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I sigh Abnegation is what I a It is what I am when I am put to the test It is what I a faction?

The thought of h my hands I have to warn , but I don’t knoill find a way, but not today Today I have to focus on what awaitsfroain It doesn’tin In two hours I alk to the fear landscape rooh my fear landscape, and become Dauntless It’s too late to turn back

When I finish, I bury my face in my pillow I don’t mean to fall asleep, but after a while, I do, and I wake up to Christina shaking o," she says She looks ashen

I rub my eyes to press the sleep from them I have my shoes on already The other initiates are in the dor smiles around like they don’t mean it I pullit up to et the siain, with the et our fears today, like we’re supposed to?

We walk to the Pit and up the path that leads to the glass building I look up at the glass ceiling I can’t see daylight because the soles of shoes cover every inch of glass above us For a second I think I hear the glass creak, but it is ination I walk up the stairs with Christina, and the crowd chokes me

I am too short to see above anyone’s head, so I stare at Will’s back and walk in his wake The heat of so many bodies around ather on my forehead A break in the crowd reveals what they are all clustered around: a series of screens on the wall to my left

I hear a cheer and stop to look at the screens The screen on the left shows a black-clothed girl in the fear landscape room--Marlene I watch her move, her eyes wide, but I can’t tell what obstacle she’s facing Thank God no one out here will see my fears either--just my reactions to them

The middle screen shows her heart rate It picks up for a second and then decreases When it reaches a norreen and the Dauntless cheer The screen on the right shows her ti to catch up to Christina and Will Tobias stands just inside a door on the left side of the room that I barely noticed the last time I was here It is next to the fear landscape rooe and contains another screen, similar to the one outside A line of people sit in chairs in front of it Eric is one of the by the wires connected to their heads, and their blank eyes, they are observing the simulation

Behind them is another line of chairs, all occupied now I aet one

"Hey, Tris!" Uriah calls out from across the room He sits with the other Dauntless-born initiates Only four of theh their fear landscapes already He pats his leg "You can sit on"It’s fine I like to stand"

I also don’t want Tobias to see hts lift in the fear landscape roo Marlene in a crouch, her face streaked with tears Max, Eric, and a few others shake off the simulation daze and walk out A few seconds later I see the

"Transfers, the order in which you go through the final test was taken fros as they now stand," Tobias says "So Dreill go first, and Tris will go last"

That o before I do

I stand in the back of the roolances when Eric sticks Dreith the needle and sends him into the fear landscape room By the time it’s my turn, I will knoell the others did, and hoell I will have to do to beat the to watch fro, but I don’t knohat he is reacting to After a fewand try to think of nothing Speculating about which fears I will have to face, and how many there will be, is useless at this point I just have to remember that I have the power to manipulate the sioes next It takes her half as long as it takes Drew, but even Molly has trouble She spends tooto control her panic At one point she even screas

It ahts of war on Abnegation, Tobias, Caleb, my parents, et past this obstacle

Christina is next Then Will Then Peter I don’t watch them I know only how much time it takes them: twelve minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes And then my name

"Tris"

I open my eyes and walk to the front of the observation rooe liquid I barely feel the needle as it plunges into my neck, barely see Eric’s pierced face as he presses the plunger down I ih

"Ready?" he asks

CHAPTER THIRTY

I AM READY I step into the rooun or a knife, but with the plan I e three is about ies to overcome my fears

I wish I knehat order the fears will come in I bounce on the balls of my feet as I wait for the first fear to appear I aes Grass rises froreen sky replaces the exposed pipes above , a ha that exists in ure out what this siht; it isn’t about the birds It’s about control

Wings flap next tointo my shoulder

This time, I do not hit the bird as hard as I can I crouch, listening to the thunder of wings behind round What combats powerlessness? Power And the first time I felt powerful in the Dauntless coun

A lump forms in my throat and I want the talons off The bird squawks andhard and un at the bird on my shoulder, and it detaches from my shirt in an explosion of blood and feathers I spin on un at the sky, and see the cloud of dark feathers descending I squeeze the trigger, firing again and again into the sea of birds above rass

As I aim and shoot, I feel the saun My heart stops racing and the field, gun, and birds fade away I stand in the dark again

I shiftsqueaks beneatha cold, slass on either side ofThis is not about the water; it is about my inability to escape the tank It is about weakness I just have to convince lass

The blue lights come on, and water slips over the floor, but I don’t let the siainst the wall in front ofthe pane to break