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"That's what makes it exciting!"

"That's what makes it a waste of gas."

"Charlie Wickett, we are going to see The Thing."

"We are absolutely not going to see The Thing."

"The 'fate of the road trip' has spoken."

"What is this 'fate of the road trip' you keep saying? What is that?"

"It's what makes road tripsroad trips.It's the fun part, the getting there part. You have a destination, sure. You may have atimeline, that's fine, too. Buthowyou get to that destinationonyour timeline? That's where fate intervenes."

Charlie laughed, but not unkindly. "So, we're figuring out how to get to Pasadena through... hand spins and table slaps?"

"In this case, yes!" Katie replied, crossing her arms over her chest, silently daring Charlie to argue. But the problem was, Charliedidhave a timeline and, to be honest, she wasn't entirely sure she was up for an adventure after the week she and Katiebothhad had. It seemed Katie read her face before Charlie even had a chance to turn her down.

"Come on, Charlie," Katie pleaded. "You can't upset the road trip gods!"

Charliepfft'd. "I'll take my chances with the road trip gods."

At that exact moment, a crack of thunder split the sky outside the diner. Lightning forked across the flat Texas horizon, bright enough to light up the entire parking lot. The lights in the diner flickered once.

They both froze.

Katie's face began to change. It started as a twitch at the corner of her mouth. Then a slow curl. Before long, the full, teeth-baring, unmistakable grin of a woman who had just been handed divine intervention on a silver platter smiled directly at Charlie.

"It seems the gods have spoken, my dear sister."

Charlie stared at Katie. She looked out the window at the sky, which had been cloudless thirty seconds ago, before looking back at Katie. The grin on her face had somehow gotten even wider, which shouldn't have been physically possible.

But maybe this was a sign for them to have one adventure, even after the week they'd had.

"Fine," Charlie said, pointing her fork at Katie. "But if The Thing turns out to be a rock, you're buying my gas for the rest of the trip."

"Deal!" Katie squealed, moving off her seat across the booth and falling into Charlie's arms in a hug that squeezed Charlie so tight. "It's going to be so fun," Katie murmured against her. Charlie laughed, hugging Katie back. If it made Katie this happy, then, road gods pissed or not, it was worth it.

The Thing turned out to be what was allegedly a mummified creature in a glass case. To Charlie, it looked like it had been assembled by someone who had never seen what a mummy looked like and, instead, was provided a misleading description over a bad phone line. Charlie stood in front of the case with her arms crossed and her head tilted, trying to reverse-engineer how it had been constructed.

But Katie was enthralled. And that mattered more to Charlie, but that didn't stop her from teasing her sister.

"This is held together with papier-mâché and spite," Charlie said.

"It'smysterious," Katie corrected.

"It'smysteriouspapier-mâché, then."

"You have no sense of wonder."

"Oh, I have an excellent sense of wonder. I just also have eyes." Katie scoffed but Charlie saw the hint of her grin twitch against her lips before turning away and walking into the gift shop. Charlie's heart warmed, reminded again that Katie was with her, here, heading back to California. Katie had chosenher.

Katie bought a bumper sticker that said "I SAW THE THING?" and stuck it on the Plymouth's rear bumper before Charlie could stop her. Charlie protested but Katie reminded her about the road trip gods. Charlie let the bumper sticker stay.

Charlie never took it off. Some things, once chosen by fate, deserve to stay.

Somewhere in the middle of New Mexico, Katie pulled a small bundle of embroidery thread from her bag. She'd packed quietly and without explanation, because Katie always knewwhat she'd need before the need arrived. She sat cross-legged in the passenger seat and started knotting.

"What colors?" Katie asked.