Experimental Magic ✔

Fruits of the Poisonious Tree

He looked to his three sisters, hoping one of them had the answer. Millie and Meadow could tell that Misty and Markos were set on this idea, but they seemed to be struggling to come up with an answer. That's when they both decided to take a crack at unjumbling the letters. If they wanted this to work, they'd need all hands on deck.

They ran through possible combinations and words and letters, but nothing seemed to work. They needed another clue, and Meadow was the one to find it.

"Okay so, I think I have something," she said as she grabbed the paper with the letters.

She drew a slash mark in between sets of letters, breaking them down into parts.

"These first six letters were all on page one. The next four were on page two. Then the next three on page three and then the last set on page four. Each group of letters on the page must be a word."

E C S N O D / M R O F/ H E T/ T E L F

"That's good," Markos said. "That's really good."

With the letters broken down into sets, it was much easier to visualize the phrase. It didn't take long before Misty figured it out.

"I've got it," Misty said. "Second from the left."

They all nodded in agreement. It had to be that, it was the only thing that worked. Getting the phrase opened more questions than it answered. Second from the left was incredibly vague and none of them quite knew what it meant.

"Second from the left?" Millie questioned. "Is that supposed to help?"

The four of them looked around the room, looking for an answer to their question. Then, something hit Markos.

"Misty," he said. "Where was his journal on the shelf?"

Misty thought about Markos's question and a light bulb went off in her head.

"First from the left," she said and dove back to the bookshelf.

She grabbed the book that was directly next to it. She opened it up and the first thing that stood out to them was a personalized message written in red ink.

"There," Markos said, pointing to the date written underneath the person's signature. "Meadow, you remember where Scottie said the lockbox was?"

Meadow nodded and promptly pulled the lockbox from the bottom drawer of Thomas's desk. She went straight to work and used the numbers from the date on the combination lock. She turned each number quickly but deliberately. She turned the final number, all their hearts beating in hopeful anticipation. Just like that, the lockbox sprung open, revealing the key.

Markos checked the clock. An hour had passed. If Scottie was correct, they'd be heading to dessert and coffee in the next half hour. They didn't have much time left. Markos eagerly grabbed the key and the siblings ran down to the dungeon where Thomas kept his prisoners.

When they got to the dungeon, the four of them had to stop in shock from the sheer amount of jail cells. Rows and rows that seemed to never end. They took a short pause of reflection and silence to pay their respects to those who had lost their freedom, but they couldn't dwell. They needed to find their parents, and they needed to find them quickly.

The four of them split up, sprinting through the maze-like hallways, searching for their parents.

"Over here!" Millie shouted when she finally found them.

Markos, Misty, and Meadow followed the sound of Millie's voice. There they stood, staring at the door that held their parents locked away for the last ten years. They were so close. All they had to do was open the door.