"Dammit!"

I hissed the curse with a breath of sooty air. Hoisting myself onto the large boulder that lay in my path, I glanced over my shoulder at the wall of flame roaring across the marsh towards me.

It was closer than I had thought. Only a hundred meters away, the tongues of fire were already creeping up the path behind me. I cursed again and scrambled down the other side of the boulder. The cairn, and safety, was only a little ways away, but I had to be careful not to sink into the murky waters of the marsh. I dashed towards the pile of stones that marked the loop's entrance, panting in the soot-choked air.

I almost made it, too. I'm a fast runner (you need to be fast to make it on the streets), but no one can outrun a fire. I had hoped that it might have died down enough to allow me to escape, since there seemed to be more water than flammable materials here, but no such luck. Fire is resourceful, like me. We each have to take what we can get to survive. In that way, I understand fire.

I was almost at the slab of stone that guarded the entrance to the cairn when something cracked behind me and a sheet of flame suddenly erupted in front of me. A branch from one of the few trees nearby had fallen in my path and now blocked my way. I stumbled backward, catching my foot on a rock, and fell to the mossy ground. It was hot to the touch. Steam billowed from the pools of water around me, obscuring my vision and mingling with the smoke that twisted through the air. I looked about frantically, but I was enclosed in a ring of fire. How symbolic of my life, I thought. Always running, always dodging, constantly being trapped in a figurative ring of fire. Only this time, there really was a ring of fire, and no way out.

I flattened myself to the ground in a futile attempt to escape the smoke, but I could still feel it burning in my chest. I was going to die, I realized. I had thought this many times before, but this time was real. I wondered if the fire would get me before I suffocated, or if I would burn to death. Neither option sounded very pleasant.

Suddenly, my mind was refocused as a wave of pain spread out from my left arm. I shrieked and leapt to my feet. (A bad decision considering the smoke, but what the hell, my arm was burning off.) I clenched my arm to my body and fell to the ground again, trying to extinguish my sleeve. I rolled around until I realized that I would probably soon roll into another flame, so I lay on my arm until I couldn't feel it anymore. My vision was growing dim, whether from oxygen deprivation or pain I couldn't tell. Then, right in front of me, a hole opened up in the fiery wall.

A figure filled the hole as soon as it was made. As it came towards me, I realized that it was a girl, a year or two older than me, with long curly hair. She Stopped in front of me and grasped my unburnt arm, hauling me to my feet. Then she turned and ran out of the circle, pulling me along with her. I ran as fast as I could, but strangely, the fire seemed to extinguish itself right before we reached it. It was the girl, carving a path of safety through the roaring flames.

We reached the cairn and ducked inside. I noticed that there were two other figures beside us, although they hadn't been in the ring of fire- they must have been waiting in the safety of the stone chamber. We crawled down a long stone passageway, with the fire-quenching girl in front, then me, then the other two behind me. The passage was strangely clear of smoke, but I was barely conscious of that fact. My world consisted of the burning pain in my arm and the flickering light that floated in my guide's hand. Eventually, we emerged into another chamber. Then, inexplicably to me, the children (for I had realized that they were all children) turned around and half-dragged me back up the passageway.

I know we must have crossed the land on the other side, and the loop must have reset, and I must have been dressed and bandaged and put to bed, but I remember nothing past the moment I reemerged into the fresh, cool night air of September 3rd, 1940. I was in the loop, and safe, at last.

I woke the next morning in a wide, comfortable bed with light playing across the bedspread. There was a large window to my left, propped slightly open to admit the warm September breeze, and as I slowly swam into consciousness, I became aware of a quiet murmur of voices in the background. I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the light, and I saw the girl from last night, with a concerned expression on her face, bending over me. She smiled when she saw that I was awake, and sat back in a chair. I propped myself up on one elbow (the right one, as my left arm still hurt) and looked around. The girl leaned forward excitedly, and her hair winked golden in the sun.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're awake! My name's Emma, by the way," she said. "What's yours?"

I tried to speak, but it came out as a croak. I coughed and tried again.

"I'm Victoria Haven," I managed to say, before coughing violently. Apparently there was still smoke in my lungs. "But you can call me Vita."

"Nice to meet you!" Emma exclaimed. She appeared to be a very cheerful person, which I suppose wasn't a bad thing. "Guys! You can come in now."

I turned towards the door just in time to see a tall, thin girl with long brown hair slip into the room. Behind her was a boy with sticking-up hair and a nervous smile. They shyly approached my bed, before Emma jumped up and went over to them.

"Come on, don't be silly! She won't bite," Emma assured them.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," I teased. The brown-haired girl came up next to me.

"I'm Bronwyn," she said in a slight Irish accent. "Strong girl," she added, as an afterthought. I assumed that this was her peculiarity, not a comment on my appearance. I don't look particularly strong, nor am I.

"And I'm Jacob," said the boy behind her. He sounded American, like me. A fellow in this strange British land.

"Are we announcing talents, too?" He asked Emma.

"Sure!" She said brightly. "I'm a spark, by the way, if you didn't notice last night. I control fire."

"And I see monsters," added Jacob. "Isn't that just the most wonderful talent? I get to see hollows!" This last part was very sarcastic, and he looked as though he wished he could have a power like Emma's.

"And I'm invisible," announced a voice from the direction of the door.

"Millard! How did you get in here?" Asked Emma reproachfully.

"I walked," replied Millard. "Through the door, you know." I was sure that if he were visible, I would see him roll his eyes.

"Oh well," sighed Emma. "I guess you can stay. Bron, could you go get the Bird? She wanted to know when Vita woke up." She gestured at me.

"Sure," said Bronwyn. She slipped out of the room and headed towards the staircase.

"Who's the Bird?" I asked.

Emma laughed. "Our ymbryne, Miss Peregrine," she replied. Of course, I should have guessed. All ymbrynes were birds. I was rather curious, since I had never stayed in a loop with an actual ymbryne guardian. I had mostly lived in old, abandoned loops where I could find temporary shelter from the hollows. Of course, it never lasted long. Without protection, the wights found me very quickly, and then I would move again. The neverending game of cat-and-mouse. I just wished that, for once, I could be the cat.

*disclaimer* Sorry forgot to put it at the top! I don't own Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but I do own this cat!