Page 40 of Evergreen Conservatory
I was trying not to get concerned each time field studies assignments came up, but I was beginning to become genuinely nervous. It felt like it was all the second-years were talking about around campus lately. But I was sticking to my plan of waiting until the first of November to bring it up with Professor East.
Still, my stomach was unsettled. What if Callan had been wrong in his theory about the envelopes being prepared by the instructor’s magic? What if I was never going to find one because my magic was blocked? Though, with the way Yasmin and Coral had both seemed less than thrilled about the direction of theirprojects, maybe it was just as well that I didn’t have an assignment yet.
“I’m sure she’ll be exhausted when she gets back. They left at, what, five a.m.?” I glanced at my watch. “It’s almost nine now.”
At that, Yasmin yawned. “And that’s my cue to head to bed. Are you staying up for a bit?”
I sighed. “I have that pollinator study for floral affinities tonight.”
“That’s right. The bats,” Yasmin made a face.
“Where’s the study?” Aurielle asked.
“It’s out in the north corner, near the Perilous Grove.”
“Want me to tag along? I haven’t explored that area with my cartography club yet. It could be interesting to see how the plants behave at night.”
“Really?” I brightened. Waiting around for up to a few hours to observe bats would be much easier with a companion.
“Well, now I feel like a bad friend. Want me to come too?” Yasmin stifled a yawn.
“No way. You’ll fall asleep on the walk over there. Aurielle and I have it under control,” I said.
We packed a few supplies from one of the first-floor lab rooms, then Aurielle and I headed into the woods. The moon was nearly full tonight, but we both carried lanterns to have a clear view of our notebooks when we reached the research site.
“So, how is cartography club going? I wish I had time to join you,” I said once we set out into the woods.
“It’s been fun. There are maps of the campus, of course, but not to this level. The plant life is changing all the time, so that’s what we’ve been documenting. I don’t know if anyone will ever use it, but it’s nice to have a record of the species here and the strange little microecosystems they create.”
“Do you have a favorite area you’ve explored?”
Aurielle thought for a moment. “There’s an interesting spot inthe southeast corner where licorice ferns are growing over a bunch of stumps. They remind me of heads of hair on a mannequin.”
I laughed. “That sounds awesome.”
“Oh, and we did make one funny discovery, though it’s not related to plants. We were surveying some grasses along the wall, and I spotted a miniature arch carved into it. It kind of reminded me of a fairy door. I’m guessing it was created by one of the moss affinities a long time ago. Seems like something they would do.”
I nearly tripped on a root but steadied myself. “Where did you find it?”
“West side of campus, by the citrus orchards.”
I chewed my lower lip. The arch I had seen at the petal portal was on the south side of campus. How many of those doors were there? And did they each allow passage if you had a pendant, or was that just a coincidence?
Somehow, the topic ofhowMeadow and I had snuck onto campus had never come up with my friends. They probably assumed we’d come through the front gate. After Callan’s reaction to the pendant, I decided not to share that piece of the story.
“Interesting,” I said. “Remember how I told you about coming to campus this summer? I saw one of those fairy doors along the wall where I parked.”
“Huh,” Aurielle said. “Maybe you could take me by it sometime? I’d like to map that one too.”
“Sure,” I agreed. “Okay, I see the marker.” I reached out for the florescent green tag that had been left on the tree.
We trudged off the trail until I spotted theM. eveniavine I was going to be tracking, the tree it was hanging from denoted with another green tag. “Let’s stretch out here.”
We set up our blanket and readied our supplies. I handed Aurielle a pair of night-vision binoculars.
“Mind if I look around?” she asked, palming her cartographer’s notebook and lifting her lantern toward a nearby tree. Thefreckles scattered across her nose were illuminated by the light, and her soft blond curls tousled in the gentle breeze.
“Not at all. I’ve heard it can sometimes take hours for a bat to come by.” I was grateful we had a clear night, free of rain.
