Drown [Eric Coulter] Divergent

Part XVIII

XVIII

"Buy in, it'll shut you up

Try it, it should shut you up

We've brought someone in to shut you up

It's a life's work"

"While We Were Hunting Rabbits" -Matthew Good

A flurry of emotions took over every part of Harper's mind. Not like when she was alone with Eric where none of it really mattered and it all felt great, but the kind where she was unsure if she would be able to speak coherent sentences in front of Jeanine. Anger was her most prominent emotion, bubbling up and probably showing in her eyes. Below that was fear and sadness, both of them mingling and trying to pull her in other directions. Neither of them wanted her to be anywhere with Jeanine, especially anywhere alone. With Eric she felt that they both had secrets from one another, and that allowed them to be together in the weird way that they found themselves together. Jeanine Matthews was an entirely different story and she posed a threat.

After having gotten out of the fear simulation, Harper was already nervous but also feeling relatively elated due to finally getting through the entire initiation. Now she felt irritable and trapped, listening to Jeanine's high heeled shoes sounding completely misplaced in the Dauntless hallways. It appeared that there weren't a lot of people around, and for some reason that bothered Harper. As they maneuvered deeper into Dauntless -or out of it, Harper wasn't too sure- she felt as though there was no one she could shout to if Jeanine decided to kill her. Then she remembered that she was Dauntless, she was supposed to be the brave one, the one who could get herself and others out of a life or death situation.

But walking one pace behind Jeanine, she wondered if she had chosen the wrong faction.

Eric had shown too much; though he had a playful demeanor around the right people, he had chosen to show it in front of Jeanine, and that had been his first mistake. The woman was hard headed, and while she had given Eric his purpose, he did not trust that she wouldn't kill anyone who might stand in her way. Harper Von Treese's father had stood in her way, and she killed him like it was an afterthought, she did it without any question or concern, and he had been relatively high up on the political spectrum. Eric had doubts about Harper's knowledge about her father's death as well as Jeanine's plan, but he did not think that she was a threat to the system, nor a threat to the plan. His view was clouded, obviously, but he knew that having her close to him would either erase all her concerns about Jeanine and her plan including her fathers death, and he thought that down the road he might be able to convince her to see things his way. It was far too soon now, but in the not so distant future, he hoped that he could enlighten her to the way he saw things. She was a well rounded Erudite-turned-Dauntless like him, and that gave him the impression that she would see things clearly soon.

As long as Jeanine didn't see her as a threat.

Jeanine saw her as an opportunity.

But there were many things that needed to be addressed before Harper had potential, according to Jeanine.

She was going to start with the hard hitting questions, however. "So Harper, how are you liking your new faction?"

"It's given me a run for my money, but I wouldn't change my decision for anything." Harper's words came out better than she had expected, but her mouth was dry.