289

"I trust you will do what is right for this faction when it comes time to chose this evening." Jeanine said stiffly as I looked through my closet. Right for her, she meant.

"Of course." I replied as I pulled a grey tank top off of its hook and set it on my dresser, next to a navy blue skirt.

Jeanine nodded stoically and hesitated for a moment.

"I have-" She paused to swallow and began walking toward me. She began speaking again, "Wear this blazer to the ceremony. With mothers pearls." She finished standing in front of me, handing me the same navy blue blazer she wore for her choosing ceremony.

My eyes met hers as I grabbed the fabric from her. For a small second I saw something that could be considered love or sadness in her eyes. It disappeared as soon as she opened her mouth and said, "Faction before Blood."

"Natasha Mathews." Marcus reads off the notepad. The cheers from the Amity ceased as their newest member took his seat.

I stood, smoothing my skirt and kissed my mother and father on the cheek for the last time.

Jeanine, seated in the front row watched me descend the stairs confidently, my white heels clicking softly. Her expression was difficult to read, for anyone who was interested. I saw fear in her watery gray eyes, fear that I would stay and overtake her power, fear that I wouldn't stay and possibly shame her. There was no positive outcome to this situation for her.

For me, anything was positive.

I smiled at Eaton as I picked up the knife. It felt light as I moved it over the heel of my hand. The cold steel slid against my skin easily, slicing my palm with little pain.

It seemed to take forever for my blood to bubble up to the surface of my skin. My mother used to say that sometimes forever was only a second.

In that second it took my blood to fill the cut in my palm my entire sixteen years of life disappeared.

My family and past faction washed away in the river of red that began to flow down onto the hot coals in the porcelain bowl.

In that second, my life changed forever.

The roar of the Dauntless crowd reverberated through the hall. I set the knife down and covered the cut on my hand with the white sheet that was on the table. I turned away from the table and toward the crowd of people dressed in various shades of black.

Natasha looked at Jeanine. Her face was stony. The decision had been made, there was no controlling Natasha now, the only thing she could do was destroy her.

She could try, Natasha thought as she walked toward her new faction.

Natasha would destroy herself before she let Jeanine get anywhere near her again.

A girl with long flaming red hair stood from her chair in the front row and smiled brightly at Natasha before patting her shoulder and walking away.

The guy in the seat next to that one stood up.

"Hi, im Patton. Welcome to Dauntless." He said loudly over the cheering. Patton was tall, probably about six feet. He had dark brown hair that was shaved on the sides with the top slicked back. His eyes were such a light blue they were more white or gray. He had holes in both of his ears with little black tubes in them and a ring around the kid side of his nose. There were also two little round silver balls by the corner of his left eye, just above his unbelievably perfect cheekbones. He was wearing a ack v-neck t shirt, giving everyone a perfect view of his huge neck tattoo. It looked like an eagle but instead of a head it had a large eyeball. It's wings wrapped around the sides of Patton's neck. The bird's claws rested just on the corners of Patton's collarbones. His arms are covered in tattoos I can't decifer without staring to blatantly.

Natasha smiled and shook his hand, which was also covered in tattoos, before sitting down next to him.

The ceremony only lasted forty minutes longer and Duantless received 4 more initiates. Putting the total at thirteen transfers and seventeen Dauntless born. Natasha knew that both of those numbers were extremely high.

Six of the transfers were from Erudite. Five from Candor, a record breaking two from Amity and one from Abnegation.

"Let's go, Princess." Patton said as the ceremony ended. Natasha looked up at him.

"Princess?" She questioned, "Really?"

"Well yeah, maybe it's the blonde hair. The way you walk. Oh yeah, no it's because your sister is Queen." Patton said charmingly, throwing in a wink as he pushed the metal doors open with a bang.

The sun was bright in the sky at noon. Natasha covered her eyes and gave herself a few seconds to adjust to the sunlight. The group around her hooted and hollered loudly. Natasha saw them take off toward the train. The group spread out into a black mass. Natasha stopped at the edge of the concrete slab outside the choosing hall. She slipped Jeanine's jacket off her shoulders and folded it onto the bench, setting her pearl earrings on top of it before running after the group. Patton looked down at her, raising an eyebrow at her as she climbed up the train tracks.

"They weren't mine." Natasha answered as Patton pulled her onto the tracks.

"Patton!" The red headed girl yelled from a few feet ahead. "Quit flirting with the initiate!"

She winked at Natasha as she walked toward them.

Patton was cute but totally- "Not my type." Patton said, rolling his eyes at the red headed girl.

Natasha looked down at the tips of her white-heeled shoes, trying not to look as awkward as she felt. Not his type, great. That is just what she wanted to hear.

"Don't worry sweetie. None of us are his type." The girl said as she stopped in front of them. "Hi, I'm Ariel." She added with a bright smile.

"Natasha." The blonde replied, smiling in return.

Natasha was aware that they seemed to be the only ones talking. The rest of the initiates were shifting on their feet and looking awkward waiting for instructions or something.

"Here comes the train!" Someone further down the tracks yelled as the steel face of the train whipped around the corner of the tracks.

"You get on," Patton yelled as the train barreled toward them. "Or you get left behind!"

Natasha watched as a few current members of Dauntless started to run on the concrete barrier next to the train and began to hop on it.

"Are you coming?" Ariel asked suddenly, snapping Natasha out of her daze. She had not realized that she had been staring and not acting.

"Yeah, uh yes." Natasha said as she began sprinting after Ariel, toward the door of the train Patton was sitting in about ten feet ahead of them. Ariel grabbed a hold of the metal handle on the side of the train and swung herself up into the train easily.

Easily. Right, like it was actually going to be easy.

"Grab the handle and pull up!" She yelled over the whir of the train wheels.

Natasha took a deep breath and two more steps as Ariel looked down at her.

"We don't have all day Princess!" Patton added, looking directly at the end of the concrete platform no less than twenty feet ahead of them.

Natasha grabbed the bar with her left hand, and then her right and pulled up. Her feet came off the ground easily. She swung herself over and slid onto the floor. The steel of the ground was cold against the bare skin of her back, exposed by her tank top. She would rather have cold metal than hot pavemnt, she thought, looking down at the black gravel under the train tracks.

Patton and Ariel were talking quietly, giving Natasha a chance to better look at the initiates around her.

The two Amity boys were sitting close to eachother, not speaking, just looking. They were both sort of stocky. They had broad shoulders and thick arms showing through their identical yellow shirts. Their skin was a tan and spotted with freckles. They had to be brothers, Natasha thought before moving on to the only other two people in her train car.

There was a tall Candor girl with stick straight black hair and small green eyes. She wore a black skirt with a black and white pin stripe blouse. She was sitting by the door of the train, staring out the window as the city passed around them.

The last person in their car was Emilia Hansel, an Erudite. Natasha had known Emilia her whole life. They were never close; Natasha had a tendency to avoid being close with people. They were the same age, but never had any classes together; Natasha had been two grade levels head of her. Natasha's IQ was ninety-three points higher than Emilia's. That didn't stop her from being a nice girl.

Natasha tilted her head to look at Emilia, she had a natural beauty people craved. Her cheeks angled down into her round chin, framed by her light brown hair that faded to blonde at the ends. Her small nose fitted in-between her baby blue eyes and eyelashes that touched the bottoms of her thick eyebrows. She always wore black eyeliner that flared out at the edges and was drawn on perfectly. Her full bottom lip pouted out under her top, a perfect cupids bow, always covered in a light red-orange that contrasted her eyes perfectly. She had perfect genes, everyone had said as they grew up.

Natasha was not surprised Emilia had defacted, she was pretty, but she had the lowest IQ's in their class. She also figured, now was better than never to start making friends.

Natasha crossed the train and sat down next to Emilia.

Emilia looked up from the floor and smiled at Natasha, flashing her small white teeth. "Who would have thought Erudite would have lost their smartest, and their least smart in one ceremony, huh?" She asked softly, leaning her head back against the wall of the train.

Natasha avoided Emilia's eyes as she picked at her nails. The silence stretched between them. "IQ doesn't matter anymore. Thats behind us." Natasha finally said, looking Emilia in the eye. Emilia held Natasha's gaze for a few seconds before nodding slowly.

"Yeah." She said, "IQ doesn't matter anymore. We're Dauntless."

"Exactly." Natasha said, watching as Patton and Ariel stood up.

"Get up!" Ariel said to them as she shoved the train doors open.

"What are we doing?" One of the amity boys asked as he scrambled to get up.

The train was still moving and warm wind whipped through the wide train car, blowing Natasha's bright blond hair around her face.

"Jumping!" Patton yelled as he leapt from the train car and toward the building across open air space.

"You're kidding right?" The Candor girl shouted as people began to leap from the other cars and onto the building.

"Not at all." Ariel said with a sinister smile before she launched out of the train car.

Natasha looked at her fellow initiates. This was test number one, and if you didn't pass, there wouldn't be a test number two.

"Together?" Emilia asked quietly.

"For sure." Natasha said, taking a few steps backward with Emilia.

"Are you ready?" Emilia questioned, looking over at her.

"If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting the rest of our lives." Natasha said, dragging Emilia forward with her and into the air.