Page 52 of By the Orchid and the Owl
The way you think is fascinating. I swear, I’ve never known someone who could have so many thoughts at once. It’s like putting my head through a beehive.
Maybe the wayyouthink is just slow and I’m the normal one,I retorted, raising my mug to my lips. Our house cook had brewed the coffee with tons of spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove—so I could taste the heat that reminded me of home before even taking a sip.
Maybe our minds balance each other out,came Coen’s reply.
That’s when Wren said… something, and I shushed him, spluttering.
“What did you just say?” I asked her.
Wren looked up from the pile of papers on her lap.
“I said it’s bullshit how female Wild Whisperers are always assigned the least cool jobs after the Final Test. Like…” She lifted her notes. “Two hundred and fifty-two years ago, we tended to mangos and tomatoes, and now we… hmmm…stilltend to mangos and tomatoes. Meanwhile, the men get to go off and deal with plagues and famines.”
I knew better than to interrupt Wren in the middle of a tirade, but as soon as she’d closed her mouth with a scowl, I said, “No, what did you say before… all that?”
“Oh, about the first quarterly test?”
She looked vaguely disappointed that I hadn’t responded to her rant with equal gusto. I made a mental note to bring the subject back up later.
“Y-yeah.”
“I said I can’t believe it’s already next week.”
“The first quarterly test is next week,” I repeated.
I caught Emelle’s eye, and saw my own nerves printed all over her face. The instructors hadn’t talked much about the quarterly tests, but I knew they were meretastesof what was to come at the end of our fifth year. And they would be held in the Testing Center rather than out in the wilderness of Eshol.
Still, the thought that my first one was next week…
Did you pass your first quarterly test?I shot into the buzz of my own mind.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Coen was still there.
Of course.
So humble.I paused.Is it easy to pass? They’re not dangerous like the Final Test is, right?
His laugh in my head was a little too nervous for my liking.
No, they’re not dangerous. Just very, very uncomfortable.
Great. That makes me feel so much better.I inhaled the spices in my coffee, telling myself to breathe as I felt Coen’s voice break into a chuckle.
Always here to help.
CHAPTER
19
The day before the test, I was straining to hear Mrs. Wildenberg in the arboretum when I caught a pair of fierce yellow eyes glowering down at me in the umbrella tree spread above us.
Startled, I looked to my right. Emelle was meditating. To my left, Rodhi was dozing. Gileon was listening way too intently to Mrs. Wildenberg, his eyes round and his fingers digging into the ground, for me to want to disturb him.
I blinked at the eyes. Ever so slowly, they blinked back.
And a striped white tail twitched through the leaves.
Jagaros.
