I sigh as we walk around The Erudite sector, it is cleaner than any other part of the city, every scrap of trash or rubble cleared from the pavement, every crack in the street shored up with tar. I feel like I need to step carefully rather than mark the sidewalk with my sneakers. The other Dauntless walk along carelessly, the soles of their shoes making slapping sounds like pattering rain.
Every faction headquarters is allowed to have the lights on in its lobby at midnight, but everything else is supposed to be dark. Here, in the Erudite sector, each building that makes up Erudite headquarters is like a pillar of light. The windows we walk past feature the Erudite sitting at long tables, their noses buried in books or screens, or talking quietly to one another. The young and the old mix together at every table, in their impeccable blue clothing, their smooth hair, more than half of them with gleaming spectacles. I don't miss it. I chose the haven that mocks them through the windows, that sends Amar into their lobby to cause a stir.
Amar reaches the doors of the central Erudite building and pushes through them. We watch from just outside, snickering. I peer through the doors at the portrait of Jeanine Matthews hanging on the opposite wall. Her yellow hair is pulled back tight from her face, her blue jacket buttoned just beneath her throat. She's pretty, but that's not the first thing I notice about her. Her sharpness is.
Amar reaches the doors of the central Erudite building and pushes through them. We watch from just outside, snickering. I peer through the doors at the portrait of Jeanine Matthews hanging on the opposite wall. Her yellow hair is pulled back tight from her face, her blue jacket buttoned just beneath her throat. She's pretty, but that's not the first thing I notice about her. Her sharpness is.
Amar runs into the lobby, ignoring the protests of the Erudite at the front desk, and yells, "Hey, Noses! Check this out!"
All the Erudite in the lobby look up from their books or screens, and the Dauntless burst into laughter as Amar turns, mooning them. The Erudite behind the desk run around it to catch him, but Amar pulls up his pants and runs toward us. We all start running, too, sprinting away from the doors.
I can't help it—I'm laughing too, and it surprises me, how my stomach aches with it. Zeke runs at my shoulder, and we go toward the train tracks because there's nowhere else to run. The Erudite chasing us give up after a block, and we all stop in an alley, leaning against the brick to catch our breath.
Amar comes into the alley last, his hands raised, and we cheer for him. He holds up the flask like it's a trophy and points at Shauna.
"Young one," he says. "I dare you to scale the sculpture in front of the Upper Levels building."
She catches the flask when he throws it and takes a swig.
"You got it," she says, grinning.
By the time they get to Tobias and me, almost everyone is drunk, lurching with each footstep and laughing at every joke, no matter how stupid it is.
We're close to Dauntless headquarters now. The buildings are sagging where they stand.
"Who's left?" Lauren says, her bleary eyes skipping over each face until she reaches mine. "Ah, the numerically named initiate from Abnegation. Four, is it? and the Color named one? Jade?"
YOU ARE READING
Fire and Ice
FanfictionJadence LaRay is a part of Erudite. But when she take her test, she finds out she belongs elsewhere. When she goes to her new faction, she becomes close with a boy from her home faction and with a boy from Abnegation, both whom can't stand to be ar...
