We were sitting in the waiting room thing of the private jet port when the loudspeaker when on.

"The jet is now boarding; please make your way to the boarding area now."

Stark and I, following the voice over the loudspeaker, went over to that tubey thingy that connects the plane to the building and walked through it. Once we were on our own private jet, we sat down in the creamy white leather seats and I leaned on Stark's shoulder and yawned. I was tired from packing and getting everything ready for our trip.

With a sigh, I mumbled, "This is gonna be the best vacation ever."

Stark wrapped his arms around me. "I know, right? The tropics, middle of the rainforest, with only me, you, the mosquitoes, the hotel staff, and the various bugs and animals that may eat you during the time we sleep." He threw a sarcastic smirk at my apparently horrified face.

"Ha, ha. That's so funny I forgot to laugh." I elbowed him in the ribs.

"I know, I should quit archery to become a comedian, shouldn't I?" he joked, laughing a little. "I'd be great! I could do the airline jokes, ooh, and all my punch lines would be 'And that's what SHE said!' It would be amazing!"

I giggled in response. "You're a freaking dork." I thought of what Aphrodite would have said if she were here—"Oooh, an almost swear! Stark, don't piss her off!"—and laughed to myself. I was going to miss my friends while I was gone.

Everyone back home was practically crying as I left. Aphrodite kicked me in the shin—great way to say goodbye, isn't it?—and Darius hugged me so tightly I could barely breathe. Shaunee and Erin, the Twins, each gave me a pair of their favorite shoes, and Stevie Rae, my undead best friend, was crying her eyes out and saying in her Okie twang, "Oh, Z, I'm gonna miss the hell outta you! Ya'll be careful now, don't get yourselves hurt!"

The only person I didn't get a goodbye from was Erik, my ex-boyfriend. He wasn't even at the House of Night when Stark and I left. He had run off with Aphrodite's ex-best friend, Venus. But I wasn't worrying about him right now, I was ready to spend the vacation of my life with the person I loved the most—my Stark.

I looked up at him, straight into his eyes, and mumbled, "I love you, Stark."

He stroked my long, dark hair and ran his fingers over my exquisite tattoos that the goddess Nyx had gifted me with. "I love you too, Zoey. I'll love you now and forever, and nothing will ever bring us apart. Ever." He looked longingly at me, with a warm smile on his face. "This time, with you, is going to be perfect."

I responded with a contented "Yeah, I know." and felt my eyelids drooping. Stark and I had been up all night/day (or whatever, because human day is night for vampyres), packing our suitcases and making phone calls to the people who were taking us on our own private jet to somewhere tropical, warm, and fun.

Plus, there was some fun of our own last night that Stevie Rae hopefully didn't overhear. Hehe.

Anyway, back to now. I put on the seat belt, and then the jet took off. Before long, I wasn't able to keep my eyes open any longer and I had fallen asleep in Stark's arms.

What I woke up to was definitely not the tropical paradise I was expecting.

The smell of gas was thick in the air as Stark roughly shook me awake. "Get up, Zoey! Wake up, we've got trouble!"

I got up as fast as I could and was engulfed in the gas smell. I started coughing and ducked back down as fast as I had gotten up.

"What's going on!" I shrieked, petrified. We started crawling through the aisle toward the front of the jet as fast as our bodies would let us.

Stark came up next to me and said, "I don't know, just stay down and don't breathe that gas!"

Suddenly, a super-loud crashing sound echoed all around us. It continued as we crawled faster. I was pretty sure that I had peed myself, I was so scared. The sound of twisting metal slashed through my ears and I screamed.

"Stark, what are we gonna do!" I moaned, crying silently.

He leaned over and kissed me. "I don't know, but I just want you to know that I love you," he said soulfully. He looked so upset and I knew he felt helpless not being able to help me, but right now we were both in a lot of danger.

"I love you too, Stark," I whispered, and even though he might not have heard me say it, I knew he knew it.

I called spirit to me. "Spirit, please keep me and Stark safe until this crisis is over," I pleaded. I needed Nyx by my side now, because there wasn't much that Stark and I could do by ourselves.

I felt the lifting of my soul as the element wrapped itself around us. Stark looked at me, his face plagued with worry.

With a crashing, clanking sound, the jet suddenly dropped and the air became even harder to breathe. I flew upward, then came crashing back down. Once I was on the floor of the plane again, I grabbed onto one of the seats and didn't let go.

Stark had another idea. He managed to pry my fingers off the arm of the chair and gather me into his arms. "Zoey, there's no time for this now. This plane is going down quickly and we gotta get out of here now."

I knew what he was trying to say but I didn't want to believe it—we needed to get out or we were going to die.

Stark put me down, and the jet jerked upward. We staggered backward and fell right on our butts. Then we scooted down until we were pressed up against the end of the plane. The nose of the jet was sticking up straight in the sky. After a few seconds the nose dropped back down again, and the sound of the engines died. The only sound was the whistle of the air as the jet cut through the clouds and plummeted downward.

As I struggled to stand up, Stark screamed, "RUN!"

Looking around, I noticed smoke was thick through the air. From the front of the plane, flames were licking at the doorway and had engulfed the purple curtain that separated the cabin from the cockpit. I gasped and leapt backward, right into Stark, sending him barreling to the floor.

"Zoey, calm down!" he yelled, holding me as I quivered in fear. "We're gonna be fine." I started crying, not listening to him. "We're gonna be fine!" he repeated strongly.

I calmed down a little and started weighing my options. Either I stay in here and die, or jump out and live.

Gee, this is such a tough decision.

I ran as fast as I could to the nearest emergency exit, and reached under the seat to get the life vest/parachute thing. Stark followed me and did the same. I had just gotten the vest on me when there was a huge bump that sent me and Stark in the air. That bump was followed by about 20 other bumps, and then, with a final bang and crash that had signaled we had hit the ground somewhere, everything was completely black. My last thought was that this was the end and I would never see anybody I loved ever again.