Believe it or not, this chapter and the last chapter actually started out life as one chapter… it just got to be WAY too long! So, here is part 2 of the previous chapter.

Of course, I need to be sure to thank Bahrfamily for her help in editing this chapter too. And for the fact that she's NOT going to kill me when she rereads this chapter and discovers I made several wording changes when I looked over it before publishing it. And I know she's not going to kill me because right now I have her at a part in the story where SHE wants to know what is going to happen next! ;-)

Nate, Jerri, and Kayla- the rest of the leaders of Dauntless

Chapter 21 Ava

"She adjusted your schedule, didn't she?" Eli's voice is soft and accusing.

"Who?" I hope he's talking about Sultana. I'm afraid he knows the truth.

"Natalie. She changed your schedule so you aren't headed to overnights next week. Why?"

I take a deep breath, prepared to deny it, or to lie, but in the end I can't make myself do either. The problem is, I can't tell him the whole truth, either. "She wants me to keep an eye on the leadership's fear simulations."

"You're going to see Ava's, Nate's, Jerri's, Kayla's, and Max's fears?" Eli sounds outraged.

"No," I reassure him quickly. I don't tell him that's what Natalie will be doing. "I'm going to be watching the reactions of everyone else in the room."

"Why?"

How do I explain this to him without giving away the Divergent? "Because we need to see how the Erudite respond to what they see."

"Why?"

"Because Natalie needs to be prepared for what they might do."

"Why?"

It dawns on me at this moment that I'm married to a three year old. He'll keep asking 'why' until the end of time. "Eli, I can't tell you everything. Just trust me, it's important."

"You make it sound like it's a matter of life and death," Eli tries to joke, but when he sees my reaction to his statement, he realizes he's stumbled upon something. "Hana, it's not a matter of life and death, is it?" I hesitate, just a moment, before I open my mouth to answer him. It's just enough time for him to continue, "Hana, it's not your life…?" I hear an edge of panic to his voice.

"It's not me. I'm safe and sound in the control room, remember?" I try to soothe his concerns.

"Hana, are you ever not in the control room?" It's just dawned on him that maybe I'm not always as safe as I would have him believe.

"I'm almost always in the control room," I assure him without lying.

"But sometimes you aren't."

I think of our field trip to Amity, of pulling Lucas out. "Sometimes I'm not," I admit, "but the fewer people who know -the fewer people who even have an idea- the safer I am. That's part of why I can't tell you more."

"You think I would put you in danger?" Eli's voice is somewhere between hurt and angry.

"I know you would never intentionally put me in danger, but slip-ups happen, and if you don't know, you can't slip up."

Eli glares at me for a moment. His voice is hard. "I would never…"

"I know you would never do anything on purpose. I'm not questioning that." My voice is intentionally soft, but just as hard as his is. "But I've almost slipped up before. Accidents happen."

They start with Max, the youngest of the Dauntless leaders. I quickly realize that every other camera angle I get is from the testing room. I had never realized there were three cameras in that room before. Norton and Jeanine are the only ones in there, administering the test. "Is everything ready?" Norton's voice is weaker than I've heard it in the past.

The screen flashes away from the testing room, but I realize I can hear Jeanine's affirmative answer even though I can't see that room anymore. Natalie must have done something for that to happen, too, because I should be hearing what I'm seeing. "Okay, Max, let's see what Dauntless leaders are afraid of."

I glance at the time on the computer, wondering how long it will take Max to pass through the fear that is being dredged up by his subconscious. I hear Max moan and even scream at one point in time. I see him briefly a couple of times during his test. He lies on the chair, twisting and turning. Twelve minutes later, I see Jeanine disconnecting Max from the machine. "Well?" she asks him with a touch of curiosity in her voice.

Max clears his throat as the screen shows me the Chasm. "Not very enlightening. I always knew I had that particular fear."

"I'm sorry we weren't able to show you anything new. Send in Kayla." There is a hint of amused disinterest in Jeanine's voice as she dismisses him.

"Jeanine," Norton speaks in a low voice, like it has dawned on him that he might be overheard, "keep his fear in mind."

"Why? I've seen that fear in many forms before." Jeanine sounds bored. "Everyone seems to be afraid of what is beyond the fence."

"Yes, but that man is a leader in Dauntless. If we ever need to act to keep people from leaving, we can play upon his fear."

By lunch time, Ava is the only leader left. It doesn't surprise me when Miles sends me to lunch a little early so it coincides with the break for the testers. Jazz is already seated at the table when I get there. "So, are you adjusting to being back at work?" she asks as I sit down.

"I'm adjusting, but I miss my baby," I answer truthfully.

"I know. It's hard to go from being with them all the time to not being there."

"It is. And I don't know if it is better or worse that Eli was able to watch him last week. Today is actually his first day at daycare. I'm thinking about rushing through lunch so I can go check on him."

"Don't." Jazz's voice is firm. "It will be harder to leave and go back to work."

I sigh, knowing she's right, and today I can't afford to go back late. "You're right, but…"

"I know. It's hard to leave him." We're both quiet. "By the way, I didn't get a chance to say congratulations last night." Her voice is soft, and if I hadn't heard her say so many times that she didn't want a second child right now, I would say it is wistful.

"Thank you. It definitely caught us off guard," I admit softly.

I am back in place almost 10 minutes before Jeanine, Norton, and Ava walk into the testing room. "Have a seat, Ava." It's the nicest I've heard Norton sound today.

"Norton, why is this necessary?" Ava's voice is firm. "I still see no point in re-testing people who are already in Dauntless. Going forward, I see a use for having them face their own fears. It will help them learn how to handle them, but to make our current members, who are already living their lives and handling their fears, go through this process, is pointless."

"Are you afraid of what you might find?" Jeanine's voice is clinical, but demeaning at the same time.

"I am afraid of failure, lightening, spiders, dying, confinement, and kidnapping. What are you afraid of, Jeanine?" Ava's voice is challenging.

"It doesn't matter what I'm afraid of." Jeanine dismisses Ava quickly with a wave of her hand. "I'm not part of Dauntless. It is illogical and immaterial to worry about what I am afraid of. My IQ, which is relevant to my faction, is 171. Do you know what yours is?"

My screen shows me the Erudite library when Ava answers, but even without seeing her face, I can hear the smile in Ava's voice. "When I took the IQ test as a child, it was 151."

My heart finds its way to my throat. If I remember correctly from Faction History class, most people with an IQ over 130 end up in Erudite. Is this a sign that Natalie is right, and Ava is Divergent? The screen flashes back to the test. Jeanine looks shocked, Ava looks smug, and Norton looks… like he knows what he has.

Jeanine recovers quickly. "I would have thought you would have been in Erudite with an IQ that high."

Ava shrugs off the comment. "Too stifling. Not enough action."

"Let's see if you are right about your fears." Norton guides the conversation back to the test. He's practically rubbing his hands together with anticipation.

I glance at the clock as Ava goes under. It's 12:34 pm.

"You can't be through that quickly!" Jeanine is outraged.

I glance back at the clock on the computer: 12:39. Five minutes? I count the minutes on my fingers to make sure my math is right. Five minutes. The rest of the leaders took between ten and fifteen minutes. How did she get out so quickly?

The screen shows Ava sitting up. "It wasn't real. It's easy to conquer your fears when you can tell that is isn't real." She turns on Norton. "I thought you said it would seem real, that the person in the simulation would think that it is really happening. I'm no longer sure I even see a value to anyone doing these tests if, like in the aptitude test and the current fear sims, you can tell that the situation isn't real."

My blood runs cold. Between her telling her IQ, how fast she got out of the simulation, and the comment Ava just made, I feel fairly certain about one thing... I'm about to find out exactly how Dauntless votes on a new leader when they believe the last one has died.

The message I find from Natalie that night is short, and simple. It doesn't give me any new information; rather, it only confirms what I know. Meet me tomorrow after work in my old room. We have plans to make.

I know without asking that the plans we need to make are how to "kill" Ava and get her out of Dauntless.

Eli offered to pick up Ezekiel today, since he thought he would be able to get off early. He wants some time to play with him. I agreed quickly. Not having Ezekiel around will keep Natalie and me from being distracted and help us to concentrate on the business at hand. Natalie is pacing and doesn't seem to even notice that Ezekiel is missing.

"I just can't figure out how to do it," she mutters softly. "No one would believe Ava doing something like the ropes course after dark, or Dare, or jumping into the Chasm, or off a roof top, or getting hit by a car, or…"

"Do you still have that knockout serum you used on Trina?"

Natalie stops pacing and looks at me. "Of course. Why?"

"What about memory serum? Well, I guess I have that if you don't," I add when I remember I have a couple of vials at home and one in my bag.

"I have it and can always get more if I need to. Again: why?"

"Then I think I have an idea of how to get Ava out of here."

"She wouldn't be involved in a fight, like Trina," Natalie protests. "That won't work."

"I understand that, but who says it has to be a fight?"

Natalie draws in her eyebrows, "What do you have in mind?"

"Is Ezekiel okay?" Leeann asks, concerned, when I walk into her office the next day on my way to pick him up after work.

"He's fine. I just thought you might want to come with me to pick him up. Are you about to leave?" I set down my bag on the floor by her desk and mentally cross my fingers that my idea is going to work.

"I can leave in about five minutes. I just need to take this in to Ava's office," Leeann holds out a folder, "and then file these." She points to another small pile of folders.

"Tell you what," I offer, realizing this could work out better than I thought, "if it would help you out, I could take the file to Ava's office and you could start on your filing."

Leeann hands me the file. "Leave it on her chair. Her desk is a bit… cluttered. If you leave it on her chair, she's sure to notice it."

"Okay." I barely keep from smiling as I walk into Ava's empty office. Leeann has just given me a better opening than I had dared to hope for. I quickly scan her desk as I walk in. Cluttered is a nice term for the haphazard piles of paperwork that seem to take up almost every part of it. Natalie told me that Ava always has a covered glass on her desk, the kind that you move a lever and drink out of it without removing the lid. All I need to do is locate it and put ten drops of the knockout serum on the lid. I find the glass on the left side of her desk, just where Natalie said it would be. I quickly pull out the dropper of the light tan liquid from my pocket and carefully count out each drop. They pool on the lid; Ava is going to notice that. I start to panic, and then I realize that the wet spot is getting smaller. The liquid must be evaporating.

I start to leave the room, only to realize, when I reach the door, that I'm still holding the folder. I turn back and put it on Ava's chair. As I head to the door, I can't believe it's gone so smoothly. I really thought I was going to have to leave my bag here, "realize" I'd forgotten it when we were about to pick up Ezekiel, and try to get Leeann to pick up Ezekiel so I could go back to the office by myself.

"Hana!" Ava stands in the doorway. My heart stops for a moment. "Leeann said you were putting a folder on my chair for her. Can you grab it and my drink? I've decided to look over the budget at home tonight instead of staying late."

I grab the folder and her drink, hoping the drops have evaporated by now and that she won't take a drink while I'm around. My hand trembles just a little as I reach out for it. A quick glance tells me the lid looks normal; there's no sign of the drops. That's one danger out of the way. Now, if only I can keep my hand still when I give it to her, and she waits until she gets home to take a drink.

"Thank you, Hana. How's your little boy doing?"

"He's growing fast," I say proudly. "It's hard to believe he's four month old already."

"I hear he's getting a sibling." Her voice holds a hint of laughter.

I blush. "A little quicker than maybe he should be, but yes, he is."

Ava tucks a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Hana, don't let anyone give you too hard of a time about that. There is nothing wrong with more little Dauntless running around the compound. It's always good to see the future growing up before our eyes."

"I guess it is."

"Well, thank you for this." Ava holds up the file and the drink. "I need to be going. I'm supposed to meet my daughter and her family for dinner tonight."

"Have fun." My voice sounds off to me. I didn't know she'd be with her family tonight. The feeling of guilt I had when Lucas "died" begins to bloom. Either her family is not going to see her tonight like they thought, or she's going to "die" in front of them. I want to take her drink from her hand, but I can't. We don't know how long we have before Norton and Jeanine make their move. We have to make ours first, or her family really will experience her death, instead of just thinking they have.

Ava and I walk back to the reception area where Leeann is waiting. "Ready to pick up Zeke?" Leeann asks excitedly.

"Let's go!" I sound excited about leaving, and I am. I don't want to be too close when Ava takes that breath while she is drinking.

We're about to step into the elevator when I hear the distinctive thump of a body hitting the floor. Natalie and I had hoped I wouldn't be one of the witnesses; if I am nearby for too many "deaths", people may start to get suspicious.

"What was that?" Leeann asks.

"It sounds like something fell." I try to sound uninterested.

"I'd better go check on it." Leeann turns away from the elevator.

"I need to get Ezekiel picked up."

"Go," Leeann encourages me. "Pick up your baby. You can give him to me at dinner."

When they hand me Ezekiel's bag, I realize what I have done: I left my bag at Leeann's desk after all. After how well it worked for me to set things up for Ava, I forgot to get my bag. I can't leave it there. If anyone else finds it, there are one or two things in it that might be hard to explain. So I head back up to the leadership offices, not completely sure what I'm going to find.

The elevator doors open to a quiet scene. Kayla and Jerri have Leeann off to the side. Leeann is quietly crying in Kayla's arms, while Jerri stands next to them, her hand stroking Leeann's hair. Max and Nate stand off to another side, talking in quiet voices. There's an Erudite kneeling by Ava, working on her. I assume it's the Erudite that Natalie mentioned last night who she knew would help us. Rodney kneels next to her, waiting for her instructions. Her dark curly hair is in a loose braid that looks like it was done to keep it from falling into her way. She leans over and puts her cheek to Ava's mouth while she checks for a pulse. She straightens up. "I'm sorry." Her voice holds a note of sincerity to it. "There's nothing more that I can do. She's dead."

A loud wail escapes from Leeann.

Nate is the first to speak. "Thank you for trying."

"Rodney, can you get the gurney so we can transport her body?" Her voice sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it. Then she turns and I can see her profile. It's the respiratory therapist who treated me when I had the smoke inhalation. It takes me a moment to remember her name. Marisa. I never dreamed I would actually know the person Natalie brought in to help us- at least I hope that is who it is, and not an actual Erudite who just happened to be in the area. Our eyes meet, and I can see she's trying to place how she knows me. I find myself wondering if it's just from my smoke inhalation, or if she is wondering if I work with Natalie just like I'm wondering about her.

I incline my head in greeting and walk over to Leeann. Jerri sees me and moves out of the way. Kayla takes a moment longer and then does the same thing. "Leeann?" I keep my voice down.

"Oh, Hana!" I find myself holding onto Ezekiel with one arm and Leeann with the other. "She's dead! Ava is dead!"

It takes a little maneuvering to get everything done: get my bag, get Leeann out of the leadership area, get Leeann to her apartment, leave Ezekiel with her so she has something to focus on, and then find someone in the family. Eli is the first one I find. "Do you know where Chaz is?" I ask anxiously.

"Looking for Leeann," he answers. "Do you know where she is?"

"At their apartment."

Suddenly, he panics as he realizes my arms are empty. "Where is Ezekiel? Was I supposed to pick him up?"

"Leeann has him."

"Why does Leeann have him?" He instantly calms down, but he is curious.

I take a deep breath, and start the half-truths. "Something happened to Ava today. I don't know exactly what, but Ava is dead. Leeann needs the distraction."

Eli looks at me in disbelief. "Ava?"

"That's why I'm looking for Chaz." I hope to distract him from asking me more about it.

"I think he was headed home, but you check the cafeteria, just to be on the safe side. I'll check with maintenance. I'll meet you at their apartment. If you find Nick, let him know what's going on." Eli starts to leave and then comes back. "And keep the fact that Ava is dead quiet. Let them announce it; don't be the first one to know. It might look suspicious, if there was any foul play."

"Foul play?" I echo his words. "Why would anyone think that?"

Eli levels an intense look at me, his normally playful brown eyes questioning me. He takes a step closer and leans in to my ear. "You won't tell me what's going on except that she changed your schedule so you can watch the fear simulations. I ask you if it is a case of life or death, you won't answer that question, and Ava dies the day after that… I don't know why I would be worried about foul play."

I find myself trembling just a little after he walks off. It wasn't foul play, but he's right. I do know about it, and I did have something to do with it.

I find Nick, not Chaz, in the cafeteria. All of us, including Taylor and Abram, end up in Chaz and Leeann's apartment. It's a quiet evening. Leeann focuses on Ezekiel, and random memories of Ava pop up all evening, from her and from the rest of the family.

I fix dinner and try to keep an eye on everyone. I also try to keep an eye on the time without anyone noticing it. I'm supposed to be in the Chasm room by midnight. Earlier is better, but tonight I'm nervous I'm not going to make it at all.

At ten, I hand Leeann Ezekiel's last bottle of the night. I miss the days of being the only one to feed him, but with the new baby coming…

At ten forty-five, Ezekiel is finished and yawning. "I need to get my family home," Eli says softly as he lifts Ezekiel out of Leeann's arms. "This little boy needs his own bed, and Hana needs her sleep these days, too."

Chaz stands and walks us out. "Thanks for hanging around as long as you did. I think it's the suddenness that really hit her."

"Too many sudden deaths." Eli steals a glance at me when he says that. This isn't good.

We walk to the elevator in silence. I'm wondering what he's getting ready to accuse me of now. Not that he's wrong to accuse me of anything.

"I saw you checking the clock. If you need to go check in, check in now." His voice is tight. "I hope what you're up to is worth what you've put everyone through." Eli steps into the elevator and leaves me standing there with the door closing between us.

I tell myself it's worth it. Keeping Ava alive, even if everyone has to think she is dead, is worth it. I sneak into the Crevice room, wondering who will be there. Will Ava even be there? If I'm wrong and Marisa doesn't work for Natalie, there's a chance that she woke up in the morgue, and that could be a disaster. I slip through the crack and see a blue back sitting by someone in black. "How is she?" I keep my voice low, hoping not to startle anyone.

"I'm fine." Ava's voice is terse. "What is going on? She won't tell me anything."

The figure in blue stands up and turns around. It's Marisa. I didn't notice earlier when she was kneeling down and not facing me that she's pregnant, very pregnant. She walks over to me. "I've got to go. You have it from here?"

"Go. I've got her for the next part," I assure her.

"Good." Marisa smiles. "Maybe I'll see you again sometime."

I smile back and watch her leave through the door to the tunnels.

"Would you please tell me what is going on here? That Erudite was most unenlightening." Ava sounds impatient.

"What did she tell you?" I ask, wondering where my starting point is.

"She told me that I'm dead!" Ava sounds incredulous.

"You are," I admit softly. "At least to everyone here in Dauntless. And soon everyone in the city will know that you are dead, too. I'm sorry. That's the way it has to be."

"I demand to know why." Ava crosses her arms and looks over at me.

"And you have every right to do that, but I can't tell you much. We need to get you out of Dauntless. The next person I take you to will be able to tell you more than I can."

Ava glares at me. "And just who would the next person be, or do you not know, either."

"Natalie."

"Natalie?" There is a short pause, and Ava's posture relaxes. "I always knew there was more to that girl than meets the eye."

"Slouch," I hiss softly at Ava. She's dressed as a Factionless cleaner.

Ava tries to slouch, but she's much too proud to slouch for long. We walk out of the Chasm room and across the Pit. We walk together and yet apart. A Dauntless member wouldn't actually walk with a Factionless cleaner, so we walk to the same place, going slightly different ways, although I make sure I can keep an eye on her at all times. I have a vial of memory serum in case anyone recognizes her, but we make it to the train tracks without anyone seeming to look at her twice.

When we get to the train tracks, I finish giving Ava her directions. "The next train is yours. Jump in the fourth car. Natalie will meet you before you pass Erudite. I don't know exactly where she's joining you. At that point, she'll explain what is going on to you."

"Well, enough to give me the next part of the story." Ava's voice is bitter.

"No, Natalie will be able to tell you pretty much everything," I assure Ava.

Ava's eyebrows shoot up. "She's the head of this operation?""

"At least from my perspective." The whistle of the train draws both of our attention. "Sounds like your train is about here."

"And this all is truly necessary?" Ava checks one more time.

"If you want to live, it is," I affirm.

Ava looks for the light of the train and then back at me. "Will I see you again?"

"I doubt it," I admit.

"Ava?" Max's voice booms from behind us.

Ava looks back and I groan inwardly, realizing that Max got a good look at her face when she did that. "Get out of here," I hiss. "I'll take care of Max." The train is nearly upon us and Ava starts running.

"Ava!" Max yells as she jumps onto the train. "Hana?" He turns his attention to me once she's on board the train.

I take a deep breath. I have to make sure Max doesn't remember that he saw Ava after she was "dead."

"That was Ava." He comes up to me, dark eyes demanding. "But she's dead."

"No." I try first to bluff my way out of it. "It was just a Factionless cleaner. Ava is dead. You must have been imagining it."

"No." Max grabs onto my arm with his free hand, pulling me close. I can smell the alcohol on his breath. Like many of the people in Dauntless who know Ava died, he's already been drinking. "I know what I saw. I saw Ava."

I pull my arm away from him. "You're seeing things Max. Ava's dead. I was there to see Leeann when she was declared dead."

"Come with me. You have a lot of explaining to do."

I check his other hand and see what I need: the brown bottle that so many Dauntless carry after a death. "Max, why would I lie to you?" I ask, trying to get into my bag without him seeing me. I wrap my fingers around the memory serum. Quickly I pop the top on it.

"That's what I want to know."

I take the bottle from him. "Does this help?" I hold it up and pretend to take a drink from it.

"It helps you forget, at least for a moment," Max admits and looks up at the stars.

I take that moment to dump a small amount of the memory serum into the drink. I watch Max take it from me and start drinking it again. I wait until he's finished the bottle. Then I start to weave my story.

Max's eyes begin to clear. "What happened?" He looks up at me from the ground by the train tracks, puzzled.

"You don't remember?" I ask, holding my hand out to help him up, hoping that this time he will remember the story that I've told him over and over again.

"Ava died today…" he starts slowly.

"You're right, she did." We've been at this for over an hour. It's the first time he remembers that fact.

He looks at the bottle in his hand, and then massages his temples with the free one. "I think I've had too much to drink."

I let a small smile slip out. He has. I've been plying him with drink after drink to help him live out the drunken haze that I'm trying to create. "There's a good chance you have."

"I was walking near the train tracks when I… slipped."

I keep the shout of victory buried inside of me. He's starting to remember what I want him to remember.

"You… pulled me up right before the train came. You… saved my life." There is a bit of wonder in his voice.

I take a relieved breath. Max no longer remembers seeing Ava after she died. He remembers me saving his life. Just like I wanted him to.

So, awhile back in Random Voices Divergent, I referenced Max remembering that Hana saved his life. Here you have it. Max remembers Hana saving his life… even though you now know, that in reality... she never did.