Chapter 55
Chapter Fifty-Five
Six days before the spring equinox, the members of the Root and Vine Society gathered in Vera’s Café. Meeting on campus, even in one of our hidden areas, felt like a risk so close to our operation.
When I asked Aunt Vera about using the café after it closed for the evening, she had said yes without hesitation.
Though she claimed to not be very interested in her newfound powers, I thought she was excited about the prospect of a handful of magical botanists gathering in her shop.
I had entered the closed shop to find platters of her lavender scones and large pitchers of the lemonade that she sold by the truckload in the summer on each table.
Shortly after the café’s closure, my friends began to arrive. Yasmin, Coral, and Aurielle had shown up first, then Kaito walked in soon after with Ravenna, Nalin, and Laurus. Hollis and Meadow were fashionably late but only by a few minutes.
“No Rhodes today?” Meadow asked, looking around the room.
I cast my eyes toward the door. “He should be here. I’ll tell everyone to have a lavender scone, and we’ll give him a little longer.”
Five minutes later, the bell hanging from the door of the café chimed, and I rose, a smile touching my lips. Callan walked in, and Wyatt strode in after him.
“Wasn’t expecting to see you here,” I said to Wyatt though not in an unfriendly way. I was glad to have him present for the final planning session. The three of us gathered near the door, out of the hearing range of the others, who were busy enjoying Aunt Vera’s treats.
“He’s here to help, but he also comes bearing a message,” Callan said. His face was tight, and a muscle in his neck twitched. “From Alex.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What kind of message?”
Wyatt spoke. “First, he sends an apology. He claims he got carried away on his first mission, and he never intended to get so close to you or Maci.”
I nodded, but I was thinking Alex had a lot more to apologize for than that. Not the least of which was activating my aunt’s magic without her permission. But that had happened, and we needed to move on. “And what’s the rest of the message?”
“Alex claims that when he was monitoring the school to see who was poisoning the verdant shield, he found patches of jewelweed growing just inside the wall on the south side of campus. According to him, there is a rather large patch.”
I nodded, a memory surfacing. “That’s the plant Professor East used on me to counteract the poison on my skin when I did my first defensives affinity test. But why is that important?”
“They can do more than counter poison. Jewelweed seeds are explosive. If we have an herbs affinity botanist cause them to ripen, then a tree affinity create a breeze to trigger them, the seeds will explode. With a little modification from the herbs, we could amplify this effect to sound like there are firecrackers going off near the wall.”
“Okay…” I said, still not understanding where he was going.
“While Alex doesn’t know any details, he is aware that we are planning something and that we could use a distraction while we do it. That much noise near the wall would cause a big one.”
I studied Wyatt’s face. It was a good idea, but our group would have come up with a distraction if Alex hadn’t shared one. “Is that all?”
“There’s one more thing,” Wyatt said. “Feathergrass is allergic to jewelweed. If we can draw him to the area and one of the jewelweed seeds hits his skin, he’ll probably have some swelling and itching and need to go to the apothecary.”
My eyes widened. That was useful knowledge, indeed. We knew he had some food allergies that caused sneezing, but if the jewelweed allergy was much stronger… “Do you think it will keep him in the apothecary for long?”
“Someone will have to track down Professor Sage during the equinox festivities. He’ll have to brew up a concoction, since jewelweed allergies are rare, then apply it and watch for any lingering effects. I think we could keep Feathergrass occupied for thirty minutes that way,” Callan said.
“Well, it’s as good an idea as any,” I said. “Thanks for the information. Okay, I think it’s time to get this meeting started.”
I walked toward the pastry counter and turned to face everyone.
My heart was full as I looked around the room, seeing every member of the Root and Vine Society, my three best friends at Evergreen Academy, and even a member of the DBI.
Each of them had a role to play in our next endeavor, and it was nearly time to kick things off.
Everyone quieted and turned their attention to Callan and me. He had come to stand by my side. Wyatt found a place in the back of the room, and some of my friends gave him curious looks.
“Welcome to Vera’s Café, everyone. I hope you’ve been enjoying the lavender scones,” I began, trying to calm the nerves in my stomach.
“First, I wanted to start off with some good news. As you all know, I’ve been practicing making a new Floracantus similar to the one that created the verdant shield.
It’s been challenging, to say the least, but I had a breakthrough last week when working with Wyatt.
It turns out the key was in the soil preparation. ”
A few people clapped and whistled.
“Thanks. I’ll continue to practice over the next few days, but if I can continue to replicate the process, I hope that I’ll be able to do the same at the academy. So, next, we can talk about—”
The bell on the door chimed again, and someone familiar entered the café.
The rest of the group turned their heads, following my stare.
“Professor East!” I shouted, a smile taking over my face. I was speechless for a moment, wondering how he knew where to find us. Then my eyes shot to Wyatt. He had promised to deliver Professor East to us when the time was right as his end of the bargain. Apparently, that time had come.
All the members of the Root and Vine Society rose, taking turns to greet our former instructor. He had only been absent from the school for a few months, but it felt much longer. When I saw him, some of the tightness in my chest released.
All thoughts of the updates we had to provide and the questions that were still to be answered melted away. Professor East was back. Everything was going to be okay.