Dahlia and the Garden of Light - Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Christian found out next. He was limping back from soccer practice, groaning about his old leg injury. Dahlia, concerned, touched his leg lightly and left a tiny flower tucked under the hem of his pants. The next morning, he came bounding into breakfast, leg completely healed.
“Okay,” he said, squatting dramatically next to Dahlia’s chair, “what did you do, little wizard?”
She blinked. “I helped.”
He leaned in closer. “You really did, didn’t you?”
Dahlia looked at Antonio, who gave her a slow nod.
She cupped her hands and made a little blossom bloom between her fingers.
Christian stared, slack-jawed. “That is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my entire life.”
“Can you keep a secret?” Dahlia asked.
Christian grinned. “For you? I’ll lock it in a vault and throw away the key.”
Eliot was the quiet one. He figured it out on his own.
He noticed the way the flowers always seemed to bloom where she played. The subtle way headaches vanished when she held someone’s hand. He watched her heal a hurt bird in the garden without a word.
One evening, he sat with her under the stars.
“Your power,” he said gently, “it’s connected to how you feel, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “It listens to my heart.”
He smiled, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “Then you have the kindest heart I’ve ever met.”
“Are you scared of me?” she asked.
He looked at her, eyes serious. “No. I’m scared for you. But I’ll always be here. You have me, okay?”
She leaned against him. “Okay.”
Theo, of course, didn’t figure it out. Dahlia told him.
One day, she made a daffodil grow from a cupcake just to make him laugh.
He shrieked. “YOU’RE A FAIRY!”
She giggled. “Maybe.”
“I knew it!” he beamed. Then his face turned serious. “Promise you won’t fly away.”
She hugged him. “I promise.”
From that day on, he was even more protective. “I’m your knight,” he’d remind her, puffing his chest out. “And knights never leave their princess.”