Chapter 1

Bella had always been a nervous flyer.

Sitting stiffly in the starched, blue seat, Bella waited, her lip between her teeth and her foot tapping a frenetic rhythm on the cabin floor. The roaring of jet engines was like a siren in her ears and though she could almost feel her pulse rushing through her, the noise of the great metal beast drowned out the sound. Her mouth was dry, her spine was stiff, and her hands, clasped in a white-knuckled grip on the metal armrests, were so tight that she knew the sharp edges would leave a mark. The loud ding over the loudspeakers made her jump and she froze in place as the flight attendant began to speak.

"Attention passengers. The captain has informed us that we are entering an area of high turbulence, and the seatbelt sign has been turned on. Please return to your seats and we will be sure to let you know as soon it's safe to move around again. Thank you."

"Wow mom!" The small boy next to her, no older than eight, began to bounce. "We're shaking!"

Bella wished he'd stop talking.

"Yes, Jeffrey…" His mother, completely disinterested, flipped another page of her glossy magazine.

"Whoa!" The boy turned towards Bella, peering around her to stare avidly through the window. "Look mom! Clouds!"

"Mmmhmm…" Another flip. "Don't fidget, Jeffrey."

The boy groaned and though he fought to obey, Bella could see his little feet kicking the seat in front of him. He was nearly vibrating with anxious energy.

"But mom, look!" he insisted. "The sun!"

"I know," replied his mother. "We're above the cloud line."

Please shut up…

Bella's stomach turned over when the plane shook again.

"Wheee!" The boy giggled, and his mother gave a sharp sigh.

"Stop it."

"But it's fun…"

"There are people on this plane who don't want to listen to your shouting," snapped the mother, finally losing her patience. "Sit down and be quiet, like a good boy."

The child huffed.

"But…"

And all at once, Bella felt the bottom drop out of her stomach.

The feeling of falling was not one Bella had ever relished, not even when Jake had forced her onto that massive roller coaster at Six Flags when she was just a kid. She remembered the distinct feeling of weightlessness, the way her body had felt when she had lifted a few inches off of her seat, absolutely certain that at any moment, her restraints would come loose and she would fly… falling, tumbling, and hurtling towards the hard, rocky ground below. She gripped the armrests with a whimper of horror as she lifted slightly again, startled shouts and nervous cries ringing out around her. The boy beside her gave a whoop before the feeling was gone, and once again, Bella was firmly ensconced in her small seat.

"That. Was. Awesome!" the child crowed. "Mom, did you see that?"

His mother looked quite green, much as Bella, herself, felt. The woman reached over with shaking fingers and tightened the belt around her son's waist, glancing anxiously through the window as they hurtled on. Bella could not look out, though she was seated right next to it, as the very thought made her stomach roll over. But she did see, however much she didn't want to, that the light had all but disappeared and they were now floating through the grey mist of overcast clouds. She did not know how far they had dropped, and she did not want to find out…

"Attention passengers." A male voice rang through the cabin and Bella bit her lip. "This is your captain speaking. My apologies for the bumpy ride, but it would appear that we've hit a storm. Command tells us that we won't be able to move safely around it, so we're rerouting to Honolulu International Airport."

Angry outbursts and groans filled the cabin.

"I apologize for the delay. Just as soon as this front clears up, we'll be right back in the air. Thank you for your patience."

"Goddamn it," snapped the mother. "Now what are we supposed to do?" She stared angrily at her watch, tapping it with a long, red fingernail.

"Hawaii!" the boy chirped. "Surfing, mom!"

His mother rolled her eyes and snapped her magazine open again, scowling.

Bella, her heart in her throat, glanced nervously through the window.

The swirling mass of grey engulfing the plane was broken only by a sudden and striking bolt of blue that shot through the clouds. Bella, though she had been determined not to look, couldn't help herself as a sudden wash of rain went streaming across the small window, the speed of the plane sending the water flying as soon as it hit the metal fuselage. She could not see the ground below—or was it only water?—and for that, she was grateful. She didn't think she could stomach it if she looked outside and saw nothing but the great expanse of turbulent, steely waves…

The plane lurched to the right, and Bella held on for dear life. A baby in the row behind her began to cry. The mother in the aisle seat reached over and grabbed her son's hand, and the boy himself went suddenly white as he wheeled around to face the window.

Bella knew for sure, now, that she would be sick.

"Mama?" The child began to whimper.

"Hush, Jeffrey…"

"But mama…"

The plane dropped again and Bella gave a yelp, the sounds of chaos erupting all around her. Women began to scream. Men began to shout. Children—even the little ones, who had no real way of understanding—grew hysterical. Noise echoed through the cabin and Bella, looking desperately about herself, felt her whole body begin to tremble when she saw the flight attendants, stricken with horror, strapping themselves into their fold-down seats. The sudden loss of altitude made the cabin pressure spike, and Bella felt a sharp sting in both ears...

The plane righted itself before it surged. And then it dropped again. And as Bella tried to make sense of what was happening—what was happening?—she saw a sudden flash of light as they sank down through the clouds, hovering between the great, open ocean and the swirling, black chasm of the sky.

Lightning flashed and rain poured down. The plane shuddered. Overhead bins flew open as bags came hurtling down like boulders. Bella saw a man across the aisle struck with a hard, metal suitcase and he slumped down in his seat at once, blood dripping onto his collar. The drinks cart parked at the rear came hurtling down the aisle, slamming into the cockpit door, and somewhere above her, an oxygen mask popped out of its compartment. The screaming, and shouting, and absolute chaos were drowned by the rushing in her ears, and though she could make out the sounds of straining jet engines, she could not fathom what they might mean.

The final drop seemed to take an age.

Reeling with hysterical fear and trembling, tumultuous shock, Bella watched, horror-struck, as the horizontal ocean laid out beneath her went suddenly vertical. She felt herself thrown forward, her forehead slamming into the seat in front of her as she scrambled to regain her bearings, trying to figure out why the laws of gravity had been so suddenly inverted. The seatbelt pulled at her waist as her full weight was thrown onto it, and though her eyes streamed with fright and pain, she knew what she had to do.

She had seen the safety demonstrations.

"Mayday! Mayday!" The crackling voice came over the loudspeakers. "Brace for impact! Ground control, this is American Airlines Flight 9905, do you copy?! Good God… ARGH!"

The broadcast cut off all at once and Bella, jerked harshly to the right, felt the plane begin to falter. Rattling, shaking, screaming, crying… the noise meant nothing to her as she clamped her arms around her head, her breath held tightly in her chest.

They were going down.

"Mayday! Mayday! Brace for impact! Pull up, man!"

"Jeffrey!"

"Mama!"

"Oh God!"

"Hail Mary, full of grace, our Lord is with thee…"

"Get your head down!"

"Mama!"

"Help us!"

A roaring blast. The wrenching of steel. The screaming of women and the bawling of children, all muffled by the sudden impact that shot through the cabin, sending Bella hurtling into the wall. Ears ringing and lungs empty of air, Bella felt the sudden rush of icy water at her feet and the heat of a blazing inferno that was too close… always too close. The deafening screams of the child beside her. The lifeless form of his mother pinning him to the seat, her blood slicking his hands. The ringing in her ears that threatened to drown it all out, to drag her into the black chasm that was looming over them all. They were going down… down, down, down like a great, flat stone skipping across the waves, and the moment the thought hit her, the water began to rise from her ankles, to her knees…

Her fingers scrabbled at the belt pinning her to the sinking seat before a striking blow landed on the back of her head, and the world went painfully, blissfully dark.