CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

TRIS POV

I walk into the girl's bathroom on the ground floor of our school building. Lynn asked me to meet her here after school. I walk in and I can't help but to laugh. Lynn is standing there in the Abnegation clothes she asked me to bring her.

"Why are you in my clothes?" I ask.

"Why else would I ask to borrow your clothes?" Lynn says.

"I don't know. Why are you doing this?" I ask.

"Tris if you want to come to Dauntless then you need to learn how to fight properly. I know you and Caleb have been working on self-defence moves but seriously that is not going to be enough. You are a girl and you are going to be fighting guys who are twice the size as you. I am going to teach you how to really fight," Lynn says.

"You would do that for me?" I ask. I can't believe that Lynn is offering me this opportunity.

"Yes," Lynn says.

"Well then we better fix your hair. You can't have it up in a ponytail like you do. Here let me put it in an Abnegation bun for you," I say.

"I'm going to shave it all off for initiation," Lynn says.

"Lynn you have beautiful hair. Why would you do that?" I say.

"Well I don't want the guys to think of me as a girl and I especially don't want them to use my hair against me," she says.

"What do you mean? How can they use your hair against you?" I ask.

"Come on let's get out of here, you have much to learn," She says.

We are walking home and no one would know that Lynn isn't Abnegation. She is doing a good job of blending in. I never thought I would see Lynn being able to act so humble.

"How do you wear these clothes all the time? They are horrible," she says.

I can't help but laugh. It must be really uncomfortable for her.

"I don't know, it's all I've ever known," I say.

"I'm going to have to bring you some Dauntless clothes to train in. These clothes will just get in the way," she says.

Lynn and I have been training together for three months now. I am finally starting to get good at this. The first few times I was not prepared for just how intense Lynn could be. She is truly Dauntless. Caleb is totally intimidated by Lynn. I think the fact she accidently punched him and it knocked him on his bottom didn't help. But it was really funny.

We have just finished our training session for the day. We can only practise two days a week because of my volunteering obligations. We hide in the meadow at the back of my house. Mum has even come out and watch Lynn and I spar. She seems to enjoy it, maybe she misses Dauntless more than she is willing to admit.

I could never have imagined my mum as a Dauntless but then she showed me her tattoos and that's when I could finally see her as a Dauntless. Then she surprised me and actually sparred with me. While she was a little rusty to begin with she knew what she was doing and it was kind of fun.

We are sitting in the meadow catching our breath.

"Lynn why me? You are helping me out but Christina and Myra have talked about transferring to Dauntless as well," I say.

"My sister Shauna. She went through initiation with Zeke and Four. The rule was that if you didn't get enough points during initiation that you could become factionless. Well Shauna couldn't fight, she was really hopeless. It was embarrassing. Anyway she asked Four to help her and he did. If it wasn't for Four than my sister might have become factionless. I owe him for that. I have never told him and I know he wouldn't accept anything I tried to do for him," She says.

"You know he hasn't looked at another girl since he has been in Dauntless. He always had Zeke trying to get him to go on double dates with him but he would just get angry with Zeke and walk off. At first we wondered if he was gay. Also there is always some girl who is trying to get his attention. It's sad really, they have no chance. It wasn't until we met that we found out that Four liked girls and it wasn't even girls. It was one girl and one girl only. This is my way of saying thank you to Four," she says.

"I couldn't imagine what it would be like if Shauna had become factionless. We aren't always close but she is my sister and it would have broken my little brother Hector's heart. So that's when I made sure that I could fight. When I'm not here sparring with you I am sparring with a group of Dauntless. We get together on weekends and occasionally though the week. They have taught me so much and now I get to teach you."

"Thank you Lynn," I say. I don't know what else to say to her. She has opened up; Lynn doesn't usually say much but it's nice to see how much she loves her family. I'm glad she shared. I'm also really glad she is helping me to learn to fight.

TOBIAS POV

"Four," Max calls out to me as I am passing his office.

"Max," I say standing is his door way.

"Come in and close the door," he says. "Are you on your way to our meeting?"

"Yes I am," I say.

"Look Four, when we are in this meeting I need you to keep your cool in front of Jeanine. I don't know what she is up to but I think we are getting closer to finding out. She wanted Eric for leader. She started to promise me all kinds of shit I knew she couldn't deliver on. The only way she could deliver half of what she was promising was to be in charge of the council," he says.

"This is the first meeting she will be coming to Dauntless for since I didn't give Eric the leadership position. Don't even bother asking about how she reacted when Eric didn't get the position. So I don't know what she is going to be saying here today. I need you to keep your cool. Just let her speak unless you are asking a technical question. Do not let her think that you don't like her. She is a master manipulator and she is very good at reading body language. Just be careful in there. She is really good friends with Graham and she also has a good relationship with Vera. But Vera being Vera, well we all know how unpredictable she can be. You never know which way she will vote on an issue."

"No problem Max, I understand," I say.

"Good. Now let's go and see what this bitch wants," Max says.

We walk into the meeting room, the one that I started my leadership training in. My first thought is that if I get bored at least I can look at the view. We are the last of the Dauntless leaders to arrive now we are just waiting for Jeanine and whoever she may bring.

"Good afternoon Dauntless," Jeanine says as she walks into the room with two men in blue.

"Jeanine," Max says. "What can we do for you today?"

"Well my scientists, as usual, have been extremely busy trying to come up with ways to benefit our great city," she says.

All I can think is, what she trying to sell here. With the warning I got from Max there must be something big that is going to happen. I wonder if this is what Evelyn was talking about.

"Now we have come up with a tracking serum that we can inject into your members so that if they go missing we will be able to locate them," she says.

"Do we have statistics on how many of our members have ever gone missing?" Scott asks.

Max just shakes his head no.

"I would rather have the statistics before I sign off on our members being injected with a serum," Scott says.

"Scott I would think keeping your members safe would be more important than worrying about the injection itself," says Jeanine. "This could help find someone if they are in trouble and can't get back to Dauntless."

"Why a serum?" I ask. "What I mean is wouldn't a GPS microchip be more effective? How long would a serum last?"

"Well Four," Jeanine says. I can already hear the disdain in her voice. "Erudite scientists have deemed this a more efficient way of administering the tracking devise."

"We would start with Dauntless and eventually proceed to the other factions. It would only be activated if the member was missing. Unlike a microchip that would tell us where a person is at all times. We feel that if we use a microchip it could be invading member's privacy as the chip would be active at all times. I'm sure as leaders of this faction you would not want your whereabouts disclosed to the wrong people," she says.

I can't really argue with what she is saying but I don't like the thought of being injected with a serum that I really know nothing about.

"Is there a reversal serum? Like with the truth serum Candor have. Say a member was kidnapped, could the person give them a reversal serum so that we wouldn't be able to track them?" I ask.

"Only a select few high ranking members of Erudite would have access to such a thing. But no we do not have a reversal serum at this time."

"Well Jeanine, I think you have given us all something to think about. We will have a discussion and get back to you as soon as possible," Max says.

"Thank you all for your time. I will be awaiting your decision Max," Jeanine says.

Jeanine and her flunkies leave.

"I think this is a great idea," Graham says. "It is better to be safe than sorry. I would hate something to happen to one of our members and we couldn't find them because we didn't take Jeanine up on this offer."

"When was the last time we had a missing member?" Scott asks. "This serum sounds good in theory but I'm still sceptical of why it is in a serum. I think Four had the right idea, a microchip seems more practical."

"Do you really want to be able to be tracked all the time Scott?" Vera asks him. "There are times I am sure you don't want people to know where you are."

There seems to be some kind of double meaning to that. I have to wonder what Scott could be hiding. I could imagine Vera having some interesting secrets. There are always rumours about who she is having an affair with, she seems to have gotten around a lot of our Dauntless members, both male and female. But Scott I'm surprised that he has secrets.

"They don't have to turn the microchip on Vera. And I'm only talking out loud. I'm not saying we shouldn't agree to do it, I just want to look at it from all angles," Scott says.

"Okay let's do a quick vote. I don't want to have to sit here all afternoon. Majority rules. Hands up who wants this tracking serum?" Max says.

Graham raises his hand a little too quickly I think. Vera raises her hand as well. I think the concept is a good idea but it is a serum. It probably won't work on anyone who is divergent. So even if I went missing I probably wouldn't be found by the tracking serum anyway. I'm sure that there are others who would have the same problem as me.

It doesn't matter what I think, Scott has just put his hand up. I think it is only because he is hiding something. Not that he is working for Erudite, I think it's a more personal issue.

"So does that mean you aren't in favour Four?" Graham asks.

"Not at all. I think in theory it is a great idea. I would just like more information before I start injecting our members," I say.

I know Graham is testing me here. I can feel it, especially after my conversation with Max. Well it looks like our members are going to be injected.

"Okay let's wrap this up. It's the weekend and I for one would like to finish my day early. I will ring Jeanine on Monday and give her our answer. Let her stew for a few days," Max says. "Have a great weekend everyone."

Max has agreed that this is the last week that I will be going out on patrol looking for Evelyn. On these patrols I have noticed that there is more order between the factionless. Even when you see them getting food or clothing from the Abnegation volunteers, there isn't the push and shove that there used to be. I am just about to call it a day when I hear her call my name.

"Tobias," Evelyn says.

I turn to the guards that I am with and say, "Stay here. I need to talk to her for a moment."

"Whatever you need Four. Just call out if you need us," Chris the leader of the group says.

"Thanks," I say.

I walk over to Evelyn. "Evelyn," I say.

"Look how much you have grown. I almost didn't recognise you. I was a little shocked when I heard you transferred to Dauntless," She say. "I thought you may have stayed, you know, with the Prior's taking you in."

"My leaving had nothing to do with the Prior's. They have always treated me well. I have so much to thank them for," I say. Hoping she will understand that I am trying to have a dig at her inept parenting, not that what I said about the Prior's isn't true.

"Tobias," Evelyn says.

"Evelyn my name is now Four. I would appreciate if you could use that," I say.

"Fine, Four," she says. "What are you doing out here?"

"I heard you were the factionless leader. We have noticed that the factionless are becoming, well, better behaved," I say.

"So you are reaching out to me as a leader, not as your mother," She says.

"Why would I reach out to you as my mother?"

"Tobias," she says.

Before she can say anything else I cut her off. "My name is Four," I say. "You have no right to call me anything else."

"Four, please," she says. "I am still your mother."

"No you gave up that right a long time ago. Natalie is my mother. She was the one that was there for me when I needed you. She was the one who protected me from that monster," I say. "What did you do? You waited until it suited you to come and try and have a relationship with me. You tried to rip me out of a home where I was loved to join you. To give me no future, to become factionless."

"Four it wasn't like that."

"Look Evelyn I'm not here to reminisce about old times. I am here only for business. As a Dauntless leader we want to know what is going on with the factionless. We think it is better to have a line of communication open with you. That way we can better protect everyone, not just faction members but the factionless as well," I say.

"There isn't much to tell you we are looking after our own. We are trying to make a community," she says. But I find that hard to believe. Evelyn never does anything unless she will benefit from it.

"Really Evelyn? You want me to believe that? Because I don't," I say.

"Well times are changing, Four. We are preparing ourselves," she says.

"For what?" I ask.

"Have you not read the reports. Erudite want to run this city. Jeanine Matthews is not going to stop until she has the power. We are preparing for when that happens," she says.

"You think the factionless can take over the government?"

"If Jeanine tries to take control, then yes. We will do what we can to stop her," she says. "We are stronger than you think. We could use someone like you Four. It could benefit both you and I if you came to join me."

This makes me laugh. "You really think I am going to leave my faction; the faction I chose to help you? I don't think so. Watch yourself Evelyn, for now only Dauntless are watching what is happening with the factionless. But it will eventually come to the attention of the other factions. You know that we have the power to break up the factionless. Stop you from grouping together," I say.

"You wouldn't do that to me," she says. "I know you still have feelings for me. You will come around."

"No Evelyn I don't. I haven't had feelings for you for a very long time," I say. "What you did, that will never be reversed. You need to realise that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Max. I hadn't thought about you in a very long time."

"Four, please," she says, again.

"No Evelyn. If you see me, it will only be for business. I don't want or need a relationship with you," I say. I walk away, I go back to the Dauntless guards. I will let Max know what is going on, Hopefully I won't need to come back here again. Maybe we need to set up a liaison to deal with Evelyn and the factionless because I don't know how many meetings I could stand having with her. Join her and her factionless friends. I don't think so.