All I can do is stand still- I feel like if I just stand still, I can stop it from being true, I can pretend that everything is all right.

And sometimes, if you want the truth, you have to demand it.

Trust me when I tell you, Eaton boy, that resisting is worth doing.

No one's perfect," I whisper. "It doesn't work that way. One bad thing goes away, and another bad thing replaces it." I traded cowardice for cruelty; I traded weakness for ferocity.

I wake wondering how I did not notice, every day I sat across from her at the breakfast table, that she was full to bursting with Dauntless energy. Was it because she hid it well? Or was it because I wasn't looking?

My body rises with the water. Instead of kicking my feet to stay abreast of it, I push all the air from my lungs and sink to the bottom. The water muffles my ears. I feel its movement over my face. I think about snorting the water into my lungs so it kills me faster, but I can't bring myself to do it. I blow bubbles from my mouth. Relax. I close my eyes. My lungs burn.

It reminds me why I chose Dauntless in the first place: not because they are perfect, but because they are alive. Because they are free.