Josh stood up, too, and sniffed the air. Yes, he smelled it. Just barely.

“Could it be a campfire?” he asked. He pictured a group of Boy Scouts sitting outside their tents, cooking up their morning eggs and sausages.

Holly shook her head.

“Nobody is supposed to be having campfires now, anywhere. Not with the fire risk so high.” Her eyes flicked back and forth. “There’s a wildfire somewhere.”

Josh’s heart thumped.

Holly looked all around and up at the sky, and Josh followed her gaze. But it was impossible to see anything because they were in the middle of this forest. The trees towered up over them, blocking their view of the sky and everything around.

“It’s probably not close to here,” Holly said. “We smell smoke all the time. It could be from a fire ten miles away.”

Josh nodded, praying that was it.

Holly gave the air another big sniff. “It’s not getting stronger, is it?”

Josh raised his nose up, breathing in. “I don’t think so,” he said. The smell hadn’t disappeared, but he didn’t think it was getting stronger, either. It was about the same.

“Good,” Holly said. “Let’s just get back.”

Josh wasn’t going to argue with that.

They headed down the skinny path in the direction of Holly’s house. The pine trees towered over them. Their footsteps crunched on the brush and dried-up pine needles that covered the ground.

Holly’s eyes were fixed ahead, and Josh’s thoughts swung back to Dad. To home. By now everyone in his town must know that Dad was going to jail.

How could he and Mom go back there? What kind of life would they have?

Suddenly, the hot wind gusted hard, drying up the tears that had sprung into Josh’s eyes. Something landed on his head. Instantly he felt a searing pain, like he’d been stung by a giant wasp.

“Ouch!” he cried, brushing the thing off his head and onto the ground. It wasn’t a buzzing insect. It was a small chunk of burned tree bark, glowing red. He and Holly stared as it landed on a pile of dried-up twigs and brown pine needles.

Whoosh!

The dried brush immediately caught fire.

Holly lunged at the low, flickering flame like it was her worst enemy. She stamped on it with her tattered running shoes until it was out.

“You see any more?” she said, swiveling all around.

Josh shook his head.

“Whew,” Holly said. She let out a big breath.

What was that? Josh wondered.

And then he remembered what Lucas has said the other night, that big wildfires give off burning bits of wood — embers — that blow in the wind and set new fires.

So the wildfire they were smelling … it couldn’t be very far away.

Josh had the creeped-out feeling that that ember had been sent out to find them, a flaming eyeball flying through the sky. I’m watching you.

“Come on,” Holly said.

They walked more quickly now. And for the first time, Josh looked closely at the forest around them. He thought of what Eleanor had said — that some forests were in bad shape. Now he saw what she meant. The trees were all crammed together, branches tangled up. Lots of the trees looked sick — too small and too skinny, bark peeling off, with branches spindly and bare. And every inch of the ground was covered with fallen limbs, weedy-looking bushes, and dried-up pine needles.

He thought of how quickly that one little ember had ignited that patch of ground. A chill went up his spine. But he stopped himself from panicking.

This is California, he reminded himself, not New Jersey. Wildfires were normal here, and most of them were put out quickly. Hadn’t Lucas and Eleanor said that? It was like the snowstorms at home. Every few winters there was a monster blizzard that shut everything down. But mostly they got a few inches of powdery snow, not even enough for a snow day from school.

Josh had just about calmed himself down when a strange sound rose from behind them. A low growl.

He and Holly both froze. They locked eyes, then slowly turned around.

A mountain lion was crouched on the path behind them.