Four
I'm awake and out of bed before any of the other initiates so I take the time to shower and get dressed before I leave for the training room. We're supposed to meet in the Pit for visiting day but I know that no one will be here to see me. Even if Marcus came to visit by some horrible twist of fate I wouldn't see him.
The training room is empty and quiet and the smell of sweat and leather fill my nose. It's become a familiar scent and I stand for a minute, letting it fill my head. I exhale slowly and make my way toward a punching bag.
As I lay into the bag I let my mind go blank. There's no point in thinking about anything other than the repetition of punches and kicks anyway. I've worked up a light sweat when I hear someone clear their throat.
"You're not supposed to be in here today," Caria says as she walks up to me. "It's visiting day after all."
"I don't have anyone coming," I tell her. I steady the punching bag and look her up and down.
I've never seen Caria in anything except for Dauntless black, so the white sundress she's wearing is a little shocking. Her hair is twisted back in some intricate fashion, and her bruises and bandages are on display. Any other woman would probably look fragile, but somehow Caria appears even more fierce and intimidating than usual.
She frowns and glances over her shoulder toward the door. She sighs loudly and shakes her head. "I can't let you stay in here alone."
"Then you should stay and train with me," I tell her, a small smile forming on my lips.
She smirks, and for a moment I think she's going to relent. "I wish I could but I have somewhere to be."
"Where?" I ask out of curiosity, but also because I want to stay in the training room for as long as I can. There isn't anywhere else for me to go in the compound.
Caria doesn't say anything. She narrows her eyes and studies me, crossing her arms over her chest. A chill goes down my spine and for a moment I have to wonder how Amar can be so relaxed around her.
"If you don't have anyone coming to visit you then how about you come with me?"
"Go with you...?"
"I won't lie to you and tell you it'll be fun but it is something to do today."
She has a point.
"Okay."
"Is this really okay?"
Caria doesn't even open her eyes. She sits against the wall of the train car, her head resting against the metal. Her legs are out in front of her and crossed at the ankle, and she has her hands in her lap. "Is what okay?"
"Me going with you. Is that really okay for me to do."
"Of course. You're allowed out of the compound so long as you're with a Dauntless member."
There's something distant and cold about Caria's disposition that's putting me on edge. I've never seen her like this and it's somehow more intimidating than her anger.
We ride in tense silence for what feels like forever, and just as I start to think that we're not headed for a real destination Caria stands and opens the car door. She waves me over next to her and when the train slows down we both jump.
Without a word, Caria brushes the dirt from her dress and then begins walking in the direction of trees. After a moment I realize where we're headed.
"Amity?"
She grunts and leads me into the shade of an orchard. She stops at a tree and places her hand on the bark, looking above her into the branches. I watch as she grips the trunk and hoists herself up, scaling the tree as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She comes back down a moment later gripping a bright red apple.
She lifts the skirt of her dress and uses it to clean the apple, then she takes a large bite from the fruit and continues her walk.
On the other side of the orchard is the Amity compound. In the center of everything is a building made entirely of glass. It gleams in the sun and I have to shade my eyes in order to see where I'm going. Caria appears completely unaffected.
She stops in front of a house and raises her hand to knock on the door. She hesitates and then turns to look at me over her shoulder. Very quietly, she says, "Don't eat the bread," and before I can respond she's rapping her knuckles against the door and shoving her apple into her mouth.
A thin, tan woman opens the door. She is bundled in layers of red and yellow clothes despite how warm it is. Her eyes meet Caria's and a terse smile spreads on her lips. She extends her arms and wraps Caria in an embrace.
"Evelyn," she says softly. "Lunch is almost ready."
The woman pulls away and retreats into the house. Caria heaves a sigh and I follow her inside.
The air is thick and clammy and I feel sweat begin to bead on my brow almost immediately. I can smell freshly baked bread and hear voices through a doorway. Caria leads me into what looks like a dining room and settles down at a table covered in food. I sit carefully beside her, not sure how to act.
The woman that answered the door sets a steaming loaf of bread down and then sits opposite a rough looking man at the head of the table. His eyes had settled on Caria the moment she entered the room and his gaze has not faltered, not even when two more men join the table.
There's an awkward silence between the six of us and then the woman reaches out to grasp Caria's hand. "Who's your friend, Evelyn?"
I see Caria's jaw tense and then relax. She pulls her hand away and reaches for a bowl of something orange. "This is Four. He's a transfer initiate that I'm helping to train. He didn't have anyone coming to visit him today so I invited him along."
"What kind of name is Four," the man at the head of the table asks. His voice is rough and deep; the kind of voice that sounds disgruntled even when trying to be genuine.
"A very good name for someone in Dauntless," she answers and then hands the bowl to me.
I hold it over my plate, trying to discern what it is but not wanting to ask. Caria seems to sense this and states, "Mashed sweet potatoes."
The man scoffs under his breath and I feel a flush of embarrassment creep up my neck.
"They're letting you train initiates?" one of the other men ask. He has a cheeky grin and his tan skin brings out the blue in his eyes.
"Yes." Caria's answer is short and impatient. It's obvious she doesn't want to be here, trading these formalities.
We fill our plates without much more conversation. The room is filled with the sound of forks clinking against knives and people chewing. The food is delicious; better than what I've been eating at Dauntless and on an entirely different level from what I used to eat in Abnegation. Caria told me not to eat the bread, but part of me is trying to think of what the consequence for eating it could possibly be.
"So," the man across from me hums, "Four, is it? How awful is it having our little Evelyn as a trainer?"
My brows furrow and from the corner of my eye I see Caria's knuckles go white from gripping her fork so tightly.
"Why do you keep calling her Evelyn?" I ask.
The woman blinks in surprise. "Why, that's her name, of course."
"No. Her name is Caria."
The man at the head of the table slams his water glass against the table, making me flinch. He exhales slowly and stares down his nose at Caria, who hasn't glanced up or stopped eating. I can feel heat fill the room as rage rolls off of him in waves.
I bite the inside of my cheek, regretting my words.
"Evelyn is prone to her little rebellions," the man says, and despite the heat a chill goes down my spine.
Caria snorts and finally looks up from her plate. Her eyes are cold, and looking between the two of them makes their relation to one another obvious. The two other men must have taken after the mother.
"Little rebellions? Is that what you're calling it now?" she asks.
"Even when she was young she was a troublemaker; stealing apples off the trees and skipping out on her work. Then she transfers to Dauntless of all places." He spits the word Dauntless like it tastes bad on his tongue.
Caria rolls her eyes and bites a spear of asparagus in half.
"And now look at you." His voice drops to a low growl and I feel goosebumps raise on my arms. "You come in here covered in bruises and dressed like a whore, showing off your latest toy like you have no shame."
There is silence except for Caria chewing. She swallows and then takes a long drink of water. Everyone is watching her for her reaction. When she sets her glass down I expect her to retaliate but instead she shoves the other half of her asparagus spear into her mouth and pushes her plate away.
She stands, the sound of the chair scraping against the floor incredibly loud, and then, still chewing, reaches behind her and begins to unzip her dress.
"What are you doing?!" the man snarls at her, rising to his feet himself and pounding his fist on the table.
I look away as her dress falls to the floor, heat rushing up my neck and into my face. She's naked except for a pair of nude colored underwear and her shoes.
"I mean, you said I have no shame, right?" she states, her voice amused. "So I may as well let you be right about something."
He grinds his teeth together and slowly lowers himself back into his chair.
"Get out of my house."
Caria clucks her tongue. "Will do. Let's go, Four."
I stand and keep my eyes down as I go to follow her out of the house and out into the openness of the Amity compound. We're halfway back to the train when I realize she left her dress on the dining room floor.
"Where the hell were you all day?" Eric asks as he sits across from me with his tray of food.
I avoid his eyes as a new flush rises on my face.
"What?" he asks, smirking. "Embarrassed no one came to visit you?"
"No," I shoot back at him, narrowing my eyes in his direction. Over his shoulder, seated at a table with Amar and Tori, I see Caria. I look back down and bury my face in my hands.
Eric shifts to look behind him and then turns back with a raised brow.
I take a long drink of water and try to clear my head.
Eric is halfway through his hamburger when I tell him, "Caria took me to have lunch with her family."
He stops chewing immediately and looks up at me with dark eyes. "Liar."
"Ask her yourself then."
He glances over his shoulder in her direction and then turns back to me. "Where did you go?"
"Amity."
"Amity?" he repeats, incredulous.
I nod. "We took the train and walked through an apple orchard."
"And you had lunch with her family?" His voice is still skeptical.
"Yeah."
"And that's it?"
"Yeah, and then we came back here."
"Then why is your face so red?"
I stand up with my tray. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Hey- come on! Four!"
Eric yells after me as I bus my tray and leave the cafeteria. I head for the dormitory, and even though it's still early, I crawl into bed and try to get some sleep.
A/N: I do not own Divergent.
So Caria's originally from Amity! The reason this chapter is from Four's point of view is mostly because I thought it would be interesting to have an outsider be the one to observe Caria's interaction with her family, which was really fun to write. Also, if you'd like a little bit of trivia and some insight into her character, you should look up the Latin meaning of Caria in comparison to the meaning of the name Evelyn because, remember, in Dauntless they get to pick their names.
Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this story! I really appreciate it and it really does mean a lot to me.