Transparent: A Divergent FanFiction (Book One) ©

Chapter 11

               “Annie!”  I gasped the instant my eyes opened. My hands reached for the wound I remembered but found nothing. There was no homeless man, no injuries, no victim.

               My heart was still racing, and a pang of phantom pain throbbed in my chest, but as I looked around I realized none of it had been real. My eyes scoured the new scene; I was again lying in the chair in the mirrored room. Swallowing loudly, I tilted my head back and saw Natalie behind me. Her eyes were wide and she pinched her mouth closed. I waited for her to say something about my test, anything, but instead she silently started removing the electrodes from my head.

               The room was thick with unspoken words, and I could see that she was struggling with something. Every time I glanced at her, I could see the telltale signs; her mouth was etched into a frown, her eyes had a distant and worried look to them, and her hands were shaking ever so slightly. Something wasn’t right.

                When I finally couldn’t take the suspense, I blurted the first thing that came to my mind. “Are you preparing to lie to me?”

                “What?” she asked, clearly confused at what I’d said. “No, what makes you think that?”

                “You may not feel it, but you’re beginning to exhibit many symptoms of someone who’s about to try and spin a story,” I said, trying to get her to meet my eyes, “it’s like you’re leave little clues that announce a possible deception.”

                “No, it’s nothing like that,” she lied, still avoiding my gaze as she turned to type something in her computer.

                “You’re doing it again,” I accused.

               Suddenly, I felt the cold sting of fear run through my limbs, leaving me frozen. Was it possible to fail the test? Was that why she was so hesitant to look at me? Was I doomed to be without a faction and she just didn’t have the heart to tell me? I groaned and brought my head into my hands, winding my fingers through my hair and tugging at the roots. I’d failed, that was it; I’d failed and would have to live in shame with the factionless.

               “What’s wrong?” Natalie asked when she turned back and saw me. “Are you feeling ok?”

               “No,” I moaned into my hands, trying to hide my face in disgrace, “I failed, didn’t I? You just don’t want to tell me. I didn’t get a faction. I’m a letdown and you feel bad for me.”

               Hesitantly, I felt her place a small hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw pain in her eyes, pain and something that almost resembled fear.

               “No, you didn’t get a faction,” she agreed, stopping to take a slow breath before she continued slowly, “you got three.”

               I felt my mouth drop open in shock; I was at a complete loss for words. Gaping stupidly like a fish, I tried to string together something slightly coherent. “What?” I managed to splutter.

                “Sage, your results were inconclusive,” she continued. “Normally, each stage of the stimulation eliminates one or more of the factions, but for you, only two have been ruled out.”

               “Two?” I repeated, feeling like a child that couldn’t quite grasp what was going on.

               “It was difficult in the beginning just because of your refusal to pick an item. You had no reason to ignore the commands and your inflexibility wasn’t something wise, there was no logic to your actions so that helped rule out erudite. Also, if you’d had an immediate distaste for the pistol and picked the loaf of bread, that would’ve led to a different scenario that could’ve helped confirm your aptitude for amity. That obviously didn’t happen, so amity was also out.”