Chapter 1

I take a deep breath as my mom makes sure that everything is in place, including my hair. I am wearing the usual colors for my faction, yellow and red. My faction is called Amity, we value peace and harmony. I've always been a friendly person, and my parents have always told me to be friendly, even to people who don't seem so amiable. But one thing about me is that I'm an introvert, and I love to read books. I mostly read for fun, but I also like reading the books that the English teacher forces us to read. There has been talk among the faction that my aptitude test will be Erudite.

I doubt that will happen. I don't see myself as someone who thirsts for knowledge. I just really like to read whenever I can. I don't like reading educational books for fun, that's like staying at school twenty-four seven. Who would want to be in school all day? I wouldn't.

"Are you ready?" My mother asks smiling behind me. She has a nice smile with beautiful teeth. Her eyes wrinkle whenever she smiles, but that's what makes it genuine. I smile back through the mirror and nod. Today is the day of my aptitude test. I am finally sixteen.

I remember the day my brother went for his aptitude test. He's two years older than me. He's not living with us anymore because he chose to be in the Abnegation faction. He always had a bit of selflessness in him. I've seen it. But I don't know if my parents have seen it in him.

My mother grips my hand as we walk outside to greet my father. Both of us smile as he turns and smiles at us. My dad is a tall man whose hairline is receding year by year. My father works as a manager for one of the many stores in Amity. My mother helps out whenever she can, I try to also, but my parents want me to focus on the aptitude test and to become more "amity-like".

I start walking out the door and climb onto the bus. It is already crowded with other people from the other four factions. Of course there is a sea of grey shirts and plain hairstyles are standing up. That faction is the selfless faction – Abnegation – they are always the one that gives up their seats for people. One is about to give it up for me, I was going to deny the offer but he really insisted that I sit down. I just smile and sit down next to an Erudite.

After we all reach where we are supposed to get off, I line up with my faction. I look around and see a line of grey, blue, and black and white, and also my line of red and yellow. The only faction missing is the Dauntless. Dauntless wear all black, I'm not really sure why but black is very slimming. I've always had a thirst for adventure, it seems Dauntless allows adventure more than any other faction. I guess that's why I resort to fiction books, so I can go an adventure without the danger or injuries that come from it.

I walk into the big waiting room where we are all waiting to be called in for our aptitude test. I look for the Amity table and saw all of my friends that are sitting there already. I smile and wave as I make my way.

"Hey Alyssa so glad that you can make it," My friend Devin says putting an arm around me. Amities are known for greeting each other with hugs so I wrap my arm around his waist.

"Hi Devin, glad to see that you can make it," I reply sitting down next to him.

"Are you guys nervous?" My best friend Ellen says as she fidgets with her hands. She's always been like this.

"Don't worry you'll be fine, and I'm sure no matter what you choose at the choosing ceremony your family will still love you." I say putting my hand over her fidgety sweaty ones. She smiles back up at me.

"You always know what to say," Ellen says squeezing my hand. But her smile suddenly fades. I furrow my eyebrows confused; that is until she starts rambling again, "But what about the faction before blood thing, Alyssa?" She asks as she puts her hand over her head like she has a headache.

"Ellen, do you really think your family is going to be mad that you will choose a different faction?" I ask her. She slowly shakes her head. "Exactly so stop worrying," I tell her as I put my arm around her to give her a comforting hug.

"Cheer up Ellen, this is somewhat like the last few hours we're going to be seeing each other." Devin adds. I glare at him and he gives me this, "what did I do face" as if he's innocent of not making Ellen feel worse than she already does.

Two doors open automatically and close with a hiss. I turn around to find that people from Erudite have come out to announce our names. I remember my brother telling me that they announce by last name. I'm most likely going to be one of the last people waiting because my last name is Shaw. Lucky for Ellen, she will be one of the first ones to go in. The wait might even make her more nervous than she already is.

"Now remember that you may not discuss your results with anyone." The woman with short blond hair says to all of us. We already obviously know that, but apparently we need reminding. We are just humans; we most likely do need reminding.

"Everyone with last names A-F please come forward," Ellen stands up and gives me a faint smile, I smile back. She will be fine, what is she so afraid of? I don't see what's so terrifying about the aptitude test. It's not like it's really going to show how smart you actually are, it's just placing us in a faction for the rest of our lives. That's all there is to the aptitude test, I think.

The wait isn't too bad for me, but whenever I look at the Erudite table they are all panicking and opening whatever books that are nearby. I just shake my head at them. This aptitude test shouldn't be about how smart you are, unless they plan on staying Erudite. I let out a sigh as someone walks in to tell us who is going to take their test.

"Everyone with last names R-W please come forward," I stand up and line up behind my fellow Amity. We all file into a hallway that is quite narrow; it isn't wide enough for two lines. Also all the doors looked the same. I had no idea which room I am supposed to be in, but I did notice the line becoming smaller every time we passed by a door.

"Alyssa Shaw?" I turn to my right and see a man standing at the door way. He was dressed in the Erudite faction colors. The man seems to be about in his early to mid-twenties. He had a head full of blonde hair and his eyes are a nice green. He doesn't seem friendly so I try my best to smile, he doesn't smile back. "Ready for your aptitude test," he asks me as I sit down on the "dentist" chair.

"Yeah, ready." I reply as I take the vial he gives me to drink. I already know what it is, before he can even explain, I just chug down the serum. He quickly puts the electrodes onto my forehead and I slowly start to drift into the simulation.

I open my eyes and see that I am standing in a room with a two tables, one has a knife, and the other has cheese on it. "Pick one." The voice says to me I look around and see if anyone else is in the room with me, but no one is. Confused I decided to pick the knife. Then the stimulation changes to another room, but this time with a vicious dog in front of me. I drop the knife down and I slowly sit down.

A way to calm down a vicious dog is not more violence; I have to show him that I am friendly. I think to myself. Also fear isn't an option. After sitting down for a few minutes I slowly lie down onto my stomach. I hear the dog approach me slowly. I close my eyes getting ready for his big teeth to sink into my skin, but it doesn't. I feel the wetness of the dog's nose and tongue on my cheek. I smile and slowly get up so I won't startle the dog. "You aren't so bad, are you?" I say petting him. But my smile fades once I see a little girl running towards the dog, but he doesn't seem too happy about that.

I hold him by the neck and try to pin him down so he won't hurt the little girl, but he's too strong for me. He knocks me over and starts running for the girl. I get back on my feet as fast as I can and run towards the girl, I pull her behind me and watch as the dog starts running towards me instead of her. I hold on to the little girl so she doesn't run after the dog but the scene changes before the dog could even come towards us.

I look around and find that I am on a bus. There is a man sitting across from me but his face is covered by the newspaper he is reading. I look at the front cover and see a face of a familiar man. I'm not sure where I know him, but he just seems familiar. "Do you know this man?" The man behind the newspaper asks me. "Tell me if you know him, he's out to get me." He says intensely.

"Why? Why he is out to get you?" I ask him in return.

"Just tell me if you know him!" He shouts.

"Not until you tell me why this man has something against you," I reply folding my arms. I am literally shaking on the inside, but on the outside I am terrified of how this man is handling this situation.

"Tell me who he is, I know you know!" He says throwing down the newspaper.

"Sir, calm down." I say to him he grabs me and pulls me up from my seat. "Ow, you're hurting me." I say trying to free myself from his grip. I punch him in the head and he stumbles back. "I'm sorry but I don't know who that man is," I say in return as I rub my wrist. The scene turns into mist and I wake up and see the man taking the electrodes off. He opens the door and peeks outside to see if anyone is nearby, and closes it gently.

"You're not safe," He whispers to me. I furrow my eyebrows confused as to what he is saying.

"What do you mean?" I ask him. "The test, didn't it determine which faction I should be in?" I ask him. He shakes his head and I sit upright and swing my legs over so I can face him.

"The test only eliminated three out of the five factions." He says quietly. Why is he whispering? "You're Erudite and Dauntless." He adds while still whispering.

"But the test isn't it supposed to determine only one faction?" I ask in return but I'm not whispering so he puts his finger over his mouth to tell me to quiet down.

"You're," he looks around as if there is someone else in the room. "Divergent." He whispers to me.

I wake up with a start and look around to find that I am in my room in the Dauntless headquarters. I already made my choice a year ago. I can't believe I still get nightmares about that. It should have showed up in my fear landscape last year but it didn't. I was afraid of being known as a Divergent, and that I can be killed at any time and any moment.

I look at my clock on my bedside table and see that it's time to get ready to greet the new initiates. I usually wake up early to go on a run anyways. I put on my black running shoes, my black athletic top and jacket along with black athletic pants. After a few stretches I pull my hair into a ponytail and start jogging down the stairs.

After a while of jogging I hear another pair of footsteps coming from behind me. It sounds like the person is also jogging or running. I speed up as I run back up to my room. I reach my door but I still hear the footsteps. I struggle to look for my key card I usually keep it in my pocket, but where is it? I put my hands into my pocket again and find that it's there. A sense of relief filled me up. I am about to slide it but someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to find that it was Eric.

"Were you following me the whole time?" I ask him wiping a drop of sweat that was about to fall down my cheek.

"No, I was looking for you." Eric replies in his now usual cold voice. He has changed a lot since the last time I saw him. He was just a regular Erudite boy before he came into Dauntless. I thought he was the Eric I knew when I first saw him but after seeing how he interacted with my initiate class I knew he wasn't the same person. He changed so much in a year it scared me. Or maybe this was just a different side of him that I hadn't seen before when he was still in Erudite.

"What for?" I ask him crossing my arms. I have somewhat built a wall between him and me. The Eric I see in front of me is intimidating and seems to have no feeling of love or warmth that I once saw in his eyes, but they're gone now, all I see is darkness and a chill whenever I'm with him.

"The new initiates, they're coming soon, be by the net in five minutes." He says in response, of course with his usual cold tone that he uses on everyone.

"Right, thanks, I just need to change first." I say as I turn around to open the door to my room.

"You look fine the way you are," Eric says grabbing my arm and giving it a tight squeeze.

"Ow, you're hurting me, let go!" I say wrenching my arm free from his grip. "I'm going to change." I say again and make it into my room. I sigh as I rub my wrist a bit and start making my way to my closet. I just love how colorful it is, all black. I grab a jacket a pair of pants and put on a pair of tennis shoes. I look into the only mirror I have in my room and run out to meet the initiates by the net.

"You're late," Four says as I stand next to him.

"Sorry," I reply as we wait for the first jumper to come down. I look up when I hear the sound of fabric being whipped by the wind. I see that the clothes of the person is from abnegation. Four, I and two others walk over to the net to help the girl out of the net. She grabs his hand and Four helps her down.

"Did someone push you down?" Four asks the girl. She had long blonde hair and she was about my height.

"No," The girl replies without hesitation.

"What's your name?" Four asks again. She looks like she was about to answer him but pauses.

"Tris," She finally says after thinking about her new name. I could have had a new name of my own but I like my name.

"Tris, first jumper," Four shouts to all of us, everyone claps and cheers and congratulates Tris. I was the first jumper, too. They weren't surprised like they were about Tris jumping first. She's a transfer from Abnegation so it makes sense that people would react the way they did.

"Welcome to Dauntless," I say after Four welcomed her. She smiled and nodded to acknowledge my welcome. I notice that some of the transfers are mostly from Candor and some from Erudite, and the only Abnegation transfer is Tris.

"Alright, Dauntless born go to Lauren, transfers come with Four and I." Eric says simply. I walk behind all of the initiates to make sure that they don't do anything stupid before the fighting even begins.

"Alyssa, come to the front," Eric says from the front of the line. I walk past the initiates and all of them were quite shocked that I was behind them the whole time. Well I was being quiet like most of them were. Eric put his arm around my shoulders and I feel a shiver running down my spine but I act as natural as I can. "This small girl here is the nurse that will be tending to your wounds," Eric said ruffling my hair a little. I fix my hair and move from under his arm.

"I'm not a little girl," I say putting my hands on my hips. I look at all the initiates, "And yes I will be the nurse tending to any wound you will be obtaining from initiation. If you guys have any let me know, and no lying." I say to them and looking at each and every one of their eyes. I end up staying in front in between the two boys. They never really got along so I guess I can be the neutral buffer for them.

"The first stage of training is physical, second is emotional, and third mental." Four says to the initiates. I remembered what I had to go through for the initiation. It was not something anyone would want another to go through. This faction is literally the most ruthless when it comes to initiation. All the new rules implied by Max that we learned after we jumped was not something I liked at all.

"Oh and also there will be a score board, if you aren't in the top ten by the end of training you will be factionless." Eric announces. This rule apparently was implied even before Four and Eric joined Dauntless. Some of them were looking at each other nervously. Eric doesn't seem fazed by their actions, neither does Four. Maybe it's been two years for them and for me it's only been a year since my initiation.

I manage to restrain myself to say anything to comfort the initiates in front of the two trainers. They always hated it when I said anything to comfort them. There isn't anything comforting about facing your fears at the end of this initiation. Comfort at the end of the initiation was best.

"We're going to start training with guns, first." I say to the initiates. Eric and Four look at me like I stole their spotlight or something. I just shrug my shoulders and watch as Four lines the initiates up to go out to the shooting range. They all grab a gun and start shooting at the mannequins. Some of them were doing quite well while others weren't hitting the mannequins at all. I even overhear a boy say to Tris that she should have shot the mannequin at least once by now. I couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. He was right.

After their training today it was finally time for lunch. I am starving; I didn't have time to eat breakfast after my run. Eric nearly scared the wits out of me. I know I must restrain myself from eating too big of a lunch, but I doubt I can. I am walking down the stairs to the cafeteria from my room. Then I feel the familiar chill every time Eric puts his arm around my shoulders.

"What do you think of the new initiates?" Eric whispers to my ears. It makes me shiver just feeling him so close to me. I would push him away but I might end up pushing him over the railing.

"They're okay," I say in response as I try to squirm away from his hold on me.

"Why so fidgety today?" He asks trying to keep me still.

"Eric, stop, you're making me feel uncomfortable." I reply removing his arm from my shoulders.

"Since when did I make you feel uncomfortable?" He asks walking backwards down the stairs. Even though he has changed I don't want him to trip and fall. I don't say anything in return not knowing really when he made me feel uncomfortable. "So I don't make you feel uncomfortable," Eric says in return.

"You do, it's just I don't really remember exactly when." I say in return. I definitely stuttered because Eric let out a little chuckle like he used to whenever I did. The only thing that reminds me of the Eric I knew before he became a Dauntless leader. I always feel sliver of hope whenever he chuckles at my stuttering. After our little talk he walks off and I just continue to slowly make my way to the cafeteria.

I see him talking to Four so I decide to sit next to Zeke, who was also an initiate with Four and Eric.

"Hey Alyssa, you look a bit shaken up, what's wrong?" He asks taking a bite of his burger. I use my fork and put a patty on half of the bun. I put on the ketchup and the lettuce before putting the other half of the bun on top.

"I'm fine," I say in response to his question. I know I'm not. Eric just seems to be becoming more ruthless and cold by the second.

"No you're not," He responds while drinking his cup of water. I give in a look and he leans back and puts both of his hands up as if he's surrendering. Good, because he knows I will give him a good smack into the head if he keeps asking if I'm alright. He knows I will never tell him anything, it's not that I don't trust him it's just I rather talk to someone else about it, like my friend Ellen, but I can't. She chose to be in Amity during the choosing ceremony. She wasn't really too happy about me picking Dauntless but she managed to get over it.

After lunch was over I decided to go to the city to see if Ellen was out there. I hop onto the train and get off after a few stops. I start walking to Ellen's favorite coffee shop. I decide to wait for her there to see if she'll come. I just ask for a glass of water and I sit at a table by the window waiting.

"Are you waiting for someone?" I look up and find Devin standing by the empty chair. I smile and give him a hug without thinking. He hugs back and sits down where Ellen would be sitting.

"And yes I am waiting for someone, how are you?" I ask Devin as I take a sip of my water.

"I'm great, we miss you back in Amity," He says taking a sip of his coffee. I don't understand how he can drink something like that.

"I miss you guys, too." I reply finishing my cup of water.

"I think black suits you very well though," He adds with a wink. I just roll my eyes. He always jokes about how I look but I thank him anyways. We chat a little and I can tell that Ellen isn't coming to the coffee shop today.

"How's Ellen?" I ask him changing the subject from about me being in Dauntless.

"She's happy, she has a boyfriend now." He adds looking down at his coffee cup.

"And is that boyfriend sitting right in front of me?" I ask poking his hand. He looks up and he smiles. "Congratulations, I've been waiting for you guys to get together," I say with a huge smile on my face. "We're you supposed to meet her here today?" I ask him. He nods in response. "Well then I should get going, I have a lot of work to do." I start getting up from my chair.

"It was nice seeing you Alyssa," He says as a goodbye. I say the same and leave the coffee shop. I start walking towards the closest train station that I can find. I see it come and start jogging and grab onto the railing. I push the button to open the door and find that the compartment is dark. Strange the lights are usually on. I try to look for the light switch but I can't find it. "Who's there?" I ask feeling another presence in the same car as me.

My eyes haven't fully adjusted to the darkness of the compartment so I squint trying to see who else could be on the train with me. But before my eyes even adjust to the darkness I feel someone put a cloth over my mouth and this person's strong arm was wrapped around my waist. I start screaming and kicking trying to hurt the person who is trying to capture me and that was the last thing I remember.