Chapter 28

My palms are covered in sweat. The thought of Marcus coming to see me here terrifies me. My tears that fill in my eyes makes me look sad, the sweat that covers my palm says that I am scared and the two broken pencils and the way I am pressing down onto my paper says I'm frustrated. I am drawing to calm my nerves, people around me are waiting for their loved ones. Unsure if they are even going to turn up. I doubt Olivia's parents will show an, Amity in a Dauntless compound; unheard of.

The picture I am drawing is of a girl with flamed wings on her back taking her first flight with her new power. She is pushing past her definers. I draw for a few more minutes not noticing the laughs and the talking of people from the different factions. I higher my head seeing the people from the different factions. Olivia sits with a middle aged woman with shoulder length hair and a skinny small frame. Next to them is a young boy with curly ginger locks of hair. They are all laughing. Shayne is talking to a Candor female with the same dark brown skin as his and gold streaks in her hair. I see some tears in her dark brown eyes. His mother I am assuming. Then I move my eyes to Connor who looks around the room with a smile. Then he looks to me and his olive skin reddens. He slowly gets up and walks over to me. He lowers his eyes to my pile of paper and my two broken yellow pencils.

"Wow these are good." He says taking a seat.

"Thanks." I reply "Your family not visiting?" I ask him. His lips curve and then I remember that he has no family. 'You and your big mouth.' I scorn myself. "Sorry I forgot." I say before gingerly carrying on with my drawing.

"It's ok Ruby. You're not Erudite I don't expect you to remember everything." Connor says with a smile which melts my heart completely. I smile back. "What about your father" He asks. The lead in my pencil snaps.

"H-he's...hur probably working. I guess his two children transferring have upset him." I respond with a shaky tone of voice. I continue with my drawing, I draw a tattoo of the infinity sign on the girls shoulder. "Ruby, Ruby I think someone is here for you." Connor says. I nervously look up to see grey eyes, dark hair, pale skin, a tidy beard and metres of grey robes. Marcus. But instead I am greeted with pale skin and light blond hair. This male looks like Cheryl though I haven't seen him for years it feels like. Dwayne Lopham.

"D-Dwayne what are you doing here?" I ask in shock and relief. Dwayne smiles and nods his head. He shouldn't be here, he should be in Amity with his sister. Dwayne takes a seat.

"Well Ruby, I had a a few hours free so I thought to come see the girl I used to babysit." He says with a smile, though his shock at my transformation is still very noticeable and not subtle at all despite his best efforts. Connor begins to walk off. "Hey! Connor you don't need to go stay with us." I plead for him to stay. He turns around and looks at us. "Nah you're OK. I'll only be intruding I think Jason is on his own so I'll talk to him." He says with a slight hint of sadness. He disappears into the crowd and I lose sight of him. I face Dwayne. "So how are you and your family doing?" I ask.

"They are good thank you. Mom was a little upset Cheryl transferred though." He replies.

"A-And Mar-Dad? How is he doing?" I ask, I don't want people to know what has happened to me. Dwayne looks down to his lap and he holds his hands.

"He's not good. Two of his children have transferred and we have barely seen him. He has just stayed in his house all this time." Dwayne quietly says. But despite the unnecessary sugar coating I can tell that Dwayne is scorning me for being selfish. He pops his head back up. "Anyways I have come to see how you are. And from the new look I can tell that you have fit in." Dwayne says with a wryly smile.

"Yep tattoos, cuts, bruises. I'm almost a full Dauntless." I say lifting my wrist up so he can see my tattoo. Dwayne focuses his eyes on it and puts the tips of his fingers onto the black outlining of it. He is fascinated though I am not surprised he is. An Abnegation has never seen a tattoo before. "I just need to get past initiation." I say. My attention quickly moves from Dwayne's face to a group of Erudite. They are haggling a rainbow haired girl with questions. Keira. I try to read her moving bright red lips.

"For the millionth time. I do not know anything!" I think Keira says. Dwayne looks behind his shoulder.

"What are they doing here?" I ask him.

"Eh probably trying new ways of blackening Abnegation." He says.

"Because they haven't already have they?" I say. "So how come you aren't seeing Cheryl?" I ask Dwayne.

"Oh she finished initiation weeks ago, she is officially an Amity member." He says with a proud smile.

I smile back. "I can't believe they have finished already. I knew everyone passed Amity initiation, but I didn't think it would be that easy." I say.

"Well picking fruit and singing songs. Not much too them." Dwayne says. I look over to the group of Erudite they are scouting for knowledge. Only this time it is the knowledge that is very dangerous for everyone including myself. They look straight towards me and slowly begin appraching us. "Listen, I need a walk c'mon." I say standing up and collecting together my pieces of paper and broken pencils. Dwayne follows and we walk down the chasm. As much as I try to ignore it inside me is a laughing mess.

Seeing Dwayne here observing things in either amusment or disgust is a funny sight.

"This is erm a very interesting place isn't it?" He asks whilst he stares at male who has a face covered with a snake tattoo. "Certainly a...contrast from Abnegation huh?" He adds whilst he moves his grey eyes to a group climbing the rock face. His face moves from fascination to concern. I have a feeling some bad news is going to be told to my face. "Listen Ruby it isn't only Abnegation Erudite are after. They are after something or someone else." He lowers his head down to me. "What was your...test result?" He asks whispering. "From the day of the Aptitude." He adds when I look at him with a look of confusion.

"Amity." I reply. He raises his blond eyebrows and guilt builds in my throat because of my tendancy to lie. How the hell did I get Candor?

"Listen I know there is something else isn't there?" He asks, has he found out about my Divegence? But how? A sick feeling makes my head dizzy that I have to lean against the rock wall. "You can trust me." He says. I look at him and realise I can trust him. He is probably the most selfless person I know. I lick my dry mouth.

"It was inclusive." I say out of my own mouth. There all out in the open.

"Divergent..." Dwayne says somberly. My eyes begin to fill with tears.

"What am I going to do? What even am I?" I ask.

"Listen you need to keep your head down. Erudite are actively looking for them and killing them. I have heard that stage two is where you are most at risk. But people have passed through without being detected, you can only trust yourself." He puts his hand on my arm.

"I'm a freak." I say. Dwayne hugs me.

"You're not alot of people in Abnegation recieve inconclusive results. I don't know why, but Divergents can live without being noticed." He says. I look at him and my realisation hits me like a tonne weight on my chest. A horn begins to sound.

"I have to go. See you soon and don't get too many tattoos." He walks away. He leaves me alone with my thoughts. "Dwayne is a Divergent."