fearless

Chapter 118: Another Pedrad, Another Eaton

Illusion- Beat Connection
Dímelo- Snakehips
2 Weeks Later
Ty

I walk through the pit hallways to Ashton's house. He lives near Maddie's parents, close to the net. I stuff my hands into the large pocket of my black hoodie, suddenly grinning as I think about the upturn of my life, of Maddie's life.

It seems like we can actually focus now, since Hannah and Dylan are safe, since Jordan and Jeanine haven't sprung anything on us yet, which has been about four months since my kidnapping—the last move they made.

Also, our jobs have been pretty easy. Maddie and I both now work at the tattoo parlor once again, only attending meetings when we have to, or occasionally going and doing some filing at the office.

Uriah has hired three new leaders to strengthen the leadership system in Dauntless since Maddie and I are kind of in and out due to the circumstances with Erudite. There's now an even balance of male and female leaders. Uriah hired Robert Adams, Jennifer Williams, and Lily Baker.

I actually thought that Robert was going to be an arrogant ass when he started working as a leader, but he's proven to me otherwise.

He's always offering to help, which is good. He basically lives at the office, something that I find a little odd, but I guess it's okay. I mean, he gets the biggest amount of work done out of the six of us.

Tomorrow the initiates come, and all of the leaders must be there to give the annual welcoming speech. Uriah will do most of the talking, but Maddie and I will have to explain the scoring systems, and she'll have to oversee the transfers.

I've been assigned to oversee the Dauntless Borns, since Uriah wanted the two leaders with the most experience to do the initiation work, like helping out the instructors and also the ranking process.

I like it now that there are other leaders besides Uriah, Maddie, and I, because now it doesn't look so suspicious. Uriah only chose me to be the Ambassador because he needed someone that wouldn't betray us, our group, which definitely was an alert to the Erudite. Now we're hidden once again.

I arrive at Ashton's door and I knock on it. He opens it, then screams as he leaps into my arms, almost knocking me down. "Hey, big brother!" He shouts at me. I furrow my brows and look at him in a slightly confused way.

"Hey, little brother?" I ask as we step into Ashton's dim house. It's silent, so I'm guessing that Abby and Rosalie are gone. "Where's Abby?" I ask him as I look around.

"Oh she's at the store, then she was gonna go talk to her mom, Christina. She might be pregnant again." He bites his lip. I nod, winking at my brother, whose face is bright red.

"I guess, I guess you two got busy?" I ask him, looking up from my hands that I stare down at. He nods, burying his face in his shirt, his body rocking back and forth.

In this darkness, this dimness, I can actually see the fear in my fearless brother's eyes, and it makes me feel human. Now I feel like we're actually related, that we're actually the same.

And I couldn't be happier.

>> Abby

I walk to my parents' house once I leave the store. The small box that has the pregnancy test inside of it is safe in the pocket of Ashton's hoodie that I wear. I let out a shaky breath as I arrive at their door. If I'm correct, my father is at work, so my Mom is the only person here.