They stumbled out of the cabin. But the shaking was outside, too.

The ground bucked up and down. The trees swayed back and forth violently.

Jess and the boys clung to each other for balance as they staggered to the trail. But then crash! a huge tree fell right in front of them.

They turned to escape in the other direction, but crash! a massive limb hit the ground just feet from where they stood.

They had to get out of there!

“Wait! My dad’s camera!” Jess shouted.

But there was no going back.

The ground was now splitting apart, like ice breaking on a frozen pond. Clods of dirt flew up. Yawning holes opened in the earth, some deeper than any grave.

Jess and the twins huddled close together, their heads ducked down low, their arms wrapped tight around each other. More tree limbs crashed to the ground.

Jess braced herself for the crushing blow of a huge branch hitting her head.

And then, in a blink, the shaking stopped.

The forest went mute.

The only sounds were their own sobbing breaths.

They stood there too shocked and scared to speak.

And then, without a word, they joined hands and ran down the trail.

They jumped over fallen branches and holes in the ground, over roots and rocks. Jess kept looking over her shoulder, sure that Skeleton Woman was after them. She could practically feel the witch’s oven breath huffing at her back. Missy had been right all along: This forest was cursed!

They were almost to the parking lot when they heard Mr. Rowan shouting for them.

He came rushing up the trail, moving his burly body way faster than Jess ever thought he could.

He grabbed all three of them in a bear hug.

They hadn’t yet caught their breath when a man came hurrying up to them. He had dark brown skin and curly hair and looked to be about Mom’s age.

“Hey! Are you all okay?”

Jess and the twins peeled themselves away from Mr. Rowan.

“We’re all in one piece!” Mr. Rowan called out. “You?”

“I’m fine,” the man said, dusting off his pants. “That was a pretty strong quake.”

“Sure was,” Mr. Rowan answered.

Jess and the twins stared at each other in shock — and relief.

An earthquake. Of course!

Earthquakes happened sometimes in Washington State. They even had earthquake drills at school. They’d been so brainwashed by Missy’s dumb story that they weren’t thinking clearly.

Mr. Rowan introduced himself to the man.

“Skip Rowan,” he said.

“Tim Morales,” the man said, shaking Mr. Rowan’s hand and smiling warmly at the twins and Jess.

“Do you have a cabin here, Tim?” Mr. Rowan asked.

“Actually, I’m here for work,” he said, reaching into his shirt pocket and taking out a business card, which he handed to Mr. Rowan.

“Dr. Timothy Morales,” Mr. Rowan read, “Department of Seismology, University of Washington. You study earthquakes? Well, you came to the right place today.”

Dr. Morales nodded. “Actually we’ve detected at least fifty mild earthquakes in this area, all in this past week. They’re coming from directly under St. Helens. At first we weren’t sure what these earthquakes meant. But now we’re certain they’re warning signs.”

“Warning of what?” Mr. Rowan asked.

Dr. Morales was quiet for a moment. And then he looked up at St. Helens.

And what he said next was more unbelievable than any horror story Jess had ever heard.

“I think Mount St. Helens is about to erupt.”