PROLOGUE

I stepped out of the ship, making sure to keep my head down and pulling my hood further down my face, almost obscuring my view in the process. I glanced over my shoulder, making sure that there was no one following me except for my brother, who's also keeping his head down though his hood was not up.

He's right behind me but I didn't look at him, we just kept walking until we saw the third alleyway to our right. I turned and I know he followed right behind. We watched the entrance of the alleyway anxiously. After a few minutes of waiting, I finally turned to look at him. He looked back and I felt myself calm down. I know the feeling of peace will only last for a while, only until he left me alone.

He wordlessly handed my huge backpack to me, which I quickly strapped over my own shoulders. It was heavy, containing clothes that will last me for two weeks and the box of my personal stuffs. I looked at him again before I hugged him fiercely, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall from my stinging eyes. He hugged me back just as fiercely before he let go and walked out of the alleyway that we came in, not once looking back. I looked at his retreating back, looking , until he was finally out of my sight.

I walked the opposite way and as I passed a mist like cloud, I heard the collective ticking of clocks and I know that I've finally entered the loop that grandpa told us about.

I came out of the alleyway and was greeted by a busy market. People bustling around, women in dresses with wide padded shoulders, nipped in high waist tops, and a-line skirts that came down to the knee and men in suit with its bright colors, baggy legs and long jackets. Some of them glanced at me, some gave me a second glance, probably wondering what the hell was I wearing. I'm wearing a hoodie with a tshirt underneath, a pair of jeans and my worn out black Converse.

I ignored the looks and kept my head down, taking out a detailed map of Wales that my grandpa drew himself and gave me years ago. There are two circles there with the date and time of the place. One was in Cairnholm: 9:07PM, 3RD September, 1943. I don't care about that one. The other circle says Swansea: 08:33PM, 17th March, 1944. That's my destination.

I'm still a few miles away from it but I know its nothing I can't take by walking and it won't take a whole day. I looked over my shoulder one last time, my gaze skimming over the faces of those who are looking at me, making sure that none of them are familiar, I began walking.

Chapter 1

Skye's POV

March 17, 1944

7:03AM

Well, at least my watch is working, I thought to myself. I discovered that electronic gadgets don't work here. When I took out my phone earlier, surprised that it was deadbat, I tried to plug it in my Powerbank but nothing still happened. So now, I'm in this unknown place and time and I don't have a fucking phone. I had a few wrong turns and did backtracking a couple of times before I can come back to the right way. Even though this map was simplified, it still looks like its written in Greek to me. This is more of Matt's thing. Now I don't have a phone. How can I use Google Maps now?!

Wait, I didn't introduce myself yet, did I? I'm sorry, that's rude of me.

I'm Skyler Reina Lopez, Skye for short, 20 years old, I am Peculiar.(Or you can call me a "Freak", I don't care, I know I am but grandpa and mom says "Peculiar" seems more fitting. Whatever.) I originally lived in 2017 but some things there went downhill that now I have to look for my grandpa's twin sister and live with her in a loop.

You might be wondering what makes me Peculiar. Can I lift tons? No. Can I make you "magically" disappear? No too. Can I make fire come out of my hands? No three (although that would be so cool). I can only feel the emotions of those around me and make them feel something else, that's all. Like an empath. You might be thinking now, "That is so cool! You can make your crush fall in love with you!"

Haha, how I wish its that easy.

Okay a little backstory first: my grandpa, Tom, and his twin sister, Annie, was taken in Ms. Nightjar's loop here in Swansea when they were 15 years old by their parents to hide them from… bad people. My grandpa, who has always been a free spirit and liked the outdoors, quickly grew tired of living in a loop that he left the loop after only living there for five years. He left behind his sister in Ms. Nightjar's care and he joined the army to fight in the war although he didn't last long in the army because of the injury that he got during one of the battles (if you may ask, I don't really know what happened but it left his left hand with only two fingers).

After the war, he decided to move to America (in Minnesota to be exact) with my grandmother and there he lived until he died in 2009 at the age of 77. I was only 12 years old when that time but I was really close to him. He always told me about his twin sister and his adventures as a Peculiar and about the ymbrynes, wights and hollows. I've always believed him since our family is the living proof of it.

You see, both my grandpa and his twin can feel and control emotions around them but there's a slight difference: grandpa can feel the emotions, yes, but he can't control all emotions. He can only make you feel calm around him while Annie can feel emotions and can control every emotions that a person have. My mother has grandpa's gift while, her sister, Aunt Cecil has Annie's. My older brother, Matt, can do what mom can and I can do what Aunt Cecil can.

So you see, our gift is not that rare, but when grandpa died, the… bad people from his past came back to hunt us. I don't know how they knew that my grandpa died but a week after Tom died, I woke up and found our house filled with the bad people and my mother lying on the middle of the living room, her blood pooling under her body while beside her was my Aunt and my brother, crying. That was the day that I knew that were under the slavery of the bad people.

Anyway, the reason why I'm here is not only because I'm running away from the bad people (although that's a reason too cause they plan something horrible for me); I actually need Annie's help. Me and Cecil have the same gift but Cecil and Tom doesn't so Cecil didn't master her gift. She can only make people and animals calm but she cant use the same method of calming others down to make guys fall in love with her.

I also learned the calming people down thing but only has a thin grasp of what I can do with the others emotion. That's why I'm here.

(Of course, I'm a denial queen. Of course I'm not here because the bad people wants to do something horrifying to me.)

Only 7 miles left. Oh god, it's a good thing that I have the sense to bring a bunch of canned coffees or else I'll be a corpse already.

Before I went in here, I Googled how much time does it take to walk a mile and it said that, on average, its about 21 minutes to reach a mile. But, fuck it, I've been walking for exactly 35 minutes now and yet I still didn't reach one mile!

Oh shit, another wrong turn.

11:30AM

Whew, that was close! I wasn't paying attetion to where I was going earlier that I made a left instead of a right, which was a street with a bunch of dogs. I jammed my map in my hoodie pocket and quickly ran to the right street but the dogs kept chasing me. I did a few turns that I thought was right until a carriage crossed that they finally left me alone. I hid behind a big oak tree in case they're still following me before sighing in relief, sitting down on the ground, panting.

I sat there for a few minutes before I pulled my map out, looking for the landmarks and street sign but I found none. Where was that Rick's Pub? I looked around me and I finally noticed that I'm in a deserted street. I groaned. In my haste trying to escape from the dogs, I made another wrong turn.

This is taking longer than I thought.

Just 3 more miles and I'll finally be safe.

(Whatever deity is out there, please! No more wrong turns! I've watched all the installments of the movie Wrong Turn and I don't want to be like those victims!)

Cannibals. *shudder*

3:06PM

Oh thank gods, thank the gods! I didn't have wrong turns anymore and did no more backtracking. Only half a mile to go and I'll finally meet Annie and Ms. Nightjar. Oh, thank gods, thanks gods.

I ignored the looks that I'm getting and continued walking, keeping my head down and the hand that was not holding the map buried deep in my pocket. I hear the townspeople whispering but i couldn't hear what they were saying. From this distance, I can see the lone mansion that grandpa always told me about.

"And there, half a mile away from the town plaza and half a mile away from the foot of the mountain, is Ms. Nightjar's huge manor. With ornate French doors but the interior was quiet simple that it will surprise you."

I grinned under my hood, the sight of the mansion gave me a surge of energy that I ignored the flaring pain of my feet and legs but the deeper I go into the plaza, the whispering got louder that I finally heard snippets of it.

"..a spy.."

"..looks American.."

".. get her.."

Fuck. I have to move fast or else there'll be a mob that will..

"Oi! What you got there?!" a man behind me asked angrily.

Shit. Spoke to soon.

I turned around slowly, trying to calm myself. My mother and grandpa Tom taught us that when you feel calm, you can also impose it to the mind of others (although I tried doing it to other emotions. Nil, nada). I gave him a shaky smile but I can feel him calming down, toning his aggressiveness down a notch.

"Can I help you, sir?" I asked. I immediately regret saying something. I don't have English accent and even if I can 'improvise', I know they can still see through it.

His expression changed and his face turned purple and I felt his anger go up again. People began gathering up around me, keeping me inside a circle and I cursed myself for not putting my pocketknife or my gun in my pocket.

"Are you American?!" the man shouted and a few people shouted with him too.

"No," I said, trying to remain calm and spread out the feeling to the people but some of them had a staff, no doubt they will hit me with it. I'm pretty sure I saw one guy brandish his gun. My answer seemed to anger them more. I can feel their anger slamming onto my mind, making me dizzy that keeping calm flew out of my mind.

"She's a spy! Listen to her accent! Must be sent by the Army!" one of them shouted. I know what will come next but I'm sure as hell don't want to be there when it happens.

I pushed through the crowd, who didn't expect my action and ran towards the mansion. The mob followed me, of course they did, screaming, "There's a spy! American spy!". I am no means slow, since I did track back in highschool but the weight of my bag and the dizzying feeling of their anger is starting to get to me. At least I'm nearer to the mansion now. I started screaming too. I am nearer to the house now, about 50 or 60 yards. I started screaming.

"Ms. Nightjar! Ms. Nightjar!" I screamed, hoping that she will hear me through the mob's screams. Something hit the back of my head, probably a rock, but I didn't stop to examine the damage. I felt something warm drip down the back of my head but the adrenaline in me kept me from feeling the pain. They kept on throwing rocks at me, some hitting me in the leg, some in the arm that I had to duck my head to avoid getting hit in thehead again. I kept screaming and running that I didn't catch myself in time that I slammed on the gate of the mansion but still no sign of Ms. Nightjar. They're only 30 yards away.

"Ms. Nightjar!" I screamed louder.

25 yards.

20 yards.