CHAPTER FORTY
FOUR POV
After Zeke, Shauna and Lynn left I rest my head on my desk with my eyes closed. I haven't told Tris but I haven't been sleeping well. Even before the nightmare she witnessed the other night. I know that everything she said to me this morning was right, I just wish it wasn't. I would still like to ring back down to Celine and tell her not to bother coming up here.
"Hello," a soft voice calls out. I look up and see who I assume is Celine standing in my doorway.
I get up from my chair and go over and shake her hand. This is Celine and I offer her a seat. I close my door and walk around to the other side of my desk. I'm not Four the leader right now, I'm Tobias. I sit and face Celine and I have no idea what to say.
"Four let me start by telling you that anything said here today and in the future is completely confidential. We are also able to keep your name off any documents if you wish," she says.
This makes me feel a lot more comfortable. I don't need people like Cameron getting any of my information. I just nod my head to what Celine is saying.
"So, how about you give me a brief idea of what I can help you with and I can determine if you are better seeing me or one of my colleagues," she says.
"Okay. Well first you should know that only my family know what I am going to tell you. I do not want this to be getting out," I say. "My name is Tobias Eaton."
"Marcus Eaton's son?" she asks.
"Correct," I say. "You have probably heard what happened to me. Marcus's trial was . . .."
"Yes I am aware of what you went through," she says.
"It has left me with nightmares. They were extremely bad when I was a child. They got better for a while but I have never really got rid of them. Then a few days ago I was in Candor delivering some prisoners to the jail when I came across Marcus. That night the nightmares were back worse than ever before," I say.
"Four I'm glad you have reached out for help. I think I can help you. But I must warn you, we are going to be looking deeply into your past. To start with you may feel like you are regressing, the nightmares could resurface at a heightened level. But with time I think I can help you," she says.
"How will this work?" I ask. "I don't really want people to know what is going on."
"We can meet in your office or your home. It can be out of normal business hours. You won't ever need to walk into my office if you don't want," she says.
"My office, out of hours would probably be best," I say.
"Does this mean you don't want your partner to know?"
"Tris? She already knows, she was the one who told me to contact you," I say. "I would never want to hide any of this from her."
"Good," she says. "It always helps if you have support from your loved ones. Now I know this next week is a busy time in Dauntless, so let's set up to have our first session in two week's time."
I meet the gang in the dining hall for lunch. I grab my lunch and walk over to the table and sit next to Tris.
"We are meeting with the other leaders this afternoon to decide on Caleb's status," I say.
"That was quick. I hope they agree," she says.
"Me too," I say. "I have enjoyed having him around."
"Is there something else?" she asks.
"Always perceptive, aren't you?"
"Sometimes," she says with a small smile on her face.
"I have an appointment," I whisper. She looks at me questioningly. "About my nightmares, next week."
She jumps up and wraps her arms around me and kisses me. Our whole table turns and they are looking at us. Tris whispers in my ear, "I am so proud of you."
"What did you say to her?" Uriah asks. "I don't think I've ever seen her show that much affection in public."
"When have you seen her show affection in private?" I ask.
"Good point. Just ignore me," Uriah says. Tris just laughs at him.
"How was net jumping?" I ask the table, hoping to get the attention of me.
"It was awesome," says Rita. "I don't really remember jumping the first time and it was so much fun this time."
It is great to hear Rita happy, I didn't know if she was going to get through initiation. Now she is happier and she has made some great friends. You can still see the sadness there but I think the happy times are helping. Maybe there is hope for me. The table starts talking about the craziness of their jumps and I can't even imagine how they could have enjoyed it.
"Tris."
We all turn around at the sound of someone calling Tris' name. Al is standing in front of us. He looks like he hasn't slept for days and he has been crying.
"Hi Al. What's wrong?" Tris asks.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Al says.
"For what?" Tris asks.
"I knew what Peter and Drew planned to do. They wanted me to help but I couldn't do it," Al says.
"What?" I scream. Is he kidding me. I stand up and I feel Zeke and Uriah have moved to stand next to me.
"I'm sorry I didn't warn you. I'm . . .," Al says with tears running down his face.
"How could you?" Tris says.
"I was scared, I wanted . . .. I didn't . . .."
"Coward," says Lynn.
Zeke and Uriah are holding me back. I am so angry right now. Tris stands and puts her hand to my chest. She shakes her head at me. This helps to calm me down but only a little. I would really like to kill Al right now.
"Stay away from me Al. Stay away from me and my friends. I can't guarantee that you will be safe you if you come near any of us again," Tris says with tears in her eyes.
"But," Al says.
"Walk away while you can dude," Uriah says.
I brush off Uriah and Zeke's arms and I wrap my arms around Tris. As we watch Al scurry out the door.
"I can't believe he would do that," Christina says.
"I thought he was a friend," says Marlene.
"He has never fitted in here," I say. "Tris are you okay?"
"Yeah. I don't know. I can't believe this," she says. "I knew he didn't really fit with us but we were always trying to help him."
"Some people just can't be helped," Uriah says.
"Are you going to be okay?" I ask Tris. "I really need to go back to work."
"She'll be fine," Lynn says. "We'll look after her."
"Let's go back up to the roof," Uriah says.
"Do you want to go with these guys or do you want to go and see Caleb? He could probably use the company," I whisper to her. The others don't know Caleb is here, other than Zeke.
"Can I take everyone with me?" she says.
"Of course," I say. "I'll come by and tell you what happens as soon as I can.
"We are all going to Four's," Tris says. "We need to show you all something."
"That is great," Uriah says with a little too much enthusiasm. Everyone turns to look at him. "What? I've always wondered what Four's place would look like."
"Are you really my brother?" Zeke asks. "What would make you think that?"
"He lives in the leaders wing. I always wondered what those apartments would be like," Uriah says.
"Ohh, we thought you meant you wanted to know how Four decorated or something," Lynn says.
"That would be interesting too," Uriah says. We all just laugh at him.
I leave them all and head up to my office. The meeting with the other factions is less than an hour away.
Max, Scott and I are sitting in the conference room ready for our meeting with the other factions. I can't say I'm not nervous. I hope he can stay.
"I thought we were always regarded as being late for everything," Scott says.
"We are. But we were the ones who called this meeting so I thought it would be better to be early. I don't want to piss any of the other factions off before we start," Max says.
"Hello Dauntless," Johanna Reyes for Amity calls out from the computer screen. It's just after lunch and it sounds like she has been getting stuck into the 'blissful bread' as Max calls it. It wasn't until Max told me that they put peace serum into their bread that I understood why Amity members were always so happy.
"Afternoon Johanna," Max says. He likes to have these afternoon meetings with Johanna, he says she is always more likely to agree with whatever plans you come up with because of her high. If it works today, then who am I to argue with him about it.
It isn't long before all the factions have a representative staring at each other from the computer screen. Dad is here for Abnegation, Jack Kang is representing Candor and we have the three Erudite interim leaders Cara, Fernando and Camille all looking at us.
"Thank you all for meeting on such short notice. First I would like everyone to know that Caleb Prior has been found and is in good health," Max says.
"That is wonderful news," Johanna says. "Andrew that must be such a welcome relief for you and your family."
"Thank you Johanna, yes it is," dad says.
"Where was he found?" Cara asks.
"Cara that is sensitive information. I would not like to divulge what has happened until after all the trials at Candor have been finalised," Max says.
"But he is our initiate. We deserve to know," Cara says.
"Cara I will not be telling you this at this time," Max says.
"But . . .," Cara says before being interrupted by Jack.
"Cara could you please let the man speak. I am in the middle of interrogations here at Candor and would like to get this meeting over with as soon as possible," Jack says. "Please continue Max."
"Thank you Jack. Caleb Prior has requested that he would like to stay in Dauntless. After much consideration we have agreed to allow him to stay. But we would like to have all five faction agree to this," Max says.
"I agree," Johanna says. I have to stifle a laugh. Max was right she is very agreeable after lunch.
"I agree as well," says Dad.
"If he has failed initiation in Erudite shouldn't he be factionless," says Jack.
"He hasn't failed initiation," Cara says.
"Well we can't just have initiates jumping faction half way through initiation," Jack says.
"What does the law say?" Fernando asks.
"We don't have a specific law for this," Jack says.
"This is why we are talking this through," Max says. "I believe that if we at Dauntless want to allow him to stay then there shouldn't be a problem."
"I think he should come back to Erudite," Cara says.
"Why should we have him return to Erudite Cara?" Max says.
"He chose Erudite. He should have to stay in Erudite," Cara says.
"Is there a reason he shouldn't Max?" Jack asks.
"Yes Jack. Those arrest warrants you issued were from information Caleb gave you," Max says.
"Well I can understand now why he would want to stay in Dauntless. I agree but I will be drawing up new laws once this mess with Jeanine Matthews is sorted out so we don't have to waste time with this sort of thing again. If there is nothing else I will bid you farewell," Jack says.
I can understand Jack doesn't want to be taken from his other business today. The trials have been taxing on Candor and they have only been for the low level workers. Next week when the leaders are put on trial it is going to be extremely stressful. Jack is always straight to the point and thankfully he has agreed for Caleb to stay. Now we just need to convince Erudite.
I can see the three from Erudite in deep discussion. They separate and Cara is the one to speak. "We will agree to this on one condition," she says.
"What is that?" Max says.
"Caleb showed great promise while he was with us. We would hate for his intellect to be wasted. We would ask that you give him opportunities to become more than, say, just a fence guard," Cara says.
"Cara are you saying that if Caleb wanted to say, become a doctor, you would be happy for him to join such a program in Erudite?" I ask. That is what he had been thinking of studying before.
"Yes Four that is exactly what we are saying. His test results whilst at Erudite were excellent," Cara says.
"Excellent," Max says. "It seems we are all in agreeance here. Cara we will let you know what career Caleb chooses. Thank you all for your time today. We will let you get back to your busy lives. Goodbye"
Max shuts the computer off. "Thank god that is over," Scott says. "I hate these types of meetings. It is so much easier when you can all be in the same room and just stand up and show them your gun."
"I think you may be right there Scott," Max says. "Well Four I think you better go and give Caleb the good news."
"I have an apartment full of people waiting for this," I say.
"Max we have a jumper," Josh says as he runs into the room.
I groan. "Is it an initiate?" I ask.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Josh says.
"There's always a jumper," says Scott.
"We had trouble at lunch. An initiate admitted to knowing what Peter and Drew were going to do to Tris. Forgiveness wasn't on anyone's lips," I say.
"Coward. Better off without him," Max says.
"I'm going to go and tell Caleb the good news. Josh do you know the initiates name?"
"No. I will get word to you as soon as I find out," Josh says.
"Thanks. I am guessing it is Al. He was failing and then with what happened at lunch. Well we know what has happened," I say.
"We will do the funeral straight away Four. I will have Josh come and get you," Max says.
"Okay, thanks," I say and leave the room.
TRIS POV
After Tobias leaves we all sit and talk at the lunch table for a bit longer. It feels nice knowing that we only have the final test for stage three to go and then we will all be members. Not long now. I still haven't made up my mind what job I am going to pick. I really think I will make a better ambassador than leader but I don't want to dismiss the idea of becoming a leader just yet. It will mean spending my days working closely with Tobias. Where if I become an ambassador I will spend a lot of times travelling to the other factions.
"Come on," I say. "We will never move from here if we don't go now."
We all get up from the table and make our way up to the leader's wing to Tobias's apartment.
"Don't you have to go back to work?" Uriah asks Zeke.
"No, Four got me the rest of the day off," Zeke says.
"How did he do that?" Uriah asks.
"It's good having friends in high places," Zeke says.
"Oh please, as if," Shauna says. "He did it for me."
"He did not," Zeke says.
"What are you talking about?" Lynn asks.
"Zeke thinks Four got him the rest of the day off because they are great friends. But really he gave him the day off so we could have a look for a new apartment," Shauna says.
"How did you get a new apartment?" Uriah asks.
"Shauna got a new job. Part of the job package is an apartment in . . . Wait for it bro . . . In the leadership wing," Zeke says.
"What about your weekend parties?" Uriah says.
"You will have to wait until you get an apartment and then you can start having the parties," Zeke says.
"Awesome," says Uriah.
"What's the new job?" I ask.
"I'm going to be the new coordinator for the leaders," Shauna says.
"The leaders have a coordinator?" Christina asks.
"Yeah, they need to make sure that at least one leader is in Dauntless at all times. The leaders have pretty crazy schedules from what I have been told, so it will be my job to make sure everything runs smoothly," Shauna says.
"So you are like a personal assistant?" Christina asks.
"No they have another person who does that job. Although I think Becca was doing that job and she quit last week. She wanted a less stressful job so she found a job in chasm maintenance. Better hours or something she said," Shauna says.
"Personal assistant to the leaders would be a great job," says Marlene. "I wonder if it will come up at job choosing?"
"Ask Four when you see him," I say.
I go to put my hand on the hand scanner to gain access to our apartment when Zeke says, "No let me do it."
Zeke puts his hand on the scanner and the door unlocks. "Show off," I say as we walk into the apartment.
"Caleb," Uriah yells out and goes over and gives Caleb a hug. "I thought you were missing?"
"Not really. I've been here the whole time," Caleb says.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Uriah asks.
"We couldn't," I say. "We needed to keep him safe."
After everyone has said their hellos and given Caleb high fives and a few hugs we all sit down in the lounge room.
"So how did you get out of Erudite without them knowing?" Will asks.
"You should talk to Zeke. He is the one that got me out," Caleb says.
Everyone turns their heads to Zeke and you can see a few mouths have dropped.
"What?" Zeke asks. "Didn't think I could do something like that? Just call me Super Stealth."
We all crack up laughing as Zeke stands and makes a pose like he is a super hero from the old comic books from before the war. I've only seen photos of them but I know there are some in an archive in Erudite.
"So spill 'Super Stealth'," Lynn says.
"Okay," Zeke says. "So remember the day you went to Erudite for an excursion?" We all sit there nodding our heads. How can we forget? Lynn punched Peter in the nose, it was the highlight of my day. "Well I was there too. Four had got some kind of coded message from Caleb and was worried he was in trouble. So he sent me to investigate."
Zeke is making himself sound so important here, I am trying not to laugh. I look around and I can see Shauna and Lynn are trying not to laugh as well. Lynn catches my eye and she is rolling hers. I can't help it, I laugh a little.
"You can laugh all you like little one, I was successful wasn't I?" Zeke says.
Now Shauna and Lynn have cracked up as well. "Okay, Okay," Shauna says. "Get on with the story."
"When you were in the foyer Caleb came and talked to Tris. Four gave me a special signal and so when he walked away I followed him," Zeke says.
"Was that when Lynn pounded on Peter? Coz that was awesome," Uriah says.
"It was just before. I was quiet upset with Four that he didn't let me stay and see that," Zeke says.
"Lynn!" Shauna exclaims. "You could have got in so much trouble for that."
"No. Four told me to make a distraction. So I did," Lynn says.
"Alright now, this is my story. Let me finish," Zeke says.
"Carry on," Shauna says with a sweep of her arm.
"Thank you," Zeke says. "Well I reached Caleb and I was trying to explain that I was here to rescue him but he thought I was a raving lunatic there to kidnap him. But once I gave him the secret code word that Four had told me. Well he started to calm down."
"What was the secret code word?" Uriah asks.
"That is two words I will take to the grave," Zeke says with his hand over his heart. Caleb has started laughing.
"What?" Zeke asks.
"He threatened to kill you if you told anyone. Didn't he?" Caleb says.
"Yes he did," Zeke says. "So I will not be divulging that information any time soon."
"What could be that important that he would kill you?" Uriah asks.
"Seriously Uriah?"Lynn says. "I bet it was his name."
"You know Four's name?" Christina says. Well it was more like a squeal.
"Over a third of this room knows his name Christina," Lynn says. "I wouldn't get too excited."
"That means you know what it is too," Christina says pointing to Lynn.
"How do you know it?" Zeke says. "I thought I was special."
"You are special Zeke. Just not the special you think," Shauna says. Everyone cracks up at this.
"But how Lynn?" Zeke asks.
"That's my secret," Lynn says. I don't think he would be happy if she told him she had guessed it. Plus, before I came here. When Lynn and I were alone I often would call him Tobias. It would be a funny conversation with me calling him Tobias and she would call him Four, even Caleb used to get confused with our conversations. It took him a while to realise that we were talking about the same person.
"Just continue your story Zeke," Will says. He sounds bored with this whole conversation we have been having. Obviously he doesn't care what Four's name is.
"Okay so where was I up to?" Zeke says. "Ah that's right I had just convinced young Caleb that I had in fact been sent to rescue him on Four's orders. So I took Caleb into the nearest bathroom got him to change into some Dauntless clothes and brought him back to Dauntless."
"That's it?" Lynn asks.
"Pretty much," Zeke says.
"You didn't have any problems getting him out?" Uriah asks.
"No. We did get in trouble off some woman for being away from the group. She thought we should have been with the Dauntless initiates and so she walked us back to the foyer so she we could find the group. But other than that. It was easy. Except when I tried to get Caleb to jump on a train. Now that was hard work," Zeke says.
"I wasn't that bad," Caleb says.
"No you weren't but I needed to make something sound a little dangerous," Zeke says.
"So do you have to go back to Erudite?" Will asks.
"That's the big question," I say. "There is a faction leaders meeting on right now to decide."
"So you want to stay here?" Lynn asks.
"Yeah. They might have got rid of Jeanine Matthews but I don't trust them," Caleb says.
"Has this ever happened before? I mean an initiate transferring to another faction in the middle of initiation," Will asks.
"I don't know," Caleb says. "Four said there has been a couple of people who have transferred to Amity after their Choosing Day but he didn't say whether they were full members or not."
"So why do you need all the leaders to agree? Shouldn't it be up to Dauntless?" Will asks.
"Dauntless has already agreed. But they wanted to get all factions to agree, especially after what is happening now," I say.
"And it was really your information that took down all those people?" Uriah asks.
"Yeah it was," Caleb says.
"So you are truly Dauntless," Uriah says. "I don't see why we need to have the other factions agree. Too bad, we got the hero, thank you and goodnight I say."
We all laugh at how over dramatic Uriah is being. Just as our laughter is starting to die down we here the lock on the door click. We all turn to the door to see Tobias walking in. I can't tell by his expression what has happened. I hope it doesn't mean Caleb will have to go back to Erudite.
"Well?" Zeke calls out.
"You can stay," Tobias says and smiles. But there is something wrong I can tell. I can see it in his eyes. What isn't he telling us.
"I can stay? Really?" Caleb says with a lot of shock in his voice. Obviously he hadn't wanted to get his hopes up about this.
"Yes, you can stay," Tobias says. "But there is one condition. Erudite want you to pick a job that you will need further study for. They don't want you to waste your intelligents."
"Stupid noses," Uriah says.
"So I could still become a doctor?" Caleb says.
Tobias nods his head.
"We need to celebrate," Zeke says.
"We do," Tobias says. "But it can wait until tomorrow."
"Why?" Zeke says.
"Because most people in this room have to go through their fear landscapes tomorrow and I think we have a pretty big party planned for tomorrow night," Tobias says.
"Oh yeah," Zeke says, "Forgot all about that."
There are a lot of people all trying to talk at once. It is very noisy in here at the moment. Then there is a knock at the door.
Tobias walks over and talks to someone at the door. We can't see who it is but when he walks back into the room I can see that he doesn't look happy.
"What's wrong," I ask.
"There isn't an easy way to say this," Tobias says, "So I will just tell you. Al jumped into the chasm."
"What?" I say. I can't believe he would do that.
"Coward," Lynn says.
Tobias comes over and asks me if I'm alright. I just shrug. I still can't believe that he would do such a thing. Lynn is right he was a coward.
"It wasn't just what happened with Peter and Drew," Tobias says. "We were going to fail him. He was going to be factionless and he knew it."
We sit and talk for a bit about it. I feel bad that he jumped but I don't feel sorry for him. He took the easy way out. He didn't try to fit in here, he didn't try to help himself. There is so much more I could think but I don't want him to dampen my mood.
I have my brother back and I am really excited that he is going to be able to stay.
"Guys I have to leave," Tobias says. "I have to go down for Al's funeral. You should all stay here and I will come and get you when it's over."
"Do you want us to go with you?" Zeke asks.
"No. He wasn't our friend and I don't think we should be there. I am only having to go because I am a leader. Stay here and chill. Celebrate with Caleb."
I walk to the door with Tobias. "Thanks," I say and give him a hug.
"I won't be long," he says.