I jolt awake, my breaths coming in hard. A dream, just a dream. But it was that of my simulations. I decide to shake it off by taking a walk, tying my hair up into a bun atop my head. My bare feet platter against the stone, the chasm echoing it a bit. Not a whole lot, but enough for me to realize how loud I'm being.
I turn a corner, quickly backing up again. A group of people, all thrashing around, were heading my way. Whispered curses were beginning to be magnified, the squeaking of shoes, the muffled screams. Before they can reach me, however, I run. I don't know if one of them follows me or if they didn't hear or see me at all.
But I end up outside of Four's room. I quickly pound on the door, anything to wake him up. But I can't even go for the second round of knocking before he opens it up. Bags are under his eyes, yet he seems as wide awake as ever, still wearing the training clothes from earlier today. "Grace, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
"I saw something," I say, not really knowing how to phrase it. "I don't know entirely, but there was a small group of people heading towards the chasm. I heard screams, but they quieted and they were all over the place. Tobias, you have to help."
"Why can't you help?"
"It would be stupid - not dauntless - to go into a fight I know I can't win. I don't know how many people are there or what is going on. Please, help."
He doesn't say anything, just pushes me out of the way, running down the way I came. I chase after him, hoping I can at least help fight. I know he's good, but he can't be good enough to fight in such a dangerous area against multiple people. When we get down there, we can see a bit more clearly, as they in the light of the full moon. But I can only identify one: Tris. And she's fighting for her life above the chasm.
Four doesn't say a word, just heads down there and attacks the person he gets to first. Once I gain my head, I go after the other one, the one not holding Tris. As I reach the person, though, I see Tris start to gain footing again and attack the last one. I punch and kick my target every I can, hitting the spots that hurt the most, hoping that I can stop them, but not kill them.
Eventually, the person is down. I turn around to see Tris pass out in Four's arms. "Grace, go back to sleep. We'll talk in the morning," he calls over his shoulder. I nod, even though he can't see me, and walk back to the dorm. I enter the restroom, flipping on the light and looking at me. My feet are scratched, a couple of toes bleeding where I stubbed them on the concrete. Nothing major. Tris and Four probably suffered worse.
I quickly wash up and head to bed, but I can't fall asleep. What had happened? What is going to happen? What could've happened?
The next morning, the word was passed around fast. I sit at a table next to Will, Al nor Tris down here yet. Drew, Peter, and Molly enter, the boys looking like trash. Bruises on their faces, Drew with a bloody lip and what looks to be a broken nose as well while Peter seems to be limping a bit. A few moments behind them comes in Tris. First place.
I guess Peter got what he wanted. Tris looks scared and on the verge of tears. This isn't her. She takes a seat next to me. "What's wrong?"
She looks up at me, tears almost coming out of her eyes before she blinks them back. "Four."
"What did he do?" I ask, a bit too loudly, earning a few glances from Will and Christina, who I had apparently interrupted.
"He doesn't want Peter to attack me again. I don't want to do this, but he thinks it's for the best." The doors open again and this time, Four and Al walk in. Four has a few bruises, but not much. Al, on the other hand, is almost as worse as Drew. I did that. He comes to sit down next to us, but Tris instantly stands up and backs away. "Stay away from me!"
"Tris, come on," I say, grabbing her arm, trying to pull her away from the cafeteria, snagging a couple of muffins.
But she persists. "Why? You know what, I don't want to know. I don't want to see you ever again." I shove a muffin in her mouth and drag her out of the cafeteria, away from the limelight, away from everything. I take her back to the hallway we were sitting in before we went ziplining, just eating our muffins in silence. "Why?"
I look up at her, knowing the rest of her question without her having to explain. "Envy. Hurt. Power. Promise. Authority. It could be a number of things, even a combination. We know he got low on the results - both of them - while you bounced from sixth to first. Peter was jealous, and he may have seen the same glint in Al's eyes and used it to his advantage. Nothing hurts someone more than putting them against the people they love and care about."
"How do you know about this?"
"Has Four told you anything?" She shakes her head. "Well, you're about to find out about everything. You know Marcus Eaton?" She nods. "He's my father. Tobias' as well. I'm Four's sister. All the rumors about how he treats us are real. Mom wanted us to leave, but we couldn't. She at least got away when she died." I swallow back as many of the tears as possible. "It's been months since I've seen him. And I don't want to ever again. When Tobias left, Marcus made it seem like it was my fault. Blaming me. Saying that I somehow changed his mind. He said Mom poisoned us from the beginning and then he would turn around and act like the hero for Abnegation. They say that they elected him because he doesn't want power. That's his exact motive: power. He's just really good at acting. So, yes, Tris, I do understand."
"Why didn't you tell me before?" she asks after a long break of silence.
"It isn't completely my decision to tell. It's Tobias' as well. And if everyone here found out, it'd ruin everything. It'd ruin his hard work, it'd ruin society. So we had to keep it under wraps."
"Why would it ruin society?"
"Not my place to tell."
Tris sighs before she speaks again. "Grace, I'm ... Divergent."
I look up at her. "So glad I met someone like you. You can't go telling people. You don't know how dangerous it is."
"What do they want from me? Why is it dangerous?"
"Mom's death wasn't an accident. And if anyone finds out, it'll be us next."
"You are one too?" I nod.
"We need to go before they get suspicious. We have final training, after all."
She nods and stands up, walking towards the place where our training for stage three will be held.
