Chapter 47
Chapter Forty-Seven
Ihurried directly from where I had retrieved the moss’s rose to the tree houses, a slight smile touching my lips. The trees’ rose location hadn’t been sent to me through the tree network. Apparently, they were protecting their own. But it was as good a place to start looking as any.
I was about one hundred feet from Callan’s and my tree house when a cool breeze touched the back of my neck. I froze and spun around. Callan was a few feet behind me, leaning against the tree as if he were out for a casual stroll.
“Out here alone? Where are the rest of the trees?” I called.
“They’re on the offensive. They trusted me to handle defending ours.”
“And will you?” I asked with a slight smile touching my lips. “Defend it?”
“We’re going to have to put on a little show so any observers think I gave you a run for your money. I do have a reputation to protect, you know.” His voice was so quiet, the breeze still caressing the back of my neck, and I shivered.
“Is that so?” I asked, cocking my head. I doubted Feathergrass had eyes on either of us up in the trees, but the idea of a little sparring with Callan was too enticing to turn down.
“What are you going to do to me, Callan Rhodes?” I teased until a gust of wind swept me off my feet and positioned me in a tree twenty feet away.
I could see Callan’s smirk from across the thicket. “Maybe that?”
With my own wind manipulating powers, I ferried myself down. Waving my hands, I pushed Callan flat against a nearby tree, wrapping tendrils of air around him like he had when he was hiding me from his brother in the tree conservatory. “Now, where is the rose hiding?” I asked.
The branches of the nearest trees began to grow and bend, stretching toward me. I jumped as one brushed my arm, and I said a Floracantus to fight them back. When I looked up, Callan was free of his air bonds and nowhere in sight.
“Leaves,” I muttered, though a shiver of anticipation went through me. It felt right to be sparring with my former tutor once again. And it had been so long since I used my powers freely on campus. I was ready to see what I could do.
“Over here, local,” Callan called, and I turned to see him standing near a tree about ten feet away.
Instead of fighting back immediately, I paused to sense for the rose through the trees, trying to dig through the trees’ defenses. If my instincts were right, it was hiding in our tree house. And Callan was standing directly between it and me.
I moved toward it, but Callan’s reaction was quick. “Careful, local. What tree is this?” he asked, using wind to hold me in place.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“What tree am I standing under?”
I studied the stately tree. “Lodgepole pine, but wh—”
Tiny seeds flew at my head, pelting the air around me like an airsoft gun. I shrieked and ducked behind the nearest tree.
“Leaves,” I breathed again, my heart racing. Then I remembered lodgepole pine was a host for Arceuthobium americanum, a dwarf mistletoe whose mitochondria could heat up, build pressure within its fruit, and send the seeds out in an explosive onslaught.
It was amazing that none of the seeds had hit me. Or was it? Did Callan use his wind powers to control the seeds so they would only pass close by me? Either way, it was time to fight back.
Sure, I was sparring with the most powerful tree affinity botanist in generations, but I had all the affinity powers, and I needed to remember that. I formulated the steps in my head then attacked.
The tree vines moved toward Callan, which he fought off with ease. But I sent grasses and ferns for his ankles and flower petals floating through the air to block his vision. Moss snaked across his wrists, molding him to the tree behind him. I noticed he was smiling as I continued the assault.
After I called on nearly every nearby plant to tie him to the tree, I stepped in close, so that our lips were inches from each other. “Wanna tell me where that rose is now?” I asked.
“Nah. I quite like being interrogated by you,” Callan whispered, his eyes blazing.
My breath caught, and I froze, until vines snaked around my ankles, and I had to jump out of his reach. He had distracted me—much too successfully. Stay focused, Briar.
“I think the smooth talking has got to stop,” I said lightly before pulling a particularly aggressive Venus fly trap from my bag. I had grabbed it as an afterthought when leaving the Perilous Grove.
I used my wind manipulating powers to hover it in front of his mouth. “If it sees your tongue, it’s going to have it for lunch.”
Callan’s eyes widened with delight, but he didn’t say anything. He remained anchored to the tree by the many plants I had tangled him up with.
I climbed the tree and entered the tree house. Sure enough, the rose was there, floating in its capsule above the worktable. When I approached it, I noticed a leaf in the shape of a heart underneath.
I bit down a smile as I grabbed the rose and said, “Petale expandere.” The capsule exploded, and I had my third rose. I waited until I got back down to the ground to release Callan from his bonds.
He rolled his wrists as if he had been imprisoned for hours then ran a hand through his hair. With a whisk of wind, a vine snaked around my waist.
He used the vine to tug me to him, both of us leaning against the tree. “I told you that you were powerful, Briar Rose.”
“Thanks for always believing in me,” I whispered.
“Think Feathergrass is watching?” Callan asked, playing with a lock of hair by my face.
“Honestly, I couldn’t care less if he is.”
Callan’s smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “If he wanted a show, you gave him more than he bargained for.” And with that, his lips were on mine.
The rush of the game, of capturing the rose, and of being among the trees with Callan, his sandalwood and peach smell somehow still cutting through all the natural forest fragrance around us, had my head spinning as soon as our lips touched.
I could feel leaves swirling around us, Callan creating a miniature tornado, locking us in place and locking the rest of the world out.
Who cares about Capture the Roses? Who cares about Feathergrass? This is the moment I want to live in right now.
Finally, after several moments of bliss, Callan pulled back. The leaves floated for a half a second more before falling slowly to the ground. Callan rested his forehead against mine, his hand still cradling the back of my neck. “Leaves, local.”
“Want to do that again?” I asked hazily.
Callan caressed the side of my neck before stepping backward. “You know I do. But let’s finish this. Then we can do that whenever you want.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Whenever?”
He smiled playfully but directed me back to the game. “Which roses are still in play?”
“I think florals are. Aquatics and harvesters were battling each other. Meadow’s group was going after the grasses, and the ferns were going after the herbs.”
“One of my scouting vines reported the aquatics took the harvester’s rose just before you got here. Then they got the florals.”
“So the aquatics have two. If they beat our friends to either the herbs or the grasses and manage to hold on to their rose, we’re tied.” I stuffed the tree rose into my backpack with the others, preparing to move.
“I’ll get their rose while you go back to defend yours. Everyone who lost their rose already is going to be coming for you.”
“Right,” I said, having nearly forgotten my defense in all the offense I’d been doing. Well, faux offense.
“Whatever you do, hold on to your rose. I’ll join you when I can.” And with that, Callan Rhodes was climbing back into the trees, disappearing into the forest.