I wrote this before class and almost late, but it's fine haha. I wanted to upload something while I'm on campus because I don't have wifi at my house. Hope everyone enjoys, and Please for the love of birds people review!
Everything is a Loop
Chapter 7
"Hello, and welcome to the Avocet Bunting Academy." Ms. Raven's voice boomed from the speakers. She was standing about ten feet below everyone else on a platform. "Today, you will be tested to find your rightful place in our rank system."
Hundreds of Peculiars sat in auditorium seats. Peculiars of all ages, all kinds. Jacob sat there taking it all in, he couldn't believe how many were there, several were the same age as him.
"The rank system works as so…" Ms. Raven turned to the side as a projection turned on behind her, displaying numbers one to nine. "Ranks one through four, are basic education, children whose ages are above six years old will not be put into these ranks. Rank five is also basic education, those older than ten years old will not be placed in this rank."
They all looked at Claire, she was shaking with nerves. She was going to five, no doubt about it, she just turned eight years old once they got into the academy, since the first shot of the aging potion, that was a requirement, boost everyone's age up. The children learned that this morning, at the very beginning of this assembly. So, Jacob was now seventeen, as was Emma and Millard. It made Hugh eighteen, Enoch and Horace fourteen, Bronwyn sixteen, and Olive eleven. Just like Claire, they all couldn't help but feel nervous, and according to the looks of those around them, they weren't the only ones.
"Now to the important ranks." The screen behind her changed, listing the qualifications for six and seven. "The idea of the rank system is to make you stronger. Each rank focuses on a different part of your abilities." The screen flashed to show six only. "Rank six focuses on your peculiarities control. Depending on your ages, most peculiarities haven't finished developing yet. If you know that your peculiarity isn't finished growing, then you will be put into this rank. But remember, which rank you are placed into is not up to you, but up to your test result. Through an aptitude test, we can determine where your body is in developing your powers. It will determine which training you will receive."
"If we find that your peculiarity is in complete control then you will be placed into rank seven. Those of you here at the assembly are all new to the rank system. This means that seven is the highest ranks you will be put into. You won't proceed to rank eight until you pass seven."
The screen flashed to show the qualities of seven. They were pictures of teenagers using different styles of combat. Some with weapons, guns, knives, bow, and arrows, some were fighting with their fists.
"In seven, you learn combat, your peculiarities are forbidden in this rank. In seven, you will learn to defend yourselves without them."
There was a murmur of surprised gasps from the crowd.
"So, either six or seven. This won't be so bad." Jacob muttered to Emma next to him.
"Ranks eight and nine are for military purposes. None of you need to worry about those yet. Now, if you all will wait here, our team of professionals will call your names escorting you to the testing room. Thank you, and good luck all you." Ms. Raven stepped off the stage and disappeared through a door. The hundreds of children all turned to each other, beginning anxious chatter among themselves.
"Military purposes?" most of them were talking about.
Jacob was curious about that as well when hearing it, he got a chill down his spine. A special military force for peculiars, is that where Abraham went?
They sat there waiting for hours, it took five to ten minutes for each test to be completed, with only five of these professionals working. Escorting kids out, one at a time, the kids didn't come back out either, maybe they were sent somewhere else once the testing was done? What kind of test was this exactly?
"Bronwyn Bruntley." Bronwyn stood up hesitatingly following a man in a lab coat out of the auditorium. The rest murmured good lucks to her as she left.
"I don't get this," Emma said. "How can they test our peculiarities?"
"A survey maybe?" Hugh wondered.
"If it's something written, I don't see how they'll be sure, how will they know if we're not lying," Horace said.
"Oral not written, possibly?" Millard said.
"It's a simulation." A young man with dark hair and freckles said behind them. He was sitting by himself, the academies handbook in his hands. The Peregrines looked at him confused. "The test. It's done by simulations. That's what I heard at least." He had a light Scottish accent and was very polite.
"Emma Bloom." The announcer said.
Emma stood up squeezing Jacob's hand before letting go. "I guess I'll find out." She followed a woman out of the room.
Jacob's name was called next. He smiled a goodbye at the group before following the woman out into the hallway. When he saw that he recognized her he stopped in his tracks.
"Hello again," she said to him. It was the same woman who shot him with narcotics when he first woke up in this place. He remembered overhearing that she was a ymbryne as well. She extended her hand to him. "Tori Cardinal."
"Jacob Portman." He said shaking her hand.
Ms. Cardinal lead him down the hall into a room on the right, inside was a leather chair and a table of various tools and machine. It looked like a dentist office.
"Have a seat."
Jacob hesitatingly eased himself into the chair. What is she going to do to me? What is she going to do to me? Running through his mind.
She stood at a computer typing something in.
"So, how does this test work?" Jacob asked her.
"You sound scared. Don't be scared. It's all right though, Abraham was scared as well."
Jacob sat up, spun around so he could see her. "You knew Abraham? Was he here?"
"I knew him barely, we only spoke a couple of times." She said. "You remind of him, a bit."
"I get that a lot."
"Try to relax, this won't take long." She walked over to the foot of the chair, Jacob leaned his head back against the headrest. She pushed a button on the floor, and the chair reclined backward, it really was like getting your teeth cleaned.
She placed a headset made up of wires and lights onto his head. "Try to relax." She repeated.
"What are you going to do?"
"You'll see."
After pressing some more buttons on the machine, she moved to his feet, taking his shoe and sock off his right foot. She held up a needle connected to a device. "Ready?"
"I guess."
She stabbed the needle into the center of the bottom of his foot.
Jacob's whole body convulsed, then his eyes grew droopy. He was falling asleep, and it wasn't narcotics doing it, but something much stronger.
He faded away into the darkness…
When Emma opened her eyes, she was standing in the bog. She looked around curiously, trying to remember how she got here. She slushed around in the muck a while when she heard the growling. The tongues emerged from the mud first, then the arms latched onto the ground. The Hollow rose out of the mud. Emma watched the whole thing, the thought of how she could see it didn't even cross her mind. Her instincts yelled at her to run.
The Hollow grunted almost fully emerged out of the mud by now. Emma's legs were sluggishly moving, the bog was sinking her down with every step she took. She would never get away at this rate. The Hollow lunged itself free, seconds away from landing on her. Emma screamed holding up her hands as a column of flames burst out.
The Hollow fell to the ground thrashing around in the fire. Emma's foot hit a solid surface, she stepped on to it able to run again. She sprinted for her life away from the bog. All around her more Hollows were coming up from the ground like daisies. She kept running past, every time one would get to close, she blasted it out of her way. She ran for miles and miles, that's what it felt like anyway. She stopped in her tracks when she realized that her surrounding changed.
The ground was charred under her feet. Huge red and yellow striped tents stood burning. The smell of burnt roasted peanuts and burnt popcorn wafted through the air. But the screams… they were hundreds of agonizing screams filling her eardrums has everything, everything was engulfed in flames. Emma stood in the burning surroundings, hands pressed against her ears, ash falling from the sky. What kind of hell was this?
A shout rang in her ears clearer than all the others. She removed the hands from her ears, listened closely. The other screams faded away to a dim roar.
"Emma." The voice was saying.
"Emma."
She spun around looking for the source, but there was nothing around her except rubble and flames.
"Emma!"
"Hello?"
"Emma, why?" the voice was pleading.
"Where are you? Show yourself!" Emma hollered back into the smoke.
She heard the crunch of the charred grass under her feet, taking tentative steps around her, the voice vanished.
"Hello." Emma tried again. "Who are you?"
She froze, feeling ice cycles forming on her spine, the air was so dry and hot, but she started shivering. A small girl, ten years old or so, was crouched on the ground in front of the giant cage. These cages were used to keep the lions in when not in performance. The girl was crying.
"Hello, you, all right?" Emma asked approaching her.
When the girl looked up, her tears dried, her face turned to stone. "Emma?"
Emma's expression paled, she took steps back. It can't be, it can't.
The girl stood up, her white dress was ripped and singed. "Emma?" She walked closer, as Emma inched further and further away, she looked ghastly, she had blood on her arm. As she inched closer, Emma realized that it wasn't blood, it was black slime.
Emma swallowed the sandpaper feeling that took over her tongue, "Julia?"
Julia was so close to her now, she smelled like Emma's fireproof sheets, the ones that she kept her tied up in in the basement of her old home, and the musty odor of that basement also radiated from this girl.
Emma felt tears welling up in her eyes, she never thought she'd see her sister again. "Julia? What's going on? What is this place?"
"It's the circus Emma, remember." Julia grabbed Emma's hand pulling her over to a wooden board where posters of the performers were placed. All the posters were reduced to ashes except for one. Julia pointed to it. "See. That's you."
Come see our beautiful fire breather, it read. Emma's fingers brushed the poster, to the picture of her in her skin-tight red, flashy leotard, fire spilling from the mouth like some kind of humanoid dragon. Her hand shook with hatred and she watched the picture burn away, the embers blowing in the wind.
"I thought you looked beautiful." Her sister said. "You didn't think so?" Black slime poured out of her sister's mouth, she used the back of her hand to wipe it away. "Emma?"
Emma held up her hand, she ignited palm facing her sister.
Julia's eyes filled up with tears again, only the water from her eyes was also black liquid. "You would burn me, Emma? You burned the circus away, now you would burn me away too?"
Tears rolled down Emma's cheeks as well. She swallowed down the taste of blood in her mouth, "I don't want to Julia but you're not really here."
"Yes, I am Emma." Her sister pleaded.
Her hand fell away, back to her side.
"I love you, Emma, I miss you so much. I wish you could come home. Won't you come home, Emma, I won't let father know. I promise."
"I miss you too, every day, I never stopped thinking about you."
"Then come with me, Emma." She held her hand out.
Emma took it, the flames on her hand snuffed out. Julia's hand was cold to the touch. Emma quickly let's go. "Wait! My family, Jacob, I can't."
"I'm your family Emma."
"I need to go Julia."
"No. Emma don't leave! Why do you want to leave me?"
"I don't, I…"
"Emma! Stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me …"
Her sister convulsed guttering noises and black ink spilling from her mouth and eyes. Emma sunk to her knees in horror, hand over her mouth. The tongues lashed out of her mouth, grabbing Emma's wrists dragging her to her feet, towards her sister unhinged jaw, where row upon row of teeth shown.
"JULIA!" She screamed as the flames erupted out of her hands, turning her sister to ashes. Julia's screams pierced her ears, so loud, Emma was certain her ears were bleeding.
She echoed her sister's screams with her own until the scene around her flashed back into the testing room. The wires were ripped off her forehead, and needle pulled out of her foot, the academy's worker hushing her to get to stop screaming.
"It's over! It's over! You're okay now."
Emma sat up in the chair, her hair and clothes sticking to her body, she was huffing for air, her whole body felt exhausted like she just swam thirty laps in the ocean.
"Lord, yours's was intense. You feel better now?"
Emma ignored the woman, she hated her, she hated this academy for what it just made her go through.
"Take some time, then we need to prep for the next person."
Emma glared at her.
The woman smiled at her, "You were only in there for three minutes. That's a new record." She turned to the screen, Emma lifted her head back enough to see what was on there. She stifled a gasp as she realized everything she just saw was displayed on the screen, the woman flipping through, observing every bit of it.
"Why'd you burn the poster?" she asked her.
Emma looked appalled, her voice came out shaky. "I… I dunno… I just did."
"Hmm." The woman mused. "I can tell you're a hot-tempered one, which is common with fire elementals."
Emma ran a hand through her hair, she bit her tongue, holding in all the insults she was thinking of.
"Do you think you can stand?" the woman asked her.
When her feet touched the floor she almost fell over. After steadying herself she walked out of the room, with the academy worker behind her.
"Go in there." The woman pointed to a room down the hall. A door opened from the room across the hall and a man guided Enoch into the hallway. His eyes met Emma's, he looked pale, she's never seen him like this before. She couldn't imagine what horrors he was forced to have seen. She walked next to him to the room, inside, Bronwyn and Hugh were the only ones in there sitting on the couch.
"How was it for you?" Hugh asked them.
"Fun. I got to watch my father die all over again." Enoch said slumping down on the couch.
Bronwyn had her knees pulled to her chest. Emma sat down next to her, placing a hand on her back. "I saw Victor." She said. "He was buried under all this rubble, I had to get him out. The more rocks I moved the deeper down he went."
"Well I saw my sister turn into a Hollow," Emma told her. She looked to her in horror.
"What about you Hugh?" Enoch asked.
"I saw Fiona die."
The silence in the room grew thick.
"Doesn't matter." He said. "I know it's not real."
"Is no one else done yet?" Emma asked.
As soon as she asked the door swung open, Olive ran in tears pooling down her face. She threw herself into Emma's and Bronwyn's arms.
"The rope snapped, and the wind blew me away, I started suffocating, and the sky turned dark." She sobbed hysterically.
"It'll be all right little magpie, it's over now." Bronwyn soothed to her.
"It wasn't real," Emma told her. she stared at Olive, realizing in awe just how much she reminded her of Julia. "I need some air." She exited the room, finding her outside, leaning onto a balcony.
Jacob's eyes opened with a start. That feeling you get when your asleep and you feel like your falling. He sat up rubbing his eyes. His hand touched the woven fabric of his grandfather's couch. The smell of old tobacco filled the room. He heard a crash coming from the next room. He stood up, walking over to his grandpa's study. He peaked his head in through the door, "Hey what happened? Something crashed."
"Ah, it's nothing, polishing my knives."
Jacob kept rubbing his eyes. His jaw was hurting as well.
"Ugh, I think I clenched my teeth in my sleep again."
"Bad dream?" His grandpa said, still hovered over his desk.
"Hey, grandpa, is there something wrong with my eyes?"
Abraham turned around. His eyes widened, and the knife landed on the floor.
"Grandpa?"
"Stay there." He shuffled for something in a drawer, he pulled out a black sleek box, he pulled a syringe out of it. "Come with me, now!" He grabbed little Jacob's hand pulling him outside into the night.
They walked into the woods, the sound of crickets all around them.
"Grandpa, what's going on?"
"Shh, quiet."
Once Abe felt they were far enough out, he stopped, looking down at Jacob. "All right lad, there's something I need to do and then we can go inside and play."
Jacob shook, tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm scared."
Abraham took the syringe filling it with purple liquid from a tube in the box. When the syringe was full, he turned to Jacob. "Come here."
Jacob shook his head, taking a step back.
"Yakob, come here."
"No. I'm scared."
"I'm not going to harm you."
"Then what is that?"
Abe looked down at the syringe. "It's medicine." He lied.
"I'm not sick."
Abe sighed, he took a step closer to Jacob, kneeling to his level. "No, you're not. But something is happening to you, something that happened to me long ways back. I need you to take this, okay."
Abraham sighed in impatience, "Yakob!"
Jacob wouldn't move.
Abraham lunged, pinning him to the ground. Jacob thrashed and screamed.
"You don't understand now, but you will one day."
"Grandpa!" Jacob continued to thrash, fighting him.
"Yakob, please! You're changing, I thought I would have more time. I'm sorry! I need you to take this, it'll delay the effects, I can't take you to the island yet, I won't. So please lad."
He held the syringe above Jacob's eye.
"No! No, no, no, no,"
"Miss Peregrine's life, Emma's life, everyone's lives depend on you being able to control this power."
He shoved the needle into his eye.
Jacob was forcibly pulled out of the simulation. Ms. Cardinal looking at him with concern.
"What? What's wrong?"
"What do you remember?" she demanded him.
"Nothing, I was dreaming about… something weird… I don't."
"Get up!"
Jacob struggled to his feet in confusion.
"Get up! Now! Get out of here before they find out!"
"Why what's going on?"
"I'll have to alter your test, so they don't find out. You'll be placed into seven."
"Ms. Cardinal?"
"I knew Abe, I know what he wanted me to do with you, now please, get out of here, quickly."
She threw him out of the room. Jacob stood in the hallway, he was aware that he had a simulation but couldn't remember a thing.
