The Erudite Girl

The First Test

"Erudite!" Markus shouted out. I avoided Amy's eyes as I walked to my new seat in the Erudite section. I was the first transfer so I was the first one there. I breathed a huge breath out as I sat down. I did it. I was here. The other people in the faction were cheering for me. Someone clapped me on the back and I shook another person's hand before I sat down.

The rest of the ceremony was a blur of sounds and colors. I was briefly aware of a girl in black sitting down next to me and smiling. She was later joined by another boy in black, and three girls in black and white.

After what felt like eternity the ceremony was over and everyone was getting up. A woman in blue who I recognized as the leader of Erudite, Jeanine Matthews, stood up.

"Okay Erudite! Listen up! All of you who are not transfers head to your homes. Transfers follow Joe Henry," he waved his hand to indicate that it was him, "And Lindsey Florence," she did the same. I tried to remember everything I could about Erudite. I knew the families lived in apartments around the main tower that was like there town center. The tower was surrounded by other buildings. Most people worked either in the main tower or one of the buildings around it. The initiates stayed in the main tower until they past all their tests. That caused me to gulp in fear. I hadn't yet thought about the tests. They were put in place to prove that we could be in Erudite. Those who didn't pass became Factionless, living on the streets around the city, taking any charity you could get.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and followed the two leaders out of the Auditorium. As we walked I fell instep next to the girl in black.

"Hey," she said. "Do you know where we're going?" I looked at her. She seemed nice. She had short brown hair and brown eyes, and she seemed uncomfortable in her all black clothes.

"I have no idea," I replied with a smile. "You're a dauntless transfer right? Sorry I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Macey," she said, holding out her hand. "And yeah, I'm from dauntless. You're... Claire?"

"Cate," I corrected with a laugh. "And I'm from Amity. What made you switch to Erudite?"

"I'm not brave at all," she said laughing. "And I love to read. Dauntless people don't respect that at all."

"Me too!" I interjected. "Amity won't openly tell you that they think it's weird but they'll totally tell all their friends about how weird you are."

"Aw that's awful," she declared. "Do you know what these test are going to be?"

"I have no idea," I said. "But I bet they're going to be super hard." Suddenly the group of initiates stopped. There were about 30 or so Erudite-born initiates, one dauntless boy transfer besides Macey, and three candor girls that were arguing (big surprise). I also had no idea where we were. There was nobody around, just a bunch of tall buildings and one really tall, huge tower. I vaguely figured this was where we were going to stay but where were the rest of the people who lived here?

"Everyone listen up!" I looked over to see one of the guides, Lindsey, I thought, shouting. "Okay you're first test is to get into the tower. You are not allowed to work with anybody, if you do you will immediately fail. You must get in by nightfall. Joe will come around, blindfold each of you, and take you to a different side of the tower. If you leave the general area or try to get into any building than this one, you will be failed." I exchanged a look with Macey and tried to squelch the butterflies in my stomach. This wasn't going to be as easy as it seemed.

"We will be watching you," Lindsey continued. "And the faster you succeed the better. There are many different ways of getting in the tower. Is there anyone who wants to back out now?" No one wanted to do that. To back out or fail your faction test would mean to be factionless. To live alone you're whole life. To be homeless and have to accept charity. Silence swept through the crowd.