Chapter 3

The moment my feet land inside the train I have to bite my lip hard in order to not scream in pain.

"Damn it, Stiff!" Eric barks furiously. "I told you we should have taken a car."

"It's just my ribs," I say through gritted teeth, wrapping my arm around my upper body. "I'll live. Just give me a minute."

He shakes his head but does not say anything. I take a couple of deep breaths and slowly the pain starts to fade.

The cut on my cheek is almost healed, my broken ribs, however, will take another three to five weeks according to Will.

"Okay, so regarding the meeting," Eric speaks up again. "You are supposed to listen and observe, you only speak when you're spoken to. Everything said during this meeting is confidential and you are not allowed to tell your nosy little friends about it. Is that clear?"

I glare at him. "My friends are not nosy."

"Oh please," he snorts, crossing his arms in front of his chest while leaning back against the train wall. "That Candor girl lives for gossip."

"Chris is not Candor anymore, she's Dauntless," I snap at him.

"Whatever you say, Stiff."

I see the broad smirk in his face and ball my hands into fists. I will not let him get a rise out of me. So I just shake my head and lean against the wall next to the door und watch the scenery.

"We're almost there," Eric says about half an hour later. "Any questions before we go in?"

I shake my head.

"You nervous?" He asks while getting ready to jump. I get into position next to him.

"A bit."

It's the truth, though I am nervous for entirely different reasons than what he thinks. I am nervous about what I will find out today. That my friends and I are right and Jeanine is indeed looking for Divergents. The fact that she has not invited any leaders from the other factions is suspicious. Normally, every matter is discussed in leadership meetings with all factions present even if it does only concern two of them.

Our destination arrives and both Eric and I jump.

This time, when I land, I swear so loud that even Eric stares at me like I have grown two heads.

"Sorry," I murmur, while holding my ribcage again. He smirks and shakes his head in amusement.

"We'll make a real Dauntless out of you yet, Stiff."

For lack of a better comeback I stick my tongue out at him. Clever, I know.

"Come on," he sighs and then leads the way into the Erudite building. We take an elevator up to the fifth floor and then walk toward a large conference room. In front of it stands Jeanine, a couple of files under her arm.

"Eric," she smiles. "It's good to see you again."

"Jeanine," Eric replies and shakes her hand.

"And you, Beatrice," she turns toward me and I cringe internally. "Eric has told me all about your progress in leadership training. He says you're promising."

"Thank you," is all I can come up with.

"I have my own leader in training with me today. I think you already know him, Beatrice."

She waves into the conference room and a second later a young man comes walking toward her.

In tense up immediately.

"Caleb," I murmur, my eyes wide.

"Beatrice," he returns just as surprised as I am. Eric glances between the two of us, his brows furrowed.

"You know him?" he asks me, his voice colder than before.

I nod. "He's my brother."

His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Guess Jeanine has not informed him about that.

"Why don't you take a moment to get reacquainted before you come in?" Jeanine suggests with yet another smile and then motions for Eric to follow her inside.

Once the door closes behind them Caleb and I stare at each other, unsure of what to say.

"I was sorry to hear about you and Four," my brother finally says.

"How do you know about that?" I ask in confusion.

"I heard one of the Dauntless soldiers stationed here talking about it," he replies sheepishly, scratching his neck.

Dauntless soldiers stationed in Erudite? I make a mental note to ask Eric about that later.

"We should probably go in," Caleb says and I nod before following him into the conference room and taking the seat next to Eric.

First, he asks Jeanine if she is satisfied with the soldiers he has sent her and she gives him a report about everything they did or did not do.

"Beatrice," she finally addresses me. "What do you know about Divergents? Has Eric told you anything yet?"

And there it is.

"No, he hasn't," I answer slowly, thinking carefully about what to say. "I do know they exist and they do not test for only one faction. But that's about it."

Jeanine nods. "And what do you think makes them so dangerous?"

"They threaten our system," I tell her what she wants to hear. "Because they can't be categorized. They're different than the rest of us."

Again, she nods. "Exactly. And that is why they need to be removed."

"Removed?" I ask carefully. Eric glares at me, a warning clear in his eyes.

"Destroyed. Killed," Jeanine waves her hand dismissively. "Do you know how to look for Divergents?"

I shake my head no.

"Well, for once – they are simulation aware," she starts to explain. "Which is why it is quite simple to spot them in stage two of Dauntless's initiation."

I wish I could laugh out loud. I can't, however, and therefore school my features to not give anything away.

"Eric has a close eye on the initiates in your faction," she continues. "And I want you to help him after next year's Choosing."

"Of course," I answer, balling my fists under the table.

"I have a team of scientists working on serums specifically for Divergents. We do, however, not have any test subjects at the moment."

Test subjects. I begin to feel nauseous. She wants us to be lab rats.

"Furthermore, we are currently also developing a device which will scan an individual for any signs of Divergence" – I freeze, my heartbeat speeding up – "But it is unfortunately a long way from being fully operational."

"Any news from the other factions?" Eric asks.

Jeanine purses her lips in dissatisfaction. "Abnegation and Amity still see no problem in testing positive for more than one faction. Candor refuses to believe that Divergents even exist."

Eric just nods.

"There is another matter I wanted to discuss with you in private, Eric," she says then. "I do not yet want it disclosed to our leaders in training."

"Alright," Eric turns his head toward me. "Wait for me outside."

I nod and Caleb and I get up and walk out the door.

"I need to get back to the lab," Caleb says and I stare at him.

"You are working on the serums?" I ask and have a hard time not to show how disgusted I am.

"Yeah," he replies with a proud smile. "I am very good at what I do and Jeanine trusts me unconditionally."

I wish I could slap him, I really do.

"Good for you," I say instead.

"It was great seeing you again, little sister," he replies and then turns around and leaves. I stare at his retreating back for a while, a sad feeling in my chest.

Caleb used to push me on the swings when we were kids, he protected me, fought for me and lied for me. We used to be so close and now it feels like there is an unsurmountable distance between us.

Faction before blood never felt more real.

I am becoming restless and start to walk up and down the corridor waiting for Eric to finish his private meeting. What could they possibly be talking about?

When I pass a corridor marked with an emergency exit sign someone suddenly grabs my arm, pulls me into the slightly darker corridor and slams me face first against the wall.

I bring my hands up, ready to push back and fight, when I feel the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of my head.

"Lost, are we, Stiff?" The person says into my ear and I freeze. I would recognize that voice anywhere. Alarm bells go off in my head.

"Peter," I gasp, swallowing hard. He grabs my shoulder and forcefully turns me around.

He is so close to me that I have to look up to meet his gaze. I glance to the side but he still has his gun trained on my head.

"What are you doing here? You should be in Amity guarding the fence," I grit out.

He smirks and leans closer and it costs me every ounce of self-control to not turn my face away from him.

"And you should be at the bottom of the Chasm," he growls. "Guess none of us is where we are supposed to be."

Again, I swallow.

"You stole my job," he continues and presses closer to me so that his body is holding mine against the wall and this time I can't hide my repulsion.

"Well, I guess you should have ranked first then," I reply, keeping my eyes trained on his. I can see pure rage in them. "But you haven't. And now I'm your superior and I command you to get the hell away from me!"

He releases the safety catch of his gun.

I am Dauntless, I should be brave. But the truth is, I am terrified. And by the way he is smirking at me he knows.

Suddenly Peter freezes and his smirk disappears.

"Do you know what the punishment for killing a leader or leader in training is?" Eric's voice rings out. "It's death."

A flicker of fear passes through Peter's eyes.

"Now drop your gun and step back."

Peter takes the gun away from my head and then steps to the side and away from me. Now that he is no longer obstructing my view I see Eric holding his own gun, following Peter's every move.

"Come on, Eric, it was just a joke," Peter laughs, raising his hands in surrender. "I just wanted to scare her."

"Sure you did," Eric replies. "Now go – before I decide to send you back to Amity."

Peter does not say another word but turns and practically runs away.

"You okay?" Eric addresses me. "Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine," I grumble and step away from the wall. "What the hell is going on, Eric? Why are there Dauntless soldiers here? Why is Peter one of them?"

"Jeanine asked for protection," is his explanation. "And Peter is here because he is ruthless and that is exactly what we need."

"Protection from whom?" I ask. It does not make any sense.

"That's none of your concern," he replies, his eyes dark. "For now."

I open my mouth but he interrupts me before I can even utter a single word.

"No more questions. Now let's get back to the compound – you had homework, remember?"

Two hours later I am back at my desk. I came up with some pretty decent ideas and after Eric showed me how to actually get out of a choke hold I finally managed to break free for the first time. I was so proud I could not stop grinning all the way back to my office.

Now, however, my good mood is gone. I can't really concentrate on the papers in front of me, my mind is too preoccupied with the meeting at Erudite and what happened with Peter.

I need to tell the others that we were right. I grab my office phone and turn it around in my hand a couple of times. Eric has told me that the leader's phones have extra security but also that they are monitored more closely. I cannot risk it.

I sigh and am about to put the phone down again when I suddenly have an idea.

I quickly search for Christina's number in the device and pray that she will understand what I am trying to tell her.

"Tris?" she picks up on the third ring. "What can I do for you? Want an appointment for another tattoo?"

"Hi," I answer. "Not this time. I was just thinking that it has been ages since we had a real girl's night. So, what are you up to tonight?"

She squeals so loud I have to hold my phone a few inches away from my ear.

"Awesome! Sure, I'm free."

I take a deep breath before I continue. Christina is a smart girl. She has to understand.

"Great! I'll call Marlene and Lynn and let them know."

"Marlene is busy tonight with Uriah, remember?"

I close my eyes. Of course I remember, I was sitting next to her when she told us.

"Oh, she didn't tell me," I reply and hope that Christina gets it now.

There is a short pause at the other end of the line.

"Hey, why don't we invite them both? Heck, let's invite all of our friends – we rarely get together anymore."

"Yeah, good idea. I'd like that," I answer, relieved that we are finally on the same page.

"Your place or mine?"

"Yours," I reply immediately. "I don't want to annoy Eric. We'll probably be loud enough for him to hear us."

"Understood. I'll call everyone. See you tonight."

I end the call and take another deep breath.

I am the last one to arrive at Christina and Will's place.

"Tris! How are your ribs?" the latter greets me at the door.

"Getting better, thanks," I smile before hugging him. He ushers me inside and into the living room where the rest of our friends are already sitting on the couches and talking.

After greeting everyone and plopping down between Uriah and Lynn, Will hands me a glass of water and takes his seat next to Christina.

"So what is this about?" she asks me and everybody turns to look at me.

"What I tell you is strictly confidential, alright?"

They all nod.

"I accompanied Eric to Erudite this morning. And it's like we thought – Jeanine is hunting Divergents. She wants to kill them and is working on serums that work specifically on Divergents. She's also working on a device that scans you for any signs of Divergence and she needs Divergent test subjects."

"Damn, this is sick," Uriah says, shaking his head.

"That's not all," I sigh. "There are Dauntless soldiers stationed at Erudite, Peter among them."

"What?!" Christina exclaims. "How do you know that?"

"Caleb told me," I see the confused looks on their faces. "My brother, he's a transfer there. And I actually ran into Peter when Eric had a private meeting with Jeanine."

"What happened?" Zeke asks and I recount the situation.

"I don't get it," Marlene pipes up. "I thought he's in Amity."

"And what or whom would Jeanine need protection from?" Lynn asks.

I shake my head. "Eric wouldn't say."

"The other factions, maybe?" Will suggests. "They're not on board, right?"

I shrug my shoulders. It is a possibility.

"She wants me to help Eric track down any Divergent initiates after next year's Choosing," I inform them.

"I knew it!" Four yells so loud we all flinch. He turns his gaze on me. "I told you time and time again that Eric is hunting Divergents for her. I told you it wasn't a good idea to work with him. With them. They will find out about you."

I can feel my pulse starting to race.

"If I didn't work with Eric, if I hadn't chosen leadership, we would not have the information we have now," I snap at him. "We would be completely in the dark and they probably would still find out about me or you or Uri. But now, we have an advantage."

"Eric will kill you. If he realizes what you are, he will kill you." Four insists.

"Then he'll kill me!" I scream at him. "But it would only be me, only one Divergent. Don't you get it? We can save lives!"

"She's right, you know?" Zeke says quietly before Four has a chance to respond. "I don't like it either but she has a point. Think, Four. You helped her during stage two. Lauren did the same for Uriah. With Tris in the mix there are already three people protecting those kids."

Four shakes his head before addressing me again.

"You do know that leadership training includes the fear sims again, don't you?"

I freeze. I didn't know, actually.

"And Eric will be monitoring it."

"Then I won't let him find out. You taught me how to face my fears like a Dauntless would," I reply. It does not sound as confident as I hoped it would.

"And what if he shows you his fears?" Marlene asks.

I laugh out loud. "Eric would never let me see his fear landscape. Never. He probably thinks it would hurt his reputation. But let's pretend he actually does show me – then I'll just have to figure it out the Dauntless way."

"There are too many risks," Four shakes his head again. "It's too dangerous."

"We don't have much of a choice," Christina says. "Besides, Tris can hardly march up into Max's office and tell him she quits."

"Fair point," Lynn acknowledges.

"Fine," Four sighs and then his hard look softens. "I'm sorry, okay? I just don't want anything to happen to you. No matter what, I still care about you."

"I know," I say warmly and give him a small smile. "I'm not angry at you."

Suddenly the situation just feels awkward and by the looks on our friends' faces they think so, too.

"Well, I have to get up early tomorrow, so I better go," I say and turn to hug everyone (touching other people has become surprisingly normal despite the Abnegation in me) before making my way up to the third floor of the apartment wing where the leadership apartments are.

I have just rounded the corner onto my corridor when I see Eric with his arm around a woman, opening his apartment door at the end of the hall. I groan internally.

Eric has been taking home different women almost every other night for the last couple of weeks and since my apartment is directly next to his and said women seem to think the louder they are the higher the chance of coming back I hear everything. Literally everything. It has cost me many sleepless nights even though our apartments only connect through the wall of our living rooms. It is ridiculous, really.

I enter my own apartment and let myself fall onto my couch. I am exhausted. Leadership training really is hard work. But it's worth it.

I close my eyes, too tired to get up again and walk into the bedroom.

I am starting to drift off when the moaning begins.

"Oh god, Eric!" I hear the woman scream.

"You gotta be kidding me," I groan, grabbing two of the pillows lying next to me and pressing them onto my ears. It does not help. She keeps screaming and screaming and I am seriously starting to wonder what is wrong with her. I might not be the most experienced one when it comes to sex but even I know that she is faking it.

"Fuck!" I hear Eric swear before he releases a guttural groan.

I blush. Please let it be over now, please.

It remains silent on the other side of the wall and I thank whatever god there is before getting up and walking into my bedroom.

I change into some shorts and a top and then snuggle under the comforter and close my eyes – when it starts all over again.

I shoot up, my hands balled into fists.

"I'm gonna kill him," I vow while throwing off my blanket and making my way to the living room again. I am almost at the door when I pause. I can hardly go over there and knock while they are still at it.

Deciding to wait until he kicks her out I make my way to the fridge and rummage through it for a snack. I come up empty handed. Great. Thanks to all the training and work I forgot to actually go grocery shopping. Slamming the fridge shut, I return to the couch and switch on my TV.

It takes me another 15 minutes until I realize that there is silence on the other side of the wall again. I turn off the TV and listen. Has he kicked her out already or is she still there?

Just then I can hear voices on the corridor. I get up and make my way to the door. Looking through the peep hole, I can see the woman walking away. I wait another couple of minutes, making sure she is indeed gone, before I grab my keys from the kitchen counter and leave my apartment.

By the time I reach Eric's door I am fuming. I raise my fist and knock on the door with such force that my hand tingles afterward.

Seconds later, the door opens and Eric's initially grumpy face turns into a smirk.

"Stiff," he exclaims. "What a surprise. What can I do for you at" – he glances behind him – "one in the morning?"

I am momentarily rendered speechless. Eric is only wearing boxer briefs and his toned upper body is on full display.

Of course he's practically naked, you idiot! They just finished.

I feel my cheeks heating up and know I am beet red.

"Enjoying the view?" he smirks and then lets his eyes travel down my body. "You're not half bad yourself, Stiff."

I finally snap out of it and glare at him.

"Alright, listen up," I spit out. "I don't care how many women you frequent with but the walls are thin, so could you please … do it in a volume that does not keep me up all night? Thank you."

"Jealous?"

"No, I just want to fucking sleep and not be awake every other night," I reply, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

His smirk widens and he takes a step closer, his body almost touching mine. I have to crane my neck to hold his gaze. His eyes are sparkling. "You know what's interesting? During all those times that Number Boy has spent at your place I've never once heard you scream."

I gape at him open-mouthed. And before I have a chance to further react he winks at me, steps back into his apartment and slams the door shut in my face.

"Fuck you, Eric Coulter!" I scream at the closed door.

When I turn on my heels in order to storm back into my apartment my gaze falls on Max opening his door, apparently just woken up.

Again, I feel my cheeks flush and he raises an eyebrow at me.

"Do I have to worry about this happening at work?" he nods his head toward Eric's door.

"God, I hope not!" I burst out in exasperation before hurrying into my apartment and closing the door with a loud bang.