The five saboteurs planned to strike at 7 pm sharp. According to Scottie, The Assembly had dinner precisely at that time every night without fail. Thomas's office was on the complete opposite end of the dining hall, so with some agility and a little invisibility spell, it'd be easy enough for them to sneak in. While the Tarby siblings looked for the key in Thomas's office, Scottie would attend dinner as he normally would. The Assembly's nightly dinner was a three-course meal. Soup or salad, entree, then dessert and coffee. Scottie was to keep them entertained and to make things seem as normal as possible. He needed to ensure no suspicions were aroused during the meal to give the Tarbys enough time to crack the code. Then, when it was time for dessert and coffee, he would make his move.
It was 6:58 pm and the five of them sat in Scottie's bedroom waiting for the clock to hit 7:00. The minute hand ticked forward and they all looked to each other. Scottie didn't want to be late, so he decided it was time he headed to dinner. Once he was in the dining room, he carefully counted every member, making sure everyone was accounted for. When he was positive everyone was there, he shot Misty a quick text to let her know the coast was clear.
Markos, Misty, Millie, and Meadow snuck down the hall as quickly and quietly as possible. With Scottie's direction, they found Thomas's office with no problem. Misty made a beeline for his journal and splayed it open. She scanned over the pages vigorously searching for clues. At first glance, there wasn't much to look at. Thomas was just going about his day, blathering on about basically nothing. It was just normal everyday stuff, nothing really stood out to them. There were certainly no indications of a secret code.
"He could be lying to us, you know," Markos said. "This could be a set-up."
"It's not," Misty said confidently. "It's in here somewhere. We just need to look harder."
The siblings sighed and leaned in to take another look. All four of them read over the meaningless words again and again and still, nothing jumped out at them. Markos was starting to lose hope when Millie inadvertently gave them a much-needed clue.
"Omg, he is such a weirdo," Millie said. "I mean look at this, he capitalized an H in the middle of a word. Who writes like that?"
Markos and Meadow chuckled at her jab but didn't give it much thought. Misty, on the other hand, took Millie's comment to heart. Millie was right. It was strange and anything that is strange deserves a second look when you're trying to decode a message.
"Wait," Misty said, her eyes searching the pages for more potential clues. "You might be onto something. Every other H is lower-case. So why that one? That can't be an accident."
Seeing where she was going, Markos started to look for patterns. Sure enough, he began to notice that there were a bunch of seemingly random letters capitalized in the middle of words.
"You're right," he said, flipping back to the first page. "It can't be. No one writes like that. It's got to be a clue."
Starting from page one, Markos began writing down every misplaced capital letter. What he was left with was a jumbled mess of letters. He was disappointed it didn't immediately spell something out, but he was sure that those letters had to mean something.
E C S N O D M R O F H ET T E F L
"Okay, now what?" Millie said.
Millie and Meadow weren't convinced that these letters meant anything, but Misty was as sure as Markos. She wracked her brain as she tried to think of something that could lead them closer to unjumbling the letters.
"It's too many letters to be a word," Misty said. "It has to be a phrase."
"Yeah, definitely," Markos agreed. "But what though?"
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.
Markos shoved the key in the lock and turned it with a shaky hand. The door swung open and their breath caught in their throats when they saw their parents in the middle of the room, encased in ice.
"You go," Markos said as the girls rushed to their parents. "I'll keep a lookout."
The sisters surrounded their parents and joined hands. Loudly and clearly, they began an emotion-filled and powerful chant. Markos's eyes darted in and out for the cell, checking to make sure no one was coming. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the spell was working. The ice around their parents began to melt away, dripping into a puddle on the floor. The sisters exchanged smiles of excitement and practically started jumping and down. But then they remembered their job wasn't finished and refocused. Inch by inch, the ice wore thin, getting closer and closer. A pinky finger, a nose, an elbow broke free.
"Come on, you can do it," Markos encouraged the girls.
With one final push, the ice cracked and came crashing to the floor. The sisters dropped hands and happily dogpiled on their newly freed parents. Tears of joy streamed down their faces as they held them tight, making up for all the hugs they missed over the years. If it was up to them, they would never let go. But as they embraced, there was still a possibility they could be torn apart. One crucial piece was left to the puzzle, and all they could do was hope Scottie was doing his part.
***
After giving Misty the okay, Scottie tucked his phone back in his pocket. He was nervous for all of them, but he had to do his best not to show it. This was no time for nerves. The Tarbys were relying on him and he had to deliver.
"Is this seat taken?" Lady Katina said to Scottie with a sickenly sweet smile.
Scottie pushed back his anger at Lady Katina for ratting him out and forced himself to return the smile. The last thing he wanted was to indulge her in flirtation, but he had to make her feel comfortable and like nothing was out of the ordinary. Besides, she'd get what was coming to her.
"It's all yours."
Lady Katina's smile widened as she took the seat next to Scottie. Her smile turned to concern when she saw his pale face and the sweat forming on his forehead.
"Oh, Scottie," she said. "Are you feeling okay? You look unwell."
Scottie was in fact not feeling well. He was nauseous, dizzy, and he felt he was burning up. It worried him that others had noticed his apparent illness, but he knew he could play it off.
"Honestly," Scottie leaned in and whispered with a grin. "I'm a little hungover from last night."
Lady Katina held back a smile and playfully slapped him on the arm as if to say "oh you." Scottie played along, but really he had to stop himself from throwing up. Her acting all buddy-buddy with him as if she hadn't totally screwed him over was making him feel sicker than any potion ever could.
The rest of the night was just as bad. It was excruciating to sit through, having nothing to do but sit back and fake a smile. He spent the whole night worrying about the Tarbys and his own ability to execute the plan. The entree dragged on painfully slow with everyone cheerfully talking and laughing more than usual. He couldn't stand their shallow happiness and couldn't wait to destroy it.
When it was finally time for dessert and coffee, Scottie nearly jumped out of his chair. He volunteered to get everyone coffee which was unusual for him, but he covered it by saying it was his way of apologizing for being fooled by Misty. They ate it right up and let him serve them.
Scottie slipped into the kitchen and poured a tray full of coffee. His hands shook as he squeezed droplets of the potion into their cups. He stirred it in with cream and sugar and served their poison to them on a 14-carat platter.
He eyed them as they brought the mugs to their lips, smiling with a mischievous glint in his eyes. They continued to talk and laugh, completely unaware of what was about to hit them. They made it about two sips in before Thomas began to choke and cough. Alarmed, they set their coffee mugs down and turned to him in concern. But their worries soon turned inward as they all began to cough as well. Scottie could see them growing weak and dizzy. It wasn't long until the entire room had turned pale and short of breath. Trying to regain control of the situation, Thomas attempted to rise from his seat and address the room. The second he stood up, all the blood drained from his head, and fainted, falling face-first into the table. Scottie sat back and smirked at the chaos he'd created. Nothing in his life had ever felt as satisfying.
***
Thomas was rushed to his bedroom soon after he fainted. The resident healer was called in to see him, but there was nothing he could do. He threw some extra blankets on Thomas, slapped a cold pack on his head, and left the room shaking his head. As the healer stepped out, Scottie stepped in.
He saw his grandfather laying there, his own flesh and blood, helpless and dying, and felt nothing but joy. He walked over to his bedside and pulled up a chair.
"How you feeling, pops?" He asked, feigning concern like Thomas had done so many times before.
"It doesn't make any sense," he said, completely bewildered between coughs. "They said it's...it's Hystopheria."
"Huh," Scottie said without a hint of surprise. "Gee, that really sucks."
Thomas furrowed his brow at Scottie, confused by his callousness.
"But," Scottie said in a cheerful tone. "I've got something for you that might make you feel better."
Scottie reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a 4' x 6' piece of cardstock, something so small that could mean so much. Scottie handed it to his sickly, confused grandfather with a knowing smirk on his face. Thomas turned it over and when he read it, it all became clear.