Chapter 8
Two updates in one day, I don't know what's happening with me! Enjoy, and please review!
The next morning, I am awoken by the faint glow of the sun streaming through the window to my right. I look down and Tris is sprawled out next to me, with her arm across my chest and her head on my shoulder. I slowly, careful not to wake her, move my body out from under hers and walk over to the bathroom. I stand in front of the mirror and splash water on my face in an attempt to wake myself up. I notice how the hair is growing longer on my face and set out in search of a razor in the small bathroom. I eventually find one under the sink and begin to shave the hair around my jaw.
After a few minutes, I hear the rustle of sheets and know that Tris is awake. Without looking at her I say, "Good morning. How did you sleep?"
"Okay," she says, getting up and making her way over to me. I tilt my head back to reach the bottom of my chin when I feel her wrap her arms around my waist and press her forehead to the space between my shoulder blades. I set down the razor on the counter and rest my hands on top of hers. I close my eyes as I idly stroke her hands beneath my own. We stay like that for a while, neither of us speaking a word.
After a while, I feel her head lift from my back. "I should go get ready," she says, but she still lingers there, obviously not wanting to leave.
"I'll go get you something to wear." I say and leave the room.
About twenty minutes later, I am walking down the hallways when I hear yelling. I rush towards the source of the sound and find Tris yelling and struggling as and Amity man holds her back from Peter sprawled out on the ground below her. I stand there, stunned, for a moment as Tris continues to strain on the man holding her. I have never seen her act like this. Especially when she knows what is at stake if she decided to pick a fight. "Tris, calm down!" I yell at her.
"He has the hard drive!" she yells. "He stole it from me! He has it!"
I calmly walk over to Peter and brace my foot on his ribcage as I reach into his pocket and snatch the hard drive. "We won't be in the safe house forever, and this wasn't very smart of you." I say quietly to him then turn back to Tris, who has since stopped struggling, and say, "Not very smart of you, either. Do you want to get us kicked out?"
She scowls at me as the Amity man starts to pull her back down the hallway.
"What do you think you're doing? Let go of me!" she yells, resuming her struggling.
"You violated the terms of our peace agreement. We must follow protocol," he says calmly but I can tell Tris is about to fight it even more.
"Just go," I say. "You need to cool down."
She looks defeated as the man pulls her away. I shake my head and turn back to Peter, who is just beginning to get up, and say, "If you so much as try anything like this again, I hope you know that when we leave I will kill you and I will not hesitate for one moment. Do you understand me?"
Peter responds with a glare but nods. "I'm glad we are on the same page," I say and then walk out of the hallway and out the door.
I am walking around in the field of trees when I hear someone scream, "Four!" I pause for a second before I hear it again, closer this time, "Four! Where are you?"
I step around a couple of trees and see Tris looking around. "Tris?" I say.
Then the strangest thing happens, she giggles. Tris giggles.
Before I can even register how completely crazy that is she runs towards me, almost falling over, and then tries to kiss me.
"What did they—" I start to say but she kisses me. I kiss her back for a second before she pulls away and says, "That was lame. Okay, not it wasn't, but…" she stands up on her toes to kiss me again but I press my finger to her lips instead.
"Tris," I say. "What did they do to you? You're acting like a lunatic."
She frowns at me and says, "That's not very nice of you to say. They put me in a good mood, that's all. And now I really want to kiss you, so if you could just relax—"
I stop her there. "I'm not going to kiss you. I'm going to figure out what's going on."
She pouts her lower lip for a moment but then bursts into a huge grin and says, "That's why you like me! Because you're not very nice either! It makes so much more sense now."
I stare at her for a second, my mind trying to put together how this could be the same Tris from twenty minutes ago. I know only one person who could answer that though. "Come on. We're going to see Johanna," I say, grabbing her hand and trying to pull her along with me.
"I like you too," she says, not even making an attempt to come with me.
"That's encouraging." I say flatly. Her feet still stay planted though. "Come on. Oh, for God's sake. I'll just carry you."
She giggles again as I swing her into my arms. I stare at her and close my eyes for a second, wondering if when I open them she will be back to normal. But, no. She wraps her arms around my neck and plants a kiss on my cheek. I shake my head and start walking as fast as I can.
Halfway there, she starts swinging her legs in the air, which only makes me angrier. Not angry at her, but angry at whoever decided it would be a good idea to give her some kind of drug.
We finally reach Johanna's office and her mouth drops open at the sight of us.
"You really shouldn't cover up your scar. You look prettier with your hair out of your face." Tris says to her. I roughly drop her feet to the ground, not caring about being gentle right now. She just laughs it off, which annoys me even more.
"What did you do to her?" I say. "What in God's name did you do?"
"I…" Johanna says, frowning at Tris. "They must have given her too much. She's very small; they probably didn't take her height and weight into account."
"They must have given her too much of what?" I say back, the anger becoming more and more evident in my voice.
"You have a nice voice." Tris says next to me.
I run my fingers through my hair and say, "Tris, please be quiet."
"The peace serum," Johanna says. "In small doses, it has a mild, calming effect and improves the mood. The only side effect is some slight dizziness." I take a look at Tris and can immediately tell that she could fall over at any moment. I pull her against my side. I would not call that slight dizziness. "We administer it to members of our community who have trouble keeping the peace." Johanna finishes.
I snort at her last statement. "I'm not an idiot. Every member of your community has trouble keeping the peace, because they're all human. You probably dump it into the water supply."
Johanna folds her hands on her lap and doesn't reply, which only gives me more reason to believe that I am right.
"Clearly you know that is not the case, or the conflict would not have occurred," she says. "But whatever we agree to do here, we do together, as a faction. If I could give the serum to everyone in the city, I would. You would certainly not be in the situation you are in now if I had."
Is this woman serious right now? "Oh, definitely. Drugging the entire population is the best solution to our problem. Great plan,"
"Sarcasm is not kind, Four," Johanna says calmly. "Now, I am sorry about the mistake in giving too much to Tris, I really am. But she violated the terms of our agreement, and I'm afraid that you might not be able to stay here much longer as a result. The conflict between her and the boy—Peter—is not something we can forget."
"Don't worry," I say bitterly. "We intend to leave as soon as humanly possible."
"Good," she says, smiling. "Peace between Amity and Dauntless can only happen when we maintain our distance from each other."
"That explains a lot."
"Excuse me?" she says. "What are you insinuating?"
I grit my teeth together and say, "It explains why, under a pretense of neutrality—as if such a thing is possible!—you have left us to die at the hands of the Erudite."
She sighs and looks out the window. I almost forgot about Tris until she speaks up and says. "The Amity wouldn't do something like that. That's mean."
Johanna looks back at me. "It is for the sake of peace that we remain uninvolved—"
"Peace," I spit out sarcastically. "Yes, I'm sure it will be very peaceful when we are all either dead or cowering in submission under the threat of mind control or stuck in an endless simulation."
"The decision was not mine to make. If it was, perhaps we would be having a different conversation right now."
"Are you saying you disagree with them?"
"I am saying," she begins "that it isn't my place to disagree with my faction publicly, but I might, in the privacy of my own heart."
I'm just about done with her crap. "Tris and I will be gone in two days. I hope your faction doesn't change their decision to make this compound a safe house."
"Our decisions are not easily unmade," she replies. "What about Peter?"
"You'll have to deal with him separately. Because he won't be coming with us." I say, grabbing Tris' hand and heading for the door.
"Four," Johanna says. "If you and your friends would like to remain… untouched by our serum, you may want to avoid the bread."
I glower at her and say, "Thanks," then pull Tris along with me back to my room, her skipping with every step.
