All around Eureka, lush trees continued to grow from the marsh, until they matched the height of the first tree. She was in the center of a canopy of trees in the center of a park in the center of a city in the center of what might be the only land left on earth.
Strange birds sang strange songs that Eureka heard in both ears. Vines snaked up the tree trunk so quickly, she jerked her arms away, lest they become portions of the forest. The trees smelled like eucalyptus and pecans and fresh-cut grass, but in every other way they were unrecognizable. They were broader and taller and more brilliantly green than any tree she’d ever seen. She climbed across another bough. It swayed under her weight, but the wood felt steady, strong.
“You’re losing, Cuttlefish.” Atlas jumped from a branch above her to one below. He climbed downward, and when he reached the tree’s lowest bough he turned slowly, winked at Eureka, and jumped.
He landed face-first in the thick-sprouting grass. After that he didn’t move.
Another trick. She was meant to follow him, to fear for Brooks’s well-being—and be trapped.
But she was already trapped. She was in Atlantis with her enemy. She was supposed to be here. This was a step along the path to redeeming herself. She couldn’t stay in this tree forever. She was going to have to go down and face him.
She descended the branches. The longer she looked at Brooks’s back, the more fearful she became. The body on the ground was the porch that led to the cathedral of her best friend’s soul.
Her feet touched Atlantean earth. She grabbed Brooks’s shoulders, rolled him over. She laid her head against his chest and waited for it to rise.
26
DISPOSSESSED
It wasn’t the first time Brooks had fallen.
A wave of déjà vu swept through Eureka as she laid her head against his chest:
They were nine years old. It was the summer before Eureka’s parents divorced, so she’d still had a whole and buoyant heart, a matching smile. She didn’t know that loss was alive in the world, a thief always about to slam you and steal everything you had.
That summer, Eureka and Brooks had spent sunsets high in the grand pecan tree in Sugar’s backyard, past the city limits of New Iberia. Brooks had a bowl cut and light-up Power Rangers sneakers. Eureka had skinned knees and a gap between her front teeth. She’d been shredding her way through the endless smocked dresses Diana kept pulling from the attic.
It happened on a Sunday afternoon. Maybe it explained why Sundays always made Eureka lonely. Brooks had been playing with the lyrics of her favorite Tom T. Hall song, “That’s How I Got to Memphis.” Eureka had been trying to harmonize with him. She’d grown annoyed with his improvisations and shoved him. He’d lost his balance, tumbled backward. One minute he was singing with her, and the next—
She’d tried to catch him. He fell for an eternity, his brown eyes locked on hers. His face grew smaller; his limbs stilled. He landed on his back, roughly, his left leg twisted beneath him.
Eureka still heard her scream in her mind. She’d leapt from the branch to the ground. She’d knelt beside him on skinned knees. First, she’d tried to pry his eyelids open, because Brooks’s smile was mostly in his eyes and she needed to see it. She’d said his name.
When he didn’t stir or answer, she prayed.
Hail Mary, full of grace …
She said it over and over, till the words were tangled and held no meaning. Then she remembered something she’d seen on TV. She pressed her mouth against his …
Brooks’s arms encircled her and he kissed her, long and deep. His gleeful eyes popped open. “Gotcha.”
She slapped him.
“Why did you do that?” She wiped her lips on the back of her hand, studied the shine their kiss made below her knuckles.
Brooks rubbed his cheek. “So you’d know I wasn’t mad at you.”
“Maybe now I’m mad at you.”
“Maybe you’re not.” He grinned.
In those days, it was impossible to stay mad at Brooks. He’d limped back to the tree, and as he’d ascended its branches, he’d sung new, worse lyrics to the song:
If you shove somebody enough, you’ll tumble wherever they go—
That’s how I got to Memphis, that’s how I got to Memphis.