The New Initiates

Chapter 21

Rose POV

There is a knock on the control room door. Four looks at me and frowns. “Expecting anyone?” he asks. I shake my head. “Nope. And from the way you asked, I’d guess you aren’t either.” Four rolls his eyes. “You genius.” He says. He walks across the room and opens the door. I shrink back so whoever is on the other side can’t see me. “Hello Four.” It’s a male, I recognise the voice. I think his name is Eric, but I’m not sure. “Eric.” Four replies

Eric sighs loudly. “Look Four, I’ll be really quick, is Rose in there? Has she turned up yet?” I bite my lip. Four moves slightly. “Why? Has something happened?”

“No Four, we just really need her help with something, hopefully we’ll be quick.” Four turns his head and looks at me. I mouth to him; should I go? He nods and mouths a reply;

I think you better, best not to make him angry.

I sigh and walk over to the door. “Hi Eric.” I say.

Eric turns and smiles. It’s not a kind smile, but it’s not horrible either. “Hello Rose, follow me.”

We end up in a large room with two Dauntless guards I don’t know, plus Aria and Allie. I look around confused. “Why are we all here?” the other two guards exchange a smile. “We have a special assignment for you three.” One says. The other one grins.

“A very special assignment.” I look at Allie and Aria and mouth to them; uh-oh.

Daniel POV

I sit at the usual table by Nate. He sighs. “Where are the girls? Apparently no one’s seen them all day.” I shrug and am about to reply when Tris walks past.

“Tris?” I call. She turns and smiles.

“Hey Daniel, hi Nate, is everything okay? Where’s Aria, Allie and Rose?” I shake my head and sigh.

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I guess they’re off doing… something together.” Tris frowns slightly then holds up a finger. “Hang on, I’ll ask Four if Rose said anything during the day.” She walks off to find Four and I hear Nate sigh beside me. “Maybe they ran away.” He says. I turn and see he has a smirk on his face. “Why would they do that? At least one of them would have let us know in some sort of sneaky way.” I reply. Nate rolls his eyes and gives me a look that clearly means; are you serious? Can you be that naïve? I raise an eyebrow and he sighs. “Maybe they ran away because-” He’s cut off by Tris returning with Four. They sit across from us and look at us. “Do you know where they are?” I ask. Four shakes his head.

“Not exactly, but you see, around halfway through the day, Eric came to get Rose. He was acting… how should I put it? He was acting very weird.” Nate grins.

“Eric? Acting weird? No! get out of here Four!” Four shoots him a look and Nate’s smile quickly disappears. “My point,” Four continues. “Is that if all three girls are gone, they have either been forced to go somewhere- considering we’re also missing Eric, plus two guards- or, they’ve run out of the compound, the latter is unlikely because I would have seen them on the cameras.” Suddenly I remember something from not long ago. “Four, how likely is it that the leaders would take people they suspected of being divergent to another faction?” Four and Tris exchange a glance. Four looks worried and Tris looks confused. “Not likely-” I cut him off.

“What if, hypothetically, there were three of them, all around the same age and at least two with a relatively good knowledge about what could happen to them?” Four leans forward, looking suddenly interested. “That could be more likely, why, do you know something?” I look down at the table top and Four taps the table with his knuckles. “Daniel? If something like this is happening to your friends, you might not see them again until their bodies are recovered from the chasm.” I sigh and tell all three of them about what I heard earlier. Four and Tris grow more and more concerned through the story and Nate stays quiet. When I’ve finished I look at each of them in turn. Four is quiet for a bit, then he looks at Nate and I. “Meet me by the net tonight; I’ll make sure none of the cameras can pick us up. Dress in dark clothes and recruit another person, preferably a dauntless-born who you know you can trust, to do the same thing.” Before I can say anything, I hear;

“We should ask Zander, he jokes around but he’s a really good fighter and stuff.” Four nods.

“Then it’s settled. I’ll see you both tonight.”