sTiLl WoRkInG oN mY sToRy, InItIaTeS. hErE's AnOtHeR cHaPtEr.

ThAnKs FoR yOuR fAvOuRiTeS + fOlLoWs + ReViEwS!

dO yOu WaNt Me To Do A (oNe Or MuLtIpLe?) sImUlAtIoN fOr EvErYoNe Or JuSt SoMe InItIaTeS? aNd WhAt AbOuT fEaR sImS? rEvIeW oR pM mE!

The familiar warmth of the meeting rooms normally relaxes me, but not today. I feel my back tense and my shoulders rise, systematically alerting me that something's not right. I don't know what, and so far there's no reason to be alerted but I lean back slightly to feel for Tobias' chest, making sure he is still walking right behind me. He wraps his arm around my waist and we keep walking. Christina stands by my side, and Uriah by Tobias' other side. One of Max's men visited the four of us at breakfast, telling us to meet Max immediately at Meeting Room One. With a quick whisper in Tobias' ear he was off. Tobias' face hardened minutely and it was then I began to feel worry rise.

The long walkway connecting meeting rooms one through to three is a narrow hall, it's glass roof several stories above us reveals the only source of light. I notice there are lights on both sides but they are either turned off or don't work. When we reach Meeting Room One, Christina opens the door and is the first to make note of Max's absence.

Tobias' arm tightens around me, I ask him what's happening but he shakes his head slowly and says, "not here, Tris." Before I can ask another question, or process his answer, Max appears at the entrance of the hallway, "not that meeting room." His voice echoes, sending a shudder through my body and in that moment he reminds me of Eric.

"This is where we were told to go to?" Christina pulls her eyebrows together and places her hands on her hips, confidently. Max ignores her comment and we follow him back the way we came.

I walk next to Uriah, now, who gives me a questioning look. I shrug and mirror his expression before hastening my footsteps to catch up with Tobias. We reach the entrance of the walkway we just came down and Max makes a sharp right turn. "Four," Max's voice cuts through the silence. "I forgot my keys." Tobias takes his keys from his pocket and uses the only black key to unlock the door Max was indicating towards. I can't imagine Max forgetting his keys for a moment like this; he's trying to show dominance, exerting power.

When the door swings open Max leads us into utter darkness. Unable to see anything but black, I almost walk into him when he stops suddenly but Tobias grabs my shoulders to stop me walking just before Max halts. How did Tobias know Max was about to stop? Tobias slides around me, kissing my forehead as he squeezes past me in the narrow hallway. I hear his keys jingle and in seconds the room turns white with lights and I have to squint. When I open my eyes, revealing my blotchy vision, we stand in a walkway that mirrors the one from before, same narrow walls, same lights, same height. The only differences seem to be the increase of security and the actual roof over this section replacing glass.

"I've lived here my whole life and never seen this!" Uriah turns to Max in both shock and awe as we take a seat inside the secured meeting room.

I twist around to Tobias, "you've been here before?" He nods and Christina asks, "what is this place?"

Max comes into the room after locking both doors we just came through; this area of the compound is really secure. Max answers Christina for him, "meeting rooms four through to six. Off-limits to public access. Only used for top secrecy. Don't mention this room once you leave."

"Why are we here then?" Christina asks warily still looking around. Content with her surroundings, a simple room with a desk and chairs, she returns her gaze to Max. I notice Tobias shoot a look to Max as he too sits down, but Max didn't notice.

With a sigh and a brief moment of silence Max replies, "I need to talk with you about the fear simulations." We don't say anything so he keeps talking, "normally we would have two to three instructors from the start, then - as you saw last year – one would conduct fear simulations. Because there are four of you this year, I have to work out with you what system you'll be using."

"I'll do it." His voice is stern when he speaks so suddenly but Tobias leans forward, clasping his hands together in front of him.

Uriah begins to light-heartedly object; Four did it last year so one of us should take over this year. Four quips back saying that because he did it last year he could do it with ease this year.

"Christina?" I ask at her silence, even though I too haven't said anything else.

She shakes her head in small but certain movements, "I'd rather stay away from that room!" Looks like those moths really scared her.

"So it's between you three," Max speaks again and I have to rub my eyes with the heel of my palm to keep from rolling them.

There's only the one room so we couldn't do three people at once, and it wouldn't be very inviting if there were three instructors watching each fear. My mind whirs as Tobias and Uriah speak about who should do it, and I land on one thought in particular: Divergent. What if Uriah finds a Divergent? He's been Dauntless his whole life, he'd probably tell Max. I remember Tori telling me of her brother. I remember Tobias finding out about me. The fear, I could be at the bottom of the chasm. I tell the two arguing guys that I want to do it and receive blank and vacant stares. "What?" I ask and Uriah shakes his head, "nothing."

"Maybe Tris and Four should do it then," Christina asks looking to Uriah, "Four's done it before and it wouldn't seem weird for them to do it together." Uriah agrees, Christina pushes his shoulder and he laughs, pretending to be hurt.

"Uriah, Christina, you can go now then," Max's dismissive comment shocks me momentarily. Even when Tobias unlocks the doors for them to leave, I stay confused. Why is this situation so hostile? The same words keep reappearing in my mind, what is going on?

Tobias drags his chair closer to mine and takes my hand. His shoulders tense and he sits tall and I try to do the same, lifting my chin up higher. Max slouches forward, steepled hands, and speaks with a grave voice. "Four knows how to conduct the simulations," quick nod, "but I need to run over a few things. Erudite are closer than ever to ridding society of Divergents. Thanks to them, there weren't any in initiation last year." Max's eyes land on me and I feel lead forming in my stomach, he couldn't know. He doesn't. But he looks to Tobias and I focus on his words instead. "If you find a Divergent, see me immediately. Not in ten minutes, not in an hour, immediately. "

There is a momentary pause in the conversation when Tobias nods accordingly and Max looks to me, "how will we know?" My throat tightens and I struggle to say the words but I hope he didn't notice.

His reply is short and simple but he gives me a knowing smirk that seems to contradict everything he's said so far. "You'll know."

"Welcome to stage two. This is weighted more heavily than stage one because it has more to do with overcoming cowardice." Tobias stands next to me at the end of another dark hallway leading to the simulation room. The blue light above us flickers, catching my eye, so I stare at the ground instead.

"It's difficult to rank high at the end of initiation if you scored low in stage one, but it is possible and it has been done before," by me - I think but don't add. All initiates, Dauntless-Borns and Transfers are packed tightly into the hallway. Christina and Uriah combined the scores of all initiates earlier, ranking them in one list instead of two. I read the order out now:

1- Jack

2- Asta

3- Tash

4- Alex

5- Mathew

6- Victor

7- Jet

8- Ash

9- Jaz

10- Sasha

11- Laura

12- Shane

13- Luke

14- Rees

So Emma must have been the lowest ranking dauntless-born after the fights. The transfers are going well, only two in the bottom four. I hope Laura and Luke do well in this section of training because if not…

After a brief moment of whispering the initiates are silent. "The top seven initiates will be tested today and the bottom seven tomorrow, alternating days until you've gone through three times each," Tobias walks into the simulation room and I follow.

I hear Mathew call out from behind me, "what do you mean by 'tested'?" But we're already gone and he'll find out soon.

Tobias opens a briefcase he bought here, revealing a needle, alcohol swabs and dozens of containers of a bright orange liquid I know to bear the transmitter. "Ready?" He asks and I nod.

Opening the door, I see that the bottom seven initiates have now left leaving todays' group only. "Jack," he looks up and I signal for him to enter. Tash and Mathew look worried and sit up as he goes but I close the door behind him and act like I didn't notice. They're worried, but they probably should be.

"Hmm," Jack says and smirks to Tobias as he takes in his surroundings, "so this is where you two come to make out."

I stand in shock but Tobias just taps the needle, the very big needle, and tells him to sit. I notice Jack bites the inside of his lip as he does, trying not to smile.

"What's that?" Jack asks seriously this time.

"It's a simulation serum," I answer. "We inject you with this and you will, literally, face your fears. The hallucination you're in will be recorded and displayed on the screen, yes we will be watching." Tobias gently glides the needle into the skin in Jack's neck and he exaggerates a fake wince. The tinted, orange liquid disappears into his body. I continue, "you'll stay in the hallucination until you recover, that means lowering your heart rate and calming your breathing. You have thirty seconds before the simulation begins."

To this, Tobias adds, "be brave, Jack." I wrap my fingers around his as Jack closes his eyes and the screen to my left lights up.

The screen shows a perfect view of the pit. Dauntless members hustle around the compound in day-to-day life. I see a younger boy, maybe ten, that looks very much like Jack. It could be a younger sibling. The boy has tears streaming from his eyes and sniffs over and over again. "You'll never belong!" The child screams through another round of sobs. "You don't deserve to be here!"

Many other Dauntless stand with the boy now, shouting things out. I watch on the screen as the simulation spins around and around seeing hundreds of people circling in on Jack. Their shouts sound like thunder, "you're not Dauntless," "get out of our faction." One figure marches through the crowds, receiving respective glances from those around him. The broad shoulders and toned muscle immediately allow me to recognise him as Max. "Jack," he begins through the simulation, "I thought we already spoke about this." His face hardens immediately and I hear Jack mumble 'no' from his chair. Simulation Max continues, "you're not Dauntless, you never were." To this the crowd scream their agreements and Jack backs into the increasing crowd behind him, Max continuing Jack's exile, "you're factionless now. You'll fit in well there." The crowd increase behind Jack consuming him in their rage, Max's white teeth curl into a snarl.

I peel my eyes from the screen and look to Jack. He swipes out in front of him trying to push through the endless crowd of Dauntless members wishing for his exile. I look to Tobias, he sits with his eyes set to the screen. "I feel bad watching this," I whisper as if Jack could hear me, I'm not sure if he can.

"We have to," he whispers and momentarily adds, "could you organise the needle for the next person?" I nod, grateful to have something to do. After swabbing the needle, I place a new serum into it and flick back to the screen. Jack is hunched in a ball on the ground, the crowd around him taking advantage of his submission by shouting louder. Some, I notice, even laugh. I watch the gentle rise and fall of Jack's chest, his fingers plugged into his ears, eyes slammed shut, trying to block out his new atmosphere.

The moment I put the newly organised needle into it's case Jack sits up straight, puffing. I console him while Tobias does something on the screen. When his breathing returns to normal he tries to fake a laugh, "you saw that?"

"Yeah," Tobias answers, leaning over to him, "it'll be easier next time."

"You mean I have to do it again?" His eyes widen and he sits up straighter, suddenly worried.

I nod slowly, "you'll go in three times." He nods, processing it and I open the door for him to leave. "How long?" I ask Tobias after Jack goes to the dorms.

"Eight minutes. Pretty fast."

"But not Divergent." I open the door after finishing my words, Tobias typing something on the screen again, I call out the next name, "Asta."