Eureka rose. “Let’s go.”

“Sit,” he said. “First I must show you the way.” Again Ovid’s features softened. This time, they became a screen on which a waterfall appeared. A projection of white water streamed down the robot’s forehead. In the center of its face a strange bubble vibrated. It took Eureka a moment to recognize it was her thunderstone shield. A small version of Ovid appeared beneath the shield, its body arced in a gorgeous dive as it balanced the shield on its shoulders.

At the end of the waterfall, Ovid’s screenlike face became bright white and bubbly. Soon, the bubbles cleared and the water turned a deep turquoise. Then Ovid was swimming, a strong and rapid br**ststroke, the shield strapped to its back with an orichalcum band.

A version of Eureka was inside the version of the shield. It was like watching a movie of herself in a dream. Someone sat beside her, but the image was too small to see who it was.

The vision faded from Ovid’s blank face. Solon’s sculpted features returned.

So the waterfall was how Eureka would get to the Marais. She looked down at her crystal teardrop and prayed her thunderstone still worked.

“Ovid is adept at open-sea swimming,” Solon’s voice said, “but within these caves the currents are capricious. The angles of the tunnel-like flumes that lead to the outside world are deadly sharp. Your journey will be smoother once you clear them.”

“How do I do that?” Eureka asked.

“How do we do that,” Ander corrected her. “You must time your departure between three and four in the morning, when the moon draws the tides high, and the flumes’ currents flow toward the egress of the caves. You already practiced how to enter the waterfall when you fetched the orchid. Do it again. Filiz will join you; I always promised I would take her with me. All others who wish to accompany you must run with you into the fall. And then, like love itself, Ovid will lead you where you need to go.”

Again the robot’s features shifted into their bland, attractive, neutral state. It closed its eyes. It whispered: “Rest.”

During the long electric moment that followed Eureka became sure of three things:

She could not take her loved ones with her. They would not let her go alone. She was going to have to ditch them.

24

FLIGHT

Wind spun Eureka’s hair as she staggered to the edge of the veranda. She tried to find Diana’s star, but there was no sign of a universe beyond the rain.

Since Diana had died, it was like an organ had been removed; Eureka’s body didn’t work the way it had before. How could Diana, the sparkling woman Eureka had treasured, have descended from darkness?

And yet Diana had abandoned her family. She’d slapped her daughter so roughly it turned Eureka’s emotions inward for a decade, until they nearly killed her. Diana held deadly secretsbehind her brilliant smile.

Selfish. Heartless. Narcissistic. When her parents divorced, Eureka heard people in New Iberia call Diana these things. Eureka had dismissed it as bayou gossip. She’d convinced herself these attributes belonged to the accusers, that they projected their failings onto Diana’s absence.

Eureka considered that the woman she aspired to be was also the woman who manipulated, lied, then disappeared. Diana had been a ghost in Eureka’s life, filling her with feelings while telling her not to feel. She had raised a daughter who ran cross-country, treasured the twins, fell in love too easily—and was a murderer. Once you put murder on your résumé, no one saw anything else. Eureka was as full of dark contradictions as Diana. She was moments away from abandoning everyone she loved, leaving them to unknown, watery fates.

Ander and the others had been sleeping when she left. She’d never seen him so peaceful. She’d pressed her lips to his for just an instant before she’d gone.

The Tearline pond was rising. She could reach over the ledge and touch it. Soon she would be in the Marais. She would have to face Atlas, stop the Filling, and rescue Brooks at the same time. Solon said she would know what to do when she got there, but Eureka couldn’t fathom it yet.

Her fingers danced along the water’s surface. After Diana died and Eureka swallowed those pills, when all that was left was a panicked, catatonic void, Brooks was the only person she could be near. He hadn’t wanted her to snap out of anything. He’d loved her as she was.

But even Brooks must have a limit. Even if she saved him, even if she brought him back, could he love this darkest side of her?

Lightning flashed. It would keep raining. The water would keep rising. Soon her tears would swallow the Bitter Cloud.

Eureka had to move. She couldn’t wait for the tides to be right. She had to get to Ovid, to disappear before the others woke.

Hands on her shoulders made Eureka jump.

“Go back inside, Ander.”

“If I see him, I’ll be sure to tell him that.” Warm breath tickled Eureka’s neck. She turned and gazed into eyes brown and bottomless.

Brooks.

Atlas.

His touch was familiar, yet somehow older than their bodies. His eyes flashed with something bright and mesmerizing she’d never seen before. It pulled her closer.

How could a monster’s arms feel so good? Why did the thrill of his chest against hers make her pulse with excitement? She should pull away. She should run.

He lowered his head and kissed her. Shock immobilized her as his lips parted hers. His hands rolled through the waves of her hair, then over the waves of her hips. Their lips locked again and again. It wasn’t like any kiss she’d ever had before. Her body throbbed. She felt like she’d been drugged.