The Visitor in the Bloomlight — Every evening, Tessa counted which garden flowers closed first, tapping notes into a tin box while bees hummed themselves sleepy. Read the full story →
Every evening, Tessa counted which garden flowers closed first, tapping notes into a tin box while bees hummed themselves sleepy. She wanted to prove the moonflower buds opened in the same order each night, but the last bud always waited until after her bedtime, tight as a folded umbrella.
Until one day, a butterfly she had never seen drifted in at dusk, its wings flashing like tiny painted windows. It hovered over the stubborn bud, then over a coral blossom, then back again. Because of that, Tessa leaned close and smelled something sharp and sweet, like lemon peel in rain. Because of that, she heard a soft tick-tick from inside the bud, as if a clock lived in the green seam.
At last, Tessa stopped counting and simply watched. The butterfly touched down, the bud loosened, and the white petals opened around a small silver moth asleep inside. “So you were waiting for a guest,” Tessa whispered. Next time you see the butterfly above the flowers, see if your curiosity can hear that tiny tick-tick too.
