Chapter 10

That night, I can't sleep. Al's fear keeps coming back to haunt me. How had he known what had happened? Had there been some fault in the serum? The serum. How had my attempted murderer gotten their hands on some? As a child, I had always been told that no serums existed anymore. This means someone would have had to make it, and most likely be an Erudite. Who do I know that's an Erudite?

My thoughts are to important to send me to sleep. I shrug on a jacket and begin walking around the Dauntless compound. When I look up again, I'm near the chasm. Al is there, too, and he's looking over the edge while clinging to the metal support bar. He turns his head and sees me. "Hey," he greets. "I see you couldn't sleep either."

I nod wordlessly, walking to stand next to him. We stand there for a moment, letting the sound of rushing water fill the silence. I focus on the sounds; the chasm, our breaths, the footsteps. Footsteps? Coming from the other side of the chasm, paired with muffled mumbles. Dauntless aren't supposed to be her at night. Well, here I am.

Al grabs my arm and starts leading me away from the chasm, but I stop. "Let's listen," I whisper. Though he's confused, he still nods and changes direction. There's a gap in the rocks, and we quietly duck inside. We're so close, I can feel his heart beating against mine.

I peek outside, where two men are making their way towards the chasm. Eric, and... Who is that? He looks strangely familiar. Where have I seen him? Slowly they come into earshot.

"-not my request, it's Jeanine's," the man tells Eric.

"Fine. I do have more experience than you in killing people," Eric replies, emotionless. Al tenses up. And I remember. His fear. Was Eric really his sister's murderer? Things are getting pretty confusing around here.

We wait until the sound of their footsteps fade away before escaping our hiding place. I want to say something, but I can't decide on what. I look at Al, and notice that he's trembling. I decide to reach out and comfort him, and his arms wrap around me. I nuzzle my head into his chest to feel his warmth. His arms are strong and confident against my back, and I don't want to move. Al smoothes my hair back from my face, and our eyes meet. He starts to lean forward...

"Hey!" someone yells from behind us. We turn to face Eric. The other man is standing next to him. "What are you doing? You're not supposed to be here."

"Sorry," I say, surprised by how my voice sounds strong. "Won't happen again." I grab Al's arm to lead him away, but his feet stay planted.

"Dad?" Al says. Oh, so that's who he is. "You aren't supposed to be here, either. In the Dauntless compound, late at night. When did you get back from Erudite?"

Oh yeah, his dad's an Erudite. That would explain the whole Jeanine thing.

"Albert? How long were you here?" he asks, completely breezing over Al's question. He then gives me a disgusted look, which Al seems to notice.

"Long enough to hear you two-"

"Walk in!" I interrupt Al's angry comment. "We just got here." My claim gets an eyebow raise from Eric.

"You sure about that?"

I nod. "Let's go, Al." This time he does move, but not after Eric stops us.

"You think you aren't going to be punished for sneaking around at night?"

"Um, yeah, I do think that. Considering I could report you to Max, and you'd be fired for breaking rules and accusing us of breaking them too," Al tells him. This just gets a laugh from Eric.

"Wow, what a catch you've got there, Willow," he taunts. "Standing up for you, how cute."

"Yeah," I say. "I'm lucky to have him." My comment makes Al smile slightly.

"And if something were to happen," Eric continues, "You would miss him, right?"

"Leave them alone." From Al's dad. Disgusted, Eric turns to face him.

"Relax, I'm just having a little fun." He faces us again. "Go."

We take that as our cue to run. We don't stop until we're in the hallways of our apartment building. "Why was my dad," Al asks, "With that dirty rat?"

I shrug. "And who did they want to kill?"

"You probably, by the way he looked at you like a piece of garbage." His tone of voice implies that it's a joke, but I'm not so sure. With the information I have about my attempted murderer, Al's dad would be a likely suspect.

I want to bring my failed assassinations up with Al, but I feel that he'd eventully find out about his whole serum thing. And I trust Christina enough not to let that happen.

I trip over a bump in the carpet, suddenly realising how tired I am. "We should probably get some sleep," I tell Al. He nods, smiling.

"I was just about to say that. Good night."

"Good night." I turn to step away.

"And Willow?" He adds. "Im lucky to have you too."