Chapter 12:

"Anything that

gets your blood

racing is probably

worth doing."

- Hunter S. Thompson

Black spots danced in my vision as a persistent weight hammered at my already sore ribs. I heard the blood thrum in my ears as my teeth rattled in my skull. I cannot be weak. I cannot fail…

My arm reached for the insistent fist that was intent on tenderizing my side, and I put all my weight into pulling her larger frame over me. I heard the breath stutter out of her lungs and pounced in her moment of weakness. My foot struck out at her jaw, and I rolled onto my knees protecting my face from her panicked retaliation.

She recovered faster than I liked. And had I not been her opponent, I would have admired her for that. But I was her opponent. So I grunted in frustration and let my fist fly towards her unprotected collarbone. She blocked it, and sent a kick to my shin, but I moved my leg, so it caught the less sensitive flesh.

We were both tired, both hurt, and both irritated. I don't know how long we had been at this for, but I just want to finish it. And the only way we could is if one of us conceded or is knocked out. We are both too stubborn for option number one. And both too determined not to be victim to option number two.

She is reckless and wild. I am cool and calculated. I am a winner. But she is a winner too.

I faked left, and she fell for it, arching in on one side of her body, leaving the other side open for attack. I was merciless as I sent one powerful punch, followed by a quick, but sharp kick to her right side.

She cried out and stumbled slightly, but instead of choking out the words I wanted to hear, she tackled me to the ground, smashing my head against the mats. Sweat makes our bodies' slick, but we were both too bloodthirsty to care.

A loud whistle broke through my concentration. I ignored it. I have eyes only for my opponent. And when her dark eyes darted over to the origin of the sound I'm tempted to go for her jugular. To choke the fight right out of her, but I stop. A familiar voice filtered into my awareness.

"-we don't do this, but we can't wait any longer. It's the end of the day, we are just going to have to accept a stalemate."

I look over to see Four staring at Justice and I, the whistle in his hand. "I'm recording you as tied. You both fought incredibly well today. We have never had a match last this long, at least not that I can recall."

A gruff snort of condescension sounds from the slight shadows. My tired eyes follow the sound to see Eric rolling his eyes at Four. My gaze darts away from him quickly.

Four ignores the sound, "You are all dismissed for the night."

I get to my feet and reach my arm out for Justice, wondering if she will take it. Our fight was intense and I would do anything to win, but it was now over. We could go back to being friends… hopefully. She grasps my hand and pulls herself up, and I let out an internal sigh of relief.

"Good match," she said smiling, but I could feel her eyes studying me slightly.

She had underestimated me- at least in the beginning. I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.

"Yeah, we were both pretty great," I replied, conscious of Eric's heavy stare on me, as we walked passed him.

If I had ever felt nervous or awkward around Eric before, it was nothing compared to now. It had been five nights since I first went to the gym and he didn't show up. Five nights where I worked myself into utter exhaustion, and he still never showed up.

But during the day he would watch me. Never as openly and obvious as before though. No, he would study me when no one was looking, including myself. And even though I couldn't see him do it, I could feel his eyes on me. Roaming over my body as if it could give him answers to whatever burning questions he clearly had about me.

He never approached me though. Never spoke to me. No callous comments designed to raise my temper, no burning touches, no…. why was I even thinking about this? Physically trying to shake the thoughts from my head, I marched up to the Dining Hall with my friends.

When we were all seating and munching on pulled pork sandwiches, Ian questioned through a mouthful of meat, "Do you think we are finished stage one of training now?"

We all paused for a moment to consider.

Henry, who a week later still hadn't returned to his chipper mood because of Patrick's departure morosely answered, "We must be. We have all had a chance to fight each other."

Henry was right, all of the transfers had now gone a round against each other in the ring. It had been a tough few days, where I had to face off against Ian, whom I unfortunately lost to. Thankfully he didn't brag too much about his victory over me- I discovered that I am not a very gracious loser. But I did win my fight against Ben. Which seemed to have poisoned him and Fern against me even more. Thankfully I didn't dwell on their dislike.

"What do you think we will have to do for stage two?" Justice asked.

"Hopefully something about actual war tactics, maybe how to trick the enemy," I answered, my mind already conjuring up plans.

I sincerely hoped that some part our training would acknowledge skills beyond the physical. Dauntless may have had the reputation of being wild and aggressive by most factions, but Erudites also considered them to be dumb brutes. I would never be considered a dumb brute if I had any say in things, which unfortunately I didn't…

I also sincerely hoped that we would be taught escape tactics, or how to trick or lure an enemy. But something about the Dauntless' bold- faced pride told me that anything other than confronting an enemy straight on would be considered shameful.

Ian snorted, "They are probably going to dangle us off buildings and whoever screams first is cut."

We all let off trills of nervous laughter. I wouldn't put it past any Four and Eric to do that to us…

"Speaking of cuts," Henry said, and the anxious giggles abruptly died, "when do you think they will post them?"

It appeared as if Max, one of the main Dauntless leaders had read Henry's mind, as he stood on a table and banged a knife against a pipe. The loud clanging brought silence to the Dining Hall.

"Tonight I must congratulate our initiates," he said, voice booming. "Because they have just finished stage one of their initiation to Dauntless!"

A large cry of victory echoed from several mouths in the Dining Hall. I don't know why. To prematurely celebrate success was always fickle… Look at me, so confident that my aptitude test would result in Erudite that I already made plans about the future, only to end up where I am now.

When the hall quieted down Max continued, "Tomorrow a list of rankings will be posted. Twenty initiates will continue on to stage two. If your name is not on the list, you are factionless and will be escorted out."

Dead silence met this statement, and I could practically feel the nervousness radiate off my fellow initiates, even the Dauntless-born who had been cheering. I just prayed to every deity out there that my name was on that list.

"But I would advise all of you to get your rest tonight, because stage two is guaranteed to be one of the most taxing experiences of your life," Max finished, before stepping off the platform.

Chatter in the Dining Hall slowly gained momentum, as every table including our own discussed who they thought would be on the list. The scary part about being in the Dining Hall with all the other initiates was noticing all the other initiates. There was at least three times the amount of Dauntless-born than transfers. With their high numbers and natural experience, it was nerve wracking to know that I had to compete against them for a spot on the list.

Sleep came uneasily to me that night despite Max's warnings, and I was glad to know that I could go the gym uninterrupted. After all the chatter from dinner my anxiety was peaked, and I didn't need Eric's doubt in my abilities. I had enough doubts about myself.

After lifting weights, practicing lunges and running I silently made my way back down to the dorms. But halfway down the path I noticed light winking at me from one of the crevices in the rocks. I cast a nervous glance around, making sure no one would spot me out of bed after hours (usually I never lingered) and moved towards the crack. A small lens of a camera peeked out at me.

Fear curled in my stomach. What if someone was watching me? Had been watching me sneak out all this time... If there was one thing that I had learned about Dauntless is that they encouraged wildness, but they were also very strict about the rules they enforced. So me sneaking out of bed may have just kicked me off that list for being unruly if anyone was watching…

I crept back to the dorms, with even more unease, and sleep was not my gentle companion that night.

I was shocked when I was roughly woken up in the morning by Justice. Usually she was dead to the world at an early hour like this, but it appeared as though I wasn't the only one who couldn't get much sleep. Dark circles clung to her under eyes.

"Hey, everyone is getting up early so we can see if the list is posted, do you want to come?"

Part of me wanted to say no. Because a big part of me didn't want to look at that list. But delaying the inevitable was pointless, so I rolled out of bed and pulled my clothes on. My hair was still damp, the tendrils curling slightly from my late night shower, but thankfully no one seemed to notice.

All of us transfers silently trooped down the to the Dining Hall at seven am. Usually Ian would be sprouting off humorous jokes, Justice would be yawning, and if Fern and Ben were anywhere near us they were sneering. But not this morning, no this morning everyone was silent. And I was content to leave it that way.

As we entered the Dining Hall I noticed a large crowd already gathered around the area where Max had stood last night. My eyes flittered to a stark white board with names neatly printed in sharp black ink. A list.

The list that would confirm my future. I almost hated that my entire fate was reduced to some cheap piece of plastic and a few weeks of learning combat. But nevertheless, I couldn't tear my eyes away from it.

1. Hawk 11. Perrie

2. Henry 12. Ridley

3. Ivy 13. Fern

4. Silas 14. Jason

5. Ian 15. Tyler

6. Sienna 16. Naomi

7. Justice 17. Ben

8. Katherine 18. Olivia

9. Lyra 19. Logan

10. Scott 20. Gideon

Before I even had time to exhale in relief Justice had her arms around me, shrieking in joy. I would have laughed, but my eyes caught a flash of blonde hair standing away from everyone. Eric was looking straight at me. And pride filled me as I thought of all the nasty words about failure he had spat at me. Within Justice's arms, I quirked my brow at him and smirked. I win.

We all spent the morning celebrating. Dauntless even served us pancakes and hot apple tarts as a congratulation. And even though I knew making it past stage one did not guarantee me a place in this faction, I was too giddy to focus on forebodings. It was only when I saw Marina being escorted out by two tall men in black that it finally sunk in. Some people were leaving- some were already gone, cut, factionless…

I tried not to dwell on that thought, as Marina held her head high, dark eyes showing no emotions as she disappeared. And as Ian and Justice gossiped about her, I idly wondered if I'd ever see her again, until I remembered Eric's words. 'Living on the streets, until the days we have to put you down like a stray animal'. I sincerely hoped I would never have to see her, Claire or Patrick ever again.

The rest of the day we were free to participate in whatever kind of training we liked with the rest of the initiates. I got to meet my new competition- the Dauntless born. Many of the ones that had made it through were gruff, muscular and cocky. Some of them didn't seem overly bright either, and I was hoping they would get cut before the end. Nothing was worse than an idiot on a power trip with a weapon.

And it seemed as though a divide was already made amongst us. Dauntless born elites, transfers and leftovers. Perhaps it was unkind to call them that, but they seemed like the people who just scraped onto the list by their teeth were lumped together. That group included Ben and Fern. So that left just Ian, Henry, Justice and I from the transfers. It would have been nice to get to know everyone better, but I could get to know them later, when I was with them, not competing against them.

None of the trainers were around so I was surprised when no fights broke out. I figured that in such a testosterone filled room, there would be at least some heckling that would lead to a fight. But everyone seemed too happy to fight. Either that, or the Dauntless- born were more aware of the supposed cameras. The cameras, which hadn't appeared to have caught me sneaking about after hours… Which meant I could do it again.

Dinner was another loud affair, where Max had us raise our glasses to toast ourselves on our hard work. But his reminder about stage two slightly dampened the cheer. We all spent the rest of dinner conspiring on just what was going to happen once again when we woke up in the morning.

Later that night, I once again exhausted myself in the gym. I was hoping that working myself into exhaustion would help me sleep. Because every time I shut my eyes I started dreaming about Alexander, and all the worries that surrounded him. Everything to do with that man was one big question mark.

With every pull on the rowing machine, I considered a new possibility. How would I get to see Alexander again? Could couples actually be together if they were from separate factions? What kind of trouble was he in? Did he Caroline really mean nothing to him? But until I faced him again I would have no answers.

As I crept downstairs into the dorms I stopped dead in the doorway. There were two huge men figures with guns creeping around the cots of my sleeping friends. A million thoughts raced through my mind. I felt like I was once again in that simulation and forced to make a choice. But this one would have very real consequences.

Time felt like it slowed down while I made my decision. But in reality it took me a split second to reach down for the spare pipe I had been using as a weight and throw it at one of the masked me, while screaming loudly to wake everyone up.

Henry was the first one to scramble out of bed. And when he saw one of the men, he tackled him to the ground. The next few seconds were chaotic, as a few people screamed, and some punches were thrown before the light was abruptly turned on. As brightness flooded the room, my eyes squinted to adjust and I could scarcely believe the sight before me.

Four stood near me, blood pouring out of his nose, copper pipe lying at his feet. A copper pipe, which I had thrown at him. Oops. Eric stood at the back of the room with Ben and Ian at his feet, holding not a gun, but a flashlight. In fact neither of them were holding guns.

"What are you doing here?" Justice asked, her voice half drowsy, half annoyed. I knew that if she had been more alert she would have never taken that tone with our slightly scary trainers.

Neither of them answered us, and Four just barked, "Everyone up."

Since I was already up, I stayed by the door, hoping no one would notice that I wasn't in my cot to begin with. Eric was the only one would know where I had been. I watched as everyone scrambled out of bed, standing with their backs ramrod straight.

"Normally we like to surprise our initiates to see how you react. But seeing as one of you ruined the element of surprise," Eric said, shooting me a look, "we got to observe how you reacted to screaming. Tonight we will be leaving the compound to play a game of capture the flag, you have thirty seconds to get properly dressed."

Eric paused beside me at the door. He eyes scanned my sweaty body and no doubt tired faced. But he didn't say anything. I didn't say anything either, I just stared him down, almost daring him to tell me off.

It was pitch black throughout the halls as we trekked to the exit of the compound. My eyes and feet had grown accustomed to travelling through the rough passages in the dark, but not with so many people. Eric and Four had flashlights, but god forbid they actually use them.

It felt like we had been travelling for hours by the time we made it to the train tracks. But the time walking had done some favours by waking everyone up.

"Where do you think we are going to play capture the flag?" Justice whispered to me.

I honestly had no idea, and I told her so. I didn't think they would let us have the entire city- if that were the case this game could last weeks, just trying to find each other.

When we got to the stationary train we were greeted by the sight of the Dauntless born all looking much more alert and ten times more badass than us. I caught Ian shooting Hawk's full sleeve tattoo an envious glance.

"Initiates," Eric's gravelly voice boomed, as the train lurched forward. "Tonight you get to participate in a long standing Dauntless tradition- city wide capture the flag."

A cheer rose from the Dauntless born, and I tried to make myself look mildly excited, but I was just too damn tired.

"You will be split into two teams, with either Four or myself as your team captain. You have the night to capture the other teams' flag. It has to be placed in a visible site and will be fluorescent."

Eric walked over to a metal container and lifted the lid open. I couldn't see over the other initiates what was inside of it, until Eric lifted up what looked like a toy laser gun.

"These are the weapons that each of you will be carrying. The guns are filled with cartridges full of a serum that affects the nervous system."

"Say what?" Ian said, and a couple of people snickered.

Eric just shot him a predatory grin before pointing the gun at Ian's leg and pulling the trigger. A blurred movement resulted in a small dart planting itself into the thick flesh. Ian immediately fell and howled with pain. Justice reached down and yanked the dart out of Ian's leg, but he maintained whimpering, while clutching the appendage.

"It means," Four said, shooting Eric a disgruntled look, "the fluid affects your pain receptors. Being hit with a dart is like being hit with a bullet, and the serum effectively numbs the area for sixty seconds. One whole minute in which your team could win or lose."

After Four finished his speech everyone turned to each other chatting excitedly. Justice bent down again to consol Ian, whose face remained pale as he prodded at his still numb leg. I was so focused on everyone else that I didn't notice the tall presence beside me.

"You weren't in your cot tonight."

My heart stopped in panic, but my brain rushed to respond, "No."

"Where were you?

"Just clearing my head."

He shook his head, "That's not good enough Lyra. You know I work in the control room, I've seen you sneaking out at night."

Panic fully enveloped my system. What had he seen?

After a moment where I failingly tried to calm my racing heart, I finally turned to face Four. I figured honesty was the best policy with this man. "I'm just going to the gym upstairs. I figured since no one made a big deal out of it, and I was actually training more it was okay."

Four's prominent brows furrowed, "Gym?"

I sighed, my tiredness making me slouch, "Yeah the gym on the ninth floor."

But the frown remained on Four's stoic face. "That is the Dauntless leaders' private gym."

My spine immediately straightened and my eyes turned to fully face him, "What?"

"It is reserved for the leaders only. I don't know how you got lucky enough to miss getting caught in there with one of them, but I would suggest your visits stop before you do."

"You're not going to tell on me?" I questioned.

Four rolled his eyes in what seemed like exasperation. It seemed like I brought out the best in him. "No."

But just as he was turning to leave, I thought of another question for him, "Wait."

He slowly turned, annoyance mixed with patience painted on his face.

"You knew I was sneaking out at night," I whispered, looking around to make sure no one would overhear, "How did you not know where I was going?"

Four narrowed his eyes at me for a moment. "The entire ninth floor belongs to the Dauntless leaders, there are no cameras there."

As Four turned and walked away I didn't know whether to let out a breath of relief or scowl. No wonder Eric had felt so comfortable there- it was his territory.

And speaking of Eric, my eyes scanned the train car, only to stop on heated blue ones that were staring directly at me. When he noticed that he caught my gaze, Eric's eyes briefly motioned to Four, before returning to me, and he quirked his brow in question.

I was seriously too tired to deal with this. And he was such an ass! Growling out commands at me, taunting me, turning me on, and then ignoring me. I didn't owe him any explanations, even if he was letting me use his stupid gym! So I turned away and started a conversation with a green haired Dauntless born girl.

When the train begun to slow down Eric and Four called for our attention.

"We are going to split you into teams now," Four explained, and then looked at Eric.

Eric smirked, but there was a hardness lurking in his already cold eyes, "Ladies first," he said, gesturing to Four.

The muscle in Four's jaw tightened, but he called, "Silas."

The boy from the Dauntless party I went to the day I got my now faded black eye, strode up to the front, and stood behind Four.

Name after name was called, and I barely paid attention. It was unlike me. Normally I would have been studying these new players intently, trying to figure out their strengths and weaknesses, but I was on the brink of falling asleep standing up. It wasn't until I heard Four call my own name, that I shook myself out of my near-slumber and stood with the rest of his team.

When the teams were finished being divvied up I was happy to see Ian and Henry on my team, but slightly disappointed that I wouldn't get to joke around with Justice.

My body was jolted into extreme alertness when I had to fling myself out of a train car once again. And since it was dark I wasn't quite sure what kind of landing was awaiting me. But luckily, a Dauntless born guy softened my landing and offered me an easy smile when I apologized.

Four took off running, and we all picked up pace behind him. For the second time that I night I found my legs pumping, but instead of freeing my mind, I became hyper alert of everything. The darkness, the noises, the movements, all had my adrenalin pumping.

"So what is your strategy?" Four questioned as we stopped to catch our breath near Monument Park.

Voices rose, overlapping each other to immediately offer suggestions.

"-we should hide it on a statue-"

"-we should hide it back at the train tracks, they'll never guess-"

"-we should hide it at the pier-"

Four held up a hand and the voices immediately silenced, "You're being too loud!"

"Does anyone else have a suggestion?"

Henry raised his hand, "I think that only we should split into offense and then defense first."

"What would you know transfer?" a Dauntless born with crudely shaved mohawk sneered.

"Henry's right," I said, unfazed when all the faces turn to me. "If only the defense people know where the flag is then we have another advantage. Anyone on offense who might get captured and questioned won't know where our flag is anyways."

Some of the people looked impressed at the idea, but mohawk guy scoffed, "No one here is a rat," he said, clearly indicating the Dauntless born.

I was not in the mood to deal with his arrogant attitude, "Sure you're not."

He opened his mouth furiously, but Four barked, "That's enough. Who is in favour for Henry and Lyra's plan?"

The majority of the hands went up, and I offered mohawk a smug smile.

We spent the nest five minutes figuring out who should be offense and who should be defense. To my immense pleasure I got to be offense. Which was good because if I wanted to remain awake, I had to keep moving. But to my immense displeasure, we were all partnered up, and lucky me got paired with mohawk.

Less then a minute after we all set out searching for Eric's team's flag, and mohawk sent me a disgusted look before taking off. I rolled my eyes, not bothering to get upset. And even though he was my teammate, I kind of hoped he would get shot.

I held my own gun in a tight grip in my hands, the cool metal oddly light, for something so harmful. I stopped running and considered the possibilities of where they were hiding their flag. It would probably be somewhere with easy vantage and hard to reach. The industrial yard.

The industrial yard was this huge field of storage buildings that had been out of use since before the factions. A maze of rusty metal portables that stood before a huge factory that once built cars- a factory that would have the perfect vantage point.

I smiled as I cautiously took off towards the yard. It took me fifteen minutes to run towards that part of the city, before I cautiously slowed down. If I were right about this, then they would probably have more people standing guard. I gripped my gun tightly and raised it ready, as I reached the huge spanning yard.

There were perhaps fifty metal portables in huge rows that always reminded me of the Abnegation housing quarters, and I had to get past them before reaching the factory. Just as I was about to dart into uncovered ground, I saw a figure march by. When the moonlight hit their features, I realized it wasn't one of my teammates. I smiled- it must be here!

I waited a couple of seconds, wondering if they were in pairs as well, but when no one joined the boy, I raised my gun and aimed it at his neck. Even if it only numbed him for a minute, the pain would knock him out for much longer. And when I was sure my aim was steady, I pulled my trigger. The dart launched from the cylinder with a little 'snick' and planted itself into my enemy's neck. He fell in a noiseless heap.

I quickly ran over to him, and dragged his body behind one of the portables, out of sight. I peered out from behind the portable, knowing that there were more people patrolling this area, but not seeing anyone. So I slowly moved forward through the rows.

I took down another person, almost getting shot in the process. But I had almost made it. Only two more rows left.

A large bang went off to my left and my head whipped around to search it out. But with my distraction, I didn't notice the hulking figure advance on me, until a hand shot out from my unguarded right and pinned me against the side of the portable. I dropped my gun in surprise.

My vision darkened, as the large figure pressed his entire body into me, making it impossible to move. But my frenzied state I inhaled his scent and then paused. Eric.

My eyes lifted upwards until I met the smirking face of the man I had spent entirely too much time thinking about.

"Hello grunt," he growled, grabbing the backs of my thighs and lifting my legs off the ground.

I was simultaneously scared and furious as my legs fell on either side of his hips. This was much too intimate of position for the situation, and I cursed him for putting me in it. If I wanted to, I could have wrapped my legs around his waist, and pulled his hips to meet mine. That was an interesting idea.

I met his eyes once again, new plan formulating. I knew that I affected him. As much as I wanted to deny anything happening between us, I knew after that last night in the gym with him that he wanted me, even if it was only for my body.

"So grunt, want to tell me what your doing here?" Eric questioned, bringing his head in closer to mine.

He was unknowingly playing right into my plan. Because as he inched closer I could see his eyes tracing over the hint of cleavage now peaking out of my shirt.

"I had a hunch," I said, voice throaty.

Eric's eyes immediately shot down to my mouth, before darting back up to my eyes. His own eyes narrowed on me for a moment, as if he suspected.

"Where's your flag?" he demanded.

"I don't know," I answered and then rotated my arm, "Can you unpin my arm, you're hurting me."

Narrowed eyes remained on my face, but he took the pressure off my arm. And instead of letting my hand fall against the portable, I let it rest on his shoulder.

"I know you know where your flag is," he said, his voice dropping to a gravelly whisper.

My stomach clenched, his voice affecting me just as much as I wanted to affect him. I needed to pull out the big guns if I was going to escape.

I wrapped my legs around his hips and pulled them flush against mine. He hissed at the contact, and I felt heat scorch my body when I found out why. His tight pants couldn't hide his huge erection, and now it was nestled between my thighs. I let out a breath of surprise, but couldn't stop the smile from curling on my lips.

"What are you doing grunt?" Eric demanded, but made no movement to get away from me.

"What I should have done that night," I whispered, and rubbed my core against his hardness.

Eric groaned, his hands finding my hips, fingers biting into the flesh. And I cried out when his hot mouth bit down on my collarbone.

My mind was blank with pleasure. My body was practically singing as we ground against each other. His tongue licked against my neck, and my blood sizzled in response. It had been so long, and he felt so good. Strong, masculine, hard.

The Plan.

My body wept, as my mind reminded it that this was just a part of the plan. And that after I did this, Eric might actually kill me. But I didn't want to stop. His cloth covered hips were thrusting a sensuous rhythm against mine, and all I wanted to do was remove all the barriers, cross every line with him.

But instead I let my hand fist into his hair, and pulled his head back. "Eric," I moaned in his ear, and he turned to look at me. I offered him a sensual smile, before tightening the grip on the back of his head, and slamming his face into the metal portable.

Immediately his large body crumbled against the ground and my body dropped beside him. I scrambled for my gun and grabbed it before hastily getting to my feet. And just before turning to run, I cast him one last look. His unconscious face looked blissful, but I didn't even want to know what the rage that it would fill it when he woke up would look like. Rage for me.

I turned and ran. I made it almost to the edge of the yard when pain exploded in my side. It sent an icy fire through my veins, and when I looked down I noticed a dart sticking out of my ribs.

"Sorry Ly," Justice said, stepping out of the dark, gun in hand.

I wanted to respond, but my body was numb. Everything hurt. But through my numb haze, I noticed a horde of people cheering as they ran with a fluorescent green flag. My flag. We lost.

When I finally regained feeling, I trudged back to my team. All of my teammates either looked furious of disappointed. The walk back to the train tracks was not a pleasant one. Mohawk kept sending my filthy glares, as if it was single handedly my fault that we lost. And Henry looked beyond frustrated. But that wasn't the worst of it.

When we all finally filtered onto the train, I sat down in the corner, rubbing at my side. But when I felt eyes on me, I looked up to see Eric staring straight at me, blank expression and bloody nose. But as he held my gaze, a dark smile curled on sensual lips.

A/N: Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm sorry that it took so long, but the charger for my laptop quit, and I had to wait for a new one to be shipped in.

Things are getting hotter between Eric and Lyra, and more is to come, but emotionally Lyra is a bit of a wreck, so that will factor in too.

Thank you all so much for your support! I was blown away by the amount of reviews, and the things you all said to me about the last chapter. I want to say that I feel humbled, but I don't. I feel like screaming from the rooftops 'People Like My Story!' And I'm so happy and amazed you do.

Please continue to review, as I really do love hearing from you!

-Nyx : )