Leo groans loudly from across the room as he comes back to consciousness. "What hit me?" He mutters weakly.
"Morning, Sunshine," I respond dryly.
"Hey," he says, in a tone that makes me look away from the screen. He's still lying on the floor, but rolled over on his side. "There's something under the table."
He starts to pull himself forward to reach for whatever he's looking at when Cara stops him.
"Don't you dare rip those stitches open," she scolds him.
He props himself up on his elbow and scowls at her, but she scowls right back. "I won't sew you up a second time," she threatens.
The standoff is very brief. "Yes, ma'am," he grumps, but the corner of his mouth twitches with amusement.
I get down on my hands and knees and reach under the table, fishing out a notebook. Frowning, I flip it open.
Day One, it starts. Subject shows no awareness of being in a simulation. Brain activity normal for distress situation; heartbeat rapid, but within acceptable range.
I thumb through the pages and see it ends abruptly on Day Three, and I realize what this is.
"This is a record of the experiment on Tris," I say, without inflection. "They're Caleb Prior's notes – I remember when he dropped it."
"I'll take it," Cara says, holding out her hand.
"Four," Christina calls to me. "Can you come over here?" She looks troubled.
"Go," Cara waves me away. "Leo, do you think you feel strong enough to help me? I want to look through the recorded simulation for patterns – two sets of eyes would be useful."
Leo nods, and I give him a hand up before I join Christina at Tris's table.
Christina unhooks one earphone from the headset and hands it to me. I stroke Tris's arm lightly before looking up at the screen, where she's wandering through an Amity orchard.
"Something weird just happened," Christina says quietly. I wasn't aware Christina was capable of doing anything quietly.
I nod encouragingly at her.
"She left me sleeping and went outside and ran into some kind of sunrise prayer group. They asked her to join them, and when this one lady touched her, all the brain scans started going crazy."
"Then the lady said something about being at peace," she continues, looking back at the screen as Tris enters the main greenhouse. "Tris said she didn't deserve that, something about what she had done."
My jaw clenches as Christina plows on. Why didn't I see how Tris felt? I could have helped her.
Or maybe she should have trusted me enough to ask for my help.
"The lady said something about gifts, and how you couldn't earn it. I didn't understand what she was talking about, but the brain scans went really crazy."
"Then what happened?"
"Nothing. She ran away into the orchards. Now she's in that meeting," she points at the screen.
I groan, remembering the last time we were in an Amity faction meeting.
"What are they doing?" Christina asks.
"Deciding not to help anyone," I say bitterly, "only they like to talk about it for a really long time before they all agree to do nothing."
"Why are the two of you in Amity?" I ask, keeping my voice casual.
Christina shoots me a sidelong glance. "With Marcus, you mean?"
She may be loud, but she isn't stupid.
"Tris thinks he's telling the truth that the Erudite killed the Abnegation over some secret information, and she wants to basically raid Erudite headquarters to get it back."
I roll my eyes and shake my head slightly.
"I believe her," Christina says simply.
"In the simulation, or in real life?"
"Both."
