The Enchanted Greenhouse

Reluctantly, Terlu explains why she was turned into a statue. She’s terrified of casting magic again and risking another punishment, but Yarrow assures her that there’s no one else on Belde to discover their plan. Lotti begs, “Please, these plants are all the family I have left” (85). Terlu agrees to help.

Terlu, Yarrow, and Lotti return to Laiken’s tower and begin their search for the spell to awaken the sentient plants. In the sorcerer’s bedroom, Terlu sees a shadow in the mirror and wonders if the room is haunted. She rejoins the gardener and the rose downstairs in the workroom, where the vast majority of the sorcerer’s papers lie in disorderly piles. Lotti is moved to tears when Terlu allows her to help sort the notes because Laiken insisted that she was purely decorative. Some of the notes are written in code, and Lotti explains that, in his later years, Laiken grew paranoid that “people would misuse his spells” (93). As the hours pass, Yarrow and Lotti help Terlu locate more samples of the code while the librarian seeks to crack it.

After midnight, Yarrow insists that Terlu stop to eat and sleep. Lotti declines their offer to join them at Yarrow’s cottage because she still sees Laiken’s tower as her home. Back in the cottage, Yarrow readily tells Terlu about how Emeral chose to stay on the island when the rest of the winged cats left with his sister, about Emeral’s dietary habits, and about his grandfather’s exceptional culinary skills. She cherishes the newfound camaraderie between them.

After dinner, Terlu dresses in sleeping clothes that hug her curves, and Yarrow blushes. Terlu asks why Laiken allowed the sentient plants to fall dormant before his death. The gardener theorizes, “I think he was afraid that after he was gone, no one would love them the way he did” (102). Resisting the urge to take his hand, Terlu promises Yarrow that she will find a way to awaken the plants.

The narrative moves three days forward. Terlu is no closer to breaking Laiken’s code despite her best efforts. In the sorcerer’s notes, she finds a reference to a long-conquered civilization that built hedge mazes. Yarrow mentions that there’s a maze in one of the greenhouses, and Terlu hopes that Laiken may have hidden his codebook inside.

Terlu and Yarrow open the door to the maze greenhouse by solving a puzzle door shaped like an enormous chrysanthemum bloom. Inside, the trio finds mirrored walls, a ceiling enchanted to look like an “amber [sky] with ripples of green” (111), and a labyrinth of sunflowers. The flowers are pollinated by tiny dragons. The librarian is awed by the creatures, but her wonder turns to fright when the fire-breathing lizards chase Lotti after the rose strays off the path. Terlu tries to follow her friend, and the dragons descend on her. Yarrow shields Terlu with his body, and Emeral chases the dragons away. Terlu calls for Lotti but receives no answer.

The sunflowers rearrange themselves, and Terlu realizes that the maze can throw an endless series of puzzles at them. She and Yarrow change their approach and win the dragons’ aid with a piece of honeycomb. The dragons lead the way to the center of the maze, where Lotti rests unharmed upon the creatures’ hoard. Amidst a jumble of gems and gardening supplies, Terlu locates “a slim book, bound in green leather” (120). Yarrow gives the dragons some chocolate in exchange for the codebook, and the group exits triumphantly with their prize.

Back at Laiken’s tower, Terlu begins to study the codebook. Yarrow thanks her for her help: “You…don’t have to do this. You could have raised the flag on the dock and left on the next boat. Not everyone would have stayed” (121). Terlu is certain that he and Lotti are worth the risk she’s taking, and she tells him that his family wouldn’t have left him alone if they knew the trouble facing the greenhouse. After Yarrow leaves to bake the librarian a honey cake, Lotti echoes the gardener’s surprise at Terlu’s willingness to help them. Terlu chooses to stay because she’s desperate to find her purpose in life, but she doesn’t voice this.

Three days later, Terlu cracks Laiken’s code and discovers that he purposely allowed Lotti and the other sentient plants to fall dormant about 50 years ago. This aligns with what Yarrow’s father told him about how Laiken began to grow more secretive and self-isolating about half a century ago. However, Lotti tries to deny the truth by insisting that the sorcerer loved her and was simply forgetful. Terlu identifies the spell Laiken used to cast the plants into an enchanted sleep as well as what could be a counterspell. Using an untested spell is extremely risky, especially for someone who isn’t a trained sorcerer, but Yarrow tells Terlu he trusts her. The counterspell requires many plant-based ingredients. Yarrow obtains them all in the greenhouse, and Terlu wonders how much good Laiken’s greenhouse could do if the sorcerer had shared his creation with the outside world.

Terlu, Yarrow, and Lotti bring the ingredients for the counterspell to the room with the slumbering plants. Terlu cautiously suggests that she attempt the spell on just one plant at first, and Yarrow tells her not to doubt herself just because she is a “self-taught sorcerer” rather than one with formal training (128). While they prepare the ingredients, Terlu listens to Yarrow describe how his relatives taught him his gardening skills, and she encourages him to invite them to Belde for the Winter Feast. The trio’s conversation turns to Laiken, and Lotti is filled with a mixture of sorrow and anger when she learns that Laiken died after falling down the stairs. Determined never to be powerless again, she asks her friends to teach her how to manage her own watering schedule. Terlu masters her fears about breaking the law by reminding herself that she’s doing the right thing and casts the waking spell on a philodendron.

Terlu accidentally awakens all of the plants at once, and the greenhouse erupts into pandemonium. Eventually, the distressed plants calm down enough to explain that Lotti was with Laiken when the sorcerer cast the sleeping spell on them, although she has no memory of this. Laiken claimed that he had to enchant the plants “to keep them safe from anyone who would want to take them and use them” (140). Terlu and Yarrow understand the plants’ anger, but they help them understand that Lotti was also used and tricked by the sorcerer. Terlu reassures the plants that Laiken is dead and that they’re safe now. When Yarrow and Terlu leave the greenhouse for the night, Lotti decides to remain behind and start rebuilding her former friends’ trust.

Back at Yarrow’s cottage, Terlu tells offers to try to restore the lost greenhouses. The gardener is astonished and deeply grateful that she’s willing to help him further when she’s already fulfilled her promise. Later that night, while the pair are lying in their adjoining beds, Yarrow voices his hurt and confusion at the sorcerer’s actions. Based on Laiken’s notes and paranoia, Terlu suspects that his mental health was fading and says, “Sometimes people are going through things that you can’t see because you’re too busy looking up to them” (145). Yarrow thanks Terlu for waking the plants and says that she’s surprised him. She hopes that one of them will reach out and touch the other, but neither of them do.