Venus Eaton is desperate to escape the abuse of her previous faction although she is unaware and unprepared of the ordeals of Dauntless initiation. She is a stranger to her own brother until he accuses her of murdering their mother, and finds out th...
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UNKNOWN
"THEY'RE HOLDING my funeral tomorrow?" The girl said in a hushed voice. The other girl, leaning against the wall, crunched into an apple and chewed on it loudly.
"Yep. What do you wanna do?"
The platinum haired girl rose a brow at her in amusement. She even giggled a little. "Yeah, I really want to sneak into the casket, leap out and say 'I'm back, bitches!'"
The girl munching on the apple laughed hysterically. "I think that would be perfect."
ERIC
THE PIT is turned into something beautiful, from Tris and Harmonie arranging the tables. They had argued with the other leaders, insisting that Venus had a proper sendoff - not just music and alcohol after a speech, but a moment of recognition.
I want that. But I don't think I could last that. Still, I trudge to the Pit.
When I arrive, I swallow hard. There is a coffin resting on a table against one of the walls, and Harmonie is already over decorating it with beautiful white flowers.
She never liked roses.
I stay in the shadows.
This funeral is pathetic. No one found her body. That coffin is empty, the need for a funeral is useless.
But still, I watch as those who knew her best stand in front of the wooden box and say a speech.
And I keep my eyes focused on the box. Thinking.
The ceremony ends, and the Pit is quiet. My thoughts are on Venus, and Venus only.
"Eric Coulter, right?" A feminine voice sounds from the shadows somewhere next to me. When I turn round, I see a middle-aged woman standing there. Her deep brown hair is in shiny waves framing her face and she has wide doe eyes. The way she looks at me... It's somehow too close to Venus.
"Who are you?" I break from my daydream, and cross my arms over my chest, giving her an intimidating glare. "How did you get in, Factionless?"
"I wouldn't think about being rude to me." She smirks. "I have to leave soon."
"But you should know," She continues. "Don't be scared to open the box. You may be sure that she is still alive, but you still fear that she's in there, don't you?"
"The coffin, you mean." I snarl, and the woman laughs.
"Why are you calling it a coffin? You should know by now that she isn't dead?"
I clench my fists and scan her face. "Who exactly are you and what do you know?"
"Your little search patrols haven't really helped. At least, they haven't searched any of the factions." She raised a brow. "Her friend is missing too, right? Do some search about her. Her past is a clue in itself."
She stalks toward the coffin slowly, like she's expecting for me to follow. I grit my teeth and drag myself after her.
"You're still trying to look for Divergents, aren't you?" The Factionless glances up at me from beneath her black lashes. "You're still hunting them. It is so strange to me how you spared Venus's life." She taps the surface of the hollow box, and smiles. "Smash it, darling. And remember what I told you."
She rests a hammer on the top of it, and walks away with a final smile. When she is gone, I look back down at the box.
I could just open it, right? I don't need to smash it.
Then I realize the lock. No one would lock a coffin, no matter the importance of the person.
And no one would lock an empty coffin...
I take the hammer in my hands, ignoring the shakiness in my hands. I start to smash in the sides, bringing the heavy object down on the top. The box gives in, splinters of wood cave in.
And there definitely isn't a body inside.
In fact, what I see inside the wide... coffin shocks me so much I stagger backward.
Reaching inside, the gold still manages to shine in the dim light.
It is the box.
[PS- if you are confused what the box is, it is the gold artifact that jeanine uses in insurgent :0]
