She didn’t get halfway down the aisle before the plane trembled, and then shook. Jared looked at me, and then behind him. Claire held onto the tops of two seats on each side of her.

“Probably just some choppy air,” Ryan said.

In that moment the plane bounced violently, sending objects from the overhead bins the floor. The lights flickered, and I held my belly with one hand, and gripped Jared’s arm with the other. Claire’s outline flashed by as she made her way to the cockpit.

“Is it turbulence?” I shouted. The engines whined in a way I’d never hear before, and I could feel the plane descending rapidly. The plane took another dive, and then leveled out slightly. “Jared?” I cried.

“Claire will handle it,” he said, covering my hand with his.

The cabin went dark, and red emergency lights cast frightening shadows. After another dip, the emergency oxygen masks fell from above.

“Doesn’t that mean we’ve lost pressure?” I said in a panic.

Jared leaned over to look out the window, and I did the same. Blackness covered the ground below. No glowing fireflies, no tiny lines of traffic. We were over ocean, with no hope of making an emergency landing.

The plane leaned to the left, pushing me against the window. It was then that I saw it: Moonlight flickering against the waves below. We were just a few thousand feet from crashing into the water.

“Nina!” Jared said, unbuckling my seat belt. “Come with me. I’m going to open the emergency exit door, and when I tell you, we’re going to jump.”

“What?” I said. “Jump from the plane? Are you crazy?” I could see real fear in his eyes, and for the first time, I knew Jared had made a decision out of desperation.

Claire burst out of the cockpit and looked Jared, shaking her head.

Jared gripped my hand and pulled me to my feet. Before I could speak, we were at the emergency exit. Jared grabbed the lever with both hands, but I stopped him.

“We need to do this now!” he yelled.

I shook my head. “I can’t.”

“You can!”

I looked around me to the frightened faces of Bex, Kim, and Ryan, and then Claire.

“Why are you just sitting there?” she cried, “Help us, dammit!”

Jared’s arms tensed against my strength, but I refused to let him pull the handle.

I closed my eyes, trying to block out the noise. “Help us,” I whispered. “We need your help.”

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Departure

The plane trembled like an earthquake. The engines whined, and the emergency oxygen masks leaned forward as the plane plummeted toward black water.