Percy's P.O.V.

I stand with my friends, Thalia and Nico, along with some Dauntless initiates: Tris, Will, Al, Christina, Uriah, Zeke, Shauna, Marlene, and Lynn. Marlene is digging into a blueberry muffin.

Marlene and Uriah are arguing about something. I tune in.

"That's the most ridiculous dare ever," Marlene says.

"So you're chickening out," Uriah says.

"No! I'm just--You know what? Fine."

"What's the dare?" I ask them.

Marlene smirks. "I have to put a muffin on my head and let Uriah shoot it off."

"Sweet. I'm next," I say.

"Seriously? Percy, you have the brains of a butterfly," Nico says.

"At least butterflies are good-looking, like I am," I retort.

Tris rolls her eyes. "You're just as vain as Zeke here."

"Our vanity binds us," Zeke says, giving me a high-five. I return it.

Marlene stacks a dozen muffins in her arms. I frown. "Is that allowed, Mar?"

"Everything is allowed when your name is Marlene," Marlene replies, grinning.

"Whatever," Uriah says. "Come on, guys."

Uriah leads us into a dark room, with a pile of guns on the floor. Uriah grabs one.

"What if we get caught?" Thalia asks.

"Uh, just don't get caught," Shauna says.

"How nice."

Marlene sets her other muffins down on a table, and places one on her head.

Uriah aims the gun, and Marlene shouts at him to wait.

"Finally chickening out?" he says hopefully.

"Nah," Marlene responds. She takes a bite of her muffin and puts it back on her head. "I couldn't waste it."

"For the love of the gods," Thalia says, sighing.

Will opens his mouth. "You don't believe in God?"

"Um..."

"We aren't Christians," I interrupt. "We're...uh..."

"Greek," Nico finishes. Not a lie, I guess.

"Oh," Will says. (A/N: Just so you know, it isn't Will Solace. I hope you knew that already.) "I guess people have their thing."

Uriah shoots the muffin off Marlene's head. She laughs and picks it up.

Uriah wrinkles his nose. "Don't eat it, Mar!"

"Too late." She stuffs the muffin in her mouth, and we all cringe.

"I'm next," I say.

"Please shoot him in the head," Thalia mutters to Uriah.

Uriah flashes her a grin. "Even if I did, it would only sting. It's programmed to feel like a bullet, but it only hurts for two seconds."

"Huh. Shoot him in the head anyway."

"Nah. Percy would push me into the chasm," Uriah answers, cocking the gun again.

I stand in the center of the room and put a muffin on my head.

"Percy, you should wear a muffin hat all the time," Thalia calls out. "You look dashing."

"Ha ha."

Uriah aims, and we laugh as the muffin falls off my head. 

I pick it up and shrug. "It looks clean to me," I say, and take a bite.

"Ew!" Thalia says.

"That was disgusting," Nico agrees.

"That was beautiful," Tris and Christina say in unison. They laugh.

"You guys should come with us tonight," Lynn says. "We're doing something...interesting."

"Count us in," Thalia answers.

"A...zipline?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yeah," Zeke answers, patting a pulley attached to a steel cable. "The biggest one there is. You travel through the entire city."

"Wow," Tris says. "How do you...um, avoid buildings and stop yourself?"

"We'll strap you to a harness, and you can zipline on your back or on your front. You have to swerve to avoid buildings, and there's a break at the top that you can pull. There'll be people waiting to save you, so no worries."

"Right, no worries," Thalia says, shuddering. I almost forget she's afraid of heights.

I pat her back. "You're a tough cookie, Thals. You can do it."

She rolls her eyes and shoves me away.

"So, who wants to go first?" Zeke says.

"I'll do it," Uriah volunteers. "Someone has to teach these chickens."

Nico scowls. "Chickens?"

Zeke straps Uriah into the harness, and tells him he's good to go.

"I'm going to trust you, brother," Uriah says. "With my life. Don't throw it away."

Zeke grins and pushes Uriah off the building, and Uriah screams all the way down.

Thalia's eyes widen, and she peers off the edge of the building. Her body starts shaking.

"It's okay, Thalia," I soothe. "Nico and I are taking the risk, too."

"At least Zeus won't blast you out of the sky," Nico adds.

Thalia smiles and wraps us in a hug. "Thanks. You guys are two of my best friends."

"Don't mention it," Nico says.

"We'll always be there for you, Pinecone Power."

She huffs at the new nickname and steps up to Zeke.

"I'd like to go next."

Thalia's P.O.V.

Zeke straps me into the harness, and I look down at the ground. My head spins as nausea overcomes me. I can't think straight.

Without warning, he shoves me off the building.

How do I describe what it feels like ziplining hundreds of feet in the air?

Take the most exciting thing you've ever done and multiply it by ten. Then take the scariest thing you've ever done and multiply that by ten.

It feels like that.

The wind howls in my ears, and my hair strikes my face like a whip. My mouth parts in a scream, but the wind drowns out all sound. I feel weightless, like a feather. The marsh below is a blur of brown and green.

A building appears in front of me, and I narrowly miss it. Panic builds in my chest, and I swerve to avoid another structure. I want to squeeze my eyes shut to quell my dizziness, but I can't. If I try, I'll most likely crash into something.

I am parallel to the ground, and my eyes adjust enough so that I can see clearly. The people below are like ants, and dead ahead, I spot a large group of Dauntless cheering and shouting my name.

I smile and spread my arms like a bird's wings, all traces of fear gone. Why should I be afraid of heights? I could always just fly, like Jason. It's an ability I need to unlock. I control the sky. It doesn't control me. I'm the daughter of Zeus.

I pull on the break, and I slowly screech to a stop. The Dauntless lift me off and cheer. They set me down on the pavement, and I stumble.

Uriah helps me up. "You alright, Thalia?"

"Fine," I say. "Not used to that, though."

He laughs. "It's always scary the first time."

"Tell me about it."

Ten minutes later, we hear an ear-splitting shriek.

Nico yanks on the break, and the Dauntless help him off.

The son of Hades continues to scream, and I have to slap him out of it.

"Ow," Nico mutters. "I will never do that again for as long as I live."

I smirk. "You screamed like a baby, Neeks. I didn't scream at all."

"You were probably frozen in shock."

He's right.

Tris, Christina, Shauna, Lynn, and Marlene join the Dauntless crowd.

"Where's Percy?" I ask.

Nico snorts. "Going last."

Sure enough, the son of Poseidon is the last person to zipline.

We unbuckle his harness, and he falls on his face.

"Never again," he groans.

"Never again," we agree.

"That face-plant was so heroic," I tell him.

"When I sneeze it's a heroic act," Percy says.

"True."

After that, we collapse onto our bunks.

Annabeth's P.O.V.

I hold up the blueprints for one of Jeanine's recent inventions and frown.

I'm torn between two sides, at war with myself. My allegiance belongs with my friends and Jeanine Matthews. I feel so confused.

When she isn't around, the serum is weaker. This is one of those rare moments where I am in control.

I trace my finger over the sketches and think hard.

Being a demigod, I have extreme dyslexia. My brain is hardwired for Ancient Greek, so I have to waste time trying to read English.

I finally decode the blueprints, and my jaw drops.

The serum she used on me is being improved, and this one works on powerful Divergents. I curse and fold up the blueprints, stowing them into my pocket. 

If she uses this serum on my friends, they don't stand a chance.

The worst part is, I know about her plan. 

When I visit my friends at the wall tomorrow, she will force me to personally inject them.