ASSURGENT

Chapter 3

I sat beside the Abnegation transfer, Primrose. He neat bun had been taken out and her blonde hair falls over her shoulders. "Do you know what's going to happen next?" She asks. "I have a faint idea. But I'm not entirely sure." I reply. She lets out an annoyed huff. It makes me grin. She notices. "What?" "You're just nothing like the Abnegation that's all." There was a hint of amusement in my voice. "Probably why she left Chi." Skye says, walking over. The figure behind him catches my eye. I grin and decide to tease her. "I remember you!"I tell her. She immediately blushes. "Ivy-Rose right?" She nods. I hold out my hand. "I'm Chiara." I introduce myself. She shakes my hand smiling. "It's good to see some familiar faces."
She looks over to my right and offers her hand. "I'm Ivy-Rose." Primrose shakes her hand. "Primrose. Primrose Ripley." She looks over and gives Skye a nod in greeting. "I'm Skye." He introduces.

————<Time Skip>————

"Get ready!" We hear a call from down the train. I stand up and poke my head outside.
"Wait I don't understand! What are we doing?" Asked Primrose a little frantically.
"Jumping." I answer casually. "What, are you insane?" A Erudite male asked me. "Welcome to Dauntless." I answer.
I run, and I leap as far as I can to make sure I make it onto the building.
The impact makes my legs crumble a little, but I put a hand down to steady myself as I tumble a few steps.
There is a grunt behind me, and I know that Skye had made it safely. He was not my concern. I stand and turn around. I see two figures leaping over together. They slip the landing and are sure to get a few scratches, maybe a tare.
"Come on Skye." I reach out a hand for him too grab. He takes it, dusting himself of with the other hand.
"Ow." He grunts. "Yeah, didn't feel great did it?" I wince.
We walk over to the rest of the group, meeting Primrose and Ivy-Rose in the middle. We push through the crowd a little to get a better look.
"Initiates!" I look up. It was Harrison standing on a ledge. One of Dauntless' leaders.
At his call the rest of the Initates gather round. A small group look shaken. Did someone not make the jump? They would have fallen to their death.
"Now that we're here, I am Harrison. I am one of your Dauntless leaders. There are three around. Four, whom you will be seeing shortly, and Xander, whom you'll find in the tattoo parlour in your spare time." I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

Who is Four? I didn't know a 'Four' was a Dauntless leader.

"Now!" He jumps down from the perch. "Do we have any volunteers to jump first?" He says, motioning behind him.
Silence.
"What's down there?" I ask. He grins. "Would you like to find out?" He says, stepping away to make room for me to stand.
He knows my mother, he knows she's curious by nature. He knows I would be too.
And he's right.
I walk over to where he stood to peer over the edge.
There was a room of nothing going stories down, leading into a hole, leading into darkness. You couldn't see the bottom.
They wouldn't kill us. Dauntless is about being brave, going into the unknown.
I stood up onto the perch, lining myself up to the hole.
"Do I jump?" I ask Harrison, although I didn't take my eyes off the hole. He grinned even bigger. "If you want to."
I grit my teeth in annoyance.
Well if I die, let's hope it's quick.
I jump.
The breath is taken out of me from shock, I gasp as I leap out.
Going through the hole, I continue to fall. I try to tuck my arms closer to my side, I am barely able to.
I fall into something, at first I think I'm falling through, but at the corner of my eyes, I see that I have been captured by a large net.
I bounce once, twice, then it's more of a small boing. I tilt my head back slightly and laugh, looking up. Small shapes of heads are looking down at where I fell.
As if I was going to die.
I sit up and wait for the boings to slow before I get out.
But the side of the net gets pulled down, and I come face to face with my father. "Hey kiddo." He grins. I shuffle out, landing beside him.
"Name?" He asks, letting the rope go. I raise an eyebrow at him. But he waits. "Chiara!" I say obviously. He looks up from where I jumped. "First jumper, Chiara!" He yells.
The volume makes me jump in my skin.
He turns back to me and motions with his head behind him.
I take the hint and stand in front of the wall behind him.
I hear a surprised yelp and look up at the net to see the Candor transfer Laurie bouncing into it. Dad waits for the bouncing to slow and pulls the net down, helping Laurie to get off.
"Name?" "Laurie."
"Second jumper, Laurie!"
The next is Skye. He takes his place next to me, smiling, hair everywhere. I chuckle at the sight.
"Fourth jumper, Zaiden!" Zaiden takes his place beside Laurie.
There are a few more jumpers, Harvey is one of them. I smile at him as he joins Skye and I.
Primrose was now in the net, her hair fuzzed up in a ponytail, she must have quickly tied it up.
"Name?" Dad asked her. Primrose hesitates. "Uh..." "If it's too hard make a new one but make it quick. Choose wisely you can't choose again.
She looks up again, thinking for a moment. "I'm Prim." She says confidently. My Dad smiles in acceptance and yells: "Ninth jumper, Prim!"
Prim jogs over to us smiling. "So... Prim." I say, testing out her new name. She smiles at it. "Sounds good." I put an arm around her shoulder, waiting for the next person. It's Ivy-Rose.
"Name?" "Ivy" She doesn't hesitate, doesn't think twice. Maybe she was more of a thorn that a flower. Doesn't was the -rose to ruin her name.
Ivy suited her more.
"Tenth jumper, Ivy!"
Ivy dashes over. "That was thrilling!" She tells us.
"Hope you like it. Knowing Dauntless there's going to be more."