As Henry Strauss’s final minutes run out, Henry and Addie LaRue go to the rooftop where Henry nearly jumped a year earlier and where Henry made his bargain with Luc. Holding Addie’s hand feels like the only anchor against Henry’s growing fear, and returning to this place feels like symmetry, even if Henry is unsure whether it is necessary.

Henry thinks of Bea and Robbie and the good-byes Henry could not bring himself to say directly, knowing they will only understand once Henry is gone. He wonders what losing a soul will look like—sudden death, sleep, a supernatural extraction, or an impulse to finish the jump—and tries not to fixate on whether Henry’s body will be found on the street or on the roof.

Music drifts up from a neighboring window, and Addie draws Henry into a slow dance as rain returns. Henry feels many things at once—fear, gratitude, sorrow, happiness—and clings to the fact that Henry is not alone because Addie promised to stay until the end.

As the last moment arrives, Henry’s watch seems to stop and Henry feels his mind beginning to slip, expecting Luc to appear from the dark. Henry resists hearing what Addie is saying, afraid of a farewell, wanting instead to freeze this final moment and make it the ending.

Addie insists Henry listen and reminds Henry of a promise to write things down. When Henry says Henry already wrote Addie’s story, Addie corrects him: Addie has not told Henry how the story ends.