Their chance to look for the camera came sooner than Jess expected.

The very next day, the twins came to Clive’s as the Saturday breakfast rush was ending.

“Hey, gents,” Mom called. “Your mom went out of town again?”

“How’d you know?” Sam asked. “She just left.”

Mom smirked. “Magic.”

Jess laughed. “It’s because you always wear those same disgusting Mariners T-shirts when your mom isn’t here to stop you.”

The boys looked down at their stained shirts and grinned.

The second Mom went back into the kitchen, the boys pounced on Jess with their news: Their dad was heading up to his fishing cabin early tomorrow morning. He’d left his most expensive fishing rod there, and he wanted to bring it home.

“But how’s he going to get there?” Jess asked.

The cabin was eight miles from St. Helens. Jess didn’t think the police were letting anyone get that close to the mountain.

“My dad talked to the police chief,” Eddie said. “The loggers are going back to work on Monday. And the police are even letting people with cabins on Spirit Lake go up there today.”

Jess was shocked. Spirit Lake was right at the base of St. Helens, much closer than Loomis Lake.

Jess paused for a minute, thinking about Dr. Morales. She was pretty positive he wouldn’t be in favor of people going close to the mountain. But even he admitted that nobody knew for sure that St. Helens was going to erupt any time soon. And wouldn’t there be some kind of warning before a big eruption?

What Jess did know was that here was her chance to get Dad’s camera back. And she needed to take it.

“Your dad will let us come?” she asked.

The boys nodded.

Mom would never approve. But Mom didn’t have to know because she wouldn’t be home tomorrow. She was leaving early in the morning for Vancouver. The twins’ grandma was getting out of the hospital, and Mom wanted to help Mrs. Rowan get her settled. Mom had invited Jess to come along. But Jess said she’d stay with the twins.

Jess couldn’t believe her luck.

Maybe she’d be able to get Dad’s camera and sneak it back into Mom’s trunk. And Mom would never have to find out that it had been missing.

The next morning, Mom kissed Jess good-bye at six thirty.

By seven, Jess and the twins were in the back of Mr. Rowan’s pickup, rumbling along Spirit Lake Memorial Highway.

There were no police roadblocks, and they made it to Loomis Lake in under an hour.

They got out of the truck, and they all stood in the parking lot for a moment, staring up at the mountain.

“Looks the same as it always does,” Mr. Rowan said.

It was true.

They couldn’t see any of the cracks or bulges that Dr. Morales had told them about. The mountain’s peak sparkled as usual, and its reflection rippled on the surface of Loomis Lake.

“I don’t want to stay long,” Mr. Rowan told them. “An hour tops. So don’t go far.”

He’d barely started to walk away when Jess and the twins were sprinting toward the forest. Soon they lost sight of the mountain; the tall trees blocked their view. Not being able to see the mountain made Jess nervous.

But what rattled her most was the quiet.

She heard none of the usual forest sounds — the chirps of birds and skittering of squirrels and chipmunks. The air was strangely still, without even a breath of wind.

The twins were strangely quiet, too. They walked along without their usual baseball chatter. The hike was taking longer than it had last time. The trail was littered with fallen branches and ripped apart by huge holes caused by the earthquake.

With every step, Jess’s stomach twisted tighter. They should turn around, she thought. They needed to find Mr. Rowan and go home. This all felt wrong. She was ready to grab the twins and drag them back down the trail.

But then she saw it, up ahead: the shack.

Jess forgot her fear. All she could think of was Dad’s camera.

She hurried ahead, leaping over branches and holes. She ran up to the shack and pushed the door open. She searched all around the floor, but the camera wasn’t there.

Her heart sank. She’d been sure she would find it lying on the ground.

And then she saw her backpack sitting on the table.

Strange. She was sure she hadn’t left it there, all zipped up.

Jess stepped over and unzipped it.

And to her amazement, the camera was tucked inside, carefully wrapped in the plastic bag. She lifted it up and removed it from the plastic.

It was perfect.

The boys came through the door.

“You found it!” Eddie said happily.

But Jess’s relief was mixed with confusion.

“How did it get into the backpack?” Jess wondered. “I know I dropped it.”

“Someone must have found it,” Sam said. “Maybe a logger.”

“But nobody has been allowed to come up here,” Jess said. “And Missy said the loggers were too scared to come to this part of the forest.”

“Maybe she did it,” Eddie said.

“Missy?” Jess said.

“No,” Eddie said, raising his eyebrows.

“You know …”

“You dope,” Sam laughed. “Skeleton Woman didn’t find Jess’s camera and put it in the bag.” He grabbed Jess. “Come on. We need to go. Dad will be waiting for us.”

Jess put the backpack on and followed the twins out of the cabin.

They’d just stepped outside when Jess caught a whiff of a nasty smell.

The boys smelled it, too.

“Eddie!” Sam chided. “What did you do?”

“It wasn’t me!” Eddie said, putting his hands over his face.

They looked at Jess.

“I didn’t do it!”

“Ugh,” Eddie said. “It’s like rotten eggs.”

Jess’s heart stopped.

“Isn’t that what sulfur gas smells like?” she asked.

Sulfur gas. Like on Mount Pelée.

It was one of the warning signs, just before Pelée erupted.

“Is it coming from the mountain?” Eddie asked.

The horrifying answer came a second later.

Kaboom!