9:10 AST

Allie wrestles with a locked‑room problem: killing the powerful Horation Matthews in first class before midnight without being seen. She rejects the hope of divine rescue, recalling that prayer never stayed King Sorrow’s killing, and resolves that Horation will not reach Heathrow or St. Helen’s Well.

Sizing up Horation’s strength and sexism, Allie considers exploiting his underestimation. A violent lightning strike illuminates the storm, projecting King Sorrow’s gigantic shadow across the clouds, sending the cabin into panic and the plane into turbulence. Horation, unmoved, declares he would die with the plane and boasts his brother will claim the blast as a terrorist act if wreckage is found, then returns to his faith.

Allie excuses herself and moves to the dark waist of the plane, where flight attendants Albert Shook and a blond colleague are trying to calm economy and order shades down. Van arrives from economy, claims Allie is airsick, and escorts her through the curtain as fear grips the passengers.

In the economy entryway, Allie tells Van she has found and spoken with Horation. She reveals King Sorrow’s loophole: the dragon protects them only from human pursuers, not from himself or a burning jet. Therefore, no one but Horation needs to die—if they kill him before midnight. Van falters, suggests warning the cockpit, but they are over the North Atlantic with nowhere to land.

Allie contrasts Colin’s decisive cunning with Arthur’s deliberative scruples, wishing for their guidance. As turbulence and nausea rattle Van, Allie fixates on a possible weapon—the silver‑handled corkscrew from Robin’s wine—accepting that today may demand brutal improvisation to save the plane.