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of the dying plane. Finally, I have my cushion and my arms woven into the straps, and it’s time to move again.
    The plane rocks precariously, and we wobble as a unit, bumping into seats and struggling to keep our footing as we edge up the aisle to the exit. I have the terrible feeling that if one of us goes down, we’ll all go down, and if we all go down, we’ll never get back up. So I keep Maggie’s hand in an iron grip.
    A frantic head count is running inside my head, looping endlessly:
    Maggie, An, Sammy, Gray, Carter, Espi and Macy. I’ve got to do whatever I can to make sure all of us get out of this godforsaken plane. Nobody gets left behind. Maggie, An, Sammy—
    â€œSammy!” It’s An again. “Did you get that door open yet like I told you to?”
    â€œI’m working on it.” Sammy sounds like he’s got his teeth gritted as he struggles with the door.
    â€œYou are so
useless
!” says An.
    We make it into the open area between the first row of seats and the galley just as the lever squeaks. A strip of relative light opens up at the edge of the cabin door, bringing a stronger whiff of that putrid water smell with it. I gag, and some involuntary reflex floods my mouth with saliva. My stomach wants to heave, but I check it, because now isn’t the time to have a delicate digestive system.
    With the additional light from outside, I can see Sammy’s thin outline as he manages to push the door out a bit more. Gray and Carter hurry over to help him, and the three of them put their backs into it and slide the door to one side, opening up a space that’s wide enough for people to get through.
    Unfortunately, this good news is severely tempered by the fact that water races through the opening and floods over my knees, threatening to knock me down. But then the plane dips into a trough, and a bunch of it surges right back out again.
    We can’t keep riding the waves in the plane. We’ll be flooded and drowned in no time.
    Keeping my voice calm takes a monumental effort, but I manage. “Does anyone see a raft? We need to get out of here. Like, now.”
    â€œHang on,” says Gray. “I think this might be—”
    â€œDon’t pull that now, you idiot!” Carter bellows. “Shit, man!”
    A loud hissing joins all the other sounds, and a huge yellow thing springs to life from some compartment I can’t see and begins to take shape. Meaning we’ve got to act fast. Even my panic-dulled brain knows that a life raft won’t do us much freaking good if it’s trapped on the plane with us.
    â€œGet it out of here!” I yell.
    We move together, knowing that if that thing inflates all the way, we’ll be screwed in a way we weren’t just a second ago. The boys keep working on the door and slide it all the way open and out of the way. The girls, meanwhile, crowd around the raft—it feels nice and sturdy, thank God, but it’s not heavy, just unwieldy—and heave. Either the thing doesn’t want to move or the water wants it to stay on the plane. Whatever. It feels like we’re working against King Kong on the other side of a battering ram.
    â€œPush it to the left,” shouts An.
    We do, and that does it. The raft slips most of the way out the door, taking An, who’s hanging on for dear life, with it. One minute she’s there, and the next there’s air, sky and black water, but no An.
    We all go wild with panic. “An!
An!
”
    Sammy still has a few neurons firing in his brain, thank God. “Grab the rope! Hang onto it!”
    I fumble around the edges of the raft. The worse-case scenario playing inside my head changes. Now I envision the raft sailing safely to the sandy beaches of Miami while the rest of us have the choice of drowning inside or outside the plane.
    I search desperately, which isn’t easy. My hands feel as useless as caught fish flopping around the bottom