"What do you want, Peter?" I ask. I can't believe he's standing in front of me with the nerve to ask to talk to me. Even if he didn't know exactly what he was doing, he was still reporting about me and probably Tobias to Erudite. Tobias slips his blue mask off and lays it on the table by his still full plate. He slowly gets up from the table and gets in Peter's face.
"I suggest you walk away, now," Tobias says, in a low, deceptively calm voice. "I'm not going to say it again."
"Four, I'm sorry," he says. "I have to talk to her."
"Talk to me if you have to talk to someone," Tobias says. They stand there staring at each other, neither one willing to back down. I sigh.
"If you want to talk to me, talk." Tobias looks at me like he doesn't approve so I say to him, "It's better we get everything out in the open now don't you think. Peter, I know why you've been watching me." He moves his eyes to mine and his mouth falls slightly open. The look on his face is almost ... embarrassed, which makes me second guess why he's been watching my every move.
"You know why I've been watching you?" he asks, his voice higher than normal and a little shaky. At least he's admitting he watches me now.
"Oh ... my ... God!" Christina says, humor in her voice. I turn to her glaring.
"Not now, Christina," I say, irritation rising within me. I have a feeling I don't want to hear what it is Peter wants to talk to me about.
"Will you listen to me, damn it?" Peter forcefully says, sliding his mask up on his forehead so I can see the severe yet tender look on his face. He's totally creeping me out right now. "You're in danger. I just got a call from Cameron. He told me he's coming for you tonight. He wants my help. He thinks he can trust me but he can't. I didn't know they planned to use what I was giving them to hurt you. I swear."
"Why should I trust you, Peter?" I say. Remembering the night he, Drew, and Al tried to throw me in the chasm, I add, "You already tried to kill me once. How do I know this isn't part of Cameron's plan?"
"Because I love you, okay," he blurts out for the entire cafeteria to hear. Those are three words I never wanted to hear from him. "I obviously didn't go about it the right way but there it is. I love you, Tris Prior. Please let me help you." All I can do is stare at him.
"What did Cameron ask you to do?" Tobias says, fear and suspicion mingling in his voice.
"He wants me to lure Tris to a certain spot in the auditorium so he can take her," he says. "He's extremely angry right now because his mother and father were arrested today. He's looking for payback." I look up into Tobias' eyes and reach out and take his hand. I thought this was behind us. I honestly believed we would wake up tomorrow and receive word Cameron's been taken into custody. How could I have been so wrong? He's not going to stop until he's caught or I'm dead.
"We need to go home right now," Tobias says to me, trying to pull me up from the table.
"No," I say, taking my hand out of his. "This is the perfect opportunity to catch him."
"We're not discussing this, Tris," he says. I see Zeke get up and approach Peter and Tobias.
"Hear her out, Four," he says.
"We aren't using my girlfriend as bait," Tobias shouts.
"Everyone sit down," I say. "We're causing a scene." I look around and all eyes are on our table and the standoff between Peter and Tobias. We all sit down making room for Peter. I never thought I'd be sharing a table in the cafeteria with the person I hate most in this world, well one of the people I hate most.
"I'm having a hard time believing you," I say. "What exactly is the plan?"
"I'm supposed to get you to the far corner of the auditorium by the single door off the stage just after midnight, and he'll take it from there," Peter says. "I don't know his plan beyond that."
"Four, I could make sure I'm there at the right time and you, Will, Zeke, Uriah, and James can watch from spots in the auditorium and in the hallway, and we can arrest him," I say.
"I don't like it," Tobias says, shaking his head. "It's a good plan, but what if something goes wrong. What if he gets to you and I can't stop him? What if Peter isn't telling us the truth?"
There are a lot of what ifs going through my mind right now also. Trusting Peter is at the top of the list. I look deeply into Tobias' eyes. I see fear, mistrust, and love ... strong love ... a never-ending-type of love. I pry my eyes away from his before I drown in their depths and look at Peter. I've never really looked at him before and doing so right now makes me uncomfortable. I've always thought of him as deceitful and untrustworthy but right now all I see is fear, pain, regret, and, I hate to admit, love in his eyes. Is he good enough of an actor to fool me? I stare for another minute before I make my decision.
"I'm going to believe you, Peter, but it doesn't mean that I like you, trust you, or will ever forgive you for what you did to me during initiation," I say.
"Thank you, Tris," he says. "I'm sorry for everything in the past. I promise I'll never hurt you again." I hope he means what he's saying.
"Are you sure, Tris?" Tobias says. "Once we make this decision there's no going back." Just like every decision I've made lately, this one feels right. I know it's the right thing to do.
"I'm sure, Four," I say. "We need to make a plan of our own to catch him." We spend the rest of our time in the cafeteria talking about how to catch Cameron in between eating dinner and Dauntless cake. We decide to let Cameron's plan be our plan. Tobias and I will be close to the stage at midnight. Peter will tell us there's a problem somewhere, and Tobias will check it out leaving me alone in the area Cameron is expecting me to be in. Tobias will go out into the Pit and double around to the stage door and wait for Cameron to bring me out the door. Uriah, Will, James, and Peter will be strategically placed throughout the auditorium to keep an eye on me, and Zeke will meet Tobias in the hallway. I don't think there's a way for our plan to fail. If any of them sees someone approaching me, they'll take action. I relax into Tobias' side after the plan is made. I put the last bite of cake in my mouth and savor the dark chocolate.
"I'm still not sure about this," Tobias says on our way to the auditorium. We stop and everyone goes around us. Peter looks over his shoulder at me then disappears into the auditorium. A shiver goes down my spine, and it isn't a good feeling. It feels wrong. I hope I'm doing the right thing by putting my trust in his hands.
"I'm going to be fine," I say. "We'll get him and all this will be over tonight."
"I hope you're right," he says, leaning down to place a kiss on my lips. "I love you. You look beautiful tonight. I love the curls." He runs his fingers through my curls and I shiver. It feels right.
"I love you, too," I say. "You clean up quite nicely yourself. White looks really good on you. Do you realize this is the first time I've seen you in anything other than black, well except for that one time when we were children." I let my eyes roam over him as he leads me into the auditorium.
Christina's done it again. The regular heavy black drapery is visible through nets of twinkle lights that are lining the walls. Hanging down the middle of the room over the makeshift dance floor is a very large ornate silver chandelier flanked by two just as grand but slightly smaller ones. The large one holds 20 silver pillar candles that are lit, and the smaller ones hold 12 candles each. In the center of each of the 50 plus large round tables, which are covered in black tablecloths tonight, is a hand painted ball mask set in a large floral arrangement making the flowers look like flowing hair flanked by three silver pillar candles of various heights. I notice that each of the pieces look identical yet completely different as each one of the masks is decorated in different styles and different colors, and each arrangement is made with different color and variation of flowers. Mixed in with the usual live greenery and white twinkle lights wrapped around the pillars throughout the room are miniature ball masks and more flowers. The room looks extravagant.
Tobias and I have more than two hours before our plan begins so we take advantage of the alone time and try to enjoy the party. He pulls me onto the dance floor and into his arms. I recognize the song that's playing, it's the same song we danced to right before he proposed to me. Was that just last night? So much has happened since he put this ring on my finger. It feels like it's been days since we sat at the bottom of the chasm and he proposed instead of just hours. He holds me tight and sings in my ear. I tangle my fingers in his hair and draw his mouth to mine, cutting off the words. I kiss him leisurely for a while. I then push my tongue into his mouth, seeking his. He meets me and I sigh into his open mouth. Everything in the world feels right when I'm in his arms and his lips are on mine. I can't get enough of this perfect man who was made just for me. Too soon the romantic slow song ends and a blaring rock anthem fills the auditorium. We dance to several different songs before I let him lead me to our table. He gets us both a glass of sparkling cider from right in front of the stage, and we sit next to each other, catching our breath.
"Are you having a good time?" I ask him.
"Yeah," he says. "I didn't think I'd be able to with everything that's happening but I was wrong. It doesn't hurt I get to dance with you again tonight. Two nights in a row, that never happens."
"I'm really having fun too," I say, smiling at him. "I was just thinking about last night. Why does it feel like it happened so long ago?"
"Probably because we've been up since before 3 a.m.," he says. It feels like we've lived a lifetime in the past 24 hours.
He pulls me back on the floor, and we dance until I see Tori walk up the stairs onto the stage and talk to the DJ for a few minutes. He laughs at something she just said, and she blushes a little. I think she likes him. I have to remember to ask her about him. When the song that's playing ends, the DJ does not immediately start a new one, and Tori goes up to the microphone.
"It's only one minute before midnight," she says. "If you're here with a date it's time to find them." The place goes wild, and I see people rushing around Tobias and me trying to reach their partners. We just hold each other a little tighter, trying to disappear into one another.
"10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... Happy New Year!" Tori and the DJ say into the microphone as all the Dauntless members in the auditorium including Tobias and me join in. Horns blow, jewel tone confetti and streamers fall from the ceiling, and Tobias tells me Happy New Year in my ear. He gently places his mouth to mine, and we move our lips together in unison, slowly at first, passion building along the way until I'm drunk on his kiss and wanting more. I have to remind myself we still have business to attend to. He moves his mouth to the sensitive spot below my left ear leaving me even more breathless than I was before. Someone shouting pulls me out of my stupor. Tobias and I both straighten up and look in the direction of the commotion.
"Four! Four!" Peter cries, running up to us. Boy he's playing his part well. It must be time. "There's a fire in the kitchen. I'm not kidding."
"Stay right here," Tobias says, leaning over to place another kiss on my lips. He then adds very softly, "Be careful. I love you, Six."
"I love you, Four."
I'm where I'm supposed to be, standing close to the stage not 10 feet away from the door watching Tobias exit through the double doors out into the Pit followed by Peter and Zeke waiting on Cameron. I pick up a glass of cider from the refreshment table and drink it while I wait. He's late. I wonder if Peter lied to us or if Cameron somehow caught wind of our plan to capture him and chickened out. After about 10 minutes, Tobias comes up behind me and offers me another glass of sparkling cider.
"Thanks," I say, taking the glass from him. I take a long drink of the extremely sweet cider, and the bubbles tickle my nose causing a girlish giggle to escape my lips. He doesn't move from behind me, he just pulls me closer and puts his lips on my exposed neck. "You're distracting me." His hands start roaming up and down my body, grazing my breasts time and again making desire rise within me. "I think we scared him off. He hasn't made his move yet. I'm beat, Four. Let's go home. We can worry about Cameron tomorrow." Right now, sleep is the last thing on my mind but I'll surprise him when we get home. I turn in his arms, searching for the kiss I'm longing for and look up into his deep dark ... brown eyes?