Born to be Dauntless

Chapter 34

"Rogue, what are you doing here?" Mason asked after dragging me away from the others.

I looked around to see who could hear me. We were in the far corner of the dormitory. The door wasn't anywhere near us and the talking of the others were enough to overpower my voice. The only ones who could hear me were Mason and his friends.

"I was being shadowed."

"What?"

"Why?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. I've got some suspicion why but for your own safety, I won't tell."

Mason's friends looked intrigued but didn't question me any further.

"So... eh... sorry for your friend, Sophia. I should've been faster."

"It's okay." One of Mason's friends said "and as harsh as it sounds, we weren't that close to her."

Oh thank god. That means they won't suddenly turn into some sort of crybaby. 

"But what did they do to you?" another guy said. I recognized him from they other day when I was being escorted through Dauntless. "You look beat up."

The others also stared at me trying to find indications of a fight. I shifted uncomfortably under their gaze. "Just don't get caught. Even if you didn't do anything."

I could see that I'd given them something to think about. Within all the confusion and theories, I managed to drag Mason from the rest. He didn't understand it but he let me anyway. When we were far enough from anyone else, I began to explain.

"Can you do something for me?"

"Sure!" he said with a grin "What do you need?"

"Can you tell Daryl that I'm okay... and alive for that matter." Mason frowned slightly but I decided to ignore it "I know he must've heard something by now and I can't visit him while being shadowed. I suspect that that will last for another few days or so. Maybe less, maybe more."

Mason kept quiet. 

"So... Can you do that? Please?"

"Okay." he said a bit grim and walked back to the others.

I stared at them. I didn't wanted to go back to them and talk. Plus, I had other things to take care of. Without saying goodbye, I sneaked to the door and left.

Let's get my knife back.

As soon as I left the room, I knew I was being followed again. This was an official order, wasn't it? If it were an amateur, he or she would've given up already. I decided to keep my mind blank and thought of nothing more than to get to Eric's office, which was a task on it's own. A lot had happened since I last was there and I got lost at least once on my way there. For some reason the layout of Dauntless threw me off. Normally I would have little to no trouble finding my way but within the compounds it was different.

I stared at the double door leading to Eric's office. A normal initiate shouldn't even know where this is... I thought about just walking in but I knew that Eric was actively looking for me to make mistakes so I decided against that and just knocked.

"Come in." 

I pushed the double door open and saw Eric sitting behind his desk. For some reason I felt slightly surprised to see him doing some paperwork. I guess I'd never thought about the fact that his job also means a lot of boring stuff.

"What do you want, Rogue?" he asked with a formal, official tone which leaked a bit of tiredness.

"I want my knife back."

"And stab someone again?"

"If I can disable the killer this time..." I said while over thinking it. "Then yes."

He sighed and opened his top drawer. The clashing of some metal was heard and I began to wonder if he had any hidden weapons in this office. He probably has. The leader of Dauntless should be able to protect himself without them but it would be logical if he had some weapons laying around. Why take the hard road if you can take the easy one?

While Eric was looking through his drawer, I couldn't help myself but comment "So do you have a personality disorder?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. His eyes shot up and studied me.

"What are you implying?"

"When you were with my sister, you acted different." I stated while trying to hold my best pokerface in tact "Are you always nicer to other factions?"

"We're supposed to protect." he said obviously not happy that I brought it up. What you did was more than protecting. I nodded and didn't say anything.

Eric got the knife from his drawer and looked at me. He's not gonna stand up. Fine. I'll come and get it. I stepped one step closer but Eric had other ideas. In one swift motion, he threw the sheath next to my foot. 

 I glared at Eric and waited for him to say anything. After silently glaring at each other for a couple of seconds, he spoke up "That was for forgetting your place again, initiate. Now go get it."

I slowly bend down to get the sheath. The whole time I was tense. Was he going to throw something else at me? He wouldn't, right? Well... It's Eric. And he still has to hand me my knife. 

I didn't hear him move at all and when I stood up again, he was still sitting the same as he did before. 

"And my knife?" I asked even though I knew that this could go wrong.

He slowly raised himself from his chair and walked over to me. Stand your ground. Don't back down. I saw something shiny in his hand but quickly looked back into his eyes. Don't back down. I'm not a coward. He stopped about a meter in front of me.

"Raise your hand in front of you."

He's your leader now. 

As soon as I lifted my arm, he grabbed my wrist. "I'll be the first to know when you've made a mistake." he whispered dangerously and placed the knife in my hand.

When he turned around I slowly began to breath again. I tied my sheath around my waist and sheathed my knife. Eric dismissed me.

Just before I opened the door I decided to tell him. "I know you don't trust me but having me shadowed is a bit far, don't you think?"

I didn't wait for his answer and left.