“Must have been a wildfire,” Mom said. “California’s had some big ones lately.”

They drove more slowly, and Josh took it all in. He’d seen some videos of wildfires — flames shooting up into the sky, black smoke, big planes dumping water and that bright red foam from the sky.

But none of it seemed real. It was like a clip from a disaster movie, or even a video game. Josh hadn’t thought about what it really meant for a whole forest to burn up.

Now Josh gaped at the dead trees around him — there had to be thousands of them. They reminded him of skeletons, all bare and charred and twisted, their spiked branches reaching out like bony arms. He was glad when he and Mom finally drove out of the burned area, and the forest turned green again.

A little ways up, Mom stopped at a small store so they could get some snacks.

“Looks like you had a fire around here,” Mom said to the gray-haired woman at the cash register.

“Sure did,” the woman said, ringing up their chips and waters. “July of 2015. Burned for a whole week.”

“Goodness!” Mom said.

“Lost some houses, too,” the woman added, shaking her head sadly. “These fires are happening more and more. Up and down California. Other places, too.”

“Why is that?” Mom asked, swiping her credit card.

“I’m no scientist,” the woman said, putting their snacks into a paper bag. “But it has to be the weather — everything’s out of whack. Our summers are so long and hot; we hardly get any rain anymore.”

“Our weather’s strange in New Jersey, too,” Mom said.

That’s for sure, Josh thought.

And not just the broiling summers. Winters were wild, too. One day you could get frostbite from the cold and the next day it was warm enough to wear a T-shirt.

Mom wished the woman luck and they left the store. Josh was just buckling his seat belt when his phone buzzed. He picked it up, figuring it was Dad — he and Josh had been in touch all day.

But this time it was Greg.

Hey. You alive?

Barely, Josh wrote back, smiling as he pictured Greg’s goofy grin. They’d been best buddies since preschool. Josh loved the guy, even if he could be a little dopey at times.

Like a couple of nights ago. They’d been playing video games in Josh’s basement, wolfing down chips and Oreos. Suddenly Greg turned to him and said, “Don’t worry. I hear your dad probably won’t have to go to jail for too long.”

Josh had just stared at Greg, amazed that he could make such a dumb joke.

“I’m kidding,” Greg said quickly.

“I know,” Josh said. “But it’s not funny.”

Mom and Dad were still pretty upset about Dad getting arrested for no reason.

“I’m really sorry,” Greg said, and for a second Josh was afraid Greg was going to start crying.

“Forget it,” Josh said, giving Greg a friendly shove. He knew Greg wasn’t trying to be mean. And why wreck a fun night?

Too bad Greg wasn’t here with him now. This car ride would be way more exciting.

They texted back and forth about the Yankees until Greg had to go.

Don’t have too much fun, Greg wrote.

Josh signed off with a googly-eyed, tongue-out emoji.

*  *  *

An hour later, Mom turned off the main street onto a skinny dirt road. They bumped along, driving deeper and deeper into the woods. Finally, they came to a small white house.

“How charming,” Mom said as they stepped out of the car.

Josh guessed so. The house had a front porch with a picnic table and two rocking chairs. There were pots of flowers everywhere and all kinds of birds chirping and swooping around. It reminded Josh of a house from a kids’ picture book. He half expected Goldilocks to come skipping out the front door.

They heard voices — a woman and a girl — echoing somewhere outside, in the back of the house.

“Why don’t you grab the suitcases and bring them to the porch,” Mom said to Josh. “I’ll go find Holly and Nicole.”

Josh hauled his duffel and Mom’s suitcase up to the porch, then walked back to the car.

He looked around some more, squinting in the sun.

No basketball hoop. And he doubted there was a pool.

Josh’s heart sank as he imagined the boring week ahead.

He fished his phone out of his pocket. He made a funny bored face and snapped a selfie for Dad.

Hi from the middle of nowhere, he typed. But then when he tried to send it, it wouldn’t go through.

He stared at his phone screen — no cell service!

And that’s when he heard it.

Hssssssssssss.

Josh swung his head around, and his heart stopped when he saw it: a massive lizard with brown-and-black speckled skin. It was at least six feet long, with a bullet-shaped head and a long tail. It looked like a leftover dinosaur or something.

Whatever it was, it was moving very fast, jaws open, teeth gleaming.

It was headed right for Josh.