Since it's aptitude test day, I'm including everyone's perspective in the next two chapters. Prepare yourselves for agony.

Thalia's P.O.V.

We walk into the school's cafeteria. Every table is packed with kids. The Erudite compare notes at one table, Candor debate subjects, Amity giggle and chat, Dauntless arm wrestle one another, and Abnegation sit stony-faced and silent at another table. I know I'm not going to be in Abnegation on Choosing Day. They're a solemn bunch.

We take our seats at their table anyway, and none of them speaks up. Chiron must have tricked the entire city into believing we belonged there.

Test administrators call out ten names at a time, one for each testing room. One calls Annabeth's name, and she walks forward calmly as if she'd been waiting for this for a lifetime. She's certainly the best pretender in our group.

Mine and Jason's names are called, and we walk forward. As we part ways, he gives me a thumbs up. 

A Candor woman in blue is waiting for me in the testing room. Her hair is pulled into a severe bun, and she has sharp facial features coupled with sharp blue eyes.

"Sit down," she orders. I obey, sitting in the white chair behind her. "Abnegation, yes?" I nod.

"My name is Amelia, and I will be your test administrator. I will insert this needle-" She holds up a small needle filled with clear liquid. "-into your arm. You will find yourself in a simulation. Depending on your test results, you will be told which faction you belong in. Questions?" I shake my head. 

Amelia gives me the shot, and I black out.

__________.__________

When my vision clears, I am standing in a room vaguely like the cafeteria, but it is empty. I walk forward hesitantly. The windows outside show that it's snowing. I turn around and see an old woman positioned behind two baskets. One holds a knife, and the other holds a piece of cheese. "Choose," she rasps.

"Why?" I demand.

"Choose!" the old woman shouts, startling me. I quickly grab the knife.

The woman vanishes, and I hear snarling from behind me. A large dog is growling at a little girl who makes cooing noises at it. "Aww! Puppy!" she squeals.

I leap into action. I shove the girl behind me and slice the dog's head off. I hear the little girl screaming as the room changes.

Now I am seated in a dark room, facing a crazed man. He lifts a newspaper to my face. The headline reads, "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!" in bold print. My blood runs cold. I have seen that face before.

"Do you know this guy?" the man asks, his eyes wild. I remain silent. "Well, do you?"

"That depends," I say coolly. "What information do you have to offer?"

The man's shoulders slump. "Nothing. But this could save my life! It could save me!"

I set my jaw. "So? You have nothing to give, so I won't spill."

The man's glare pierces through my soul as I wake up, gasping, in the chair. The Candor woman blinks. "That was interesting."

Interesting?

"You qualify for three factions," she says. "I've never seen that before. Your response to the dog attack indicates Dauntless. You didn't tell him the man the truth, but you weren't lying to him either. You withheld information so you could get your own information in return. So you could be in Candor. You would make a good businesswoman. You could also qualify for Abnegation, since you saved the girl's life. You're...Divergent."

I frown. "So I could choose Dauntless, Candor, or Erudite."

She smiles. "Oh, you have the right to choose whichever faction you want. This test was just a guide, to help you pick a faction."

"I'll go now, thank you."

"You're welcome. But you won't be at school the remainder of the day. I'll record your results manually and send you home."

Jason's P.O.V.

I blink the dark spots from my eyes and find myself back in the school cafeteria. I turn to find an old woman staring intently at me. "Choose," she says, gesturing to two items in two baskets: a knife and a slice of cheese.

I hear barking in the background. "Choose!" the woman cries. I grab the cheese, knowing it could be a dog. The woman and the altars vanish, and a large, growling dog runs right for me. I instinctively hold out the cheese, and the dog  sniffs it then eats it. It nuzzles my hand, and the room changes.

I am in a dark room now. A man sits across from me, his breath stinking of cigarettes. I cringe.

He points to a newspaper headline. I stare at bold, black print that reads, "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!" and suck in a breath. 

"Do you know this guy?" the man asks me. I stare at the man featured in the picture, and his face strikes me as familiar.

"Yes," I say.

"Thank you. You've saved my life," the man says.

Before I could think of a response, I'm sitting in the white chair again. Violet, my Amity test administrator, gapes at me. She checks her computer. "Sir, you qualify for both Amity and Candor."

I raise an eyebrow. "Isn't there only supposed to be one faction I qualify for?"

She scowls. "Yes, but there must have been a malfunction. You gave the dog the cheese, which was an Amity response, and you told that man the truth, which was Candor oriented. You're Divergent."

"Thank you, ma'am," I say politely.

She ushers me out. "I'll grade your test for Amity and send you home early."

Nico's P.O.V.

I hadn't moved when the dog came. I knew it wouldn't attack me, knowing Mrs. O'Leary so well. I stood still and let it lick my face, its tongue rough and its breath hot. I'd wiped the saliva on my shirt. When the dog attacked the little girl, I shoved her out of the way. I realize that the girl looked exactly like Hazel. Maybe that was why I was so desperate to save her.

When the man had questioned me, I'd stayed silent the entire time.

Now my Erudite test administrator, Delilah, is shocked into silence. "That was intriguing," she notes.

"What was?" I ask, remaining impassive.

"According to my calculations," she says, pushing her glasses up her nose, "You could easily qualify for Dauntless and Abnegation."

These people are so stupid. "So?"

Delilah's eyes darken. "So you're Divergent. I'm going to notify Ms. Matthews immediately." 

"Yeah, you won't be doing that," I say. I snap my fingers, and a current of Mist wraps Delilah in a cocoon. "You're not going to tell Jeanine Matthews. You're going to dismiss me early, and you're going to give me Dauntless test results."

Delilah nods, dazed. "I will...say nothing to Ms. Matthews. You may leave now, Mr. di Angelo."

I exit the testing room.

Percy's P.O.V.

These people are messed up.

This cheerful guy from Amity injected a serum into my arm, and I'd seen some of the strangest things I've ever seen (and that's saying a lot).

When the old lady offered me a choice, I just slapped her. I mean, I know I disrespected the elderly, but she was getting on my nerves when she kept screaming at me to 'choose'. I hated choices. So the old lady glared at me and vanished along with the knife and hunk of cheese. Then I heard barking, and I just stood still and let the dog lick my face. It wasn't bad compared to having a dog the size of a rhino as a pet, anyway. When the little girl was attacked, I took the blow myself. I'm still aching with pain that isn't real.

When the man asked me if I knew a murderer, I asked him if he had any pizza to offer me. What? Pizza for information. That's fair, isn't it?

The test ends, and the Amity guy just stares at me, wide-eyed. 

"What?"

"Your results were...inconclusive," the guy says, swallowing hard. 

"Stop with the big words," I moan. "My head is going to explode."

"I don't know what to make of it," he admits. "You could belong in Dauntless or Abnegation."

"Isn't dying for someone else an act of bravery and selflessness?" I argue. Annabeth would have been proud of me. I never said anything intelligent.

The Amity guy bites his lip. "Yes, and no," he says. "You're Divergent."

"Uh huh." 

"Look, I'll keep a secret, kid," the Amity guy whispers. "I'll tell them you're Abnegation. You can go home early."

Annabeth's P.O.V.

My test administrator is a Dauntless woman with tattoos decorating her body. "Why the tattoos?" I ask.

She raises an eyebrow. "You're curious for Abnegation, kid." She smiled.

I curse myself silently. Sometimes I feel nothing like Athena's daughter.

After the test, I rise from the chair and the Dauntless woman's smile is long gone. "Strange."

"What's strange?" I say.

"When the dog ran after you, you tripped it, then told the little girl to run while you battled it. When the man pressed you for information, you refused to tell him anything. This was an Erudite and Abnegation response."

"And?"

"This means you're Divergent. That's dangerous," she murmurs.

"It's not dangerous," I argue. "It's a good thing to have a personality that isn't straight to the point."

"It's bad for you," the Dauntless woman replies. "Jeanine will want you killed."

"Then please, cover for me. Make something reasonable up."

"I'll do it," she says, sighing. "I'll probably be dead if someone finds out, but I'll do it."

"Thank you," I say, then leave.