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Towing Yarrow behind her, Terlu caught up with Rowan and Ambrel beneath the snow-crusted pine trees.

She panted, catching her breath. Outside, the sky was a washed-out white, and the wind slapped against the pine trees.

The waves were crashing harder on the rocks, and the sea’s surface looked as if it had been shaken.

“Is everything okay?” Ambrel asked.

Rowan raised both her eyebrows at Yarrow in such a deliberate way that Terlu couldn’t help but think, This is a mistake . “Oh, look, you’ve decided to grace us with your presence. I guess we should drop everything and celebrate.”

Yarrow opened his mouth and closed it.

“Still have nothing to say to me?” Rowan asked.

“Hush,” Ambrel told her. “Terlu, what’s wrong?”

Yarrow had shifted partially behind Terlu, as if she could shield him from his sister.

She wished she was close enough to take his hand—he should know he wasn’t on his own, facing a hostile force.

“Short version: I believe the greenhouses are dying because of a malfunctioning spell,” she said briskly.

“We need to find and destroy the ingredients, or the spell will keep destroying greenhouse after greenhouse. The problem is we don’t know where the ingredients are.

They could be in any of the greenhouses. ”

“Or anywhere on the island,” Yarrow added.

Terlu nodded. “It’s a lot to search.” She wished Laiken had kept notes about where he’d cast the spell. He’d left meticulous notes about what the ingredients were, but not where .

Rowan stuck her hands on her hips. At the same moment, a wave crashed so hard on the rocks that the spray spattered on the snow. “So, you’re coming to us for help.” She aimed that at Yarrow, as if Terlu weren’t even there.

“We need everyone’s help,” Yarrow clarified.

“But my help, specifically. Me, your sister.” The edge in her voice was so sharp that it made Terlu wince. “You remember that, right? That I’m your sister?”

Terlu met Ambrel’s eyes. She could tell Rowan’s wife felt the same way she did: yes, they should talk; no, it shouldn’t be now. She was certain Yarrow was on the verge of bolting and only the fact that they were close to being able to save the greenhouse prevented him.

Ambrel laid a hand on her wife’s shoulder and whispered in her ear, but Rowan shifted her glare to her. “I have a lot of unsaid words that need to be said, and I’m going to say them.”

Sighing, Ambrel lowered her hand.

Wind whistled through the pine trees, knocking snow from the branches. It thumped down, startling a bird into the sky. We don’t have time for this. And he’s not ready. Terlu stepped forward. “Now isn’t—”

Yarrow spoke, “I missed you, Rowan.”

Rowan faltered before her rant even began. “Well.” She stopped and started again. “It’s unfair to jump right to that.” She poked his shoulder, her finger sinking deep into his coat. “You never showed it.”

“I know,” he said. “And I’m sorry.”

Again, she was speechless.

Terlu wondered if she should step away. This felt like an important moment, and it wasn’t one that she belonged in, but she’d promised Yarrow she’d speak for him—did he still want her to?

Standing behind her wife, Ambrel looked almost amused, and Terlu wondered if she’d seen Rowan speechless often. Probably not.

Rowan gaped at him. “That’s it? You’re not going to make excuses?”

He didn’t. Not a word.

“Not going to twist it to blame me? Or Dad? Or Laiken?”

“I should have written you back,” he said.

She looked unbalanced, like she’d wanted to flap her arms, shout, and stomp, but now…

“Huh. Yes, you should have. I was not much more than a child. It wasn’t my choice to leave, or if it was, I didn’t understand that I had a choice.

Besides, I thought you’d come too, as soon as you could. I didn’t understand it was goodbye.”

Yarrow said, “I’m glad you came back.”

Rowan narrowed her eyes as she studied him. “You’re lying.”

“A little,” he said. “It was quieter before.”

“But you missed me?” Rowan said.

“Yes.”

“Well.” She stopped again and puffed out air. Her breath hung in a cloud before it dissipated. Over the sea, a gull cawed. “That’s something, I guess. Now, what’s this about spell ingredients? Since when are you a sorcerer? Wait, the old fool didn’t take you on as his apprentice, did he?”

Yarrow shook his head. “He rarely spoke to me. Or anyone.”

“And we aren’t going to cast a spell,” Terlu jumped in. “We’re going to break one.”

Rowan raised her eyebrows.

Gravely, Yarrow said, “We might be able to stop any more greenhouses from dying.”

His sister let out a whistle. “Okay, I’m listening.”

Terlu showed them the list of shells. “We need to find where Laiken put the ingredients for his final spell. He would have put them somewhere they wouldn’t be disturbed, but there had to be enough of a quantity to affect all of the greenhouses. So, we’re looking for a significant number of shells.”

“Could he have buried them?” Ambrel asked.

Terlu had worried about that at first, but she didn’t think it was likely.

“You bury ingredients if you want to limit the effects to a particular target.” If he’d buried them, the spell wouldn’t have been able to affect so many greenhouses, especially ones that were far apart.

“He’d have wanted them as effective as possible, which means keeping them open to the air.

So I think they’ll be visible. Hidden, but visible.

” After all her experiments, she could say that with some degree of confidence.

“Ooh, I know: the sunflower maze,” Rowan said. “He could have put them in—”

Yarrow shook his head. “We solved it. No shells there.”

“You did?” Rowan said. “Wow, I can’t tell you how many afternoons I spent in there, before Dad hauled me out to do chores. What did you do about the dragons?”

Ambrel’s eyes widened. “Dragons?”

“They like honey,” Yarrow said.

“You have to show me how you—” Rowan said eagerly.

Ambrel squeezed her arm. “Focus, Rowan.”

“Sorry. Later.”

Gravely, Yarrow said, “I’d be happy to show you later.”

“All right then,” Rowan said.

Terlu had a sudden image of her as a child, so excited to set out on a new adventure in Alyssium. She knew how that felt.

Rowan studied her brother for a moment. “You need help, badly enough to actually face me, which means it’s serious.” She seemed to reach a decision. “Let’s rally everyone.”

Without waiting for a response, she trotted down the road.

Ambrel flashed them a smile and joined her wife.

Yarrow squeezed Terlu’s hand for either strength or comfort, but he followed his sister toward the rest of his family and every awkward conversation he’d been so studiously avoiding.

Terlu held his hand as firmly as she could without squeezing, so he’d know she wasn’t leaving his side. He wasn’t facing them alone.

True to her word, Rowan gathered everyone—aunts, uncles, cousins, even the two family friends who had been brought to Belde for their safety.

With Dendy’s help, she also corralled all the sentient plants.

She insisted that the plants would want to help, and both Yarrow and Terlu had agreed with her.

Everyone, people and plants, assembled in the rose greenhouse.

The roses swayed in the breeze from the overhead fans. Above, the snow had begun to fall softly on the glass cupola, but inside it smelled like summer. The aroma of roses filled every breath, and Terlu felt the knots in her shoulders ease as she breathed it in.

They all came, she thought. Maybe they’ll all help.

Yarrow distributed slices of honey cake—when had he made more?

He had to be just continuously baking. Only other explanation was that the cat had learned how.

All the people were sitting on the edges of flower beds, on upside-down pots, and on chairs that had been brought in from the cottages, while the talking plants were distributed throughout the greenhouse.

Dendy was up in the rafters with Lotti. Risa, the ivy, had wound themself around one of the pillars, while Amina, the orchid, lurked beneath the branches of a purple rosebush, and Cyna, the daisy, perched on top of a trellis of white climbing roses.

Standing on an upside-down pot, Rowan whistled for attention.

The people and plants quieted.

The fireweed let out a spark. It fizzled in the air.

“Okay, everyone,” Rowan said. “Hi. This is Terlu. You’ve all met her. She has a request to make—a way we can save the Greenhouse of Belde and stop any more greenhouses from failing. Yarrow might talk too, but probably not. Anyway, listen up. This is important.”

“Uh, thanks,” Terlu said.

Rowan vacated the upside-down pot, and Terlu stepped up onto it, with Yarrow reaching out a hand to steady her.

She surveyed the room. Somehow she’d gone from thinking she was alone on the island to addressing a crowd.

We’re stronger together. Or we can be. Like a rope, made of threads woven together.

Everyone in this room—human and plant—wanted the greenhouses to survive.

She believed that to the core of her heart. Clearing her throat, she began.

She described her theory on why the greenhouses were failing (a malfunctioning spell), what they needed to find (lots of shells collected together), and what they had to do with them (destroy them). It took less than a minute and a half.

And then she stepped down from the pot. She prepared herself for the questions that would follow—how she knew what to do, how she’d cracked the sorcerer’s code, how she’d translated his notebooks and studied his spells.

One of Yarrow’s younger cousins, Percik, asked, “Are you a sorcerer?”

She hadn’t prepared for that one, but she could handle it.

“No, I was a librarian.” He hadn’t flat-out accused her of breaking imperial law, so she could nicely sidestep the issue. She launched into an explanation of how her experience and training with languages, especially extinct languages, had enabled her to—