(3/6/2020)

Sorry! I promise I'm trying to get better about updating again. There are several chapter's written and edited so... the next few posts should be better. I just need to chose between two places to end the story to make sure I finish it right, and I can't write more until I make the decision.

Thank you as always to Bahrfamily. I appreciate both your help on this story and your encouragement in real life.

I know everyone is concerned about Adam, so I won't make you wait any longer to find out his fate!

Characters (BK2U mentioned that it is hard to keep up with who the cannon "kids" are related to, so in the reminder of the characters will note anyone they are related to who comes up. Hope that helps. (And remember the "kids" in this story are the parents in Divergent.)

Anderson- Norton and Taryn's middle child, he stayed in Erudite. Evelyn's father making him Andrew's grandfather

Lisette- Norton's youngest child and only daughter, she went to Amity

Adam- (Mentioned) Lisette's husband. She recently discovered he was Divergent

Ian- (Mentioned) Charlotte's husband, Norton killed him when he found out he was Divergent. Tori and George's grandfather

Beverly- (Mentioned) Ian and Charlotte's only child. Making her Tori and Geroge's mother.

Ray- Norton's oldest child, he went to Dauntless

Taryn- Norton's wife

Marion and Alistair- Marion was a friend from initation. Alistair is her husband. They are Andrew's grandparents.

Chapter 22

Anderson responds more quickly than I do, "How do you know this?"

Lisette's response is more tears.

"Lisette." He too, gets down on the floor so he is at her level. "You have to pull yourself together. We need your answers to our questions, so we know what to do. How do you know he's Divergent? Could you be mistaken?"

Lisette is so still, that for a minute, I fear that she has shut down completely on us. However, as she pulls herself into a sitting position where she isn't leaning on me, I realize she is doing exactly what Anderson told her to do. She's pulling herself together. "No, I'm not mistaken. We were talking about the Aptitude Test. I asked him what he thought the chances were of either of our girls going back to Erudite since I came from there."

"Lisette!" Anderson chides her.

"What? Amity is different than Erudite. I thought maybe if we had a discussion about the possibility that one of the girls might leave, he wouldn't question it when it happens."

"What happened when you asked that?" I ask her.

"He laughed and told me that, since you know the choices you are making during the test, he didn't see that happening. I was stunned into silence. At first, I thought I had misheard him. When I realized I hadn't, I worked really hard to stay calm and asked him to explain himself. He was aware, Fa." She looks at me, wild-eyed. "He knew what was going on. He was aware that it wasn't real. What do I do, Fa? I'm living with one of them. My children!"

Drawing her into my arms, I look over at Anderson, the only other person aware of Ian's Divergence. He must read my look because he gives a quick dip of his head to encourage me to tell her.

"Lisette, it's okay. We'll take care of it. He won't hurt you, or the children," I promise.

"What if they are Divergent like their father?" The desperation in her voice tears at me.

"They are your children. Your purity is stronger than his Divergence." I assure her.

"How do you know that?"

"Ian was Divergent." Anderson answers for me.

Lisette's head pops up to look at her brother. "Ian, Beverly's father, was Divergent?"

"Ian," I confirm. "Beverly is as pure as Charlotte. I checked with her before she started on the Top Ten. It will be okay, Lisette. We'll take care of Adam. You and the children will be safe."

She takes a deep breath that hitches on the way in. "How did I fall in love with someone like that?"

Thinking of Edith Prior's letter where she talked about the man she loved, I tell Lisette, "They are deceivers. They learn to blend in so that we accept them."

"So, what are we going to do?"

Anderson answers her question before I can. "You are going to go back to Amity and pretend that nothing has changed."

"I can't..."

"You have to," Anderson tells her.

"When is Amity supposed to meet about the new leader?" I begin thinking through the logistics.

"Monday."

"That doesn't give us much time. We have to move before that meeting. If he becomes the spokesperson before something happens to him, there will be more of an investigation when we move." My mind strives to solve the dilemma that is in front of us. "Ray taught you how to disable a camera to let him know you have a message, right?"

"Yes."

"Tomorrow, disable it. Ray will give you your part of the plan then."

"Why can't I be part of the planning now?"

"We can't do the planning now. We're going to need Ray."

"I can stay and help you plan," she begs.

"No, you can't. You have to go back to Amity on time. You have the biggest, most important part of plam." I tell her.

"What is that?"

"Like Anderson told you, you have to go home and pretend everything is normal."

"Fa!"

"Lisette, you have been married to him for over sixteen years. He hasn't done anything in all of this time. He isn't going to do anything now, as long as you don't let on that you know anything," Anderson assures her.

"Lisette, do you really think I would let you go back if I thought you or your children were in danger?" I ask.

Lisette wipes her eyes and looks up at me. "No."

"Trust us on this. We'll meet with Ray tonight, and Ray will give you what you need to know about the plan tomorrow."

"How could I fall in love with him, Fa? No wonder you didn't want me to stay in Erudite. I'm too stupid to even be able to tell if someone is pure or not."

"Lisette, I am the smartest person in the city, and Ian fooled me. They are masters of this. You are not to blame. I'm just glad you found out so we can take care of him before he can actually do something."


Ray takes a deep breath before responding to the information we've given him. "Okay, so we have three days to figure out how to kill Adam and make it look like an accident."

"No, we have two days to plan and execute that plan. Monday is too late." Anderson corrects him.

"And Lisette is counting on Ray telling her the plan tomorrow," I remind them both.

"One day to plan, one day to execute, one day as a back-up." Ray claps his hands, "Let's get busy. Ian died during a simulation. How did you pull that off?"

"Erudite death serum. There are tight controls on it. It took me almost a month to get the key ingredients. With my new lab on the top floor, I now have a stash of all of them, but it won't work with Adam."

"Why not?" Ray asks.

"Anyone who dies outside of the hospital, and even some people who die in the hospital, has to have an autopsy. Thanks to the serum Ian was making without any official sanction... It wasn't a red flag when they did an autopsy and found the chemicals that killed him. But if they show up in Adam's blood..."

"That would be hard to explain," Anderson finishes for me.

"Ok, that's true," Ray concedes. "I'm sure you had other plans for Ian's death. What other plans did you have for Ian's demise?"

"There were problems with all of those plans. That's why I discarded them," I say.

"But that doesn't mean we can't use them as a starting point." Ray points out.

"And what doesn't work in one faction, might work in another," Anderson adds.

"I kept trying to look for an accident, but the cameras are there, watching, no matter what faction someone is in."

Ray smiles at me. "Yes, but now you have a child who is in technical support, and cameras aren't the same concern they were before."

Smiling back, I think, not for the first time, that Ray being invited to become a member of technical support was the best thing that has happened to further our coterie. "So, if we plan to 'create' an accident..."

"I can cover it," Ray says assuredly.


"Norton!" Taryn's round face smiles when she sees me. "it was getting so late, I thought I would have to leave a note for you."

Kissing her dimple, I ask, "What kind of a note?"

"She's going to have to take us home soon." Evelyn sits at the table with Jeanine, Tori and Andrew.

"What are you doing here?"

"We have a math test tomorrow," Jeanine answers for them.

Evelyn makes a face like she swallowed something sour, before quickly replacing it with a bland expression. I find it interesting that, like so many Abnegation, she's hiding her feelings- not quite as well as they do, but it's a start.

"Are you ready for it?"

Jeanine answers first "I know I will ace it, and Andrew will do well."

This time both Tori and Evelyn bristle at her response.

Taryn must have also noticed the other girls' reactions, because she says diplomatically. "They are all doing very well on their review work. I think all of them will do well and get A's on it."

"I'm glad to hear that Erudite's future is in good hands."

"Let me put on my shoes, and I'll walk you home," Taryn offers.

Following Taryn out of the room, I intend to ask her if she thinks we can cancel our dinner plans with Marion and Alistair tonight, since I would like to have some time to think about the plan the boys and I came up with, to make sure I haven't missed anything. I am surprised when I see her feet. They look too big to fit in her shoes, "Taryn, why don't I take them home? I have been busy at work recently and haven't gotten to see much of Evelyn."

"Would you?" Taryn lets her shoe fall from her hand. "I would appreciate it. I still need to get the cake made to take to Marion's."

"No problem." I lean in and kiss her dimple. And I'm not going to cancel on Marion in order to think through any problems with our plan. I need to see what she thinks of Taryn's feet.

Andrew is the first one we drop off, followed by Jeanine.

"She is such a know it all!" Tori explodes as soon as the elevator doors close from dropping off Jeanine.

"'Taryn, the answer is the square root of two hundred eighty. Which everyone know is sixteen and seven hundred thirty-two thousandths, when rounded to the thousandths place.'" Evelyn mimics in a haughty voice.

"Thirty-three," Tori mumbles.

"What?"

"Not that it matters, but it is seven hundred thirty-three hundredths, not thirty-two," Tori states matter-of-factly.

"You aren't going to..." Evelyn starts, but Tori stop her.

"No, but you know my mother. 'Accuracy is important.'"

"It depends on what the job is as to exactly how important the accuracy is, right Grandfather?"

"In Erudite, most jobs require accuracy. Doctors, scientists, teachers… all need to be accurate in what they do. You wouldn't want to have a doctor who gave you the wrong amount of serum because they weren't accurate with your prescription."

"Or the scientist who makes the serum to miscalculate the ingredients." Tori chimes in, following my logic.

"You've got it, Tori."

Evelyn looks at me expectantly. "Or the teacher not to correct you so you don't learn."

"I think both of you girls understand what I'm saying."

Evelyn looks disappointed that I didn't single her out. I notice again that she is a people pleaser. This can help me when it's time to send her away.


When Taryn excuses herself to go the restroom, I take my opportunity to talk to Marion. "Marion, is there anything wrong with Taryn?"

She glances over at Alistair before she answers me. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Her face looks rounder and her feet are swollen. I thought maybe she is having a problems with blood sugars again."

Marion takes a deep breath. "Norton, I'm a midwife. I can tell you that I'm pretty confident that your wife isn't pregnant. Anything more than that is beyond my medical training. I really shouldn't speculate."

When the world goes out of focus, I realize I am chewing on the arm of my glasses. This doesn't make sense to me. Marion was the one to tell me she thought Taryn's gestational diabetes didn't go away. She's made medical guesses about my wife before. Why won't she do that now?

And then it clicks. I put my glasses back on and ask her directly. "You've given me hints to look at things before. There is something going on, and she's told you not to tell me."

There is a flash of something, possibility irritation, in Marion blue gray eyes before she answers me. "Maybe if you go her next doctor's appointment, on Wednesday, you will get a chance to find out what is going on."


When Taryn's even breathing tells me that she is asleep, I start to let myself start to think of the consequences of the last few days. If Ray has done his job, Lisette should be a widow by now. The "accident" in the apple orchard should have happened at sunset.

Lisette cared for him. She loved him in the way I loved Charlotte. I have to wonder how well she is handling this. There has to be away for me to check on her. Maybe some project in Amity that I can check on or… Monday they are supposed to get a new leader. Maybe, if I go to meet whoever that is on Tuesday, it will give me an excuse to at least see her. That will have to do until I can meet with her again.

Adam, Ian… how many more are out there? Before Ian, I thought the Divergent were all on the other side of the fence. I thought Ian was a fluke, but now with Adam...

They are here. They are in our city, biding their time.

I have to get rid of them. But to do that, I have to find them.

How do I find them?

And when I find them, how do I get rid of them?

There is a read and review for this chapter. It's from Ray's POV. If you've read The Blackest Shade of Gray, I promise you will find this interesting. I will warn you it will be probably be Monday before I send it out. I have a busy couple of days coming up.