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"Hello" She walks around the table, surveying hie of time tends to do that to a person"
He already knew she was alive How long ago did he find out?
She smiles "So you’ve finally come--"
"Not for the reason you think," he interrupts her "We were running from Erudite, and the only chance of escape we had required me to tell your poorly arry somehow But I can’t help but think that if I discovered , I would never speak to her the way Tobias speaks to his mother now, no ht makes me ache I push it aside and focus instead on what’s in front of e map with markers all over it A map of the city, obviously, but I’m not sure what the markers mean On the wall behind her is a chalkboard with a chart on it I can’t decipher the information in the chart; it’s written in shorthand I don’t know
"I see" Evelyn’s smile remains, but without its forees, then"
Her eyes drift down to our joined hands Tobias’s fingers spring apart He gestures to me first "This is Tris Prior Her brother, Caleb And their friend Susan Black"
"Prior," she says "I know of several Priors, but none of them are named Tris Beatrice, however"
"Well," I say, "I know of several living Eatons, but none of them are named Evelyn"
"Evelyn Johnson is the naation"
"Tris is the naation Not all of us, anyway"
Evelyn gives Tobias a look "Interesting friends you’ve made"
"Those are population counts?" says Caleb from behind me He walks forward, his mouth open "Andwhat? Factionless safe houses?" He points to the first line on the chart, which reads 7 Grn Hse "I mean, these places, on the ht?"
"That’s a lot of questions," says Evelyn, arching an eyebrow I recognize the expression It belongs to Tobias--as does her distaste for questions "For security purposes, I will not answer any of theestures toward the door Susan and Caleb start toward it, followed by h the ain
"I’m not stupid," she says in a low voice "I know you want nothing to do with h I still don’t quite understand why--"
Tobias snorts
"But," she says, "I will extend ain We could use your help here, and I know you are like-minded about the faction system--"
"Evelyn," Tobias says "I chose Dauntless"
"Choices can be ain"
"Whattime anywhere near you?" he demands I hear his footsteps stop, and slon so I can hear how she responds
"Because I’m your mother," she says, and her voice almost breaks over the words, uncharacteristically vulnerable "Because you’re et it," he says "You don’t have the vaguest conception of what you’ve done to me" He sounds breathless "I don’t want to join up with your little band of factionless I want to get out of here as quickly as possible"
"My little band of factionless is twice the size of Dauntless," says Evelyn "You would do well to take it seriously Its actions may determine the future of this city"
With that, she walks ahead of him, and ahead of me Her words echo in my mind: Twice the size of Dauntless When did they becoe?
Tobias looks athave you known?" I say
"About a year" He sluainst the wall and closes his eyes "She sent a codedme to meet her at the train yard I did, because I was curious, and there she was Alive It wasn’t a happy reunion, as you can probably guess"
"Why did she leave Abnegation?"
"She had an affair" He shakes his head "And no wonder, since ain "Well, let’s just say Marcus wasn’t any nicer to her than he was to ry with her? Because she was unfaithful to hi "No, that’s not why I’ a wild animal, each footstep careful on the ceet that," he says "But did she think of taking me with her?"
I purse my lips "Oh She left you with hihtmare No wonder he hates her
"Yeah" He kicks at the floor "She did"
My fingers find his, fuuides theh questions, for now, so I let the silence linger between us until he decides to break it
"It seems to me," he says, "that the factionless are better friends than enemies"
"Maybe But ould the cost of that friendship be?" I say
He shakes his head "I don’t know But we may not have any other option"
CHAPTER NINE
ONE OF THE factionless started a fire so we could heat up our food Those ant to eat sit in a circle around the largethe cans, then passing out spoons and forks, then passing cans around so everyone can have a bite of everything I try not to think about how many diseases could spread this way as I dip round next to me and takes the can of soup froation, huh?" He shovels several noodles and a piece of carrot into his mouth, and passes the can to the woman on his left
"We were," I say "But obviously Tobias and I transferred, and" Suddenly it occurs to me that I shouldn’t tell anyone Caleb joined Erudite "Caleb and Susan are still Abnegation"
"And he’s your brother Caleb," he says "You ditched your family to become Dauntless?"
"You sound like the Candor," I say irritably "Mind keeping your judgments to yourself?"
Therese leans over "He was Erudite first, actually Not Candor"
"Yeah, I know," I say, "I--"
She interrupts h"
"What happened?"