Agents of the Forgotten Faction

|Chapter 25|

I pull my jacket tight around my shoulders. I am actually outside, I can't remember the last time I was out. The sun shines pale against my face, and I watch my breaths form in the air. At least I accomplished a couple of things: I convinced Peter and his friends that I'm no longer a threat and I got out of the compound to see Caleb.

"Hey Hill, now that I'm out how am I going to get into Erudite and then back into the Dauntless compound?" I ask.

"Well I reckon we should roll with it," Hill says.

"Both strategic and wise, keep me posted," I say to her with a giggle.

The sound of the train horn slices through the air. Well that is my ticket to see Caleb. I make my way to the tracks just in time to see the train. I start running and soon I'm in perfect strides with the open door, I grab the handle and swing myself in, wincing as pain darts through my sore body. Once in the car, I lie on my back next to the door and watch the Dauntless compound disappear behind me. The air rushes over my body and twists around my fingers. I let my hand trail over the edge of the car so it presses against the wind. The train slows as it reaches the heart of the city, and I sit up to watch the smaller buildings grow into larger buildings. The Erudite live in large stone buildings that overlook the marsh. I hold the handle and lean out just enough to see where the tracks go. They dip down to street level just before they bend to travel east. I breathe in the smell of wet pavement and marsh air. 

The train dips and slows, and I jump. My legs shudder with the force of my landing, and I run a few steps to regain my balance. I walk down the mid dle of the street, heading south, toward the marsh. The empty land stretches as far as I can see, a brown plane colliding with the horizon. I turn left. The Erudite buildings loom above me, dark and unfamiliar. How will I find Caleb here? The Erudite keep records; it's in their nature. They must keep records of their initiates. Someone has access to those records; I just have to find them. I scan the buildings. Logically speaking, the central building should be the most important one. I may as well start there. The faction members are milling around everywhere. Erudite faction norms dictate that a faction member must wear at least one blue article of clothing at a time, because blue causes the body t o release calming chemicals, and "a calm mind is a clear mind." The colour has also come to signify their faction. It seems impossibly bright to me now. I have grown used to dim lighting and dark clothing. I expect to weave through the crowd, dodging elbows and muttering "excuse me" the way I always do, but there is no need. Be coming Dauntless has made me noticeable. The crowd parts for me, and their eyes cling to me as I pass. I stand just inside the entrance and tilt my head back. The room is huge, silent, and smells like dust-covered pages. The wood-panelled floor creaks beneath my feet. Bookcases line the walls on either side of me, but they seem to be decorative more than anything, because computers occupy the tables in the center of the room, and no one is reading. They stare at screens with tense eyes, focused. I should have known that the main Erudite building would be a library. A portrait on the opposite wall catches my attention. It is twice my height and four times my width and depicts an attractive woman with watery grey eyes and spectacles—Jeanine. Heat licks my throat at the sight of her. Because she is Erudite's representative, she is the one who released that report about my father. I have disliked her since my father's dinner-table rant s began, but now I hate her. Beneath her is a large plaque that reads. Prosperity. To me the word has a negative connotation. Abnegation uses it to describe self-indulgence. 

I feel bad that Caleb has to be inserted here, its so confining, all people are willing to do are study and learn. The things they do, the things they want, it's all wrong. But he probably thinks the same of the Dauntless. I walk up to the desk just beneath Jeanine's portrait. The young man sitting behind it doesn't look up as he says, "How can I help you?"