"AAAAAAH-HOOOOOOOO!"

I had never jumped off a building before, but I was highly looking forward to a second time. The fall just pumped me with adrenaline, and I breathed loudly when all light faded out, and I landed on something that dug into my back. It felt like a net. It tossed me up a little at my impact, and my face came inches with the bottom of the ground around the hole. I fell back down on the net, and gripped it so I wouldn't fall again. My entire body shook, and I laughed.

Quinn flew in about a minute later on her snowflake, and summoned it to a fade when she landed. I hopped off the net, and had to regain my ability to walk.

"Why the hell did you jump?!" Quinn whisper/shouted.

I laughed, "You should try it! My god, it was awesome!"

"Keep your voices down!"

Quinn and I jumped and whirled around to find the silhouette of a girl walking toward us. From what I saw, she had long curly brown hair, and wore a green hoodie and jean shorts. Her bright green eyes glinted.

"Goddamnit, Britt! We've been looking everywhere for you!" I hissed, and marched up to her and slapped her upside the head, though she was much taller than me. She slapped me back. I slapped her back, and then she slapped me back again.

"Knock it off!" Quinn snapped, and joined the circle, "Britt, why run off like that?"

"I didn't!" Britt protested, but seeing the looks on our faces, she said, "Ok, maybe I did. But I really was heading off to the mall from Eris's house because that's where I assumed you were going, and then I noticed the soil started thinning out, and I face-planted into this compound." She motioned to a jumbo black and blue bruise on her left cheek.

"Compound?" Quinn raised an eyebrow, "There's people down here?"

"Yeah," Britt stifled a laugh, "I think Eris would like their style."

Britt looked to me, her bright eyes locking with mine. I couldn't help the fact that Eric was the first person that popped into my head: Dauntless.

"What do these people call themselves?" Quinn stole my question.

"I don't know," Britt shrugged, "but by the way they act and what they say, etc. I'm thinking they're Dauntless."

My heart flipped. I tasted bile. Dauntless? Was Britt trying to tell us that she had just stumbled across the Dauntless compound?! I sure hoped she was wrong, but from reading Divergent and seeing the movie, I recognized this place too much. My stomach churned and all color drained from my face. I got flashbacks of Eric jumping out my father's closet and scaring me.

"Eris?" Quinn waved her hand in front of my face and snapped me back to reality, "You still in there?"

"Oh yeah," I shook my head, "Es tut mir leid."

"Eris, I thought you'd be excited!" Britt's grin faded, "You love the Dauntless!"

"I know," I replied, "but not so much anymore, considering one of them is my…" I racked my brain for the right word. I didn't want to say 'babysitter', but there really was no other option. "My babysitter."

"Babysitter?" Britt raised an eyebrow, "Eris, are you serious?"

"Talk to Mike about that!" I protested, "but yeah, one of them is my dad's old high school friend. I got a lot to tell you."

So I explained everything: how the four guys were catching up while I was cowering in my room, how I had felt so freaking uncomfortable showering, how Eric had jump-scared me, and I ended where I walked out the door this morning.

"Just kill me already!" I finished. I plopped down on my butt, and that's how I discovered we were standing on concrete. Pain shot up my back, but I ignored it.

Britt and Quinn were left speechless.

"Eric-?" Quinn managed and sat down in front of me, crossing her legs, "of all people?"

"That explains why my dad turned out the way he did," I mumbled, staring at my lap and twirling a piece of hair on my pointer finger.

"Is he really that bad?" Britt sat down and shifted next to me, a little closer than needed. She's always had a problem with personal space, even back in middle school. That's just her way of joking around, or being serious as hell. I don't even know.

I sighed, rethinking what I had just said, "Well I guess he isn't terrible, but he certainly is a jackass."

"I bet," Quinn said, "So can we leave?"

"It's probably best if we do," I said.

"Oh come on!" Britt pouted, "So what if Eric's here? Big deal! We'll avoid the fuckwad at all costs."

I laughed at the name Britt had called Eric, mainly because it was totally miles from being false, but my grin quickly faded and my expression became stern again.

"You don't get it," I said, "Eric is ruthless. If he catches us, I don't even want to think about what he'll do to us."

"Rape party!" Quinn joked. Britt chuckled, but I shuddered, thinking about when Eric had jump-scared me, and how his eyes had searched my body this morning. Had that been intentional, or was he shunning himself for doing that?

"Hey, Eris," Quinn touched my shoulder. I looked up at her, "It's ok. We're just joking."

"I know," I swallowed, "I know. I just-" I cut myself off by choking on my words. Honestly, I really wanted to spy around here, just for the thrill of it. But Eric was my main concern. If I knew for sure he wasn't here, I'd be running in the cafeteria right now holding up a sign that said "Hey! I'm a target!".

"Well, can we come back another time?" Britt asked, eyeing both Quinn and I.

"Absolutely," I replied, "I'm really sorry, guys."

"That's fine," Quinn replied, "Yeah, don't feel bad. I think it's for the best, because I really still want my favorite cousin alive."

I grinned, but again, it quickly faded. I looked down. I really felt bad about disappointing my friends, but I was just so paranoid about Eric. I knew he had left the house a while ago, and was definitely in this compound, possibly meters away from us, maybe even on the other side of one of the walls here, eavesdropping. I just couldn't bare to be caught. I reached in my back pocket, and silenced my phone.

"Wait," I said, and looked at Britt, "Did you by chance see a guy here about in his early 20's, about 6'1", blonde hair, neck tattoos, and two facial piercings on the left side of his forehead?"

I knew that was probably a lot to process for Britt, but at this point, I really didn't care.

Britt didn't respond for a count of ten.

"Actually," she raised her eyebrows, "I did! He's one of the instructors. Really strict, he is. I can't believe he didn't see my extended middle finger."

"You flipped him off?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I did!" Britt exclaimed, "I sat on one of the ceiling railings for about ten minutes until my middle finger went numb."

I facepalmed.

"Is that Eric?" Quinn asked me, ignoring Britt.

"Exactly him," I replied.

"Wow," Britt shook her head, "How in the name of God did you handle that...thing?"

"I slept half the time," I replied, "with my door locked."

"So are we going or not?" Quinn broke in, "I'm sorry, but I'm getting really uncomfortable sitting here. I feel like we're being watched."

"What the heck?" I stood up, and rubbed my back.

"You sure about going in here, Eris?" Britt rose to her feet as well, "If you're worried about getting in trouble-"

"Zip it," I interrupted, "Don't make me change my mind."