The other demigods were called in, never in the same session.

"Did we all get Hestia?" Reyna asked Annabeth in a low voice. She shrugged. "Probably," she said. "Won't raise too much suspicion as she already knows we're demigods. It was a good idea,  since I'm guessing most people only get one faction."

"What do we do now?" Thalia asked.

"We take the bus back to Abnegation," Reyna said. "Then we go back to our house, then we wait for the ceremony tomorrow."

"Where's our house?" Percy asked.

Nico rolled his eyes. "It's the massive flaming house in the middle of the sky," he said sarcastically. "You would know if you paid attention."

++++

"My life is a lie," Percy muttered dramatically as the demigods ascended up the stairs that never seemed to end. "Isn't this the future? Why are there still stairs? Where are the portals that teleport you everywhere? Or the robots to do your every needs?"

"Hush!" Reyna warned. "We can worry about it later, when we're not surrounded by Abnegation."

Luckily, none of the other Abnegation noticed Percy's outburst and continued to climb steadily up in a constant silence. Not an uncomfortable one, but a constant one. Nico had the sudden inconvenient urge to sneeze or to do something to break the silence. But he held it in. And after twenty flights of stairs, they reached the top.

"Alphabetical order, by last name," Annabeth said as she scanned the arch-like formation of all the sixteen year olds. "Remember—"

"Choose Dauntless," The others replied in an undertone. "We know," Thalia said. Annabeth grinned back at them.

"Just checking," she said airily. "See you soon."

Nico fidgeted with pent up energy, even after climbing all those flights of stairs. Next to him, Annabeth was using all her willpower to stay still. Reyna noticed that several sixteen year olds seemed as ADHD as the rest of them, nervous tension thick in the crowd. One particular girl, an Abnegation with blue eyes and blonde hair, stood stiff with her knees locked. Reyna suppressed a smile. Locking your knees would only increase the chance of fainting, she knew.

The Abnegation man in the front read off names, reverse alphabetical order. Reyna scanned the faces, not taking much interest, when suddenly—

"Reyna Ramirez-Arellano."

Reyna strode forward with confidence, chin held high. She took the knife and slit her palm. 

She hesitated. Then she thrust out her hands and her blood splattered on the coal.

One by one, the group of sixteen year olds shrank as each joined their faction. Then finally, it was over and the Dauntless exited first, as they were farthest from the door. Reyna walked next to the only other Abnegation, besides the demigods of course. The girl that had her knees locked out—she joined Dauntless. Beatrice Prior, Reyna remembered.

The sprint down the stairs all happened in a rush. Reyna glanced to the side as she leaped down each step, and saw that the other Dauntless were as energetic as she. Next to her, Nico grinned as he tried to trip Thalia, but the hunter jumped over his foot and kicked his shin. Nico felt the gentle throb, but it was definitely a lot softer in Abnegation shoes than the black combat boots Thalia usually wore. He grinned

"C'mon!" He yelled as the stairs turned into flat concrete and they sprinted along the other Dauntless. Reyna kept her pace with the rest of them when she saw it. The train tracks.

Annabeth watched the other Dauntless carefully, seeing them all spread out on the tracks.

"We need to jump on," she guessed. "C'mon."

Thalia jumped in and peered back, to see who was still making their way on. A Candor boy was furiously trying to grab for a handle, but recoiled each time. Thalia seized his hand firmly and pulled him up.

"Thanks," he said shortly, then turned his back. Thalia eyed him with distaste, already disliking him.

"Madmen, these people are," A dark-skinned Candor girl said, grinning. Next to her stood Beatrice.

"Why'd you join them, then?" Annabeth asked. Candor girl shrugged.

"Because it felt right to choose here," she said. "What about you?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Same as you," she said evenly. Beatrice eyed them with confusion.

"You're Abnegation," she said carefully. The demigods looked at each other and nodded.

"And you're sixteen."

Another nod.

"Why haven't I seen you before?" she asked.

Reyna hid her surprise. The gods supposedly altered the memories of everyone, to hide suspicion. Clearly it didn't work on this mortal.

"We keep to ourselves," Annabeth responded, offering no other explanation. Next to her, Percy slumped on the floor, keeping his eyes fixed away from the open door across from him. The Candor girl, Christina, raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I don't know about you but I don't want to be thrown out of the train by the wind," Percy said. The demigods, Beatrice, and Candor girl (who introduced herself as Christina) followed his lead.

++++

"Percy." Thalia's voice was filled with alarm. "They're jumping."

Nico eyed the rooftops that they were skimming past with worry. "Can I just shadow-travel over?" he asked under his breath.

"We have to jump off too, then?" A Candor girl said.

"Because that makes perfect sense, Molly," the rude Candor boy from earlier replied sarcastically. "Leap off a train onto a roof."

"It's what we signed up for, Peter," Molly pointed out.

"I'm not doing it," An Amity boy said, shaking his head quickly. "I'd rather be factionless than dead."

"It'll be alright," Annabeth encouraged. But the boy shook his head and pressed against the wall.

"You can't force him," Beatrice told Annabeth. She pressed her lips together.

"Someone drag me," Christina said, peering out onto the rooftop they were supposed to land on. Beatrice seized Christina's hand.

Reyna jumped out and landed on her feet, bending knees from impact. Next to her, Annabeth came, dragging Percy, Thalia, and Nico behind her.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Annabeth encouraged. Next to her, Thalia glared.

"Maybe not for you," she said. "But I'm pretty sure my heart's on steroids right now, it's pumping so hard."

Annabeth just laughed.

"That was fun," Christina said to Reyna. She shrugged and nodded. Christina rolled her eyes and bumped Reyna's shoulder. Despite Reyna's sixteen year old self being relatively tall, Christina met her height effortlessly.

"You're heartless," she said. "We just jumped off a moving train onto a roof, for god's sake. How are you all—" she made a gesturing motion towards Reyna's stiff demeanor.

Reyna shrugged and allowed a smile to break through. "I've died of shock," she said. "All my emotions burned up at once."

Christina rolled her eyes again and grinned. "Sure," she said.

"Listen up!" A voice shouted from the other end of the roof. "My name's Max. I'm one of the leaders of your new faction!"

Annabeth glanced at him, analyzing everything. He was older than the others she'd seen so far, with deep creases in his skin and graying hair.

The man went on. "Several stories below us is the member's entrance to our compound. If you can't muster the will to jump off, you don't belong here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first."

"You want us to jump off a ledge?" Another Candor boy asked asked. "Is there water at the bottom or something?"

Percy grinned. "I hope," he muttered.

Max raised his eyebrows. "Who knows?"

The crowd of Dauntless split, making a perfect path through. No one seemed eager to jump off the ledge into a dark bottomless pit-like hole.

Then Beatrice stepped forward. She walked to the edge and peered at the bottom. From her tense form, Annabeth guessed she couldn't see what was below it.

Beatrice studied it for a few moments before ripping off her outer jacket and throwing it to Peter. It whapped him in his ugly face.

Then she jumped.

Annabeth followed her until she couldn't see her anymore, then glanced around. Now that someone had gone before them, they weren't as scared. Christina boldly walked up next, jumping off after a moment's hesitation. A moment later, her screams echoed around them, not too loud but loud enough to seem comical.

Reyna stepped up next, eagle falling to slow down her speed before tucking and rolling from Camp Jupiter training. A net cradled her body which broke the impact but also her smooth and planned out roll-to-stand. She ended up getting somewhat stuck on her head. Annabeth followed, then a very reluctant Nico, an even more reluctant Percy, and an even more reluctant Thalia. She didn't hold back her scream.

"I'm not so sure about this," Thalia groaned once she landed.