Well, I am still going!

Chapter 3. Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 9: Danger, Danger, Stranger Danger

I sit next to Annabeth as we wait for something to happen. Annabeth doesn't say much, she's just thoughtful. I haven't met someone like her before, which interests me.

After a few hours Tobias is at the door. "Tris, come on—you're allowed out now."

I'm reluctant to leave, but Annabeth sends me a look, to tell me to go.

I nod. "Nice meeting you."

Annabeth gives a small smile. "You too, Tris."

I walk out as a Dauntless guard locks the door behind me. Tobias grabs my elbows and steers me along the compound. "Tris, you have to stay as far away from them as possible."

I can hear the fear in his voice now. Why does he care?

"Why?" I ask. "They're just some kids—the same age as us."

Tobias shakes his head. "The girl, Annabeth, her results of the simulation were put through a computer and they told us her aptitude results."

I stop. Realisation settles over me like a sickening blanket, suffocating me. "What about them?"

Tobias looks around to make sure we're alone. His voice lowers. "She got an aptitude in every faction—she was smart, and she's selfless. She's fiercely brave, and she's kind—and she can me honest. That's what makes her so strange. And then . . . they took a blood sample . . . she's different—not entirely human."

"What?" I nearly scream. That's impossible. Impossible.

"And her friend—Percy, he's even stranger. He got the same aptitude as her, and when he went into the simulation, he came out in thirty seconds, and things began to explode in the room."

"You mean . . . you think they're alien?"

Tobias looked away. "I wouldn't say that, but they're different. We have to know more."

I look at the ground. My Erudite aptitude takes over. "Was there any similarities in the things that he made explode?"

Tobias looks at my face, like I have caught a deadly virus. "He made the glass of water explode, and the syringe with some simulation serum still in it explode also. They're different—and dangerous."

"How would you know?"

Tobias lowers his voice even more. "He bashed up Peter pretty bad."

I freeze. Peter? Peter was someone even Tobias struggled to hold his own against. How could Percy have done that? They couldn't die, but they could still feel pain, be put under simulations . . . I didn't understand these things.

"Tobias, I think we have to make them realise that we're an enemy."

Tobias steers me back to his room faster, almost jogging. "How do we know that we're not, though? Jeanine wasn't technically an enemy—she just wanted to know things, however dangerous. Are they an enemy? Do they have violent maniacs written on their foreheads? Do we?"

He pushes me down on his bed and looms over me. "Tris, what are we going to do about this?"

I rest my chin on my palms. "What about the video?"

Tobias shrugs. "No one wants to believe it, so there's nothing happening at the moment. I'm trying to get a search party over there just to have a look. But . . . Tori isn't letting anyone near it."

I look down. "These kids . . . I think they're connected."

Tobias throws his hands up in frustration. "Tris, the kids are just kids, they're something else to the problems we're having, okay? We have to worry about them later."

I fall back on the bed and cover my eyes with my hands. "What about Caleb? What's happened to him?"

Tobias doesn't say anything for a while. "He's in the same cell with that boy. He's an Erudite traitor, and we figured that if the kid killed him no biggie—I mean, apart from your brother, and that he would—"

"Tobias," I say firmly. "My brother aided Jeanine with the barbaric research she did on me. He's as much of a traitor to me as to you, okay? But, if he's with this kid . . . what do we do? What if he does die? We can't kill that boy for his crimes, can we?"

I uncover my eyes and look up at him. Tobias's eyes lose focus. "I guess not."

Someone knocks on the door. Tobias walks over and opens it. It's Christina.

"Um . . . hi—I need to talk to Tris."

I get up and walk over. Christina has her hands clasped over her chest and is twisting her fingers so much it looks painful.

"Yes?" I ask.

Christina looks at me, and then glances at Tobias. "Oh," I said. "Um, I'll be back later, Tobias," I say. I can imagine him shooting me a stubborn look, but I walk out the door and close it behind me.

Christina and I walk through the same corridors I went through just a moment before with Tobias. She leads me to the cells. 'Your brother," she says while walking. "He's in the same cell as that boy. He, um, doesn't get along very well with him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she says with finality. "Have a look."

I look through the door and see Percy with his head in his hands. Caleb's shooting questions at him, many like, are you human? What are you? Where are you from? How did you beat up that guy? Have you murdered before? Are there any contributing factors that make you what you are?

"Caleb," I say sharply. He looks up, and then takes a look of shame. "Look, Tris, I—"

Percy looks up. "Please make him shut up," he says. "He's driving me mad."

"Then why don't you make things explode?" Caleb asks with his annoying curiosity. I bite my tongue. I want to hear the answer too.

"Number one, I don't hate you that much, number two, I'm not a homicidal maniac; and number three, if I do then there's no way I'll ever get out of this cell."

For some reason I find that response slightly funny. I smile. "There, Caleb, your question's answered. Now be quiet. What have you heard about Percy's aptitude tests results?"

"Don't mention the word test, please," Percy says. "Then I'll start worrying about that last Math test."

Caleb looks at him like he's speaking gibberish. Then back at me. I see something in his eyes that takes me a moment to figure out. He's afraid of me. He's afraid that Jeanine tried and failed to find a way to control me. He's scared of me.

"No?" I say. "Well, you and Percy have some catching up to do."

Percy lifts a finger. "Okay, I have never met this guy before, so I don't need to catch up with him. Secondly, can't I go in the cell with Annabeth? At least I'd enjoy that."

I smirk slightly. Christina stands behind me. "Is Annabeth your girlfriend?"

Percy eyes her. "Would it make a difference?" he asks. "Besides, it's better than Nosy over here."

"I am not nosy," Caleb states. "I'm—"

"Very nosy," I say. I glare at him. I will never forgive him for working with Jeanine. I couldn't care less about me, but he helped her in the threats. He helped in Marlene's death. I will never forgive him for that. Never.

Caleb sets his mouth and glares at me. "What are you getting at?"

Percy raises an eyebrow at us. "Dude, can't people even insult each other without starting a fight here? Jeez."

"I'm sorry," I say stiffly. "But my brother and I have something more than just insults going on here."

If Percy is surprised to find out that Caleb is my brother, he doesn't show it. "Like what?"

I pointed at Caleb. "That boy caused the death of one of my best friends!"

Caleb's eyes narrow. He's about to say something, but I cut him off. "If you are going to say that it was necessary for the pursuit of knowledge then you are a lying murderer! You aided Jeanine in her simulations that then caused Marlene to jump off this building to her death! You caused so much pain that I will never forgive you. Neither would mom or dad."

He's about to yell, to roll up his shirt sleeves and advance on me with anger, despite the fact that I could beat him in two seconds, but Percy is then standing over him. His fists are balled and he's trembling. "You caused the death of an innocent?" he asks.

I don't want to see what Percy can do. I jump between him and Caleb. I look up at Percy's tight face. "Yes, he did—but you killing him won't help. He deserves to be punished, but not by you. You had no part in this—this is something the people of Dauntless have to do."

Percy stops trembling. He straightens. "Okay," he says.

He doesn't say anything else. He goes and leans on the opposite wall. Then he looks back at me. "Why did this person die?"

I take a step away from Caleb before I can punch him. "Jeanine wanted to control the Divergent. The simulations—they have no effect on those with Divergence. The regular people were effected, they were put under a trance, so to speak. They were unable to control what their bodies were doing. She had three kids up on the roof, and they said that until a Divergent went to the Erudite compound, three kids would jump off the buildings to die. I was up there with Christina; we could only save two of the three. Marlene jumped. She was liked by everyone . . ."

I ball my fists to keep them from shaking. Tears well in my eyes. I swallow them down. I am strong, I tell myself. I am brave.

Percy looks up at the ceiling. "I guess I know what it's liked to be under a simulation, then."

"How?" I ask. "You're Divergent."

"I am?" he asks. Then his face darkens slightly. "Not a simulation, but I know what it's like to not be able to control what I'm doing. To be controlled—mind you, those are impossible to escape."

I look at him closer. I can see his numerous scars that he refuses to tell anyone about, and I can see his eyes. They're different to most eyes. They seem . . . unpredictable.

I walk back to Christina. "Well," I say, glancing back. "Annabeth says hi."

It's a lie, but if I had told Annabeth that I would have the chance to talk to Percy, I guess she would've asked me to tell him hi, so I do. He smiles a bit, then his expression sours as he looks at Caleb. "I'll try not to kill him," he says. "But I don't get on well with people who cause unnecessary deaths."

I nod. Neither do I.

Annabeth had sat in her cell for the gods know how long. They'd taken blood samples from her, that she knew. She knew that what they'd found scared them. It should have—half blood, half ichor. She was Divergent. She had a vague feeling that that meant she didn't fit the factions this place was supposedly made up of.

Tris had seemed nice enough. Just Annabeth was bored. Not to mention haunted by those images of the spiders crawling up her. She shuddered. Then the door unlocked. Tris and another girl stood there. "Hi," Annabeth said. She opened her arms out. "Come to see the creature in captivity?"

Tris smiled a bit at that; the other girl behind her not so much. She had short dark hair that fell to her shoulders. "Um, Annabeth, this is Christina," Tris said.

"Hello," Annabeth said dully. She dropped her arms. "So . . . what brings you here?"

"Well," Tris said. "Um . . . do you know any ways to make Percy calm down?"

Annabeth was suddenly alert. "Someone made him mad?"

Tris and Christina shared a look. "Yeah. Caleb. He . . . he was partly responsible for the death of a friend."

Annabeth understood why Percy was mad. "Wait," she said. "You put Percy in the same cell with this guy?"

Tris nodded.

"Okay," Annabeth said, her eyes wide. "Um . . . blue food? Word of advice: stop him from getting mad, or this whole place could collapse on us."

Tris paled in shock. Then she nodded.

"Okay. I'd change his cell . . . but the Dauntless kind of want Caleb dead."

Annabeth shook her head. "He does not want to die from Percy—trust me."

Tris looked at the guard. "I might be able to get him over here."

Annabeth suddenly felt happy. "What?" she asked. "I mean—seriously? That's great!"

Christina frowned quizzically. "Tris, are you sure . . . ?"

Annabeth got to her feet. "Well, I could go in there and . . . restrain the guy, if you want."

Tris shrugged. "It's probably better to get Caleb away. If Percy did kill Caleb, then he'd be charged with getting himself tangled up in Dauntless affairs. So no, I'll try and get him over here."

The two girls disappeared as the door closed behind them. Annabeth paced the dark room. Percy might end up in here with her . . . no more spiders . . .

The door opened again and Percy was standing there. Christina was holding a gun to his back. "Sorry," she said. "Standard procedure for transporting prisoners."

Annabeth rand forward and hugged him. "You okay?" he asked. Annabeth nodded. "You?"

He shrugged. Annabeth looked back at Tris and Christina. "Thanks a million," she said. "And Tris—sorry about getting you into this mess."

Tris smiled. "It's nice to have some non-death influenced excitement for a change."

Even Christina smiled a bit. "Nice meeting you two."

The door was closed and bolted behind them. Annabeth stood there with Percy. "I hear you got mad."

He sighed. "Yeah, I did. He caused the death of an innocent."

Annabeth let out a deep breath. "That's something worth getting mad about, but this isn't our problem, no matter how vile and act it was, okay? So—what happened with your simulations?"

He shrugged. "Few explosions, a guy attempted to knock me out . . . one that was dragging you away . . . and I, uh, lost it . . . so yeah."

Annabeth leaned back on the wall and slid down it to the floor. Percy sat down next to her. "What was your simulation?" she asked him.

He looked at the floor sadly. "I saw myself letting you go into Tartarus. I felt so real . . . and then I realised it was false. I would never have done that."

Annabeth felt guilty for her fear of spiders. She leaned onto Percy. "I guess you know what I saw, then."

"Spiders?"

"Yeah."

He rubbed her shoulder. "Everyone has something they're afraid of, Annabeth. Before I met you—I was terrified of this guy that went along the hall of the building at three in the morning and would bang on the door as he went past. . . . Then I went on a quest and that was set straight."

Annabeth let out a shuddering breath as an image of spiders crawling up her neck flashed to mind. She scowled and swallowed it down. No phobias for you, missy.

"Why are we here, Percy?" she asked. "What have we gotten ourselves into?"

Percy gave a crooked smile. "I actually don't know—but what I do know is that we never have anything happen to us without a reason."

Annabeth gave a slightly hysteric laugh. "Got that right, Seaweed Brain."

She could imagine him grinning. "My day has just gotten normal again."

Dun-dunn-dunnn!

I'm sorry, but I enjoy writing about a moody Percy, okay? Is that bad? I think it is . . .

ANYWAYS, stay tuned for the next chapter! Feel free to give ideas! I have a basic plot idea, but anything minor you have for how they get through Dauntless - go for it!

Please R&R,

-Owl