CHAPTER 1

Tobias

I see her everywhere.

I see her face in the passing stranger who shares her nose. Her power, her bravery, her fearlessness in the trains that once again patrol the city, slowed by no outside force.

Her love in the curve of the horizon, stretching out farther than I can comprehend.

The world is so much bigger than I once thought it was. So big, and so cruel.

It's been a year now. A year and a month. I thought it was getting easier, for a while-but now each day is a struggle. Everything I do reminds me of her-of Tris. She was one of the few good things in my life. I am full of memories of her now, and of a bitter sadness that I cannot have more than memories.

I've taken to coming here, to the top of the Hub. Christina worries about me, in her Candor way, but I am restless anywhere else. I lose focus before I gain it. And besides, I feel closer to her here.

I stand and walk to the edge, forcing myself to look straight down and not move back. I stand like this for another hour, unmoving, remembering her, before I have to leave to meet Christina.

By now Evelyn has grown accustomed to me leaving for hours without explanation. When I walk in, she doesn't even ask where I've been, only if I'm alright. I lie and tell her yes, I'm fine, but I have to leave now. I'm not exactly sure why I came here first-I'm meeting Christina halfway between her apartment and mine; it would have been faster to go straight there from the Hub.

I run into my room as if I stopped in to get something, then leave. When I reach our meeting place, an intersection of two streets bordering the Abnegation sector of Chicago, I see that Christina hasn't arrived yet. I lean against the building behind me and stare at the masses of people walking the streets. Chicago used to be so small, compacted-but now I see so many people, all going about their lives, thinking different things, not fully acknowledging the people around them.

As they walk by, I find myself falling into my familiar habit of sorting people into factions. That man I would recognize as Amity from a mile away, that girl couldn't be anything but Erudite, she's Abnegation, he's Dauntless . . . I used to think time would eventually erase the factions I see in the world around me, but it hasn't. Everyone I know, even if they're from the fringe and have never known factions, has to belong somewhere. The ones I can't sort I avoid. They remind me of Tris.

I look up, and see Christina jogging up the street. She's wearing tight jeans and a red shirt-while the factions are still prevalent in my mind, I've gotten used to the mixed colors people wear by now. "Where are we going?" I ask her in greeting. She'd only said when and where to meet her, and by now I'd given up protesting that I didn't need to go anywhere, I just went wherever she told me to meet her without question.

Lately Christina has come to feel almost like an overprotective sister of sorts. She's always checking in on me, making sure I'm alright. At times it can be annoying, but at the same time I'm grateful for her. While we both know I won't attempt the memory serum again-I know now that I can't forget Tris-without her I would spend all my time alone with my thoughts, away from everyone. Christina makes sure I get out and do things. I think it's easier to talk to her, too, because she knows-to some extent-what I'm feeling. She was very close with Tris, and she also lost Will and Uriah.

"I was thinking we could go to the Council meeting tonight. They'll be discussing what to do about the people coming in from the fringe, if we should put limits on that, and I thought they could use your insight, since you've been there and all. Frankly, I think we should just let them come. Those people out there-they're really hurting." She stops her explanation there, even though she would usually go on, and gives me somewhat of a searching look, and I smile a little to let her know that I'm okay, the pain hasn't consumed me yet.

The Council is the branch inside the city of what was formerly known as the Bureau of Genetic Welfare but now monitors the city of Chicago. I haven't been to a meeting, and I don't know how Christina got me invited. Her excuse-that I've been outside of Chicago before-really is pretty weak, especially since I was only really out in the fringe area once. I'm fairly sure she just needed a reason to get me out of the apartment.

"Sure, I'll come. Lead the way."

She gives me a hesitant look, as if she is about to say something else, but then turns and begins walking the way she had come. Christina's been quieter lately. She used to be just what you'd expect from a Candor: loud, somewhat insensitive, and, for the most part, overwhelmingly irritating. Now, after Tris's death, she has become a much more thoughtful, caring person. Or maybe she's always been that way, and I just haven't looked past her faction or gotten to know her well enough to notice.

The Council meeting is in Erudite headquarters. I should have expected it, that's where most formal events occur, but it holds so many memories for me. First, of a time when I thought Tris had died, and then when we were forced to live there with the factionless guarding us under Evelyn's command.

Christina grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze, sending me an apologetic look. I let her guide me through the building. There are some people milling about, but not many. We follow a series of twists and turns until we end up in a large room with a long table in the middle. Several people are seated around it, but not all the chairs are filled yet.

I have never been in this part of the building before. In a way, that makes it easier, because I can imagine I am somewhere else even with the cool, efficient style of the Erudite. But I still catch myself wondering if Tris had ever been in this room, if I am standing where she stood, if she looked at these walls at some time in the past.

After about ten minutes, when most of the chairs are filled, the talk settles down. I am not too surprised to see Johanna Reyes, former spokesperson of Amity, stand to lead the meeting.

I eventually lose track of the conversation and stop trying to pay attention. I stare at the sharp corner of one of the practical steel chairs as the discussion continues. I am vaguely aware that Christina contributes some, but I don't focus on what she says. Soon I feel eyes on me. I look up to see someone staring back at me-a girl, a little younger than I am, who sits in the chair I've been staring at.

As soon as she notices me, the girl looks away, a bit to hastily, letting her dark hair fall in front of her face as she listens intently to whatever it is that Johanna is saying. I am not fooled, however-the way she immediately turned away, as if afraid of getting caught, seemed to me that she wasn't just giving me a casual glance. And the look in her eyes-as if she had lost something she loved deeply and knew it could never be replaced. She is breathing quickly.

I will be seeing this girl again.