Mystery's Breath

Chapter 4

Once they reached Masie's office, Masie slammed the door shut and said, "Have a seat." They did, and Masie ordered, "Tell me what happened."

Skyler, sitting on a purple bean bag chair by the door, cleared her throat. "Steve and I walked over to the computer headquarters. He sat in the waiting room while I approached the desk. Arron was at the desk, and he led me to the hidden room where the video records are kept. We and Alisha, who was going to search the records for us, went into another room, where Arron told her to look for records from the main building. This was strange, as you apply in the headquarters in which you want to work in, and I said so. Arron pressed the alarm button and told me to leave," she said.

Arron, sitting in the plastic chair in front of Masie's desk, jumped in. "That's not true!"

Masie looked at him disapprovingly. "Well, Arron, why don't you tell your story?" she asked scathingly.

Arron smiled. "Indeed, I will. Shall I begin?" When no one answered, he said, "Skyler did come to me at the desk, but Steve was with her. Skyler showed me her patch and demanded that I give her the footage from the night before. I refused, as forest guards are not allowed to enter the hidden room. I pressed the alarm button and they fled. I followed them here. End of story."

Masie considered this version for a while, then looked at Steve. "Tell us your version."

Steve looked around nervously before starting. "I sat in the waiting room while Skyler went to the desk. I was there about five minutes before a young boy approached me. He remined me of Andrew. I looked around for Skyler, but she wasn't there. Then the boy whispered into my ear, 'There is a trader in the breath of mystery.' I asked him what that meant, but the alarm blared and the boy fled. Skyler rushed out of a corner and told me to leave. Then we came here," he replied, his story shocking its audience.

Masie stared at him. "Are you saying Andrew was in the building?" she asked.

Steve nodded. "Yes, Andrew spoke to me."

Arron looked shocked. Skyler took advantage of his speechlessness and said, "There's something else. When Arron pressed the button, I said I wouldn't leave without knowing the truth. Arron replied, 'If you don't leave, one of the kids will die.'"

Masie asked Arron, "Is this true?"

Arron went pale. "I'm sorry to waste your time. I thought Skyler was someone else." He inched towards the door. "Good bye," he said, racing out the door.

Masie watched him leave, confused. "What was that all about?" she asked.

Skyler replied, "He probably doesn't want anyone to know that he is the kidnapper. I asked too many questions."

Masie shook her head. "No, not that. Andrew went missing, and now he's appearing in the computer headquarters. It's strange."

Steve said, "Maybe they never went missing."

"Then why did they go missing?" Skyler asked. "If they faked it, they did it so perfectly. It's amazing what kids can do."

As Masie opened her mouth to respond, a knock sounded on the door. "Masie, may I come in?" a girl's voice asked.

Masie replied, "Enter." A girl with red hair came rushing in, holding a small cardboard box overflowing with papers.

"I bring news," the girl said.

Masie asked, "What's wrong, Kimberly?"

Kimberly set the box down on the desk and pulled out a piece of paper. She handed it to Masie. "This just came in the mail. You need to read it."

Masie took the paper and stared at it. She shook her head in disbelief and covered her mouth with her right hand in horror.

"Masie, what's wrong?" Skyler asked, reaching for the paper. Kimberly grabbed her hand.

"No, let her read it," Kimberly told her.

"Did you read the paper?" Steve asked Kimberly.

Kimberly shook her head sadly. "Yes, I did. It's awful."

"What does it say?" Skyler asked.

Masie lay the paper down on her desk and replied, "One of the missing kids is dying."

"What?" Skyler asked, grabbing the paper off Masie's desk. The paper looked like it was ripped out of a notebook and had only a few sentences scribbled on it in messy handwriting. It read:

You made your choice, now we're making ours. One of the kids will die. But they can live, if you can guess which one we're going to kill. Guess right, we let the kid go. Guess wrong, the kid dies.

Skyler asked, "Which one do you think they'll kill?"

Masie replied, "Either the leader or the weakest one."

"Do they even have a leader?" Steve asked, leaning against the wall.

Kimberly replied, "These kids are very secretive. They will keep their secrets to the end. No one knows anything about them, not even their parents."

Skyler frowned. "That must be a hard life, keeping secrets that can get you killed. Why didn't they tell someone about their secrets?"

Masie walked over to her computer and typed a few words. "Huh. It looks like they did tell someone. A girl by the name of Karen Maylen."

"Maylen! We spoke with a woman named Alexa Maylen. She has a daughter," Steve said. "Maybe her daughter is Karen."

Skyler shook her head. "We need more information. Masie, who told Karen the secrets?" she asked.

"One name coming right up," Masie replied, looking at something on her computer screen. "Guys, look at this."

They rushed to Masie's side. "It says here that back in 2015, eight kids formed a group called Secret Protectors. The members were Andrew Haye, Amber Haye, Mark Unepels, Derek Baylers, Arron Yesa, Karen Maylen, Grace Jeyles, and David Felops.There were several other kids, but they were not officially part of the team."

"Who was the leader?" Kimberly asked.

Masie relied, "Listen to this. They were lead by Andrew and Amber Haye, but in 2017, the twins split the team in half. This is where the conflicts began!"

Notes

Why did the team split and what caused it? Why did know one know about the Secret Protectors? What did they do? Comment and vote below and tell me your thoughts on the book.

                                                                        ~Aria~