𝑫𝑬𝑺𝑶𝑳𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝑶𝑭 𝑶𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑰𝑶𝑵 . Tobias Eaton

•·.· 6 ·.·•

I didn't go back to the dining hall; I don't think I could look at Parker or even Four after what happened. I walked back down to my room holding the disc as if someone was out to steal it, but I put it in my pocket before I open the door of my room. When I walk in someone was standing over my bed.

Peter was standing over my bed.

Instinct makes me straighten up.

"Get out," I say. I can't help but remember the look in his eyes as he held me over the chasm by my throat or slammed me against the wall in the Dauntless compound.

He turns to look at me. Lately when he looks at me it's without his usual malice instead, he just seems exhausted, his posture slouched, his wounded arm in a sling. But I am not fooled.

"What are you doing in my room?"

He walks closer to me. "What were you talking to Marcus about? I saw you walking with him while the rest were at lunch."

I match his stare with my own. "That's none of your business. Get out."

"I'm here because I don't know why you get to keep track of that hard drive," he says. "It's not like you're particularly stable these days."

"I'm unstable?" I laugh. "I find that a little funny, coming from you."

Peter pinches his lips together and says nothing.

I narrow my eyes. "Why are you so interested in the hard drive anyway?"

"I'm not stupid," he says. "I know it contains more than the simulation data."

"No, you aren't stupid, are you?" I say. "You think if you deliver it to the Erudite, they'll forgive your indiscretion and let you back in their good graces."

"I don't want to be back in their good graces," he says, stepping forward again. "If I had, I wouldn't have helped you in the Dauntless compound."

I jab his sternum with my index finger, digging in my fingernail. "You helped me because you didn't want me to shoot you again."

He seizes my finger. "No one gets to control me, especially not the Erudite."

I yank my hand back, twisting so that he won't be able to hold on. My hands are sweaty.

"I don't expect you to understand." I wipe my hands on the hem of my shirt as I inch toward the dresser. "I'm sure if it had been Candor and not Abnegation that got attacked, you would have just let your family get shot between the eyes without protest."

"Careful what you say about my family. Nose." He moves with me, toward the dresser, but I carefully shift so that I stand between him and the drawers. I'm not going to reveal the hard drive's location by getting it out while he's in here, but I don't want to leave the path to it clear, either.

His eyes shift to the dresser behind me, to the left side, where the hard drive is hidden. I frown at him, and then notice something I didn't before: a rectangular bulge in one of his pockets.

"Give it to me," I say. "Now."

"No."

"Give it to me, or so help me, I will kill you in your sleep."

He smirks. "If only you could see how ridiculous you look when you threaten people. Like a little girl telling me she's going to strangle me with her jump rope."

I start toward him, and he shifts back, into the hallway.

"Don't call me 'little girl.'"

"I'll call you whatever I want."