The Prince and the Plant Whisperer

Back to School (*get ready for the beat drop*)

Uh oh.

Lilly continued: "The door to the roof... It was locked—janitors must've chucked the doorstop you left there. The tape you stuck over the doorlatch? That was gone, too. "

"Did you try that other route up? The cafeteria entrance? That little map I drew out to get up there?"

"I tried that too." Lilly scrunched up her face, hard. "That whole fire-escape got taken out outside that cafeteria all month. They told me it was rusty and failed an inspection. There wasn't even a stair-thingy out the window. They finally just put in a new one yesterday."

Kai kept her voice steady. "So when was the last time the plants got water?"

"Um. Maybe 2 days after you left?"

Almost a month ago. Kai did a little mental math.

A few plants might pull through. A lot of them will be dead.

She felt silent dread rising in her stomach and tried to pound it back down inside herself.

Lilly said, "I'm really, really sorry. Kai? I'm—"

Kai was staring at her suitcase on her bed, with wide eyes. "It's OK Lilly." It's not Lilly's fault.

Lilly said, "I swear—I kept checking. I even tried some other routes. But everything was locked."

Don't cry, Kai told herself. Don't be ridiculous. It doesn't matter. Keeping her face very steady, she said, "It's really OK."

"I tried—"

Kai inhaled: "Hey. It's cool! It'll be winter soon, and a lot of the plants were going to die anyway," she said. "I'll just start it all again in the spring, right?"

She tried to make her voice sound carefree.

But she was stretching the truth—in reality she'd put together big plans to get a whole lot of them through the winter. She was planning on bringing them back indoors, getting solar powered heat lamps. Humidifiers. The whole deal.

It was terrible watching Lilly beat herself up.

What's important isn't your plants, Kai reminded herself.

You care about your plants, but what matters most is people. 

What's important is—Nina is OK.

What's important is—Lilly really tried. Because she cares about you and your stupid project. So, so much.

Still Kai felt like she was in mourning.

"Hey. I'll go with you, Kai." Lilly was grabbing her arm, with wide eyes. "We can go deal with the mess together?"

"I—I think I want do it alone. But thank you. I know I was asking a lot of you last month," Kai said gently.

Kai did actually want to face her dead and dying plants by herself. She wanted a moment of silence with them before she started trimming yellow-brown leaves and throwing dried-out root-balls.

So she gathered her gardening gloves and a biodegradable leaf bag. And then she crossed the courtyard and entered the cafeteria, heading straight to the dry, dusty pantry room where breads and cereals were stored. She slid open the window.

And yes, there was the shiny new metal fire-escape right outside. Kai stared at her nemesis. It was glossy black and still smelled like new paint. A leftover bit of yellow tape read CAUTION WET PAINT. It flapped and flitted in the air like it was taunting Kai.

Suddenly feeling like a toddler, Kai wanted to punch and kick the new fire escape.

DARN you! Thanks to you, all my plants...

She climbed out of the window and stood on the fire escape. Sharply she slammed her fist on its railing.

OWw.

Right. That's the problem with fighting metal. Metal wins.

Get your act together, Kai!

Step by step, Kai climbed up the metal fire escape to the ledge of the roof.

Hopping over the ledge, she then started moving across the connected rooftops. With her ashen face she looked like she was on her way to watch a public execution.

And then she reached her greenhouse.

Where she gasped.

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[OK, next chapter, you all — get ready for it, vote like there's no tomorrow...]