The Fourth Eaton

Chapter 25 🔪 Demons

I cut her off before she can say anything more. "Nope. No apologies. You didn't do anything wrong." My curiosity gets the better of me, and I open my mouth to ask her who 'Sean' is.

But then, I remember the day that the first newspaper article about me came out. How she yelled at my friends for being intrusive. And what she said to me afterwards.

"Even if we are your friends, we have no right to go digging into your life if you don't want us to."

Julia clearly has some demons in her life, just like I do. And I know I was infinitely grateful to her when she stopped Lavender and Ethan's questions. The least I can do is repay the favor.

So, I change my words. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here for you, Julia."

She smiles at me, but even to me, it seems forced. "I might take you up on that sometime, Cammi." And then, she turns around, heading for Lavender and Ethan. Ethan has clearly told Lavender what all the commotion is about, because she's wearing the same I'm-about-to-throw-up look that Ethan is.

It's only then do I realize that they don't know who it is yet. At least, they don't know the details.

But I can't tell them now, not when I'm going through my own little crisis.

I'll tell them later, I guess.

More people are crowding by the Chasm. Some are carrying ropes and other supplies, to haul the body up, presumably.

My stomach clenches, and, suddenly, I need to get out. I can't watch them extract someone's body, no matter how much I hate them.

I turn away from the Chasm and start pushing my way through the crowd, desperate to go anywhere that isn't here.

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When I walk down the path to our meeting spot in the Chasm, Tobias is already waiting for me.

"Hey, Cam." He greets me as I sit down beside him.

"Hey yourself."

After that remark, we both fall silent, apparently having nothing to say.

I stare at the spot where J's body apparently landed. It's across and to the right of our little niche, and a little lower. The rocks are still stained red - the Chasm maintenance crew will probably get on that tomorrow. The glass shards are still there, too, glistening and sharp. Unforgiving.

We sit side by side, in silence, for a long time, before Tobias finally speaks up.

"How's your head?"

"Fine." Technically, I'm not lying to him. My mind is spinning so much from the events of the day, that I don't know if my headache is from my head injury or my unrelenting thoughts.

I sneak a glance at my brother's face. It's unimpressed. He probably doesn't believe me, but he lets it slide. "And your nose?"

"Also fine."

After a moment of hesitation, Tobias asks another question. This one makes me tense. "The man in the Chasm today was J, wasn't it?"

I don't bother denying it. I would have had to tell him at some point, anyways. "How did you know?"

"You keep staring at the spot with a blank expression." Tobias explains, tilting his head slightly to indicate the spot he's talking about, even though it needs no explanation. "You're part Abnegation. If it were someone innocent, you'd be frowning, at the very least. But since you're not, I'd say that it was someone not so innocent. And the only Dauntless I can think of that you don't like are Zayden and J. And Zayden is alive, so..." He trails off, leaving his conclusion unspoken, but lingering in the air. There's a question there too, one of confirmation.