"Did you love her?" I say. "All those years she was sending you correspondence . . . the reason you never wanted her to stay there . . . the reason you told her you couldn't read her updates anymore, after she married my father . . ."

David sits still, like a statue, like a man of stone.

"I did," he says. "But that time is past."

That must be why he welcomed me into his circle of trust, why he gave me so many opportunities. Because I am a piece of her, wearing her hair and speaking with her voice. Because he has spent his life grasping at her and coming up with nothing.

I hear footsteps in the hallway outside. The soldiers are coming. Good—I need them to. I need them to be exposed to the airborne serum, to pass it on to the rest of the compound. I hope they wait until the air is clear of death serum.

"My mother wasn't a fool," I say. "She just understood something you didn't. That it's not sacrifice if it's someone else's life you're giving away, it's just evil."

I back up another step and say, "She taught me all about real sacrifice. That it should be done from love, not misplaced disgust for another person's genetics. That it should be done from necessity, not without exhausting all other options. That it should be done for people who need your strength because they don't have enough of their own. That's why I need to stop you from 'sacrificing' all those people and their memories. Why I need to rid the world of you once and for all."

I shake my head.

"I didn't come here to steal anything, David."

I twist and lunge toward the device. The gun goes off and pain races through my body. I don't even know where the bullet hit me.

I can still hear Caleb repeating the code for Matthew. With a quaking hand I type in the numbers on the keypad.

The gun goes off again.

More pain, and black edges on my vision, but I hear Caleb's voice speaking again. The green button.

So much pain.

But how, when my body feels so numb?

I start to fall, and slam my hand into the keypad on my way down. A light turns on behind the green button.

I hear a beep, and a churning sound.

I slide to the floor. I feel something warm on my neck, and under my cheek. Red. Blood is a strange color. Dark.

From the corner of my eye, I see David slumped over in his chair.

And my mother walking out from behind him.

She is dressed in the same clothes she wore the last time I saw her, Abnegation gray, stained with her blood, with bare arms to show her tattoo. There are still bullet holes in her shirt; through them I can see her wounded skin, red but no longer bleeding, like she's frozen in time. Her dull blond hair is tied back in a knot, but a few loose strands frame her face in gold.

I know she can't be alive, but I don't know if I'm seeing her now because I'm delirious from the blood loss or if the death serum has addled my thoughts or if she is here in some other way.

She kneels next to me and touches a cool hand to my cheek.

"Hello, Beatrice," she says, and she smiles.

"Am I done yet?" I say, and I'm not sure if I actually say it or if I just think it and she hears it.

"Yes," she says, her eyes bright with tears. "My dear child, you've done so well."

"What about the others?" I choke on a sob as the image of Tobias comes into my mind, of how dark and how still his eyes were, how strong and warm his hand was, when we first stood face-to-face. "Tobias, Caleb, my friends?"

"They'll care for each other," she says. "That's what people do. And if all goes well so will you. The both of you. Tobias will never leave you, he will come wherever you go. Just remember that."

I don't understand what she meant but I smile and close my eyes.

I feel a thread tugging me again, but this time I know that it isn't some sinister force dragging me toward death.

This time I know it's my mother's hand, drawing me into her arms.

And I go gladly into her embrace.

I wake up to an alarm clock beeping. Rising up slowly, I look around and then jolt as though someone poured a bucketful of water on me.

I'm in my room.

My old room in abnegation.

Is that how death is supposed to be? I always imagined a whole place filled with bright white light and emptiness.

Maybe seeing mom was a hallucination and I passed out from the gun wound. And we came back to the city for some reason. That certainly made more sense.

That meant Tobias was likely downstairs.

Tobias.

I had to see him.

Almost jumping out of bed, I rush downstairs, and come face to face with my father.

"dad?" I murmur softly. Myvoice sounding foreign to my own years.

My father is dead, maybe this is death, maybe this is what happens when you die.

"Beatrice" father is looking towards me now, concerned.

I should be glad to see him. I should run up and hug him. But I'm frozen with shock, shock at seeing him look like he used to before everything happened. Did he always lean on his right foot like that?

My head is buzzing when I hear his voice.

"good morning dad, Beatrice" I turn my head around sharply. Caleb. I hide a frown, what is he doing here. Caleb isn't dead, is he? My heart tightens painfully at the thought.

'He can't be' I think. The serum deployed, he couldn't be dead. Which means this is not heaven. This is something else.

"are you ok Beatrice" his question brings me out of my thoughts.

"I'm fine, thank you. Good morning Caleb" I attempt to smile at him. He doesn't believe me but he lets it go.

I think back to my Mom, she said Tobias will come wherever I go, could he have come with me to this strange reality?

My heart beats fast, maybe he is. Maybe I when I meet him he will know what I am to him. Maybe he will remember me.

Mom comes out of her room, " Good morning, Beatrice its time to cut your hair"

Looking at her my hearts swells with emotion. I follow her to the room with the mirror. She slides the pane open revealing the mirror and I sit in front.

She grabs the scissors and gestures for me to turn my head. As she is about to cut her hair, I decide to say something.

" I had a strange dream last night" Mom's grip tightened on my hair. "Beatrice, that wasn't a dream. That was real"

" I know, but I wanted to know if I could talk to you about it. Where are we? Is this death?"

My mother smiles and cradles my face "this isn't death Beatrice. We came back in time."

I look at my mother, startled. " how?" Even the idea of time travel seems impossible to me.

"It is hard to explain it, I just…know. I knew this was going to happen when I came to that room"

"but…?" I couldn't understand how that could happen. " what about Tobias?"

"he came back, Uriah too and Caleb and Cara" still trying to comprehend I ask " Did they die?" as much as I hated the idea of Tobias dying, Uriah was on the verge of death, when I left him and Caleb had guards after him.

My mother looked at me and smiled softly " Tobias didn't, he just woke up today, after fainting On the way back to the Bureau, Uriah was still plugged to the machine, Cara knocked her self out when she was caught and woke up here and Caleb just fainted into the arms of one the guards. But the point is we have to change the future"

I looked at mother then ask " is today the aptitude test?" 0

Mom shakes her head " three months from now"

" what will we do for three months?" I ask her. "you and Caleb train, as much as you can, talk to Uriah at school if you want to, but do it in secret. And Beatrice" her mother was suddenly fierce. " Forgive your brother, he loves you and he's sorry" I nod, I forgave him a long time ago.

As we head towards the bus I discreetly grab his arm, he looks at me confused and maybe slightly hopeful. "It happened to me too" I say

His eyes widen, " who else?" he asks.

"Mom, Four, Cara and Uriah" I tell him. "Mom wants us to train till the aptitude test. Physical training"

He looks reluctant "Caleb", I say." We plan to change the future, we may need to fight, besides it is Only three months, choose Erudite again, talk to cara, I will ask her if she can get us something to communicate with when we switch factions "

Caleb nods. "And Caleb", I touch his shoulder "don't listen to Jeanine, I don't want to lose my brother" Caleb smiles sadly "you wont"

I head towards faction history in my fifth period when I spot Uriah, he is standing in front of a locker looking at me discretely, when he realizes I caught him he blushes and ducks his head.

Trying to act casual he starts walking, I realize if he continues this way, he would bump into me. I let him. As he bumps into me I whisper frantically " Uriah its me, tris"

I saw him smile with relief as we both get up. Then he says loudly " sorry for that, hi, I am Uriah".

I smile " hi I am Beatrice"