Divergent: Before We Chose

Page Twenty Two

I sneak out early the next morning. Black half-moons hang under my eyes, evidence of my sleepless night, and I stumble out the door silently, dazed by exhaustion.

The walk to the factionless warehouses seems longer today, or maybe it just feels further away from home. My conscience knaws at me and I try my best to ignore it, knowing that this is the right decision. Today signifies the day when Beatrice Prior set herself free from the restraints of Abengation, the day she tore off the chains of futile selflessness and sparked a rebellion for the greater good.

But if that is the truth, then why do I feel so wrong?

I expect stares when I enter the warehouses, but no one looks my way, not even once. This small community, made up of people wearing patched clothing, works in harmony, going about their daily business as if this is where they truly do belong, as if they have not been thrown out of their homes.

Maybe this is natural. Maybe community is a part of human nature, and not part of faction law.

I make my way to the back room where Tobias and his mother usually converse, dodging wires and meandering through the maze of pipes that lead the way. I hear voices ahead; one undoubtedly female, and two male. They are arguing.

'How dare you come here and threaten our safety! How dare you come sauntering in like this, demanding authority, just because your chance at freedom failed! You should be begging on your knees!'

'Don't pretend that I'm in the wrong here. Don't let the fact that you never had the chance of faction life cloud your judgement.'

'Oh, because faction life is so perfect!'

'You're a child; you can't possibly understand the gravity of this situation.'

'This 'situation' as you put it, has been my entire life! Dismantling the faction system is what I live and breathe! And it was all going to plan until you waltzed in, dragging that Prior girl along with you! You've doomed us!'

'That 'Prior girl' has a name,' I interrupt in style, recalling how I was knocked out the last time I butted in like this. But this time I am not afraid.

Evelyn stands in front of the boy who was arguing with Tobias, blocking him from my sight. I feel as if it is a deliberate action. 'Finally come to join us, Miss Prior? You realise this time that there's no going back. No more Abnegation robes, no dinner rota, no chores. No Choosing Ceremony next year. This is it. You are no longer safe.'

'I was never safe. No one is safe anymore,' I say boldly, and Tobias smirks. 'Not with our corrupt government. It's full of lies.'

'Like?' Evelyn raises her eyebrows in a challenge.

'The death of Mrs. Eaton, 14 years ago. I was 5, but I still remember your funeral.'

She smirks, almost satisfied looking. 'Died in childbirth. Creative, no? Coffin and all.'

'Very theatrical,' I praise without feeling.

'You're very observation, Beatrice.'

'I have an eye for detail.'

'Like the Erudite. but you did miss one thing,' she grins again, and my spine tingles. Tobias stiffens. 'If I had died in childbirth, what happened to the child?'

'It... It must have died too,' I stutter, realising what she means. If she has not actually died, then that means...

'I would like you to meet my son,' she steps back, revealing the boy with whom Tobias had been arguing earlier. He is a smaller version of him, but without the blue eyes, and long, dark hair that curls at his temples. He looks young, but he must be, by fact, fourteen. Tobias's younger brother.

'Nice to meet you, Beatrice Prior,' he extends his hard, corded with muscle, and his voice laced with menace. 'My name is Theo Eaton.'