“There’s been a lot of people here,” said Fang. He stood in front of one of the many signs, in about eight languages, that warned us to be careful, to watch where we stepped, to not destroy any lichen or moss, to not litter, and so on. It was a protected spot, overseen by “the Deception Island Management Group.”

“Deception Island,” I said, smiling. “What a cool name. It sounds like where we should live.” I looked around at the surreal, unearthly place. “If we wanted to live in a barren wasteland.”

“’S not barren,” said Angel.

Nudge began pulling off her boots.

“What are you doing?”

She pointed to the edge of the water, where steam was misting heavily upward. “Hot bath! Those dinky little showers back at the station ain’t cutting it.”

“Look,” said Angel, pointing upward. I heard them before I saw them: a flock of really big birds, coming off a cliff about a quarter-mile away.

“What are they?” I asked.

“Wandering albatrosses,” said Nudge, who had now shucked her coat and scarf and was peeling down to her underwear. “Sailors used to think they held the souls of dead sailors. Oh, my God, this water feels fantastic!” She sank down slowly, seeming to almost disappear into the mist.

“Be careful,” I said. “The water might suddenly turn boiling or something.”

“I’m going in too,” said Total, trotting over to the water.

The albatrosses wheeled overhead. The biggest ones had wingspans bigger than Angel’s — maybe nine feet across. They were amazing. They hardly ever flapped their wings — just glided on the rising currents of warm air. Because our body-weight-to-wingspan ratio was so much greater, we probably couldn’t pull that off.

“Oh, my God!” Nudge said again, sounding alarmed.

I whipped my head around and hurried toward her. “What?” Behind me, Fang was examining the sky, the sea, the land, for approaching threats. I skidded to a halt at the water’s edge, scattering grit and tiny pebbles. “What’s wrong?”

Nudge pointed at Total. He was up to his nose in the warm water, looking more cheerful than I’d seen him in a long time. His black fur was wet and slicked down against his sides. I peered at what Nudge was pointing at.

“What?” said Total sleepily, relaxing in the steamy water. “Man, this is heaven on my paws. They get so cold. . . . Maybe little boots . . .”

Now all of us were at the water’s edge, frowning at Total.

He groggily blinked up at us. “You gotta try this. If I had a martini right now, I’d never come out.”

Then it hit me, what I was looking at. I don’t know why it took me so long — I’d seen stuff just like it a bunch of times, and not only on us. I somehow never expected it to happen to Total, that’s all.