Bo tapped a finger against her lips as she stared out at the passing desert in the floodlights of the airship. Dunes and ruins whipped by under them, disappearing back into the darkness within a few seconds. For the millionth time, Bo missed the moon and stars. She glanced up at the sky, but saw nothing but the brown-tinged darkness that covered the dust fields at night. If the heavy clouds didn't block the sky, they would have been able to use the natural light to guide their way. Instead, they risked being sniped from miles away by any militia ship that saw their headlights. Yet, they couldn't speed through the dust fields at night without light. It was simply impossible, and far too dangerous. The remains of crumbled buildings rose high into the air at random places, and they needed to be able to see the tangles of brick and steel and wire in enough time to dodge.

Behind her, on the other end of the ship deck, she could hear Khan chattering excitedly with Silver.

"You really did that?" Khan asked, his voice high with admiration.

Silver's rough laugh burst out. He was driving the airship, but he always had time to talk to Khan. It was almost as if the two had become inseparable ever since leaving the tunnels and starting the journey toward the smuggler's camp. "Of course I did! Flew my airship right into the midst of the Hisun Group's camp and scattered them like rats."

Bo turned, an eyebrow raised. The Hisun Group were a dangerous gang of organized criminals that lived half the world away. If Silver had interacted with them, he was more well-traveled than she'd thought.

"You were in Hisun territory?" Bo asked.

Silver looked up, still smiling. "I've been nearly everywhere. The barren steppes to the east to smuggle for the Kovich Gang, the jungles down south, the mountains above us. I've been around the world, more than once."

Khan grinned, staring at Silver in wonder. The boy had barely made it out of his city before, and Bo could tell that these stories of gangs and the world were firing up inside of him. "What happened with the Hisun Group when you ran into their party?"

"Fired on me," Silver replied. "But when I released a load of tavi on them, they saw the humor of the situation. Leader Gaeil gave me a job running supplies for them."

"Is that where the high-tech limbs are from?" Bo asked, nodding toward Silver's bionic replacements.

Silver tapped the metal of his arm and nodded. "They paid handsomely. Not that I could make it last for very long! The pleasures of the city are too much for me to resist!" He burst into a rough laugh, barely clinging onto his controls. Bo wanted to rush forward and take them from him, afraid he might send them to their deaths while he laughed.

"You still work for them?" Khan asked. "I saw a few of their representatives talking to the militia a few months ago. Are they planning an alliance?"

"Not that I know of," Silver replied. "I left a few months ago, but at that time I think they were simply wanting to keep the militia out of Hisun territory."

Khan nodded, his long hair whipping in the wind. Silver smiled fondly as he looked at the young man, and Bo felt a twinge of something seeing Khan so excited and enthused. She hadn't known him very long and knew almost nothing about him, but somehow she felt responsible for his happiness. It made her... happy to see him happy. Almost like she felt when she guided the teenage girl she'd left in charge of back home. Seeing them growing, making friends. It made Bo's heart rise with hope for the future.

Silver took a step back from the controls of the airship. "Want to learn to fly it?" he asked. Khan leapt at the chance, darting to the controls. Silver started to explain what each did and how to judge distances and read the gauges. Bo quickly decided to leave the upper deck when she saw how easily they could crash with Khan in charge. If she was going to die, she didn't want to watch it happen.

"I'm going below," she called out, walking toward the door that led into the bowels of the ship. "Please don't crash and burn, Khan."

"Sure thing, boss!" Khan replied, his eyes glued to the controls and his head constantly nodding as Silver continued to give him instructions.

Bo left the night air for the stuffy confines of below decks. She hated it down there, where the smell of the injured vomiting from airsickness was strong, but she couldn't handle the stress of watching Khan driving. Besides, she was missing Adam and she knew he was down there somewhere.

She eventually found him one of the small rooms that were more a closet than a room. They weren't big enough to fit more than one injured person in, and so they'd left them empty rather than put someone on their own. They wanted to make sure no one was left lonely and alone on the flight. So if any of the Forlorn wanted a moment to themselves, it was in one of the cramped rooms.

Adam leaned against the back wall, his eyes closed. He barely fit in the room, with his broad shoulders nearly scraping both walls at the same time. His head was right at the ceiling. Bo felt an urge to laugh at how ridiculous he looked, stuffed in such a small space. It had been many years since she'd last thought he looked silly, and it was a rush of relief to see it now. It meant that not all was dire and dark. It meant he was alive and safe.

Bo stepped into the room and jabbed her fingers into his ribs to tickle him. He yelped, eyes flying open and his arms slamming down on her hands.

"What are you doing!" he half-whined. "You scared me to death!" He ran a hand over his eyes and rested the other over his heart.

"The big bad Beast of Lyx can't handle some tickling?" Bo asked, placing her hands behind her back innocently and batting her eyelashes.

"I was sleeping," Adam replied, crossing his arms and looking away. "You don't just wake a man up from his sleep like that."

Bo shrugged. "How should I have done it, then?"

Adam raised an eyebrow. "Gently?"

"Hm," Bo said, taking a step forward until she was close enough to feel the warmth from Adam's skin. She tilted onto her tiptoes. "Gently how?"

He rolled his eyes, but bent down to brush a kiss across her lips. And then her cheeks, nose, and eyelids. "Like that," he whispered.

"That does seem much better," Bo whispered back, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling him close. She rested her cheek against his chest, listening to his heartbeat and feeling his breathing. He stroked her hair as she clung to him and wished that the flight wasn't so short. What she would give for a few more hours alone with Adam. Just a few moments where she could imagine they were ordinary, and not faced with keeping others safe against murderous militia out for blood.

But of course, that was just a useless wish. In only around ten minutes, they would pull up to the Smuggler's Camp, and they would need to have the injured ready to offload as soon as they got there. Daylight was threatening them at any moment, and they needed to be hidden before the militia started rounds.

Adam, perhaps sensing the pressing time, pulled back first. He stroked her cheek with his knuckles, and smiled sadly. "We should start organizing everyone before we get there," he said.

Bo nodded and sighed. "Always rushing around," she muttered. "That's us."

"We just need to survive this," Adam replied. "And after that, I promise we'll have more time."

Bo smiled compliantly as he steered her out of the room, but she knew deep inside that it was not as easy as he said. With Clayton angered about the Judge, and Aston thirsting for revenge, Bo had a sinking feeling that rest would not be an option for a long time yet.