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I tuck my wet hair behindwas supposed to start and ran to the showers Though I’m still exhausted, I feel more alert now

"What seeation," Jack says, "is the Divergent"

He looks tired--he has dark circles under his eyes, and his short hair sticks out at rando heat of the roo-sleeved shirt that buttons at the wrists--he

"If you are one of the Divergent, please step forward so that we can hear froerous My Divergence is so it is supposed toit now--they already know about me

Tobias is the first tohis body to wedge his way between people, and then, when they step back for hi with his shoulders back

I"Excuse me" to the people in front of me They draw back like I just threatened to spit poison at them A few others step forward, in Candor black and white, but not irl I helped

Despite the notoriety Tobias now has a the Dauntless, and my new title as That Girl Who Stabbed Eric, we are not the real focus of everyone’s attention Marcus is

"You, Marcus?" says Jack when Marcus reaches the middle of the room and stands on top of the lower scale in the floor

"Yes," Marcus says "I understand that you are concerned--that you all are concerned You had never heard of the Divergent a week ago, and now all that you know is that they are i to which you are susceptible, and that is a frightening thing But I can assure you that there is nothing to be afraid of, as far as we are concerned"

As he speaks, his head tilts and his eyebrows lift in sympathy, and I understand at once why some people like hi in his hands, he would take care of it

"It seems clear to me," says Jack, "that ere attacked so that the Erudite could find the Divergent Do you knohy that is?"

"No, I do not," says Marcus "Perhaps their intention was merely to identify us It seems like useful inforain"

"That was not their intention" The words are past h and weak compared to Marcus’s and Jack’s, but it’s too late to stop "They wanted to kill us They’ve been killing us since before any of this happened"

Jack’s eyebrows draw together I hear hundreds of tiny sounds, raindrops hitting the roof The rooloom of what I just said

"That sounds very much like a conspiracy theory," Jack says "What reason would the Erudite have to kill you?"

My ent because we couldn’t be controlled That may be true, but fear of the uncontrollable is not a concrete enough reason to give Jack Kang for the Erudite wanting us dead My heart races as I realize that I can’t answer his question

"I" I start Tobias interrupts me

"Obviously we don’t know," he says, "but there are nearly a dozenthe Dauntless from the past six years, and there is a correlation between those people and irregular aptitude test results or initiation si the roo, correlation does not constitute evidence"

"A Dauntless leader shot a Candor child in the head," I snap "Did you get a report of that? Did it seeation’?"

"In fact I did," he says "And shooting a child in cold blood is a terrible crio unpunished Fortunately, we have the perpetrator in custody and will be able to put him on trial However, we ive any evidence of wanting to harm the majority of us, or they would have killed us while ere unconscious"

I hear irritated murests to otiate a peace treaty with the Erudite and the other Dauntless," he continues "So I will arrange awith Jeanine Matthews to discuss that possibility as soon as possible"

"Their invasion wasn’t peaceful," I say I can see the corner of Tobias’sI take a deep breath and begin again "Just because they didn’t shoot you all in the head doesn’t mean their intentions were somehow honorable Why do you think they cah your hallways, knock you unconscious, and leave?"

"I assume they came here for people like you," says Jack "And while I am concerned for your safety, I don’t think we can attack them just because they wanted to kill a fraction of our population"

"Killing you is not the worst thing they can do to you," I say "Controlling you is"

Jack’s lips curl with ae that?"

"They shot you with needles," Tobias says "Needles full of simulation transmitters Simulations control you That’s how"

"We kno simulations work," says Jack "The transmitter is not a permanent implant If they intended to control us, they would have done it right away"

"But--" I begin

He interrupts me "I know you have been under a lot of stress, Tris," he says quietly, "and that you have done a great service to your faction and to Abnegation But I think your traumatic experience may have compromised your ability to be completely objective I can’t launch an attack based on a little girl’s speculations"

I stand statue-still, unable to believe that he could be so stupid My face burning Little girl, he called irl who is stressed out to the point of paranoia That is not me, but now, it’s who the Candor think I a," says Tobias

All around me, the Dauntless shout their assent Someone else yells, "You are not the leader of our faction!"

Jack waits for their shouts to die down and then says, "That is true If you want to, you can feel free to storm the Erudite compound by yourselves But you will do so without our support, and reatly outnuht We can’t attack Dauntless traitors and Erudite without Candor’s nu has all the power And noe all know it

"I thought so," he says sly "Very well I will contact Jeanine Matthews, and see if we can negotiate a peace Any objections?"

We can’t attack without Candor, I think, unless we have the factionless

CHAPTER NINETEEN

THAT AFTERNOON I join a group of Candor and Dauntless cleaning up the broken s in the lobby I focus on the path of the broolass fragments My muscles remember the movement before the rest of me does, but when I look down, instead of dark ray wall; I see strands of blond hair that my mother trimmed, and the mirror safely tucked behind its wall panel

My body goes weak, and I lean into the broom handle for support

A hand touches my shoulder, and I twitch away froirl--a child She looks up at ht?" she says, her voice high and indistinct