Why wasn't the entire planet of Volcomania buried in ash? Nicola wished she'd remembered Pompeii when XYZ40 was briefing them. She could have asked her.
As her parachute sank lower, she could feel the heat radiating from the volcanoes like a million summer days. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead.
Was the lava screen waterproof? What if she sweated it all away? What if her skin became as red and scaly as a Volcomanian? What if . . .
"I can see the hut!"
It was Katie's voice.
Oh! Nicola had forgotten all about the hut. She'd just been letting her parachute and mind drift.
Nicola looked down and saw a small, squat, red hut with 3A clearly marked on the top.
She reached for the toggles that Tyler had told them would steer the parachute. ("How do you know this?" Greta had asked. "I don't know," Tyler had answered. "I just do.")
Nicola pulled the left toggle and the parachute gently floated down to the left. She pulled right and it floated down to the right. It was quite fun. Maybe she'd take up parachuting as a hobby when she got back to Earth.
She zigzagged through the air toward the hut and saw with horror that it seemed to be right next to the crater of a permanently erupting volcano. It was like a pot of milk boiling over on the stove. Except it wasn't milk--it was lava.
Couldn't XYZ40 have picked a landing spot that wasn't quite so close to a volcano crater? They would have to parachute straight through a fountain of lava.
"It's going to burn us!" screamed Greta.
"We're wearing lava screen!" Nicola shouted back. "We'll be fine!" She hoped. Her parachute sank lower and suddenly it was raining fire. Nicola recoiled and shut her eyes as glowing droplets fell onto her skin and dress. But there was no burning sensation. The droplets of molten lava felt as cool as raindrops and slid painlessly off her. She opened her eyes again. Thank goodness for lava screen.
"Nicola!" said Tyler. "We forgot--" His parachute floated near hers and then floated off again in a gust of wind.
"What?" Nicola called back.
She could smell something sizzling. It was like cloth burning. She looked down at her dress. No. It was fine. Tyler's parachute hovered near Nicola's again.
"We forgot the parachutes!" he cried.
What did he mean? They had their parachutes!
Nicola laughed and pointed at Tyler's parachute. "No, we didn't!"
And then suddenly she understood. Tyler's parachute was dotted with dozens of smoldering holes from the showering lava.
"We forgot to put lava screen on the parachutes!" cried Tyler.
CHAPTER 10
"Nicola! We forgot to--"
Shimlara plummeted past Nicola, pointing frantically at the burning holes in her own parachute.
"Yes, I know," Nicola called back. Did they really expect her to come up with a SOLUTION to this disaster?
Boom!
The volcano directly below them erupted with a huge explosion that lit up the sky. Nicola gasped as she was completely drenched in lava. She wiped off her face with both hands--imagine if she'd forgotten to lava screen her face!--and looked up at her parachute.
It was burning; crackling flames were shooting up into the sky.
There was a whoosh sound and her parachute collapsed inward.
Someone shouted, "Nicola! We forgot to--"