Chapter 2

Peter awoke in the morning and groaned as he stretched. Swinging his legs around off the side of his bunk he rubbed his eyes before getting to his feet. Bending, he pulled on some pants and found a clean shirt. Nearby, Tris had just gotten up and was rubbing her hands over her face.

"Nice hair, Stiff." He commented. Her blue eyes flicked to his and she raised a hand to her hair which was sticking up in all directions.

"Nice bruise, Peter." She replied. Involuntarily, his hand jumped to his jaw where Edward had given him the final blow yesterday. He'd known it would bruise. He turned away from her.

He heard Christina give a sharp laugh but by the time he had looked back around the both of them had walked out.

"Did Drew come back last night?"

Peter looked around to see Molly standing nearby. He gave a light shrug. "I have no idea. I haven't seen him." He watched as she frowned.

"…I don't think he did." She murmured

"He must have gotten lucky, then."

"Uh…" She stopped and swallowed. "Right." She said briskly. "Great." She ran her hands over her pants. "Breakfast time, then."

Peter nodded and followed her out the door and toward the warm smell of food. "Apparently the Amity are bringing food…"

"Yeah, I heard that yesterday." Molly said, turning her head to look at him. "We will probably have to unload everything…"

Peter nodded. That seemed like the sort of thing Eric would make them do. He smiled when a thought crossed his mind. Maybe he could get a little extra training in while the rest of the initiates were unloading potatoes. That would be much more worth his time. He certainly didn't transfer to Dauntless to carry groceries. He would have gone to Amity if he wanted to do that. Nodding to himself, Peter tried to figure out when he would slip away from the others. He figured that the best time would probably be after he had eaten. That would make the most sense. It was most likely that they would be told during breakfast that they were to spend a good part of the day carrying supplies from the Amity trucks inside to the kitchens. He could then slip away after they had eaten and while the others were heading outside. He supposed it would be easy enough. If anyone asked what he was doing he could always say the he was just going to the bathroom and that he would catch up. The last thing he wanted was to spend the day with a bunch of banjo strumming softies.


Aurelia chewed her lip as they approached the Dauntless compound. She had only been inside once before. She had come the year before when she was an Amity initiate. The Dauntless had been rude and crass and she hadn't liked them very much. She doubted that they had changed.

"Stop biting your lip." The girl beside her told her, giving her a light nudge with her elbow. Aurelia turned to look at her.

"I can't help it, Anni." She told her. "You remember how they were last year."

"Yeah…"

Aurelia nodded; she didn't need to elaborate. Anni had been with the group that had come the year before. They'd both been initiates at the same time, though they had been best friends long before that; their whole lives in fact. Neither of them had been to Dauntless before last year and the people had made quite an unfavourable impression on both of the girls. Releasing her lip from between her teeth, Aurelia turned her nervous anxiety on her hair, twisting a long dark lock between her fingers. Anni nudged her again.

"There it is." Her friend whispered and Aurelia looked out the truck window. She remained silent as they approached an ugly looking structure. Beside her, Anni sat up straighter and tied her golden hair back into a high ponytail. "Okay, here we go…"

Aurelia nodded and looked toward Anni's father, Valen, who was driving the truck. He parked and turned the engine off.

"Alright, girls." He said, "The plan is that we get everything off the trucks first and then it all has to go inside to wherever the Dauntless want it. They are meant to have some of their people come and help." He smiled at them, "So, if we just do our bit then the Dauntless will have what they need and we will be able to go home."

Opening the door, Aurelia jumped down to the cement and gave a quick nod while Anni replied with a light "Yes, Dad." The blonde girl then jumped down out of the truck, collided with Aurelia and sent her stumbling out across the cement and into the nearby fence. "Crap. Sorry Lia." She laughed.

"All good." Aurelia replied, straightening up and smoothing her yellow skirt down. Anni attempted to dust her off, muttering further apologies until they heard unabashed laughter whereupon both girls turned to see a group of Dauntless standing nearby and watching them.

"What up, Amity?"

Aurelia looked at the red headed boy who had yelled at them. The self satisfied smirk he wore looked particularly unkind.

"Ugh. Ignore then." Anni said, taking Aurelia's hand. "Let's get started."

Valen opened the back of the truck and Anni climbed up into it. A group of the Dauntless came over and pairs of them climbed into the various trucks that were being opened. It was only moments before bags of food were being lifted and passed down from the trucks.

Once the trucks were empty everybody grabbed a bag and started to carry them inside. Aurelia was glad that living in Amity was nothing like Dauntless. The Dauntless lived without light. Everything was dark and confusing and it was like a maze in there. More than once she was glad that she was following somebody who knew where they were going. She was sure that without a guide she would get lost.

She was proven right when, after one particularly heavy delivery to the kitchen, she asked one of the Dauntless where the closest bathroom was. The girl had pointed vaguely down a narrow corridor and said "Down there and to the left…"

Aurelia went down there and to the left but didn't find a bathroom. She went back a bit and tried a door to the right. Still no bathroom. She tried a nearby hallway and walked a little further down it, trying various doors and taking further corridors until she eventually did find a bathroom.

She had just come out of the bathroom and blinked, looking up and down the hallways wondering which way she was meant to take to get back, when a hand roughly grabbed her upper arm and pulled her around.

"What are you doing down here?"

"Ow…" Aurelia looked up to see a young man with long dark hair and cold eyes looking down at her.

"Are you deaf?" He asked, his hand tightening on her arm.

"No…" She winced, "I had to go to the bathroom…"

"It's pretty stupid to go snooping around here…"

"I wasn't!" She protested, trying to pull her arm free, but there was no escaping his grip. "I just went to the bathroom…"

"You! Initiate!" Aurelia looked around to see another Dauntless boy had entered the hallway. This one was just as tall as the heavily pierced man holding onto her, his hair was shorter, however, and his wide green eyes looked far kinder. The man holding onto her beckoned the boy forward, "Take this girl back to where she should be… Where you both should be…" He growled the last part and Aurelia watched as the boy's wide eyes grew wider. "Come on!"


Peter stared at Eric, hoping he wasn't going to punish him for not being where he should be. He then turned his eyes on the girl that Eric was holding on to in what looked like a rather painful way. His eyes moved over her from her long dark hair to the red top and long yellow skirt she was wearing. She was clearly one of the Amity girls. He moved toward them and when he was close enough the girl was thrust toward him and he clasped a hand around her wrist. He didn't hurt her like Eric had been doing. "Come on…" He said, pulling her up the hallway and away from Eric. She looked like she was almost close to tears and when they'd turned the corner at the end of the hallway he released her wrist. Her hand jumped immediately to rub her upper arm where Eric had been holding her.

Looking her over again, Peter smiled slightly. His conversation with Drew from last night went through his mind briefly. This girl was attractive enough. Her long dark hair framed her face nicely and curled at the ends. Her skin was lighter than most of the other Amity members he had come across before, as if she didn't spend as much time outside as the rest.

"Are you an Amity initiate?" He asked her. Deep green eyes looked up at him.

"No." she replied, shaking her head slightly. "I was last year." He looked her over again. She barely came to his shoulders. He wouldn't have thought she was older than he was.

"Were you Amity-born?"

"Yeah, I was." She murmured. She looked up at him again. "Were you Dauntless-born?"

"No. I transferred from Candor."

"Ah… Who was that guy?" She asked, gesturing back behind them.

"Eric. He's one of the Dauntless leaders."

"That guy is a leader? He looks barely older than us."

"It's not uncommon here." He watched her. She no longer looked as if she were about to cry. "This way…" he said, placing a hand on her back and steering her down a different corridor. She continued to rub at her arm. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine… What's your name?"

"Peter." He looked at her, "What's yours?"

"Aurelia."

Peter eyed her silently. He was fairly certain that her presence had pissed Eric off enough for him to ignore the fact that Peter had disobeyed him. He couldn't exactly thank her for that, though. "… what were you doing?" he asked, "To piss Eric off?"

"Nothing." She replied, "He thought I was snooping. I wasn't."

"And he didn't believe you?" He asked, "Because the Amity will lie to avoid conflict?"

She looked sharply at him. "That's a very Candor thing to say." She said and he shrugged lightly. "Why did you transfer?"

"Lying is useful." He answered.

"It can be a necessity." She murmured

"Then we agree." He said lightly. Her green eyes flicked to him once more but she remained silent. "So what were you doing?"

"I had to go to the bathroom." She said shortly. He nodded and used his hand to guide her into the next hallway. His eyes flicked to her in surprise when a small skip entered her step. It seemed as if the usual light mood he had always associated with the Amity was returning to her. "Do you like Dauntless, Peter?" She asked him.

"Most of the time." He replied. She turned her head to look at him, one of her eyebrows raised. "…I… fit in better with the people here than I did in Candor…"

"Because you lie?"

"Yes." He blinked the instant the word was out of his mouth. He'd been more of a Candor while talking to her than he had in a long time, even back home. He hadn't lied once to her. Aurelia simply nodded and continued up the hallway, a constant bounce now in her step. She hadn't reacted the way he was used to people reacting to an admission of lying. Usually he was greeted with contempt or even disgust. She had just accepted it without as much as batting an eyelid in way of reaction. Intriguing. Were all the Amity like that? He hadn't really talked to many of them for very long.

"Do you like Amity?" he asked

"Yes. I love Amity." She replied, smiling at him.

"You fit in there?"

"It's home." She replied evenly. He looked at her. Evasion.

"You didn't answer my question…"

"Still a Candor, then?" She asked.

"Hardly."

She looked back at him and made a face. "You don't need to be exactly like everybody else to fit in." She told him "I am not like everybody else at Amity. Nor are they all alike. I do belong there, however. I feel comfortable there. It's peaceful. It is home."

Peter never thought that Amity would sound appealing to him. Perhaps it was just the stress of initiation. He had always wanted to be Dauntless, and he would be. Just because he'd enjoyed talking to this Amity girl for five minutes and had found what she had to say interesting, didn't mean that anything was going to change. Becoming a full member of Dauntless was still his goal and he would achieve it.

"Here's the door…" He said, pushing open a door in the wall. Bright sunlight hit them both in the face and they both winced and raised a hand to protect their eyes.

"Ugh. How do you stand the constant dark?" She asked, rubbing her arm once more. Peter looked at her in the sunlight and noticed the fingerprint marks on her arm that were already beginning to show up in a purple bruise.

"Just have to get used to it." He answered as they walked toward the Amity trucks nearby. Aurelia stopped at one and opened it before pulling a red knitted cardigan out. She slipped it on silently, covering the bruise. She wanted to conceal what happened from the other Amity, he realised. She met his gaze as she buttoned it up and in the light he noticed that her deep green eyes were actually emerald.

"Don't say anything." She told him.

"I won't…" He shook his head, not knowing why he had just agreed so quickly. What reason did he have to help her? After a moment's consideration he realised that keeping it quiet would also help Eric which in turn could benefit himself. Feeling more comfortable with that idea, he turned away from the truck. "Alright… Here you go."

Aurelia walked past him to where a blonde girl was hurrying toward them. "Lia! Where have you been?" She cried, throwing herself at Aurelia and wrapping her arms around her for a moment before releasing her once more.

"I got lost." Aurelia replied, adjusting the sleeves of her cardigan around her wrists.

"Oh." The blonde girl looked her over and then turned on him. "…who is this?"

"This is Peter." Aurelia told her, "He showed me the way back."

The blonde girl smiled widely at him. "That was kind of you."

Peter just nodded, deciding not to speak. This girl was somewhat irritating. She seemed far more like the stereotype he had envisioned of the Amity girls than Aurelia had.

"So," Aurelia cut in, "Are we ready to go home…?"

"Oh…" The girl replied, "You missed it."

"Missed what?"

"We were told that the Factionless have set up some sort of camp that blocks our way out… they're causing some problems and some of the Dauntless have gone to try and resolve the issue… But until that's done we can't get home… so we have to stay the night."

"Here?" Aurelia asked, "We have to stay here?"

"Yes."

Peter looked at the horrified look on Aurelia's face and he watched as her hand lifted to rub her arm once more. It was easy to tell that the thought of staying anywhere near Eric made her uncomfortable. Her eyes found his and for a moment he almost reached out to touch her. Once he squashed that desire, he gestured for them both to follow him when he noticed that the other Amity were being directed into the compound. "Come on," he said, "They'll be showing you where you'll be sleeping."