"Leadership is the most important job to this faction. Without leaders Dauntless would be way too wild and uncontrollable. And seeing as we are the most powerful and skilful faction it is very handy having control over all of our people" Eric explained.
He decided to give me some sort of pep talk. But right now, it seemed to be more of a lecture.
I nodded along, keeping a straight face. Knowing in a way he was very much right. This job was serious. And only a few days ago I was certain it wasn't for me. But I had eventually been convinced. I was down for it now.
"Another important factor of being a leader is to keep your eye out for divergent's" Eric continued. Making my heart skip a beat.
He continued on this rough subject. Making me feel sick with guilt and worry.
"Divergent's are a major threat to this system and they must be stopped. They are no good and let me assure you, there are many of them. But eventually when you become more experienced you will easily be able to pick them out".
I swallowed hard. But tried my absolute best to look normal. I nodded along as if the subject of exterminating divergent's was of great importance to me.
"I was raised with the mindset of killing them. And now I want you to develop that mindset. It's the best way possible. Throwing them into factionless just isn't good enough now. But don't worry, for now I will not make you kill a divergent if you spot them... All you have to do is report them to me and I will do the dirty work, or I'll just get one of the others to" Eric spoke strictly. I could tell this whole dilemma was a big issue for him. And that made my body tremble in fear.
He was about to begin to speak again but instead he just eyed me, his eybrows coming closer together as he frowned.
"Eliza... Is everything ok?" he asked, with warning in his voice. "Do you know someone who is divergent?" he continued, questioningly.
"Oh..." I was snapped out of my thoughts. "No, no, everything is fine" I lousily covered up. But I knew it wasn't good enough so I thought of asking him a question. To show him I was 'in'.
"What are the signs I will have to look for?" I asked, in terms someone who is divergent.
He began to casually explain them. He said things like 'serums not working perfectly on them' and 'standing out personalities'.
He hadn't suspected a thing of me. Weird... I began to think. He had known me for a while now and yet, he had not been suspicious of me being divergent.
Maybe our relationship is his blind spot... I pondered.
My thinking had made me feel better about the whole issue. I mean, if he didn't suspect anything from me now, then in the future he most likely wouldn't. All I had to do was keep quiet about it and act like a normal person. There would be no other way for him to tell if I was one or not. If I was given a serum, I would become the best damn actress in the world and if anyone suspected anything I would convince them otherwise. I am quite persuasive.
Eric had eventually finished talking and we headed to the Hall. We were going to be meeting the other three leaders and Eric was going to announce my leadership in front of the entire faction. Which I was alright with. I mean, I love attention!
"Alrighty," Eric began, as we approached the three others. "Guys, this is Eliza" he said, issuing his hand towards me. "Eliza, this is Titus, Ashley and Zachariah".
"Hey" I said back, not too boldly but bold enough, so that they knew I was confident.
They all returned greetings to me.
I had seen each of them before and talked with them. But it's as if I was only taking in their features just then and there.
Zachariah was very, very tall but thin. He had dark coloured skin and chocolate brown eyes. I noticed also that he's ear lobes were being stretched by silver gauges. This grossed me out. Why would people want to stretch their ear lobes? As I continued to eye him, I noticed that he had quite a large scar across one side of his face. It must've been many years old by now, for it had faded and had almost fully blended in with his skin.
Ashley was about my height and very lean. She had a great smile that she constantly wore and yet she still managed to fit into the 'intimidating leader' category. Her hair was short and still shaved on one side, but instead of having that flare of hot pink I observed the day I met her, it was replaced with fiery orange. It looked good. She had dark blue eyes and she also had tattoos all over her exposed legs. Each tattoo seemed to join with the next though. I thought about how much that would've hurt her.
Titus was about Eric's height and he had blonde hair. In fact his facial structure was very much similar to that of Eric's. They both looked as if they could been brothers. Titus also had many tattoos, just like Ashley but no piercings. Another major thing I noticed was that he was missing his ring finger. I was immediately curious and planned on asking Eric about it later, as well as asking about Zachariah's scar. Titus also had eyes that made chills run down my spine. They were almost fully black, you could hardly see his pupils. All in all, Titus scared me. Even more than Eric scared me.
After all of the introductions I was presented in front of the entire faction as 'the fifth leader'. Finally the spot had been filled. And I was still quite surprised it was me who was filling it.
I didn't say anything, for that was Eric's job. He introduced me with my full name and my 'many' capabilities.
The whole thing was quite short. But every moment of it was special to me. It had always been my dream to be a leader. My whole life, I had always felt that feeling in my stomach, the feeling that was telling me I could do it. I wanted the power. And I had it. Sure, it took a while of convincing but eventually all that convincing worked. I was glad I hadn't turned the position down.
I watched the crowd applaud wildly. Wow, all these people seem to like me! Some of them don't even know me, and look, they all love me! I thought to myself, probably smiling like some sort of idiot.
As we turned away from the faction, the presentation done with, we followed Eric down a few dark corridors. I walked with Ashley and Zachariah, Titus and Eric were together at the front of our 'pack'. Eventually we were in a section of the compound I had never known existed.
One wide hallway, formed by black concrete. Locked away from the Dauntless members behind a large black, steel door and a passcode. The hallway was lit with dim orange lights instead of the usual blue ones, giving off a warm hue. The area seemed colder than the usual Dauntless hallways. But at the same time I felt warm because of the lighting. A few doors were to our left and right, connected to the hallway. Then I noticed windows... Windows I could not see into, that seemed to look into rooms on the other sides of the walls. I looked further down the hallway and it seemed to come to a dead end.
"What is this area?" I questioned everyone. I think it sounded like I was in awe.
I was looking to Eric (who was still a few paces in front of me, Ashley and Zachariah) to be the first person to answer me, but he acted as if he didn't hear me. The same went with Titus.
"We call these the 'convening rooms'" Zachariah answered in a hush, as if the rooms held secrets. He pointed in direction of a few of the doors. "And this hallway is a hallway where only leaders of factions are permitted to enter" he continued, using his hands and arms to show me the hallway, like it was on display.
"We use these rooms as our secondary offices as well as places to hold secret meetings" Ashley informed. "We keep all of our secrets in these rooms" she continued eerily, smirking at me through her eyes.
"Files on every single being in this world" Eric unexpectedly spoke. "Documents only for our eyes, separate camera systems... The list goes on".
"Wow" was all I could say.
Titus unlocked one of the doors, the one furthest down the hall. We all filed inside.
The room had a massive, black, glass conference table in the centre. With cushioned chairs surrounding it. To me this room looked bare. But there were other rooms which probably contained more of these 'secrets' they were talking about.
As we all took a seat at the table, I noticed a glass window, over looking the Pit. I could see everyone. Mucking around, fighting and chatting away carelessly.
"I'm guessing they can't see in" I stated, looking at the window. Knowing I was probably right.
"Yeah" Titus replied. "We have a lot of windows like this up here. So basically, as leaders" he continued, gesturing to all of us, "we see everything".
This all sounded so cool to me, but at the same time I was a little freaked.
I sat opposite Ashley and Titus and next to Zachariah and Eric at the large round table, that appeared to fill up almost the entirety of the room.
"Ok, let's get started" Eric began, pressing a button to his side, making the table light up like a computer screen.
Blueprints. Everywhere. Covering the table.
This sure was a heck of a room for meetings.
Eric pressed on a file within the blueprints glowing beneath the glass on the table and it opened and revealed what was inside. It's touch screen too!
Masses of information seemed to appear.
"Ok Eliza, we have brought you here to catch you up with everything" Eric expounded.
"Finally" I muttered softly.