“So, your mom did something on this beach?” Simon asked. “Maybe buried treasure?”
“I’m not digging,” Chris said.
“Let me try to re-focus.” Shanna pulled a crystal out of her bag and stepped into the shadow of a tree. She turned away from them and stood there for a solid five minutes.
“It’s not here,” she said. “It’s inside the forest.”
Simon looked to the thick jungle.Oh, boy.
“There’s a path.” Chris pointed to the side.
Shanna shrugged at Simon. “Might as well.”
As they headed in, Simon soon realized the simple footpath was their only way; there was no chance to otherwise make it through the thick underbrush. Giant ferns the size and look of palm trees rose on all sides, the backs of their leaves a pure silver, as if they’d captured moonlight. They mixed in with other trees—palms, white-barked beeches, and climbers that wrapped themselves around larger trees, blossoming with bright red flowers.
The path led slightly upward. As they ascended single file, soon, there was nothing else to be heard but the occasional squawking of a bird and their labored breathing.
“I was not created for this,” Chris said.
“Oh, come on.” Shanna looked over her shoulder, smiling at both. “What’s a little exercise?”
“Death,” Chris said.
Simon, surprisingly, found he was doing well. He’d always exercised, but somehow, he’d thought three years of body-soul separation would have affected his stamina.
Although, now that he thought about it … his body was still in good shape. Perhaps even in better shape than he’d left it.
That one’s on you, Raleigh.At least his impostor did one thing right.
“I feel it. It’s close. Ah!” Shanna suddenly picked up the pace, coming to the peak of the hill, then disappeared into the brush.
Simon and Chris rushed after her, finding her at the foot of a giant tree with almost black bark.
“What’s here?” Chris asked.
Shanna brushed some lichen off the bark at the level of her head. Etched in the bark, barely visible, were the letters A + B, surrounded with a vague outline of a heart.
“You found one of Alfie’s trees,” Chris said.
“But the spell led me here.” Shanna sounded dejected.
“Are you sure you didn’t focus on Alfie by mistake?” Simon asked.
“I did it before I even met him. The meditation at the beach was to help me strengthen it.”
Simon stepped to the tree, tracing the almost-forgotten etchings with his fingers.
Almost forgotten…
“Everyone else forgets, but the trees will remember,” he whispered. “That’s what your mom wrote on the postcard, right?”
Shanna put her hand on the tree back. “A and B. Alfie … and Bella. Isabel.”
“That’s why he couldn’t remember who he named the boat after.”
“He forgot her.” Shanna leaned her forehead against the trunk. “But the tree remembers.”
Simon couldn’t put a name to the feeling that overcame him—the closest he’d come to a similar feeling before was when watching a movie with a sad, but satisfying ending. Catharsis didn’t cover it. It was more, a deep sadness of knowing that not a single soul on Earth remembered Isabel, and that the same would happen to Shanna; but also a sliver of satisfaction, knowing Isabel had enjoyed at least this part of her life. She must have found some happiness here, even if it came at the cost of her own family.
