Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
After the prop design class, I said goodbye to Yasmin and walked to the nearby Wildflower Trail. The surrounding forest felt different since I knew a magical botanist lived within.
Once I was sure I was alone, I climbed into a tree and treewalked in the direction of Oren’s tree house. The forester was sitting on the small porch with a thermos in hand and a clipboard on his lap. He waved when he saw me.
“Is now a good time?” I asked, signaling to his clipboard.
Oren moved it aside. “Yes. I was just taking a break from my tree density surveys. We’re thinning this year for fire protection. Wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. Are you still on your quest for the book?”
“Yes and no. We found the book, but we’re working on interpreting its contents.” I filled him in on everything I knew about the book so far then turned to the page with the name Cesalpin at the top. “I believe this was written by your ancestor.”
Oren ran his fingers over the name. “This is incredible.”
I nodded. “Did you know you were descended from the Renaissance botanists?”
“We had a general idea of our heritage, but we never knew the history you just shared. They bound up their magic in books when they were hiding from the rulers? That means one of our family books must have activated my magic.”
Oren rose, and I followed him into the tree house, which smelled of citrus and sweet olive. He scanned a shelf of books carved into the tree and pulled one out. The cover looked similar to the da Vinci botany journals I had encountered.
“Possibly this one. I think it’s the oldest book I have, and it’s been in our family as long as I can remember.” He tilted open the cover. “No author listed, but the writing matches Cesalpin’s riddle in your book.”
“Lucky your family managed to hold on to that,” I said, thinking of how, if my family had one of da Vinci’s books at some point, they had lost it at least a few generations back. “And you’re sure you don’t have all the affinity powers?”
Oren closed the book and shook his head. “No. I attended Evergreen Academy and took all the affinity tests like everyone else. My lead is trees, and I have a strong trailing for harvesters, the same as most of the rest of my family.”
My shoulders deflated slightly, but I tempered any disappointment. Petra didn’t have all the affinity powers either, so it seemed it was rare even among the Renaissance families. Or perhaps they were just beginning to reemerge.
I held out the Vanished Compendium. “I have a group of friends working on deciphering the da Vinci riddle, but I wanted to make sure you had access to yours.”
Oren took the book from me and read over his ancestor’s riddle several times, and I assumed he was memorizing the text, as I had with da Vinci’s riddle.
“Any ideas?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, but I’ll work on it. This must be how my great-grandfather made the Floracantus we used to break the blocking spell in Frank. I know he had several affinities, but he must have had all of them if he was able to make new Floracantus.”
Oren returned the book. “If my magic works like yours does, I don’t think I’ll be able to make new Floracantus with just my tree and harvester affinities.
But still, I’d like to solve it. Maybe the remaining affinities will recur in my family line someday.
I’ll send you a leaf message if I figure anything out. Thanks for sharing this with me.”
“Of course. We Renaissance botanist descendants have to stick together.”