Page 71 of The Sixth Fraction

The Mender’s wide, wild eyes fix on mine, and then I hear, “Stop! Everyone stop.”

Evelyn is descending the staircase.

I’m not sure why it works. Maybe there are just some people whose voices are more powerful than others. Maybe the factionless recognize her exact timbre and cadence. Maybe anyone who spoke at that volume and in that tone could have stalled the fight at that point. But all the factionless freeze, and with them, so do the Dauntless.

“May I ask who’s in charge here?” Evelyn says, gently now.

I’ve never heard her sound like that before. I think it’s the voice of the council leader’s wife. I wonder how long it’s been since she last used it.

Weaver steps out of the scrum with her gun pointed at Evelyn. “Who are you?”

“Well, we have no formal system of organization, as I’m sure you’re aware, but I’m the oldest person here, so I’m comfortable acting as a spokesperson,” Evelyn says, still in that calm voice. Her hands are up, her palms facing Weaver. “What can I help you with?”

I exchange a confused look with Christina. On the ground ten feet away, Rory is still writhing in pain, her hand clamped over her chest. The needle from the Dauntless gun must have hit her there.

“There’s a child here who was illegally removed from her mother’s care,” Weaver says. “We came here to get her back and arrest the man responsible.”

“I see,” Evelyn says. “I assume there will be some kind of hearing?”

“A hearing?”

“Well, you’ve accused a man of a crime,” Evelyn says. “So he has to have a hearing, to determine his guilt, as well as the outcome for the child, correct?”

“Um.” Weaver looks uncertain. “Yes. I assume. Though that’s not my job to—”

“Very well,” Evelyn says. “Then I will accompany the accused and the child to your detention facility to discuss the matter with your supervisor. Does that sound fair?”

Weaver blinks at her. I have to marvel at it. Evelyn has made it so that refusing would sound like an unreasonable response to a perfectly reasonable request.

“Okay,” Weaver says. “But I don’t want a struggle.”

“You won’t get one,” Evelyn replies. “John?”

I have no idea who she’s talking about, but the Mender gets to his feet, hugging a sniffling Mae against his side.

“Let’s go with these people and work all this out,” Evelyn says.

The Mender nods. He weaves his way through the crowd of his defenders and attackers alike, and stands next to Evelyn.

“All of you better clear out of here,” Weaver calls out. “You’re not allowed to squat in this building, especially not in such large numbers. There’s space for all of you in the factionless sector north of here. I’ll be sending someone back here in two days to make sure you’re gone.”

She scans the room, once, sneers a little, and then leads the way back to the tunnel. The rest of the squad surrounds the Mender, Evelyn, and Mae, but they don’t try to take Mae again. They all walk in a loose pack down the stairs and out of sight.

I go through the next hour in a daze.

The first order of business is to get the needle out of Rory’s chest. Jove has a few people carry her to the table on the side of the room. She fetches a first aid kit from somewhere, sanitizes her hands, and takes out a pair of tweezers. Rory is writhing in pain, so Jove orders people to hold her steady while she tugs Rory’s shirt down to expose her collarbone. Then Jove leans over her, the tweezers shuddering in her hand, and Colin speaks up.

“How about you let me do it?” he says. “I’ve got steady hands.”

Jove looks relieved. She offers the tweezers to Colin, who sprays his hands with sanitizer and gestures for me to follow him. I do, though I’m not sure what good I’ll do. I stand at Rory’s head, and he stands at her shoulder. Tears are streaming down her cheeks. A sob breaks in her throat.

He hands me a piece of gauze. “When I take it out, it’s going to bleed a lot, so be ready to mop it up.”

“Have you done this before?” I ask.

“I’ve taken out a splinter, does that count?”

The situation is serious enough that I don’t even think about laughing. He leans over Rory and, without hesitating, digs the points of the tweezers into her flesh. She screams so loud my ears ring. He keeps digging for a moment, until she strains so hard against the people holding her down that they almost lose their grip on her. Then he yanks the needle out and holds it up to the light.