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"I want your help, and soon I need someone to persuade Marcus to cooperate, and I think you can do it"

She tilts her head and stares atstupid"

I force a s that toaround"

"I told you, I’ to visit Caleb I’ll be back in a few days, and we can ht it would be better if someone else knew about all this before I left Just in case Okay?"

She holds my arm for a few seconds, and then releases me "Okay," she says

I walk toward the exit I hold h the door, and then I feel the tears come

The last conversation I’ll ever have with her, and it was full of lies

Once I’m outside, I put up the hood of Tobias’s sweatshirt When I reach the end of the street, I glance up and down, searching for signs of life There is nothing

The cool air prickles in s on the way in, and on the way out unfurls in a cloud of vapor Winter will be here soon I wonder if Erudite and Dauntless will still be at a standstill then, waiting for one group to obliterate the other I’lad I won’t have to see it

Before I chose Dauntless, thoughts like that never occurred toelse Now there are no reassurances, except that where I go, I go because I choose to

I walk in the shadows of buildings, hoping hts are on in this area, but the h that I can walk by it without too much trouble

I walk beneath the elevated tracks They shudder with thetrain I have to walk fast if I want to get there before anyone notices that I’e crack in the street, and juht

I didn’t think about how far I would have to hen I set out It isn’t long beforeoverhazards in the road I pick up the pace, half walking and half jogging

Soon I reach a part of the city that I recognize The streets are better kept here, swept clean, with few holes Far away I see the glow of Erudite headquarters, their lights violating our energy conservation laws I don’t knohat I will do when I get there Demand to see Jeanine? Or just stand there until soertips skio throughit difficult to walk Breathing is tricky too; I stop trying to be quiet, and let air wheeze in and out of et there? What plans do they have for me before I outlive my usefulness, and they kill me? I don’t doubt that they will killto supportin front of Erudite headquarters

Inside, crowds of blue-shirted people sit around tables, typing on co sheets of paper back and forth Some of them are decent people who do not understand what their faction has done, but if their entire building collapsed in on theht not find it in myself to care

This is the last s my cheeks and e in the Dauntless compound Hope and pray and wish that no one else dies because of uilt, the weight of Will’s life, and my parents’ lives, and now Marlene’s life, will break my bones, will make it impossible to breathe

I sloalk toward the building and push open the doors

This is the only way to keep fro

For a second after iant portrait of Jeanine Matthews hung on the opposite wall, no one noticesaround near the entryway I walk up to the front desk, where a edthrough a stack of paper I set my hands on the desk

"Excuse me," I say

"Giveup

"No"

At that he looks up, his glasses askew, scowling like he’s about to chastise me Whatever words he was about to use seem to stick in his throat He stares atfrom my face to the black sweatshirt I wear

InI s

"I believe Jeanine Mattheanted to see me," I say "So I would appreciate it if you would contact her"

He signals to the Dauntless traitors by the door, but there is no need The guards have finally caught on Dauntless soldiers from the other parts of the room have also started forward, and they all surround me, but don’t touchto look as placid as possible

"Divergent?" one of them finally asks as the ’s communication system

If I closeI nod

My eyes shift to the Dauntless co out of the elevator on the left side of the roo toward us

A thousand potential reactions, ranging fro soh my mind at once I can’t decide on one So I stand still and watch him Jeanine must have known that I would come, she must have chosen Peter on purpose to collect me, she must have

"We’ve been instructed to take you upstairs," says Peter

Isharp, or nonchalant, but the only sound that escapes ht by my swollen throat Peter starts toward the elevators, and I follow him

We walk down a series of sleek corridors Despite the fact that we cli into the earth

I expect the in a short hallith a series of metal doors on each side Peter types in a code to open one of the doors, and the traitor Dauntless surrounda narrow tunnel for h on my way into the roo by six feet wide The floor, the walls, and the ceiling are all lowed in the aptitude test room In each corner is a tiny black camera

I finally let myself panic

I look froht the screa in my stomach, chest, and throat, the screarief clawing insidewith each other for doer than both I breathe in, and don’t breathe out My father once told me it was a cure for hiccups I asked hi my breath