“Good,” I said quickly. “I think that was the right call.”
“What about you, B? Any resolutions?” Aurielle asked.
I wrenched my thoughts from the petal portals and struggled to form an answer. My goals were all over the place.
Make Petra proud in my field studies work.
Decide if I was still going to pursue an art degree.
Try to make the quill work for me.
Find theVanished Compendium.
Get my powers back on campus.
Prove to Callan I could handle myself so that he wouldn’t have to protect me and we could finally be together.
Okay, a few of those were a stretch, but with the upcoming mission for the Root and Vine Society, they weren’t impossible. But I couldn’t tell Yasmin and Aurielle about those particular goals.
“Just figure out my future, I guess. I know, it’s not exciting,” I added before either of them could protest.
“How aboutkeep the tendrils of all board members off of thyself,” Yasmin said before closing her eyes and sinking deeper into the pool.
She wasn’t too far off the mark.
Half an hour later, I felt a surge of energy through my emerald ring, letting me know that the verdant shield had been successfully charged.
We climbed out of the hot springs, and a tree affinity classmate walked by and swooshed some warm air in our direction, drying us completely. Then, as I was slipping my clothes over my bathing suit, I heard a rustling. Twisting around, my eyes fell upon a small pool of leaves swirling around my feet.
I leaned down and picked up the paper that was floating with the leaves. On its crinkled surface was a note in handwriting I would recognize anywhere.
Meet me in the treehouse?
Chapter Forty-Five
My stomach flipped in surprised delight at the message that had come in the leaves. It had been months since Callan had sent me a personal message like this.
Yasmin, spotting the note, said, “I’m guessing we’ll see you later tonight?”
I nodded, said a quick goodbye, then peeled off from the group and went straight to the treehouse that Callan and I frequented. When I climbed inside, he was already there.
“Hey,” I said, moving to take a seat next to him. “Did everything go okay with the shield?”
“Successfully charged. How were the hot springs?”
“Heavenly, as usual. Too bad you miss out on that every year.”
“Solstice isn’t the only time one can visit the hot springs, you know, local.”
I briefly imagined a shirtless Callan in the pools with the rest of us. Or maybe with just me. Clearing my throat, I averted my eyes from his face and scanned the room, looking for a distraction.
I didn’t need to look for long because Callan reached behind him and brought forth a rectangular object wrapped in brown paper.
“What’s that?” I eyed it curiously.
Callan looked slightly sheepish. He flipped it around, and I saw a small red bow in the center of the paper.
I felt a surprised smile form on my face. “Callan Rhodes, did you get me a Christmas gift?”
