The night air currently raging around me is cold. And I mean cold like of it could it would turn into shards of ice. I think was is worse is how sudden it came up. But then again wind picking up unexpectedly is kind of a hazard in this city.
The tree branches whip against my back and arms and legs, even my face. Each hit makes me yelp in pain.
"You okay?" The masked man asks, his voice filled with genuine concern which I didn't think he was capable of.
I desperately want to snap " Why do you care." but instead I say-
"I'm fine thanks for asking."
The leaves rustle with the wind, branches swaying. During the day I would normally find this type of scene to be an extremely beautiful one. But at night it is just downright creepy. I find that kind of funny how something can be so beautiful at one time and scary at others.
The deeper we go into the woods the more anxious I get. How far out is he taking me.
"How much farther?" I ask, my voice trembling with fear as well as the cold.
"We are here." He said.
I look around confused. I guess I was expecting a bunch of people living in tents or something like that. However, the only thing I can see is trees.
Endless rows of trees. I think we are near Amity.
"Some base you got here." I laugh but it comes out as more of a snort.
Another gush of wind pushes past me making me shiver even more.
I cross my arms over my chest in an attempt to warm myself up. Spoiler alert it isn't working.
"This is just the front door."
"Well sorry big guy but I don't see a-"
As I was about to finish my sentence he bends down and moves a fake- yet very realistic looking- rock. Under it is a lever. He pulls it to the left and a trap door slides open revealing a long twisting staircase.
My jaw drops open which makes him smirk.
"Okay, I have to admit that is impressive."
His smirk grows bigger.
"Follow me."
My jaw refuses to shut as I watch him begin to descend the surprisingly sturdy staircase. Eventually, I snap out of my shock and follow him.
Halfway down he pulls another lever and the trap door swings shut behind me with a bang, surrounding us in darkness.
"Great now I can't see." I groan.
From the dark, I can hear the flick of a switch and a bright light washes out the darkness. The masked man is holding a light.
"Have a little faith stiff."
"My name is Beatrice." I snap.
"B-e-a-t-r-i-c-e," He said emphasizing and dragging out each letter," Nope too many syllables stiff is just easier."
"Jerk." I mumble under my breath.
After walking down I think about a hundred stairs we reach a large, thick, metal door. A keypad is attached to it instead of a handle.
"Look away." He commands.
"You serious." I chuckle.
"As serious as how much you are annoying me right now Stiff."
"Beatrice." I growl as I turn around.
I hear him punch in a five-digit password and the door clicks open.
"Come on Stiff."
I open my mouth to object to the nickname but with a sigh, I give in and remain silent.
I turn around again expecting to see a bunch of tents despite having just walked down a flight of stairs that were revealed by a trap door.
And once again I am proved wrong. There are no tents but an entire little city!
Children are running around on the 'road' between blocks that have apartments on the top floor and shops on the ground floor. There is some complex piping that holds the ground above us from falling and lights are hanging from them. But the light feels like sunlight. At the end of the main 'street' is a bigger building.
"What do you think?"
I look up into his bright blue eyes.
"I think I misjudged you guys."
"Come on let's get this meeting over with."
As we walk towards the bigger building people stop to look at me. A small part of me is surprised to see that none of them are wearing masks like Mr. Jerk in front of me.
"So everyone here is-"
"Divergent yip." He said popping the p.
"Can you please just tell-"
"Everything will be explained in the meeting. Which we are late for by the way."
He leads me through the main building up to a big office where Tori is waiting behind her desk.
"Beatrice." She smiles at me as we walk in.
"Hi." I nervously smile back.
"I'm gonna wait outside." The masked man said.
"No Four I want you to stay here." Tori said.
What did she just call him?
"Your name is Four." I chuckle.
"Yeah got a problem." He shrugs his shoulders.
"No, it's just..... unique."
"Yeah well so is Beatrice."
"Oh, so now you-"
"Okay will the two of you shut the hell up so we can get the meeting started!" Tori yells at us.
Without complaint Four and I rush to the chairs across from her and sit down.
"Thank you," She gives us a sarcastic smile, "Now how much did Four tell you?"
"Just that something big is coming and that some faction leaders are part of it."
"We have been gathering information on the cold war between Abnegation and Erudite. We think that Erudite will do something to harm Abnegation so that they can take over. And we think Dauntless is going to help."
"We are still not sure how they will achieve this but it will be big." Four said.
I sit back for a minute taking in what they are telling me. This is still not enough yet but it is something.
"Wow you can find out all of this but you can't find Tobias Eaton."
At the mention of the name, Four stiffens next to me.
"Figuring out all this information has been time-consuming and very important." Tori said.
"More important than helping that family get back together."
"They can wait." Four said.
"That is very easy for you to say. You didn't spend the last two years watching Evelyn slowly rot away because she doesn't know if her son is alive or not."
For a split second, a saw pain shining in his eyes.
"I know you care for that family. But once we stop whatever Erudite is planning then we can reunite them."
I hate that I can gear the logic in that.
"Good point, but why do you need me?"
"We need all the help we can get and you seem like the kind of person who wants to do something more with her life than give food and clothes to the factionless."
She knows how to play on deep desires.
Sighing then taking a deep breath I look between Tori and Four.
"Fine, I'll help, for my faction."
Tori's face lights up with a beaming smile.
"This is going to be good."