I catch up with Cassandra in the dorm. "Cass, wait up!" She sits down on her bunk bed and starts crying. I sit next to her, unsure of what to say. "What's wrong?" She looks up at me, still unable to stop sobbing. "It's just that...well...today's my mom's birthday, and we used to bake her birthday cake together every year. But...but... "

"But what?" I ask. "I'll never get to do that again. Because I'm a traitor." A traitor? What is she talking about? "What do you mean?" Cassandra looks away. "I shouldn't have transferred to Dauntless. It was my job to stay in Amity, to take care of her, to love her. Especially after what happened with...with my brother."

I frown. "I had no idea you have siblings." Cassandra shakes her head. "Had. I had siblings. I don't anymore." I shouldn't ask her about this, but I can't help myself. "What happened?" I put my arm around her, and she takes a long, shaky breath. "My older brother, David. He... he transferred to Dauntless a long time ago. My parents were okay with it... at first. We even came here on his Visiting Day. I even tasted Dauntless cake for the first time that day. He told us that he was doing fine. He was number one as far as rankings were concerned."

She stops, and I wait patiently for her to continue. "Then one day, we got a letter from the Dauntless leaders. It said, "We regret to inform you that REYES, DAVID died today. Time of death: 14:22. Cause of death: Suicide." She laughs humorlessly. "It was all official like. And that was it." I'm at a loss for words. "I... I don't know what to say," I finally stutter.

She closes her eyes. "Neither did we. All my mom and I knew was that he'd taken his own life. He was later cremated here and they sent us an urn with his ashes in it. I keep trying to think of a reason why he... why he did that. He seemed to be so happy here. Especially since this was our dad's faction of origin."

I can't help but gasp. "Your dad was Dauntless?" I exclaim. Cassandra nods. "Yeah. He fell in love with my mom, who was Candor at the time, and they both decided to try to lead a peaceful, quiet life in Amity. He died of leukemia two months before I was born." She's silent for a moment. "I never got to meet him."

I wipe her tears away. "I'm sure he would have been very proud of you for following in his footsteps. You had a right to choose. We all did. And you know what?" She looks up at me, tears still streaming down her face. "What?" she asks. I take her hand. "I'm thankful that you chose Dauntless. I don't care if that sounds selfish. I'm thankful I got to meet you."