So I finally finished re-editing Undaunted! I didn't make any major changes to most of the chapters, but I think it would be to your benefit to go back and reread the first few chapters, where I changed a lot about Eleanor's parents. Chapter Eight will hopefully be up by Monday, and I really appreciate everyone being so patient. :)

CHAPTER SEVEN

5:42pm

Everything about this boy is menacing, from his greasy black hair to his calculating and cold stare.

"Leave her alone, Eric," says Amar, warning edging his voice.

Eric glares hard at the young man as Amar materializes by my side. "What? I didn't say anything."

"Yet," mutters Amar, staring back at him with obvious distaste. I feel myself shrink back, not wanting to get caught up between the two.

But to my surprise, Eric rolls his eyes and turns away, walking towards the net. "Whatever."

"Who was that?" I raise an eyebrow quizzically at Amar.

"Lauren, Four and Eric were all in the same initiate class last year," the exhausted looking man answers as he cracks his knuckles.

"Yeah," Lauren nods. "But Eric was always really peculiar. He never really had any friends during initiation. Or now, for that matter."

Amar narrows his eyes at Eric's shadowy figure. He now stands on the other side of the gloomy pit, talking to the boy Lauren called Four.

"Enough talking about him though," Amar says quietly. He raises his voice so that everyone else in the room can hear him. "Listen up everybody!" The excited chatter in the room quickly peters out.

"Welcome to Dauntless. I am Amar, the transfer-initiates' instructor," he states. Amar is greeted with the eight blank stares of the transfers.

"I'm Lauren," the seventeen year old fiddles with an eyebrow piercing. "Me and Four will be instructing the Dauntless born initiates." Lauren jerks her thumb towards the dark haired boy, who still has not spoken.

"Wouldn't it be 'Four and I'?" Arthur calls out with a cocky grin.

Four narrows his eyes. "Would you like to take a train back to Erudite? We don't have much tolerance for smartasses like you here in Dauntless." His voice is surprisingly low and threatening.

Arthur's good natured expression doesn't falter. He throws up his hands in surrender and laughs. "Sorry Mr. Four."

Four rolls his ocean blue eyes, but I can tell he's attempting to suppress a smile. Another perk about being from Candor; I can almost always tell how people are really feeling just by their expressions, their tone of voice and their body movements.

"Shall we get started?" Amar doesn't wait for an answer, just starts heading down a seemingly endless tunnel.

"C'mon," Four gestures to the apprehensive looking Dauntless born initiates. "We're going to skip the tour of the compound." He and Lauren lead the group of about thirteen boys and girls away in quite a disorderly fashion. Only eight of us remain; four girls and four boys.

Amar guides us down the ominous hallway, passing door after door.

"Max probably already gave you a general idea of how initiation works," Amar says without turning to face us. "But it has changed greatly over the past couple of years. Just last year, for example, we started with the fear landscapes as Stage One, but more about that later." He pauses to lean into a large set of double doors, pushing them open. "This is the Pit. The Pit, initiates. Initiates, the Pit." A few nervous snickers rise before we enter one of the busiest rooms I have ever been in.

Amar stops abruptly for a Dauntless girl in a black dress as she scurries by in a giggle fit, a young boy that can't be older than five chasing after her with his arms outstretched.

Blue lanterns cast an eerie glow over the otherwise dim underground cavern, filled with entrances to what look like stores. In Candor, everyone always seems to be in a hurry. Not here. Yes, there are some people bustling by, but there are also large groups of people laughing, talking and drinking. A frowned upon practice back in Candor was cigarettes; here it seems to be alcohol. Though I guess it isn't exactly 'frowned upon.'

Before letting us take everything in, Amar's voice rises above the noise. "Now to the Chasm."

I hear a faint roar that becomes more insistent as we near a brass railing with miniscule water droplets sprinkled all over it.

I feel a sturdy hand touch my back as I lean over the railing to get a look at what is causing the wild noise. I whip my head around and come face to face with a brown haired boy that I sometimes sat with at lunch; Charlie.

He pulls his hand back quickly and hugs it to his chest, grinning apologetically. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Eleanor, right?" I nod and turn back towards the underground river, hoping he will take it as a hint that I don't feel like talking. But he doesn't.

"There are a lot of initiates from Candor, huh? You, me, Clarity, Kate and Xavier," his voice wavers. "Oh God, I'm so sorry about Poppy. I remember she had a crush on me when we were little…"

Don't worry; she had a crush on everyone. I bite my lip in an attempt not to blurt out my rude response.

Luckily, Amar cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, interrupting our awkward one-sided conversation. "Dinnertime!"

We follow him towards another bustling area which I assume is the Dining Hall.

Laughter erupts from the far corner of the room, Dauntless men slamming their fists against worn tables. We pass by an empty table with water rings permanently etched onto the surface. Or, I think as my nose wrinkles up in disgust, beer rings. That answer is probably more likely considering how strong the smell of stale alcohol is in here.

I tag along at the edge of the group of initiates and as we scoot onto a long bench, a thunderous applause echoes against the wall of the underground dining hall.

"What are they applauding us for?" I find myself in between the little Erudite girl and the obnoxious Arthur.

I shrug and lean in towards the girl so I have a chance of being heard over the roar. "What's your name?"

"Mercy."

My eyebrows automatically rise up to my hairline in surprise. You usually don't hear such a unique name in Erudite; they prefer plain, old fashioned ones. It actually sounds more like a Dauntless name…

"What?" Mercy looks up at me with wide grey eyes.

"Oh, nothing. I'm Eleanor, by the way. You can call me Ellie."

She sticks out her hand, offering a shake. I grab it quickly and shake twice. I don't think that will ever get easier.

"And I'm Arthur Bennett. Pleased to make your acquaintance, my dear Ellie," Arthur says with a false accent leaning into me with an arrogant grin.

I roll my eyes: Mercy scoffs. "Oh, Arthur shut up, will you?"

Arthur bursts out laughing and turns back to another Candor I rarely talked to named Xavier, an elevated, muscular boy with slanted black eyes and dark spiky hair.

"Don't worry about him. He's been a class clown since before I can remember," Mercy smiles before quietly adding, "I'm pretty sure everyone in Erudite let out a sigh of relief when he transferred from their faction."

I snort, a smile spreading across my face. I see the flash of blue eyes and short brown hair out of the corner of my eye, and for a split second I think its Poppy. But no, it's just a Dauntless teenager walking by on her way to a table. I hunch over in my seat.

A wave of doubt floods over me all at once. Aiden was at the head of his initiation class. He was strong and fast and built for Dauntless, and he still didn't make it here. How the hell will I?