"Why does he want you, Tris?" I whisper at her. He clearly doesn't care about his son, but something about Tris he is interested in. "What kind of relationship did you have with him before you left?"
"I-I don't know. He is the Faction leader, so he led the meetings and my father was friends with him. Other than that, I didn't speak to him, I wasn't allowed." I can hear her voice quiver, she is scared of what he is planning, of him. From the faint light, I can see Four comforting her. Although, I am jealous of their growing relationship, I am glad she has someone comforting her.
"There must be something, Tris. What has happened since you left Abnegation?"
"I don't know, Eric. Nothing has changed, not anything he'd know."
"Nothing he is supposed to know," I say starting to understand what he may want from her.
"You think he has got onto the database, don't you? You think he found out that she is Divergent?" Four responds to me. I nod slowly. Yes, I do. That's the only change in Tris that has happened since being at Dauntless., and as leader in governance I'm sure he can persuade his way through to see confidential information.
"He can't. That's private information that is protected, he can't get to it." Peter argues with us.
"It's not that difficult if you know where to look, Peter." Four responds, "I could find it easily if I wanted to look. Dauntless data isn't held as securely as you think it is."
"But what if he wasn't just interested in Tris," I begin. "What if he is interested in all Divergent?"
"Many Divergents come from Abnegation," Tris says quietly.
"What? Tris, what did you say?"
"My mother, when she visited me and I told her, she wasn't surprised that I'm Divergent. She said that a lot of Divergents has been born into Abnegation."
I see Four look from Tris to me. "Prime hunting ground," he says. His eyes stare at me, he looks soulless in the low light levels. He looks intense, almost primeval. I nod at him. Marcus chose this Faction for a reason and he now has full control of it.
"Was he born here?" I ask Four. He nods at me. "So, what if he is Divergent too then?"
"That wouldn't stop anything, he wouldn't care." Tris nods, obviously knowing more about Marcus than she lets on.
"We need to see what he is up to then." We all agree.
"Its gonna have to be me isn't it?" We all look at Peter. "Tris and Four can't follow him because he knows their faces. You can't go, Eric, because you can barely walk. I am the only one mobile enough and discreet enough to see what he is up too." I open my mouth to argue with him but close it when I can't think of anything. "You know I'm right, I have no tattoos on show either. The only thing I need to do I sort out my hair, but Tris's mother can sort that out for me, can't she?" Tris nods in response. "I'll keep me head down, no one notices a stiff."
We all sit in silence for a while as we wait for Natalie or Andrew to let us out and to process the information we heard and discussed. We know there can be different levels of Divergent, but we still don't know what causes it. Maybe Marcus knows, but I doubt it. The way Tris and Four acted as they heard and spoke about him suggests that he isn't someone to be trusted. And a video. We also need to know what the video has in it, maybe Natalie and Andrew can explain.
We all lift our heads as we hear noise from the door to our hidden room. The coats are removed from the rail, the boxes are removed from the floor and finally the door is removed from the hole. Light fills the room and we all wince as it blinds out eyes. As my eyes adjust to the light, I look up to see who it is. Natalie. I laugh slightly, "Peter is going to be needing a haircut, if you would be so kind."
She looks are me confused but moves out the way to allow us to climb out. Peter climbs out first, followed by me, then Tris and finally Four. I help her put back the items to hide the hidden room back up again, and eventually she leads us back downstairs.
We walk into the living room again to find Andrew on the sofa with his head in his hands. He lifts himself up and greets us politely. "I'm sorry about the yelling, it's really not in my nature." He says weakly.
"It's fine," replies Peter. We understand that was a stressful situation.
Four and Peter sit on the sofa while Peter sits on the floor. Tris is invited to sit with her parents, she is small enough to fit between them. He mother holds her, and her father holds her hand. They all look somewhat uncomfortable giving each other affection, not something they usually do.
"The video," I ask. "What does it have on it?"
"No one knows," responds Andrew. "No one has ever seen the video. All that has been passed down is that the city of Chicago can only see it when the time is right."
"And when is the time right?" Peter questions.
"When the Divergents have grown in number. They are important and we must protect them, but we don't know what they are. All we know is that they are the future of Chicago." Natalie responds to me. She tightens her arm around Tris and looks to the ground. She seems uncomfortable talking about Divergent, like she knows more that she says.
"You are Divergent, aren't you?" She nods but stays silent. I think for a moment, If Tris's mother is Divergent and so is she it must be passed through generations. "Was your mother or father?"
"I don't know, I never asked. Why?"
"You think it passed through, don't you?" Andrew asks me. "I have thought that too and I think it to be correct."
"You have thought about it?"
"As much as you live in a Faction, your upbringing still influences the way that you think. Your childhood is very important as you develop, even if you are not Divergent it will still affect your way of thinking. In a sense, transfers as well as Divergent cannot be controlled in the way that they think."
"Erudite," I say with a slight smile.
"Yes," Andrew responds. "Won't seem to leave me it seems."
Natalie smiles and stands, "did someone say haircut, then?" I look at Peter who has already curled into himself. I laugh at his failed attempt at making himself less noticeable and pull him up to his feet with me. Natalie leads us upstairs to the mirror and I place him on the chair she has pulled out. WE all sit on the landing floor together and watch as Natalie cuts Peter's hair as he looks like he is about to cry.
