“Too much snow,” the Captain said. “Over twenty feet a year! No snowplow dares work this high. The snow comes in October and stays until May—unless the lava melts it sooner, of course.”

“There won’t be any lava today,” Veronica’s dad said. “We’ll be over the Pass in no time. For now, enjoy the view. Just let me know if you see anything weird.”

“What do you mean ‘weird’?” Veronica asked.

He didn’t answer. He swiped the car’s screen, displaying a colorful map of the surrounding ground. Green patches denoted normal temperatures, yellow above 120 degrees, orange above 500 degrees, and red above 1000 degrees.

“I’ve never seen the screen so yellow,” Veronica said. The Captain glanced at the newfangled screen exactly once, focusing his attention wholly on the road.

But Veronica’s dad was fixated on the screen. He fiddled with the radio and pushed the pedal to the floor.

A high, shaky voice rasped long-haired poetry through the speakers— something about castles burning.

“Turn it down,” Veronica grumbled. “No oldies, please!”

Her father ignored her, zigzagging up one of the narrowest roads on Earth. A one-lane dirt road, the Magma Skyway lacked any lane markings or guardrails. It climbed relentlessly up a volcanic plateau, one dangerous switchback after another.

Maddy noticed the out-of-place floral arrangements, “Who put the flowers on the bends?” she asked. “And what do the crosses mean?”

Rate