Chapter Fifteen – Family

I almost forgot about the classification from phase two until we saw Four coming out of the dorm as we walked towards there. Strangely, he pretends like he didn't see us – it can't be a good sign. I hold Emmett's hand. I know today's simulation was important and it was Emmett's worst simulation. He squeezes my hand. I don't really understand if it means it's okay, or if it means we need to be careful. I hold the door's handle and look up to Emmett – just to make sure. His blue eyes look at me for a brief second before he nods, making his dark hair fall to his forehead He shakes his head to put it to the side and I open the door.

The dorm is empty, so I'm guessing everyone is having dinner right now – weird that we didn't notice people going for dinner back when we were in the Pit. Well, I guess we were talking about more important stuff, like our Divergence. Even thinking about the words "our Divergence" makes a chill pass through my spine. I'm only used to think about my own Divergence, now, more than ever, I need to be concerned with Emmett's as well.

Emmett actually has to drag me to the board because I freeze after I pass through the dorm. What if I'm still in the last place? What if I'm the one who has to leave? So while he drags me there, which takes about ten seconds, all I'm thinking is: not me, please, not me. Not now that I'm finally dating Emmett. I look up when he stops and, guess what? It's not me! It's Lucas. I'm sorry for him, I really am, but I can't say I would prefer if it was me.

Suddenly I feel Emmett's arms around my waist and he kisses me in the forehead. "Congratulations!" He says, though he doesn't sound excited at all. I slowly move my eyes from the last place in the board to him – still not believing it is not my name in there. "What for?" I ask. He raises one of his eyes brows to see if I'm serious. I keep my waiting-for-you-to-explain expression, so he puts his fingers under my chin and turns my head to the board again, but this time, I'm looking at the first place. And there it is:

Is

My mouth opens with surprise. How is this even possible? Even if I was the faster in phase two, it can't have been good enough to compensate my classification in phase one. I look to the second place, and I see Emmett's name, as I was expecting, though it should have been in first place. No matter how long he took in today's simulation, I bet he wasn't the one to take longer, as both Lucas and Liz never took less than seventeen minutes, plus Emmett had very good timings in other simulations, so he shouldn't be on second place and I shouldn't be in the first place.

"We need to talk to Four." I say. "This can't be right." Emmett shakes his head. "It wasn't Four, Is. Can't you see that?" This time, I'm the one who to shake her head. What is he talking about? "Think. Who else was in the simulation room today?" I don't need to strain to know what he is talking about. "Eric." He nods. "That's right. Eric put you in first place." "But why?" I keep on shaking my head. "Why would he do that?" I start trembling even before he answers – I have an idea of what he is going to say. "He knows something. But he's not sure yet." He doesn't say what the something is, but it's implicit on his tone of voice – a scared murmur. "How can you tell he is not sure yet?" Emmett closes his eyes, as if it was painful for him to tell me. "Because he's Erudite. If he was sure, you would be death by now." For my own surprise, I stop trembling when he says that. I don't remember if Owen or Maeve had told me that already, but I think that for some reason I always knew, and that's why I've always hated Eric – because he's an Erudite like Ethan - well, if we don't count on the fact that he's a total idiot as well. But maybe a smart idiot.

Emmett wakes me up from my own thoughts. "The best thing we can do now it's pretend everything's normal. Just until after dinner. Then we will talk with someone, but not Four." I look into his eyes, asking for an explanation. "What if we wait in the bed?" He says, with a smile – even though we first kissed in the dark hall that leads to the dining hall, the bed has always been special, it's sort of that place we were never afraid to say we needed each other.

I let him take me to the bed, and he does that train thing, making me lie with my back against his chest as he sits against the pillows. He cares me in the arm for a few minutes before he asks what I know he's been waiting to ask. "Where have you been with Owen when he kissed you? You were out of the headquarters, weren't you?" It surprises me that he talks about the kiss without freaking out. I mean, he's not fully relaxed, but he's not worried either, like he really knows it didn't mean anything to me. I feel like kissing him in that exact moment – I never realized how much he trusts me – but I force myself to control and answer him. I mean, anyone can come in any second, and we're in his bed…

I tell him everything since Owen asked me to go out with him and his sister and her friends, taking more time to describe the bikes and the feeling of riding and rushing through the kissing part. He's a good listener – for the whole time I'm talking he doesn't say a word, though he does make some expressions every now and then.

"So you're saying that they go riding when they feel like it?" "Huh-huh." I say, telling him he understood. "And you think Owen can help us out of the headquarters and at the same time borrow us a bike?" I stand up to look at him. "Emmett, I don't think-" "You promised." He says. "And I won't let it get you in trouble." I shake my head. What?! "So you're not thinking about running?" He almost laughs. "Nope. I just want to visit my family." I freeze. Visiting his family also means visiting my family, as we're neighbors. He makes me turn again and lie, his arms holding me tight. "You can stay—if you want…" I sigh. He can't do it without me. I know his trying to convince himself he can do it on his own – for me – but he can't. Plus, I did promise.

"I want to." I say. "I have some things I would like to tell my parents. Like why on earth they never told me I have a sister!" I tremble a little as I remember my simulation. Emmett looks at me, surprised and I think I scared him. "Is-", but the others start arriving and it stops him from complaining. I turn off our bed lamps, and close my eyes. If he wants to talk to Owen during the night, I need a nap now. I feel him caring me in the arms, then playing with my air, and when I eventually fall asleep his fingers are entertained on my stomach.

Emmett wakes me up a couple of hours later. "I don't know how you didn't wake up when Ethan started to shout names and threats at Four, once he saw that he's in third place." He whispers and laughs, as we leave the room. I ignore him. "How do you expect us to find Owen now? He's probably asleep…" "He's not." Emmett shrugs. "I've been planning on talking to him for while, and I told him after they called your name. He and Maeve are waiting for us in the chasm." "What do you mean by «in the chasm»?" I ask, not really liking the plan. "Yeah… we'll have to go down there. If we're planning an escape we can't let anyone hear us and I- huh-" "Yes?" Even in the dark, I can see he's blushing. "I didn't want them to know we use hide up in the wooden bridges." I laugh, even though the thought of having to meet Owen and Maeve down in the chasm still concerns me.

But once we get there, it doesn't seem so bad. Owen and Maeve were there already, waiting for us and ready to prepare our escape. I was surprised that Maeve was there, after what Owen told me, but she said she was going to be our back up in case we took longer than the others and didn't come back with Lauren's friends, so she wouldn't go out of the headquarters, and I stopped "being surprised". I didn't do much really. I nodded every once in a while, but I mostly listened to Owen, Emmett and Maeve discussing the best routs to take towards the suburbs of the Candor faction. Owen told us it'll happen tomorrow.

It was hard to pretend I wasn't going to break a rule tonight as we have breakfast in silence. Not even Maeve was in the spirit to talk. "Dauntless initiates and transfers, with me!" I'm surprised to see that it's Lauren who calls us. We all stand up and follow her. I wonder where Four is and why isn't he the one to introduce us to phase three. She leads us to another of the Dauntless halls I don't think I've ever been in, but that doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is the room we enter. It's like a waiting room with monitors. Right now the monitors only show us an empty room, but a second before I notice I was wrong. The room wasn't empty – Four is there preparing syringes, but before he was on a black spot of the camera. I freeze and I can tell Emmett's worried too, even though Maeve is standing between me and him – Emmett and Owen have been silently communicating to make sure everything's ready for later today.

"This room you're seeing is called fear landscape." Lauren says to call our attention. "I'm guessing Four told you what is the point of phase three, so I don't need to explain to you again." She makes a pause. "Here, you'll face all of your fears. It's a little different from phase two, and by this I mean, that in this room, you'll be conscious of the fact that you're in a simulation, therefore you'll be able to control what happens." Some people sighed from relief, but I didn't. I've been able to do that even in phase two and it didn't quite help me.

"Last year," Lauren continues "I was afraid of spiders, of suffocating, of walls that slowly contract to trap you inside, of incontrollable bleeding, of being expelled from the Dauntless faction, of my dad's death, of being crashed by a train, of being publicly humiliated and of being kidnapped by some men with no face." No one said a word. But I counted them – nine fears. I can't even think about going through that many fears. There was movement by my side as Emmett switched places with Maeve – it must be hard for Owen to see his sister tell everyone about her fears. "You'll probably have between ten and fifteen fears, it's the average number."

"But you got nine," Ethan says, apparently he did the math too "so what was the smallest number anyone has ever had?" Lauren tenses up a little before she answers. "As far as I know, four." I have to say, I'm surprised that someone had such a small number of fears. I wonder how many fears I have, but I have the feeling I won't find that out today. And my feeling is confirmed once Lauren speaks again. "But you won't know your number today. You'll go through my fear landscape to see how it works. Then, you'll have three days to prepare for your own fear landscape."

I was expecting the others to complain as they always do every time we're given news about phases, but this time, everyone kept quiet. This is the decisive phase. We all know it. As there's no more to say, Lauren starts distributing her fears. Starting by one of the Dauntless-born initiates until Liz, who's on the opposite side. As I'm somewhere in the middle of the end, I got the second fear – suffocation – the same a girl standing next to the first Dauntless-born initiate to know his fear got. Emmett got spiders; this is going to be easy for him.

We watched the first guy go inside as we sat on the chairs in the waiting room. There weren't enough chairs for all of us, so I sat on Emmett's lap, and Maeve sat on Owen's. Even this way Liz had to stand up, but I don't think she bothered. She seems distracted and her eyes are red. She has probably been crying because of Lucas. They really became friends here, but I guess now Lucas can have his girlfriend back, if he can find her.

It's weird to see the other initiates on their simulations, because we can see them moving on the monitors, but we can't see what they're seeing. The hardest one for me to watch so far was the second one, but that's probably because it's my fear too. "Owen, c'mon." Lauren said, as the guy before him got out. I didn't want to watch my friends, so I turned to Emmett while Owen and Maeve were inside. Once Maeve got out with the best timing of the day - as always -, she and Owen left to start working on our plan. I was left alone, and this time I had to look at the screen showing Emmett.

For my surprise, at first, he actually looked scared, and I wonder what the spiders were doing to him, but then, a minute later, out of nowhere, it was like he was holding a gun and shooting the spiders. On the heart beating monitor we saw his cardiac rhythm slowing down and Emmett woke up to the real world.

Lauren called my name as Emmett crossed the door. I was shaking a little when Emmett gave me a kiss in the forehead. He silently asked me if I wanted him to wait, but I shook my head – he's supposed to go get lunch for the four of us and then I'll meet them at an old laundry. I stepped into the room and pinched my lips as Four inserted the syringe on my neck.

I wake up with some tissue around my neck. My hands are tied behind my back. I'm sitting on a chair, and I know there's someone behind me, making sure the rope is well tight. My heart beats to fast. Suffocation! How am I supposed to control my breathing if I'm being suffocated?!

Suddenly the hands are not tightening the rope anymore, they pulling the tissue and suffocating me. I want to scream but the tissue is blocking both my air and my voice, in or out. I'm trembling violently as I panic and I know I'm losing my strength. I'm going to die. «I'm sorry, Emmett», I think. And that's when I remember it: didn't Emmett have a gun?

A small knife appears in my hand, and whoever is pulling the tissue around my neck doesn't seem to notice it. I cut the knife, accidentally cutting wrist as well. It starts bleeding and it ashes, but I can't stop. I untie the rope, making sure the knife won't fall. I'm feeling myself pass out. This is it, I'm dead. But then, I'm not controlling myself anymore. I quit from the rope and stretch my arms to the back, stabbing the person behind me. The tension in my neck reduces and I feel the air coming in. Finally the rope drops to the floor and I take the tissue out of neck.

There's an old man's body lying on the floor. Probably someone Lauren feared. My wrist is still bleeding, and I'm still breathing too fast. I have to give it a few tries before I manage to slow down my breath and my heart beat. Everything goes black, and I feel relief, as I fall to the ground.

I open my eyes and I'm back on the fear landscape room – I think I'll never face this room as a simple computerized room anymore. I'm laying on the ground and Four helps me on my feet. My wrist is not bleeding, there are no marks on my neck or my wrists, but I still feel the tissue and the rope, killing me. "You okay?" Four asks. I don't answer. I simply leave the room, holding the wall. I need to find my friends. No one in the waiting room dares to look at me – they all know the feeling of being tortured, and the fact that it's all inside our heads makes it all worse.

My wrist ashes as I have my hand leaning against the wall, but I don't care, I keep walking. I take about twenty minutes to get to the hold laundry – four times the time I would take if I hadn't just been through one of the worst experiences of my life.

I open the laundry's door and I sit in the first chair I find. Emmett immediately rushed towards me. "I'm fine." I say in a weak voice. "I think I just added suffocation to my list of fears." "You look really bad." Maeve says, throwing a sandwich to Emmett, who takes a small piece of it for me to eat. "She's been worse." A chill passes through both of us, and I know what he's thinking about. "She can handle it. She's strong." Even though his words, Emmett sits on the floor next to me, until color comes back to my body. Owen and Maeve are turning some old black T-shirt white. Owen said he would come with us to Candor, so we need to make him some Candor clothes. I and Emmett have our old ones washing in the washing machine right now.

For two hours Emmett makes us all repeat the plan all over again, so our schedules were controlled. Then, we changed clothes, said good-bye to Maeve and met Lauren's friends on the train station. It was about dinner time so the train station was nearly empty except for the group who was going out. We had to let them see us, so Owen, accidentally-on-purpose interrupted Lauren and her boyfriend. "What do you want, show off?" She said, looking pissed off. "Keys." "You have them; you' were the last one to use our bike." "Oh yeah, that's right. I'm sorry." Owen was ready to turn around but Lauren stopped him. "We're not going biking. We're going zeppelin. What do you want the keys for?" I thought our plan was crashed, but Owen kept playing his role. "We're not? Oh man. I already told Emmett and Is I would take them biking and-" "Well, it's not my business if you're a show off. Tell them you'll go another day. You're almost done with your initiation. You can go on your own then." "But, sis-" A familiar voice speaks behind me. "I don't see any need for that." Four says. "I was feeling like zeppelin anyways." He shrugs. I'm ready to say something like: it's okay, we'll go another day. Have fun with your friends!, and rush out of there when Emmett speaks. "Thanks Four." I look up to him, with my what-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-doing look when we hear the train coming. We planned on getting in the next carriage from the one Lauren's friends would take, but what I wasn't counting on was that Four would follow us.

We all keep quiet at first, but Emmett makes me turn to him, and whispers in my ear. "Relax, Is. We're lucky Four offered and not Eric." Then he pulls me closer to him, to kiss me, as if had said something private. I feel my lips answering his kiss and imagine Owen and Four awkwardly looking away behind us. "But what about out plan? Don't you want to go to Candor?" My hand is still on his leg, and his arm is still around my waist, so if I'm sure about Owen and Four looking away, they both think we're still kissing – I don't dare to look. "Trust me." He says. And takes the chance to kiss me again.

We soon arrive to the Dauntless motorcycles-garage and we jump out of the train there. Four stops us once we get there. Before he says something he takes his bike keys out of his pocket and lends it to me. "I hope you know what you're doing." He says and turns around on his feet. "How?" I ask, before he can leave. "Four of my initiates meet in the chasm at two in the morning. I think it's natural that I think they're planning something." He walks away, but he speaks again before he disappears. "You have two hours." And then he's gone.

We don't need him to say it again – in part because he's gone. We all drop our black jackets on the floor, that we previously made sure to zip from our waist until our neck to make sure no one would see our white shirts, and rush toward the bikes (Owen tells us which one belongs to Four) and both I and Owen climb and turn the bikes on. I look at Emmett, he's still in the same place since Four left. "What are you waiting for?" I ask, wondering if he changed his mind. "You can't tell me you're driving that thing." Our plan was that Owen would take Emmett first and then he would come back to get us, but now that we have two bikes, I'm not wasting time. "Well, you can go on Owen's if you want." "And let you die without me? No way." He mumbles as he climbs to my bike and puts his arms around my waist. Unfortunately only Owen owns a helmet. He looks back to us, to see if we're ready. I nod. "Hold tight!" I scream to Emmett as we start driving.

In a question of minutes we're on the suburbs of the Candor faction. We hide our bikes on some bushes of someone's back yard and run towards our old street. Once we get there both me and Emmett stop running, making Owen pass through us. He stops running too, and comes back. "Guys, we're kind of on a rush here." He says. It's hard to be back, but he's right. This is where we separate. Emmett goes to his house and I go to mine. Owen said he's going with Emmett and I have a feeling I know why. When he first said that back in the Dauntless headquarters it made me smile, but I had to contain my smile because of Emmett's expression.

I walk towards my porch with both of them following me. "Is-" Emmett starts, but I cut him off. "I'm sure." I say. He's been asking me if I really wanted to do this since yesterday. He gives me a fast kiss and squeezes my hand before he and Owen disappear in the darkness. I turn to my door and take a deep breath before I knock.

I can't really tell you what happened after that. I remember my father opening the door and I entered my old house. That's when I started crying and screaming about my sister. And my mom screamed back. And my dad kept quiet. And I eventually left, pissed off and promising myself I would never go back. But then, before I was far enough, my dad caught up with me and he held me on his arms and I cried. He told me he was sorry and he told me that my mom could never let go of my sister's death. He told me that he tried for me, but I wouldn't let him in, like I wouldn't let anyone. But he didn't blame on him, he blamed on himself and he blamed on my mother. And I cried harder until I couldn't cry any longer. I told him I had to leave because Emmett was waiting for me. I think he smiled. He asked if I really loved him. I wondered how did he knew, but I said I did anyway. And so he said I should be ready and he said he was sorry one more time and then he left.

I am alone again and the last couple hours seem too confusing in my head. But I didn't forget my dad's warning, so I force stand up and walk towards Emmett's parents' house. He is sitting on the porch, along with Owen, as they wait for me. They both seem upset and worried, so I run to them to know what is going on. "Kate's gone. She became factionless." Emmett says, as he takes me on his arms. His eyes are red, and I know he had a tuff night as well. "How's the rest of the family?" I ask. "Little Jake is growing fast." Emmett's mouth is open, but he wasn't the one to speak. I turn around. "Kate!" She smiles. "You took ages to come!" And then she hugs me and Emmett. Owen stays sit on the porch, not exactly knowing what to do, which only shows he hasn't lived with Kate all his life. She makes him stand and gives him a hug too. Emmett looks away, ending up by looking at me with a mad look, and I roll my eyes to him. When we look back to Kate and Owen, both of their faces are red – which is a record, because Kate never blushes.

"Hmm, guys, I think we're a little late. Four is waiting for us." Emmett says, failing on his try to make Owen stay as far as possible from his sister. "You're going to the center?" Kate asks. "We have two bikes hidden; we can give you a ride if you need." Owen offers immediately. I smile. Even though he kissed me, there's always been this weird connection between him and Kate, and I know if it was Kate's choice, she would have kissed him already. Or maybe not; I've never seen her with someone she's interest on. But it's always hard to tell when it comes to Kate.

"Sure," she says. We walk back to our bikes and I pull Emmett away from Kate and Owen, knowing I'll pay for this later. But seeing Kate has made me much better and I want Emmett to tell me how things worked for him – according to him, apart from knowing about Kate's failure on her initiation, everything worked fine. His parents even gave him and Owen dinner. My stomach crawls when he talks about it and he laughs, pulling me to him and kissing me in the neck. He's happy and that makes the whole suffer I've been through worth it.

Lauren and Owen were on his bike already – he even lent her his helmet. We took our bike as well, and follow them. The riding was even better then my first time with Owen. This time I had my boyfriend with me, and my best friends were having fun with us. If Four and Maeve were here, this short riding would've been perfect.

Four is waiting for us in the garage. He doesn't say anything about us being late, and he's really nice with Kate, though he seemed quite sad, so I wonder where he was for the last couple hours. He lends us our jackets and we put them back, zipping them until our neck again. Kate walks us – or more like Owen – to the train station. We see that the last train just left so we have about fifteen minutes with her before we leave. I, Owen and Four give Emmett some time with his sister. I'm lying against the street electricity post and I friendly hit Owen in the shoulder. "Have you told her why you came?" He keeps his eyes locked in mine, as only Owen can do in an offensive situation. "Yeah, I think she liked the fact that I help my friends." I laugh. "I meant the real reason." And he finally looks down blushing. "I think you should, and fast." Kate and Emmett were coming back to us. She was telling him something and he was looking down, blushing and with a smile on his face. It isn't hard to guess what they were talking about – me. "And it works for you too!" She says when she gets near me. "What?" I say, pretending I have no idea what she's saying. "Next time you decide to start dating someone you must wait for me to see the first kiss! I mean, it's my best friend and my brother we're talking about. How can I have missed this?" We all laugh, even Four. "We all missed it." Owen complains, making me and Emmett blush. "Well, let's hope there won't be a next time." Emmett says, cutting them off. Four turns to the rail line. "Our train is coming." "Well, let me teach you something then." Kate says, and then, out of nowhere, she kisses Owen. His mouth opens when they pull back, and he whispers something to Kate that makes her blush. I smile. Owen and Kate really fit each other – these things are not that big of a deal for them, but this time they found something that really seems to mess with them, and they don't want to keep that to themselves.

"That's how you should let someone know that you're dating someone-" She shuts to look at Owen. "Or at least that you want to." She corrects. Then she gives me and Emmett a hug, making us promise we'll visit her when we can. "I always take that train at seven and half in the evening. You can't meet me there." She says good-bye to Four, and pulls Owen to give him one last kiss right on time, because our train is making the curve and leading here at all speed. I take Emmett's hand and jump to the train. Four waits for Owen, mumbling him to run faster, and they jump too, leaving Kate behind.

This time I don't sit with Emmett – he's too busy arguing with Owen about messing with all the girls he loves, but it's not that big of an argument, as the smiles on their faces refuse to be gone – so I'm sitting next to Four. And right now he's my friend Four and not my trainer, so I feel okay about asking him personal stuff. "Do you ever miss your family?" I ask. He takes a minute of silence before he answers. "I know it's rare. But no, I don't." I wonder how his family was. "I thought I was the only one." I say. He puts his arm around my shoulder and looks to the door right next to where Owen and Emmett are arguing. I follow his look and I see the other Dauntless members jumping inside. "That's why we built a new one, and I have to say, it's the best family we'll ever have." I smile and look at our family. Some guys are kicking each other for fun. Lauren and her boyfriend are, well, entertained. Four's friend, Zeke is taking care of his younger brother, Uriah and his friend, a girl named Marlene, who are hanging on the door's handles with half of their bodies outside the train. A girl, Shauna and her sister Lynn are arguing about something, as they always do. Most of them are from Four's initiate class, but next year, my class will join them, and from there on. Four is right, for us, who never felt like having a family before, we did find the best family we could've ever found.

A/N: Hey! Thank you for the reviews from the last chapter, and oh you just had a new one! I felt sorry for Owen, so here it is! What do you think? It takes two minutes to review it and it would make me really happy, so please, be my guest :)

Best, Is.