn’t,” he said .

“I did.”

“Then what quill does my brother have?”

“I made more than one fake quill in prop class. When you warned me to run off with the real one, I snagged the second fake instead. It was sitting in a box in my room, waiting for its time to shine. I wasn’t sure if it would fool Wyatt indefinitely, but it buys us a little time to try to get the block off of this one. ”

“I should know better than to underestimate you by now, local.”

“You really should.” I pursed my lips.

“I had no idea your defensive skills had grown to this level. You managed to push the properties of the camouflage beyond the plant-based ink and into the rest of the feather.” He twisted the base of the feather in a slow circle. “Your power… it’s astounding.”

“So you don’t think I’m in need of protection anymore?” I asked, pushing my luck. Our conversation at the moss conservatory’s gala was still fresh in my mind.

Callan hesitated. “My concerns have nothing to do with what I think of your abilities and everything to do with not trusting others. It comes from experience. And I think things are about to get a whole lot worse.”

My stomach clenched at his predictions, but I wanted to hold on to this moment between us a little longer. “Well, you’ve never experienced my full power, have you?”

“No,” he said slowly, a touch of delight in his voice. “I don’t think I have.”

We stood there, locked in eye contact that was as intense as the rays of sun on the hottest day of summer until I finally broke the spell.

“I know one thing I want to do with my power,” I said, stepping back and reaching out to try to catch one of the rainbow beams that had cast itself in my direction.

Callan raised an eyebrow and cocked a half smile. “What’s that? ”

“Find the Vanished Compendium .”

Callan’s grin widened. “Well, then local, you and I have that in common.”

I met his eyes. “And if we can figure out how to unblock the quill and it leads us to the book?”

His eyes were locked on mine, and they crinkled at the corners. “If we find it, then the power balance shifts.”

“Exactly.” We had a brief moment of staring blissfully at each other until Callan cleared his throat.

“About that,” he said. “I think I know what’s blocking the quill from working as a compass. I was getting ready to tell you my theory when Wyatt showed up.”

There was a reluctant note in his voice, and I tried not to sound wary as I asked, “What is it?”

Callan swallowed. “I’m not sure you’re going to like the solution.”

“Just lay it out there, Callan.”

“I think we’re going to have to kill Frank.”

“Frank?” Confusion roiled through me. Why was Callan talking about killing someone?

“Weed, California’s oldest tree.”

I sucked in a breath. “By the leaves . Tell me everything.”