I reach the door I walked through when I exited, and tap on it with my first knuckle. I can hear voices just beyond it and smell food coming from one of the open windows, where smoke from the fire within is leaking into the alley. Footsteps, as someone comes to see what the knocking is about.
This time the man is wearing a red Amity shirt and black Dauntless pants. He still has a towel tucked into his back pocket, the same as the last time I spoke to him. He opens the door just enough to look at me, and no farther.
“Well, look who made a change,” he said, eyeing my Dauntless clothes. “To what do I owe this visit? Did you miss my charming company?”
“You knew my mother was alive when you met me,” I say. “That’s how you recognized me, because you’ve spent time with her. That’s how you knew what she said about inertia carrying her to Abnegation.”
“Yeah,” the man said. “Didn’t think it was my business to be the one to tell you she was still alive. You here to demand an apology, or something?”
“No,” I say. “I’m here to hand off a message. You’ll give it to her?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be seeing her in the next couple days.”
I reach into my pocket and take out a folded piece of paper. I offer it to him.
“Go ahead and read it, I don’t care,” I say. “And thanks.”
“No problem,” he says. “Want to come in? You’re starting to seem more like one of us than one of them, Eaton.”
I shake my head.
I make my way back down the alley, and before I turn the corner, I see him opening up the note to read what it says.
Evelyn,
Someday. Not yet.
—4
P.S. I’m glad you’re not dead.