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Cat and Eureka passed a tribe of Pilgriathered around a fire pit in the center of the lawn, their faces lit orange and yellow by the flahter inside, Eureka tried not to think of Brooks

Cat steered her up the stairs to the back patio, past a big black cauldron of crawfish surrounded by kids snapping off the tails and sucking fat fro crawfish was one of a bayou child’s earliest rites of passage, so its savagery felt natural everywhere, even in costuot in line for punch, Eureka heard a loud male voice in the distance call out, "Make like a tree and leave"

"I think we’re the hottest leaves here," Cat said as the band began to play froh underclassmen to the front of the drinks line "Noe can relax and enjoy ourselves"

The idea of a relaxed Cat made Eureka smirk She looked out at the party The Faith Healers were playing "Four Walls" and they sounded good, giving the party a soul She’d been waiting for this uilt i Eureka knew Diana wouldn’t want herin her room Diana would want her to be at the Maze Daze in a short brown dress, drinking punch with her best friend, having fun Diana would picture Brooks there, too Losing his friendship would be likeanother death, but Eureka didn’t want to think about that now

Cat slipped a plastic cup of punch into Eureka’s hand It was not the lethal purple poison of the Trejean colada of years past It was an appetizing shade of red It actually smelled fruity Eureka was about to take a sip when she heard a familiar voice behind her say, "It’s bad luck to drink without a toast"

Without turning around, Eureka took a gulp of punch "Hey, Brooks"

He stepped before her She couldn’t -sleeved shirt with a hint of silver shi pajained he took with Maya His blank eyes held none of their usual mischief He was alone

Cat pointed at his outfit and hooted "Tin Man?"

Brooks turned on her icily "It’s a precise replica of ancient harvesting attire Precise and practical"

"Where?" Cat said "On Mars?"

Brooks studied the low cut of Eureka’s dress "I thought ere better friends than this I asked you not to coive us aJulien on the edge of the balcony He earing a horned Viking cap, which Cat lifted off his head and placed on hers An instant later they were cracking up, arms entwined

Eureka compared Brook’s odd costume with last year’s elaborate Spanish moss suit She’d helped him staple a hundred shreds of it to a vest he’d cut fro

"I asked you not to co rab her shoulders, but he grabbed air "Do you think you’re the only one affected by Diana’s death? Do you think you can s a bottle of pills and not gut the people who love you? That’s why I look out for you, because you quit looking out for yourself"

Eureka sed, speechless a

"There you are" Maya Cayce’s deep voice made Eureka’s skin crawl She wore black roller skates, a tiny black dress showing nine of her ten tattoos, and shoulder-grazing raven feather earrings She skated toward Brooks from across the porch "I lost you"

"For my safety?" Eurekayou here with her?"

Maya rolled into Brooks, scooping his arm to drape it around her neck She was half a foot taller than hiled where Maya had placed it near her chest It drove Eureka crazier than she would ever ado

If Cat were in Eureka’s shoes, she’d compete with Maya Cayce’s oppressive sensuality She’d contort her body into a pose that o haywire She’d have her body entwined with Brooks’s before Maya could bat her fake lashes Eureka didn’t kno to play games like those, especially not with her best friend All she had was honesty

"Brooks" She looked straight at him "Would you mind if I talked to you alone?"

The official Olympics timekeepers couldn’t have clocked how quickly Brooks’s ar down the patio stairs, toward the shelter of a chinaberry tree, al crazy eights on the porch

Eureka leaned against the tree She wasn’t sure where to begin The air eet and the ground was soft with ant sound track for a private conversation Tin lanterns in the branches cast a shimmer on Brooks’s face He’d relaxed

"I’m sorry I was so crazy," he said Wind blew some of the small yellow drupes from the tree’s branches The fruits brushed Eureka’s bare shoulders on their way to the earth "I’ve been worried about you since you uy"

"Let’s not talk about hiht pour out of her if they spoke about Ander Brooks seemed to take her dismissal of the subject another way It seemed to make his to happen to you"

Eureka tilted her cheek into his hand "Maybe the worst is over"