Barney walked over to Tom and Alice and said, “I tried to tell them the same thing, but they didn’t listen. That’s why the oxygen masks had deployed and why everyone was asleep, like the Malaysian plane. If you fly at a high enough altitude, all the passengers pass out. Probably wasn’t for long, just long enough to knock us out. Or maybe he tampered with the air supply in some way.” He pointed at the slope. “But the pilot did this on purpose, I’m sure of it. Maybe he tried to glide it in, or maybe he wanted the whole plane to crash into the valley. We shouldn’t be here.”

Tom nodded and looked up at the seats high above them. The lights in the cabin had gone out now, and it didn’t seem any sort of fire had developed, not yet anyway.

“Okay,” said Joel. The conversations stuttered to a halt. “You’re right, of course, so we need to be even more focused and coordinated. And I hear what you’re saying about the wreckage, but we still have to check, just in case.” Alice started to shake her head, but he ignored her. “Chris, you and Toby go and take a look.”

Toby was one of Joel’s friends, athletic and bland but the kind of person who’d probably get down to the wreckage without a problem. Chris was too bulky and solid, and Tom could already envisage how much he’d struggle with the climb alone. Even so, they both stepped forward eagerly, willing lieutenants to Joel’s leader.

Kate, who was in Tom’s English class, said, “I’ll go too.”

Joel smiled at her. “I don’t think—”

“You should let her go,” said Emma. She was also in Tom’s English class and so inseparable from Kate, and looking so like her with the same slim build and long dark hair, that it had taken Tom months to tell them apart. “It’s totally her thing.”

Tom wasn’t sure what she meant by that, and clearly Joel wasn’t, either, because he said, “Look, everyone will have their part to play.”

He pointed at Barney then. “You should go with them. You’ll know if there’s anything we can salvage from the plane, radio equipment, anything like that.”

Barney didn’t seem convinced, and he especially didn’t seem like the most natural candidate for a trek through the jungle—he was small and looked a good three years younger than the rest of them. But he shrugged his acceptance and the three of them set off as Kate and Emma exchanged an exasperated look.

The three boys had only walked a few paces when Tom shouted, “Hey!”

They stopped and he pulled three bottles free from the carton, throwing one to each of them. They thanked him, Toby with little more than a nod, and walked away.