Chapter 42: Four

Four endures teasing from Shauna and Zeke about his uncharacteristic good mood, then leaves to meet Tris. On the train north, Four and Tris share an intimate reunion; Tris invites him to meet someone on council night, when Abnegation leaders are busy.

They travel into Abnegation and enter Natalie Prior’s apartment. After tense introductions, Natalie questions Four’s loyalties, and he counters with anger about Evelyn’s faked death. Natalie concedes and serves tea, then explains a broader conspiracy: radical factionless plan to dismantle factions—likely led by Evelyn—while Erudite may be planting loyalists across factions and targeting fear simulations.

Connecting clues, Four shares that Jeanine accessed Al’s simulation files; Natalie explains how cross-faction computer access could allow it, possibly with Jeanine’s involvement. She asserts Al was Divergent and outlines why Divergent threaten societal control via serums and memory tampering. Natalie warns that the Abnegation Memory Vault—accessible only through Marcus—must be protected, or history and power can be rewritten.

They debate whether Erudite and the factionless might collaborate. Four states Evelyn wants Marcus dead; Natalie insists Marcus is essential for Vault access and cannot be lost. She urges them to identify Eric’s Dauntless co-conspirators. Four agrees to find the young collaborators and extract the truth.

As they clean up, Natalie asks Four to be kind to Tris; he affirms the seriousness of his feelings. Tris and Natalie share a brief, tender farewell. The meeting ends with a clear mandate: protect the Memory Vault and expose Erudite’s plants within Dauntless.