Chapter 5: Mutual Cares

[1 WEEK AWAY FROM THE CHOOSING CEREMONY]

At this very moment, Matilda didn’t know if she regretted ever going to the Wither Village, or if she was more proud of herself than before. Mr.Archie was leading her down the hall from their classroom, getting closer and closer to a door she’d never noticed before. He held the door open for her. “Please stay quiet on your way down, no one knows you’re here yet.” Tilly peered down the stairs, where it was pitch black. She sighed. “Fantastic.” She carefully put one foot in front of the other, hearing faint voices. The basement got even darker each step she took, but she had seen worse.

 Once she had made her way down all the steps, her teacher following behind her, she noticed a faint light hanging from above them, illuminating the basement at last.

 Mr.Archie put a hand on her shoulder. “Here we are.”

“I kind of expected…an actual meeting. With people, sir.” Amadeus chuckled and shook his head. “Oh they’re here alright, just hidden by an illusion. Watch.”

He took a step forward and reached up to the overhead light switch and pulled, darkness covering the room. “Uhhh sir? I’m not sure how this would-”

He shushed her, waiting a few more seconds. He tugged on the light switch once more, and the brightness revealed three other men that were now huddled around the table, who obviously weren’t there before. Tilly’s eyes widened and she took a step back, almost falling over in surprise. The men turned their heads and also looked shocked. Mr.Archie smiled warmly at them. “Gentlemen, this brave young woman is Matilda Marine. But she specifically requests that she be called ‘Tilly’, so respect her choice. Tilly, meet the council.”

One of the men stammered and looked confused. “N-now just h-hold on a m-minute, Amadeus! W-what exactly are you implying b-by bringing this girl h-here? Y-you swore an oath of s-secrecy!” He said. Mr.Archie smiled. “Nice to see you too, James. FIrst of all, yeah, I did. Second, the oath says that the only people that should know about this are members, and whoop-dee-doo, we’ve got ourselves a new member. So there.”

Tilly tried not to burst out laughing, but she couldn’t hide her smile. James shrugged and nodded. “H-hey, that c-checks out.”

Another one of the members, Mateo, slammed his hand on the table. Tilly jumped and glared at him. “No, it doesn’t. We don’t. Take. Women. End of story.” The rest of the group nodded and whispered among themselves, having forgotten about that rule. Amadeus’ smile dropped and he leaned toward Tilly, still keeping his eyes on the group. “I’d advise that you speak up, otherwise I might not get through this in one piece.” Tilly sighed and stepped in front of her teacher, looking Mateo in the eyes. He glared at her and cleared his throat. “I’m waiting, young lady.”

Tilly gave one last look at Mr.Archie and nodded. “I’ve been to the Wither Village.”

The council gasped and looked at her with confusion and admiration at the same time. “Y-you went to t-the Wither Village? And survived?!” James exclaimed. Tilly nodded. “Yeah, and let me tell you: there were plenty of sick people there, yet none of them were contagious. Which tells me that this sickness was made to affect them and only them.” Mateo glared at her. “Are you saying that this is a man-made illness? How would you know this?” Tilly chuckled. “Do I look like I’m Withering right now?”

Amadeus gestured toward the quietest member of them all, Roman. “It’s really up to you, Roman. You’re the leader after all.” Tilly glanced over at the man who seemed to be the youngest, but also the wisest, of the group. His eyes rose up over the table all the way to Tilly.

A small smirk crept up on his face as he slowly nodded his head. James happily applauded while Mateo grumbled. Mr.Archie smiled. “That settles it. Tilly, you are now welcome to the council. You may come and go as you’d like, we could really use your smarts to help us out during this revolution.”

Tilly sighed. “Let me think about it, I still have a family you know.” She said, her teacher’s smile dropping as he nodded his head. “I understand, but remember not to tell anyone about this, okay?” TIlly smiled warmly. “Of course sir, I guess I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” She quickly went up the stairs and back up to the illuminated school hallways. Chuckling, the girl walked out of the school building. “They never learn…” She said. It quickly became clear that this wasn’t the real Tilly. With one snap of their finger, they returned to their original form. Their voice, now deeper, let out a sigh as she stretched. “Man, Rue owes me big time for this.”

Meet TIffany Harper, a Venus Fly Trap plant, and also Rue’s older sister. But the question was: Where was the real Tilly? After a few minutes, Tiffany made it home, opening the door and walking inside the well-lit house. “Rue!” Tiffany shouted. What was taking her sister so long to make her way downstairs? Once she heard footsteps, she smirked.

“Hey sis, finish your homework?” Tiffany asked. Rue nodded sleepily, rubbing her eyes. “Yeah, what did you want?”

“I just came from your school, and you’ll never guess what I found out!” Tiffany exclaimed. Rue raised an eyebrow. “Tiff, what did you do?”

"Oh, let's just say that Mom and Dad will be pleased with us. I took your friend Matilda's place and got some information from that treacherous teacher of yours. You're welcome, by the way."

Rue's eyes widened. "She's not my friend, and I never asked you to do that. No one did!"

"Duh, you never had to! Trust me, I've got this all handled!" Tiffany said. Rue calmed down, knowing that all her life she could trust in her older sister. Though this time felt different, she shrugged it off. "Okay, fine. Just tell me when you're going to do something like this, you could get in big trouble!" She said. But Tiffany just laughed. "Relax, Rue. I've got this."

Heading upstairs, Tiffany grinned. She'd take care of everything, like she always did. Because of her, no one would ever mess with the Harper family. Not anymore.