Prior Rings

Chapter 35: Tris - Challenges

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and to my wonderful beta reader, Rosalie! It's been a VERY long week, and your reviews were about the only bright spots in it, so I truly appreciate each and every one of them.

Chapter 35: Tris – Challenges

I perch on top of the climbing wall, Christina beside me, as we survey the route ahead. Overhead rings cross the crescent-shaped room, leading to a platform some twenty feet away. Below us, a dark cloth covers the floor, so it's impossible to tell if there's a usable path there or not.

"You know they won't be able to handle the rings, right?" Christina murmurs, trying to keep our teammates from hearing her.

"Yeah," I reluctantly agree. Tori and Shauna would be fine, but there's no point in pretending that either Susan or Cara is up to the task. They don't have enough arm strength to cross the room that way. And even if they did, I have no idea how we'd get Shauna's wheelchair across with us.

"That leaves the floor," I add, staring at the dark cloth that covers it. The idea of dropping onto that is intimidating, but at the same time, it could easily just be a scare tactic.

"If you tie the rope around your waist, I'll lower you down," Christina suggests.

I flash her a smile as I agree. There's something very Dauntless about rappelling down the back of a climbing wall to explore an unknown surface below us.

It's even more like my old faction when I reach the end of the rope – while I'm still four feet above the cloth that covers the floor. It's not really a surprise. There has to be some bravery involved in this, after all, so of course I'll have to drop the last part without knowing if it's safe or not.

Vaguely, I realize that I should take risks like this more seriously, but after all the real dangers I've faced in my life, it's hard to be afraid of a game. So, I don't even hesitate as I untie the rope from around my waist and let myself fall.

My feet snag briefly on the cloth before hitting the hard floor that's directly below it. It was just an intimidation tactic, after all.

From here, I can see that the cloth rests on a grid structure of some sort, allowing it to cover the entire floor without being directly attached to the walls. That should make it easy to lift.

So, I do, pulling the nearest piece up to see what it's hiding, and then lifting the piece beside that and the next until I find the view I need. The sight makes me grin.

A twisting tube slide leads from the platform on the other side of the room down beyond sight, winding its way around a cement ramp that spirals through the center of the parking garage. And the floor I'm on is that ramp, so from here, we should be able to just head down, following the slide to wherever it ends.

"This will work fine," I call up to Christina, noticing that Tori is now perched beside her. "Can you two get the others down here?"

Even from this distance, I can see my best friend roll her eyes. "Of course," she yells.

It doesn't take them long. They lower Shauna's wheelchair first, and then my faction-mate, followed by Cara and Susan, before they shimmy down themselves.

"Let's go," Tori declares the moment her feet touch the floor, a wild grin on her face from the drop. In that moment, her expression is utterly Dauntless, and it's enough to send Shauna and Christina racing ahead, laughing. It only takes me a second to follow suit, Tori by my side as Cara and Susan bring up the rear. I may not live in my second faction anymore, but it will always be part of me, and I will always love its energy and enthusiasm.