Mom and Dad sandwich me in a big hug.

“Be safe,” Mom says. “And be good for Ellie and Eddie. Remember the Instagram rules. I’m so, so excited to see all the pictures you take.”

“And have fun,” Dad says.

Ruth steps out onto the front porch with her luggage, the blue tips of her spiky black hair flashing in the sunlight, and Dad catches her in a tight side hug and plants a kiss on the top of her head.

“Hey, Mom?” I say.

“Yeah, sweetie?”

I step away from Dad and Ruth, and Mom leans toward me. Before we leave, I feel like I need someone to know at least a tiny bit about what I’m going to try to do. “I’ve got kind of a surprise planned for Ruth at the end of this trip and I really hope she likes it.”

I don’t want to say too much more about it, and Mom doesn’t ask. I knew she wouldn’t. She just brushes her hand down my hair. “My patient, patient girl,” she says. “You always take such good care of your sister.”

That urgent voice deep in my mind says, But not good enough.

Well, that’s about to change. This trip is going to be more than good. It’s going to be the Viking hoard of Treasure Hunts.

I look between the RV and my sister, then back to my mom. There’s blue sky and concern reflected in her eyes.

“I hope it helps,” I say.

Above anyone else, I think, Mom knows what I mean. That I’m talking about my plan and this trip and the pirate ships and … well, everything. Anything. Mom pulls me into a gripping hug, her hand tense on my back.

“Me too,” she says. “Me too.”

Mom steps over and gives Ruth a hug and says something in her ear that I can’t hear. Ruth sighs and nods.

Then Ruth steps past me toward the RV. “Okay then, let’s go,” she says.

Ellie and Eddie are already on board. Ruth climbs up and I’m the last one in, and I turn around on the top step and wave at my parents.

“Bye,” Ruth calls from behind me. “Come on, Olivia, close the door.”

I call goodbye one more time, then close the door. I watch through the window and Mom and Dad are standing there, arms around each other’s shoulders. I remind myself it’s only going to be a week until I see them again.

Besides, I have Ruth.

Now we’re ready to go. Ellie and Eddie head to the front. Eddie puts his Nashville Predators cap on his round, bald head and cheers as he slides into the driver’s seat. There’s a small bedroom with a queen bed in the back of the RV that will be their territory on this trip. I climb up into the loft above the driver’s seat, the spot I’ve claimed since I knew this trip was happening. Below me, on the driver’s side, behind the seat, I see the small couch, a tiny counter and sink, and then the bathroom. Across from that is a little nook with a built-in sleeping space. That will be Ruth’s space. There’s a shelf in her nook too, on which she’s already carefully laid her book and a spare pair of earbuds. She takes out a notebook and pen and jots something inside—probably the title of a song or some lyrics she wants to remember, or poetic lines of her own making. Then she adds the notebook to the shelf too.