I do not own the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series.

"I want to tell you

I feel hung up, but I don't know why

I don't mind

I could wait forever; I've got time"

—I Want to Tell You by The Beatles

The next day, something felt off to Peggy. She tried to ignore it for the most part. It was a day just like any other; why should she get all worked up about it? Peggy tried her best to shove her uneasiness down so that she didn't cause any alarm for anyone else.

It didn't quite work.

"Peg?" Enoch asked as he lifted her out of his pocket and into the palm of his hand. "Are you all right?"

"I am all right, Enoch," Peggy responded, a cheerful smile on her face.

But Enoch noticed that her smile seemed a bit forced. "Tell me the truth, Peg. Please." He had never really said 'please' before, he thought absently as he looked at his friend earnestly.

Sighing, Peggy sat cross-legged on his palm. "It's nothing, honestly. Something just feels... off today. I don't know what, but..."

"I'm sure everything will be fine," he told her.

"Do you promise?" Peggy asked with wide eyes.

"Of course I promise," he replied in mock indignation. "When have I ever let you down before?"

Peggy giggled, and Enoch smiled slightly at the sound. He knew he was going to hold himself to that promise. He was going to make sure everything was okay, if only for Peggy's sake.

Unfortunately, everything was not okay.

Peggy was sleeping soundly in her bed when the shouting started.

"ALMA!" The voice screamed out. "ALMA, I NEED YOUR HELP!" The voice continued to shout, calling out for Miss Peregrine.

Everyone stumbled out of bed, and Peggy's mind immediately traveled to Enoch. Was he okay? Did he get hurt? Oh, dear, what if—

"Peggy!" Enoch embraced her in a tight, bone-crushing hug. "Thank goodness—I'd thought something had happened to you."

Hugging him back just as tightly, Peggy responded, "I'd thought something had happened to you!"

As they slowly, reluctantly, pulled away, Miss Peregrine called for everyone's attention.

"Children, this is Miss Avocet, and she—" The Headmistress looked around before asking sharply, "Where is Miss Bloom? Have any of you seen her?" She looked very worried. "When was the last time any of you had seen Miss Bloom? Oh..."

Hugh coughed, and Fiona squeaked slightly as they both refused to look at the Headmistress.

Miss Peregrine looked at the two sternly. "Miss Frauenfeld? Mr. Apiston? Please tell me now if you know anything."

"She's, uh," Hugh stammered, "with Jacob..."

Miss Peregrine sighed, pursing her lips. "Go fetch them, if you please, Mr. Apiston."

Hugh reluctantly let go of Fiona's hand (Peggy wondered absently when he had ever grabbed it in the first place) and set off to where Emma and Jacob had run off to.

Miss Avocet was resting in a chair, her head lolling back like a rag doll, and her face pale.

"If she's an ymbryne," Peggy began as Enoch hugged her again, "then where do you think her children are?" Her voice was slightly muffled by the fabric of his sweater.

Enoch tightened his hold a little. He knew Peggy had an idea of what happened with Miss Avocet, but it was too awful to think of, much less say out loud. "I'm not sure," he chose to say. He moved back a little, gaining a bit of confidence to place his hand on her cheek as he looked into her eyes. When she leaned into his touch almost immediately, he smiled softly. "But I do know that Miss Peregrine will help her," he whispered. He wanted to kiss her so bad. They had known each other for over seventy years—surely he'd have the courage to do that! Instead, he opted to bide his time, placing their foreheads together before he hugged her again.

Peggy grinned uncontrollably at the warm feeling in her chest. It was one she had been feeling a lot as of late. She had no idea what it meant, though; maybe she would ask Emma about it later. She would normally ask Enoch—she went to him for everything—but Peggy felt like this was something she should talk to another girl about.

Eventually, they joined the others crowded around the door, where they were discussing what might have happened.

"Perhaps they forgot to reset their loop," Claire volunteered, furrowing her blonde eyebrows.

"Perhaps it was the hollows," Enoch retorted nonchalantly.

Claire and Olive wailed at the thought, covering their faces in their little hands.

"Enoch!" Peggy hissed as she tried to comfort the young girls.

"There, there," Horace said, kneeling down next to Peggy. "Don't let Enoch fill your heads with rubbish. Everyone knows they like the young ones best. That's why they let Miss Peregrine's friend go—she tastes like old coffee grounds!"

"What do young ones taste like?" Olive asked tentatively, peaking out from behind her fingers

"Lingonberries," Hugh replied. The two girls wailed again.

"Stop that!" Peggy commanded. "Both of you!" She looked to Enoch, who was avoiding her gaze out of guilt.

"Leave them alone!" yelled Horace in agreement. He had finally returned, with Emma and Jacob in tow.

Miss Peregrine heard the ruckus. "What's going on out there? Is that Mr. Apiston I hear?" She asked from within the room. "Where Miss Bloom and Mr. Portman?"

Peggy looked over to see Emma cringe and look at Hugh nervously. "She knows?" The girl asked faintly.

Hugh shrugged. "When she found out you were gone," he explained, "she just about went off her chump. Thought you'd been abducted by wights or some barminess. Sorry, Em. I had to tell her."

Emma shook her head as she and Jacob began to go into the room where Miss Peregrine was. Peggy smiled sympathetically at the two of them as the went. The older girl smiled back tentatively, and Jacob gave her a small, but thankful, nod.

Enoch sighed as the door shut and sat down on the floor, pulling Peggy into his lap. "They'll be fine, Peg," he told her quietly. "Stop worrying so much." As he spoke, he reminded himself of a promise he made to her not even twenty-four hours ago, and he silently berated himself for it all going so wrong in such a short amount of time.

At that moment, Bronwyn came out of the door. "Do you mind helping me out for a moment, Peggy?" She asked, looking at the small girl.

Peggy got up off of Enoch's lap, never one to deny someone assistance. "Sure, Wyn!" She agreed amiably, not noticing Enoch's souring face as she got up off the floor.

"Go into the kitchen and grab a flask of brandy and a bottle of cocoa wine for Miss Avocet while I set up the couch for Miss Avocet, please," Bronwyn said softly.

"Okay, Wyn!" Peggy paused before adding, "Which one would th—"

"I'll help her!" Enoch volunteered. "C'mon, Peg, I'll show you which is which." He grabbed her hand, leading her away before anyone else had the chance to say anything.

"Enoch and Peg," Hugh murmured. "Who would've thought?"

"Anybody," Bronwyn said, smiling a little.

"What did you do that for, Enoch?" Peggy mumbled as she grabbed the flask of brandy, turning to her friend, who held the bottle of cocoa wine. "I'm not daft." She felt slightly hurt at his lack of faith in her.

Enoch's eyes widened. "I, I know, Peg," he replied, grabbing her free hand with his. "I just wanted to go with you. Honest!"

Peggy relaxed, smiling brightly, and everything was okay again. "Alright! Hurry, Enoch!" She exclaimed, pulling him out of the kitchen. "We can't keep Miss Peregrine waiting!"

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Enoch gladly allowed Peggy to pull him back to Bronwyn, who looked at him with a knowing smile as she took the drinks from them. Enoch glared, but Bronwyn's smile just widened as she went back into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Still holding her hand, Enoch took Peggy back to the others, who were crowded around the door, trying their best to listen in.

"Poor Miss Avocet," sniffed Claire as the door opened, and Jacob, Emma, and Miss Peregrine exited the room.

"Poor Miss Avocet's children," Olive replied, her eyes tearing up.

Horace turned to Miss Peregrine. "Are they coming for us now, Miss?" He asked, his eyebrows knitted together.

"We'll need weapons!" Millard declared.

"Battle-axes!" cried Enoch, tightening his grip on Peggy's hand when she shoved him lightly.

"Bombs!" Hugh shouted.

"Stop this at once!" Miss Peregrine ordered. Raising her hand, she continued: "We must all remain calm. Yes, what happened to Miss Avocet was tragic—profoundly so—but it was a tragedy that need not be repeated here. However, we must be on watch. Henceforth, you will travel beyond the house only with my consent, and then only in pairs. Should you observe a person unknown to you, even if they appear to be peculiar, come immediately and inform me. We'll discuss these and other precautionary measures in the morning. Until then, to bed with you! This is no hour for a meeting."

"But Miss—" Enoch began.

Miss Peregrine was having none of it. "To bed!" She demanded.

They all ran off to their rooms, Peggy and Enoch still gripping each other's hand tightly. As they arrived at the room that Peggy shared with the other girls, they stood at the door, neither of them saying anything.

"What do you think will happen, Enoch?" Peggy whispered, breaking their silence.

He pursed his lips, looking into her wide, nervous eyes. "I don't know, Peg," he answered honestly, "but I do know that we're gonna be okay. I'll make sure of it." He thought of the promise he made her not even that long ago as he gently nudged Peggy into her room. "Go to sleep now, Peg."

Lying in bed, Peggy couldn't sleep. It wasn't because she wasn't tired, she was exhausted, actually, but because there were far too many thoughts crowding her mind to sleep. Particularly about Enoch. She wasn't sure why, but she had been feeling odd when she was around him. It was a good oddity, though. It felt nice, but Peggy had no idea what it was. The feeling was foreign, and she would rather not

With a start, she realized she did know the feeling. Well, she didn't know it herself, but she talked to Abe about it once. When Abe first came into the loop, his English was still a little rusty, so he would practice with Peggy.

"Emma makes me feel happy," he had confided in Peggy one day. "I feel like Hugh must feel with all those bees flying around in him. My insides tickle when I'm near her, and she makes me feel like I am going to, to..." He paused, searching for the right English words. "She makes me feel like I am bursting with emotion. It is a good feeling, though. The best."

"Wow," Peggy had uttered, her eyes wide. She had listened to Abe, hanging onto his every word.

Peggy gasped. Did she like Enoch?

I suppose I do, she thought to herself wryly. But what do I do? She knew she should probably tell him, but she didn't want to do that just yet. She didn't want to push her emotions onto her closest friend with so much going on already.

I'll tell him later, she promised. When we're all safe, I'll tell him.

The next morning, Miss Peregrine held true to her word. There were sentries on watch all the time, and if they saw someone approaching, they had to ring a bell that would alert the Headmistress. Enoch remained in his basement laboratory, letting out all of his frustration on his homunculi. Peggy stayed with him, leaving occasionally to get their meals.

Miss Peregrine would occasionally poke her head in to make sure the two were still there and in one piece, and she would sometimes drag Peggy off to an English lesson ("This is no reason to abandon our education, Miss Tran," the Headmistress would remind her). But after a couple of days, the home settled into an uneasy quiet.

Peggy was grabbing some food for her and Enoch when Jacob came one day. Miss Peregrine grabbed her by the arm. "Go get Mr. O'Connor, Miss Tran. Now!"

Nodding, Peggy dropped the plate back onto the table and sprinted back into the basement, her braided pigtails bouncing wildly behind her. "Enoch!" She yelled. "Enoch!"

He dropped the three-legged homunculus that he had been working meticulously on. "What's wrong?" He asked with wide eyes, striding over to her quickly. "What's the matter, Peg?"

"Miss Peregrine wants us all up there now," she explained breathlessly. "Jacob's come back, and something is wrong."

Enoch rolled his eyes at the mention of Abe's grandson, but grabbed her hand anyway. "Come on then," he muttered. "Best not keep the Bird waiting."

They made it upstairs to see Miss Peregrine dragging Horace into the room. "We've just had word of a new threat," she told them, nodding at Jacob. ""A man outside our loop has died under suspicious circumstances. We can't be certain of the cause or whether it represents a true threat to our security, but we must conduct ourselves as if it did. Until further notice, no one may leave the house, not even to collect vegetables or bring in a goose for the evening meal."

Everyone groaned. Peggy sighed, dropping her head onto Enoch's shoulder.

"This has been a challenging few days for us all," Miss Peregrine said, her voice raised above the noise. "I beg your continued patience." She ignored everyone's questions and walked off to secure the doors, Jacob running after her.

Peggy, still holding Enoch's hand, began to make her way to the room she shared with Emma. "C'mon, Enoch," she said quietly.

Sighing, he said nothing as he allowed Peggy to pull him away. When they got into the room, they sat down on her bed, and Enoch took a lump of clay out of his pocket and began to whittle on it with a small knife. Peggy shrunk down and sat on his leg, and Enoch swiftly placed her on his shoulder, not looking away from his work.

Emma, Millard, and Bronwyn came in not much later. Bronwyn sat by the window, sighing forlornly every once and a while, and Millard sat down on Peggy's bed next to her and Enoch. Emma angrily grabbed a journal by her bed and began lighting the pages on fire. She leaped up when Jacob stormed in, looking just as angry as Emma.

"You're back!" She cried.

"I never left," Jacob grumbled. "Miss Peregrine wouldn't let me. I'm banished if I try to leave."

Accidentally setting her entire journal on fire, Emma cried, "She can't do that!"

"She's Miss Peregrine," Peggy said, swinging her legs from her place on Enoch's shoulder

"She can do what she likes," Bronwyn agreed.

Emma threw her notebook to the ground in childish protest, stomping out the fire.

"I just came to tell you I'm going," Jacob said "whether she wants me to or not. I won't be held prisoner, and I won't bury my head in the sand while my own father might be in real danger."

"Then I'm coming with you," Emma decided resolutely.

"You ain't serious," Bronwyn gasped.

Peggy nodded her head, getting off Enoch's shoulder to grow to her normal size. "You can't, Emma!" She cried.

"I can, and I am serious."

"What you are is three-quarters stupid," Enoch bit out. "You'll turn into a wrinkled old prune, and for what? Him?"

Peggy slapped his shoulder lightly.

"I won't," declared Emma. "You've got to be out of the loop for hours and hours before time starts to catch up with you, and it won't take nearly that long, will it, Jacob?"

"It's a bad idea," Jacob agreed hesitantly.

"What's a bad idea?" Enoch asked, cocking an eyebrow. "She doesn't even know what she's risking her life for."

"Headmistress won't like it," Bronwyn reminded her. "She'll kill us, Em."

"She won't kill us," Emma sniffed, standing up to shut the door. "But those things will. And if they don't, living like this might just be worse than dying. The Bird's got us all cooped up so tight we can hardly breath, and all because she doesn't have the spleen to face whatever's out there!"

"Or not out there," Millard speculated.

"She won't like it!" Peggy protested.

Emma stepped toward her, and the Vietnamese girl shrunk back slightly. "How long can you hide under the hem of that woman's skirt?" She demanded.

Enoch placed a hand on Peggy's shoulder. "Watch it," he warned Emma.

"Have you already forgotten what happened to Miss Avocet?" Millard asked calmly. "It was only when her wards left the loop that they were killed and Miss Bunting kidnapped. If they'd only stayed put, nothing bad would've happened."

Emma was skeptical. "Nothing bad? Yes, it's true that hollows can't go through loops. But wights can, which is just how those kids were tricked into leaving. Should we sit on our bums and wait for them to come through our front door? What if rather than clever disguises, this time they bring guns?"

"That's what I'd do," Enoch agreed. "I'd wait until everyone's asleep and then come down the chimney like Santa Claus and BANG!" He fired an imaginary pistol at the wall then grabbed Peggy's hand.

"Thank you for that," Millard said dryly. Everyone was looking at the wide-eyed Peggy, who was slowly calming down from Enoch's scenario.

Emma grabbed Peggy by the shoulders, pulling her away from Enoch, and looked her in the eyes. "We've got to hit them before they know we know they're here, Peg! While we've still got the element of surprise!"

"But we don't know if they're really here!" Peggy protested.

"We'll find out," Emma replied firmly.

"And how do you propose to do that?" Millard asked. "Wander around until you see a hollow? What then? 'Excuse me, we were wondering what your intentions might be, vis à vis eating us."

"We've got Jacob," Bronwyn pointed out. "He can see them."

"I've only seen one," Jacob reminded them. "So I wouldn't exactly call myself an expert."

"You're the best we've got," Peggy said quietly.

"But if he shouldn't happen to see one?" Millard asked. "It could either mean that there are none to be seen or that they're hiding. You'd still be clueless, as you so clearly are now." At everyone's stumped looks, he continued, "Well, it appears that logic has prevailed yet again. I'm off to fetch some porridge for supper, if any of you would-be mutineers would like to join me."

As Peggy began to follow, Enoch jumped up, grabbed her hand, pulling her back, and cried, "I've got it!"

"Got what?" Millard asked.

Still holding tightly to Peggy's hand, Enoch turned to Jacob. "The bloke who may or may not have been eaten by a hollow—do you know where they're keeping him?"

Jacob, looking slightly taken aback, nodded. "At the fishmonger's."

Enoch grinned excitedly. "Then I know how we can be sure."

"And how's that?" Millard questioned.

"We'll ask him."

A/N

Here's another chapter! A really long one, too! I don't think Enoch was too out of character for this chapter, he just decides to actually be nice to Peggy. Enoch is nice in some parts of the books, but only at certain times. Anyway, I apologize for not updating in, like, forever, and I'd like to thank everyone who showed their support for this story; it means the world to me!

Love, Nell