I fell freely for several stories. I closed my eyes, and said my good byes to the world just in case I became one with asphalt at the bottom. I made a small cry of surprise when I was met by a net. The impact caused me to go back up into the air, but not far before I came to a rest on the rest. I was amazed I didn't scream on the way down. However, I felt like I was flying. I felt like I was free. I looked up and saw numerous heads poke over the ledge to see me in the net. I chuckled a bit, relieved that I survived once again.
Someone pull down on the net. I was met with brown eyes that I felt pierced my soul to it's very being. They belong to a man that was so handsome that I seemed to forgot how to speak English.
"Did you get pushed?" He asked me. His voice sounded deep and sensual.
I shook my head "no" as I seem to not know where my tongue went. He put his hands beneath my arms and pulled me down from the net. I bet I was easy to get down considering that I'm at least two feet shorter than he is. He put me on my feet.
"What's your name?" He asked me.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Oh, come on! The way I was acting seemed like I have never been in the presence of a excruciating handsome man before. Jonas was excruciating handsome like an ancient Greek God. This man was beginning to rival him...extremely. It made me feel guilty actually. I was still in love with Jonas. This guy was making me think of naughty thoughts while disabling my ability to communicate orally at the same time.
"Do you have a name?" He asked me, amusement in his voice though he didn't show one trace of it on his handsome face. I nodded "yes" like an idiot. "Can you talk?" I nodded yes once again. "Any chance in saying it?" I nodded again. I heard others chuckling at the exchange. They must think I'm some sort of mute. "If you want, you can change your name. You can only do it once, so make it good."
Oooh! This presented a golden opportunity for me. I liked Gemma, but it was fine for when I was in Amity. New fraction deserved a new name. There was one name that I could think of right off the bat.
"Raven" I finally managed to utter.
He looked at the others. "First jumper, Raven!" He introduced me. "Welcome to Dauntless"
"Thank you" I said softly before I walked away to where the other members of Dauntless said. A few of them offer their hands to me.
While I waited for everyone from the roof to jump down, I mused myself with my own thoughts. I was good at it. Entertaining myself, that is. I went with the name Raven because ravens were predatory black birds. I was a huntress from Amity and will always be a huntress. Now that I was in a different fraction, I was free as a bird. It's not that Amity didn't have it's own freedom. However, it was looked down to use half of the language I have said or thought in the last two days. It was looked down on to harbor horrible thoughts about someone else. I don't think I would be hindered from that here in Dauntless.
The last person to jump from the roof was the same Dauntless born girl, who asked me if I needed a boost onto the ledge. Funny how I was able to jump way before her and I'm not even from this faction. She was introduced as "Last Jumper: Jenny".
"Those of you born in Dauntless go with Mitch. Transfers stay with me" The Dauntless version of Jonas said.
We waited while the Dauntless born initiates went with Mitch. When it was just us transfers, Dauntless version of Jonas continued.
"I normally work in Intelligence, but I will be your training instructor. My name is Four."
I noticed some of the Candor transfers snickered. One of them was Amy.
"Like the number?" She asked, heavily amused.
"Yes, just like the number."
"Were one through three taken?"
"The others must've been taken too." The same Candor guy, who wished us luck on the train earlier, remarked.
I saw something in Four's eyes that I didn't see before. I couldn't make it out because I was from Amity where we rarely saw much anger. I wondered how often people made fun of his name. I also wondered how often he was tempted on punching people in the mouth that made fun of his name.
"What are your names?" He asked with curiosity.
"Amy"
"Dan" The guy replied.
Four approached them, and stood almost up in their face. "Well, Amy...Dan...the first thing you both need to learn from me about surviving in Dauntless is to keep your mouth shut. Do you both understand?" They both nodded at the same time, looking a bit pale. From the way Four stood, I reckon they were expecting him to smack each of them upside of the head. "Good" He began to walk away. "Follow me"
We all followed him. He took us downstairs that were bathed in a red light. It looked freaking creepy. Then, he led us to this gigantic hole that was filled with Dauntless members either fighting, dancing, or socializing.
"This is the Pit. Center of life at Dauntless" He said to us. Then, he lead us through a maze of tunnels before we reached more stairs going down. There was a bunch of beds. "This is where you will be staying for the next ten weeks."
"Who?" A guy from Erudite asked curiously.
"All of you"
"Boys and girls?"
"Pretty much"
A lot of the initiates made remarks about the co-ed sleeping arrangement. I wasn't bothered by the fact that I would be sleeping in a room with men. After all, I have had sex with a man. What bothered me was I was becoming a bit paranoid about men I didn't know possibly attacking me. Then again, as I learned the hard way, I knew my attacker well. Anyone was a potential threat as far as I was concerned.
"If you like this, you will like the bathroom." Four remarked.
He lead us to a bathroom with a lot of toilets and showers that had no freaking stalls. What the hell? Honestly, this bothered me more than the sleeping arrangement. I will just have to treat this like I do when I went on hunting trips with my family and Jonas. And there were no toilets in that situation
I briefly squeezed my eyes shut because I didn't want to think about my experience of not using a toilet while out on a hunting trip.
"You should feel right at home Candor since you let everything out." Four said snidely. "Get dressed" He walked past us, and bumped me right in my shoulder. Never uttered an apology for running into me. I guess I should get used to being in an unapologetic environment.
With that, we began to change our clothes
