"Conserves body heat," Cassian says briefly, and levers himself back up to a sitting position, with a little huff of effort. "You see anybody else back there?"

He tries not to think about it too hard, even as he says it, because (the flight attendant who spoke to him in Spanish, the skinny-looking twins, that cute guy with the ponytail, the two little girls chattering excitedly across the aisle, all that ocean, God) that way lies panic. Instead he focuses on his own sodden sneakers, grounding himself in the moment.

The sandy, squelchy moment.