The Divergent Series Complete Collection by Veronica Roth Read Free Book Online Page A

button that secures it shut. After a few tries, I undo the hooks from collar to hem, and pull it off my shoulders.
    Beneath it, I wear a gray T-shirt. It is tighter than any other clothes I own, and no one has ever seen me in it before. I ball up my outer shirt and look over my shoulder, at Peter. I throw the ball of fabric at him as hard as I can, my jaw clenched. It hits him in the chest. He stares at me. I hear catcalls and shouts behind me.
    I look at the hole again. Goose bumps rise on my pale arms, and my stomach lurches. If I don’t do it now, I won’t be able to do it at all. I swallow hard.
    I don’t think. I just bend my knees and jump.
    The air howls in my ears as the ground surges toward me, growing and expanding, or I surge toward the ground, my heart pounding so fast it hurts, every muscle in my body tensing as the falling sensation drags at my stomach. The hole surrounds me and I drop into darkness.
    I hit something hard. It gives way beneath me and cradles my body. The impact knocks the wind out of me and I wheeze, struggling to breathe again. My arms and legs sting.
    A net. There is a net at the bottom of the hole. I look up at the building and laugh, half relieved and half hysterical. My body shakes and I cover my face with my hands. I just jumped off a roof.
    I have to stand on solid ground again. I see a few hands stretching out to me at the edge of the net, so I grab the first one I can reach and pull myself across. I roll off, and I would have fallen face-first onto a wood floor if he had not caught me.
    “He” is the young man attached to the hand I grabbed. He has a spare upper lip and a full lower lip. His eyes are so deep-set that his eyelashes touch the skin under his eyebrows, and they are dark blue, a dreaming, sleeping, waiting color.
    His hands grip my arms, but he releases me a moment after I stand upright again.
    “Thank you,” I say.
    We stand on a platform ten feet above the ground. Around us is an open cavern.
    “Can’t believe it,” a voice says from behind him. It belongs to a dark-haired girl with three silver ringsthrough her right eyebrow. She smirks at me. “A Stiff, the first to jump? Unheard of.”
    “There’s a reason why she left them, Lauren,” he says. His voice is deep, and it rumbles. “What’s your name?”
    “Um…” I don’t know why I hesitate. But “Beatrice” just doesn’t sound right anymore.
    “Think about it,” he says, a faint smile curling his lips. “You don’t get to pick again.”
    A new place, a new name. I can be remade here.
    “Tris,” I say firmly.
    “Tris,” Lauren repeats, grinning. “Make the announcement, Four.”
    The boy—Four—looks over his shoulder and shouts, “First jumper—Tris!”
    A crowd materializes from the darkness as my eyes adjust. They cheer and pump their fists, and then another person drops into the net. Her screams follow her down. Christina. Everyone laughs, but they follow their laughter with more cheering.
    Four sets his hand on my back and says, “Welcome to Dauntless.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
    W HEN ALL THE initiates stand on solid ground again, Lauren and Four lead us down a narrow tunnel. The walls are made of stone, and the ceiling slopes, so I feel like I am descending deep into the heart of the earth. The tunnel is lit at long intervals, so in the dark space between each dim lamp, I fear that I am lost until a shoulder bumps mine. In the circles of light I am safe again.
    The Erudite boy in front of me stops abruptly, and I smack into him, hitting my nose on his shoulder. I stumble back and rub my nose as I recover my senses. The whole crowd has stopped, and our three leaders stand in front of us, arms folded.
    “This is where we divide,” Lauren says. “The Dauntless-born initiates are with me. I assume you don’t need a tour of the place.”
    She smiles and beckons toward the Dauntless-born initiates. They break away from the group and dissolve into the shadows. I watch the last heel pass out