Smoke. She looked back at the map. Only the orange and red dots were active volcanoes. “Do dormant volcanoes steam? Or only active ones?” she asked aloud.

“I dunno.” Zadie grunted as she heaved her suitcase into the hatch. The car bounced under its weight. “Could you scoot over?”

Finn moved a foot to her left so Zadie could shove her suitcase the rest of the way inside. “I mean, that makes sense, right? It would vent steam only if there was actual volcanic activity going on down there.”

“I guess. Why? Are you planning on pushing me in?”

Finn grinned. “Oh, did I not tell you about the human sacrifice portion of the trip? My bad.”

“Here.” Zadie shoved the tent bag at her sister. “You can finish loading. I need to save my strength for Mount Doom.”

As Finn tossed the tent into the car, she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. It was Kathy. She owed her a call (she’d been too busy yesterday and had asked for a rain check), but now was not a good time. I’ll call her back later, Finn thought, and shoved the phone back into her pocket.

As Finn loaded the rest of their camping gear into the car, Zadie lay on the picnic table, staring up at the fast-moving clouds and trying to will away the seasick feeling that she’d had ever since she’d smelled Finn’s oatmeal breakfast. It wasn’t all the pregnancy’s fault, however. She was also dreading another day of aimless driving. Even though Luna had been psychic, it didn’t mean that her premonitions held the weight Finn thought they did. Just because Nora had glimpsed a volcano once didn’t mean she was still there, despite what Tonya had told them. So far the next leg of their journey was looking just as speculative as the first.

Zadie heard footsteps. When she sat up, she saw Nic’s spindly limbs bounding down the path that led to their campsite. If she held her arms above her head, she’d look like a saguaro, Zadie thought, amused.

“Good morning, ladies!” she sang as she approached.

“Morning,” Zadie replied, climbing down from the table. “Here to see us off?”

“Yep. I couldn’t let you guys leave without saying goodbye … and giving you these.” She handed Finn and Zadie a plastic tube each, the kind they had seen in Ursula’s study. “Ursula wanted you to have them. She wanted to give them to you in person, but you know…” Nic waved dismissively at the sun.

Zadie looked over her sister’s shoulder as Finn opened her tube and pulled out several pieces of sheet music. In Ursula’s handwriting, it was titled Denebola in F minor.

“The Tail of the Lion!” Finn gasped. “I can really keep this?”

Nic nodded. Her eyes were bright. “It’s your star now.”