"What happened to your arm?" Talulah asked when I arrived at the initiates accommodation. She, Nathan and Freddie stared up at me from where they were sat on her bed.

"Knife training got a bit out of hand." I answered, sitting on my bed beside them.

"What do you mean by 'out of hand'?" She questioned.

I shook my head and sighed. "Don't worry about it Tee." I told her.

She frowned and switched beds to join me on mine. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I replied. "Did I miss much?"

"We went to watch Lu get a tattoo, then ended up getting our own." Nathan said, pointing to the part of his arm that was wrapped up.

"Without me?!" I joked. "What did you all get?"

"I got a wolf, it looked pretty awesome." Nathan replied.

"I got some small stars on the back of my shoulder blade. It reminded me of working nights with my Dad." Talulah informed me.

"Very nice." I smiled and looked at Freddie. "What about you?"

"I got my family's initials separated by small dots on the back of my neck."

"Can I see?" I questioned. It sounded interesting.

He nodded and pulled his shirt off, the neck line at the back too high to see. He shifted on the bed so that his back was to me and I quickly stood up and gently peeled back the bandage. As he had explained, there was six small italic letters on the back of his neck.
PS • JS • CS

"It's lovely." I smiled and stuck the bandage back down with the small bit of tape that was on it.

"Thank you." He said, then pulled his shirt back on.

"So other than getting injured, what did you do this afternoon?" Talulah asked.

I hesitated for a second. On my way back from Eric's apartment I had been contemplating telling Talulah everything. I'd hoped that she would've cheered up by the time I got back, and she had, but I was still unsure whether she needed all of this burden on her as well. "About that... I need to talk to you alone..."

She raised an eyebrow, then looked at Freddie and Nathan. "Didn't you two want to get some new boots?"

Nathan slowly nodded. "Trying to get rid of us already, you've only been back five minutes Jac!" he joked.

"Sorry.. I've just got something to discuss with Talulah."

"It's alright." Nathan smiled.

"We'll be back in about twenty minutes!" Freddie said, then I watched as they left the room.

I double checked to make sure that no one else was in the room, before explaining completely everything. What Eric had said on the first day, Four's warning, Rita, the photographs, everything.

"And that's why you've been so spacey recently? It wasn't the pills.." Talulah mumbled, then looked up at me. "So Four thinks that Eric killed Rita because he couldn't control her?"

I nodded. "But today... I don't know, it was weird. If that was Rita in those photographs, why would he have kept them? And why would he have reacted the way he did when I saw them?"

"Possessive over them maybe?" She suggested. "Probably kept them to remind himself of his victory."

"Yeah, but there was one of Calvin and the woman... Why would he keep that?" I asked, putting my head in my hands. "This is all so confusing. I wish Four would've just kept his mouth shut!"

"You don't mean that."

"No I don't... I don't know.." I sighed.

"Personally, I think that you're overthinking all of it. Just take Four's warning as a pinch of salt, forget Rita - you didn't know her, you can't be sure about any of that, and just don't let Eric treat you so badly, oh and most of all; don't allow him to keep talking shit about me!"

I smiled. "Okay..."

She smiled back at me and patted my knee. "I'm always here. Don't try to keep anything from me again, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay. I promise I'll tell you everything from now on."

"Good."

"How are you feeling after the rankings?"

"I'm petrified." She told me. "If Aimee does that little bit better than me in our final fights, then I could become factionless..."

I bit down on my bottom lip. "It won't get to that. I promise. I'll help you."

"How?"

"We'll practise. Together. Straight after dinner, okay?"

She nodded. "If it isn't too painful for you..."

I shrugged. "My arm isn't too bad, it just feels funny, and the rest of me hasn't been too bad since I took the painkillers this morning."

"Good."

I tried to think of another way to help her, but that was all I could think of. Unless... "I could ask Four to help us."

"How can he help?"

"I could get him to list me and you to fight. Then I'll make it look like I'll win and you can hit me in a sore spot and take me down."

"Jac, he won't agree with that. It's going completely against what he is supposed to do."

I sighed. "But he might!"

She shook her head. "No. Jac, I'm not going to let you do that. Your score will drop, and Four could get in trouble."

"Fine. I don't want you to go... I don't think I'd want to carry on without you."

"I'll try my best..." She said. "But don't say that! You're a perfect Dauntless, you had a knife thrown at you today and you haven't even freaked out a bit, you belong here!"

"Yeah but you were my first friend here, and you're my best friend-"

"-and it's because I'm your friend that I want you to promise that you won't do anything stupid if I don't make it. Don't follow me to Factionless, and don't do anything ridiculous to end up dead." She cut me off.

I frowned and nodded. "Okay, I promise."


Talulah and I had found a place to practise alone after dinner, and I'd pushed her to her limit. I'd forced her to hit me as hard as she could, I didn't want her to hold back at all. In fact, I'd oh so easily lied and told her that I'd seduced Nathan in the shower a few days ago and had him before she'd gotten the chance. It was confirmed that she liked him as more than a friend as soon as she punched me in the mouth and it bled like a bitch. We'd continued to fight with as much force possible until I decided that we were done, and admitted to lying just to get her angry.

When we'd arrived back at the accommodation just before midnight, she'd apologised so many times that I thought my ear was going to fall off. Once we were in bed, it was silent for a few minutes before I heard the rustling of sheets, and quiet footsteps.

"Can I get in?" Talulah whispered to me, and I pulled my covers back for her.

"Yeah." I whispered back, and she climbed in.

I shuffled backwards, towards the edge of the bed and tried to find her face through the darkness.

"I really am sorry..." She whispered.

"I know. You've told me too many times already." I replied. "But don't be. You were good, absolutely great at fighting when you were angry."

"But I split your lip..."

"Eric did worse today." I reminded her. "Now, shut up and go to sleep. You'll need your strength tomorrow.. And if you don't fight like you did tonight, then I'm going to kiss Nathan right in front of you."

"You wouldn't..."

"Wouldn't I?" I questioned, and grinned at her.

I felt her body lightly shake with laughter and saw the glint of her teeth as she smiled. "Goodnight Jac."

"Night, Tee."


A bright light behind my eyelids awoke me, and I carefully opened one eye and blinked a few times as my eyes filled with water. A clanging sound started to fill my ears and I slowly opened my other eye, realising that the clanging was our wake up call.

"Initiates! Get up." Four's voice was heard in between the clanging noises and I frowned and tried to sit up. It startled me when an arm brushed against my back, but then I remembered that it was just Talulah and let out a breath of relief.

I sat myself up carefully, to not elbow the girl laid beside me.

"What's the time?" I heard Aimee question.

"0300 hours." It was Eric that answered.

I snapped my head around to look at where his voice had come from, and found him and Four stood by the door, arms crossed, looking around the room. When his eyes found mine, he stared for a second, his face lacking any form of emotion, then moved up to the girl that had just sat up behind me. I thought I saw the ghost of a frown furrow his eyebrows, but I was probably wrong as it was gone just as soon as it had appeared.

"We're going out." Four stated. "So get up, get ready, and hurry."

Just fifteen minutes later, I found myself leant against the wall of a train car, surrounded by my fellow initiates, the Dauntless-born initiates, and the two instructors.

The Dauntless-born initiates all appeared to be energetic and excited for something, whereas our group looked like they'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. I was certain that if the wind wasn't bellowing into my face, I'd probably have fallen asleep against the wall.

On the way up to the train tracks, Eric and Four had instructed for each of us to grab a gun and a box of paintballs, alerting me to the fact that I'd need to wake up, but that was much easier said than done.

"We'll be dividing into two teams to play capture the flag. Each team will have an even mix of members, Dauntless-born initiates, and transfers. One team will get off first and find a place to hide their flag. Then the second team will get off and do the same." Four called out. "This is a Dauntless tradition, so I suggest you take it seriously."

"Four and I will be your team captains," Eric informed us. He turned to look at Four. "Let's divide up transfers first?"

Four nodded and looked around at all of us. "Feel free to pick first."

"Alright." Eric's eyes darted across all of us, then settled on one person. "James."

"Freddie."

"Talulah."

Four raised an eyebrow at Eric's choice of Talulah, and I frowned. He didn't even like Talulah, Four and I could tell that.

Four didn't question it, just chose his next team member. "Aimee."

"Jac."

I looked up at Eric, the frown still present in my features. There had to be some kind of ulterior motive behind choosing both Talulah and I.

"Nathan."

"That means Eddie's mine." Eric stated, then looked back at Four. "Dauntless-born next, your up."

"Kendall."

I zoned out after this. I didn't need to hear them picking the Dauntless-born's, my concentration was more on why he chose us. I could understand why he possibly picked me, for the same unknown reason as to why he hadn't quit bugging me since I arrived, but Talulah? It was a mystery. I'd never played capture the flag, but I was certain it would involve a lot of skill, and Talulah's handling of a gun wasn't particularly the best. Maybe he was going to try and get rid of her because of what he'd seen this morning, how close we were. Four had mentioned that Eric had turned Rita away from her friends at the start...

Stop thinking like that, Jac.

I needed to forget Rita, and what Four had told me, and just get on with it.

"You can go first." Eric's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I looked at the two instructors.

"I'd much rather go second." Four replied, a small smirk appearing on his lips.

"Fine." Eric glared at him. "Your scrawny little team can get off last."

Four nodded once, then looked away from him.

"My team, get ready. We're jumping." Eric announced, then walked towards the door to look out.

I shared a worried look with Freddie, not particularly happy about being on a different team to him and Nathan, but with such a small group it should have been predictable.

"You'll never beat us." Nathan teased.

"Yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes, then turned to watch as Eric jumped from the car. The Dauntless-born instantly followed, so I grabbed Talulah's hand and pulled her towards the door.

"Together?" She questioned.

"Of course." I smiled at her, then we ran towards the door to gather momentum, and leapt out with our fingers still interlocked.

Neither of us landed on our feet again, and found ourselves sprawled in the grass quietly giggling.

"Hurry up!" Eric called impatiently, and I looked up to see that he had already started walking away.

I pulled a face, then got to my feet and held my hand out to help Talulah up. She took it and once she was up, the
two of us walked quickly to catch up with Eric and the rest of the group.

As we walked along, I realised that we were near the marsh, and only a mile away from Erudite headquarters. I stared in the direction of the tall bright building that was poking out of the top of my surroundings and suddenly felt a longing for home. I was getting a bit fed up of the dark Dauntless compound, Erudite had theorised a plan to have power all the time using solar energy, and I missed everything being so bright.

I sighed and shook my head. I couldn't miss home, I was part of Dauntless now... I had to be.

"Did you win last year, Eric?" A slim, tall, Dauntless-born girl asked him.

"No." He sneered. "I was on the losing team."

"My brother said that he and Eric were on Harrison's team, they were unlucky last year. Lauren's team won! She had Four on hers." A boy spoke up. I turned to look at him, and he smiled at me, his pale skin strangely bright through the darkness.

"Yeah, Calvin told me that Rita was on the losing team too, they loved to wind each other up about it!" Another boy with long flicky hair added.

I watched as Eric's body tensed up at the mention of Rita. I wanted to find out the truth about what happened to her.

"It's a shame that she's not here anymore... She seemed lovely..." A short Dauntless-born spoke softly.

I watched Eric again. He clenched his fist, and I was certain that if this conversation went on, he might possibly lose his cool.

I exchanged a look with Talulah, then spoke up. "So where are we going to hide our flag?"

"Where did Lauren's team hide theirs last year, Eric?" The boy with flicky hair questioned.

"It defeats the object of the game to tell you." Eric replied, his voice deep. "Plus that would be the first place they'd look."

"Well, what about the Navy Pier?" The slim, tall girl suggested.

"No." Eric rejected the idea.

"What about the fun house?" The short girl asked. "We can hang the flag on the balcony at the top."

I had no idea what the 'fun house' was. I'd never been over here before.

"Good idea." Eric nodded. "Lets go."

He sped up his walk into a jog, and we all copied, following him.

A few moments later, we approached a square building, that had a big face on the roof, with a large white top hat and a scary smile. There was a large sign beneath it, but I couldn't read what it said in the dark.

I followed everyone as they piled in through two doors that were either side of what looked like a booth.

The door that I went through led to a small set of stairs and a narrow hallway, before coming out on an opening with a slight slope. There was a railing on my right, and I turned my head to look just in time to see the pale Dauntless-born helping the short girl over the railing and into a clearing in the middle of the room.

He then looked up at me. "Want a hand over?"

I nodded and walked towards the railing, climbing over it. He placed his hands on my waist and lifted me down, my sides aching a little as he did so.

"Thank you." I smiled at him.

"No problem. I'm Dale."

"Nice to meet you, I'm J-"

"-Jac. I know. The drunk one and the first jumper. You've made an impression on us Dauntless."

My cheeks flushed and I looked down at the floor, embarrassed. "Great..." I mumbled.

He chuckled.

"You need a strategy!" Eric called out, and we turned to look at him.

The group formed again in the centre of the room, and Eric lent against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. Talulah wandered to my side from where she had entered through the other door.

"Well, someone should stay upstairs with our flag... And keep an eye out for the other team." Dale said.

Eric nodded.

"Maybe two up there, so one can run backwards and forwards with information." Another girl spoke.

"Good idea, Leigh." Eric nodded again. "And what about getting the other team's flag?"

I counted the amount of people in our group as an idea formed in my head.

"We separate." I mumbled, thinking out loud.

"What was that?" Dale questioned from beside me.

I looked up at him and hesitated for a second, before telling him the idea. "Two of us climb up onto the roof, see if we can see the other team's flag. If we can't, then we get down and guard our own. Two out the front, three inside, two upstairs on the balcony, and three hidden in the hallways to scare them."

He slowly nodded. "And if we do see their flag?"

"Two of us with our flag, two inside, two outside, then the rest of us go to find their flag. Two distracting them, two sneaking around them to collect the flag, then Eric can do whatever he chooses."

"That's really good!" The short girl cried, bringing it to my attention that everyone had been listening.

I looked around and most people had a surprised or impressed look on their face, except from James, who was glaring at me, and Eric, who looked like he was going over it in his head.

"That works." Eric spoke after a moment. "We're doing that."

I nodded and let out a relieved breath that I did not know I was holding in.

"Lets get on the roof." Eric said, looking directly at me.

"You want me to get up there?" I questioned, my palms started to feel sweaty.

He nodded. "Your idea. You do it."

I swallowed, but my mouth had started to feel dry.

"Go on.." Talulah softly squeezed my fingertips with her hand, then let go.

I twisted to look at her, and she smiled encouragingly.

"Okay..." I turned back to Eric and slowly nodded. "Lead the way."

"Everyone wait here.. And make sure the flag is out of sight until we shout back down." Eric ordered, then started to walk towards a dark opening in the wall. I followed him, after another encouraging smile from Talulah, and made sure that I stayed a few feet back, enough not to lose him in the 'fun house', but enough to not bump into him.

The dark hallway that we had entered had glow-in-the-dark marks on the walls, something that could possibly have been an actual drawing in the past before wearing off over time. The floor rattled loudly and I wondered if it had moved once upon a time... That's what these kind of things did.. Didn't they?

We reached the end, and turned left, faced with a set of stairs. We had reached the top within a few seconds, seeings as there was only six steps, and turned left again to find a slope like the one I'd come across when I entered the house, however this time there was no rail on my side... Instead I was faced with a black wall. As we walked along, I placed my hand on the wall and allowed it to slide along.. The wall felt thin, and had plenty of dents in it, just small ones, like a scratch from a button on a shirt or something.

An opening became clear ahead of us, and I could just about see the sky over Eric's shoulders. Once he was out in the open, the fresh air hit my face and I closed my eyes for a second, thinking about what we were about to do.

I'd always been hopeless at climbing.. and a little bit scared of heights.

"We're going to have to climb on the railing and up the slope to reach the top." Eric's voice filled my ears, and I opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness.

"What?" I frowned, and watched as he leant over the edge of the railing and looked upwards.

"You heard me. There's no other way up."

My heart started to pound in my chest.

"You can go first. I'll help push you up, then I'll figure out a way to follow."

I slowly walked towards him, and did the same as he had, and looked up at the roof. I felt dizzy just thinking about climbing up there, a tiny slip could result in falling off, and I doubted that could ever end well. Trusting Eric to help me up there was dangerous in itself, nevermind actually getting up there.

"You ready?" He questioned.

I took a deep breath and stood up properly. "Yeah..."

Eric looked down at me, then reached forwards and pulled at the gun that was slung over my shoulder. He lifted it over my head, then placed it down beside me. "Hop up." He gestured to the railing.

I took a quick breath, then sat on the railing, before twisting to place a foot on there too. I looked upwards and grabbed the edge of the roof with one of my hands, pulling myself up and putting my other foot down. My other hand quickly shot up and grabbed the roof too, my heart thumping quicker than I thought was humanely possible.

I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down, but the longer that I stood there, the more uneasy I felt. I opened my eyes and looked up at my hands, my knuckles had turned white from how tightly I was gripping the roof.

"Jac?"

I barely noticed when Eric said my name, not until he said it the second time.

"Huh?" I mumbled.

"You alright?"

"I uh.. Mhm." I mumbled, looking down at him.

"Found a place to climb up?"

I shook my head, to tell him no and shake any thoughts from my head, then looked either side to see where I would be able to step up. There was no where. "I-I think you're going to have to lift me."

There was no way around it. I'd have to trust him.

"Okay. You just need pushing upwards yeah?"

I looked up, the big head that I'd spotted outside was only about half a metre away, I'd have to grab it and pull myself up. "Yeah."

I heard Eric's footsteps as he came closer, then felt his muscular arms wrap around my legs, just below my knees.

"Step up onto my shoulders." He ordered, and I did as I was told, gaining a good few inches of height, his arms pulling slighty tighter around my legs.

I took a slow deep breath, before looking up at the head. I could just about grab the edge of the creepy smile. "I can just about reach something, but I'll need you to give me one last push."

"Okay." He replied. "On three?"

"Yeah." I stared at the face and tried to concentrate as Eric counted.

"Three!" He said, and pushed me up as high as possible. I let go of the roof with my left hand and reached up to grip a hold of the smile, my right following quickly afterwards. I yanked myself up as hard as I could, my legs pulling out of Eric's reach, dangling as I searched for somewhere to put them.

Eventually, I hooked my feet up onto the top of the smile, and pulled myself the rest of the way so that I was sat on it. It didn't feel entirely sturdy.. so I slowly shuffled across and grabbed the large metal top hat, standing on it. The metal was cold, and the wind blowing made my hands sting.

"Can you see anything?"

I looked down to see Eric stood on the railing, looking up at me expectantly.

"Uh.." I looked up, out into the night. I had been hoping that I'd be able to spot the other team's flag right away, but I could see nothing but darkness, the tops of a few buildings, and the Erudite headquarters in the distance. "No."

He sighed. "Nothing at all?"

"No!" I told him, letting go of the hat for a second to brush my hair out of my face.

"Look again."

I glared at him. "Eric, there's nothing in sight. We're just going to have to protect ours..."

He let out an irritated grunt, then dropped down and disappeared from my sight. I stared out at the night again, wanting it to last a few seconds longer, then looked back at where Eric had once been seen and tried to figure out how I would get back down. I hadn't really thought this part through.

It was a fairly big drop between the smile and the edge of the roof, and then there was nothing. I'd have to trust Eric to help me again.

"Eric?" I called out, worriedly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not too sure how to get back down..."

I heard him grumble, then he appeared at the edge again. "Drop down from the smile, and I'll be here to catch you."

"But what if you fall? Or we both fall?"

"Then we're dead." He muttered. "Come on, this is wasting time."

I took a deep breath and pressed my back to the metal hat, then slid down it until I was sat on the smile again. I shuffled back along to the end, then prepared myself for the drop. "I swear to god if you don't catch me and I get out of this alive..."

"Yeah, yeah, your threats don't scare me, initiate."

"That's useful." I muttered under my breath, and closed my eyes for a second, swinging my legs over so that I was hanging onto the smile with my upper body. "You ready?"

"Yes.. Hurry up." Eric grumbled impatiently.

I opened my eyes and looked up at the sky, one last time before taking a deep breath. I was absolutely petrified. I could die right now. I shook my head to clear the scary thoughts, then closed my eyes and slowly let go of the smile.

My knees scraped against the roof as I fell, my hands ridiculously searching for something to grab onto. An involuntary scream escaped my lips.. and it felt like I was falling, scraping against the tiles for hours, until suddenly there was a harsh tug on my waist and my body was pressed tightly up against something.

My breath caught in my throat and my eyes slowly fluttered open. My feet found the surface beneath me, and I stood up properly, still being held tightly around my waist. I looked up, short of breath, remembering where I was, and what was happening.

"You good?" Eric questioned. I slowly nodded, then realised that he was holding me tightly against him, and we were still stood on the railing.

"Oh, you caught me." I spoke breathlessly, the relief evident in my voice.

He nodded. "Yeah, I did."

I stared up at him, my heart still pounding, a smile slowly creeping up onto my lips. "Thank you."

He stared back at me, void of any emotion on his face, but quietly spoke back; "No problem."

We stayed like that for a few seconds, before Eric cleared his throat and looked away. "Why did you have to scream?! We've got less time now. They would've heard you."

I swallowed and opened my mouth to apologise, but he released me and lowered himself down onto the balcony before I had the chance to.

He grabbed my waist and pulled me down too, setting me on my feet, then picked up our guns. He pushed mine into my chest, then spoke once more before running into the building. "Let's get some order in this place. We're running out of time."