Chapter 6

Part I

Enoch and Olive are lying in Enoch's and Jake's room, enjoying their time together. Outside of the room, all the other children run around playing or fighting like in a normal family with many siblings. It's the day before Enoch's 18th birthday. Therefore, Alma is in the kitchen baking a big, tasty birthday cake for her boy. Claire and Bronwyn are with her, because she wanted them to learn how to do it as well. The twins and Hugh are playing hide and seek in the house because it's raining outside, while Millard and Horace try to watch a documentary on TV. This proves not to be so easy with someone counting loudly while the other two are constantly blocking their vision while running around to find a hiding place. That's why they are fighting every now and then.

Enoch is sitting on his bed, finishing his homework, while Olive lies on his lap, distracting him as best as she can. Olive has already finished her homework because she came home earlier. As soon as Enoch arrived at home, he was sent into his room, undesired in the rest of the house, as all the others were preparing his presents or baking.

Now they are waiting for Emma and Jake, who had to work today but should return any minute now. Annoyed, Enoch puts away his schoolbook and gives in to Olive's caressing. At the moment he's really happy, though. He has a beautiful girlfriend who loves him and tomorrow is his birthday. Secretly, he's already wondering what presents he will get. He hasn't enjoyed birthdays much in their old loop, it was always the same, but here he has so many possibilities, what to do and what presents he could wish for.

While they are lying on top of each other, kissing, the door opens and Emma and Jake enter. "Gross!" Jake jokes laughing. "Go and get your own room if you can't hold yourself back." Behind him, Emma enters as well, giggling. "Oh, Jake, let them. Or don't you understand them," she laughs and kisses him. Jake blushes a bit. It's true. If it was possible, he would love to do the same thing with Emma all day long. But together, here in his room, while Olive and Enoch are on the other bed, was no option. So instead he sits down at his desks to do his own homework, while Enoch climbs of Olive and resumes his previous position. Emma sits down on Jake's bed and watches the couple at the opposite side of the room. They really look happy. She hopes, that their relationship as well as hers with Jake will work out for a long time.

"What's happening outside?" Olive asked after some time. "Yes, it's so quiet, have they stopped fighting?" Enoch joins the conversation."Yes, I think so," Emma answers unsure. "As we entered the house it was already like this, so I wouldn't know what they did before," she explains. "At the moment they're all in their rooms, except for Miss P. and Claire and Bronwyn. They're busy in the kitchen, but Miss P. is on the phone"

"I hope the girls have washed their hands before helping with my cake," Enoch grumbles. "I'm sure of it," Olive laughs while tickling Enoch, to improve his mood. "You know how strict Miss P. is, Enoch," Emma adds. "How come you're so moody all of a sudden," Jake joins in. "A couple of minutes ago, you seemed quite the opposite. You're not mad at us for disturbing you, are you?" he asks.

"No, of course not," Enoch says. "It's nothing," he tries to play it down. "Doesn't look like it," Olive concludes. "Spit it out," Jake says.

"I know it," Emma says annoyed as Enoch still hesitates. "It's because of Ethan again, because I mentioned Miss Peregrine being on the phone, right?" she guesses while Olive and Jake sigh in annoyance.

"Really?" Jake adds. "You're still not over that?" Olive asks. Enoch just rolls his eyes. "He just gets on my nerves. Doesn't he have a life of his own? He seems to be either at work or here. Doesn't he have a house?" Enoch retorts annoyed.

"Oh Enoch, he's here because he likes spending time with Miss P., you know that. And what's so bad about it anyway?" Emma asks. "Yes, all the others like him, why can't you?" Jake adds. "Or are you jealous?" Olive asks sitting up quickly to look at Enoch properly. "Of course not," he tries to explain himself. "And I didn't say that I don't like him either." "You didn't?" Emma asks sarcastically. "No, I didn't," Enoch repeats. "He's nice and charming and would be a good catch for someone else, but I simply think that he's not good for Miss P., that's all. And he being here every day is annoying, you can't even have your freedom in your own house anymore. He's just our GP, it's time that he remembers that."

"You're wrong, Enoch," Olive cuts in. "So wrong!" Emma says. "He's a lot more now and it's time that you understand that, Enoch," she says angry. "Miss Peregrine likes him and he's good for her, I don't get where you got the idea that he's bad for her. Don't you see how happy she is when he's around?" "No he doesn't," Jake says. "He's always busy sulking when Ethan is here." "That's not true!" Enoch argues. "But don't you see what he's doing? He makes her weak and vulnerable. And Miss P. doesn't need a man like him, she has always been strong on her own." "Why do you think she's weak now?" Olive asked puzzled. But Enoch doesn't get the chance to answer because the door opens and Miss P. enters. Obviously she didn't hear them arguing and doesn't notice the looks on their faces. In her left hand, she holds a canning glass with a screw cap.

"I need someone strong," she says, holding out the glass." Can someone please open it? I can't do it alone and the little ones didn't have enough strength," she explains. Immediately, Emma, who has been sitting the closest to the door, jumps to her feet and takes the glass. Confused, Enoch looks at his ymbryne. Why does nobody else wonder why she can't do it on her own, they seem to accept it as the most natural thing.

Then Enoch notices Miss Peregrine's left hand on the doorhandle. It's bandaged and she holds it in a relieving posture. What happened to her again? Enoch shakes his head but decides not to say anything and waits till she leaves again.

Grateful, Alma takes back the glass and turns around. "Thank you, Emma. And Enoch, don't you dare come outside your room until I'll get you," she jokes, winking at him and then she's gone.

"See, that's exactly what I meant," Enoch keeps debating. "Don't you notice? She's always injured, tired or sick since he showed up. A couple of weeks ago he made her spend the whole day in bed because she had a headache and only last week, she had to stay on the couch because of her back pain. She's not the Miss Peregrine, she used to be anymore," Enoch concludes.

Emma has lost her voice, panting with rage and desperately searching for the right words. Olive just sighs. "Are you really this unperceptive? I thought you're a lot smarter," she says disappointed. "He's blind with jealousy," Jake answers while Enoch looks at all of them. "What do you mean?," he asks confused.

"Oh Enoch," Emma finally begins. "Miss P. hasn't changed a bit, it has always been like this, she just didn't let her aches and pains show. The only thing Ethan does, is caring for her and he's the only one who can see through her and makes her take care of her own body. It's a shame, that we didn't do that. Miss P. has always been there for us and we failed to return it. She's stayed with us when we were sick or had a bad dream, but who's there when she wakes up from a nightmare, lies awake the whole night and can't keep her eyes open the following day?" Emma asks.

"How do you know these things?" Enoch stammers. "Oh Enoch," Olive sighs again. "You're really blind to your surroundings"

"We girls just notice something like that," Emma explains in a kinder voice as she sees Enoch's befuddled look.

"I don't blame you," she continues. "You only meant well for Miss Peregrine, but please stop badmouthing Ethan. He's really good for her, believe us."

"Just see it like this," Olive says and leans back into Enoch. "If Miss P. is distracted, she doesn't bother so much about what we do." Then she kisses him. Reluctantly, Enoch breaks the kiss and grumbles: "Ok, ok, I'll try."

In the kitchen, Miss Peregrine is mixing the cake dough. Seriously, she explains what ingredients one needs and what's the right consistency, but Claire and Bronwyn only care about tasting it. Still they have to help a lot with everything, that Miss Peregrine can't do with only one hand.

Two days ago, while working in the garden, Alma had got a splinter in her right hand. It was no big deal, so she just put a plaster on it and went on but yesterday it started to really hurt, so Alma took another look and had to see that it had become infected. She cleaned it as best as she could and put another plaster on it, thinking that it will heal on its own. How many times had she had a minor injury like this in their old home and it all healed after some time. Waking up this morning she had to notice that this soon will take longer than desired, though. Her hand was still hurting and on inspecting it she saw that it got swollen over night. Nonetheless she got up and started with her daily duties. She couldn't rest her hand, as she needed it for the preparations for Enoch's birthday tomorrow. After her children had left for school she went to change the plaster once more and also cleaned the wound. Alma guessed that it's still so bad because she wasn't able to remove the splinter, so she tried again. After some attempts she had to stop though, it was too painful and she didn't have the right tools for it. But she was still sure that it will heal alone, it will just take some time. Until she had to pick up the children, she cleaned the house and went to get all the ingredients for the cake. Returning with the twins and Claire, she made some sandwiches and helped them with their homework.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Strange she thought Had the older ones forgotten their key? Quickly she opened the door, in case it was Enoch, he shouldn't see all the groceries on the table. But it wasn't Enoch, it was Ethan. During his lunchbreak he would sometimes stop by, either with food or he would eat with them. Today he hadn't gotten anything, so Alma gave him some of the sandwiches and he sat down with Fiona, Hugh and Bronwyn. Afterwards he joined Alma in the kitchen, who was unpacking the grocery-bags. He stood behind her, his arms around her waist and his head leaning on her shoulder. Because he wanted her all to himself and she wouldn't stop working he wanted to capture both her hands, so she had to stop. But as soon as he touched her right hand, he felt her wincing and then she hissed in pain. Perplexed, he turned her around to look at her. Alma should have known it. She could never hide something like that from him. Concerned, he took a look at her hand and was shocked as he saw the small wound. It took him half an hour to really clean it and to properly remove the splinter. For Alma it was horrible, since it hurt like hell but she was to proud to let him see it. In the end he also had to give her a passive immunisation because her tetanus vaccinations weren't complete yet. Then he really had to hurry because he was already late for his next appointment, but he didn't leave without reprimanding her severely for not telling him earlier. Ethan then bandaged her hand so that she couldn't use it anymore.

Something that's really annoying now as she prepares the cake, but somehow Alma is quite grateful, too. Her hand is still hurting terribly, and she knows herself too well: She would never rest her hand if she wasn't forced to.

So now Claire and Bronwyn have to do most of their work, which at least makes them learn it faster. Carefully they place the cake tin in the oven, Alma taking good care, that no one gets burned. While waiting for it to bake, they prepare the white chocolate cream. Enoch has always loved chocolate and therefore it wasn't a surprise to Alma, that her boy asked for the same cake as the last 100 years.

As the alarm clock goes off, they take out the cake and place it in front of the terrace door to cool down.

"What if some animals come and try the tasty cake?" Claire points out. "They wouldn't dare," Miss Peregrine explains amused," it's still too hot to touch." Then Alma sends Claire and Bronwyn to play with the others. There's still some time until the cake and the cream are cold enough and they can finish the cake.

In the meantime, Alma starts the dinner preparations as best as she can. As the cake is ready, she calls Claire and Bronwyn and together they decorate it with the cream and write Enoch's name and age on top of it before placing it in the fridge until tomorrow. Finally, Alma can release Enoch and gets the 4 teenagers to help her with the dinner. As it's quite crowded in the kitchen with all 5 of them in there, Olive and Emma offer to take over and send Miss Peregrine into the living room, which she gladly accepts.

After dinner they all go to bed, to be well rested for the big day tomorrow. Alma uses the time to wrap Enoch's gift. She's really pleased with it in the end. Ethan had kept his promise and talked to Enoch, inconspicuously finding out what he would like to have. It turned out that his biggest wish seems to be a Smartphone, so Ethan took Alma to a store and showed her the most recent model.

Before leaving for her room, she already sets the table for breakfast and decorates it with a bunch of flowers in a vase and a floral wreath around Enoch's plate.

Exhausted, Alma switches off the light after checking on all her children and goes into her room. She gets ready for bed but before lying down she decides to go back into the kitchen to get a cooling pack out of the freezer for her hand. She wants it to get better as soon as possible. Depending on her children to help her was bad enough for one day and tomorrow she wants to do everything on her own again. She also drinks a glass of water and then takes one of her tablets before going to sleep.

The next morning, Alma gets up earlier than usual to get everything ready. After finishing the breakfast and placing the cake on the table she wakes her children. Excited they hurry to get ready and then gather around the table before Enoch arrives. As he enters the living room, they begin to sing "Happy Birthday" for him. Smiling and in an unusually good mood he sits down.

"Thank you all very much," he says as Miss Peregrine gives him a hug before all the others join to congratulate him, too. Some of the children, as well as Miss Peregrine have placed their gifts on the table, but Enoch won't open them until the afternoon, because there isn't enough time before school. Together they eat some breakfast and a big slice of the birthday cake before they all have to leave the house.

In the afternoon everyone can't wait for Enoch to return, so they can give him their presents. As the older ones finally come home, they immediately join the others at the table.

All the little ones give their little artworks to him. Most of them have drawn pictures, but Fiona has sewed a new pencil case for him, Hugh had made a beeswax candle in the shape of one of Enoch's dolls and Horace and Millard have made a handworked shelve for his jars.

Afterwards, Enoch opens the present from Olive - a picture frame with a photo of both of them - and then Miss Peregrine's little package. As soon as he sees what it is, he shouts out in joy, stands up and hugs his ymbryne. "How did you know?," he asks her confused. "I've never said anything and it's even the newest one. Normally, you're completely helpless when it comes to technology," he teases her. "Oh well, I can read your mind, haven't you noticed?" she jokes, winking at him. Finally, Enoch opens the present from Emma and Jake, who have gotten him some additional equipment for the phone.

Joyful, Enoch spends the afternoon, understanding all the features of his phone. Together with, Emma, Olive and Jake he's sitting on the couch, reading the manual. From time to time Jake can give him some tips, from his experience with his phone. Millard, Hugh and Horace are observing them, being very interested in a phone theirselves. While Alma is already in the kitchen again, cooking Enoch's special requested meal, the other children are playing in the garden. At 3 o'clock, Alma calls them all to eat some cake. While they are eating, talking and laughing, Enoch takes some pictures with his new phone. He has already taken one of Olive, that's now the background of his phone screen.

Being deep in conversation, they nearly miss hearing the door bell. Luckily, Alma's accurate ear can make out the sound over the talking of her children. Kindly, she interrupts Enoch's conversation with Horace and tells him to open the door, as she's sure that the visitor will be for him. Confused, Enoch walks towards the door. He doesn't know anyone who could visit him. But opening the door he sees that it's Ethan, friendly smiling at him with some sweets and an envelope in his hand. He congratulates him and hands over the presents.

To be honest, Enoch is quite surprised, first to see Ethan here at all and then about the choice of sweets. It's really something he likes and there's not much he likes besides chocolate. Going back into the living room together, Enoch opens the envelope. At seeing it's content, he stops in his tracks and looks at Ethan unbelievingly. "That's a joke right?" he asks. All the others, including Miss Peregrine observe him expectantly. Even Alma has no idea what Ethan got him, as much as she wanted him to tell her, he's never said a word. Answering Enoch's question, Ethan shakes his head. "But that's way too much!," Enoch insists. "What is it?" Olive and Emma want to know.

"I think it depends on you, how expensive it will get," Ethan laughs, making the others even more curious.

Realising that this wasn't a joke, Enoch's jaw drops. No more being able to take it, Olive gets up and walks over to Enoch and takes the piece of paper out of his hand. At reading it, she gets as paralyzed as Enoch, but recovers much quicker, jumping back to the table, holding up the letter shouting out of joy. "This is amazing! Look!," she says holding it out for Emma. Before she can take it though, Miss Peregrine grabs for the letter to read it first. Shocked she lets her hand drop after reading it and Emma takes it back. Finally, Alma finds her voice again. "Enoch's right, Ethan, this is way too much!" she argues. "Let's see how quick he learns before we argue," Ethan tries to calm her down.

"Can you all tell us what this is about, please," Millard cuts in. "It's a voucher for driving lessons," Jake finally says out loud which makes all the little ones gasp in surprise. Eventually, Enoch seems to have regained his composure. "Thank you," he just says, having no idea how to express his gratitude properly. "You're welcome," Ethan answers, still smiling. "I thought, it was the most useful present for a boy your age, especially in a family, where only one is able to drive so far," he explains. "But..." Alma wants to say again but Ethan stops her, pressing his fingers to her lips. "Just let him be happy with it," he whispers in her ear, so she gives in. Still perplexed, Enoch finally sits back down again, placing the envelope on the table. Now he feels really bad for treating Ethan the way he did. The others are still talking excitedly around him.

Alma makes Ethan sit down and gets another plate with some cake for him. "Coffee?" she asks him out of the kitchen. "Yes, please," Ethan answers sitting down next to Enoch. "And what other presents did you get today?" he asks curious, looking at the other things on the table. Enoch shows everything to him, especially his phone.

While they are all sitting at the table talking, and eating more cake, Alma goes back into the kitchen to continue cooking.

As most of the children stand up to go playing and the teenagers keep playing with Enoch's new phone, Ethan joins Alma in the kitchen. Not really pleased with her doing all the work again, he gives her a hand after checking her wound once more. Relieved he notices that it looks a lot better but he still warns her not to use her hand too much.

After a great afternoon, they all meet in the living room for dinner again. Of course, Ethan is invited to stay as well. During the meal, Enoch keeps talking to him. Pleased, Alma sees that they seem to get on so much better than before. After they have finished eating, Emma and Olive offer to put the dishes into the dishwasher. Alma stays seated at the table, looking at Ethan, Enoch and Jake, still deep in conversation. The younger children have gone to the couch and are watching something on TV. As Alma sees some of them yawning she sends them to get ready for bed.

Soon Emma and Olive return to sit down at the table and join the conversation. After the movie is over and Alma has tucked in the little ones, Millard, Horace, Fiona and Hugh join them as well.

Seeing that they're enjoying their time, Ethan takes Alma and a bottle of red wine. "Let's leave them to themselves and go into your room," he suggests and together they leave the living room.

"But please don't stay up too long, even if it's Friday and don't wake up the others," Alma warns before she disappears behind the corner of the corridor.

"Finally!" Enoch exclaims as the adults have closed the door behind them. Confused, the others look at him. "Did you really think that I wanted to spend my 18th birthday eating cake and dinner before going to bed?" Enoch smirks.

"What have you planned?" Emma asks, already suspecting something bad.

Quietly, Enoch walks over to the small cabinet in the living room and opens the door, revealing Miss Peregrine's liquor storage. Most of the children gasp in shock. "Enoch!" Olive exclaims. "You wouldn't!" But Enoch keeps smirking takes out one bottle of wine, bringing it back to the table. Some of the children, especially Hugh and Millard begin to smirk as well, looking forward to doing something forbidden. The girls look scared but excited at the same time. Only Horace looks affronted.

"Without me," he exclaims. "You didn't seriously expect me to participate in this?"

"No," Enoch simply answers," I didn't but I wanted to give you the chance to stay, but if you don't want to, you can leave!" And with that, Horace was gone.

"Anyone else, who wants to leave? Now's the chance" Enoch asks daring but no one moves.

"I don't think this is such a good idea," Olive points out. "She's right, Enoch," Emma agrees, " you may do what you want, but the others are definitely too young!" Hugh, Millard and Fiona start to complain. If something funny was happening here, they wanted to be a part of it.

"Oh Emma, let them try it. We're still here to look after them. It's a lot better than if they do it somewhere else. Who knows what can happen then, but here with us it's not so dangerous. Besides, it's my birthday today and I want to celebrate it properly!" Enoch argues.

"But it's illegal, Enoch," Jake intervenes," and not just for them, but for all of us!"

"Boo-hoo, Jake is scared," Enoch mocks. "Have you never tried some alcohol before?"

Jake hums and haws but doesn't answers. "See?!" Enoch says," and besides, it wasn't illegal where we came from and technical speaking, you're the only one that's too young." "He's right," Millard cuts in. "We're not really underage and therefore, it's not illegal."

"Please, Enoch," Olive still tries to convince him. "I would like to do it as well but it's too risky, the bird will find out." "Nonsense! If all of us keep our mouth shut, she won't know anything," he insists. "So who's in and who's out?" No one dares to say something, besides, they're all too curious to just leave.

"So that's a done deal then," Enoch concludes. "I suggest that we do it in your room," he says to the girls," it's the one that's the furthest away from Miss P."

The other children nod and together they tip toe into the girls room, Enoch with the bottle of wine in his hand.

They sit down together on the floor in the middle of the room, forming a circle.

"Oh, we forgot the corkscrew," Enoch notices and stands up to get one while the others get some cushions to sit on more comfortably. As Enoch returns, he opens the bottle and takes a sip before passing the bottle on. Taking a sip as well, Fiona grimaces. "Not too much," Emma reminds them. Fiona doesn't really like the taste of it and also Hugh screws up his nose. "And I've deliberately chosen a sweet one," Enoch laughs, taking the bottle back from Millard.

It doesn't take long for the seven of them to finish the bottle, so Enoch gets up to get another one.

"Are you sure, that's wise?" Emma remarks. "I think it's already enough and if we take more bottles, Miss P. will surely notice it."

"Nah! Don't be so scared, Emma," Enoch says. "She's got so many of them and I'll take one of the back of the cabinet." As quickly as he's gone, he's already back with another bottle. Quickly uncorked, he takes some big gulps and wipes his mouth afterwards, handing the bottle to Jake.

They pass around the bottle a few times more, Emma deliberately skipping the younger ones, who already had enough for her liking. She watches them closely, but can't see any signs that they are already drunk. Hopefully, this will turn out alright...

Emma herself can feel the alcohol in her body, and she thinks she can see it in Jake's eyes as well. It's not an unpleasant feeling, but she's still scared and feels bad for betraying her ymbryne. During the next rounds, Emma takes smaller sips. She wants to stay sane, to keep the others from doing something wrong.

After drinking some more, Hugh starts having the hiccups and from time to time a bee escapes his mouth.

"Hugh!" Emma exclaims, amused but angry as well. "Why aren't the bees outside where they belong?"

Hugh just shrugs. "Don't know, I guess I must have forgotten some this afternoon."

"That's not good at all," Olive says giggling. "What if Ethan had seen them during dinner," she imagines, not able to stop herself from having a laughing fit. Quickly, Enoch and Jake join her, as well as Hugh, Millard and Fiona. Just Emma tries to stay serious but fails as she sees a few of the bees wobbling and swaying through the air.

"Hugh, are you drunk already?" Fiona manages to ask in between giggles. "No," Hugh answers, still hiccupping. "I think your bees have a lower tolerance for alcohol than we have, though," Enoch assumes.

"However," Emma says, finally having regained her composure. "I think you had enough," she says to Hugh, who starts complaining immediately. "Oh, Emma let him," Enoch joins the argument," he's still ok, it's just the bees, who are drunk..." Enoch isn't even able to finish his sentence as he sees some more drunk bees flying against some objects in the room. At this Emma forgets about Hugh and laughs as well.

After a couple of minutes, Millard gets up, swaying a bit. "It's way too hot in here," he says and starts undressing. "Yuck, Millard!" Olive giggles, "We don't want you to be naked." But it doesn't change anything and soon Millard can't be seen anymore.

With time, it gets more quiet as Fiona and Hugh are getting more tired by the minute and soon they fall asleep next to each other.

Relieved, that there's now less to worry about, Emma relaxes and takes some more wine. Something that wasn't a good idea, as she notices only a few seconds later. Or rather Jake. "Emma, what are you doing?" he asks, watching her with amusement. Only then does she notice that she's starting to float towards the ceiling.

"Oops," she giggles and tries to get down again, but without success. "I can't control it and my shoes don't seem to be enough anymore," she starts to laugh, so Jake gets to his feet and tries to pull her back down, which isn't so simple when you're a bit tipsy as well. Finally, he manages to bring Emma back to the ground and lies down on her to keep her from floating away again. It seems that the alcohol in her blood messes with her peculiarity. Interested, Jake looks around and sees, that Emma isn't the only one who's changing. Olive, who is lying in Enoch's arms is starting to give off clouds of smoke and despite her gloves, her fingertips are producing little flames. Weren't Jake under the influence of alcohol, he would get alarmed. But now, he just gets amused by it and turns back to Emma. Being drunk and lying above her, makes him feel something he hasn't felt before so he starts kissing her wildly.

Enoch who has just taken another sip of the second bottle of wine stands up, putting it aside. He's slowly getting bored. "Hey you two, stop that," he says to Jake and Emma, nudging them with his foot. "Let's do something funny," he suggests. "Have you ever danced with a skeleton?" he asks amused.

Confused the other three teenagers look at him. Before they notice what he's doing, he's already left the room and returned with his skeleton and a jar out of his room.