“Is this your first baby?” I said, and he nodded.
“Just got married last year.”
“Do you know if it’s a boy or girl?” I said. He didn’t look much older than me, and the thought of having a kid sometime in the next five years was terrifying. If I even survived that long.
“We’re hoping to be surprised,” he said gruffly.
“Congratulations,” I said with a smile I genuinely meant. It was jarring to hear other people’s lives were continuing almost exactly as they had been before the rebellion—even for other Blackcoats—but of course they were. The entire world hadn’t stopped just because I’d been Masked and thrown into Elsewhere. And at least it wasn’t all death and darkness. Goulding’s expression didn’t change, however, and I lay down, too afraid of falling asleep to actually close my eyes. If
