NINE

Classes were over for the day, and it was time for me to report for my detention. I hurried over to the greenhouse as fast as my feet would take me. Despite the fact this visit was supposed to be a punishment, I was looking forward to having a look at all the plants I was likely to find there.

The structure, which was made completely of glass, was huge, and the whole thing was filled with plants of every description, even including some trees. "Whoa!" I gasped. "This place is amazing. It's like a beautiful, giant crystal set right in the middle of the school. Hello? Is anybody here? I've come for my detention."

"I thought a Bunnyhead like you might like this place," said a familiar voice from somewhere behind me.

"Klaus?" Whirling around, I gasped. "What are you doing in here?"

"I thought the greenhouse sounded like a perfect place to hold today's lesson," he replied.

"I'm supposed to be working in here today," I reminded him. "But it's so amazing here. I didn't expect the academy to even have a greenhouse, let alone one like this."

Smiling, Klaus said, "If I remember correctly you're interested in subjects related to magical creatures, magical potions, and medical magic. Is that correct?"

"Y-yes…That's correct," I said with a slight nod.

"What about plants?"

"Of course," I nodded. "I'd like to learn about all living things, including plants too."

He nodded. "Then while you do your chores, I will lecture you about the plants here. I was sent to show you what to do anyway, since Professor Merkulova didn't have time to do it."

"You're going to show me, really?" I asked, becoming unaccountably nervous. I hoped he wasn't going to show me anything like he had yesterday, when I'd used Luca's spell on him. My heart pounded at the very thought.

"It will be easier for you to learn something you're interested in," Klaus said. "It'll stick better in your head if you're enjoying the lesson."

"That makes sense," I said with a nod. I really liked how seriously he took these lessons. My heart squeezed tightly in my chest as Klaus stepped over to a closet and dug out a watering pot, a couple pairs of gardening gloves, and even a little trowel. He kept the watering pot and handed the trowel to me.

"We'll need these to water the ground and remove any weeds," he said. "Let's start by looking at this plant, here. It's called Solnox. Sol means sun, and nox means night."

He walked over to a large flower about the height of his waist. It was blooming, and the petals were a fiery red shade. It gave off a wonderfully sweet scent. "It only blooms the red flower while basking in sunlight."

"And closes up when the sun goes down?" I asked.

"No, that's what most flowers do, but not Solnox," he corrected. "Solnox changes its color at night instead. It goes from red to blue. Well, relatively darker, more of a royal blue."

"Wow! I'd like to see that!"

Klaus said, "Unfortunately you can't since the greenhouse is closed at night. You'll have to check it out in the plant encyclopedia instead."

"I hope it has pictures," I replied.

"Oh yes, the trees of Arcanum," said Klaus. "Do you see?"

"What's Arcanum?" I asked curiously.

"They're also called Divine Trees," he told me. "The wood is used to create wands and other magical tools. And spirits dwell within papers made from Arcanum. They can be infused with magic to attain the ability to speak."

I blinked and shook my head. "Speaking paper? Oh, you mean like the Acceptance Letter!"

"Precisely," Klaus nodded. "He was created from one of the Arcanum trees."

"Fascinating."

"According to the records the trees of Arcanum were here even before the First King arrived in Gedonelune. Now the number of trees dwindles every year. That's why the academy raises these trees in their greenhouse."

After that, Klaus taught me how to care for many of the different plants in the greenhouse even as he told me their properties, and the two of us became so absorbed in the lesson and spending time together that we completely lost track of time. I was really learning a lot, and completely enjoying myself into the bargain.

"I had no idea there were so many interesting magical plants like these in the world," I said finally.

"The world's big," Klaus reminded me. "This is just a small sample. I'm sure there are bound to be plants much rarer than these here. Oh, these vines need to be tied to the stakes until they grow a bit more. There's some rope in the shed if you'll go get some."

"Sure," I agreed. I found a wadded up bunch of twine and used my arm to quickly twist it into a more serviceable ball. Klaus watched my movements with interest.

"You're good at that," he commented curiously.

"We used to have a community garden in my village," I shrugged. "You pick a few things up. But rope really isn't my thing."

"What is your thing, Elizabeth?" he wanted to know.

Smirking, I asked, "I don't know, what's your thing? You seem to know an awful lot about plants. Did you study them or something?"

"Not in particular, I just know about them," he said. "I remember everything in the books I read."

"Whoa, that's an awful lot of information," I said, impressed. "Say, I didn't notice until now, but it's getting awfully dark. Shouldn't we be heading back soon?"

"Dark?" he asked, then cast me a troubled expression. "Not good!"

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Instead of answering me, Klaus rushed towards the exit of the greenhouse. The door rattled as he shook it with a firm grip. "Hey, open up!"

"Stop!" the door complained. "You're making me dizzy."

I let out a short scream. "That door just spoke!"

"It's a magic door, in charge of locking and closing the greenhouse at dusk."

"Indeed," the door agreed. "At your service, ma'am."

"Open up, will you?" Klaus demanded.

"Unfortunately, I cannot grant that request, sir. I'm under orders to lock at nightfall," the door apologized.

Klaus grumbled, "It just got dark a minute ago. Open up or I'll burn you down."

The door shuddered. "There's no need to be so violent, sir. I cannot open in any case. The Headmaster's magic compels me to follow the rules. Under no circumstances am I able to open until seven in the morning. Until then, I shall sleep. Good night."

"Stop this nonsense!" Klaus scolded, but the door did not respond again. "Dammit!"

"What does this mean?" I asked with a frown.

"Isn't it obvious?" he complained. "We're stuck in here until morning."

"What?" I gasped with dismay. "What about my curfew?"

"I'll just have to send your housemother a magic note," he sighed.

"A magic note?" I asked curiously.

"A piece of paper that flies to the recipient using magic," he explained. "Why am I not surprised that you've never heard of them? In any case, I'll write one to her explaining what has happened. I'm sure she'll understand our situation since she trusts me completely."

"I see," I said with a nod. "Thank you, Prefect Klaus."

"I said she trusts me," he smirked as he wrote. "I didn't say that she should. Well, that should do it."

When he'd finished writing, he tore the piece of paper off of his notepad and tossed it into the air. It fluttered like a bird, soaring out through a small hole in the ceiling.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I wanted to know.

"Come," he said, holding out his hand to me. I had no idea where he wanted to take me, but somehow I couldn't resist taking the hand. He led me over to a large bench and we sat down together on it.

a/n-this thing's acting weird, it wasn't letting me just upload my docx file so finally I got annoyed and uploaded a text file, cleared it and pasted this in here. Wonder that that's about...