Millie rubbed her eyes and rolled out of bed. She yawned as she pulled on an oversized sweatshirt and drug her feet down the hall to Meadow's room. With all the commotion from last night, she hadn't slept very well. Honestly, she was still pretty confused and decided she needed to debrief with Meadow.

"Hey," Millie said.

Meadow put down the book she was reading and scooted over to give Millie room to sit down.

"So, like, what the hell happened last night?"

"I don't know," Meadow said, just as confused. "Looks like Misty and Markos are back to their old ways. Teaming up and keeping us out of it."

Millie chuckled as she reminisced. She also remembered the days when Markos and Misty were their own little exclusive club. They always knew more than they'd let on and often operated on a need-to-know basis with Millie and Meadow. Of course, they'd play it off like it was for their own good, but it drove both of them nuts.

"Well, you see, it was for our protection," Millie said, reciting one of their old lines.

Meadow laughed and rolled her eyes. She was glad Misty and Markos had reconciled, but the dynamic between the four of them was sure to change.

"Yeah, right, they just liked keeping secrets."

Millie smiled because she knew Meadow was probably right.

"At least we have each other," Millie said as she wrapped Meadow in a hug.

Meadow leaned in and hugged her back with a warm, fuzzy feeling in her heart. Markos had been back in their life for less than 24 hours and already Millie was being nice to her again. The tides seemed to be turning in her favor, and she couldn't be happier.

Just then, the girls heard the front door swing open and close. They pulled apart and looked at each other, both of them thinking the same thing. That's them.

The two girls rushed downstairs to see their brother and sister. They stopped in their tracks and their smiles turned to flat lines when they saw Scottie trailing behind them.

"Ew, what's he doing here?" Millie said.

Markos and Misty looked at each other. They both knew it wouldn't be easy to explain. A lot had happened in the last 12 or so hours. It would take too much time for the full version, so they decided to skip over the gritty details and get right to it.

"He's here to help us."

"With what?'

"We're going to take down The Assembly and save mom and dad."

Millie and Meadow exchanged glances. It was clear a lot more had gone on than they anticipated. They weren't sure how they went from soothing a broken heart to staging a coup.

"Huh?"

"It sounds crazy, I know, but we'll explain everything," Markos said. "I can't do it on an empty stomach, though. I'm starving. Are you guys hungry?"

Meadow and Millie were as confused as ever and Markos could understand why. He dropped a bomb on them and then totally switched topics. But despite all the craziness, he still really wanted his family breakfast. Plus, what better way to plan a government takeover/rescue operation than over waffles?

Meadow and Millie were too stunned to answer. Misty didn't answer either. She felt it was a little ridiculous for him to be pushing for a family breakfast given the circumstances. Scottie, on the other hand, didn't really have an opinion. He just knew he was hungry, too.

"I could eat," Scottie said.

"Perfect," Markos said. "There's this diner downtown. Best waffles for miles."

The girls reluctantly agreed and the next thing they knew, they were sitting in a diner booth with a plate full of waffles and a glass of orange juice.

"All right," Markos said happily and raised his glass of orange juice. "First family breakfast! Cheers."

Meadow and Millie clinked their glasses with confused grimaces. The waffles were nice and all, but they really wanted to know what the hell was going on.

"Okay, can we maybe get back to this whole 'take down The Assembly and save mom and dad' thing?" Millie said.

Scottie swallowed a mouthful of waffles and prepared himself to speak.

"Right," he said. "Let's get down to business."

He snapped his fingers and their plates of waffles were replaced with a piece of paper. Scottie began to draw on it. With each stroke of ink, a moving picture filled in on the paper. They saw a man walking around a room, a library or a study maybe. They could see his every move in real-time, almost like they were watching security camera footage. The four Tarby siblings scrunched their eyebrows and leaned in to look closer.

"Is that Thomas?" Markos said.

"Mmhmm," Scottie said. "That's his office. His whole life is in there. It has everything that he likes to keep hidden, including the key to your parent's jail cell."

The four siblings eyed each other, all of them tense with anticipation. They couldn't believe how close they were getting to uncovering a secret that had eluded them for so long. They were on the edge of their seats, curious to know more.

"Where is it?" Misty asked eagerly.

"It's hidden -"

"You don't know where it is?" Millie cut Scottie off curtly.

"I didn't say that," Scottie said, somewhat annoyed. "I know where to find it. I just don't know how to find it."

Scottie referred back to the picture on the table and zoomed in on a bookshelf behind Thomas's desk.

"You see that old leathery-looking notebook? That's his journal. Hidden inside it as a coded message. The message will give you a combination to a locked box that holds the key."

"So," Misty said. "We get the code, use it to open the jail cell and they'll be free?"

"No," Scottie said, shaking his head. "The code gets you to the jail cell, but they'll be under the spell that's kept them frozen. Before you get the key, you need to figure out how to reverse the spell. The good news is, everything you need to know about reversing the spell is in The Ancient Spell Book. You can use mine. It has all the history and spells that The Assembly has kept hidden from the general population. The reversal spell won't be explicitly written, but you should be able to piece it together with the right information and a little imagination."

The four siblings were quiet as they tried to process it all. It was a lot to take in, and honestly, they found the task somewhat daunting. When the plan was laid out in front of them, it seemed simple, but creating the plan was the easy part. It was the execution that was the challenge.

"How are we supposed to do all this without getting caught?" Millie asked what they were all thinking.

"I'll be a distraction," Scottie said. "I'll keep The Assembly busy and take the necessary steps to weaken them."

"Which are...?" Millie said.

Scottie took a heavy pause. He knew they'd be on board with part one of his plan, but part two might take some convincing.

"Well, this is where I'll need Meadow's help."

"Me?" Meadow said in disbelief.

She was so used to taking a backseat. She had never been this involved in any of their diabolical plots. At least not in a way where her opinion and help were needed.

"Yes, this won't work without you," Scottie said. "I need you to think back. When The Assembly refused to help you find a cure, how did that make you feel?"

Meadow inhaled deeply as she thought back to that dark time in her life. She had to think about it for a second, as it was not a question she had ever been asked.

"Ignored, helpless, expendable. Like it didn't matter whether I lived or died. I guess the worst part was the complete lack of empathy. They couldn't feel my pain, so it was like it didn't exist."

"Okay," Scottie said. "So, let's make them feel that pain. You had Hystopheria once. It's gotta be in your system somewhere. If we can extract it, maybe we can make a potion that can infect them and make them sick. Then, they'll see what it's like to be the ones that are incurable."

The four siblings looked to each other with their jaws open. Forcing The Assembly to confront the same terrible fate they so easily placed upon their younger sister was pure poetic justice. How wonderful it would be to see them flounder in the hopelessness and despair of the very terminal illness they turned their back on. Misty and Millie were instantly sold, but Markos instinctively slipped back into his protective ways.

"No way," he said. "You're not turning my sister into a guinea pig."

Scottie tensed up and had to restrain himself from showing too much frustration. He expected some resistance from Markos, but that didn't make it any less annoying.

"She's the only one that's had it," Scottie argued. "She knows what it's like. We don't. We won't be able to make an effective potion without her."

"No," Markos said stubbornly. "We'll come up with something else."

"Maybe, but I'm telling you, this is the best way. Think about it man, every member of The Assembly falls ill with a deadly disease? It'll cause a major distraction, so you guys can go and rescue your parents. Even if it doesn't work as a distraction, they'll be too sick to do anything about it."

Scottie and Markos's argument irked Meadow. She didn't exactly appreciate them talking about her like she wasn't sitting right there. She felt she had a right to decide for herself and wasn't going to say quiet about it.

"I can do it," Meadow said sternly. "I'm not scared."

"It's not a matter of being scared, it's a matter of being safe."

Meadow furrowed her brows and shifted in her seat to make herself seem taller and more authoritative. Markos's remark solidified her resolve further.

"You don't get to decide this for me. I'm tired of everyone else sacrificing for me. Raina, mom and dad, they lost their lives for me and I'm not going to stand for it anymore. I want to go through with this, even if it puts me at risk. You can't stop me."

Markos was taken aback by Meadow's dissent. It was rare that she voiced a differing opinion to his own. It made it perfectly clear that his sisters weren't the precious little girls that needed his protection. It was time he let go.

"Okay," Markos said. "Millie, Misty, you're on board with this?"

Both girls nodded whole-heartedly, giving him his answer. They really were doing this.

"Good, we're all on the same page," Scottie said. "Markos, your school has a library and a lab, right?"

"Yeah."

"All right, we'll meet up there," Scottie said. "You, Misty, and Millie can work on the reversal spell. Meadow and I will work on the potion. We good with that?"

"Let's do this," Millie said confidently and shot her hand out towards the middle of the table.

Meadow slapped her hand on top of Millie's in a show of solidarity, followed by Misty, Scottie, and then Markos. With one confident, unified nod, they got to work.