Read Online Crimson Sky: A Dark Sky Novel by Amy Braun - Free Book Online

their help. Even if I had a ship to take up, I didn’t know how to operate one. It wasn’t like I could ask a Hellion to drive me, either.
     
    Before the moment became too awkward, I took Sawyer’s hand in my bound ones and shook it firmly. In spite of his calluses and the dryness of his skin, his touch wasn’t unpleasant. His palm was warm and his grip was strong, but not constricting. After a moment his hand slipped from mine, but I was reluctant to let it go.
     
    “You can’t be serious,” protested Gemma.
     
    He glanced at her, but didn’t say anything. It didn’t seem like he needed to.
     
    “Gem’s right, Sawyer,” added Nash. “We should really think this through before–”
     
    “Later,” he interrupted. “We’re not going to attack them without a plan.” His eyes cut to me. “It could take a while to form.”
     
    Trickles of panic slipped into my heart. The longer Abby stayed on the Behemoth , the longer she would suffer. My sister was stronger than she gave herself credit for, but the Hellions never returned those they stole.
     
    But Sawyer was right. Getting up to the Behemoth without a plan was suicide, just as Gemma suggested. We didn’t even have a working ship to get us up there yet.
     
    Distress me as it did, I nodded briefly to Sawyer.
     
    Gemma scoffed again. Sawyer ignored her, that teasing glint coming back in his eyes. “So,” he said. “Ready to see the damage up close?”
     
    One look told me it was clear he wasn’t even thinking about helping my sister yet, and that his agreement was going to cost him something with his crew. I shrugged.
     
    “No time like the present.”

 
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
    Sawyer let me keep the Volt, and returned my tool belt to me. It felt good to have it back. I was a hundred times more confident. When I asked, I was told we were in the last standing air hangar of the ports– a five hundred foot square building that served as a holding bay for trading ships before The Storm. It sat in the middle of a concrete tarmac a hundred yards long in every direction. According to the marauders, the tower on the opposite end of the tarmac was collapsed and empty. The hangar was the only useable building. Even if I escaped the building, the marauders wouldn’t have to look hard to see which direction I was running. For better or worse, I was trapped here.
     
    As I walked with the three marauders to the Dauntless Wanderer , I asked how they obtained it. Given how legendary the ship was, it should have been impossible to find, let alone hide. Sawyer claimed it had been in the hangar when they arrived. I didn’t believe him, since I’d heard that the Dauntless Wanderer had been shot down in the northern part of Westraven, closer to the Breach. I was ready to point this out, until I noticed how Sawyer’s casual demeanor began to change. He didn’t want to discuss how he found the famous airship, which only made me more curious about it.
     
    Still, I’d pushed him enough for now. I needed him– and the sulking Gemma and ominously quiet Nash– on my side if I had any chance of saving Abby.
     
    “How much repair has been done?” I asked when he stopped in front of the Dauntless . I walked closer, craning my neck to look up at the giant ship.
     
    “Only the exterior,” Sawyer answered. “We’ve got that under control, but we can’t get the engine started. We haven’t been able to find or bribe a willing engineer, and I don’t even know what’s missing from…”
     
    Sawyer trailed off the moment I reached the side of the Dauntless . A web of netting hung over the hull leading down from the deck, passing by the twisted crater in the ship’s side. It was in between the row of guns, and easily climbable. The marauders didn’t protest when I started climbing the netting halfway through Sawyer’s explanations. I was still feeling sore from the encounter with the Hellion and my body didn’t want any kind of exertion placed on it, but I