Chapter 26

                                    

                                          
A week passes by with Jack and Ryde both refusing to answer my questions. My God, teenage boys these days I swear. 
                          
Jack keeps away from his parents. And me. He hangs out with this guy named Matthew, showing a strange interest in how the serums work. My parents have too, and today they come up to me.
                          
"Vae, Matthew wants to see us all."
                          
"All as in..." I prompt, looking up from the small, all-paper book I'm reading about the full history of how the Chicago project and whatnot was started.
                          
"Just the three of us." She says. "It's about our Divergence."
                          
I blink a few times, uncompreheding.
                          
"He's going to test to see if we're genetically pure." My father explains. "He said that...there's something different about my genes. He said to your mother and I that sometimes, people can take the appearance of Divergents, but they aren't a true Divergent. Does that make sense?"
                          
I nod, slowly. "So technically speaking, they have all of the perks of being a Divergent, minus the whole genetically pure thing. They're just GDs in disguise."
                          
"Pretty much." My mother says. "And he wants to test you, too."
                          
"What's the point?" I ask. "Why can't he just test you two?"
                          
They look at each other. "Because of how Divergent I am, if your father isn't..."
                          
"There might be something wrong with my genes." I sigh. "Of course." I put the book down on my bed and stand up, following them through the maze of hallways to Matthew's lab. Or room or office, whatever.
                          
I sit in a chair and prepare myself for the worst.
                          
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
                          
"Huh." Matthew says. He looks at my father, turning the monitor to face us. "Tobias-"
                          
"-Four." My dad interrupts.
                          
Matthew rolls his eyes but continues. "You're not genetically pure."
                          
I stare at the lines at the monitor, not seeing what he does. My dad's expression becomes closed-off, and my mother puts an arm around his shoulders. She's two inches taller than him when he's sitting down. She presses her lips to the side of his head and whispers something to him while Matthew rambles on.
                          
"What about Vae?" My dad cuts through his rant. His voice sounds hollow.
                          
"Oh. Right." Matthew turns the monitor back around and types in a few things.
                          
I bite my lower lip and look over at my parents. My dad wraps one arm around my mother's waist and leans his head against her chest. She wraps her arms around him and lightly runs her fingers over his cheek. He closes his eyes for a moment, as if my mother's prescence calms him. Maybe it does. It probably does, knowing them. But apparently they've been in love since the second his eyes landed on her- according to Zeke, that's exactly how it is.
                          
"Well this is strange." My dad pulls away from my mom, though he keeps her arm around his shoulder.
                          
"What?" I ask.
                          
He glances up at me and turns the monitor.
                          
The red lines are like a mix of my mother's and my father's. I shake my head. "I have no idea what that means."
                          
He points to one section with a pen. "This right here shows that you're a GD for sure. However," he points to another section, "this says that you're a GP. It's completely baffling. Maybe that's what happens when a GD and a GP..." He trails off, lost in thought.
                          
I roll my eyes. "Alright, Erudite, am I Divergent or not?"