“Laiken made them for us, the kids, to entertain us while the adults worked.”
“That was nice of him.”
Yarrow’s lips quirked into a half smile. “He wasn’t nice. He thought children were a distraction to his workers and a menace to his plants. It was to keep us busy so we wouldn’t be underfoot.”
“Maybe he wanted to be nice, but he didn’t know how,” Terlu said. She thought about what Dendy had told her, about the loss of Laiken’s daughter, Ria. She wondered if that had colored his view of children. Not that it was an excuse, but it could be an explanation.
He snorted. Moving on to a miniature pine tree, he examined its branches and then began meticulously pruning its tiny limbs. He swept the debris carefully away from the roots.
“Is Laiken’s ghost really upstairs in his tower? Your sister thinks it is.”
He paused again. “Huh. I’d forgotten. I suppose, yes, he’s there. Just the bitterness, though, not any of his consciousness. I used to yell at him in the beginning, when the greenhouses first started to fail. He just moaned.”
“How did you forget you had a ghost?” Terlu said. She thought that should have been something that got mentioned, especially when they started to spend more time in the tower. It should have been on the initial tour. Or at least added as an interesting sidenote.
“It’s just his leftover regret. Not him. Doesn’t do any good. Doesn’t do any harm.” He rotated the pot that held the pine tree to study it from another angle. “I should have told you, though. And I should have shown you the dream flowers.”
“It’s all right. You have responsibilities—”
Standing up abruptly, he tucked the scissors into one of his pockets and then held out his hand toward Terlu. “I can show you… I mean, if you want… Do you want to see another wonder of the greenhouse?”
She took his hand and stood up. Her smile felt bright, as if it was beaming out of her. “I want to see everything you want to show me.”
“Has anyone ever made a map of all the greenhouses?” Terlu asked as Yarrow led her through greenhouse after greenhouse—one with tulips and daffodils, one with rows of grapevines, one with water lilies in ponds on either side of the path and fish-shaped flowers hanging upside down from the rafters above. Minnow-like silvery fish swam between them, as if the air were water. She watched the school of flying fish zigzag, switching directions as one, between the blossoms.
“Never needed one,” Yarrow said.
“I should make one.” She added it to her to-do list, after she uncovered all the spells that would save the greenhouses. They passed through a greenhouse with a willowlike tree, with drooping branches that held glowing bubble-like orbs. It had a sweet, elusive scent, like a long-ago summer’s day that was slipping from memory. She inhaled deeply. A bird circled above, vanished in a puff of smoke, and then reappeared—another of Laiken’s experiments or just a random magical bird, drawn to the wealth of enchantments? She wished she had the time to study all the magical creatures here. “Also, a list of species living here. Might be useful to our new arrivals too.”
“They aren’t staying.”
“Oh? Did they tell you that?” She knew for a fact he hadn’t spoken to them yet.
He opened the next door and held it for Terlu.
She walked into a room with rows of thick grasses, topped with fistfuls of white flowers. It smelled like— “Garlic?” She smiled at him. He’d remembered she’d said she wanted to see it.
It was vast. Row after row of garlic.
“It smells nice,” Terlu said. “I thought it would be overwhelming.” She walked between the rows. Each plant was in a neat row, planted with precision—with love.
“It’s more pungent when it’s cooked.”
“Thanks for showing me this.” Maybe it was just garlic. No diamond dragonflies, leafy mice, tiny dragons, or multicolored butterflies, but this was a room he clearly loved. A piece of who Yarrow was. It meant something that he’d chosen to share it with her.
“There’s more I want to show you.” He held out his hand, and she took it. They walked hand in hand between the garlic rows. “My family doesn’t have to tell me for me to know they’re going to leave,” Yarrow said. “I know them. They don’t want to be here.”
“They won’t leave.”
Yarrow halted outside a blackened door. “Close your eyes.”
She obeyed. “They won’t leave because they don’t have anywhere else to go. Besides, your sister seemed happy to be back. I think they missed this place. And you.”
He snorted.
Terlu laughed. “You know, it’s not impossible that some people might find you likable.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished her eyes were open so she could see his expression. He didn’t say anything, but he drew her forward by the hand.
She felt the temperature change as she crossed the threshold into the next greenhouse. It was cooler, but not cold. She breathed in and thought the air was heavy with the smell of a sweet, familiar flower. Perhaps lilac? And roses? And… She sniffed, and the air teased her with other sweet scents that she couldn’t name. “Can I open my eyes?”
