Revolution -Eric Coulter-

Chapter 19

Riley had finished her final practice in her fear landscape. All that was left now was the final test. Which didn't calm her nerves, only added to them. Tobias wasn't any closer to figuring out what to do to help her, but he promised her she would be fine. His words didn't mean much. If they knew she was Divergent, they would kill her. The final test would show them that she was.

Most of the initiates were taking it slow after their last fear landscape. It's overwhelming to most, but not so much to Riley. She knew it was an illusion. However, it wasn't supposed to seem like one. She never thought about that before. It should have been obvious, but it wasn't. Not until now. To get through her fear landscapes, it had to become real to her. "What exactly happened between you and Al last night?"

Riley glanced at Christina and debated on answering her. She didn't want to talk about the conversation but knew her friend could provide some insight. "Peter got in his head."

"Well," Christina sighed. "That much I did know."

Riley chuckled, "well. He accused me of not liking him." That part was trust. "And said I only climbed the leaderboards because of Eric."

Christina's eyes widen, and her mouth parted slightly. "He said that?" Riley nodded. "What the hell? Who does he think he is?" There was another pause. "That's not true. We all know that."

"No, I know." Riley wasn't worried about that. "It just hurt coming from him. I thought we were friends."

"It's Peter," she mumbled. "It's always Peter." That Riley could agree with. Peter had been after them for no real reason. Riley was starting to think he was insane. The two came to a halt at a metal table, and right across from them was Eric. He was watching over the tributes on their last day of training. By now, many were coming and going. Four was taking people aside to do their fear landscapes, and many decided not to come back after. "Did you do your fear landscape?"

It took everything in Riley's power not to look up at Eric. She could feel his intense gaze on her but refused to meet it. "Yeah. Have you?"

"I think I'm about to-"

"Christina," Four called into the room.

"Crap," she mumbled. "I'll see you later."

"Good luck," Riley called to her.

There was a heavy silence that followed, leaving Riley with Eric. There were a few other initiates around, but all were too far away from her. "How are your fear landscapes going?"

It was Eric, and he was speaking to her. Finally, Riley looked at him. He seemed uneasy, almost uncomfortable. His question seemed to be the only thing he could think of to ask her. "If I said it was going good, I think it would be a lie."

Eric chuckled but tried to cover it up with a cough. "I guess you can't say good when it involves your biggest fears."

"I just want it to be over with." Riley did want that, but she also feared taking her test. "Four said this was our last session before we take the test."

"It is," Eric confirmed. "The leaders will get here soon for the final-"

"Wait," Riley cut him off. "They watch us? I thought we took the test with Four, and then he put our information into some database that calculates it."

Eric blinked, trying to follow along with her thinking. "No, we watch."

"You watch?" Riley knew having the Dauntless leaders watching would make her more nervous. But Eric being there was an entirely different issue. She had only seen four of her fears. The rest were still a mystery. But she had a gut feeling what one of them would be. "You'll be there?"