I sigh, simultaneously wanting to strangle him and kiss him. For a second, I’m not sure which instinct will win out. I want something more with Sam, I think. Eventually. I just don’t want to think about it right now. Last night was one thing, but now I’m back to fighting a war.

“I don’t want the distraction, Sam. All right?”

“Oh,” he says, looking like I’ve just murdered his pride. “You mean, like you’d have to keep saving me from Mogs or stop me from stepping on some ancient Mayan spike trap or whatever. Because I thought we were past that. I can handle myself, Six. And I only accidentally shot you that one time in practice and—”

I kiss him. Mostly just to shut him up and illustrate my point, but also because I just can’t help myself. I hear Nine make an oohing noise off to the side and make a mental note to destroy him the next chance I get.

“That’s the distraction I’m talking about,” I say quietly, my face still close to his.

Sam is blushing again, and his mouth is still working like he wants to say something more. He’s probably trying to come up with some smooth way to say good-bye, but I’m sick of these drawn-out moments, so I take one last look at his sweet, dumbstruck face and turn away. A few seconds later, I’m strapped into the Skimmer’s seat next to Adam, ignoring the raised eyebrow and smirk Marina’s fixing me with.

“Shall we?” Adam asks.

We nod and Adam throws some switches, handling the Skimmer’s controls with much more confidence than I did. As we slowly rise up, I look out the window to see Sam and the others below, waving good-bye to us. I wonder if my life will ever be without these moments—the painful good-byes before we all go off to risk our lives. John always talks about how much he can’t wait for some boring normal life, but would I be happy like that? We gain altitude, trees zipping by beneath us, and I think about Sam. If it wasn’t for this war, the constant chaos, we’d have never even gotten together. What would it be like for us without the looming threat of Mogadorian destruction?

I’d like to find out.

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

NINE LEANS ACROSS ME SO THAT HE CAN GET A good look at Sam, saying to him in a stage whisper, “All right, dude. What’s the deal with you and Six?”

Sam pointedly looks out the window of the van. “What? Nothing.”

“Psshh,” Nine snorts. “Come on, man. It’s like a four-hour drive to New York. You gotta give up some details.”

In front of us, in the passenger seat, Agent Walker clears her throat.

“Fascinating as I find the sex lives of teenage boys, maybe we could use this time to go over our operational parameters,” she says dryly.

“Agreed,” I say, shoving Nine back in his seat so he can’t leer at Sam anymore. “We need to focus on the mission.”