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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VENUS
IWAKE with a start, and look around the room. The clock on the nightstand tells me it's eight in the morning, the start of another frantic day.
Sliding my legs from the covers, I'm about to slide out of bed when I quickly pause and yank myself back up. Tris is asleep on the floor beneath me, next to my brother. Emily is top to tail of both of them, and my daughter is still asleep in her bed the other side.
Apparently, the Dauntless found an artifact called the Box in my empty casket that can only be opened by a Divergent. Now Max is working night and day to find the one Divergent strong enough to open it, and I'm just hoping he finds whoever it is soon, so no more innocent people are killed.
An hour later, I finally manage to wake Emily up by pouring a cup of water over her. She screams, and rolls across the floor, wrapped up in the duvets like a giant worm. She almost trips up Tris as she rushes into the room, cheeks red from running and exhaustion.
"What's going on?" I say, tilting my head to the side. Tris swallows hard.
"Erudite."
That's all she needs to say. "What, they're here?"
She nods, and I feel my hands getting clammy. "Do we have time to run?"
She doesn't respond, but somehow I can tell that she knows we don't have a chance.
"Alright, everyone up." I say, rolling my eyes in amusement at the groaning scrawl of duvets on the ground between Tris and me. "Tris, go and alert the Abnegation. Make them blend in."
"Is Aria awake?" Tris asks. I finally smile at the mention of my daughter.
Aria. Aria Eaton, as far as I'm concerned. She's sitting on the bed, her dark brown hair a little longer than mine is at the moment, her misty blue eyes staring out of the window. She has his eyes.
"She's ready if we have to... run."
Emily finally awakens from the land of nod and shuffles into the bathroom to change. I call Aria over as we head to the dining hall. The Erudite trucks are getting so much closer. I know there isn't much time until they invade.
Will Eric be there?
A part of me hopes not. I haven't seen him in four years, and we didn't really leave on good terms... not good terms at all, actually. But I like to believe that has made me stronger. Stronger than I've ever been, anyway.
For me, looking after a child so young is one thing, doing it without your partner is another.
But I've coped. I don't need a man to rescue me after all.
Tris announces to the rest of the Abnegation just in time. Aria looks up at me in confusion.
"Do we have to leave?" She asks. I smile a little. "Only if we have to, darling. It's going to be okay."
