Jake's POV
After playing with the children for a few hours I go sit on a rock not far from the children and watch them as they run around the yard, playing games and having fun. I think about how peaceful it is, and can't help but wonder if this is how my grandfather had felt every day when he lived here. I just take off my brown leather jacket, but other than that I'm still wearing the clothes I've been traveling in since left home.
'I wonder what mom and dad are doing right now?' I think to myself sadly. It's been a few days since I had left home to come here, and I miss my family. I know it's better this way, that they're safer without me there, but there's always going to be that one part of me that will always miss them. I'm broken out of my thoughts when I hear someone walking over to me, I look up and see that it's Emma.
"Hi" she says nervously.
"Hi" I say to her. An awkward silence passes between us for a few minutes, I still feel awful for the misunderstanding this morning. I start to open my mouth to say something, but she beats me to it.
"I'm sorry about earlier" she says sadly. My eyes widen, and I look at her in shock.
"No don't be sorry, it was my fault not yours" I quickly tell her. She ignores what I'm saying to her and continues where she left off.
"It's just that you look so much like him" her voice breaks at the last word. I frown and quickly stand up, I take a few steps towards her and she looks up at me with tears in her eyes. I reach up and wipe the tears away, she looks down trying to avoid my gaze.
"Hey it's alright, I know you miss him. I miss him too and I'm so sorry that I hurt you, that was the last thing I wanted to do this morning" I say gently and apologetically. She sniffles and I quickly wrap my arm around her shoulders and hug her to me, she sobs and wraps her arms around my waist and begins to cry into my shirt. As soon as she touched me I felt a sudden spark pass between us, I chose to ignore it for now, and focus on the beautiful crying girl in my arms. I move my arm so it's around her waist and rub her back with my other hand. I can't help but feel like wanting to hold her closer, but I quickly snap out of it when a thought rushes into my head.
'Snap out of it! It's not you who she really wants, she loved your grandfather' a voice in the back of my brain shouts. A rush of sadness rushes through me as I accept the truth, it's clear that she still loves him and that I need to back off. Suddenly she looks up at me, and slowly begins to lean in. I am frozen not knowing what to do, but before her lips are able to touch mine I turn away.
"We should go back to the others" I tell her as I let her go and back away a little. There's sadness flooding in her eyes, and for a moment I regret what I just did.
'It's better this way, neither of us deserve to get our hearts broken' the voice from earlier says sadly. I know that this is the right thing to do, but it feels so wrong.
"Yeah" she says sadly before turning away from me and beginning to walk back to the house. I sadly watch her as she goes for a few seconds, before grabbing my backpack from the rock I had been sitting on. I lean against the rock as I pull a picture from my bag. I look down at the picture, looking at my grandfather's smiling face as he wraps his arm around my shoulder. I smile sadly down at it and hope that he'll forgive me for what I'm about to do.
"I'm sorry grandpa, I don't think I can do this. Not yet at least" I whisper as I put the picture back in my bag. I put my jacket in my bag too and strap it over my shoulders. I slowly begin to talk over to miss Peregrine and notice her and the children are all looking at me curiously.
"Thank you for all of your hospitality, but I need to leave now" I tell her.
"You're welcome Jake, when you come back w-" she starts to say but I cut her off.
"I'm afraid I won't be coming back" I say softly. The children all gasp and I see them all looking at me sadly, I notice that Enoch and Olive are the only ones not out here.
"Jake please don't go" Bronwyn says sadly.
"Stay with us" Fiona pleads. The other children let out similar pleads, and Emma just looks at me sadly. I refocus on miss Peregrine and see hurt in her eyes.
"It was a mistake for me to come here, and I'm sorry for intruding in your lives. I promise that you'll never see me again" I say before turning away from them and beginning to walk away. I hear all of them let out protests and hear multiple footsteps behind me. I quickly shift into a raven and begin to fly away.
"Jake don't go!" I hear Emma yell desperately. I hear the other children and miss Peregrine saying things very similar. I continue to fly away from them, my grandfather's family and the girl that is capturing my heart. I let out a sad squawk and fly to the cairn. I quickly fly into it and when I'm halfway through I change back into human form. For a few minutes I just stay there, leaning against the wall with my brain and my heart fighting each other.
'Go back there you idiot! She likes you!' my heart tells me.
'She loves your grandfather. They're all better off without you being there, you'll put them in danger' my brain argues. I growl in frustration and shake my head, now is not the time to think like this. I continue to walk out of the loop and feel the shift in the atmosphere. I continue to walk out into the cold muggy air that's surrounding the cairn. I begin to walk through the muddy mess on the ground towards the abandoned house. I'll stay there for the night while I plan my next move. When I'm about halfway across it's over grown lawn I faintly hear someone calling out my name. I turn my head back slightly and see Emma rushing to catch up to me. I stop walking and wait for her, wondering what she has to say to me. She runs up to me and looks up at me sadly.
"Jake please don't go" she pleads sadly. A tear runs down her cheek and I feel my heart crack slightly.
"Emma I don't belong there" I say firmly.
"Yes you do. You're one of us Jake" she says desperately.
"Emma I may be peculiar, but I'm from the future. Our time periods don't belong together, me staying there would never work out" I try to explain to her gently. She frowns and lightly grips my left wrist.
"Please stay with us Jake, please just give us a chance" she pleads. I open my mouth to say something but a loud roar interrupts ms. Suddenly trees begin to fall and snap in the woods and another roar emits from the trees behind us.
"Hollow" I shout worriedly. I quickly grab Emma and rush her inside of the house. I stop in front of a mirror in the living room and quickly put her down.
"Do you trust me?" I ask her quickly. We hear another roar and she quickly nods yes.
"It's going to be ok. Take this and I'll meet you on the other side once I take care of the hollow" I quickly tell her as I take my backpack off and grab my grandfather's pistol and a box of bullets. Emma opens her mouth to probably ask me what I mean, but before she can say anything I push my backpack into her arms and shove her into the mirror quickly. The glass ripples like water as she slides through to the other side and disappears. I hear a louder roar and hear the beast begin to exit the woods. I quickly load the pistol and put the rest if the bullets into my pocket. It's time to kill one of the bastards that killed my grandfather. I race out of the house and towards the edge of the woods. I begin to shoot at the monster as it exits its hiding place. I hit it on the shoulder and it shrieks in pain. One of it's long black tentacles swipes at me and knocks me on to my side. I shoot at it again and quickly stand back up. One of the sharp points on the bottom of it's arm scratches my left arm and I wince. Two of it's tentacles wrap around my waist and pick me up. Another two of its tentacles begin to reach towards my eyes and I quickly shoot it in both eye sockets. It shrieks and falls forward with me still in its grasp. Its dead body lands on top of me and I carefully slide out of the mess of slimy tentacles. I carefully back away from the corpse and just for good measure I shoot it in the head a few times before putting the gun in my pocket. I quickly stumble across the yard and into the house. I walk over to the mirror in the living room and carefully begin to walk through it. I make it to the other side and see Emma and the others, including Enoch staring at me shocked and concerned.
"Whatever you do, Do not let a hollows dead body land on top of you" I chuckle exhaustedly before leaning against a wall to support myself. Emma sees that my arm is bleeding and gasps before rushing to me. She has my backpack clutched tightly to her chest and is looking at me extremely worried. I smile at her slightly, trying to ease her worries. She carefully removes one arm from my bag and gently touches my arm. I wince slightly and she starts to remove her hand.
"It's ok Emma it's just a scratch" I explain to her before focusing on Olive.
"Olive can you cauterize it" I ask her. Olive's eyes widen and she looks at me shocked.
"Jake no I c-" she starts to say while shaking her head.
"Olive please,I know you can do it. I trust you" I plead. She thinks for a few seconds before nodding. Emma helps me over to the couch by wrapping her arm around my waist and my arm around her shoulder. She helps me sit down and olive carefully rolls up the short sleeve of my shirt over my shoulder and takes off one of her gloves. She places her bare hand on my arm and I feel a horrible pain a few seconds later. I grunt in pain and grit my teeth to keep from making anymore noise. After about a minute she removes her hand and I begin to relax.
"I'll take care of the rest" Emma volunteers hopefully.
"In my bag there's a first aid kit with everything you'll need" I tell her. She smiles at me softly before opening my bag and taking out the kit. She puts my bag on the ground and begins to clean off the blood. She wraps bandages around the wound and I'm all set. I sit back on the couch admiring her handy work.
"Well looks like I can't fly for a few days" I say depressed. Emma looks at me sadly, probably thinking of our conversation from before the hollow had interrupted us.
"Jake please just stay for a few days, at least until your arm is healed. if you still want to leave afterwards we won't try to stop you" Emma pleads. All of the children except Enoch nod their heads quickly at this, looking at me hopefully. I look at miss Peregrine and see she has a hopeful expression on her face. I focus back on Emma and see her looking at me with her eyes filled with hope and something else I couldn't decide.
"Alright. But just for a few days" I agree. She smiles at me and I can't help but smile back. I still don't trust my growing feelings for her, but I'm not as afraid of falling as I used to be. And I'm beginning to fall for her, hard.