Joel seemed to be taking on the role of leader and they all did as they were told. Tom and Chris both switched on their phones in unison, but there was no signal on either of them, and the mumbled comments from around the cabin suggested it was the same for everyone.

Chris held his phone up in the air, moving it around, trying to find a stray signal. Tom simply turned his off again, figuring it was probably best to save the battery power for some time they might need it.

Here and there behind him, people were starting to mention their parents, how worried sick they’d be when they heard the news of the crash. The irony was, Julia had flown out to Italy a few hours before Tom’s plane had left, and the yoga retreat was a tech-free zone, so she might not find out about the crash for two weeks, anyway.

He was pleased about that, although a little part of him was curious to know how she’d have responded to the news if she had been at home. She’d be shocked, of course, but he wasn’t sure how much deeper her feelings would go.

He remembered as a little kid that he’d always talked to his mom about the school day, what they’d done, what he’d enjoyed, who he liked, who’d annoyed him, all the petty triumphs and grievances of being in elementary school. Then the accident had happened, and he only remembered fractured moments of the months that followed.

One of those moments was the day Julia had arrived and said she’d be coming to live with him. Live with him, not, look after him. And even as a nine-year-old, he’d known somehow that Julia didn’t want to hear about his day at school, about the things that excited him or bothered him, so he’d stopped talking about them, and in time, not much had bothered or excited him anyway.

He didn’t blame Julia. It was just the way she was, and he’d reached the point of admiring her and being grateful that she’d been willing to take on a responsibility she’d never foreseen and for which she wasn’t well suited. It was no one’s fault, and no one was to blame, except maybe the guy who’d killed his mom and dad.

He saw a light appear down below in the darkness and realized it was Joel, using his phone to show the way in front of him. Barney had been right about the drop and it was a shock to see Joel so far beneath them.