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door.
    â€œEvening,” he said. Pilot followed him, a little tangled in his lead.
    â€œKeep your voice down.” Esther didn’t mean to speak sharply, but she noticed that both children stirred at the noise.
    â€œSorry.”
    On the road, Esther had made it clear to Aras how she felt about his smoking. She hated how the drug changed him into a different person, one who was foolish and apathetic at the same time. Now, with two little children to take care of, his smoking seemed worse than before, much worse. As he made his way to a chair, Esther smelled something else on him. She thought she caught a whiff of flowers: the bottled scent that some of the Insurgent girls used. Was that possible?
    â€œI think you should know,” she faltered, “that I don’t like this.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œWhat you’re doing.”
    â€œBetter not think about it, then.” Aras slumped in his seat and turned away, his face in his hands.
    â€œI’m talking to you.”
    â€œDidn’t think you was talking to Pilot.”
    Esther bit her lip. He had not spoken to her like this since the very beginning, before they had grown to know and care for each other. But she refused to back down.
    â€œWhere do you go? How come you’re never here?”
    At this, Aras let out a loud and incredulous laugh. “Me? Where do I go?” He raised his voice, not caring that Esther was trying to shush him. “Where do you go? Where are you all day?”
    His shouts awakened Sarah. In a second, she started to fuss, then whimper, then scream. Moments later, Kai awokeand he, too, began to bellow.
    Esther put a hand to her forehead. She was honestly perplexed; it hadn’t occurred to her that Aras might be angry. Yet what he was saying was true: With a sudden pang of guilt, she realized she had forgotten all about his plan for them to move.
    It was true that figuring out the glass system that would feed so many new people was taking far longer than she had thought. Yet what made Esther feel guilty wasn’t so much the work she was doing: It was her sudden realization that she enjoyed it. She found herself thinking about the problems she faced even late at night; they were the first things she thought of in the morning, as well. She didn’t want to go . . . at least not yet.
    All of this flashed through her mind as Aras stood up and loomed above her, shouting over the screams of their children. “ How come you spend so much time with that boy? ”
    â€œGideon? We’re working together. You know that—”
    â€œIs that all? How come you spend all day alone with him?”
    Esther was stunned by what Aras was implying. “I . . . I don’t know what you’re saying,” she stammered, flustered.
    â€œDon’t you?”
    Esther was so appalled, she couldn’t speak at first. “There’s nothing between us. . . . How can you say that? He’s like a brother. . . .”
    But Aras was sneering at her now, with his eyebrows raised. “Maybe I ask his guards what you do all day. Bet they know a whole lot.”
    Esther felt as if she had been slapped across the face. “If you don’t trust me,” she shot back at last, “why don’t you just leave?”
    â€œMaybe I will!”
    The children’s voices were like a hammer to Esther’s head. Still, she was shocked to see Aras actually turn toward the door, pulling Pilot with him.
    â€œAras—” she said. “I didn’t mean that. Look, don’t . . .”
    But he didn’t respond or even turn her way. Instead, he headed for the door, the dog following with what seemed deep reluctance. Esther grabbed his arm as he passed, but Aras yanked away.
    After the door slammed, Esther stood alone in the room, trembling, amid the din of the children’s cries. She was tempted to run after the boy; it was late, and he was in no condition to wander around by