CHAPTER ONE

Uriah

I wake with a start. I'm… in my bedroom? At Mom's? I haven't slept here in so long. Not since before we went to the Bureau…

Everything comes back to me in a flash, and my breathing quickens. Was that real? Was it a dream? If it was real, will Tris remember me? Will she help me fix everything that is bound to go wrong? What day is today?

In a panic, I throw on clothes as fast as I can before quickly using the bathroom, splashing water on my face, and brushing my teeth way too quickly to truly get them clean. The living room looks as I always remember it, and my school backpack sits by the door. Mom seems to be gone, maybe to work, I guess?

On a typical day, I would go to the dining hall for breakfast, so I do that next. I hope I can find out when I came back to without anyone thinking I'm crazy. Luckily, when I slide in next to Zeke with a muffin in my hand, he asks me a question that relieves my curiosity instantly. "Hey, little bro! Nervous about your test?" Across the table from me, Marlene looks sick with anxiety. The aptitude test.

Speaking of Marlene, I can't take my eyes off of her. She takes my breath away. Marlene is average height, slender, but strong and curvy. Her light brown hair frames her face in ringlets, and her hazel eyes are bright and full of a love and excitement for life. There's a small scar on her forehead from falling out of a tree once when we were kids, and freckles pepper her nose. I just want to hold her, kiss her, God, I've missed her. But I realize, we aren't together yet. We're still just friends. This will be even worse for Tris- Four won't even know her.

"Nah, not at all," I answer, and it's true. I've done this before. I know what will happen. There's nothing to be nervous about. Everything after it? Sure. But not about my test. "I'm staying here either way, no reason to worry." Four is sat across the table, next to Marlene. "Excited for the new transfers tomorrow, Four?" I ask with a smirk. He gives me a confused look, as I'd expect. Because I know, assuming that this wasn't just a very vivid, bizarre dream, that tomorrow, he will meet the love of his life. His world will never be the same.

"Uh, I guess," Four responds, still looking at me like I'm crazy.

"You'd better take the rest of that muffin to go, Uriah," Marlene interrupts as she gets up and slings her backpack onto her back. "We're going to miss the train if we don't hurry up."

I don't hesitate. I want to get to school and find Tris, as fast as I can.

Tris

I wake in my bed in my Abnegation home. That couldn't have been real. It was just a dream. An extremely detailed and strange dream. A very detailed, very real dream. How can a dream leave me with my heart hurting like this? I'm so heavy with guilt for leaving Tobias. How can I fall so deeply in love in a dream?

"Beatrice," my mother calls, "hurry and get dressed. We need to cut your hair before you leave for school."

The last time my mother cut my hair was the day of my aptitude test. Or maybe that was the dream?

Once I'm dressed and my teeth are brushed, I hop onto the stool that is sitting in the hallway. My mother slides the panel back, revealing the mirror. I stare at myself in it as she snips at my hair. In my dream, I was strong, my hair was short, my eyes were… older looking. But today, I see the little girl I always had been before I chose Dauntless, or before I chose it in the dream. Weak and scrawny, a thin pale face with wide eyes and a nose that is too long, and my hair hangs more than halfway down my back.

"So, today is the day," my mother says.

Wait. She said that in my dream. "Yes," I answer nervously.

"Are you you nervous?"

"No," I lie, "the test doesn't have to change our choices." I am nervous, though. I am nervous because when I take that test, I will know for sure whether that dream was real. I have never seen or heard what to expect in the aptitude test, there's no way I could correctly dream it.

I notice something I never had before. My mother stands sort of up on her toes, like she has too much energy, like she's ready to act. She stands like a Dauntless.

"Right," my mother says as she twists my hair into a bun and pins it in place. "Let's go eat breakfast."

"Thank you," I say, and I hug her tightly. "For cutting my hair," I add, though I have so much more to thank her for. Tomorrow, will I leave her? Will I go to Dauntless, like in the dream?

As soon as we get to school, I break away from Caleb as quickly as possible. I'm sure I'm being silly. Caleb didn't do all those things. It was a dream. It was only a dream. Caleb would not betray me like that. Still, I can't shake the anger and resentment I feel toward him.

In the hallway, an Erudite boy bumps into me and spits out, "watch where you're going, Stiff." This happened in my dream, as well. But this time, I don't fall. Somehow, I know how to keep myself steady. So I just clench my fists and glare at him, then resume my walk to faction history class.

That is, I begin to, but someone grabs my arm and pulls me off into a corner of the hallway. I turn, angry, until I see who it is. When I look at his face, I am a jumble of emotions. So happy to see him, so confused that I know him and he seems to know me, and terrified at what that means. My stomach twists. The shock must be evident on my face, because Uriah just sets his lips into a straight line and looks at me with one of the most serious expressions I've ever seen on his face. "So… I guess that was real."

I am so shocked I can't even speak. Finally Uriah gets impatient. "Tris?" Oh my God. He called me Tris. That was really real. All that, it happened.

I nod slowly. "Apparently, yes."

"Look," Uriah says, "we've got to get to class. But we both get sent home early today, right?" I nod again. "Meet me by The Bean after your test. We need to talk." Then he smiles. "Oh, and it's good to see you, Trissy." He disappears into the crowd of students, leaving me reeling.

I'm terrified. All that happened in the dream… everything from Peter, Drew and Al kidnapping me to attack on Abnegation and everything that followed after… that was real. And I can only assume it will happen again. But my heart skips a beat at the realization that Tobias was real, too. Our love, it was real.

I'll have to choose between my family and myself, my Tobias, my friends. But I already have, haven't I? I already chose when Uriah and I chose to come back.

Tobias, I am coming back to you. We will always find each other.

Uriah

When I pulled Tris aside, she looked like she just saw a ghost. I guess she was way more convinced than me that it was just a dream. Clearly, it wasn't. Tris and I didn't even know each other before she came to Dauntless. Super weird seeing her in her Abnegation clothes, though.

We had classes all morning, then lunch. The test is in the afternoon. Which means, it's now. All the sixteen year olds are sitting grouped by faction outside the testing rooms. Last time, I was playing cards with Marlene, so I'm trying to do that again, but I'm distracted. My eyes are on the Abnegation table, and I see that Tris's eyes are on me as well.

"Uriah! Where is your mind today?!" Marlene laughs. "You know this game requires you to actually pay attention, right?"

Instead of answering her question, I blurt out, "Have you ever thought much about how we all keep so separate from each other?" Marlene furrows her eyebrows. "I mean, we're all dependents, we won't necessarily end up in the factions we were born in, why don't we ever talk to each other?"

"Uhhh… no, I can't say I've given that much thought," Marlene answers, eyebrows raised. "I mean… we know why. That was the whole point of taking faction history for ten straight years of school."

"Yeah… but do you really think we can only be one thing? Okay like for example, bravery. It takes bravery to be honest all the time, don't you think?" Marlene frowns. "And selflessness. Like what we are supposed to do is risk our own lives to protect others, isn't it? Isn't that selflessness? But it definitely takes courage to do it."

"Uriah…" Marlene says slowly. "You're kinda scaring me." Then she laughs as she says, "you and these deep thoughts, it's like we're in an alternate universe." Well, yeah, we kinda are, Mar.

I just shrug. "I dunno, I guess… I like to think I'm kind. I think you are kind, too, Mar. But we're still both brave, right?"

"So, is that why it's always a Dauntless-born who jumps first on choosing day? Because the other factions can be just as brave? I don't think so." Bad move, Mar. I know who jumps first this year.

"Well, there is the fact that most of us know what's at the bottom. But I will bet you," I say with a smirk, "that it's a transfer that jumps first this year. And you can't go first if you take this bet. That wouldn't be fair. You can't talk Lynn into it, either."

"Okay." Marlene has this self-satisfied smile, like she's as good as won. "What will I win?"

"It doesn't really matter, because you won't," I answer with a cocky smile, "but… hmm… if you win, then… you can have my Dauntless cake for a whole week." Marlene's jaw drops in shock. Yeah, I really love that cake. I'm pulling out the big guns here. "And if I win, I get your cake for a whole week."

"Okay," she grins, "you're gonna regret it when you're watching me eat your cake! So, which faction do you expect to jump first?"

"Abnegation," I answer immediately. Shit. I shouldn't have said that. The only Stiff who's ever transferred is Four. Now she's gonna know something is up!

I laugh to play it off as a joke, and Marlene joins me, nearly doubling over. "If it's a Stiff that jumps first," she says loudly, still laughing, "-and that's if a Stiff transfers to Dauntless at all-I'll give you my cake for a whole month."

"I still get a week of cake though, if it's a transfer from Candor or Erudite?" She nods. I know Tris will transfer, and I know she will jump first. Especially now, with Four waiting at the bottom. "Then yes, you're on. Nothing to lose, right?" Tris was close enough to hear the whole thing and she's smirking at me. 'You'll be sharing with me,' she mouths and I burst out laughing again.

Marlene gives me a look that says, 'you're a weirdo,' but I'm saved by the test administrator when an Abnegation lady calls, "Uriah Pedrad." As I walk to my testing room, I hear Tori call 'Beatrice Prior' and realize after a moment that she's calling Tris. I glance over at Tris as she walks to her test as well, and she looks back at me. I wink at her as I enter the room and sit in the simulation chair.

I jump when the test administrator sits down on a stool beside me. I just saw her last night. It was Tris's mom. Hopefully she thinks I'm just nervous as I gape at her while she puts the electrodes on me, then on herself. It's not until she hands me the little cup of liquid that I realize, I don't know what to do when I get into the sim. Should I try to get a straight Dauntless result, pretend that I am not aware? I still don't know what to do when I drink the serum.

I open my eyes to a familiar scene: I'm in the cafeteria alone, and there is snow falling outside. On a table ahead of me are two bowls. "Choose," a voice says. I have to make up my mind fast. I choose the knife. The bowls disappear.

Now, the dog. I'm ready for him. He charges at me, growling, and I stick the knife through his neck. The dog falls, dead.

I fall through the floor and land in the bus. The man asks if I know the guy whose picture is in the newspaper, and I say no. He persists, and I still say no.

Tris's mom smiles at me. "You showed an aptitude for Dauntless, Uriah. Good luck at the choosing ceremony tomorrow!"

I smile at her and sigh in relief. I did it.