Page 88 of The Sixth Fraction

“Are you okay?” she says.

I try to answer, but all that comes out is a cough. I nod instead.

“Look,” she says, and she unzips her jacket just enough to show me a square of fabric nestled against her T-shirt. It’s the Fox banner.

I grin at her. “Amazing,” I croak.

“Where’s yours?”

I’m not sure how to explain, and I don’t get a chance to—because Mae is sprinting across the lobby toward the Mender, who kneels to catch her in his arms, then tucks his face into her shoulder with obvious relief.

He looks more sedate than I’ve ever seen him, in black trousers and a crisp white shirt, his long hair tied back and his hands empty of rings. He must have dressed that way for the hearing, to look respectable.

The Mender looks up at me, and then at Four.

“It was you, on the other side of the wall?” he says to me.

I nod. The Mender lifts Mae into his arms as he stands. His eyes are bright with tears. He touches a hand to the back of my head, steadying it as he kisses my forehead.

“Thank you,” he says.

“Oh no,” Mae says, then. She’s looking over the Mender’s shoulder at whatever is behind him. “Oh no, oh no—”

“Get away from my child,” a woman’s voice says.

“No, no, no,” Mae is saying beneath her breath, in a low chant. She hides her face in the Mender’s neck, her hands clutching hard at his shirt.

Over the Mender’s shoulder I see a dark-haired woman in a white dress. It’s perfectly tailored. Her hair is in a perfect twist. Her shoes have perfectly pointed toes. She must be Mae and the Mender’s mother, and she’s coming right toward them.

Just as she’s about to reach them, though, Four steps into her path. She scowls up at him.

“Get out of my way,” she says. “That’s my daughter; you can’t prevent me from—”

“Listen, lady, I don’t know what to tell you. This is where I happen to be standing,” Four says.

I stare at him, uncomprehending, as the woman rolls her eyes and tries to move around him. Except Four moves with her, stepping to the side just as she does.

“And now I happen to be standing right here,” he says, his voice low and almost . . . dangerous.

I grab the Mender’s elbow and pull him toward the doors. Four is giving us an opportunity, and we need to take it.

“Let’s go,” I say. “Right now.”

The Mender hurries toward the exit, followed by Christina and then me. I look over my shoulder when we’re halfway across the lobby, and Four, still preventing the woman from pursuing us, looks back at me.

He gives me a tentative smile.

I wish I could have said thank you.

Chapter 29

Four

I don’t want to spend the night at the hospital, but Shauna threatens to lock me in if I don’t agree, so I don’t really have a choice. I have trouble relaxing—the elastic of the oxygen mask is digging into my scalp, and the plastic around my nose and mouth makes me feel trapped. I resign myself to a sleepless night.

It works out, though, because I hear Evelyn coming. The creep of her footsteps is too quiet for a nurse or a doctor—or a Dauntless, for that matter. I’m not startled when she steps into my room and closes the door behind her.

I feel the usual simmering rage, the ache of loss, the deep relief.