Enigmatic - Divergent/Eric Fanfiction

Chapter Thirteen

Over the next few days my training consisted of the same routine; being pinned to the chair by Eric and being injected with the serum by Four, before facing my fears. I'd experienced the needle one again, as well as a few new ones such as being trapped in a box with huge spiders and being buried alive.

As the days had passed, I'd felt less anxious every time I'd walked into the room, and Eric and Four had found that they didn't need to be as cautious with me. Eric had been less rough with me after the night that I ate at his, and his presence was strangely calming for me... Now that I knew he wasn't a murderer and all that. Deep down, the guy did have a heart, and not very many people were determined enough to get to it.

We'd not spoken properly since then, I figured I'd have to save him the embarrassment of admitting that he opened up to me a little bit, and had only exchanged a few words in front of Four. I'd noticed Four look a little surprised that Eric hadn't purposely tried to hurt me whilst pinning me down, or made a snide comment about something that I did, and I kept expecting him to question it, yet he never did.

As today's simulation ended and I tried to catch my breath, hunched over in the chair after being smothered by spiders, I noticed that Eric had already left.

"Where's Eric?" I asked, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Gone to a meeting." Four replied, fiddling with the computer. "You didn't listen to me, did you? You went to talk to him about it."

I shook my head. "No... I did listen, Talulah told me the same thing too."

"Then why isn't he still angry with you? He still death glares at me every time we're in the same room."

I shrugged. "Clearly he doesn't just hate you for thinking he killed Rita, he must hate you for something else too."

Four rolled his eyes and said nothing else on the matter. "You did that in twelve minutes, seven seconds. Much better than before. You're improving just like we'd hoped.

I nodded. "Great. Who's got the best time so far?"

"Nathan."

I nodded again. I had a feeling that his answer would be Nathan, each day he'd told me his times and not once had he gone over five minutes. He was ridiculously fast. But that also worried me. James had become increasingly jealous of him, and with no one but a few Dauntless-born's to talk to, I had gotten the impression that he was sitting and stewing alone, and soon enough he was going to burst. I didn't want Nathan to be the victim of James' fury when the time came.

"How come he manages to do his so quickly?"

"I'm not allowed to discuss that with you. You'll have to ask him."

I sighed. "Okay." I got to my feet, after checking for creepy crawlies, and walked towards the door.

"Oh, Lu told me to ask you to meet her in the dining hall at one, something about wanting to wish you luck before she leaves."

"Okay." I smiled at him, then pulled the door open. "See you later, Four."

He nodded but didn't say anything, so I pulled the door shut behind me and headed back to the accommodation.

Talulah was stretched out on her bed reading a newspaper, looking bored.

"I didn't realise you read the paper?" I questioned.

She looked up at me and dropped the newspaper on her lap. "I don't. Freddie left it on the floor so I thought I'd take a look while I was waiting for you."

"Oh... anything interesting in it?"

"Just some article about the Abnegation leader abusing his son."