Happy Thanksgiving! I've decided to be thankful for the reviews I have gotten and go on ahead and publish the next chapter for you.

Thank you, again, to BK2U for helping me out with her Beta skills for this chapter. I appreiate her taking the time to Bea the whole story so it is ready to go!

Thank you to Ry and D. Lyn, for leaving guest reviews, and also to everyoen else who reviewed this story. You all are great, and I'm thankful for each one of you and your kind words!

Next chapter comes after 10 reviews.

Chapter 2 Simulations

"How did you do it?" Danika asks me again the next day at breakfast.

"Do what?" I ask after I swallow the bite of chocolate chip muffin I was chewing.

"How did you manage to knock me down, not just once, but twice?" She sounds amazed. "I mean, I've been wrestling with my older brother my whole life, and you come in from another faction and land me on my tail."

I don't allow myself to grin. Tori and I agreed that while her friends know who I am, we're not telling my friends until Visiting Day when we can spend the whole day together. "I've read a lot of books."

"Are you still working on the same tattoo?" Lance asks as I stand up to leave from dinner.

"It takes up my whole back," I remind him. "Tori can't do all of that in a day."

"We'll meet up with you at the tattoo parlor," Lance says.

"I'll see you then." I smile at him and Danika and walk away.

"I think he must have a crush on Tori," I hear Ron say in a low whisper. "I mean, to get that big of a tattoo for his first one, he must be trying to impress her and spend time with her to get to know her better."

I press my lips together to keep the laughter in. The people walking out with me move away from me and give me strange looks when I suddenly burst out laughing just outside the door.

Before Lance and Danika show up, Tori's friend comes into the tattoo parlor where Tori is working on my back tonight. "Hi... Hana, right?" I grin, thankful for the distraction. Tori's day today was pretty uneventful and I'm getting tired of hearing about all the different tattoos one person looked at before making a decision.

"That's right. Good memory." She sounds pleased that I remember who she is.

I can't stop from laughing at that. "You're the easiest one of Tori's friends."

"And why is that?" Tori asks, lifting the pen so she can join in our conversation.

"Two reasons." I push myself up on my elbows so I can stretch my back and see a little better. "One, she's the only one that is pregnant. Two, her brother." I pause, remembering meeting him on the first Visiting Day I came to Dauntless to see Tori, and not knowing him despite the fact we had class together. At least now I remember his name, I think. "Isaac?"

Hana nods, letting me know I'm right.

"Isaac was in my class."

"Okay, Georgie, you've proved you have a good memory," Tori says in a patronizing voice.

"Would you quit calling me Georgie?! I hate that name." I wrinkle my nose in disgust.

"What, would you rather I call you Jonathan*?" Tori teases me with a gleam of mischief in her eye.

I am so glad Danika is running late and isn't here right now. I would never hear the end of this if she knew about it.

"Yes! I wish Mom and Dad had named me Jonathan. Even that is better than Georgie," I mutter under my breath. I hate the name Jonathan. I don't know why Mom and Dad ever thought about naming me that, but more importantly, I wish they had never told Tori.

Tori grins as we meet up in the Pit. "You know, there's part of me that almost hopes Mom and Dad don't show up. I only get to see you when I work on your tattoo."

She fusses, straightening the lapel of the black blazer that I'm wearing. I try to be patient with her, but really, do I still need my big sister to dress me?

"George!" Danika is waving me over. I walk over with Tori and sling an arm around Danika's shoulder. "This is my older brother, Conner." She introduces me to one of the men I've seen sitting with Tori.

Conner holds out his hand and I shake it. "Nice to meet you."

Conner eyes the arm I've slung around his sister, then looks me in the eye. "So you're the little brother Tori's talked about."

Danika gives me a little shove. "Tori's your sister?"

Suddenly, Lance's arm is around my shoulder. "George! If none of your family is here, come join us."

I grab Tori's hand and pull her into the group. "My sister, Tori," I say by way of introduction.

Lance looks at me open-mouthed and laughs. "I can't wait to see Ron's reaction! I didn't know you had any family in Dauntless, let alone that you were related to a tattoo artist," Lance says. "She did my 'goodbye' tattoo." Lance pulls his ear back and shows me the flames he has behind them.

"Goodbye tattoo?" I ask, puzzled.

"It's a family tradition," Lance explains with a smile. "We always get a tattoo before Choosing Day so we'll always have a piece of Dauntless with us. I knew I wasn't leaving when she did it, but it's tradition."

"George! George!" Mom's voice catches my attention, and then there she is headed towards us, a woman on a mission, with Dad right behind her.

"Tori!" Mom hugs me and then her daughter. "Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you two ended up together. Let me see you." She steps back and looks over both of us.

Lance still has an arm around my neck and suddenly I realize that he and Danika are waiting to be introduced to my family. I pull her close and wrap my arm around her waist. It seems to fit so easily there. "Mom, this is Lance and Danika."

Danika holds out her hand to Mom without moving away from me. It's nice to act like friends instead of taunting each other all the time.

"No, we're not going to the tattoo parlor so you can see Tori," Lance insists.

I stand up from his bed, where we have both been tying our shoes so we can leave the dorms and enjoy our day off. Fighting is over, Visiting Day is now history. We have one day to enjoy ourselves before we start the next phase of training, and suddenly Lance doesn't want to go anywhere. "I'm not sitting around here doing nothing."

"You can't go spend every spare moment with your sister," Lance says in a low tone. "Faction before blood. Even though you both are in Dauntless, you have to spend some time apart."

"I'm not going to see Tori," I lie, knowing he will still know the truth. "I left my jacket at the tattoo parlor and I need to go pick it up."

Lance shakes his head at me. "Leave it there for later," he urges in the same undertone. "Trust me on this."

"Let's go!" Tori and a couple of other Dauntless bound into the dorms at that moment.

All of the transfers look a little confused, but the Dauntless-born jump up with broad grins on their faces. "About time you showed up!" Lance yells to Tori. He jerks a thumb at me, pointing me out. "This one was about to go leave to pick up a jacket that he forgot somewhere."

Tori grins at Lance. "Good thing you kept him here. I think that jacket is locked up right now, and the person with the key, isn't there right now."

"What's going on?" I ask as we all leave the dorms at a quick pace.

"Dauntless tradition — a newer one, I must admit, since it started with my initiation class — but on your day off, those of us with siblings in the class take you on a little Dauntless adventure," Tori says slyly.

"What's the adventure?" I ask her, realizing that we are headed to the trains.

Tori shakes her head. "No, an even newer part of the tradition is that you transfers don't get to know what it is." She breaks into a run. "Hurry up, slowpokes! If you miss the train, you miss the fun."

I look beside me at Lance, but he is already ahead of me, racing to catch up to Danika, who is farther ahead of us on her way to the trains. I break into a jog trying to catch up with them.

It seems like no time at all before we are on top of the Hancock building. Danika grips my hand tightly; I find myself very thankful right now that I'm not afraid of heights. "I hate it up here. If I had realized that they do it this high up, I wouldn't have come," she mutters softly.

I tilt her chin up so that she is looking at me and promise her, "Look at me, not at anything else. We'll stay away from the edge. You'll be fine."

Danika closes her eyes and shakes her head quickly. "No, we'll be at the edge eventually. That's the only way down."

That's when I look around and start trying to figure out why we are up here. A tall man with broad shoulders, and a thinner, slightly shorter man about the same age are by the edge, working with another one of Tori's friends. I should know all of them, since they sit with Tori, but all I can remember is that the larger of the two men is married to her friend, Hana. Their names are gone.

"Come on, you need to meet the Pedrad clan. I know you've met Hana. She's not here this time because Eli would have a fit if his wife was on this roof while she's pregnant." Tori grins at me. "If there is one thing you can count on with Eli, it's his overprotective streak. Especially when it comes to Hana."

"Do you want to come with us?" I ask Danika softly. I don't want to force her to get closer to the edge than she is comfortable with.

She takes a deep breath. "Just don't let go of my hand."

Holding tightly to her hand, I walk Danika closer to the edge where they are working on setting up what look to be black slings that a whole body would fit into. "Georgie, meet some of my best friends here in Dauntless. This is Eli, Nick, and Leeann." She points first to Hana's husband, the broad-shouldered man with his lip and nose pierced, then to the smaller man, and finally to the lone female in the group. "Nick and Leeann are siblings, and Eli is their cousin."

I hold out my hand and shake each of theirs in turn. "Nice to meet you."

"Glad you decided to join us here in Dauntless," Eli says with a broad grin on his face. "I'm not sure Tori would have been fit to be around if you hadn't."

Tori laughs brightly.

Eli studies Danika for a minute. The smile slips from his face, and he suddenly becomes very serious. "Not big on heights?"

"Not really," she answers, embarrassed.

"You're Conner's sister, right?" he checks.

"Yes."

"Would it help if you went between Conner and George?" He noticed our clasped hands.

Danika takes a deep breath. I can tell she's about to try to put on some Dauntless swagger and deny it, but I want to make sure she is comfortable. "Danika, you're facing a pretty big fear. If it would help, let's do it."

She lifts her eyes to Eli's. "I'd like to go between them, but have Conner go first."

Eli nods once. "We'll be sure to set it up that way."

"Ready?" Nick asks Leeann.

"We're ready on this end," she confirms.

"Let's do it, Eli," Nick says with a grin like his cousin's.

Eli takes charge from here. "Members first! Nick is the first one off. Conner, I want you last of the members. After Conner it'll be the initiates: Danika, George, Lance, then the rest of you find your own place."

And just like that it is settled. No one questions Eli; everyone moves to follow his directions. That's when I remember the other thing I know about Eli — he's one of the people up for the open leadership position. The way that everyone responds to him, I can see why.

Nick shimmies into the first sling facedown, facing forward, and I realize what we are getting ready to do. We are going to jump off the building and zip line down to the bottom. I follow Nick with my eyes as long as I can while he rides down the cable. He quickly disappears and I suddenly wonder exactly how long this ride is.

All of the members slip into their slings as quickly as possible, jumping off the edge with excited yells and calls to one another. Before I know it, Conner is speaking softly to Danika as the person before him goes. "Don't worry, Dan, I'll be at the bottom waiting for you."

Danika nods, and I realize I'm about to lose the feeling in my hand from how tightly she is gripping it.

Conner is gone in an instant. Eli seems to spend just a little more time getting Danika into the sling. Leeann has been the one tightening most of the members in, but Eli makes sure to do Danika's himself. "I promise," he tells her softly, "you're safe. Wait until Conner tells you to, then unbuckle yourself. He'll make sure you land safely."

Danika nods, too frightened to speak. She lets go of my hand, listens to Eli's countdown, and then she is gone.

"Okay, George, let's pick up the pace. We have time to make up here." I smile and hurry to take my position in the sling, anxious to feel the wind on my face. My yell of excitement starts out as one of fear as there is a brief moment of freefall before I feel the line catch me. I soar over the street, watching it grow closer. I wonder if this is what a hawk, like Tori's tattoo, feels like when it rides the thermals. I wouldn't mind trying that. Of course a hawk rides a thermal up, and I'm riding a zip line down. Before I'm ready for it to end, my ride is over. I feel myself sway and hear Danika's voice, much calmer now, yell up at me. "Unbuckle and drop before anyone else gets here!"

"Yeah!" Tori chimes in. "Come on, Jonathan! Let's get a move on."

I glare down at my sister as I unbuckle myself. I guess it's better than Georgie, but still, did she have to say it when Danika is around?

"Jonathan?" Danika turns to Tori. I can see the gleam in her eyes from here. I'm going to hear about this.

Tori looks up at me and laughs as she answer Danika. "Yes, you heard me call him Jonathan. I'll tell you the story on the way back to Dauntless."

There is blood everywhere. I take a step back and realize I am standing in blood. Where did so much blood come from? Surely there are a hundred dead and dying people around me for the amount of blood splattered on the walls, pooling on the floor. My own heart is pumping harder, faster, trying to make up for the blood that is still and no longer coursing through a person's body like it should be. I try to take a deep breath to steady myself, but the smell makes me gag. The smell of blood makes it so much worse. I pull my shirt up over my nose in a feeble attempt to block it out. Think, George, think. What do I need to do?

I need to either find the source of the blood and stop it, or find a way out of here. I start looking again. This time I find the source of the blood and my heart stops.

Tori.

I move as quickly as I can to her, avoiding the blood that creates the trail to where she is propped up against the wall. Carefully, I find a clean spot and kneel by her. I swallow hard and gently put a hand on her neck. Her pulse is weak, but it is there. Tori is still alive.

I have to stop the bleeding.

How did Tori get hurt? Why would anyone hurt Tori? Tori, Tori… I hang onto her name and then suddenly, just like it happened in the aptitude test, I realize this isn't real. This is a look into one of my real fears, just like Tori had warned me.

If it isn't real, like the aptitude test isn't, then I can work with it to do what I want. With more confidence than I felt walking towards Tori, I walk over to the cabinets. I decide the supplies for a tourniquet will be in the second drawer from the end. When I open up the drawer, everything I need is there. I scoop up the supplies and head back to Tori, still careful to avoid the blood, even though I know it's not real. I still don't want it to touch me. There is a spot on her pants that's damp with blood, and I can see the blood oozing out from the material. That's where the tourniquet goes.

I concentrate on setting up the tourniquet instead of focusing on the blood or Tori. I'm almost finished when suddenly…

I'm back on the chair in the simulation room, with Jazz removing the electrodes that connect her to the computer. "I'll be right there, George." She has one of the most soothing voices I've ever heard, and I feel myself calming after my experience. "You did very well," her relaxing voice continues, and she starts to disconnect me.

"Tori?" The word flies out of my mouth before I can stop it. I shouldn't be asking about her.

Jazz says nothing about my slip, but instead smiles. "Everyone around here loves her, George. I'm sure Tori is fine." She removes the last electrode and I hop off the table. "But if you really feel the need to check on your sister, walk by the tattoo parlor on your way back to the dorm. Don't stop in, but I'm sure just seeing that she's alive and well would help right now."

I give her a weak smile, realizing she is friends with Tori and knows our relationship. "How long was I in there?"

"Not long compared to everyone else. You have the fastest time so far. Five minutes. The closest one to you right now took over twice as long. You did really well, George."

"George, we're starting with you today." Danika gives my hand a squeeze as Jazz motions me into the fear simulation room. "Harrison and Ben are going to watch yours, and they both have places to be this morning, so we'll get you out of the way so they can make it to their classes." Jazz closes the door as she finishes her explanation, and I walk in.

Ben and Harrison are already seated by the computer, electrodes in their hands. I watch as Harrison gives Ben directions, and together they work on hooking themselves up to the computer while Jazz hooks me up.

By the time she finishes and gives me the serum, she has just about enough time to hook herself up before I slip under and into the void.

It is dark. Pitch black. Blacker than black. The only time I've ever seen it this dark was the night when I was five and Tori and I stayed late at school. We knew Mom wouldn't be home, and Dad would understand that Tori was trying to get some extra credit work done for her teacher. I hung around like I always did. I just wanted to be with Tori instead of having to find Mom at work and sit with her. It was later than we thought when we started home. The sun was already setting and it was quickly too dark to see. The sky was cloudy. There wasn't even a star out to help guide us home. We got hopelessly lost in the factionless sector.

The sounds there were like nothing either of us had ever heard. They started and stopped at random intervals. One moment it sounded like footsteps, the next moment like a fight. Sometimes there were hushed voices. Other times it was eerily quiet.

This room is that dark. What I wouldn't have given for a flashlight that night.

What I wouldn't give for a flashlight now.

The thought of a flashlight spurs me into action as I realize once again this isn't real. All I need to do is make a few changes and it will all be over.

I picture there being four objects in the room. A light bulb, a candle, a lantern, and a flashlight. I have to find the flashlight because there is nothing to screw the light bulb into, and no match for the candle or the lantern. The only thing that will really help me is the flashlight.

I find the candle first, and then the flashlight. I take a moment to picture it having brand new batteries, and then turn it on.

I open my eyes to the bright lights of the simulation room. My heart is still pounding, but it is starting to slow down.

"How long?" I ask Jazz when I'm calm again.

"Just under four minutes. It's your best time so far."

"My first simulation was fear of the dark, too, but when I was trying to find something in the dark to create light, I couldn't find anything." Tori sounds puzzled that our experiences were different.

I can't help but laugh at how confused she sounds. "Seriously, Tori? Come on, it's easy. All you have to do is think about something and it will be there."

"No, it's not." Tori wipes more blood off my back. "I mean, it didn't just show up for me."

"I can make anything I want show up in a simulation." I try to think of a way I can prove this to her. Suddenly it comes to me. She's friends with Eli, one of the leadership candidates, and two of the trainer candidates. I believe Eli and Chaz, one of the trainer candidates, are scheduled to watch me tomorrow. "You're friends with Eli and Chaz, right?"

"Right," Tori agrees.

"I think the two of them are supposed to watch my fear simulation tomorrow. I'll put a hawk, like your tattoo, in the sky. Ask them afterward if they saw anything in the sky, and if either of them notices the hawk, you'll know I'm telling the truth." It's an easy fix. I can put a hawk anywhere, but it's also not something that would show up in most places.

"Deal," Tori answers. "And when they don't see any hawks, you have to stop talking about this foolishness of being able to change things in your simulations."

"It's not foolishness," I assure her. "I can do it."

Once when I was little, my tutor was sick and I had to go to Amity with Dad. They were having a problem with something in the orchards. Dad told me to look through the grass and find at least three things that were living or had been living, but I couldn't count the grass itself. The first thing I picked up was an apple. The second thing was, I thought, an odd-colored twig. When it moved, I screamed. It was a snake. I look around my legs now at all the snakes sliding and slithering over the ground. There have to be hundreds of them in all different colors and sizes.

I know why they are here. I've been waiting for them to show up. I hate snakes. I despise snakes. I am terrified of those slithering, squirming things. I know they aren't slimy, and rarely are they poisonous. It doesn't matter that Mom and Dad had me do a report on them when I was eight, after discovering my fear. I am terrified of snakes. I take a deep breath, trying to figure out how to get rid of them. There has to be a way to make them go. I shift my weight so I can pick up a foot and stomp one of them. Maybe that would work to end the simulation. Then I remember what I told Tori, and I imagine the hawk in the air. I have to do a couple of lazy circles to make sure it gets Eli's attention. I had planned this out believing I would have two people to possibly see it and answer Tori's question, but Renee — not Chaz — is watching, and from what I can tell, Tori doesn't really know her.

Then it suddenly dawns on me; the best way to make sure Eli remembers the hawk is to use the hawk. At the end of the next circle, I make the hawk dive and grab one of those wretched things in its claws. At my thought, the hawk climbs up higher and higher before dashing it to the ground.

I'm not out.

As I think about it, the hawk dives again and grabs another snake up with its claws; after climbing back up high enough, it drops this one to the ground to kill it, too.

Almost all of the snakes have been dashed by the hawk when I can finally open my eyes and look around the room. There are no snakes.

Eli stands over me, giving me an odd smile, and when I see him, I realize what it means.

I am out of the simulation.

*Depending on what publishing you read of Insurgent, you may or may not catch the joke here. If you read one of the books in the first publication, the fight scene with Tori and Jeanine at the end of the book goes like this…

I yell. Jeanine releases a horrible sound—a gurgling, screaming, dying sound. I see Tori's gritted teeth, I hear her murmur her brother's name —"Jonathan Wu"—and then I watch the knife go in again.

However, before that, in Divergent, Tori did refer to her brother as Georgie:

She lowers her voice. "In the second stage of training, Georgie got really good, really fast."

In later printings, they corrected the mistake and he is always referred to after that as George or Georgie by Tori. So Tori calling George "Jonathan" at this point in the story is really just a tongue-in-cheek joke that goes to the first printing of Insurgent and the mistake that was made in it.