Revelation | ✓

Chapter 7

Ryde takes a seat next to me the next morning at breakfast. "Vae-"

He's cut off by the lights suddenly going out.

"Well, shit!" Lynn yells. "Zeke, I thought you said you'd stop that!" Some people laugh. I shudder.

"It wasn't me!"

"Uh huh, suuuure!"

"I swear, i-"

A few screens used for emergency lockdown announcements- and for showing initiation rankings at the banquet- turn on, revealing a plain gray room with a plain gray desk chair.

A woman sits down in the chair. She is tall, with platinum blonde hair tied back in a bun. Her hair is streaked with gray. Her eyes are a dark blue, though there's nothing warm about them. Her posture is stiff as a board, and I notice that she looks a little like my father.

"Hello. My name is Evelyn Johnson, the leader of the factionless." Her gray button-down shirt looks a half-size too small. "I have with me the Divergent rebel, Beatrice Prior. If you meet all of my conditions within the next week, I will release her unharmed. If you do not, then the consequences for her will be violent and painful. Most of them will be broadcasted for you to see." She smirks a little at this, and I shudder at her silent meaning.

Evelyn turns to look at someone to the left of the screen, off the camera. They drag in a woman around five-two with long blonde hair. They tie her to a pole in the background of the camera. Her hands are tied together with a plastic tie, and her mouth is taped shut, but I'd recognize her anywhere.

Mom.

Evelyn nods towards the man. He's about my mother's age with dark hair and an eyepatch over one eye. "Go ahead."

He smirks and pulls out a pocketknife, flipping it open. My mom doesn't react. He presses her shoulder into the pole and slices her upper arm. My mom cries out, the sound muffled by the tape. Ryde hugs me against him and I hide my face in his black T-shirt, comforted by his strong grip and familiar smell.

"As I said before, the consequences will be violent and painful. Every day that you do not meet our requirements, we will injure her. If exactly seven days pass with no response, we will publicly execute her. Do not try to find us. Your attempts will be in vain and only make it worse for your 'Tris'." I turn my head so that I can see the woman.

"We only have two requests. The first is that the leaders of all of the factions step down and give us their roles as leaders. We plan to remove the factions from our society- as well as the Divergent- and it would make it much easier if you surrendur every one of the Divergents and leaders, as well as any rebels, as soon as possible.

"The second request is a personal one, from me. I would like my granddaughter, Vayna Eaton, sent into the Abnegation sector at midnight. She is a thirteen-year-old Dauntless, and- if I have been correctly informed- goes by the name of Vae. This one is the more important of the two, and failure to meet this one especially will result in more than just a petty war waged on the Dauntless."

She waves her hand at someone off camera in a dissmissive gesture. "And just remember- the life of one of your own depends on these requests. Beatrice's death will only be the catalyst. You have been warned."

The screens shut off, and for a moment we're left in total darkness. Ryde lets go of me just before the lights come on.

For a moment, everyone just sits in stunned silence. Then, the shouting begins.

A/N: Should I also include some chapters in Ryde's POV or keep it only Vae's? Just curious.