Hidden ( being rewritten)

Chapter Three

[Syrena]

Syrena Hutchinson closed her eyes and leaned back in her sumptuous armchair, waiting for her aunt to arrive with a report.

Suddenly, she heard the soft rustling of leaves outside a window. In a split second, she pulled a pistol out of her pocket and pointed it at the window. 

After a few tense seconds, she heard a soft meow, and her tiny snow white kitten, Cio, jumped out of the window and padded up to her, nestling against her leg. She sighed in relief and lowered the gun, shaking her head. 

When had she gotten so paranoid? She was so much more powerful than the  so called "rebels" from the Outside. There was no need to be so jittery.

Good thing she was the only one in the room, if any of the other Council members had seen that, they would've thought she was going insane. A lot of them already did. 

"Syrena? You in there?" The Supreme Leader heard her aunt's singsong voice and a sharp rap on the thick mahogany door. 

"Yes, come in," she answered. 

The door swung open and the Head Council Member stepped in, holding a small black box in her hand. 

"Is that it?" Syrena asked, her eyes growing wide with excitement. 

"Yes," Vyvienne nodded, placing the box on her desk. The Supreme Leader eagerly opened it and pulled away the silk wrapping inside. She had been waiting for this moment since her grandfather's rule!

There it sat, inside the box, as perfect as the day the Specials lost it so many years ago. It was still wrapped in protective plastic and shone in the well-lit Council chamber. 

"Did you find this yourself, Aunt Vyvienne?" Syrena asked. 

"No," Vyvienne shook her head. "It was given to me by one of the agents in my unit, Ariana Livingston."

"Ariana Livingston...isn't that the child prodigy who graduated first in her class four years in a row at Leadership District High and got a government job at age sixteen?" Syrena smiled, clearly very impressed. 

"Yeah," Vyvienne nodded proudly. 

"Is she...here, by any chance?" 

"I knew you'd ask," Vyvienne grinned. "Agent Livingston?" 

The door immediately opened, and Ariana stepped in. Now that she was finished with her assignment in Community Orange, she dressed like a Special again, in a crisp pink shirt, black blazer, and skirt. 

"Hello, Ariana," the Supreme Leader smiled. 

"Um...hello," the Aggregate agent managed to whisper, clearly very nervous to be talking to the leader of the Aggregate herself. 

"I really wanted to ask, how exactly did you find this box?" 

"You assigned me to pose as a Blender in Community Orange three years ago when you discovered that this box was hidden in that Community, ma'am. I decided to join a group of Blender thieves, just to make my act even more convincing. One night, when we were out stealing, one of the group members- Autumn- found this box in an abandoned building. After examining the writing on the bottom of it, I knew it was the object you wanted me to find, so I gave it to Commander Hutchinson." 

"Why did these thieves pick up the box?" 

"They're thieves, and it was a fine leather box. Of course they wanted it." 

"Okay, but did they know the importance of the box and its contents?" The Supreme Leader inquired.

"No, ma'am." 

"Good," Syrena sighed with relief. "Speaking of those Blender thieves, did you capture them?" 

"Oh...about that..." Ariana's cheeks began to turn red. 

"Aunt Vyvienne? What happened?" She turned to the Council member who stood at her side. 

"They got away." 

"What!?" Syrena stood up with so much force she rattled her desk. "There is no way a couple of Blenders escaped an entire unit of my Aggregate agents!" 

"It wasn't the Blenders, we almost had them! Then, suddenly, a girl in a hoodie came up from behind us, killed half the agents, and injured the rest! We have reason to believe that this girl was a Fray." 

"A Fray? So close to the Leadership District?" The Supreme Leader narrowed her eyes menacingly. "But my mother banished them to the Outside years ago!" 

"This isn't the first time it's happened, Syrena," Vyvienne shook her head gravely. "There have been multiple sightings of Frays in the Communities during the past year. None of them appeared to be as dangerous as this one, though." 

"Agent Livingston...you are dismissed," Syrena said quickly. As soon as Ariana was out of the room, she turned to face her aunt. 

"Does it look like they're trying to rebel again, Aunt Vyvienne?" She asked urgently. "They say that my grandfather almost lost control when they did!" 

"From the data we've received, it doesn't seem bad. They're mostly just thieves and teenagers looking for trouble. It's nothing threatening, certainly not another Fray Rebellion." 

Syrena sighed. "That was a dark time...But we still need to catch these Blender thieves. As of now, they're not a threat, but they've had access to the box. If they've seen what's inside it, we can't have them running around telling people!"

"So what do you want me to do, Syrena?" Vyvienne asked.

Syrena rubbed her forehead in frustration. "I really don't care, as long as those..." Syrena cringed at the word. "Blenders...never see the light of day again."

Vyvienne nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, Syrena...It's as good as done."