THE UNDYING | TWILIGHT

1. Welcome to Volterra

The cabin rattled as the plane took off from the runway. 

Jennifer was gripping the blue leather armrests so tightly her fingertips had turned white. 

Just breathe, she kept telling herself as she squeezed her eyes shut. Just breathe, and then she started to slowly count backwards from one hundred; and whenever the plane rocked too hard or a passenger cried in jest, "We're gonna crash!" she would start back at one hundred. Ten times she had to start over, and as her heart raced, she counted faster and faster to match the rapid speed of her pounding heart, so much that they were no longer numbers, just a jumbled string of syllables that held no value, and they brought her no comfort either.

Suddenly, the young woman beside her asked, "What's eighty-nine times sixty-four?"

Jennifer stopped counting, and her mind went blank. "What?"

"Eighty-nine times sixty-four, what's the answer?"

"What? I don't know ..." If she'd had a pen and paper, she could have solved it easily, but mental math was not a skill she'd developed. Still, she tried to solve the problem in her head, over and over, never coming up with the correct answer. Quickly, her head was overflowing with numbers, and Jennifer became overwhelmed by them all.

... but the cabin was finally still.

Jennifer let out a deep sigh. Thank goodness.

"So, what's the answer?"

Jennifer turned her head and found a pair of friendly blue eyes staring back at her, waiting for a response. "I ... I don't know," she answered.

The blonde smiled. "Neither do I."

The two women shared a laugh. As Jennifer's round cheeks jiggled up and down, she felt sweat dripping down her face and tasted salt on her dry lips. When she realized what was happening, her face flushed with embarrassment.

"Here." The blonde kindly offered her a tissue, and Jennifer graciously accepted, using the soft cloth to dab her glistening face. With a few pats, the tissue was drenched with sweat, prompting the blonde to offer a second tissue. "First time flying?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's silly, I know."

"Hey, I was there once too, and you handled it much better than I did. I had a panic attack upon take-off, and they had to ground the plane." She giggled at the memory. "Really, it's no big deal."

The plane hit a small bump, and Jennifer's hands instinctively went to her seat belt, tying it tighter and tighter around her waist.

"If you tie that any tighter, you're going to cut yourself in half," the blonde teased.

Jennifer blushed. "Sorry. Just a little nervous."

"It's okay. And I'm Katelyn, by the way."

"Jennifer. Nice to meet you."

"So what brings you to Paris: business or pleasure?" Katelyn went on, and Jennifer wondered if the woman was still trying to distract her from the bumpy flight. Women like Katelyn, who were so naturally beautiful, with their long legs and tiny waists, rarely acknowledged her let alone spoke to her.

"Pleasure, I guess," Jennifer answered. "I won a radio contest."

"Oh, really?" Katelyn's eyes lit up with excitement. "What kind of contest? Clearly, it had nothing to do with math, or you wouldn't be sitting here, right?" She laughed at her own joke, but her new friend didn't seem to find it as amusing.

"I just had to answer some stupid pop culture questions. Really, it wasn't that hard."

Katelyn nodded her head and then said without thinking, "Hopefully it isn't some scam. Boy, have I seen my fair share of those ..."