ART



“Oh,” she said. “Why not?” “I’m not sure,” she answered. He stepped
Fluxion
“Because things with teeth can bite…” He leaned closer, whispered something into the planter and

issue
close to the tree and whispered to it, then raised his waved his hands over it.
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arms as if he meant to strike the plant. Suddenly Suddenly the plant began moving, twisting in on
the branches shook and began furiously furling and itself like a python constricting its prey. The move-
unfurling, lashing out with their pointy tips. Several at ment made the scale-like leaves that covered it glitter
the top let loose like a cat o’ nine tails, splitting the air and gleam. As the branches above moved in the breeze,
with sharp cracking sounds. sunlight hit the leaves, spraying tiny rainbow sparks all
The sorceress cringed, then realized when she saw around. The sorceress gasped in amazement and the
the amusement in the warden’s eyes that it all was a dra- warden laughed.
matic display for her benefit. “Sometimes beauty lurks in unexpected places,”
Figure 2 Snake Plant (Euphorbia squamatus)
“How did you do that?” she asked, fascinated, for he observed as she turned slowly, gazing at the play of
she had never seen this kind of conjuring before. lights. “But there’s more,” he said, enticing her to the
“Magic,” he said with a grin, and led her to the next clearing.
next clearing, which was occupied by a sturdy terracotta In the center of the space sat a massive, black granite
planter. Small rosette-shaped succulents grew all around boulder, its rough surfaces flecked with white, gray, and
it, and she carefully leaned over them to peer inside. rose. In the center was a large depression occupied by a
There she saw a murky mass like a length of heavy green strange plant that looked like a heap of hollow stems
rope, about the thickness of her forearm, coiled in the surrounded by stiff, prickly leaves.
center of the pot. “Is it some kind of bromeliad?” she asked, thinking
“What is it?” she murmured, puzzled by it vaguely resembled a plant she kept in her garden at home.
the blob. “You have a good eye,” the warden replied.
“Do you like the snake plant?” the warden asked.
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