Infallible

Chapter 2

Rae had been lying in bed listening to the deep breathing of the other initiates for about an hour. After dinner they had been shown to the dormitories that they would be staying in during initiation. Rae knew she needed to fall asleep soon, because training would probably wear her down tomorrow. Yet she had so much to think about. All the excitement of the day had almost made her forget about her test results. What is Divergent? What did it mean? Why did people think she was dangerous? Like Eric had said, she's just a little Amity girl.

What about me could possibly be such a threat to anyone?

When she had received her result, she was ushered out of the room by Tori, the girl who had administered the test. She was told to say that she had gotten sick and was sent home. Rae had tested positive for 4 factions: every one except her faction of origin. Before she had a chance to ask Tori any questions, she was shoved out of the room. Tori did offer her one small piece of advice, before slamming the door in Rae's face:

"Don't tell anyone. Not your friends, not your family, not anyone. Not unless you are ready to die. I have manually entered your faction of origin, if anyone asks, that's what you got. They fear those who they cannot control. Find a way to blend in. That shouldn't be hard in Amity."

It seemed a little ridiculous to Rae. Those who they cannot control? All her life Rae had been under someone else's control. Her father, the whole Amity faction, the boys who made her life even more of a nightmare. She was constantly restrained and forced under the Peace Serum because she wasn't like the rest of her faction. She wasn't always happy. She never smiled. She was angry, and distant. Part of her wished that they knew about the turmoil that had been her daily life, that it was impossible to find peace within a living nightmare. However the bigger part of her was too proud. Not to mention, she didn't think anyone would believe her.

She didn't want to admit to being beaten by her father, to the point of being knocked out on a regular basis. She was too ashamed to tell the people who already seemed to hate her, that her father had worked a deal with the Abnegation leader Marcus Eaton. Rae's virginity had a price tag, one that Marcus was all to eager to pay. She was supposed to choose Abnegation at the ceremony, not Dauntless. Yet Rae, determined to learn what she needed to protect herself against anyone who tried to hurt her again, had chose the warrior faction. Her father surely hadn't thought she would have had the nerve to go against him, with all the threats he'd delivered about what would happen if she didn't obey...but she had.

Aside from her father, the Amity boys were another thing she was desperate to escape from. When she was very young, she was bullied for being small, by all of her peers. As they got older Rae began to develop a very womanly figure. The girls stopped talking to her, and the boys became her tormentors. She wasn't allowed to socialize outside of her classes, so she made no friends. Her father had strict orders that she was not to speak to anyone, and he always followed through with his brutal punishments if she disobeyed. She had nobody to run to, nobody to help her. So she learned to run away. Most of her very little free time was spent as far away as she dared, in a tree, counting the days until the Choosing Ceremony. She couldn't wait to be Dauntless.

Rolling over, Rae forced her thoughts away and closed her eyes.

I have to get some sleep. She told herself. As she tried to mimic the rhythmic breathing of her roommates, she fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of cold blue eyes burning straight into hers.

***

The next morning, everyone woke with a start as Four stood on the steps, banging a metal pipe on the railing.

"One hour until training! Don't even think about being late. Go get some breakfast before it's gone."

They drug themselves out of bed, some quicker than others. Deidra was one that couldn't quite seem to get up. Rae nudged her arm.