“Because I love him.” They were all staring at him. “I know you don’t get it. And maybe he doesn’t feel the same way. But he said he did, and I do. So I have to see him, that’s all.”

They stood at an impasse. The only sound was the voice coming through the car’s radio, echoing in the quiet parking garage. “My real name is difficult for you to pronounce.”

Ángel’s heart clenched. The voice was almost familiar. He stepped toward the car.

“Turn it up,” he said to his father. Victor blinked at him, startled, and Ángel repeated, gesturing to the radio, “Papá. Turn it up.”

It was a fae voice. A rich, expressive, beautiful voice, a voice created by a nonhuman larynx, a voice like a musical instrument. But it wasn’t Oberon’s resonant bass-baritone; it was higher, poised between tenor and alto, soft-toned. That voice made a tremble thrill through Ángel’s body. He braced himself on the car’s frame and leaned in.

“They wanted to call me Caliban, after a famous Shakespeare fae. As they called Oberon after a famous Shakespeare fae. But actually, Patrick, neither Oberon nor I like the Shakespeare fae very much, because they are rather cruel.”

It was an interview on Victor’s beloved NPR. The host asked, “So why did you decide on Mendel?”

“Well, I asked for a famous gardener instead. Someone who liked plants,” said the second envoy from the Otherworld. “And they told me about the famous scientist Gregor Mendel.”

“He founded the study of genetics,” said Patrick.

“By growing peas,” said Mendel. His lovely voice expressed delight. “I have never seen a pea, but I looked it up, and they are the most beautiful plants. I would love to see a pea someday.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged,” said Patrick, who sounded utterly charmed. “We have wonderful botanical gardens here in Atlanta.”

“Are they here in Atlanta?” murmured Marissa.

“I suppose they must be,” said Chandler.

Weak-kneed, Ángel sank into the car’s passenger seat. Mendel told Patrick how he longed to study plants where they lived in the wild, not just in gardens. He wanted to go to tropical atolls and frozen tundras and to every seashore, to study how plants adapted to different Earth environments.

“Oberon’s study of music allowed him to remain in a secure place,” Mendel was saying. “Although I know he would have preferred to go out and see musical performances, security concerns kept him indoors, away from people, and music was sent to him. But my study of plants will not permit that. I must go where the plants live in order to study them. That seems to be a problem for the DOR. But there is no point in my being here if I am not allowed to study.”