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"Tris," he says "What did they do to you? You’re acting like a lunatic"

"That’s not very nice of you to say," I say "They put ood mood, that’s all And now I really want to kiss you, so if you could just relax--"

"I’ on," he says

I pout rin as the pieces coether in my mind

"That’s why you like me!" I exclaim "Because you’re not very nice either! It makes so oing to see Johanna"

"I like you, too"

"That’s encouraging," he replies flatly "Come on Oh, for God’s sake I’ll just carry you"

He swings me into his arms, one arm under my knees and the other around my back I wrap my arms around his neck and plant a kiss on his cheek Then I discover that the air feels nice on my feet when I kick them, so Iwhere Johanna works

When we reach her office, she is sitting behind a desk with a stack of paper in front of her, chewing on a pencil eraser She looks up at us, and her htly A hunk of dark hair covers the left side of her face

"You really shouldn’t cover up your scar," I say "You look prettier with your hair out of your face"

Tobias setsand hurts my shoulder a little, but I like the sound h, but neither Johanna nor Tobias laughs with e

"What did you do to her?" Tobias says, terse "What in God’s name did you do?"

"I" Johanna frowns at iven her too ht and weight into account"

"They iven her too much of what?" he says

"You have a nice voice," I say

"Tris," he says, "please be quiet"

"The peace seru effect and iht dizziness We administer it tothe peace"

Tobias snorts "I’m not an idiot Everythe peace, because they’re all human You probably dump it into the water supply"

Johanna does not respond for a few seconds She folds her hands in front of her

"Clearly you know that is not the case, or this conflict would not have occurred," she says "But whatever we agree to do here, we do together, as a faction If I could give the serum to everyone in this city, I would You would certainly not be in the situation you are in now if I had"

"Oh, definitely," he says "Drugging the entire population is the best solution to our problem Great plan"

"Sarcasently "Now, I a too much to Tris, I really areeht not be able to stay here er as a result The conflict between her and the boy--Peter--is not soet"

"Don’t worry," says Tobias "We intend to leave as soon as humanly possible"

"Good," she says with a small smile "Peace between Amity and Dauntless can only happen e maintain our distance from each other"

"That explains a lot"

"Excuse ?"

"It explains," he says, gritting his teeth, "why, under a pretense of neutrality--as if such a thing is possible!--you have left us to die at the hands of the Erudite"

Johanna sighs quietly and looks out theBeyond it is a s in it The vines creep onto the ’s corners, like they are trying to come in and join the conversation

"The A like that," I say "That’s mean"

"It is for the sake of peace that we reins

"Peace" Tobias almost spits the word "Yes, I’m sure it will be very peaceful e are all either dead or cowering in submission under the threat of mind control or stuck in an endless simulation"

Johanna’s face contorts, and I mimic her, to see what it feels like to have ood I’in with

She says slowly, "The decision was nota different conversation right now"

"Are you saying you disagree with the," she says, "that it isn’t ht, in the privacy of one in two days," says Tobias "I hope your faction doesn’t change their decision to make this compound a safe house"

"Our decisions are not easily unmade What about Peter?"

"You’ll have to deal with hi with us"

Tobias takes h it’s not setically at Johanna, and her expression reed

"Four," she says "If you and your friends would like to remainuntouched by our serum, you may want to avoid the bread"

Tobias says thank you over his shoulder as weevery other step

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE SERUM WEARS off five hours later, when the sun is just beginning to set Tobias shutonon the bed, glaring at the wall

"Thank God," he says, pressing his forehead to the door "I was beginning to think it would never wear off and I would have to leave you here tosmell flowers, or whatever you wanted to do while you were on that stuff"