The Encounter

by ClubLulu333

Weeks into her initiation, Everly is struggling with her decision to stay in Amity. Pressured to stay by her family and friends, things become even more complicated when her chance encounter with a certain Dauntless leader puts her right on his radar. Will he be the one to change her life, or is she just another trophy on his hunt? This is an Eric meets Everly in Amity story!

22. Chapter 22

Thank you so so SO much to Bamberlee for editing!

Thank you all for the reviews! So many really good thoughts and ideas in them! I appreciate everyone who took the time to write one :)

Have a really good weekend!

---

She doesn't like me.

Eric's mother stands next to his father, and I've never seen anyone so intimidating in my life. Everything about her is flawless. Her blonde hair is even and cut to her jaw, and it barely moves when she tilts her head. Her eyes are the same color as Eric's, and her lips press together the same way his do when he's annoyed. Her dress is fitted and elegant, a royal blue that is somehow more royal than anyone else's, and her heels match. Her coat is stiff and heavy, and the collar is flat and severe.

She stands perfectly straight, just like Eric, and I can feel the disdain coming from her as she eyes me with pure disgust.

The worst part might be that she doesn't even try to hide it. Her stare rakes over my dress, the dark black fabric a size too large, and the dark shoes tied in a hurry. She looks at my hair, long and tangled into a mess from Eric's hands, and she doesn't like it.

She doesn't like his hands on me, either.

Eric hasn't let go since she said his name, and he doesn't seem like he will. If anything, he holds on tighter, his fingers pressing into my side as he makes no move to walk toward them.

Beside her, Daniel smiles. It's not entirely warm, and it looks a little forced from where I stand.

"I was hoping you'd be here sooner."

Daniel is the first one to speak. He steps away from Blythe, and she watches him out of the corner of her eye. She's taller than I would have thought, and not at all warm. There is nothing motherly about the way she looks at Eric. I half expected her to crack a hint of a smile, or at least look pleased to see him.

She looks nothing but indifferent, if not displeased.

Her gaze fixes itself on me; it's sticky, heavy with blame and impatience. "You're late. Your father said you'd be here an hour ago. I only came by to see if you were really coming."

Her words are as cold as the breeze scraping my cheek. There is no concern over my father, only that she has been inconvenienced by coming to see if he'd show up.

Eric ignores her.

"Where is he?" His response is to his father only. His fingers lessen on my side, and panic creeps up my spine as he lets go to walk forward.

I don't know if the shiver is from the cold, biting at my skin and burning as it whips past, or from Daniel's stare finding me, and his hesitation makes my stomach turn over.

"Follow me."

---

"Everly."

My father stares up at me. His expression goes back and forth between exhaustion and determination. I can see when it slips away; his eyes turn dull, and he looks past me, like he's looking at someone else in the room.

I stand at the side of the hospital bed, unable to move.

Eric and I had walked up here with his father. Daniel was quiet. His white coat was the same as the one in the picture on my phone, and his name was embroidered in bright blue. He walked easily, but his shoulders were tense and he kept glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. He seemed embarrassed by the number of nurses coming to talk to him. He tried to wave them off, but they needed a lot of things from him.

Signatures.

Approval.

His instructions.

A few whisper he has patients who have awakened, and he is nothing but professional as he gives a time he'll be back. He doesn't bask in the glory of any of this, but accepts it, as his place in helping Erudite.

Eric walked with his hand on my lower back. His mother walked steps ahead, her heels clacking on the marbled floors, and she greeted no one. A few said her name, calling her Dr. Coulter and one person dared to say Blythe. She granted them a brief glance in their direction, but no further recognition. Her authority felt scarier than Eric's. She seemed untouchable, especially when she paused as the hallway split into a different section and crossed her arms.

She stayed there.

Daniel led us to a room halfway down. He caught my elbow, then let go immediately, but not before he said he was happy we were here.

I wasn't expecting any of this.

"Where have you been? You look different."

The frailness to him is striking, but it's not just limited to his physique. It's in his voice, like a tiredness heavier than anything, and his hands. He gestures for me to come closer, and I step forward slowly.

The room is large.

It's spacious and white, with all sorts of beeping machines and complicated looking wires. It's an odd setting to see him in, and not just because he's always looked healthy. The last good memory of him is us in the kitchen. He was drenched in warm, golden sunlight, as he told me he was sorry. He hugged me, a crushing hold that more or less asked me to forgive him even though he didn't think I would. Thinking back now, it felt like a blow.

He was quick to assume the worst when it came to me. He had apologized, but something in him didn't believe I would accept it. I did. I had willingly let it go, promising to work harder and better, and doing everything in my power to be a better daughter.

It was a secret we both kept. I knew I didn't belong in Amity, and so did he. It ate at me, just like it did him.

Before me now, his skin is sallow. He's sitting up halfway, but there's an IV in his hand, stitches on the side of his head, and a dull bruise sprawling from his temple to his eye. His shirt is not one I recognize, and the dinner he hasn't eaten is in front of him. When I make it to the side of the bed he reaches for me, taking my hand in his.

"I kept asking for you. I wanted to see you before…before…"

He pauses, and his hand grasps mine tighter.

I'm reminded of when I was little.

I couldn't have been older than Zander by a year or so. I stood on the edge of the pathway, watching everyone head into the main faction to start their day. I was jealous, the way any little kid is when they want something they can't have. I didn't care where the people were going or why they were heading in, just that I wanted to go. My anger was from boredom, not wanting to sit at home and play with Forrest or eat breakfast with my mom.

He was there.

He said my name and extended his hand out to me. I can remember him grasping on tightly, but carefully, like he was expecting to be pushed away. He didn't deserve my rejection of him, but I didn't know any better.

That day, he walked me to work with everyone else. It took us forever. I remember stopping by May's to say hello and stopping by Jerry's to see if he was ready for work. I remember he never let go of my hand, never let me wander too far, and took me all the way to the fields, where the workers went out in droves to pick crops. I was happy, clinging onto him as he picked me up, and he pointed out all the places in Amity that we could see.

I think he loved me that day.

My eyes hurt as the long-buried grief swells up. It's been hidden beneath my rib cage, waiting to be let out, burning away, second by second.

But not for much longer.

I move to sit on the bed next to him, and I hold onto his hand as tightly as I can. He smiles up at me, his eyes light and his hair thinning, and I remember putting my head on his chest when he carried me home, me too tired after our adventure, and him unwilling to let me trail behind.

"Hi Daddy."

---

This time, the crying makes me nauseous.

It hurts; it makes my stomach turn over and over, and I frantically try to stop before I throw up in the bathroom of the fancy Erudite hospital. It's quiet in here. The walls are white, but they're covered in a wallpaper with a white pattern mixed with a blue so light it's hard to see. The lights are white. The sinks are white. Everything is white, even the door handle.

It's so intense I feel like I'm freezing, and it worsens when I realize I have no clue how to get back to where I was.

"You're fine."

I promise myself as I wash my face in the sink, pressing my hands over my eyes until the feeling stops. Eventually, the cold seeps beneath my skin and into my bones until I wish I'd brought a jacket. The chill in the air isn't exactly welcoming so I shove my hair off my face and try to smooth it back so it doesn't look like a mess. I immediately feel more composed, and I focus on being grateful I'd seen my father.

I'd left my father once he fell asleep.

I didn't want to leave. We caught up quickly, but very gently. He mostly listened while I talked about Dauntless. I told him what happened with Landon in the most delicate way possible. I didn't want to upset him, and he knew it. He stared up at me as I explained why I'd attacked him, and how I'd ended up in Dauntless, and for once, he got it.

"I don't understand why he would try to hurt you?"

It was a question I didn't have an answer to. Landon didn't like me for any reason more than he found me physically attractive. He was manipulative and sneaky, and I was another prize on his hunt for factional domination.

"I think because you promised I'd marry him and I didn't," I answered, and his eyes immediately fell to the heavy blanket. "Why would you tell him that? He thought he had some claim over me. Then he went and joined an army to try and take over."

"I'm sorry. I told him plenty of times to give you space. I thought maybe you were sick of him hanging around. I told him if he was patient, maybe things would change. I didn't mean for it to be taken that way. I never promised him your hand in marriage. I thought…I thought perhaps one day, you'd look at him differently. The Landon I knew was a good guy. He wasn't hurting anyone. I can't say the same for him now."

"He hurt you," I had pointed out needlessly, and my own stare fell to the blanket. "But he can't anymore."

My father had looked up at me, but I couldn't bring myself to be the one who revealed what happened. Landon's war ended at the hand of Harrison, and it was all for nothing. The factionless hadn't won, and neither had Amity. All he'd done was stir up a wave of questionable violence, disbanded our leader, and set forth enough unrest that Amity had been handed over to Dauntless.

In the morning, Harrison would take over.

In the morning, my father would return.

He promised me he felt better. He was feeling stronger, his memories were returning one by one, and the most prominent thing he'd taken from all this was that while he loved me, honestly and as much as someone can love their own child, he wasn't happy. He knew my mother's love for him was a placeholder, and he didn't fault her.

"I knew the whole time that he would one day come back. I tried to leave a few years ago, and we agreed I would stay until you had picked a faction. I've been looking, trying to think of a way to leave and still help her."

His words surprised me. I was the least favorite, but the one expected to help. Forrest got a pass because he was older. Because he would sneak out when no one was looking, or he would shirk the responsibility in favor of something Amity was hosting. He was the ideal member, strong and happy, content with living there, and he got away with everything because of this. My father seemed happier when we weren't around, but I never once imagined he'd want to leave. It was surreal to hear him talk like this had been going on behind the scenes for a while.

"What are you going to do?"

I didn't let go of him. I held on tighter, wishing I could go back to that day when he walked with me, and hold on even tighter.

"What about Paisley and Holly, and Leif and Wesley?" I name my brothers and sisters who look like him, and it's an unconscious family divide.

"They'll be fine. I won't be far away. I inquired about a property not too long ago. I was approved, and I think…I think it's time." He said all this with a smile, the first I'd seen since I showed up.

"Why are you telling me this? Why not Forrest?"

He thought about this, and his shrug wasn't dismissive, but a quiet response that there is no answer.

"I wanted you to know. Out of everyone, you were…you were the one who questioned my place in your life. You never trusted me, not even when I gave you a reason to. I wanted to be honest with you. I begged your mother to tell you, just…to explain what was going on. I think things will be better now. I just hope you'll come see me. You and your...Eric. I don't want this to be it."

When he finished speaking, I felt foolish. I'd never once considered my actions could hurt him. I'd written him off as being strong and annoying, not at all fatherly when he needed to be, and disinterested in me completely.

He wasn't entirely at fault.

He promised me he was fine. He was happy he had loved my mother when he did, and he was happy he had children. I wasn't entirely convinced, but he looked so much better by the time we were done talking, that I couldn't believe someone said he would never return.

"Why are you crying? Your father is fine. You should be thanking my husband for spending hours working to help him."

Blythe's words catch me off guard. I wasn't expecting her to come in here, nor was I expecting her to actually talk to me. She doesn't come anywhere near where I'm standing, but she crosses her arms over her chest and stares at me like I don't belong here.

She's not wrong.

"How did they make him remember?" I look back at her, unwilling to back down, and it seems wrong that my first interaction with Eric's mother is this: a standoff in the bathroom, while she looks at me like I'm scum. "They said he couldn't remember anything."

"This is one of the most advanced facilities in all the factions. Of course, we'd be able to help." Her words are clipped. "Eric asked I make sure you're alright. Is Hank sleeping?"

I nod.

"Good. If you're done in here, I need you to come with me. Daniel has asked that you join us for dinner."

Her words spark a rush of anxiety through me. I'd never once considered myself unfriendly or undeserving of common decency, but she clearly does. And she's made it perfectly clear Daniel invited me, not her.

Blythe throws me one more look, turns on her heel, and is gone before I can respond.

---

We don't eat in the hospital.

I had thought we'd head to some sort of cafeteria. Eric mentioned his father often ate here, and my assumption was that was where we were going. Instead, we got back in the truck, and drove a few streets over to a large building with immense glass windows. I tried to take it all in, hoping the dinner would go well, and not appear like I was overwhelmed by such a place.

I've never seen anything like it.

The inside is almost all white. There's some blue and silver mixed in, but mostly white. It's so blinding I blink a few times, and my dress feels a little too casual for the luxurious décor. Eric has my hand in his, but his grip is so tight it hurts.

It only takes me a second to figure out why.

His parents somehow arrived before us. A waiter pauses his route to tell Eric where they're sitting, and from what I gather, they have a normal table here. He recognizes Eric, smiling politely as he points across the room, and they are in deep conversation.

My stomach drops.

Neither look very happy.

Blythe is sitting with her arms crossed, and Daniel is trying to hand her a basket of dinner rolls.

I'm suddenly nervous that this won't go well. His mother might not have liked me because we were late, or she might not have liked me because she was sent to come find me, but maybe she'll like me if we have dinner together. I focus on this to keep my hopes up, but the way Eric's fingers crush mine tells me he thinks otherwise. I reach for his hand with my other hand, and I have the urge to ask if we can go home.

He doesn't seem easy to rattle, but something about her has put him on edge.

I lose my nerve when the waiter ushers us on. We walk through the restaurant quickly, and a few glance up in our direction. I'm relieved to see most are dressed normally. The restaurant is upscale, but there are plenty who aren't wearing suits and jackets. His parents sit at a table near the middle, and they've already been served drinks. I take the seat beside Eric, and once I do, both his parents stare at me.

Daniel smiles at me. It's still not happy, not like it was when I saw him at the market, but again forced. His mother's stare is still icy, frigid even as she takes a sip of her wine and sets it down slowly. She observes us before her like lab specimens, then returns her gaze to Eric.

It drips with annoyance. It's so thick I can feel it, and he can, too.

He keeps his spine straight, and his shoulders back.

"How long will you be here?"

Again, she speaks only to Eric.

His posture is stiff and unfriendly. He cocks his head at her, weighing if she deserves an answer. When it seems like he's decided she doesn't, his father says his name carefully.

"Eric…"

"Tonight. We came to see Everly's father. That's it."

"So you could come here to see…some farmer," his mother looks at me, pausing as a waiter hands me a large glass of water. "Your aunt is looking for you, you know. She said you've pushed off several meetings you were supposed to attend. She seems to think you might be reneging on the agreement you've made."

"I've been busy." Eric shrugs, inhaling slowly, like he's restraining himself. "Jeanine is not my top priority right now."

His dismissal is clear.

He doesn't bother to accept the water from the waiter, and he ignores the man as he sets down a slew of forks and knives to the table. Our waiter announces he'll give us a minute, and he hurries away to check on another table. Next to us is a group of men and women who I assume are doctors. They all sneak quick glances in our direction, but Blythe pays no attention to them. She finally looks at me, and I can feel her stare scraping over my skin.

"How old are you?"

I look up from the water, and she's staring at me with dark disapproval. I consider lying, just this once, but the look on her face tells me she'll know.

"You're awfully young looking. How long have you two been involved?"

"I'm…eighteen," I take a sip of the water, hoping she'll relax. I'm not sure what I did to make her hate me, but it's clear she does.

"And you chose to go live in Dauntless?" Her eyes blink away her disbelief, but it stays there. "Or do you live in Amity?"

"I live in Dauntless now. I –" My pause comes right before announcing I was only in Dauntless because I got arrested. "Are you from Erudite?"

My question catches her off guard, but she doesn't even bother to hide her annoyance. Her lip curls up, and Daniel interrupts before she can answer.

"Thank you so much for coming here tonight. Hank should be able to go home as soon as tomorrow. We found a combination that counteracted the serum. It might come with a few lingering side effects, but he should return to Amity with no issues." He looks happy at this, proud of his work. "He asked for you a few times, but we wanted to make sure he knew what he was saying. Your mother was giving him the names of all your siblings, and I didn't want to confuse him. He specifically wanted to see you."

"Thank you for telling Eric," I smile, and someone sets down a plate, another plate, and a napkin, and half whispers our entrees will be out soon. We haven't ordered anything, but it must not be an option here. "It was really good to see him. He looks…rough, but better than I was expecting."

"We're very happy to help. The case presented was interesting. Greg is worried that we might need to look into mass producing this version of serum in case the other starts to become widely used. Eric mentioned the factionless had it, and my guess is, they'll use it again." His father pushes his glasses up his nose, and his smile is brighter now. "I have a meeting tomorrow to talk to a few others. We'd like to know what we're up against."

"You aren't up against anything. The factionless are not a problem," Blythe interjects, throwing him a quick frown. Her stare finds me, unflinching as ever, but I don't look away. "What's your name again?"

A second passes between us. I feel like this is some weird test, and she most certainly knows my name.

"Everly."

"And now you're Eric's…" she pauses to let me know I'm no one to him or her, but he glares at her like he's about to leap across the table.

"Knock if off, Blythe," Eric warns, and he says her name threateningly. "Drink your wine and stop asking her pointless questions."

"Well you haven't bothered to tell us her name. I can't imagine she's high on your priority list if you can't be bothered to tell us who she is." Blythe does take a sip of her wine, and the large wedding ring on her finger sparkles beneath the light. It's so huge it's hard to believe it's real, and I've never really seen anyone wear a wedding ring before. "Do you live with him?"

"Blythe."

Eric snaps before I can answer, and there are several tense seconds of silence. My hopes of this going well crash right down in flames and I desperately try to think of a way to save it.

"What do you do here?" I look at Eric's mother, searching for a speck of something. Warmth. Something that reminds me of my own mother. A flash of an actual human being. I try to imagine coming to her because I didn't feel good, or because I needed someone to talk to, but the idea is laughable at best. "Are you a doctor?"

"I'm the Chief of Staff at the Center for Psychological Services. I was called in to make sure your father wasn't suffering from anything other than the serum," she answers flatly, and annoyance crosses her face. "What did you do in Amity? Did you go to school there? What kind of schooling does one receive in such a faction?"

"Blythe, I said knock it off." Eric says her name in a warning tone, and it's spoken tightly.

Her stare flits to him, but there's not much to it.

"She doesn't mean any harm, Eric. She's just being nosey. We don't know much about the education system in Amity. Maybe your mother is curious," Daniel points out, but even he doesn't look convinced. "Just…give her a chance."

Eric grunts in response. I find it a little odd he calls them by their first names, but I have a feeling it's a way to keep a disconnect between them.

"I did go to school there. We follow the same education standards from here," I answer her quickly, thinking maybe she's got the wrong idea about me. "We actually have a few members who came from Erudite. They've all worked to create our watering systems and our...um…the water treatment…plant."

My hope dies.

The look on her face is like she's smelled something terrible. She looks over at Eric, then back at me, and her lips are pressed so tightly together they almost disappear.

"It's alright. I'm sure there are lots of other things about you Eric enjoys. It doesn't matter your level of education."

"Excuse me?" I say the words before I mean to, but my mouth has fallen open in surprise. "I've completed everything I was asked to. I was in the middle of my initiation when…when everything happened." I try not to look at Eric; I don't want Blythe to think I need him to leap to my defense. "I'm not an idiot."

"I'm sure you're lovely," Blythe smiles, flippantly, and beside her, Daniel's eyes widen.

I can feel Eric tense up. He's clenching his jaw down so hard I'm surprised it hasn't snapped in half. We've only been here for maybe twenty minutes, but it's clearly twenty minutes too long for Eric.

"Blythe," Eric's father tries to diffuse the situation. When he has her attention, he throws her a stern look and a thin smile. "Pass me the pepper."

She hands it to him wordlessly, not bothering to notice he's only eating a dinner roll.

"You're putting a lot on the line for her," Blythe holds my stare, but she's speaking to Eric. "My son has chosen to prioritize you over his own family."

"Stop," Eric snaps, and I can feel the anger radiating from him. He presses his fingers to the glass in front of him, and it looks like he's contemplating throwing it at her. "I didn't come here for a lecture from you."

"Blythe," Daniel barks her name, and his tone changes. He looks like Eric, his jaw tensed and his stare furious. "Now is not the time. They're here to see Everly's father. You can grill him about your sister later. I told you she's been – "

"It'll never be the time, will it?" She turns to face him, and her anger toward me is momentarily forgotten. "When Daniel? When is the proper time? When he gives up completely because Everly asks him to?"

I don't know what she's talking about, but her eyes flash as she glares at her husband.

He doesn't answer her.

The waiter brings our food to the table, and I'm grateful for the interruption. The plates are large and filled with rather extravagant portions. My steak seems to be as big as an entire half of a cow, and I wonder if I'm expected to eat all of it. The waiter also brings a salad, mashed potatoes, and he unnecessarily refills my water before leaving.

"Well, enjoy," Eric's father announces, and he looks just as relieved as I feel.

"Have you ever had a steak before?" Eric's mother watches me stare at my food, and I blink in surprise at the question.

"Um, yes. I have." I'm slightly taken aback; I'm not sure if she's implying I'm a vegetarian –which looks like that would be annoying to her, or if perhaps someone from Amity would not typically be lucky enough to enjoy such a meal. "It looks very good."

I try to sound sincere despite her very apparent dislike of me, but my words do little to appease her.

"You don't find eating meat to be a violent act?" She pauses as Eric cuts into his steak with a vengeance. His motions are filled with annoyance, but despite this, he comes off oddly elegant. "Most of the subjects from Amity have a rather strong aversion to the slaughter of their animals for dinner. They find it rather…savage. Perhaps that's why you're leaving the faction?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Eric snarls. He sets his knife down forcefully, and his father's face turns panicked. "What are you trying to get out of her? Is there an actual point to this or are you just going to make snide remarks the whole dinner?"

Daniel's expression changes to disappointment. It's hard to tell if it's at Eric's outburst, or Eric's mother's commentary. I sit up straight, not willing to slump beneath her harsh stare, and I pick up the heavy knife. I make an attempt to cut into the steak, but I have no real appetite now.

She's made it perfectly clear she doesn't want me here.

Blythe makes a face as though Eric is ridiculous. "Don't be rude, Eric. I was just asking your little girlfriend if she eats meat. That's all." She waves her fork at him, and she shakes her head.

"She's not my girlfriend," he answers through gritted teeth. "She's-"

"How far along is she? Eight weeks? Ten weeks?"

I drop my knife.

It clatters onto the plate so loudly the restaurant falls silent. I pick it up quickly, and I can feel the heat of everyone's curious gaze in my direction. "I'm not…I'm not pregnant." I half whisper this, forcefully, and look right at Blythe. Her smug expression barely moves, not even when I stare at her with a look of total disbelief. "Why are you saying that?"

"I see no real reason for Eric to bring a girl from Amity to live with him, unless otherwise. You can offer him nothing. He's supposed to marry someone who can support him as a leader. I don't see you doing anything but getting in his way. The only reason he'd bring you to live with him is out of obligation." There's more than a hint of bitterness in her words, and a flash of triumph. "He had better options before you."

I don't have any words.

I slide my stare over to Daniel, unconsciously hoping he'll stick up for me, and his eyes meet mine. He looks apologetic, but ultimately, he stays silent.

Maybe he didn't really like me, either.

"So, how far along are you? Are you sure it's Eric's?"

For a few seconds, I'm unable to speak. I look at everyone but Eric, who's gone dead silent.

"Blythe," Daniel finally drags his stare from her, and utters the lowest, thinnest offer of peace in my direction. "I'm sorry, Everly. Please…she doesn't mean…"

"Please, Daniel. Don't make excuses. Give me one good reason he's with her. You said yourself you were surprised to hear the girl who had his attention was from Amity," Blythe shrugs, like she can't believe the audacity of her husband to try and calm her down. "What on Earth could she possibly do for him? She's been a distraction since day one."

Daniel leans back in his seat.

He looks at me again, his mouth slightly agape, then he closes it and shakes his head.

The nausea comes back. It's so strong I can barely look at them.

"Um, well…it was nice to meet you, but I think maybe I should go." I push my chair back, and I absolutely refuse to break down in front of her. She's made it very clear she doesn't think too highly of me, but I don't have to sit here and take it. "Thank you for inviting me and uh, thank you for helping my father. Enjoy your dinner."

"Everly," Eric says my name quickly, and he shoves his seat back, too. He stands, drawing himself to his full height. His stare is livid, but only his father looks bothered. "I hope you both got what you wanted from her. We're done here. You'll leave us alone."

He reaches for my hand, but I move away, unwilling to be around this family for another second.

I didn't fully expect Eric to never speak to his parents on my behalf, but I certainly didn't expect for his mother to outright hate me. I thought his father liked me well enough. I guess I was wrong. Maybe I wasn't what they would hope for in a future daughter in law, or maybe they were hoping he'd marry someone more prestigious.

The words about someone better before me hurt. They make my stomach tighten, especially when I think about Ashley and how she certainly isn't better. She's a terrible person, but because she's from a faction they respect, she's a better choice.

"It's okay. Have a good night."

I leave without looking back.

Eric catches up to me in a single step, and he grabs me. He yanks me against his side, and his fingers dig into my ribs, pulling me along with him. He's silent; there is no apology from him or an explanation, but I don't know if it would make anything better.

He walks quickly, half dragging me through the restaurant. I trip over the laces on my shoe, and he catches me, pulling me into the freezing air without ever stopping. It's shocking. It slaps at my face as I turn around to look up at him, and his eyes are wild.

He takes my face in his hands, hot and burning, and he shakes his head.

Behind him, there is a scuffle and yelling, and the fallout of chaos is nothing more than the waiter running out to ask if we wanted our food to go then retreating back inside when he figures we don't.

Eric looks right at me, his grey eyes burning with rage, and his fingers slide into my hair.

They curl in, sinking into the dark strands before he shuts his eyes and he sighs in pure frustration.

"I'm sorry."

---

He throws his jacket with wild abandon.

It's unlike him. It falls to the floor in a crumpled heap but he makes no move to pick it up. He reaches for the collar of his shirt, and his fingers dig into the fabric in a violent manner.

Our ride back to Dauntless was silent.

I sat beside him, my feet pulled up beneath me and my skirt pooling over my legs, and the truck was freezing. He was silent. He stared straight ahead, one hand clenched tightly on the steering wheel and one on me. I leaned into him, knowing if I were to reach up to touch his skin, his neck would be burning hot.

I sunk a little closer as he turned, and he barely registered that I was against him.

He stared ahead, vibrating with explicit rage.

He's not much calmer now.

"I thought it would go better than that. I should have told you my mother is loyal only to her sister. She takes me not working for her as a personal insult."

"I thought you did work for her," I watch him rip the shirt off over his head, and the bare skin of his chest is pale in the dim lighting. "You told me you…"

"I hunt Divergents. I have power here because I agreed to help her. That's how it started. You…your name is on Jeanine's list." He's frantic, worked up at the very thought. "I haven't been helping her. I passed it on to Jeremy for a while, then pulled our help back when we found out Evelyn was building an army. Jeanine is losing focus. We have a real problem with the factionless, but she doesn't see it."

"Does your mother know I'm on that list?" I stare up at him, still reeling from the dinner. I hadn't expected such a brusque reaction from his parents. His father had seemed nice enough, though he'd made it crystal clear he still sided with his wife. "Does she –"

"No."

He snarls the word at me, and he kicks off his boots without looking down.

"It's alright. I probably should have just gone home. It was nice that you took me to see my dad. I'm sorry the dinner didn't go well. I was hoping maybe your mom would like me after." I rise up from the bed, and I stop before him.

The night explodes in my mind. I force myself not to relive it, because it was so bad that I'd rather sit and hang out with Carole than Blythe. What Eric is saying only makes things worse. Knowing my name was on his list isn't a huge surprise. I had a feeling Harrison had left the notebook with the percentages because he wanted me to find it. I took it as a warning. So far, I was the only one with any variance of divergence. It could mean nothing, but hearing Eric admit all this doesn't feel good.

"Everly…" His expression is miserable. There's a flicker of defeat mixed in with his rage, and he's uncomfortable. It looks like he doesn't know what to think, which doesn't sit well with him. "It doesn't matter. I don't need either of them. I don't care about either of them. I have..."

He pauses as his hands grasp me, and I willingly close the distance between us. His hands move to my back, sliding up until they rest beneath my shoulder blades, and he watches me.

I have my answers right then.

This is way deeper than Eric arresting me just so I could come see if I liked Dauntless. This is Eric, wanting me to stay with him. It's Eric wanting a relationship, though he can't admit it out loud because he's never needed one before. It's Eric, moving to touch my jaw, prying it up so he has my full attention.

All because of one encounter.

One collision igniting something neither of us were prepared for.

"You."

His mouth crashes into mine, something burning behind his action. He moves quickly –to my cheek, my jaw, my neck, the juncture of my shoulder –before he drags his mouth down to my collarbone. His hands move freely, grazing my ribs, yanking at the fabric of my dress, pulling it up. It takes a single second of disconnect for him to pull it up over my head. His fingers return immediately, fumbling with the clasp on my bra and undoing it before he throws it to the side.

He reaches for the button on his pants without pause. The room becomes a blur around us. He strips away the dark clothing as I step back to sit on the edge of the bed, and my back hits the mattress before I can register he's taken off his pants. Eric hovers over me, but I'm crushed beneath him, pressed back into cold, clean sheets.

I was right.

He is hot.

My hands find his shoulders, skimming down over warm skin until I can feel the muscle tense then relax. He shuts his eyes when I touch his ribs, hidden beneath taut muscle, and his head dips toward mine. We stay like this for a moment. I relish in the weight of him, how this feels safe, how he feels safe, and the familiarity of his legs touching mine. I slide my hands lower, until they reach the waistband of his boxers, and his cheek presses against my own.

"You don't ever have to see them again."

His declaration is a good one. It's a heavy promise, though at some point, I'm sure he'll admit he's saying it because he firmly believes in faction over family, but his spoken words have weight to them. He doesn't need his parents. He doesn't need a father who devoted his life to helping others nor did he need a mother whose disapproval was vibrant and cutting. His transparency over the situation is obvious, just as obvious as when my own underwear is discarded, and Eric pushes inside me before I can point out I haven't gone to see Arlene.

Eric has chosen me, and he will continue to do so.

---

"Did you like him when you were little? Was he around a lot?"

This time, the bedroom is downright freezing. I should have asked Eric to see if the heat worked. I'd forgotten all about it in favor of curling up against him to sleep, and I would gladly take him keeping me warm over electric heat.

But now, in the blistering early hours of the morning, I realize it was a mistake not to ask.

"No."

I don't know which question Eric is answering, only that he is. He's lying on his back with one arm above his head, and his stare is turned to look at me. I've propped myself up on his chest, and since I have the upper hand –literally –I figure I can get away with asking him a few questions about his parents. Our dinner with them wasn't that long ago, and it still didn't sit right with me. My mother would call it morbid curiosity. I'd already learned firsthand what they were like, but I still wanted to know more.

"Which one are you answering?" I wiggle myself closer to him so I can inspect his face. I touch his neck first, the black blocks neat and clean, then his jaw. I follow it all the way over to his ear, then back down his cheekbone.

He lets me.

There's a lazy satedness to him allowing me to touch him like this, and his smirk tells me if it were any other time, he'd swat my hand away.

"He was never home. He worked constantly. He still does."

Eric's answer is even and tightly spoken.

He stares at me as I move to touch his lower lip, then I turn my attention to his eyebrow. I touch the metal bar, one of many that I'd caught sight of, and I wonder if he's ever taken it out.

"What about your…Blythe?" I'm careful with how I say her name. Calling her his mother doesn't seem right. They don't seem to have any sort of relationship, let alone one of mother and son. "Was she around?"

"No, she was not." He exhales heavily, but it's not aimed at me. "They both prefer to work. Blythe hired a woman to step in while they were gone. Pamela was the only one ever home." His answer is unimpressed. Eric reaches up to move my hair out of my eyes, and he keeps his hand there. "Before you ask me, she still lives in Erudite. She calls every so often."

"Oh," I take this in, trying to imagine a stranger coming over to raise my brothers and sisters. I can't. I can't imagine my parents not being around, even if it wasn't always happy. "Does she know I'm here?"

A beat passes between us.

He looks up at me and it takes him a second to nod.

Well, that's a surprise.

"Does she like me? Or does she think I'm awful?" I touch the skin beneath the bar, then above it, and I move on to his earlobe. I've seen all of these piercings before, but this time, I'm not rushed. "Are you sure this doesn't hurt? How do they get it through your ear?"

He smirks again.

My fingers touch the black ring and it's startlingly heavy.

"You want something pierced?" He quirks an eyebrow at me, moving his hand to touch my earlobe. His action shifts the sheets, and neither of us move to fix them. "I can take you. There's a guy who does them. Some people handle it better than others."

I shake my head no. The thought of jamming a needle through my skin isn't appealing at all.

"She's fine. She's not like them. What about you? Do you miss Amity? Zander?" He tilts his head slightly, and his gaze is hot. "The great chicken murders?"

I blink in complete surprise at this question. He watches me carefully, his lips turning up as I think this over, and he waits to see what I say.

I miss Zander, sure. But being with my little brother without a break isn't something I want to go back to.

"Sometimes. I don't miss watching him all the time. But…he's a good little brother. He could be worse." I smile when Eric rolls his eyes, because he's received the brunt of Zander's affection during his visit. "I couldn't believe they were here."

"Your mother has been here before," Eric throws out casually, and he snickers when I whip my gaze back to him. "Don't look so surprised. She should have told you to run and instead she practically offered to let you move here after a week of knowing me. Most mothers in Amity wouldn't approve of any of this. Or any mothers for that matter."

"Yours doesn't approve," I answer before I can stop myself. I wait for him to get mad or snap that he was well aware, but he nods. "Why?"

He holds my stare. His eyes are icy, sort of stormy and swirling with grey and blue, and his eyelashes are unfairly long.

"She's not wrong. You are young," he pauses when I scrunch up my nose, and he raises both eyebrows right as I move to tell him he's older than I am. "Despite being incredibly intelligent, Blythe doesn't care. She doesn't love Daniel and she doesn't care about anything other than how it looks. She married him because it looked good. She had a child because it looked good. Me not helping her sister doesn't look good, so she's blaming you."

"Am I to blame?" I wonder aloud, and he moves his hand to press flat against my face. He shifts slightly, but his stare answers my question. "Oh, so I am. That's good. Great. I had no clue."

"I skipped the last meeting I had so I could make sure you were alive," Eric retorts, grazing my lower lip with his thumb. "There is no doubt Jeanine went to Blythe asking where I was. Going to Amity isn't an acceptable answer to either of them."

"So what now? What happens next?" I move closer, and my hair skims his chest. In the distance, there's a low hum, and then a louder vibration as his phone rings. "Who is that? It's two in the morning."

I push myself up so I can look at the phone, and he turns to grasp it with one hand. I don't catch the name, but he declines the call immediately.

"It's Daniel. He's been calling every half hour." Eric waves me off, and he tosses the phone back onto the nightstand. "You'd think someone so smart would get the hint."

"Are you going to talk to him?"

My question is not at all a question. My voice wavers, not ideal in any way but completely unavoidable, and I hope he doesn't answer the calls. I feel a little betrayed by his dad, and not just because I'd met him at the market and talked to him there.

Because Blythe had treated me like garbage, and anyone else would have stood up to her. Even by Erudite's standards, the unspoken ones where they viewed themselves as more sophisticated and elegant than every other faction and not rude and obnoxious, she was out of line. The waiter had looked more apologetic when he ran out to find Eric and me, and I feel incredibly stupid to have thought his dad liked me.

I guess this is my lesson: not everyone in the world wants to be my friend, and I have to be okay with it.

Even the man who could have potentially been my father in law.

Eric sits up. He shakes his head, and his lips brush against mine lightly, then firmer, until I part them open for him.

"No."

---

"Okay, let's do this again. When was the last time you had sex?"

Arlene is less intimidating this time. It might be because it's just her and me. Eric hasn't come down here with me today, and instead has gone into work. I'd sat on his bed watching him leave with a scowl, and he promised he'd be back for lunch.

He was promising a lot of things.

He kept declining his father's phone calls. He held onto me all night, my back against his chest and his arm thrown over me. And at some point, still early but also later, I was on top of him, groaning his name for the millionth time. It was like he was determined to undo the rage and anger from dinner and replace it with something that felt good.

And it had felt good.

Really good.

By the time my thighs tensed up and my eyes were slipping shut, he was already lowly hissing my name as his own release hit him. I should have climbed off of him, but his hands were on my hips, and he made no attempt to move me, other than once I collapsed onto him and could barely mutter that I was officially tired.

He made me breakfast. I woke up to him leaving, but he told me there was toast and eggs waiting for me, and he'd be back sometime in the afternoon. He even promised we could go to Clyde's. I thought about this while I ate my toast on his couch, catching up on the book I'd been reading, and I decided I was fine with that plan.

I then took a quick shower, got dressed, and headed straight to the infirmary. Dauntless was still a bit of a struggle for me to figure out. The walkways made no sense. The hallways often collided, and I was left turned around and hoping to catch sight of one of the archaic maps. Today's journey was easier since I practiced it in my head. Walk to the elevators, push the button, push a button for the third floor, then go left. Head down the hallway, past the chasm, past the entryway to the mess hall, and eventually, I'd find the infirmary.

Luck was on my side to discover that not only did I know where I was going, the lobby was empty.

"This morning."

I answer brightly, and her expression is identical to Eric's the first time I crashed into him.

"This morning?" She repeats, and she doesn't move. "You're here to start birth control but you had sex this morning?"

"Oh, do you need the exact time? I think it was eight thirty." I look down at my shoes, this pair pretty and shiny and easy to kick off and on, and her stare is incredulous. "Do you want to know when we finished or when Eric –"

"No!" She barks the answer, then presses her fingers to her temples. "That's not what I meant. I just need to know when the last time you had sex was. Not the exact minute."

"Okay, well no one in Amity is ever this specific. Look, I just came down here because…last time I was here, I left before I got the shots. And I still don't want them. I just want the one for birth control. So…just let me have that one and I'll be on my way." I cross my arms over my chest, and Arlene's expression doesn't change. "Can I not get it?"

"No, you cannot. Not until I'm sure you aren't pregnant. Does Amity offer any sort of sex education?" Arlene opens the folder, and she begins to write frantically. She becomes quiet, and she only looks up when I don't answer. "No?"

"Sometimes," I shrug, wondering just exactly what sort of education she was hoping for. "One time May showed us all how to use a condom. But Carole got mad and said it was a waste of a banana and then Jerry got involved and somehow someone stepped on the banana and then it was over. I don't think anyone learned anything there."

Arlene looks at me, and my chance of having any sort of cool reputation here withers away completely.

"Wonderful. Okay. I'll be back. Don't leave this time or I'm sending Molly after you. Do you understand?" She warns me darkly, but she leaves without waiting to hear my answer, and she slams the door behind her.

I sit there patiently, examining the ancient medical poster on the wall, and I wonder if the uneasy feeling in my stomach is caused by any of the ailments listed. Or the box marked sharp objects. Or the poster of someone's brain, bisected to reveal all kinds of tissue and nerves.

The feeling doesn't go away when Arlene returns, and in her hands are all kinds of things.

Including a startling number of empty vials.

"Before I can have you start anything, I'm going to run a few tests. Once I have the results, you can start the birth control. Until then, you and your…" Arlene's pause is smug this time, and she smiles at my chart. "Husband can use condoms. Or abstain altogether, if Eric can last a whole twenty-four hours."

"He's not my husband. He's my…" I look at the chart, too, and it does say Everly Coulter. "That's not my last name, either. My last name is Carlen."

"It's too late to change it now. And what else do you think he is? Your emergency contact?" Arlene does her best to keep a straight face, and she gestures for me to roll up my sleeve. When I do, she tears open a strong smelling packet, and wipes my arm down with the cold disinfectant. "I've known Eric for a long time. No one here has his last name except for you."

"Do you know his parents?" I watch closely as she tears open a new packet, and my eyes widen as I realize she's about to stick me with a needle. "What are you doing?"

"Have you ever had any sort of medical exam? This is routine. It's a blood test to see if you're pregnant. It's more accurate than the others. It'll just take a second." She doesn't like when I recoil, but the needle in her hand is larger than I would expect. "Two minutes, tops. Once it's in your arm, you won't even feel it. I'll fill a few vials and you'll be on your way."

"You promise?" I eye her warily, and I hope she's not lying to me. "It won't hurt?"

Arlene meets my stare, and she smiles brightly.

"I promise."

---

Arlene is a complete liar.

I sit with my cheek pressed against Eric's dark jacket, and every so often, my eyes burn all over again as the tears threaten. His uniform jacket is rough but comforting. His breathing is even, slow and restrained, and in front of me, Arlene is as apologetic as the porcupine Forrest once stepped on.

"I said I was sorry. I didn't think she'd panic. It's just a simple test."

I scowl at her from the safety of Eric's arms. He's sitting on the table so I can sit between his legs, and his arm is around me. It's both protective and to make sure I don't fall off the table, and when I shake my head, he exhales in annoyance.

"Why did you take so much blood? What the hell are you testing her for?" He sounds grouchy, and that is entirely my fault.

Arlene slid the needle in my arm while she was talking, and it hurt more than I was expecting. When she didn't like where it was placed, she shoved it further into my skin, and there was a spark of burning pain. In response, I jerked my arm away, which sent a lovely spray of my own blood everywhere.

Arlene's look was impatient.

Once I calmed down and she wiped up the mess, the second arm was better, but she took so much blood that I started to feel woozy. The room grew hot, the floor seemed to move up and down, and the next thing I knew, I was against Eric's chest while he yelled at her.

He darkly informed me I'd passed out. That was a fun and exciting twist to my appointment, and his mood soured further when she barked that they were all necessary, as was not having unprotected sex for the next few days.

"It's the full panel. All members are required to have it. If she's going to stay here, then she needs to have it done so I know what she needs," Arlene hotly informs him. "You are aware of this. You've had almost the exact same one done. You also were the one to insist all initiates get tested to make sure there are no issues."

"She's not an initiate. Those tests are to make sure the initiates aren't sick. She's fine. You could have taken one vial and that's it," Eric snaps. "She's not sick."

He shifts on the table, pulling me closer when Arlene narrows her eyes.

"Oh no, she's clearly doing very well."

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to pass out," I offer, but I have zero energy. She'd brought a few things: a sugary drink, a cookie I didn't want, and a banana that I absolutely could not bring myself to eat. I drank the soda and had a bite of a cracker someone dropped off, but I mostly listened to Eric snarl about Arlene being in his business.

"You're not the first and you won't be the last," Arlene answers, but to her credit, she looks sort of stressed. "As soon as she feels better, you can take her home. Make sure she eats something and have her lie down."

She writes on my chart again –probably something like, passed out while giving blood, chance of being an actual member here 0 –then stops when Eric sighs.

"Arlene –"

"I'll have the results back to you by tomorrow morning." She pushes her glasses up higher, and her stare flicks to me. "Take it easy for the rest of the day. Both of you. I'll call as soon as I have results."

"Thanks," Eric mutters, and his arms press closer. "Now leave. You can text me the results. Don't bother calling."

She throws him a dirty look as she leaves. She takes my folder along with her, and we're both quiet as she heads through the door and calls out for someone to process the paperwork for her. I stay there against Eric, not willing to speak.

Hearing I'd passed out was mortifying.

After everything I've been through, having some routine bloodwork was what sent me over the edge. I try to give myself some credit, and I decide maybe it was the stress of everything that's happened and it had finally caught up to me. Whatever the case may be, Eric isn't bothered.

He nudges me with his knee and asks if I'm okay to walk home.

I say yes, because the alternative is staying here and risking having Arlene come back.

---

"Are you sure you're okay?"

This time, we watch TV on his couch. His feet are propped up on the large ottoman in front of him, and my legs are curled against his. My head is on his chest, my arm is thrown over him, and his fingers are sliding through my hair lazily. Every so often, his fingers still. He's searching for an imaginary bump, like the last time I hit my head, and when he finds none, he continues on. The feeling is soothing, so soothing I'm about to fall asleep.

He doesn't care.

We'd eaten dinner on the couch, some lasagna he'd ordered and a large, oversized order of ice cream, and then he'd turned on some show. It was the same one he was watching when I'd stayed with him the very first time; the people in the office are panicked about being laid off, and the boss's moronic antics only make it worse.

Right as they start yelling about some secret alliance, my eyes start to feel heavy.

"I'm fine. I feel really stupid that I passed out. All I remember is she said it wouldn't hurt, and it did," I answer lowly, and he shifts closer. His shirt is warm, the dark fabric softer than I would imagine, and he pulls me further toward him. It's subtle and quick, and it's only so I can more or less lay on him. "The next thing I knew, you were there."

"They called me out of a meeting. I've never heard Arlene sound panicked," Eric answers, and he sounds smug at the very thought. It appeared that here, Arlene is the only one who has some authority over Eric. "She's called a few times since we got home."

"Are you going to answer her?"

"No."

His says this with a heavy exhale, and I have to admit, this is far better than raising chickens or trying to figure out how to grow tomatoes. Eric's apartment is somewhat warmer; I wouldn't say it's not cold, but it's not freezing. I wonder if he's keeping it cold so I'll have no excuse but to stick close to him. I don't mind. It's surreal to see him like this: dressed casually and with bare feet. He's large and intimidating, except for how he doesn't want me to leave his side. He keeps his body primed toward mine, and his attention to the show wanes when he realizes I'm falling asleep.

And when everyone starts talking about finding a new job.

"Do you want to go to bed?" He asks lowly, and his voice is rough. I can't imagine he's ever been in this situation before, and for once, neither have I. "Everly? Are you asleep?"

The incredulousness in his voice is funny. It reminds me of when I fell asleep in the truck, and he let me stay there, sleeping against his shoulder until the very last second he could stay in Amity.

"No," I lie, and I laugh when he lets out a huff of exasperation. "Okay, sort of. I'm just tired because Arlene took all my blood."

"Well, it was that or your soul. I'd say you got off lucky," he retorts. I feel him reach for the remote, and the man squawking on the screen about a beet farm is gone. "Come on. You can sleep in tomorrow."

He sits up carefully, and I lift my head from his chest to look at him.

He looks down at me, and it's as far from cold as one could imagine.

His lips turn up the slightest bit, and for a long time, neither of us move.

---

Tris does not like me.

For the second time this week, someone's stare at me is heavy with disbelief and more than a little horror. She stares boldly, her grey blue eyes sweeping over my dress, my hair, and lingering on my face. She sits stiffly; her posture is less confident than the night I saw her at the Leadership Dinner, and more unsure.

Everything about her reads as uncomfortable. When she reaches for her drink, it's awkward, and when she reaches for her fork, she misses it because she's staring at me.

I smile, hoping whatever she's not sure of isn't me, because she's Christina's friend.

This lunch was her idea.

A few hours ago, Eric left for work, but not before handing me my phone. My eyes widened when I realized he had it, and I was sure it was lost. But there it was, with hundreds of messages, mostly from Rylan, and a new one from Christina. She was just as excited through text as she was in person. She asked if I could meet her for lunch, and I immediately accepted.

I had no clue she wanted me to join her so I could meet Tris. It didn't take me long to see the two of them are close; I felt a spark of both jealousy and homesickness. I missed my own friends so much it was overwhelming, but I was hopeful I'd make friends here. I had no intention of returning to Amity, though I did hope I'd see Sophia and Courtney at some point. It would be nice to tell them what was going on and reassure them that I was safe.

Until then, I was going to try and make some friends here.

Which was proving harder than I thought.

"So uh, where do you work?" I take a bite of the macaroni and cheese, happy it's not awful. While Quinten was very nice, his job was to feed the faction. Fine dining classes aside, I imagine it was hard to come up with enough meals to feed the faction day in and day out. "Do you like Dauntless?"

Tris presses her lips together.

She's not entirely unfriendly. The longer I sit here, the more I realize she looks worried. It takes her a long time to answer, and when she does, it's slow and undecided.

"I work in the control room. It's alright." Her pause is loud. "I'm sorry, this is really weird. I'm not trying to be rude, but…I was assigned to watch you for weeks. It's just…seeing you in person is way different."

"You were assigned to watch me?" I freeze with my fork halfway to my mouth, and Tris' stare falls to my arm. The sleeves on this dress are short, shorter than is acceptable for such a cold faction, and she frowns at the giant bruise on my arm. I discovered it last night while I brushed my teeth, and Eric promised it would go away quickly. "Why?"

"Because Eric wanted everyone making sure you were alive. I watched you and your little brother. I watched the guy attack you." Tris looks like she's said too much, and she glances nervously at Christina. "Jeremy…he told me you'd been attacked a few times and no one believed you. He's been going there to help with finding Evelyn."

"I was," I try to swallow down the noodles, and they stick in my throat. "Eric was the only one who looked out for me."

"Really?" Tris' response is flat. "Eric? He was looking out for you. That's…interesting to hear."

Just like the dinner with Eric's parents, I can feel this one heading south.

Unlike the dinner with Eric's parents, someone sticks up for me.

"Tris, chill. I already told you, this isn't the Eric from our initiation. He's spent weeks making sure Everly stayed alive. Rylan said his whole focus has been her. You just said yourself he had you watch her."

"Chris, he stole her from her faction! Four said –"

"Four is one wrong step away from getting kicked out. You told me you weren't listening to him anymore!" Christina looks mad now, and she slams her fork down. "We talked about this. You decided you wanted space. You said you're happy with Jeremy and you hadn't seen Four in a long time."

"I just…I saw him the other night. He stopped by the control room to talk to Kacie," Tris protests, and her posture changes. "I did want space from him. It didn't end well."

"Wait, did you date…him?"

She looks at me, and something clicks.

It's like she realizes this world is new to me, and I'm about five thousand steps behind everyone else here.

"For a while. He was really intense. He didn't think I could stay alive for three seconds without him. Sort of like Eric thinks about you. Except…Eric had reason to be worried about you." She sighs, and the hard edge I was met with softens a little. "I don't have a very high opinion of Eric. But…if you're happy here and you're…safe with him…then um…"

She stops and Christina and I both grin.

Tris is so flustered by the thought that Eric wasn't trying to kill me that she can't finish her sentence.

"I think the Eric I know is not the same one you do," I offer, swirling the macaroni and cheese around. "I know Four, though. Well, I know him as Tobias."

Tris shuts her eyes. She inhales slowly, then opens her eyes to look at me.

"I can't imagine spending ten seconds alone with Eric. But…if Christina says you're happy, and you say you're happy, then all I can say is welcome to Dauntless."

She smiles.

It's not at all thrilled, but it's much friendlier than it was when I got here.

"Thank you," I smile back, and Christina looks ecstatic. This lunch so far hasn't gone exceptionally well, but it's a start. "How long did you and Four date?"

Tris' smile wavers. I don't know if I expect her to answer or pull an Eric and refuse.

Eventually, she does.

"A few years. It started out okay, but he was convinced he knew better no matter what was going on. He didn't like that I picked the control room, and he begged me to move out of the first apartment I had to live with him. When I found the idea suffocating, he acted like I said I never wanted to see him again."

"Is Jeremy better?" I think of what I know about Jeremy, but it's limited at best. "I've only met him a few times."

"Yes," Tris answers immediately, but it sounds like she's trying to convince herself. "He's fine."

"Fine?" Christina repeats, and she makes a face. "You said he proposed last week and you turned him down."

"I told you before, I don't want to marry him. Not now," Tris rage whispers, like someone is listening.

No one is.

The mess hall, while busy, is large enough that all the members are spread out. No one is really near us, and the closest person is Quinten, refilling the salad. He catches my eye so he can wave, and I wave back. He looks much happier after this important interaction, then returns to counting croutons.

"You don't want to be married?" I sip my drink while she shrugs, and she looks past me. "Never?"

"I heard you're married."

Her words make me choke on the drink. I cough most of it up from my lungs, and she looks horrified.

"Everly! Are you okay? I'm so sorry. I just…Jeremy told me Eric is married and was having a fit because someone referred to you as his initiate. I was there with him when he was getting some paperwork in the administration office, and he was really impatient that they had your last name right."

"As his?" I flash back to the file in Arlene's office, and I wonder if Eric ever planned on confirming this. At lunch the other day, Rylan had hinted Eric and I were already married, and Eric hadn't answered my question about it. "I went to the nurse and they had my last name as Coulter. Arlene said it was too late to change it."

Tris and Christina exchange a look.

"I told you. She's really nice and you're going to learn all sorts of stuff about Eric. He sent me to pick out her clothes. He's not messing around." Christina sounds triumphant, and her stare whips to me. "Is he good in bed? Everyone wants to know. Tris was worried he'd hurt you."

"I was not! I've never once wondered what Eric is like in bed," Tris is immediately defensive, and her cheeks turn red. "I'm sure he's…whatever."

"So you have thought about it?" Christina asks cheekily, and she's delighted by this discovery.

"No, oh my gosh, no." Tris shakes her head.

I can't help but crack up at the horror on her face, and it worsens as she looks above me.

She snaps her mouth closed and pushes her chair back. "I have to go."

"Why? We aren't even done eating!" Christina turns, and her eyes widen, too.

"Hello."

Eric's voice is immediately recognizable. He's right behind me, and his fingers graze the soft fabric covering my shoulder blades. The dresses in the closet all have a definite style, and it was one which hinted he'd had enough of covered up jackets and edgy, revealing styles meant to announce how daring someone was. Everything purchased for me were things I'd readily wear, and most definitely sweeter than what everyone else was wearing.

"Are you having a good lunch?"

He doesn't sit down. He eyes the food on the plate in front of me like he doesn't trust it, and he stares down Tris for a few seconds. Then he smirks, and slides into the seat next to me.

"Hi Eric," Christina says his name pointedly, and Tris stays silent. She finally conjures up a polite nod, and she returns to her lunch. "I thought you were in a meeting."

"I was," he answers coolly. "I came down to find Everly. We need her upstairs."

"For what?" Christina asks before I can, and I turn to glance up at Eric. His leg is pressed against mine, and his uniform is so stiff looking it appears sharp to the touch. "We just sat down."

Eric smiles. His fingers touch mine, skimming over the knuckles and pressing over the one closest to my pinky, and he waits until I'm looking at him.

"We found Evelyn."

---

Four does not look well.

He stands in a line with Jason and Rylan, and compared to their buzzy, infectious energy, he's miserable. His eyes are tired, his hair is messed up, and his jacket is unbuttoned. It's not the leadership jacket everyone else has on, but a dark, worn one that's similar.

"You found her?" I walk with Eric, my hand in his, and he doesn't let go. He holds on even tighter as we come to a stop in front of everyone. In the background, Harrison and Tori are deep in discussion, and Max is walking with Jeremy. He looks in our direction, then gestures for everyone to head to the conference room. "How?"

"I found her in Abnegation. She's agreed to talk and potentially turn over the army, but she wants to talk to us. Specifically, you and me," Four answers, and his words are unhappy. "I'd like to point out, I'm the only one here who doesn't think this is a good idea."

"Why would she want to talk to me?" I glance up at Eric, and the look on his face tells me he doesn't entirely think it's a great plan. "What can I help her with? You're okay with this?"

"No, I'm not," Eric cocks an eyebrow, but he's oddly not at all stressed. "I'm fine with it, because I don't think she'll follow through."

"Is there a plan?"

Eric doesn't answer right away. He looks over his shoulder, and he nods right as Harrison finds him.

He looks different now. The Dauntless side of him shines as he instructs a few others to follow him. I don't know any of them. They are all soldiers here, sharing the same uniform and serious expression, and they all work for him. Each one has papers in their hands, and the same short haircut or severely pulled back hair.

"Hey, everyone in the conference room, including all of you. We're ready." Harrison doesn't look at me, not entirely. He gestures to those waiting, and everyone takes off, including Rylan and Jason. Eric lets go of my hand to answer his phone, and the only person who hangs back is Four. He waits for me, and I notice his eyes have dark circles under them.

He catches my stare, and he shakes his head before gesturing to the conference room.

"There is a plan. It revolves around you."

---

Amity is freezing.

I walk along the snow covered path and I try not to shiver. Returning here feels cruel. Almost as cruel as the howl of the wind, and even crueler than the surprised glances thrown my way. The faction is quiet, reasonable given it's right after dinner time, and dark. The sun has already started to dip below the tree line, and the lingering light is dim at best.

It all feels ominous. The twilight casts an eerie glow over everything, and it makes the banks of snow luminous.

"Are you okay?"

Four glances at me out of the corner of his eye, and both of us are dressed in clothes that could pass for either faction. Eric had given me his heavy jacket to throw on over the dress, and Four's jacket is now zipped up. We walk closely, having been given strict orders to stay together, and he slows down every time I stumble over the slicker parts.

I had thought Eric would refuse this plan altogether.

It wasn't what I was expecting.

After hearing Evelyn was in Abnegation, I assumed we would be going there. To my complete surprise, Four was being sent to Amity, and so was I.

Evelyn had not yet given up on wanting Amity for herself. She was doing her best to regain the footing she'd lost, and my bet would be she was hoping to convince Four and me to call off the search for her.

Harrison remained unimpressed. When Jeremy pointed out they had Colton in custody, and could easily ask him, Harrison spoke up to remind Jeremy that Colton hadn't been with the army in forever. They went back and forth, Harrison's expertise winning over Jeremy's naïve enthusiasm, and ultimately, it was reluctantly agreed I'd go along with Four. Eric was silent, and the look on his face grew more and more furious as the meeting went on.

He snappily pointed out I'd done my part to fend off Evelyn's army, and Max insisted this is why it would work. Evelyn had watched her army try to take me down, and my survival would piss her off. They hoped to find out what she wanted, then they'd ambush her.

It was unlikely she'd assume we were there alone, but it would buy them a few minutes they didn't have before.

"Everyone knows Eric took her out of Amity. Won't Evelyn be suspicious?"

Jeremy had an answer and a question for everything. I tried to figure out if this was his plan, or he was working to help solve this case to prove himself here. He reminded me of Four at first glance; they both had brown hair, they both had the same build, but Jeremy was brash. He was quick to announce what he was thinking, and not at all afraid to throw out his opinion. He came off as ambitious, but every so often, there was a glimmer in his eye that made me nervous.

From what I'd witnessed, Eric liked protecting what he believed in, and his duty to the faction was clear. Jeremy seemed trigger happy. Just waiting to attack, always ready to barge in with guns blazing. As the meeting went on, I slowly put together he liked this plan. He was banking on a theory that Evelyn wouldn't believe I was a threat to her because I no longer lived in Amity. Showing up with Four would lead her to think I'd come to talk, and she'd ignore the fact that there was an army behind me, or that the Dauntless faction was now overseeing Amity in hopes of convincing one of us to side with her and call off Dauntless.

I didn't love the idea.

Colton's attack had happened while Zander and I were together, and there were Dauntless soldiers patrolling the faction then. I still wasn't entirely over having my life threatened every few days, especially by him. He was terrifying in a way that told me he wasn't afraid of anything, and I was only alive because Dauntless got to him in time.

Evelyn wanting to meet with me sent a chill up my spine.

"No, I'm not okay," I look up at him, his expression is wearier than usual.

"I figured," he mutters, and he shakes his head as I pull Eric's jacket closer.

When Eric and I had parted ways back in Dauntless, it hadn't felt good. He held onto me until Four announced we had to leave, and his fingers dug into my waist. He dared someone to stare or critique his goodbye, and though I hadn't been with him long, his possessiveness was intense.

He almost refused to let me go. His hands tightened when I sunk against him, and I let my head stay against his chest while he snarled at Four not to turn the truck radio off for any reason.

"I want to go back home." I keep my voice low, and it's a strange feeling. My home isn't in Amity anymore, and even though I'd hadn't been in Dauntless for long, every part of me ached to return there.

The clothes don't help. The jacket smells like Eric, and he'd given it to me once I was in the truck. He softly told me he'd be not far behind, but that didn't dull my nerves at all.

It felt like I was being sent somewhere terrifying. The last time I'd been in Amity, it wasn't Amity. It wasn't even Amity now, because it still had no official leader. "I don't think we're going to find her."

"We will. They're meeting tonight. Fifteen minutes. We're going to head that way and see if we run into anyone."

His plan is not a good one. I loathe it on every level. I dislike the cold, I dislike trudging through snow, and I dislike heading straight toward an army who wanted me dead.

The only reason I agreed, was I felt like this might solidify my place in Dauntless. If I could prove I was brave enough to pull this off, to face Evelyn or whoever else showed up, I might not have to worry that the Dauntless faction would question why I was there.

So, I agreed.

Eric's murderous look wasn't enough to win over anyone else. The decision was officially mine, and he had no choice but to promise he'd be right behind, making sure nothing went wrong.

Which would have been great if Four had stuck to the plan.

"Are you trying to kill us? You told Eric we were going to the Dome." I glare at him, and he glares right back.

"No, but she's not going to be hanging around the Amity faction. That might draw some attention to her." Four sounds pissed off, and I feel a flash of sympathy for him. I wouldn't normally. This whole ordeal hadn't gone well for him, but he's been sent back and forth to see Evelyn multiple times now. "I have minimal contact. She doesn't trust me, remember?"

"I met Tris," I change the subject completely, figuring I might as well talk to him about this now. Walking toward the dark woods makes my stomach drop, even though it's familiar. "Christina introduced me."

"Why are you telling me this?"

His question is immediate and sharp and he's not happy. I don't know why I'd think he would be, but I wanted to stop talking about Evelyn.

"I just thought you might want to know. She didn't seem to like me at first. Or that I'm there with Eric." I pull the jacket tighter, and I hope Eric isn't far away. "I told her not to worry."

Four is quiet. He checks his watch, then sighs. "I'm sure she'll like you. And anyone with a brain should be worried you're with Eric."

"You keep saying that, yet here I am, with you, going to find Evelyn. Why did you ever want to help her in the first place?" I stop talking when the playground comes into view, and there she is.

In the distance, standing right next to the swing set, like she owns the place.

"Fuck."

My words echo into the darkening night, right over to her.

Beside me, Four shakes his head.

"I can't even begin to tell you."

---

She and Four look the same.

Their stares are both intense, betrayal heavy from each side. The irony of this is both of them are at fault. Evelyn, for starting all this, and Four for going along with it. He's gone against the Dauntless faction in an attempt to make her happy, and she's used him for her own gain.

As we walked over to her, Four gave me a terse explanation as to why he'd gone to see her. The gist of it was she'd abandoned him. He quickly explained she vanished years ago, leaving him in Abnegation to fend for himself. There was more to this story than he was telling me, but he went on to say that when she reached out, he saw it as a chance to reconcile. I put this together with Tris saying they'd broken up some time ago, and I assumed he'd agreed to help because he had no reason to be in Dauntless.

It was like me wanting to leave Amity.

I'd stayed because I felt obligated, but I had nothing going for me. I had a man who wanted to kill me, an entire army hovering in the nearby woods, and my future holding only the promise of eventually settling down with the first person who showed interest because I had no one else. I understood the bleakness he must have felt, and the agony of knowing not a single person understood what you were going through.

I hadn't lived his life, but my last few weeks in Amity proved that none of us were supposed to go against the grain. Making waves was frowned upon, especially if it hurt the peace.

Evelyn had the right idea about things needing to change, but she was going about it the wrong way.

"You're late."

She channels another vile woman I've met recently, and her gaze is as chilly as Blythe's. It scrapes over both of us, only lessening slightly when Four reaches her first.

"We agreed to meet as soon as I could get here. It's not easy to leave Dauntless these days," Four lies carefully. We'd left without much trouble; our drive here was quick, and now there is a neat line of Dauntless trucks just hovering at the outskirts of Amity. Some were probably inside the faction already. But they were watching him, now more so than ever. "I brought Everly. Tell us what you want."

"She doesn't live in Amity anymore, does she?" Evelyn steps closer to me, staring me down like I'm the reason this whole war hasn't panned out. "How did he take her?"

"He arrested her for attacking Landon. After you sent him to attack the Amity faction," Four's exasperation is hard to miss. "I asked you to slow down with your plans. You're getting ahead of yourself."

"I have an army. A faction is simply the next step," Evelyn counters, unbothered as ever. "Amity is the smartest move. It's large, the population needs a leader, and the food supply is here. It makes sense to start everything where I'm standing."

"They don't want you here," I cross my arms over my chest, and I've forgotten how terrible she is. The memory of her is bad enough, but in person, she's even worse. "What makes you think you can just take a faction over?"

"I'd be liberating them. You, yourself, didn't want to stay here. Why should everyone else subscribe to this way of life? Oppressing people to force peace isn't the answer."

"Every faction has rules," I start to speak, but she cuts me off.

"Each faction breaks the rules so they can enforce the ones they want. You were taken by a man from Dauntless. You have no right to live there with him. Erudite creates serums that can wipe a faction out, just because they can. They pick and choose who to help, who's worthy of their services. Candor hides all sorts of rules and scandals, all to make themselves honorable. They pride themselves on honesty, yet they're selective with what they tell us. Abnegation values service to others over individual lives. Imagine knowing that violence is acceptable so long as it's not seen."

She moves closer, and I step back before I can stop myself.

"None of the factions are what they appear to be. Dauntless works to control the others. Eric and the others don't protect the factions, they keep them separate."

I bristle at her bringing up Eric, because it feels like she knows just a little too much.

"You think he's wonderful, don't you? You must feel like he rescued you from your wretched life in Amity. He won't be able to keep that façade up for long. There's plenty you don't know about him." She pauses, and her hands move to her pockets. "Including why he wants you."

"What could you possibly know about him?" I silently try to hint that Four should step back, but he doesn't. He moves closer to her, almost coming between us, but she pushes him away.

He stares at her in surprise, but she ignores him to look at me.

I stare back, refusing to let her get to me.

"Why would I believe you?"

"You don't have to believe me. He'll end up showing you. Ask him if he enjoys ransacking Abnegation during his hunts. Ask him if he remembers the names of the people he's brought in for testing. Ask him what his answer was when someone pointed out you were on his list." Evelyn is triumphant, even as I shake my head.

"He already told me," I answer, not entirely a lie. I'd heard him talk about the Divergents before, and I knew he was hunting them. I also knew he'd lost interest in the project, and he'd been vocal about how much he wasn't helping Jeanine.

There is a small chance this isn't true, but I trust him.

I don't trust Evelyn.

Especially when she thinks she's caught me. She smiles, but I'm prepared when she charges toward me with something in her hand.

"Let's see if he likes you when you don't remember him."

Her words are wild. They are hissed as she tries to grab hold of me, and something in me snaps. I've had my fill of anyone thinking they can put their hands on me because they want to. I've had my fill of people believing they are in charge of my life or thinking I'm a pawn in their game.

"NO!" I whirl away from her, and I manage to knock her back. She's tall, but not as strong as one would expect. There's a fragileness to her that comes from having an army do her dirty work, and a brittle snap when Four takes hold of her arm.

"You promised me…"

I don't know what she promised him, because his roar is drowned out by her wrenching away from him. To my horror, she reaches out to grasp a fistful of my hair, and I'm jerked backward.

My heart nearly stops.

I've been here before.

The feeling of being overpowered is familiar. The sounds are the same –Evelyn howling my name in a voice I don't recognize, and Four desperately yanking her back –as is the sensation of fear. Panic. Sticky hot terror as something grazes my neck, and I realize she's trying to inject something into my skin.

No.

I turn frantic, scratching and clawing her hands away, and there's a familiar pinch. She lets out a shrill demand for me to stop, ironic given she's stuck the needle into my skin. I rip it out to an unpleasant feeling, and I stand there in total shock. A second later, it's yanked from my fingertips, and she jams it in as hard as she can.

"Everly!"

The blood drips down my neck slowly, more from the action of me pulling it out than anything, and I'm frozen in place when I hear Eric yelling my name. He's late, too late, and in the dark, I can hear the soldiers running. Their boots thump over the ground like thunder, and there's a tremendous wave of energy as they fan out.

They're all too late.

My vision grows blurry for a moment, but I see the slightly younger version of myself in this situation with Landon. With Colton. With Landon, again, determined to ruin my life. That Everly had fought back, and so will this one.

"Leave me alone!"

I lunge for her, knocking her back and not at all caring that this wasn't my war to fight. It never was; however, I was brought into this by Landon, sunk so far into Evelyn's plans that it now felt like it was my war. I wasn't going to sit idly by while she ruined my life, or anyone else's. I slam my fist on the side of her head, and she rears around like a wild animal.

Behind her, Four stumbles to the side, his actions slow and clumsy as he tries to figure out what's going on.

"He'll never love you. Don't you dare think you need to fight for him. Eric will ruin you. He'll—"

Her last words are spoken darkly, thick and forceful, but they become incomprehensible when she slurs them. The bang is so loud it feels like everything is happening a second after it does. I watch her stand up straight, then collapse as a dark pool of red blossoms from her chest. The second shot is equally loud and equally quick.

When I turn, I see Eric sprinting at me with his weapon drawn. There is a sea of black behind him. Soldiers I don't know coming in waves, led by Jason and Rylan. Both look unsurprised; Jason runs faster, and Rylan's eyes widen only when he looks past me. Behind them, are Karl and Jake. A row of girls I don't know. Harrison, screaming at a section of initiates to keep up as they participate in both keeping their initiation, and keeping the factions safe.

This is a real-world lesson for them, one that is startling.

"EVERLY!"

Eric yells my name this time, desperate and impatient. He aims the gun to fire at Evelyn again, but there's no need. Years of practice have given him the lethal precision he needed to kill her, and she collapses to the ground gracelessly, groaning as her eyes close.

"Are you okay? Did she hurt you?"

His hands find my face, rough and hurried, and his eyes are wild. He's so livid I almost don't recognize him. He's not the Eric who hovered over me while his teeth sunk into my neck, but an Eric who almost lost everything. His hands search quickly; he frowns when a few fingers come away with a print of red, but it's minimal at best.

"What did she do to you?" His words are a hiss. His grey eyes steel impossibly further, and his lips press together. His fingers on me tighten, verging on painful, and he swallows thickly. He searches my face for recognition, and I grasp onto his shirt.

My palms press flat, and he's warm even in the cold night.

"I'm…I'm fine, I think." I slide my hands up so I can throw my arms around his neck. My fingers touch deceptively soft hair, grounding me to him, because he's here. He's safe and real and solid, even more so when he tilts his head to look down at me and his stare is familiar.

"Did she inject you?" His words are low, and in the background, I hear the faint sounds of Rylan yelling Four's name louder than necessary.

"I don't think so. She tried to, but I got it out in time. What was it?" The panic rises right back up, but it wanes when Eric slides one arm around my waist. The other snakes up so he can touch my neck again, and he chews on his cheek for a second. "Eric?"

"I'm assuming it's what they injected your father with," he answers tightly, and his fingers curl into my back. "I told Max this was a stupid idea. I told him…. I told him –"

"Eric!" Jason interrupts, and he comes to a crashing halt like he wasn't just a few feet away. "We have a problem."

"I don't care," Eric barks, and he makes no move to let go. If anything, he pulls me closer, and I have the feeling I'm never leaving Dauntless again, no matter the reason.

"Okay, well you might care. You have to come over here." Jason is insistent. He gestures for Eric to follow him, and he throws me a quick smile. "I'm glad you're okay, Everly. They kept telling us to hold off, and then all of a sudden things went wrong. Harrison is livid. He wants the head of whoever gave those orders."

"They came from the control room," Eric answers, but he's paying no attention. "What the fuck is Rylan doing?"

"Eric…shit, what do I do? No one trained me for this!" Rylan yells Eric's name, and I let go to turn and see what he's talking about. I'm rewarded with Rylan walking over to us with Four, and Rylan's arm is thrown around his shoulders. He makes him walk forward, but Four keeps looking back, hesitating and trying to go back to Evelyn, and he only looks at Eric and me when Eric growls his name. "Yeah, so that normally would work but…uh…."

Rylan pauses, and he gestures to Four's neck.

In the very same spot where she'd tried to stab me, just a little more forward, there's the same bloody mark. I wait for Four to announce he's fine, that he did the same thing I did and yanked it out in the scuffle, but he doesn't.

He stares at Eric and me for a second, then he forcibly pushes Rylan away from him. His glare is irritated, and I feel a wave of horror as I realize a few things.

The first is that his mother isn't moving.

The second is that Four is staring at us, unblinking.

"Four?" Eric cocks his head, and he takes a slow step forward. His fingers linger on me, silently coaxing me along with him.

Four takes one step toward him, and he eyes him up and down. He glances at me, then Jason, then Rylan –busy whispering oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck –and he finally shrugs.

"Why are you all calling me that? What's going on here?"