make me wonder if this is where I’m meant to be.” I didn’t know if he’d understand but I hoped I was making myself clear. “I can show you more, if you want. I’m gonna bring all those plots back. I’ll do what I have to do to stay here because it’s making me and my parents happy in a way I didn’t even know existed.” I sighed, feeling the full weight of that. “I could really use your help.”
“Sorry,” Karter said.
My heart immediately sank into the pit of my stomach.
“I’m gonna have to pull weeds or rake or something, because I can’t do anything special. Not like you.”
I looked up at him, daring to hope that he was saying what I thought he was.
He leaned close to me, nudging me with his shoulder. His eyes lit up. “This is unreal. But I’m with it. You’re like the Black Poison Ivy.”
There wasn’t a way to tell him how much it meant to me to feel—for the first time in forever—like I had a friend on my side. “Wanna start now?”
He pulled out his phone, dismissed whatever notification was on the screen, and shot me a grin.
We spent the afternoon in the garden, steering clear of the poison section. Karter found a hose and connected it to the spigot in the wall. Rust-colored water shot out in sporadic bursts until it started to flow even and clear. I watered the acacia tree until the ground at its roots was soaked. I ran my hand over the rough, cracked bark of the trunk, gazing up into the twisted canopy of branches. Warmth flowed from my fingertips. The leaves doubled in size, expanding until they blotted out the sun. A hum filled my ears as the tree shifted, stretching toward the sky.
Karter watched, his mouth half-open. He didn’t look away. He even clapped his hands when I brought a gathering of shriveled angelica stalks back to life.
“They need lots of water and shade to thrive,” I said. Now they had both, thanks to the hose and the expanding canopy from the acacia tree. I leaned in close. A pungent, musty odor wafted up as small clusters of white blooms came to life. I put my hands in the soil beneath them, and the plants doubled in size.
“Do you even need my help?” Karter asked, smiling.
“You can rake,” I said.
“As fun as that sounds, I’ll get me a lawn chair, maybe some lemonade. I’ll keep you company while you practice your magic.”
If that was all he wanted to do, I’d be perfectly happy to let him. His company was what I wanted most.
I made my way through the front section of the garden, watering the beds and watching them wake from their slumber. In the corner nearest the entrance was a small bed with a collection of decayed and crumbling plants all crowded together. The plot wasn’t marked on the map but a small metal plaque set among the broken stalks and rotted leaves read Hecate’s Garden. I emptied the watering can into the bed, drenching the soil. Digging my fingers into the dirt, I breathed in the muggy air and let the warmth flow from my fingertips. Blooms as black as the night sky burst open like fireworks—black scallops, Queen of the Night tulips, hellebore, and black-purple irises.
I heard Karter gasp. When I glanced back at him, he quickly rearranged his shocked expression into an amused smile. He looked down at the sign. “Who’s Hecate?”
“I’m not sure.” There was that name again, Hecate. I’d read it in one of the stories about Medea, but I couldn’t remember which. I stood. “All the plants look good here so far. I’m gonna transplant some of them, but we can do that another day.”
“What about them?” Karter motioned to the Poison Garden. “You’re gonna bring those back to life too?”
I took out my phone and looked at the pictures I’d taken of the pages in the big book back at the house. Some of the plants needed to be watered with dew collected on the morning after the first full moon of the month. I sighed. Those poisonous plants were high maintenance, and I would have to take care of them on my own to keep Karter from getting hurt. “They’re gonna have to wait. I think I’m done for right now, though. Let’s get out of here.”
Relief flooded his expression. I hoped it was because it was hot and we were both sweaty and thirsty,