Dawn is on an airplane, and notices that the flight attendants are concerned. They ask her to return to her seat. As she is considering how her job as a death doula is much the same as theirs, an announcement is made. The plane is making an emergency landing, and passengers are to brace themselves for a crash. Thinking she is going to die, Dawn thinks not of her family, but of Wyatt, a man she had left behind 15 years before. She thinks of sending a message, but before she can reach her phone, the plane begins to dive, and a hand grabs hers and holds on. Later, at the hospital, Dawn learns that she is one of 36 passengers who survived the crash. A woman from the airline agrees to book her a flight, and asks her destination. The passage ends as Dawn is opening her mouth to answer.

Dawn lands at the airport in Cairo, and hires a taxi to take her to Ramses train station. She is going to Middle Egypt. As she travels, she remembers how she fell in love with Egyptology as a child, a passion that led her to Yale’s Egyptology program. Dawn’s doctoral field was the