Pearl yawned. Her puffy red eyes gazed across the biology classroom around her, watching her peers flow in. In hindsight, she should’ve picked the afternoon session when she signed up for the class, but decided mornings would be easier for her to plan other fun things throughout the rest of the day. But now, all she planned to do was crash on her bed the second she got back to the dorms.
At least she saw two familiar faces that didn’t make her morning completely miserable. A mint-colored fox walked in, nodded in greeting to the sleepy blue-haired girl, and took a seat in the far corner of the room. His comedic roommate followed shortly after. Being Leaf’s extroverted counterpart, Hugo exclaimed a quick hello to Pearl and took a seat next to her. She could only giggle at his enthusiasm this early in the day. They were the last to enter the room.
The noises of students pulling out their phones to share videos and memes, others talking to each other amicably, squeaky shoes shuffling about in their seats, and bags of stale chips opening up filled the air exponentially, waiting for the teacher to arrive. But after around ten minutes of chaos, something mildly unexpected happened.
A large man came into the room. Pearl looked up, not recognizing him. He wore a modest button-up shirt and slacks, and kept his slick black hair neatly tied up in a long braid behind his head. His naturally tanned skin emphasized the wrinkles on his face, the patterns of which anyone could tell came from a lifetime of frowns rather than smiles. He carried his items in a large burlap sack, and upon taking out the contents, stored them all away in the teacher’s desk aside from one three-ring binder. He jotted something down inside, then put that away, too.
Pearl tilted her head. Was she in the wrong class? Who was this guy? Was he a substitute today? Where was the biology teacher? The questions swirled around in her head as she watched the man begin.
Finally, the man made his announcement. “Attention, please.”
The students continued their incessant shuffling and conversations. One even got up out of their seat to talk to another friend. They didn’t seem to pay attention to the increasingly agitated man.
He blinked. Then, the man put his fingers to his mouth and blew. An ear-piercing whistle rang out across the room, reverberating around the classroom, shocking the students back into their seats, finally shutting up. Leaf covered his head, his frosting ears overwhelmed by the noise.
The man spoke again. “Attention, please. I am Professor Garrick Nez. Calling me Teacher or Mister Nez is fine. I am your new instructor for this class.”
A few murmurs spread amongst the desks. One kid raised her hand.
“What happened to Professor Smith?”
“Retired. I am taking his place. The curriculum will stay the same, as will the course material.” Pearl noticed a slight accent in his voice she couldn’t quite pinpoint the origin of.
Hugo bumped her on the shoulder. “Wow, the semester barely started and we’re already having a replacement? Does this usually happen?”
“Not that I know of…” Pearl whispered back.
Another kid raised his hand. “Hey, weren’t we supposed to have a quiz today?”
“Dude!” A student next to him jumped the inquirer from their seat, smacking him with their notebook.
The professor raised a hand to calm them. “Least of your worries today. I need time to prepare for this new change. I’m sure most of you will, as well. You all get full credit.”
A shock blew over the crowd. This had to be a joke. Or maybe, just maybe, this was actually a much-needed blessing.
Pearl was the third to raise her hand. “Mr. Nez, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m confused. I thought teachers weren’t supposed to retire until after the school year ended.”
The professor was already behind his new desk, shuffling through papers.
“Mr. Nez?”
“Yes?” He looked up.
“I said I thought teachers weren’t supposed to retire in the middle of the year.”
“Ah. Health reasons.” He stood back up, inspecting his new class with watchful eyes. “I sense uncertainty in many of you. It is natural to feel this way after a big change. I am new and not used to an academic setting. You are not used to a new instructor. But I trust we may help each other along the way, and once we build our connection, your uncertainty will fade. Until then, I have nothing left to teach today. You may all be excused.”
Everyone sat in their seats in pure awe. Who was this awesome man who gives away free points on a test he never bothers to assign and ends class after twenty minutes? Screw Professor Smith, this legend was made to teach biology.
Another short whistle from the professor’s lips, and they were out in a heartbeat. Only Pearl, Hugo, and Leaf remained.
Leaf twiddled his thumbs. “T-this is really weird…”
“Tell me about it,” Pearl replied, “something about the way he’s going about this teaching thing rubs me the wrong way. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but is he really the right one for Professor Smith’s replacement?”
Hugo giggled. “Well hey, if the guy wants to pass our tests and let us out early, that’s no skin off my Nez! Get it? Nose? Nez?”
He was the only one laughing, but it didn’t bother him in the slightest. He was having fun anyways.
“Maybe we should go ask him what’s up,” Pearl suggested.
“M-maybe…” Leaf held his sensitive ears, the whistles still ringing inside them. “You go ahead, I-I’ll stay here.”
Pearl nodded. She approached the strange new man behind his desk again.
“Mr. Nez?”
He said nothing nor looked up, but the perking of his ears indicated he was listening.
“So… I know you sorta explained the situation in class, but my friends and I still have some questions about all this.”
Nez opened a drawer and took out a wrapped stack of lined paper. He set it down gently and clapped his hands in a prayer-like gesture. He picked the stack up again along with an ink pen and tore off the plastic wrapping, putting all but one sheet back in the drawer. Pearl couldn’t see what he started scribbling on the sheet.
Hugo strolled up to Pearl, pursing his lips. “I think he’s busy. We should leave him alone.”
“I know he heard me, Hugo,” Pearl retorted, “I just hope he’s not ignoring me.”
“I am not,” Nez said with his head immersed in his paper. “I simply have no answers for you. You may be excused.”
Pearl retreated. She didn’t exactly know what to say after that. She looked over to Hugo—he simply shrugged.
Finally, Nez dropped his pen. He stared at the paper once more, and quickly stuffed it into another drawer where he stored some of his books.
Hugo leaned in. Curious, he let out one of his light-blue strings from his palm. It slinked across the floor and tugged the handle to open the book drawer. The paper stuck out in between the pages of a large red book. The visible part of the sheet illustrated the leaves of a strange species of plant life on it. The drawing was marked up and labeled with what appeared to be English letters, yet they were written in a jumbled nonsensical pattern—it looked like a secret code to him.
Suddenly, a stern hand shut the drawer with startling force. The slam of metal jolted Pearl fully awake. Hugo gasped, tracing the hand to Mr. Nez giving him a deathly glare.
“You may leave now.”
Hugo immediately summoned back his string. He didn’t mean any harm, he was merely curious. But all he could muster was “Sorry, Teach,” and left the room with Pearl and Leaf.
“W-what was that about?” Leaf said in the hallway.
“We tried to get to know him better, since he didn’t really give much of an explanation the first time around,” Pearl answered.
“Did it work?” Leaf asked.
Pearl and Hugo looked at each other again. “Not one bit,” Hugo said.
Leaf breathed in the cool air on his way to the garden to relax. It had been only a couple days since his biology class with the new teacher, but the recollections of that day kept playing over in his head. Especially the whistling. He wondered if that was his Electi ability, to just whistle really painfully loud.
He checked his phone. No new texts yet. Pearl and Hugo added him to a group chat the night after class, going on and on about his demeanor and the book in his drawer. Hugo texted about the book in such detail that Leaf could imagine it like he was there to witness it himself.
He passed by the greenhouse. He contemplated against checking inside instead of heading straight to the garden, but realized he had nothing better to do; he was literally twiddling his thumbs. So, he redirected his pace to the house, and stopped short at an open window.
As expected, there were many plants and flowers inside. Vines draped over the walls, potted specimens soaked up the light, and bags of soil lay stacked in a corner. Leaf appreciated the greenery inside. After all, it was in his name.
Then, Leaf noticed something peculiar: there was someone inside. He didn’t expect to find someone else here, let alone one with permission to access the inside of the house. But who could it be?
Upon closer inspection, he realized the stranger inside was none other than Mr. Nez himself.
Leaf shrunk back, yet kept watch. The fox supposed it made sense, seeing as he was the biology teacher, but still. He felt he shouldn’t be this discomforted by the man’s presence, but something about him seemed very suspicious. The way he acted in class, the vague speculations set up by Hugo in the texts, his distracted nature, all of which seemed fishy. The meek fox had to see what he was up to.
Mr. Nez had his burlap sack over his shoulder, tightly shut from the top but but bulging from the seams with large books inside. He was inspecting the petals of a rather beautiful white flower at the edge of a wooden table.
Then, the teacher started whispering to the flower. Despite his enhanced hearing, Leaf couldn’t decipher his words. Yet, as the man had finished, the flower started moving. It swayed and twisted in a most unnatural manner, yet its movements were stunningly serene. He moved onto another group of flowers, speaking to each of them in a hushed manner, and the flowers’ bodies beginning their supernatural manipulation. Soon, most if not all of the greenhouse came to life in a waltz of greenery. It was unheard of.
Nez raised a hand, and the flora calmed down at once. Much faster than the students in class, Leaf noted. He thought they could learn a thing or two from these plants.
The next string of words that came out of the teacher’s mouth were easily heard through the glass, but sounded like total gibberish. The fox’s chest feathers (a hidden trait from his raven side of the family) ruffled under his hoodie. He could not make heads or tails out of what the man was saying—he figured it was some kind of rare language, but he had never heard these words in any part of the world before.
Surprisingly, the plants responded. They couldn’t talk, which would’ve been even weirder, but it looked as if they could understand the language he was speaking, and their movements proved so. The flora maneuvered freely around the greenhouse, or at least as free as they could from inside their clay pots. They acted almost…human. Leaf was amazed.
Suddenly, Nez switched to English. “Now to do away with formailites. I realize some of you may have understood your good fortune this year. Spring is coming sooner than usual. For that, I’m thankful for you.”
In no discernible difference, the plants responded just as excitable as when Nez spoke his other tongue. At this point, the snooping fox had given up on trying to piece together everything, as the man was just too strange to comprehend anymore. He wondered if there was still time to drop the class.
“Yes, yes, and to celebrate,” the professor began again, “I have something planned. The stars align like this only once in a blue moon.”
Reaching into his sack, Nez pulled out the big red book Hugo had talked so much about. The very embroidering on the hardcover was even distinguishable to Leaf. It had to be the one. He witnessed the large man open up to a blank page and scribble something down with a pen.
The way he held the book and hid his notes as he wrote them sent chills down the fox’s spine, as well as up his paws. Well, he related to keeping his privacy with what he wrote in his notebooks, but the demeanor of the man in front of him seemed to be overkill. It was just a normal notebook…right?”
A vine tapped Nez’s shoulder. His ear perked as the stem spun about in a circular fashion. He closed the book.
“Yes, I sense your concern. I sense it from most of you. But fear not,” the tone of his voice turned from formal to grim. “If all goes well, the purging will begin soon.”
Leaf gasped, tripping backwards over himself and stumbling to the ground in a thud. Ice streaked across the dirt he landed on. P-p-purging?! Leaf thought. What is he planning? Just who is that man?!
The noise from Leaf’s tumble caught the professor’s attention. He shot up, looking around himself to locate the source of the strange noise. As his eyes found the streak of frozen dirt beyond the walls of the greenhouse, the suspect had already fled from the scene.
Pearl awoke to a loud thumping from her dormitory door.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock!
The rapid succession of knocks made her instantly suspect it was Splats looking for more trouble. She just couldn’t catch a break this week, could she? She checked her alarm clock, reading about two in the afternoon. At least she got a good nap in.
The blue-headed girl opened the door, both relieved and surprised it was only her good-humored, bespectacled friend. “Heya, Hugo, what’s-”
“Yo, Pearl, we kinda got a situation. You’re not busy, right?”
Pearl’s curious grin turned to a confused lip bite. looked back inside to her divine roommates, still fast asleep with their own nap. The two were playing Bed Dragon again, which meant they would be out for God knows how long. Even then, Skyber never could gauge how long one of these slumbers lasted. Especially with Nova at her side.
Pearl gently closed the door behind her, saying, “I’m free all day, what’s up?”
Hugo tried to smile to alleviate the mood, but couldn’t. “Leaf’s been in a panic ever since he came back and he wants to talk to the both of us. He says it’s important.”
Pearl grimaced. “If it’s that serious, we’d better get going…”
He nodded again, guiding the girl across the hall and into his room. Hugo fumbled with his ID card to swipe the electronic lock open, still getting used to the mechanics of this new academy. After Pearl’s assistance, they stepped inside and shut the door behind them. The two found Leaf huddled in his blankets, ice frosting over the bed frame. The air was considerably colder here, making Pearl shiver and wish she brought a jacket first. Hugo, of all people, didn’t seem to mind, though.
“What’s wrong, Leaf?” Pearl said. “Did something happen to you?”
The minty anthro shivered not out of coldness but out of nervousness. “It’s about the teacher…”
“Mr. Nez?”
He nodded.
Hugo said, “Is he even stranger than we thought? Wait, he didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“N-no… Or, n-not yet? I mean, I think he’s planning something, I just…”
“It’s okay, buddy,” Pearl gently lay a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. “Just tell us what you saw.”
He gulped. “I-I was at the greenhouse, and I saw him talking to the plants…”
“Woah, he can talk to plants?” Hugo widened his eyes. “Like the Lorax?”
“No wonder he’s a biology teacher,” Pearl looked up in thought, “go on.”
“Well, he was talking in this really weird language, a-and they started moving on their own, I-I’ve never seen anything like it. Then I saw his book…”
“You mean the one I told you guys about?” Hugo said.
Leaf nodded. Hugo pounded a fist into his palm. “I knew there was something sketchy about that book! What did he do with it?”
“I don’t know… I couldn’t see…”
“Did he do anything else suspicious? Did he say anything that might give clues to what he’s up to?” Pearl asked.
This was the point where Leaf’s paws froze over. The poor fox draped his cold sheets over his ears. He trembled as he spoke. “He said… a purging will begin soon…”
Any good mood the three had that day was completely sucked dry by those words. Whatever this purging was, it was no laughing matter.
“I don’t wanna get purged!” Hugo blurted.
“Whatever that Mr. Nez is planning, he’s definitely up to no good,” Pearl concluded. “If he’s inciting whatever this purge is at our school, we can’t let him stay here.” She stood determined, and started for the door. “I’m getting Nova and Skyber, they’ll know what to-”
“No! Y-you can’t!” Leaf shot a hand out for her.
Pearl looked confused. “Why not? They’re more than capable of handling things like this. They can just bust in and kick his ass.”
“No, I mean, i-if we let them know about this, who knows how they’ll react? A-And if they draw too much attention, who knows how the whole school would react?”
“Hm… Maybe Leaf’s got a point,” Hugo agreed. “I think we shouldn’t put anyone else at risk. As much as I’m gonna miss short class sessions, we gotta stick it to him ourselves.”
Pearl hesitated. Her brain told her getting help was the most rational thing to do. However, her heart couldn’t stand to get anyone else involved. So, as usual, she went with her heart.
“Okay…” the girl caved. “How should we do this?”
“For one, we need evidence,” Hugo advised. “Can’t jump the gun if it ain’t even loaded. Or, was it jumping the shark? Wait, uh, I think I got that wrong… Anyway! The point is, we can’t do this on only a hunch. We need to get some dirt on Teach and turn it into the authorities first.”
“But how are we supposed to gather evidence?” Leaf said.
The three sat, silently brainstorming.
“I’ve got it!” Pearl exclaimed. “We have a stakeout!”
“Stakeout?” The boys said in unison.
“Yeah! We stalk around at night and hide near places where Mr. Nez would most likely visit. Then, if he does anything suspicious or evil, we can catch him in the act!”
“But won’t that take forever?” Hugo complained. “We need to jump this guy fast, before any part of his evil mastermind plan takes effect! And besides, how do we know where he’ll be when he starts it? We might totally miss him without even knowing.”
“We can just split up. And he’ll need to make his move fast if this evil purge he’s talking about is really happening soon. I can take a look around the biology classroom. Leaf, since you’ve already gotten a layout of the greenhouse, you can set up there. And Hugo- um, Leaf?”
The fox tightened the sheets around him, shivering. “I don’t wanna go back there…”
Pearl frowned, realizing her accidental insensitivity. “In that case, you can stay here in the dorm,” she opened a window, giving view to the main campus. “See that section over there? There’s a wing devoted to all the teachers’ paperwork and private files and things like that. Right next to it’s a lounge. We can’t go in ‘cuz we’re students, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to watch over it. If you see Nez from here, let us know, okay?”
Leaf nodded slowly.
Hugo gave him a high five, appreciating his support despite his fear. “Now that that’s figured out, guess I can fill in at the greenhouse so it works out.”
“Then it’s settled!” Pearl put out a hand, to which the boys gathered in a circle to do the same. “We start tonight. We track down Mr. Nez, find out what his true intentions at the school are, and bring him down when we record the evidence! So long as we have each other’s backs, there’s nothing that can take us down!”
“Alright!” Hugo beamed. “Let’s get to the root of the issue!”
Nobody laughed.
Hugo didn’t need to check his phone to know it was way too late at night to be snooping around like this. He hated the thought of getting in trouble, but reasoned that a slap on the wrist for staying out past curfew would be for the much greater good than letting a potential murderer loosed on campus. Or worse, a murderer who teaches biology.
He passed by the cafeteria, long since closed today. He remembered not being able to eat that evening, on account of what had transpired in his dorm and what he was about to do now. The nerves were getting to his stomach, his mind nearly unable to control the frantic light-blue strings around his fingertips.
“Left Braid, this is Big Blue. I’m at the front of the classroom. Come in, Braid,” a familiar female voice spoke through the speaker of his walkie-talkie.
He pressed the talk button, reporting back to Pearl. “Big Blue, this is Left Braid, Roger. I’m making my way to the greenhouse. What’s your status, Roger?”
“Left Braid, you don’t say ‘Roger’ when ending a message. You say ‘Over,’ over.”
“Ohhh, I get it. Over that_._”
From the other end, Pearl sighed. “No, that was when you say ‘Roger,’ over.”
“But you said to say ‘over,’ Roger.”
A third meek voice intercepted the discussion. “W-Wait, who’s Roger? I thought she was Big Blue…”
“Oh good, you’re finally online. Fangs, gimme a sit-rep, over.”
“Roger that. I’m watching over the teachers’ offices right now.”
“Isn’t it ‘Over __that?’”
“O-over what?”
“Guys! ‘Roger’ is when you’re acknowledging a message, ‘Over’ is when you’re ending a message! We don’t have time to waste, we have to catch our suspect. Left Braid, go to the greenhouse and call back if you see him, and don’t forget to record it on your phone! Over and out!”
The radio went dead __before Hugo could respond. What the heck did ‘out’ mean?
He reached the greenhouse before he could figure out the confusing radio lingo in his head. The small glass building was lit up well inside, easily being the brightest thing for yards around. He looked around. There seemed to be nobody in sight. Not even a cricket was around to join the stakeout. The deafening silence gave the boy chills.
Hugo kneeled down behind a well-placed bush and set down his backpack. He carried it along for “tactical advantage,” as his excuse to the others. After opening the front zipper, he pulled out a green blanket with leaves and twigs literally glued onto it to mimic camouflage, and draped it over his back. He brought out a pair of used prescription sunglasses and put them on, to increase anonymity. Finally, he took out a granola bar, because he was hungry. With his makeshift camp set up, all he had to do was wait.
Hugo sat at that bush for what seemed like hours. The wind gently howled across the night sky. The fireflies moved in slow motion. The granola bar had already been hastily consumed in less than three bites. He wondered if the guy was even gonna show up. He barely even remembered what the dude looked like.
Let’s see. Mr. Nez was a big guy, that’s for sure. And he had dark skin and black braided hair. Man, was he jealous of that braid. He wished he could learn how to get one that long. It reminded him of one of those cheesy horse movies, where the horse and the girl both shared the same braid as they galloped into the sunset. He used to hate watching those with his little sister. There was no way so many of those movies could use the exact same plot and still make enough money at the box office to make even more horse movies. But that was a long time ago, he supposed. Now, he looked back on those moments as a funny memory. He couldn’t help but chuckle.
Suddenly, footsteps. The boy snapped out of his daydream, plunging into the bush. Through the foliage, he could barely make out a humanoid figure. Was it a night guard, checking for troublemaking students like him? Maybe it was a really weird-looking deer. If they even allow deer on campus.
The footsteps grew further away, and Hugo dared to peek over the edge.
If it wasn’t Professor Garrick Nez himself.
As soon as the man’s back was turned, Hugo quickly probed around for his walkie-talkie. It was even harder through tinted sunglasses and the sudden pressure, but he managed to locate it. He picked it up and turned down the volume before he spoke, stage whispering his message to Pearl.
“Big Blue, this is Left Braid. The bull has entered the china shop, I repeat, the bull has entered the china shop!”
The receiver picked up. “Copy, Left Braid.”
“Hey, what happened to Roger?”
Leaf joined the radio chatter. “Maybe we should’ve taught him radio lingo before giving him the walkie-talkie…”
“Hu- I mean, Left Braid! Stay focused, we can’t screw this up! Take out your phone and tell us what he’s doing!”
The boy whipped his smartphone from his jean pocket. He wore black just for this occasion. Quickly swiping to the photos app, he pressed record on the video mode and, like a novice, held it vertically.
Mr. Nez was already in the greenhouse. With him, he brought a burlap sack.
“He’s carrying a bag on his back,” Hugo reported.
“Is it a brown sack with books in it?” Leaf said.
“I can’t see the books… oh wait, he’s pulling out one now. It’s the evil red one. He’s opening it. Now he’s writing some stuff in it. Oh, he closed it again.”
“What else is he doing?” Pearl said.
“Hold on…” Hugo had to lean in to get a closer look. Nez began strolling around the greenhouse, inspecting each and every flower. As he passed them, the flora began to move unnaturally, growing past their usual limits and twisting in ways that shouldn’t be possible. Just like how Leaf described before they split up.
“He’s bringing the plants to life. Or, uh, to livelier life. You were right, Fangs. This is really creepy.”
“I-is he speaking in that weird language again?”
He was. Pouring some water over a few pots, the teacher spoke in the mysterious tongue the plants seemed to enjoy hearing. Hugo zoomed in on his phone. He tried catching the words inside the red book, but the image got too blurry every time.
Then, Mr. Nez switched back to English. “I bring good news. Your friend will begin cleansing tomorrow.”
The plants swirled around in excitement. Hugo couldn’t feel more opposite.
“Big Blue, Fangs, you hearing this?”
“U-unfortunately…”
“This is bad. Real bad. Is he working with evil cohorts he calls his friends? What does he mean by cleaning? Does it have to do with the purge?”
“Don’t look at me, I’m not the evil biology professor!” Hugo whisper-shouted. The plants calmed down. Nez spoke again.
“Yes, it’s a shame what happened to Mr. Smith. But, he had to go. It was vital he be taken care of as quickly as possible.”
Hugo gasped, fumbling with the radio.
“What is he saying, Braid?” Pearl asked.
In the lowest voice possible, Hugo whispered into the speaker. “Guys… I think he killed Professor Smith.”
“WHAT?!” A voice shattered the dark silence of the night through muffled static. Hugo couldn’t tell if it was Pearl or Leaf, but it didn’t matter.
The killer had caught sight of the boy.
“Young man! What are you doing in those bushes? You can’t be out this late, go home!”
“Ah! Shit!”
Now that his cover was blown, Hugo sprung out from his hiding spot and faced the suspect head-on. “With all due respect sir, I think it’s too late for you! We caught you on tape, Mr. Nez!” He held out his phone with the video finished and saved.
The teacher looked at him strangely. “What is this?”
“The evidence we’re gonna bust you with,” Hugo gave him a cheeky grin. “We suspected you were up to something from the very start! Now that we caught your confession on live video, your nefarious schemes are outta reach, Teach!”
“Young man, step away from that bush.”
“Huh? Hey, don’t try to distract me, I gotcha red-handed!” Hugo laughed nervously, his pride wearing off. He wouldn’t let a criminal pull a fast one over him.
“I have no influence over that bush you came from, you must step away,” the teacher warned.
A burst of static from the speaker. “Left Braid, what’s going on? Can you read us? Hugo, do you copy?!”
Before the boy could bring the radio to his mouth, an overwhelming green force swarmed around him, shaking off his sunglasses and making him drop the walkie-talkie. Hugo yelled. The bush had come to life, and it was attacking him.
“What the hell?! Get it off me! Get it off!” He squeezed the walkie-talkie in his hand, making the microphone pick up everything.
Mr. Nez approached him, the plants inside the greenhouse starting to get restless. “Boy, you must calm down. You have angered the bush.”
“You’re doing this, aren’t you, Teach!” Hugo struggled from inside the overgrown bush.
“…Yes.”
“Then get away! Please, Mr. Nez, I’m too young to die!”
Hugo brought out his hand strings and whacked the bush. Most of the branches were distracted by them, easing their grip of Hugo just enough for him to escape their grasp. Although his body escaped, his strings were now held captive by the bush. He tugged fiercely.
Mr. Nez tried to take control. He put his fingers together and whistled, commanding a rope of vines to congregate outside the greenhouse. They were approaching the captured child.
“Not on my watch!” A feminine voice shouted. A streak of blue rushed into the teacher, pushing him down to the ground. It was Pearl, shocking him as he fell.
Nez grunted as he literally hit the dirt. “Wait, I recognize you from my class! Why are you-” He coughed and sputtered, before Pearl shocked him again.
Another body threw his weight on the bush. With his minty paws, he panickingly froze the branches holding Hugo’s strings in place, allowing the latter to break them free.
“Pearl! Leaf! You guys saved me!” the comedian elated.
“We weren’t gonna abandon our friend, silly!” Pearl had their suspect pinned face-down.
“W-we got the whole thing on camera on our way,” Leaf said. “Did he hurt you?”
“Don’t worry about me! The mad lad’s building a plant army!” Hugo exclaimed.
With lips planted in dirt, Mr. Nez retorted, “I have done no such thing! Explain yourselves!”
“Um, guys…?” Leaf trembled, pointing a finger to the restless greenhouse. “Look…”
As the reunited three tried to assess their surroundings, the plants inside the glass house broke free. Their behaviors were sporadic and furious. Two of the strongest indoor trees sprouted impossibly long branches and shot out the open door. They stretched out at breakneck speed, grabbing Pearl and Leaf by surprise. A screaming Pearl tried to shock her branch; A panicking Leaf tried to freeze his. But try as they might, the trees won over, dragging them inside.
“Guys!” Hugo shot his strings to catch them, but the strength of the trees was too great—he was pulled in alongside them.
The teacher slowly but surely stood back up, wiping dirt off his face. Mr. Nez had caught them in his trap. The plants went wild. They were doomed.
The trio had no time to recover before being pelted senseless by nearly every plant in the house. Thorns were scraped. Vines were lashed. Fruits were flung. No place was safe. The assault lasted for mere seconds, but to the kids it felt like minutes. They called out for help.
But only the teacher came.
Another ear-deafening whistle. Leaf teared up, clamping his paws over his ears. The assault ceased as soon as it started. The students lay huddled together, absolutely dumbstruck. Even as the flora retreated, a large vine remained around them, tying them up.
Mr. Nez looked around and shouted in his strange language. But only at the plants. It was the angriest they’ve ever seen him. Very strange, considering he should’ve been more mad at the fact they uncovered his secret. Maybe it was countered by the fact they couldn’t stop him in time. Or that they were no match for him to begin with.
Assessing the mess, the teacher pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled deeply. “This is outrageous. Had you been strangers, I would have called the police.”
“What? It’s you we should be calling the police on, murderer!” Pearl yelled.
“Yeah! We know what you did with Mr. Smith! And we know you’re going to start a purge! You should be ashamed!” Hugo added.
Leaf kept silent, but gave a fearful glance at the large man in front of him.
Mr. Nez inhaled, then exhaled again. “I cannot reason like this. We’ll talk in the morning, when your spirits have calmed.”
He grabbed a potted lavender flower from a table, muttering something unintelligible to it. The students looked at each other confused, wondering what he might do to them. They looked back, seeing him place the lavender around them, along with other aromatic flowers and plants. Through what they assumed to be his ability, the fragrance of the flowers nearly became tangible, lulling the three into a deep relaxation.
Leaf’s ears drooped. Hugo’s eyes grew heavy. Pearl was already out, given her rough sleep schedule the past few days. Within a few short minutes of confusion and uncertainty, the boys fell asleep as well.
Pearl was the first to wake up. She gently rubbed her eyes, feeling surprisingly well rested. Through blurry vision, the red outline of the rims could barely be spotted on the table she was sitting at. She put them on, the world expanding to a large dim room with a dirty floor and an ugly wallpaper. Detention.
Then, the memories of last night flooded her mind, and the blue-haired girl’s alertness spiked tenfold. She swiftly glanced at the others, still unconscious. She went to Hugo first, slapping him awake. He jumped out of his seat.
“Ow! I’m trying to rest in peace here!” He rubbed his cheek, then acted like the pain was the first thing he’s ever felt in years. “Wait, I’m alive?!”
The ecstatic noise from the boy woke Leaf up without a need for physical contact. “U-um… good morning? Where are we?”
The three saw a familiar teacher staring at them, leaned up against the door.
“Mr. Nez…” Pearl began.
“Do you take me for a terrorist?”
The question caught them off guard. “Well, we wouldn’t say that, but…” Hugo began.
The man maintained his menacing gaze.
“No…” Leaf answered, “…we don’t.”
“Then why have you treated me like one?” Mr. Nez crossed his arms.
Pearl stood up. “But… but we saw what you did! You were planning something evil! You got rid of our teacher! You attacked our friend!”
“I was unaware that reassuring the plants that their former caretaker is healing from his condition was part of an evil plan,” he raised his voice.
Pearl paused. Hugo carried on for her. “Wait… Mr. Smith is okay? But what about the purging?”
“Yes. The purging of the leftover toxins in his system.” Mr. Nez tapped his foot in annoyance. “I expect a phone call today to see if the procedure had succeeded. Had I known I would be spied on, I would’ve worded that differently.”
Hugo paused as well. All he could say was, “Oh.”
Leaf stuttered. “B-but what about the book? The b-big red one you keep secret f-from everyone?”
Mr. Nez sighed. He walked over to the teacher desk in the front of the room and pulled out his burlap sack from underneath. He opened it up and revealed pages upon pages of seemingly normal field studies, written in a Latin-based alphabet, but which the students couldn’t begin to decipher.
“Navajo was not meant to be a written language. It must be spoken freely, as I do with the plants. I don’t take pride in it, but I’m only doing this for my friends at the national park I came from. It is not far from here. They have two other volumes I’ve collected throughout my years.”
“So that’s what that language was…” Pearl blushed, hiding her embarrassment with a weak smile. “Heh… I kinda thought you made it up…”
“Westerners always assume that…” Mr. Nez gruffed.
“So, um, do the plants like when you speak your language more than English?” Leaf asked curiously.
“Perhaps. They understand many languages. It helps build my connection to them.”
“Connections?” Hugo said. “Like, being their friends? Can plants even make friends? How does that work?”
“That is complicated. Let me explain: I do not know why, but I was born with a gift,” Mr. Nez started. “When I was little, I was very lonely. I had only the plants to talk to. And one day, the plants talked back. They cannot not speak like we can, but they have living souls, too. I could hear their souls, their experiences, their memories.
“One day, I came across a tree with a broken branch. I could sense its pain. I wanted to help. And somehow, I willed my wish to come true. The branch tended itself. I could sense the tree’s gratitude, and its soul opened up to me further. I could will it to do many more things after that. Impossible things.
“In my years, I learned that my gift—or perhaps Electi ability, as you call it—allowed me to build connections with plant life. That connection then allowed me to influence their bodies in amazing ways, as you have seen in the greenhouse. My gift makes the plants move anyways, but my influence helps control them much more. I believe everyone has built connections with these plants. Though, I have yet to meet one who can understand them as I can.
“In short, young boy, yes. You can make friends with plants. And I see you are very bad at that.”
Hugo blushed. Now two out of three of the students’ faces were red. Leaf was the last to say something. “So… you’re not going to kill us?”
The look on his face answered everything. Now all three sat with tomato faces.
“We’re sorry we thought you were evil…” Pearl apologized.
“And I am sorry for how my plants attacked you… but for nothing else.” Mr. Nez sighed, sitting down at the desk. “I have talked to you once before about trust. I said once we build a connection with each other, we will grow to trust each other. Well, us four have two months in this room to get to know each other well enough. I hope we make good use of that time together.”
The three groaned internally, knowing they probably deserved it. Now that the teacher had finally proven innocent, they felt like idiots.
“And, our next class is tomorrow morning. Don’t be late.”
“We won’t…” the three promised in unison. Yep, probably too late to drop the class now.