Page 121 of The Knights of Gaia

I trailed her past the cucumbers, toward the tomato plants.

“I’m Rane, by the way.”

It turned out Rane was seventeen, just a year older than I was. It took us only a few seconds to climb into the tomato plants, which was more than enough conversation to convince me that she was kind, fun, and knew basically everything there was to know about growing fruits and vegetables.

She started operating on the withered limb of a tomato plant that was rotting away. I smelled the bitter aroma even before I saw the decay.

“Will the plant survive?” I asked.

She glanced my way, sighing. “It will survive.” She cut away the infected limb. “I have to cut away the rot to save it.” Her sigh was heavy, pained. “But at least Icanfix it.”

“Is there something you can’t fix?”

“You saw the big tree outside the shop?” she asked me.

I nodded.

“It’s dead.” She stuck her hand shovel into the dirt. “And my parents blame me. The tree is an Emerald Elm. Do you know what that is?”

“A kind of tree?”

“A kind of magical tree. They grow fast and are pretty much indestructible. That’s why my parents are so mad. It looks really bad if a flower nursery can’t keep an un-killable tree alive.”

“Bad for business, you mean?”

She nodded. “They say it’s all my fault. They say it died because I neglected my chores. But Ihavebeen taking care of it. My magic isn’t as impressive as theirs, but I know how to keep a tree alive.” Her eyes glistened. “I love plants. I’d never let one die if I could help it.”

“Did you tell your parents that?”

“Yes, but they’re too busy being mad at me to listen to a word I say. They’re so mad that…that they’re threatening to kick me out. To disown me. They say no daughter of theirs would ever murder a tree. They drive me crazy sometimes, but they’re still my parents. I can’t imagine life without them in it. That’s why I need your help, Savannah. I didn’t kill that tree, but someone else did.”

“And you want me to figure out who did it?”

“Oh, I know who did it.” She clenched her jaw so hard that it cracked. “Our neighbors killed the Emerald Elm. I just need you to help me prove it.”

CHAPTER5

THE EMERALD ELM

“What makes you think your neighbors killed the tree?” I asked Rane as we left the greenhouse through the side entrance.

“They’ve been ranting about the Emerald Elm for months, ever since they opened their shop next door. The tree is right at the border, and it does drop an awful lot of leaves and branches on their side of the fence.”

I gripped the fence, using it to pull myself up just high enough to take a peek over the other side. “I can see that. Wow, the tree likes to shed.”

“Even more so now that it’s dead,” Rane sighed.

I moved closer to the enormous tree, running my hands down its glossy trunk. The light brown bark was peeling—and it smelled strongly of rot.

“How do you think they killed it?” I asked Rane.

“With poison,” she replied. “They’re Alchemists.”

“Well, then, let’s have a chat with them.”

She frowned. “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” I confirmed. “You can learn a lot by talking to people.”

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