"Ok," Amar announces, somewhat nervously, "Today, we are going to be mixing up the order of who is going in." He smiles, but my eyes narrow. Beside him, there are five people clad in black with their arms folded. 

We are sitting in the hall waiting to go into the simulation room. Since yesterday, things have been pretty quiet. Sam, the person who does most of the talking, has barely said a word. My eyes dart to him. He's across from me, staring at the floor and sitting in between Jo and Amy. Jo is looking at Amar and Amy is glancing down at her's and Lyra's interwined hands. I turn my attention back to Amar. 

"We are the leaders of Dauntless, but just pretend that we aren't around," says one of the people, "We'll just be here for a routine inspection." She smiles, and both Sam and Jo stiffen, as if she's just told a massive lie. I wince. This is what I feared most. The Dauntless leaders coming. But, as Tori pointed out, they only throw Divergents into the Pit at night. So even if I do get found out, I'll have a good few hours to do something about it. 

"Ok," Amar says, fiddling around with the paper he's holding. He glances at the name on the list, "First up, Lyra." Lyra smiles, gives Amy one last squeeze and stands up in the corridor. She makes her way over to the room. Amar enters first, then Lyra, and then all of the Dauntless leaders, the door slamming shut behind the last of them. 

There's silence for a few minutes, then Hayley says, blowing a bubble in their mouth, "What are they doing here?"

"You heard them," says a Dauntless-born I vaguely remember being called Ollie, "Routine inspection."

I snort, but before I can say anything, Amar opens the door again, pokes his head out and says, "Plato."

"Where's Lyra?" Amy demands, noting that Lyra hasn't come back out. 

Amar shrugs, "Went out the back way," he says vaguely. Plato, beside me, visibly whitens, but he gets up steadily and enters the room. Again, the door slams shut. 

"Maybe they're here because Amar faked the times," Violet says, continuing our conversation. She grins at me, "Heard you got first yesterday, Dex." 

"What did you go?" Hayley asks, "Sweet talk Amar?"

I laugh and shake my head, "No way."

"Any tips?" Violet asks, "I could really use some help."

"Wow," remarks Makena, "I never thought I'd hear you say that. Like, ever."

She flushes, "Everyone needs help from time to time."

There's a pause and the door opens again. Amar pokes his head out, looking, if possible, even more shaken than before. "Dex." He says and motions for me to join him in the room. 

I take a deep breath and walk inside. 

"Hello Dex," says Amar. He doesn't even bother smiling.  He's standing as his normal seat is taken by a Dauntless man-the same one I saw on the roof. The other Dauntless leaders are leaning against the wall with their arms folded. They're staring at me. 

"Sit down," Amar commands, gesturing to the chair. I nod mutely, not sure what to say, and sit down. My hands are sweaty and are shaking and I grip the sides of the chair to calm myself down. They might not notice that I'm Divergent. I remind myself. And if they do, I'll have until nightfall to come up with a plan. I've been telling myself this ever since I saw my result yesterday-first. But now, the words just don't ring true. 

 Amar prepares the injection in silence. He tries to smile reassuringly at me as he approaches me, but even that seems false. Like he already knows that I'll fail. He takes a deep breath, as if it's him and not me who's about to go into the simulation, and then he plunges the needle into my neck. 

At first, all I see is darkness, and then light begins to emerge. White light. I frown. Usually it doesn't take this long for all the colours in the simulation to emerge. But now, all I can see is white. Glaring, blinding white. Everywhere. And then the cold hits me. And I realise, that I'm not surrounded by light, but by snow. I shiver. Even though I know it's just a simulation, it feels so realistic. The cold bites at me and works it's way into my skin, causing my hairs to stand up in defiance. The wind tousles my hair and is so fierce that it even sways my body from side to side. 

I know what Amar told me. That I had to stay here as long as possible. But how can I in these unbearable conditions? I can't be stuck here in the cold. I need to get warm. I must. 

As I ball my fists, ready to scream in frustration, I faintly remember Amar telling me what I had to act like a Dauntless. I scan my surroundings but I don't see anything. Besides, my brain feels too foggy to think. I'm exhausted. The cold seems to be snapping my energy. 

I close my eyes. Time to take desperate measures. I will myself to be warm. As I imagine my body increase in temperature, I feel a pinprick of heat in my chest. I bite my lip in concentration and will it to get bigger, to expand across my whole body. The pinprick begins to grow, and, just as I wanted it to, begins to send heat all over my body. I'm no longer cold. I smile to myself, and then my smile grows-there's no way the Dauntless leaders would have been able to tell that I manipulated the simulation. To them, my heart rate just went down-surely?

But as I open my eyes and look around, my smile disappears in an instant. I've not just warmed myself up. I've sent heat radiating off me. All the snow in a one metre radius around me has melted. I'm done for. 

Sure enough, when I come back out of the simulation, Amar is looking at me terrified. More scared than I've ever seen him. And his fear is enough to make we want to tremble. Looking past him, I see that all the Dauntless leaders are staring, no, glaring at me. There's no doubt about it. They know. 

Silently, two of them move forward and grab me by my arms and haul me out of the chair. I'm confused. Why are they taking me away now? I send a bewildered look to Amar, but his expression is now unfathomable. And I know then that he won't do anything to save me. He doesn't want to get found out either. I glare at him, and for a split second, he flinches. But then his expression hardens and he stares at the wall behind me. 

Coward, I mouth at him, and he drops his eyes to the floor, failing to meet my gaze. I twist round to look at the Dauntless leaders who are holding me, "What do you want?" I ask. The terror is evident in my voice. There's no point hiding the fear I'm feeling. "Where are you taking me?" 

"Shut it, traitor." One of them says, and another one puts tape onto my mouth so I can't speak. I try to free my arms so I can take it off but they clamp down on my wrists even harder and steer me towards the back wall. At first I think they're going to slam me into it, but the one of them pushes down on something silver, and I realise it's a handle. There's a hidden door in the wall. They swing the door open whilst I continue to struggle, and one of the Dauntless leaders poke their head out. 

"Another one for the supply Room," they announce. A couple of guards come in. My eyes widen as I see the guns in their hands, and I thrash about, trying to break free, but the grip on my arms is too tight. The guards swing their guns onto their backs and grab me by my arms whilst the Dauntless leaders let go. I thrash about again, but they shove me out the room and the door shuts behind me. 

The guards begin to lead me down the hallway. I'm panicking now. They're going to kill me. I try to scream, but I find that I can't make a sound with the tape on. I try to step on their feet, hoping that I can break free, but then I feel the muzzle of a gun pressed into my back. A third guard has joined. 

"Shut it," the person hisses, "Or I'll shoot you here and now." 

I blanch and try to remain silent. All I can hear as they lead me through empty corridor after corridor, is the sound of my fast heard booming in my ears. Forget the jump into Dauntless. Forget the zipline. Forget the simulation. Here, at this exact moment in time, I have never been more scared. 

The guards lead me round another bend, and my heart quickens as I realise where they're taking me-the Chasm. I try to twist out of the grasp. I don't understand. Tori said they'd kill me at nightfall. Why are they going to throw me off now? 

The guard behind me curses and grabs my by the scruff of my neck. 

"Pick her up," they order to the other guards, "That way, we'll be able to take her there faster." My protests are muffled as I'm heaved onto their shoulders, and the floor moves further away from me. This is it. They're going to throw me into the Pit! They're going to-

But they don't throw me into the Pit. Instead, they stop at a door, and the third guard unlocks it with their key. The guards set me down onto my feet. 

"See you in a couple of hours," one of them grins nastily, and then I'm pushed into the darkened room. 

I land in an ungainly heap on the floor, and am just getting back onto my feet, when I hear them turning the key on the other side. They're locking me in here!

I rip the tape away from my mouth and pound on the door, yelling in frustration. "Let me out!" I scream, "Let me out or I'll kill you all in your sleep!" All I hear is the laughter from the guards on the other side of the door, and then footsteps as they begin to walk away. Probably to get the next Divergent. 

I slump to the ground and lean my head against the door. I study my hands. They're bright red from pommelling the door so hard. I give it a kick with my foot, but from my sitting position on the floor it's not very effective. 

"It's no use, Dex. Trust me, Lyra's already tried." says a voice behind me. I turn around, trying to see in the darkened room. The two shapes in the dark are vague and I can't make them out. But I do recognise the voice of the one who spoke. 

It's Plato.