I'm so nervous, my hands are shaking. I try rubbing them on my pants, but it's little help. The air around me is charged with anticipation and nervousness, so at least I'm not the only one shitting bricks right now. It's my Choosing Day, and I'm currently sweating bullets at my Choosing Ceremony, waiting to hear my name called. The other eighteen year old Candors around me whisper and nudge each other as they wait too, I know all these people, we've gone to school together for years, with the exception of me and few others, everyone got Candor on their aptitude tests and plans to stay in their home faction. I got Erudite, which is a relief; I've never felt one hundred percent comfortable in my home faction, too much stark honesty, too much of everyone knowing each other's business. I'm excited to go to Erudite, I love reading and learning, studying and observing. If it wasn't for the mandatory physical education classes in school (ruined by those heathen Dauntless), then I would have spent all my time in the libraries or laboratories.

"Madeline Fawkes." The voice of the Dauntless leader overseeing the ceremony today rings loud and clear. Oh shit, I'm up.

I stumble only briefly past my faction mates and walk to the bowls. The leader waiting for me, holding out the knife is tall and imposing, glaring at me like being here at the Ceremony, helping young dependants choose their factions is an imposition to him. I feel my spine straighten and glare back at him, this isn't my idea of a good time either. Surprises flashes for an instant through his steel grey eyes, then a mask of impassiveness takes over. His fingers brush mine when he hands me the knife and I'm surprised by the warmth of his skin. It should match his demeanour instead, ice cold.

I turn to the bowls and quickly find Erudite, set between Dauntless on one side and Amity on the other. The knife bites my skin and I stop myself from wincing. The Neanderthal behind me doesn't seem the type to tolerate weakness, and his stare is already boring into my back. He shifts restlessly and I glance back over my shoulder at him.

"Dauntless!" He calls out, loud and clear and I snap my head back to the bowls. NO! When I turned my head my arm moved, and my blood dropped not into the clear Erudite water, but onto the sizzling Dauntless coals. OH SHIT. He steps towards me, reaching for the knife again and I back away, shaking my head.

"No," I mumble.

He steps closer, warning flashing in his eyes. "What was that?"

"No...I mean, I meant to choose Erudite." I whisper.

He leans closer, something dark and sadistic flashing in his eyes. "Well your blood dripped onto Dauntless, so you chose us. Rules are rules. Now step in line, initiate."

I hesitate, surely they can make an exception. A sneer pulls at his lips. "Or would you rather go straight to Factionless, Red?"

I flush angrily. Yes, I have red hair and yes, it is a bright, flaming fox-pelt red, I've been teased my whole life for it, have hid it in tight buns and behind black-rimmed glasses (all for show, I don't need them) to try and look more serious and therefore acceptable to my uptight faction, but it's never been fully successful. The one time I tried dyeing my hair was a grand failure, so I've tolerated the teasing grudgingly, but something about this big ape in front of me rubs me the wrong way.

"No, and don't call me that." I hiss in return.

Surprise flashes in his eyes for the second time and he leans down again, his breath hot on my neck as he growls into my ear. "I'll call you whatever I want to initiate. See, you choose Dauntless, which means you chose me. I'm your leader now and this year I'm also a trainer. You're mine and you're getting on my bad side quick. Now fall the fuck in line or I will pick up that sweet little ass and toss it over there. Pick fast."

He raises his head again and I see that he's one hundred percent serious. He will pick up my sweet little, uh... me and throw me into the Dauntless section if I don't move fast. And, fuck, he's going to be my trainer? Okay, move now, panic later Mads.

I hurry to the Dauntless session, and the applause, which has been scattered as everyone wonders what I'm doing up there shaking my head at the Dauntless leader starts up again and I get a few shoulder claps as I sit down. My heart is racing and as I look back up at the stage, he's still watching me, although he's already called out another name and is holding out the knife for them. He pulls his gaze from me at the last moment, focussing on the dependant in front of him and I relax back into my chair. I avoid looking up for the rest of the ceremony and my thoughts circle furiously in my head. What the hell just happened here? I accidentally chose the wrong faction and now I'm stuck with it. To be honest, I've never heard of this happening before, has it never truly happened? Or has everyone else been shut down like I just was? How many factionless had started out just like me?

The ceremony ends and Dauntless is the first faction to stand, I'm still not sure what I'm going to do but I do know I'm not going to be left behind right now so I stand and join the crush. We fly down the stairs, running way too fast to be safe and rather than being scared, I find myself laughing with the rest. We race out onto the street and start jogging towards the train trestles and my heart starts to hammer, I've never really been a climber. A few skinned palms and knees later, I manage to reach the top and, Jesus Christ, we're not done yet, now we have to jump onto a moving goddamn train. Well, I'm not dying or being left behind without pleading my case first, so I start sprinting beside the train like everyone else and, I'm not sure how, but I jump and manage to grab the handle, pulling myself into the car. Panting, I collapse, falling against the wall beside another initiate. She glances at me, gives me a nervous smile then goes back to observing the rest of the train's occupants. She's dressed in Erudite blue and has a blunt black bob.

I smile at her, make a stab at being friendly. "Hi, I'm Madeline well, Mads."

She smiles back and replies. "Raye."

Far too soon our ride is over and I see the initiates at the front of the train car start to jump back off the train. Raye and I share an incredulous look and stand, shuffle out nervously to the edge of the car.

"Well," I mumble, "see you over there." Without waiting, I fling myself off, hear Raye right behind me. The landing hurts more than I thought, but my palms and knees are already skinned, so whatever. A loud woman's voice calls us over to another side of the roof. Raye and I stay close to each other and cluster in with the rest. Two women stand by the ledge, both are petite; one has short blonde hair the other had dark skin and hair. I recognize the second girl, Christina Stevenson, she was two years ahead of me in Candor before transferring to Dauntless. Her sister is in my year, chose to stay in Candor. Both women are heavily pregnant.

"I'm Tris and this is Christina, we are two of your leaders. To get into Dauntless, you need to jump off this ledge here." Tris gestures and the pack of initiates shift uneasily. Jump off a building?

"Who's going first?" Christina asks.

We're all looking at each other, not meeting the two leader's eyes and I sigh. To hell with this, I need to get into the compound and find someone who can get me out of this jam. I step forward, noting the surprise on their faces. I'm a little surprised myself at my gumption.

Knees shaking only slightly I clamour up the ledge and stand up straight. Looking down all I can see is a black hole, great. I glance back over my shoulder then look forward again. Taking a deep breath, I jump.

I fall forever before crashing into what feels like a net. It hurts but I'm so relieved to not be falling anymore. The net tilts and I roll to the side. Hands catch me and lift me out, setting me on the ground. The hands belong to a tall dark haired man with a serious expression. He looks down at me, his blue eyes intense. "Name?"

I'm still disoriented from the jump, hell, I'm discombobulated from the whole f-ing day so far, so when I open my mouth, the first thing that comes out is my last name.

"Uh, Fawkes-"

He looks away and barks, "first jumper, Fox!"

"No, I-" Great, not only am I in the wrong fucking faction, but now I'm going to be called by the wrong fucking name too.

"Just go over there," he points irritably and dazed, I comply, stopping and turning to look back at the net to watch the next jumper. I don't recognize the boy, he's Dauntless born and after a quick word with the man at the net, I hear, "second jumper, Maddox!"

I hear a door open and slam closed somewhere behind me and then a voice speaks low in my ear.

"You're first? What, did the girls throw you off?"

I bite back a squeak of surprise and whirl to see the leader from the ceremony, the one who threatened to throw my sweet ass into the Dauntless section. For so big a guy, he sure moves quietly. He smirks at me and crosses his arms over his massive chest, raising an eyebrow, he's waiting for an answer.

"No," I grumble, turning back as the fourth jumper is called, I missed the third when Lurch here startled me. I hear a faint chuckle and grit my teeth.

Soon all the initiates have jumped and the Unfriendly Giant calls for our attention.

"Dauntless born go with Lauren, the rest of you lucky bastards stay here with me." A little more than half of the group splits off and the rest of us instinctively cluster together, Tris and Christina have reappeared and stand behind us. He stares at each of us in turn, lingering a little longer on me before speaking.

"I'm Eric, I'm Head Initiation Leader. Normally Tris and Christina would be your trainers, but they both decided to get knocked up this year and so the honour falls to me." He smirks at the two woman and I catch Christina rolling her eyes good-naturedly back. "Follow me!" He barks, stalking off without waiting to see if any of us follow.

Shit, I think as I follow him, trying not to get lost in the maze of corridors he's leading us through. He's the Head Initiation Leader? That means his word is law about me staying here in Dauntless. My heart sinks, I doubt he'll be any more accommodating the second time I try to explain what happened, he doesn't strike me as someone who ever goes back on a decision once he's made it. Shit, I am so screwed.