Passing on Her Flight

Chapter 1: Finding Tobias

"Be like the bird that,

passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight,

feels them give way beneath her,

and yet sings,

knowing that she hath wings"

-Victor Hugo

It was the silence that I valued the most. The silence of the Abnegation streets, the has-been bustling Dauntless compound, the Amity fields, the Candor halls, and the Erudite square. Sure, they weren't factions anymore, but they always would be to me. Sometimes I miss the noise. Being in Erudite, if only for a few months, had gotten me used to talk. Not white noise, like the Amity, nor blatant honesty, like the Candor, but real, intelligent, thoughts, being spoken from peer to peer, it was truly amazing. Yet there is a certain value to silence, one that I learned in Abnegation. Silence is vital to life, for without silence, we would not be able to think. And thinking is what got me into this mess called life in the first place.

My name is Caleb Prior. I was an Erudite citizen, formerly Abnegation. I survived the faction wars of Chicago.

After the war, I had taken to living in my old home, in the formerly Abnegation sector. With my parents and sister all dead, I was the only Prior left to carry on the legacy. I must be the one to carry on the Divergent gene. Unlike my sister, Beatrice, I am not Divergent. However, I learned from studying under Jeanine Matthews that Divergence is a recessive gene, especially in the male gender. I am all that is left to carry it on.

I have been doing my best to keep logs of the Divergent populations, studying up on Jeanine's old population logs and factionless charts. It's all I do, really, besides taking care of Tobias, and occasional conversations with Susan.

Tobias Eaton was my sister Beatrice's boyfriend. Her death hit him hard, and I made it my responsibility as soon as I found the liquor to take care of him. After all, her death was my fault. It's the only way I can repay her.

Looking up from my book, I hear a crash from the house across the street. I recognize the address as the one belonging to the Eaton family. That must be Tobias…

I sling my book bag over my shoulder, sliding my book into it and running out the door. I run across the street, careful not to trip over my too-big Abnegation sweatpants.

"Tobias!" I call, pounding on the wooden door.

A gruff voice answers my call.

"Go the hell away, Caleb!"

I sigh, digging through my bag. Where is it? Ah, I think, pulling out my ring of metal keys. I insert the second one into the lock, pushing open the door.

I find Tobias lying on the doormat.

"Get up," I say softly.

He groans, glaring at me.

"Get up!" I say more sternly.

He gets up gloomily. "Yes Mr. Prior," he says mockingly. He flinches at the word Prior.

Tobias flops down on the couch, brandy splashing on his grey Abnegation shirt. I grab the near-empty bottle from his hand, putting a pillow under his head. In his other hand is a scrunched up photo of my sister, Beatrice. I decide to let him hold onto it. There's no way I'm wrenching that photo out of his tight grip, anyhow.

"Goodnight, Tobias," I whisper, sitting in the leather armchair across from his couch.

He glares at me and rests his eyes. Before he falls asleep, he whispers, "Goodnight Caleb." Then he sleeps. I slide my book out of my bag, preparing myself for a long night.

"The Histories of Panem" by President Coriolanus Snow.

"Prologue:

From the Treaty of Treason:

In penance for their uprising, each district shall offer up a male and female between the ages of 12 and 18 at a public "Reaping."

These Tributes shall be delivered to the custody of The Capitol.

And then transferred to a public arena where they will Fight to the Death, until a lone victor remains.

Henceforth and forevermore this pageant shall be known as The Hunger Games."

I frown at the words, shaking my head. Public reaping? Districts? Fight to the death? This all seems wrong.

My eyes skim down to the bottom of the page, where there are handwritten notes—Jeanine's handwriting, no doubt.

"Factions=Districts

Initiates=Tributes

Initiation=Hunger Games"

I find myself even more confused. How are these supposed 'Hunger Games' anything like initiation? How do I even know this is real?

I feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier as I read on. Apparently there are twelve districts, rather than five factions in 'Panem,' which is the name of the city. I'm still not convinced it's even real. The only thing that keeps me reading is dire curiosity. I have a soft spot for fiction.

"Hey, man, wake up!"

My face shoots off of the now-creased pages of the book. I curse myself inwardly for allowing myself to ruin a perfectly good book with my face.

My eyelids flutter open, and I see Tobias sitting on the couch across from me. His hair, which has grown in quite a bit since the war, is tousled and tangled in an uncontrollable mat. My hand flies to my hair, which has been beginning to fray out of it's gelled state. Tobias frowns at me.

"You alright?" he asks.

I nod softly. "You?"

He nods back.

This is about the extent of our normal conversations.

He reaches his hand back to scratch the back of his neck, and his sleeve rises ever so slightly. I notice three birds, ravens I think, sticking out from his bicep. They look like Beatrice's ravens, only somehow he seems to make them manlier.

"Nice tattoo," I say quietly. He scowls at me, taking a swig from the bottle on the table.

"What were you reading that was so important?" he asks me.

"Oh, just this book that Jeanine left me. She said something about a 'final project' and that I 'couldn't just abandon them.' I don't know," I say nonchalantly.

"Well, what's it about?"

I think about telling Tobias off of my work, and that he needs to heal, but then I realise that this could be the perfect distraction.

"It's about another city called Panem. It's located in the Rocky mountains, west of here. They have twelve districts, rather than five factions, and rather than initiation in their teens, they compete in the 'Hunger Games.'"

He frowns at my detail. "What's the Hunger Games?"

I sigh. "Two tributes (that's what they call the initiates there) are chosen from each district to compete in an annual game. In the game, as far as I can tell, they are put in a giant dome and forced to fight to the death until one tribute is left. This tribute is crowned 'Victor' and is allowed to live in wealth and peace forever."

Tobias looks sick to his stomach. "Is this really real?" he asks hesitantly.

"I don't know. Jeanine certainly thought so. What do you think?" I ask.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," he says, a ghost of a smile playing on his face.

"And what do you propose?" I ask cautiously.

"Exactly how far west is the Rocky Mountains from here?"