“So now we all know," says Four, quietly, "that you are afraid of a short, skinny girl from Abnegation." His mouth curls into a smile.”

“That doesn't sound fair," says Peter. "What if one person only has seven fears and someone else has twenty? That's not their fault."Four stares at him for a few seconds and then laughs. "Do you really want to talk to me about what's fair?"The crowd of initiates parts to make way for him as he walks toward Peter, folds his arms,and says,in a deadly voice, "I understand why you're worried, Peter.The events of last night certainly proved that you are a miserable coward."Peter stares back,expressionless."So now we all know," says Four, quietly, "that you are afraid of a short, skinny girl from Abnegation." His mouth curls in a smile.Will puts his arm around me. Christina's shoulders shake with suppressed laughter. And somewhere within me,I find a smile too.”

“You," she says,pointing at me. "I expected. All the trouble with your aptitude test results made me suspicious from the beginning.But you..."She shakes her had as she sifts her eyes to Tobias."You, Tobias-or should I call you Four?-managed to elude me," she says quietly. "Everything about you checked out: test results, initiation simulations, everything. But here you are nonetheless." She folds her hands and sets her chin on top of them. "Perhaps you could explain to me how that is?""You're the genius," he says coolly. "Why don't you tell me?"Her mouth curls into a smile. "My theory is that you really do belong in Abnegation. That your Divergence is weaker."She smiles wider. Like she's amused. I grit my teeth and consider lunging across the table and strangling her. If I didn't have a bullet in my shoulder, I might."Your powers of deductive reasoning are stunning," spits Tobias. "Consider me awed."I look sideways at him. I had always forgotten about this side of him-the part that is more likely to explode than to lie down and die.""Now that your intelligence has been verified, you might want to get on with killing us." Tobias closes his eyes. "You have a lot of Abnegation leaders to murder, after all.”

“Do they have to be so public?” I say."She just kissed him." Al frowns at me. When he frowns, his thick eyebrows touch his eyelashes. "It’s not like they’re stripping naked.""A kiss is not something you do in public."Al, Will, and Christina all give me the same knowing smile.“What?” I say.“Your Abnegation is showing,” says Christina. “The rest of us are all right with a little affection in public.”“Oh.” I shrug. “Well...I guess I’ll have to get over it, then.”“Or you can stay frigid,” says Will, his green eyes glinting with mischief. “You know. If you want.”

“I am your instructor", he says."My name is Four".Christina asks, "Four? Like the number?""Yes", Four says. "Is there a problem?""No.""Good. We're about to go into the Pit, which you will someday learn to love. It-"Christina snickers. "The Pit? Clever name."Four walks up to Christina and leans his face close to hers. His eyes narrow, and for a second he just stares at her."What's your name?" he asks quietly."Christina", she squeaks."Well, Christina, if I wanted to put up with Candor smart-mouths, I would have joined their faction", he hisses. "The first lesson you will learn from me is to keep your mouth shut.Got that?”

“Yeah, well," I say, "I left Abnegation because I wasn't selfless enough, no matter how hard I tried to be.""That's not entirely true." He smiles at me. "That girl who let someone throw knives at her to spare a friend, who hit my dad with a belt to protect me-that selfless girl, that's not you?"..."You've been paying close attention, haven't you?""I like to observe people/""Maybe you were cut out for Candor, Four, because you're a terrible liar.”

“We're all right, you know,' he says quietly. 'You and me. Okay?' My chest aches, and I nod. 'Nothing else is all right.' His whisper tickles my cheek. 'But we are.”