I want to thank him for trying to stand up for me at the agency when his phone rings in my pocket. The Death-Cast trauma has burrowed deep instantly, but this is an ordinary ringtone, so I’m able to calm down before my heart reacts as badly as Orion’s.

“It’s Scarlett,” I say. I answer her FaceTime immediately, and she’s sobbing hard. I start tearing up instantly. I can see that she’s in the airport. “Did you land already?”

Scarlett can’t get her words out. Her cries start breaking up as a series of text notifications begin buzzing, all from her. I keep swiping them away so I can talk to her.

“Scar? What’s going on?”

“I’m still in Arizona,” she says.

Orion’s eyes open at this.

“What do you mean you’re still in Arizona?”

“The pilot got his End Day call before we could take off.”

As she’s telling me everything about how the passengers were going crazy on the plane and how police are investigating the issue, I’m shivering thinking about what could have happened if the pilot had begun the journey and damned everyone else to an early death. I can’t know if that’s what would have happened, but I’m sure Orion has wondered this countless times too as he reimagined 9/11 in a Death-Cast world.

“Death-Cast didn’t call you, did they?” I ask.

Scarlett shakes her head. “No, but my service sucked on the plane, and I couldn’t call you sooner and I was so scared you would be . . .”

“I’m not. What’s the plan now? Are you going to find another flight?”

“As soon as they determine the passengers weren’t a threat to the pilot, yeah. I’ll ditch my luggage, I don’t care.”

“Have you told them it’s my End Day?”

“They don’t give a shit. It’s all about that pilot.”

This has got to become a big change in airlines moving forward. No flights can take off unless they’re positive the pilots aren’t Deckers. The passengers too. That’ll resolve any plane crashes, right? Assuming people register for the program in the first place.

“I’m so sorry,” Scarlett says. “I’m going to keep trying.”

If she could grow wings and flap her way across the country, she would do it one trip. But even in this real world where death can now be predicted, people still can’t fly, so she’s grounded in that airport until then. I think about other impossibilities like Scarlett driving from Arizona to New York even though that trip is more than thirty-five hours and she’s on no sleep. Just because Death-Cast didn’t call doesn’t mean she can’t get into another accident by trying her best to drive here. Another plane is her only option.