Page 15 of Spellbound and Gagged

"Well," he said dryly to his empty laboratory, "that was unexpected."

Not entirely empty, he realized. His defensive daffodil, a particularly resilient bloom that he'd cultivated from a rare seed found deep in the Amazon, had somehow survived the blast unscathed. Its petals rustled in what seemed suspiciously like laughter.

"I suppose you find this amusing," Thaddeus said, brushing glittering dust from his robes.

The daffodil bobbed its head, its movements almost human in their expressiveness.

"What do you think Juno would say if she could see me now?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

To his surprise, the daffodil swayed from side to side, then tilted its bloom toward the spot where he'd been working on the potion—almost as if to say, "She wouldn't have made that mistake."

"You're probably right," Thaddeus admitted. "Her approach has always been more... intuitive than mine."

He glanced around at his other plants—the armored thornbush, the tactical trapper vines, the strategic shield ferns. All plants he'd chosen for their defensive properties, bred to resist attacks and protect against magical threats.

"What do you all think of Professor Runeheart's methods?" he asked, feeling only slightly foolish for consulting his flora. "Be honest."

The plants rustled collectively, some leaning toward him, others away. The message was clear: divided opinions.

The shield fern extended a frond, gently touching a jar of Juno's nurturing compound that Thaddeus kept on hand—purely for research purposes, he'd told himself.

"You think her nurturing techniques have merit?" Thaddeus asked, raising an eyebrow.

The fern curled its frond in affirmation.

"But what about when plants need to defend themselves?" he countered, pointing to his prize stinging nettle. "Juno's coddling approach leaves them vulnerable."

The daffodil straightened up indignantly, its stem rigid. Then it slowly bent toward the nurturing compound, then back towardThaddeus's defensive fertilizer, repeating the movement several times.

"Both?" Thaddeus asked, understanding dawning. "You think plants need both approaches?"

The entire collection of flora rustled in what seemed like enthusiastic agreement.

Thaddeus stood silent for a moment, considering. Maybe his plants had a point. The most resilient specimens in the wild had both defensive capabilities and nurturing environments. Neither approach was complete on its own.

But admitting that would mean conceding that Juno had been right all along—at least partially. And after five years of building his career on defensive herbology, could he really afford such a fundamental shift in philosophy?

He pushed himself to his feet, grimacing at the mess. Glittering dust fell from his robes in a sparkling cascade. He looked like he'd been attacked by a flock of overzealous sprites.

As he began to clean up, muttering cleaning spells under his breath, Thaddeus wondered if this was some kind of karmic retribution. He'd taken the orchid from Juno, and now his attempts to use it had quite literally blown up in his face.

He remembered how she'd looked in the hallway earlier, her skin a fading shade of green, her eyes bright with a mix of embarrassment and defiance. Even green, she'd been gorgeous.

Thaddeus shook his head violently, sending a cloud of glittering dust into the air. Now was not the time to be thinking about how attractive Juno looked, green or otherwise. He had a mess to clean up and a potion to perfect. He set out to work on a new experiment. This time, he'd create a potion to enhance plant growth. Something that would prove, once and for all, that his methods were superior. A dash of sunburst serum, a pinch of fertile soil essence, and a drop of liquid photosynthesis were allthat was needed. The potion bubbled and frothed, turning a rich, earthy green.

"Perfect." Thaddeus lifted the vial to examine it more closely. The color reminded him of Juno's eyes when she was particularly fired up about something, usually arguing with him about proper plant care techniques.

He groaned, realizing he'd let his mind wander to Juno again.

Without allowing himself to hesitate, Thaddeus added the orchid petal and poured it over the barren soil he had in the lab. Thaddeus waited, wondering what incredible effect his potion would have. Would plants spring up at his feet? Would he suddenly understand the language of trees?

A rustling sound from the earth caught his attention, and in a shock of growth, a flutterbloom erupted from the soil.

"That's more like it." He went to write down the results in his grimoire. But a moment later, the flutterbloom uprooted itself and began to... hop towards him?

"What in the world?" Thaddeus muttered, watching in bewilderment as the flutterbloom made its way across his workbench.

Before he could react, more movement caught his eye. All around the laboratory, plants were coming to life. The venomous vine trap was slithering across the floor like a verdant snake. The whispering willows were swaying their branches in what looked disturbingly like a come-hither motion.

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