Chapter 6
Part II
"Are you insane?" Emma exclaims. "What if Miss Peregrine saw you?"
"Calm down," Enoch answers annoyed. "She didn't and besides, I bet she's busy herself," he jokes winking at them. "Ugh, Enoch!" Olive says. "I don't think so, she wouldn't."
"That's what you think," Enoch laughs. "Have you heard something?" Jake asks curious, sitting up. "No, but that doesn't mean anything, does it," Enoch laughs. "No, Enoch," Emma cuts in, carefully getting up in a sitting position, holding on to Jake so she wouldn't float again. "Miss P. wouldn't do anything like that, she hasn't even kissed him before. I bet Ethan has already left," Emma insists. "How do you know?" Jake asks amazed. "I just do," Emma says but quickly changes the subject.
"So what is your plan with this thing?" she asks pointing at the skeleton. "I want to dance," Enoch explains smirking and places it on the ground before opening his jar. Gently he takes out a heart and places it into the ribcage of the skeleton. Shortly afterwards, it begins to move and asks Enoch for a dance, which he gladly accepts. Laughing, Enoch whirls around with it, sometimes hitting something in the way or stumbling over the sleeping children, while the others applauding during another laughing fit.
As Enoch gets dizzy and tired from dancing, he makes the skeleton stop and go into a corner of the room. Exhausted he sits down next to Olive who has stopped smoking. It seems that the effect of the alcohol is slowly wearing of for all of them. Mind you, they haven't drunk that much. Two bottles for seven people is just one glass for all of them and they haven't even finished the second one completely. And soon also Emma can sit without floating up again.
Slowly getting tired, Enoch gets up and carries Fiona into her bed and starts tidying up a bit. He wants to go to bed soon, and until then everything needs to look unsuspicious to Miss Peregrine, should she come into this room.
"Jake, can you help me bringing Hugh into his room," he asks and Jake nods, getting up. As quietly as possible they carry Hugh back to his room, where Horace is already sleeping, without any nightmares as it seems.
As the boys return, Emma and Olive are already on their feet, walking around frantically. "Hey what's up?" Enoch asks confused. Alarmed, Emma turns around. "Millard is gone? When was the last time you saw him?" she asks concerned. "Never!" Enoch jokes, looking back at Jake who laughs as well. "Not funny!" Olive exclaims. "Yes, this is serious. What if something has happened to him?" Emma asks. "Calm down, Emma, he must be here somewhere," Jake tries to reassure her. "He's probably just asleep in a corner somewhere," Enoch suggests.
"Even if you were right, we couldn't let him lie there. What if Miss Peregrine finds him?" Emma points out. "Emma is right," Olive agrees," we need to find him." Both girls go down on their knees and start crawling around the room feeling with their hands for Millard. Soon the boys join them as well. If it wasn't so serious, it could have been a funny sight, all of them crawling in circles.
Turning around to talk to Enoch, Olive hits the second wine bottle with her foot. "Oh shit," Enoch curses. A wine stain on the carpet would be impossible to hide from Miss P. But nothing happens.
"Has someone finished the wine?" Enoch asks confused. The last time he had used the bottle, there was still some wine left. All of the others shake their heads. "Shit," Enoch says again and they all start searching even more frantically.
"He's not here," Emma finally says what no one dared to say. The girls begin to panic. "Oh no, I knew it," Olive cries, "the bird will kill us". "Sh..." Enoch tries to comfort Olive. " We can still find him. I will go and look in his room, Jake in the kitchen and the bathroom and you in the living room," Enoch suggests and they all leave the room.
After looking everywhere they meet in the girls room again. Luckily, Fiona is fast asleep and doesn't wake up. "What are we going to do now?" Emma asks desperately. Both her and Olive have started crying long ago and doesn't seem to be able to stop. The boys try to comfort them as best as they can but don't know what to do either. "He doesn't seem to be in the house, what if he has gone outside, he could have been hit by a car," Olive fears. "No, no, don't think that," Enoch says, stroking her back. "If he really has finished all the wine, he won't be in the state to go far." "Besides, there aren't a lot of cars driving her during the night, I bet he's alright, we just have to find him," Jake ads.
"But where shall we look? We can't search the whole garden?" Olive asks. "We can't!" Emma states. "It's over. There's no way around going to Miss Peregrine any more. This has already gotten out of control, we can't risk losing more time and Miss P. will know what to do," Emma explains. Silently, the others hang their heads before they finally nod. "But who's going to talk to her?" Jake asks unsure. He's really getting scared now. Since his time with the peculiars, no one has done something bad like this and Jake doesn't know how Miss Peregrine will react.
"It was Enoch's idea, so I think he should go," Emma decides.
"You're right, it was my idea, but I'm not sure if it's such a good idea that I go into her room at night. I think it should be a girl and besides, we all did it together even if it was my idea" Enoch explains. "He's probably right, Em," Olive agrees. "We want Miss P. to be in the best mood when we tell her and if she's already angry at Enoch before he hasn't even said anything, it's not to our advantage."
Emma has to admit that Olive's right. "So it's my job again?" Emma asks rolling her eyes. "Seems like it," Olive says winking at her," but think about it, Miss Peregrine always reacts best when you talk to her."
It was right, Emma has the best connection to Miss Peregrine and everyone knows it. Giving in, Emma nods and slowly walks out of her room. During their little discussion, she has nearly forgotten about the serious situation they were in.
Carefully, Emma knocks at Miss Peregrine's door and waits for an answer. Her ymbryne was fast asleep but she wouldn't be Miss Peregrine if she wasn't upright the second she hears a noise. Hearing her answer, Emma gently opens the door and enters. Miss Peregrine has already switched on the lamp on her nightstand and is sitting on her bed. At seeing Emma's tear-stained face she gets concerned but doesn't get to say anything because Emma starts talking as soon as she has closed the door.
"Miss P.," she sobs," we're so sorry, we didn't mean for any of this to happen, I promise!" Confused, Miss Peregrine stands up and takes Emma in her arms. "What are you talking about?" she asks, now getting serious, and takes Emma's face in her hands to look her in the eyes.
"It's Millard," Emma continues, still crying. It's then that Miss Peregrine sees the slightly dazed expression in Emma's eyes and notices the smell of wine. Instantly her eyes change from a loving expression to a sharp glare.
"Have you been drinking?" she asks furious. "And what is with Millard? Keep talking!" she commands, shaking Emma by grabbing her shoulders. Immediately, Alma regrets using violence, but doesn't say anything. Something bad must have happened to one of her children and then she couldn't think clearly and can't waste time on anything else.
Still crying, Emma tries to explain everything. That Enoch wanted to have some alcohol for his birthday, that they drank two bottles and that Millard was nowhere to be found inside the house.
Nearly panicking, Miss Peregrine abandons Emma and storms out of her room. In the corridor, she meets the other three, standing in the corner, their heads lowered. She doesn't have time to reprimand them and she couldn't even trust herself to stay rational now. So she walks past them, outside the terrace door, into the garden.
Desperately, she calls for Millard but gets no answer. In her despair, she runs around, searching all the presumable places. After looking everywhere, she falls down to her knees, barely able to hold back her tears. She has failed them again. Why does this keep happening? She was distracted and had let her children out of her sight. And now her little boy is gone, helplessly lying somewhere, without any clothes in this cold night.
But she needs to keep a clear head. She has to find him, no matter how. Slowly, she gets up to her feet again and looks around. He wasn't at all the places he usually goes to, not even on the bench down the hill, where she has found him the last time.
Looking around, Alma tries to concentrate on her feelings. Somehow, she has always been able to feel Millard, even if she couldn't see him. Suddenly, she gets an idea and goes back to the terrace door. Carefully she bends down and feels for Millard next to the door. And finally she touches something.
Oh, thank god, it's him!
Millard must have gone outside, because he was feeling too hot and because he has already had troubles walking he sat down next to the door, who closed on its own.
Gently, Alma lifts him, to carry him back inside. He is already shivering and moans in discomfort as she moves him. Quickly bringing him into his room, she lays him on her bed and covers him with her warm blanket. Then she gets a bowl with water and a washcloth. Traversing the corridor, she sees her other teenagers, where she left them. Emma has obviously joined them and now they're all still looking at the ground.
Lost for words, Miss Peregrine gives them one of her death glares. "To your beds, now!" she says in her strict voice. "This will have consequences," she shouts before going back to her room. Quickly, the others disappear into their own rooms and go to bed immediately. They are relieved that Millard is back with them but are also afraid of tomorrow. They don't have much time to think about it, though, as their eyes quickly close and they're all asleep very soon, exhausted by the events of this evening.
The only one, who doesn't get any sleep this night, is Miss Peregrine. Millard starts moaning and tossing and turning shortly afterwards. As best as possible, Alma tries to comfort him, but since he hasn't spoken yet, she doesn't know what's wrong with him. She can roughly guess though how he must be feeling, if the things Emma told her are true.
With the washcloth she tries to ease his discomfort but soon, Millard starts throwing up as well. Miss Peregrine has anticipated it somehow, so as it happens she's prepared and turns Millard around, so he leans over a bucket. It goes on like this for half of the night until Millard finally falls asleep.
But Miss Peregrine can't find any rest. She jumps at any noise coming from Millard and even when he's sleeping peacefully, there are too many thoughts in her head for her to relax.
Luckily, the next morning is a Saturday, so they can sleep late. But at 9 o'clock, Miss Peregrine leaves her bed and gets ready for the day. Quickly, she puts on another dress and walks to the mirror to put some makeup on. There's no need to conceal the dark circles under her eyes though. Her children may see how they caused her to stay awake the whole night and worry. Quietly, she leaves her room, Millard still sleeping.
In the kitchen she starts preparing some breakfast, because she knows that the little ones will get up soon. As the first one's join her in the living room and start eating, she decides to wake up the older ones as well. It's exactly what they deserve after last night.
Not gentle at all, she gets them out of their beds and commands that they should come to eat breakfast immediately. Nearly all of them start groaning, none of them feel like eating. But Miss Peregrine insists and no one dares to say something, still fearing her anger.
At the table, Miss Peregrine takes a good look at all her children. Of course the four oldest look terrible, but she's sure that she can see signs of a hangover in Fiona's and Hugh's faces as well. None of them eat a lot during breakfast and Emma and Olive have to run to the bathroom twice. Jake and Enoch can pull themselves together but looking at them, you can see that they're close to throwing up as well.
Only the little ones are well and laughing as always, not knowing what has happened during the night. But Horace, who knows very well what went on, has to concentrate hard not to start laughing but can't stifle a tiny smirk. At seeing that Millard is not with them, he gets worried, though.
"Where is Millard, Miss P.?" he asks carefully. Miss Peregrine, who has just glared at the others, turns around and puts on a happy face. "Mr. Nullings has been feeling unwell last night and is therefore still sleeping in my room," she explains as if it was the most normal thing and keeps eating.
After the breakfast, Miss Peregrine sends the children outside to help with the work in the garden. The children who haven't done anything wrong, are allowed to play while the others have to mow the lawn and water all the plants. Of course, Miss Peregrine isn't done with them yet, she won't let them forget what they've done for a very long time.
In the meantime, she checks on Millard who is still sleeping in her bed. She can see that he has thrown up again, which worries her. He still doesn't seem to be over the worst. Again she wipes his face with the wet cloth, which makes him stir. Miss Peregrine tries to bite back her anger and comforts him. As he calms down again, she puts the cloth back in the bowl and stands up.
Alma leaves her room and walks to the telephone to call Ethan. She's still too worried about Millard, having no experience with alcoholized children. Hearing about her problems, Ethan promises to come as soon as he has finished repairing something on his boat. Quickly, Alma goes back to Millard to put on his overall. When Ethan comes, he shouldn't be naked anymore.
Afterwards, Alma joins her children in the garden, playing soccer with her little ones. She's not the most athletic woman but she can still keep up with her girls and the young boys, even though it's now getting really hard, as the twins have gotten so much better. From time to time, she would glance at her older children, who are still working. Even if she's still furious with them, it amuses her to see them struggling to maintain their composure and keep on working. When she sees them resting for a short time or throwing up again, she can't help taking pity on them,though.
But nonetheless, they have betrayed her and done something that she cannot forgive them for some time, so they have to learn it the hard way.
As Alma wants to go inside to prepare something for lunch, Ethan is already pulling into the driveway. Before one of the children can see them she opens the front door and lets him in. Smirking he greets her and enters the living room. "So, where's the bad boy, or at least one of them?" he asks.
"It's not funny," Miss Peregrine states and points towards her door.
"I'm not saying that in front of them, but have you never been young?" Ethan asks Alma laughing. Instantly, Alma shakes her head offended. "I can promise you, that I've never done anything like this," she says walking towards her room. "How am I not surprised," Ethan jokes following her with his bag.
In Miss Peregrine's bed, Millard is still sleeping. Gently, Alma approaches him and carefully shakes his shoulder. Immediately he begins to stir and then lifts his head, just to turn around to throw up into the bucket, still standing next to the bed.
"Oh, oh, poor guy," Ethan says and sits down on the edge of the bed. Alma is a little bit nervous, Ethan has never been this close to Millard. Hopefully everything will go well and he won't notice anything odd.
"Has he been drinking enough water today?" Ethan asks.
"Oh, no" Alma admits," he hasn't really been awake until now." "That's not good, he needs to keep up his fluids, especially when he's still throwing up," Ethan explains. "Oh yes, of course," Alma exclaims," how could I have forgotten something important like that?"
"It's ok, Alma," Ethan reassures her. "He can still do it now." Immediately, Miss Peregrine takes one of the glasses she has in her rooms and fills it with water from the sink in the corner of her room. She then hands it to Ethan who tries to make Millard drink. As Millard has taken a few sips, he places the glass on the nightstand and opens his bag.
"I'm pretty sure that he's fine and just needs some more rest and fluids, but to be save I'm going to examine him," Ethan explains, while getting his stethoscope and his blood pressure cuff out of his bag. First, Ethan checks Millard's pulse and blood pressure, which are ok. Afterwards, Ethan wants to unbutton Millard's overall, so he can auscultate his heart tones and his lung.
Immediately, Alma intervenes. "Is it possible to do it on top of his clothes, or at least slide it in between the buttons? He doesn't like to show his skin, you know," Alma tries to explain.
"Oh, ok, I forgot," Ethan says and stops. "But is he like this with his dermatologist as well," he laughs. "I'm just another doctor and have seen it all before," he explains. "I know," Alma tries to appease him. "And of course he's not like that when it has to be, but let's keep it as rarely as possible, ok?" she suggests, smiling her beautiful smile. "Of course," Ethan says and does it as Alma has suggested.
Eventually, he palpates Millard's stomach and then covers him again, gives him some more water to drink and then packs up his bag. "He's fine" he assures Alma as he stands up. "Just give him another day and he'll be back to normal." Thank you," Alma says and closes the door behind them as they leave the room.
"How are the others?" Ethan asks curious as they both sit down on the couch. "They're doing alright, I guess. They had to throw up as well but not as much as Millard and I believe it has already stopped. At the moment they're working in the garden," Alma explains, pointing out of the window.
"Oh, you're strict, indeed," Ethan laughs. "They had it coming," Alma argues. "Oh Alma, cut them some slack," Ethan says. "they are teenagers and every teenagers have their first bender. Some earlier and some later," Ethan explains. "And some never," he quickly ads as he sees Alma's glare. "But what I meant is that it's part of the process of growing up and they will learn their lesson, I'm sure of it," he tries to save himself.
"Nonetheless, they deserve a real punishment," Alma insists and afraid of another argument Ethan agrees. Together they talk about it until Alma calls in all the children to come inside to eat and drink something.
Finally feeling sorry for her older children, she tells them to sit down on the couches with some tea, while the others eat at the table. Afterwards, she sends the little ones to play in their rooms, because Alma wants to talk to the other six alone.
Together with Ethan they sit down and Alma tells them how disappointed she is in them. They have really betrayed her trust in them and have to earn it again before she will put her trust in them again.
"I've really thought, you were more mature," Alma tells especially Emma, Olive and Enoch. "This could have ended a lot worse!"
All of them keep their heads down. They know that they have messed things up and will accept all the consequences. Jake doesn't say a word, he has got too much respect for Miss Peregrine. He had endured speeches like that from his parents, especially during the last year, they had sat down together more often, but it has never been like this. In a different way, Miss Peregrine is so much more strict and intimidating. Besides, Jake feels that he still has to prove himself to her, being the newest of her children.
After 15 minutes of lecturing, Miss Peregrine finally comes to an end.
"So, I hope that you know that this was really bad and that you have learned your lesson. I don't want you touching my things again and not any other alcohol for the next years, have I made myself clear?" All of them nod, still not looking her in the eyes.
"We decided that as a punishment, you will help Ethan with all the work he has on his boat, in his garden and in his house for the next 2 months. And of course I don't have to say, that there won't be any parties, sleepovers or any other playdates. You will go to school and to Ethan but nowhere else, do you understand?" Again, all of them nod, but this time not without swallowing hard. It's really hard for Fiona to not see her friends and for Hugh to miss his training.
"Ok, then I have nothing more to say to you," Alma finishes," you may go to your rooms and sleep now, if you want. Tomorrow you will start working at Ethan's". With that all the children get up and slowly walk to their rooms, while apologizing once more on the way.
"Wow," Ethan says as they have left. "They really respect you, I wouldn't have accepted everything without any objections."
"How am I not surprised?" Alma repeats Ethan's previous comment. "They know exactly when to stop arguing," Alma explains still frowning a bit.
"Hey, you should stop being so angry," Ethan says and takes her hand. "You have shown them who's the boss, now you can relax again."
"And smile," he adds and starts tickling Alma, which finally changes her facial expression. Giggling, she tries to stop him and soon they lie on the couch together, both fighting to be on top of the other.
Exhausted they stop and call a truce. "You're already in a better mood," Ethan notices smiling. "But I've got to tell you something and I'm not sure if it lightens your mood further or will bring you back to your previous mood," he laughs. Expectantly, Alma raises her eyebrows, waiting for Ethan to start talking. "I guess you have enough of birthdays for now, but I'm turning 40 this year and I wanted to invite you all to my huge birthday party in a few weeks," Ethan breaks the news.
Suddenly, Alma begins to laugh uncontrollably, a reaction, that Ethan hasn't expected at all. After a couple of seconds, Alma can control herself again. "Will there be alcohol?" she asks still out of breath. "I'm not sure if my other friends would appreciate me banishing the alcohol completely but I promise to keep it far away from all your children," he offers, now laughing as well.
"Ok, then we'll accept your invitation," Alma assures him and gives him one of her lovely smiles.
Ethan stays for a bit longer and they keep talking about more pleasant things until he has to leave and Alma starts cooking dinner.
For the rest of the day, none of them sees the older ones again. Only Millard comes out of Miss Peregrine's room and joins them for dinner, but only eating a tiny bit.
As all the children are in bed, Alma sits down on the couch. She doesn't feel like drinking any wine today. She thinks about today's events and if she may have been too hard on her children. But then she remembers what could have happened and knows that this behaviour called for severe consequences. Her children will have to feel how wrong they behaved and Alma is sure, that her punishments will make them think about it. At the same time, though, Alma knows, that Ethan will be way too nice to them when they'll help him.
Relieved, that all of her children are well and nothing serious had happened to them, Alma goes to her room and quickly falls asleep.
The next weeks are pretty hard for all seven children. Millard heard about his punishment shortly before Ethan came to pick them up on the Sunday morning. From then on, they spend every minute of their free time at Ethan's and help him with really everything. From cleaning his house, to repairing his boat. But luckily, Ethan is really friendly, lets them take many breaks and jokes with them. Secretly he even tells them that he hasn't been much older when he drank too much for the first time, which makes them a lot more comfortable around him, had they been really embarrassed before.
It takes a few days for Alma until she finally stops being cross with them and can be as friendly as before. With the help of Ethan, she can kind of understand her children now and because they have realized that they have made a mistake, she stops being angry and slowly begins to trust them again. During their time with her they have always been good children and she thinks she can forgive them this one mistake during the last hundred years. Especially after all they have done for her in the last year.
As Ethan has no work left for them, they all sit down to talk about it again. All children apologize once more and promise Miss Peregrine, that they will never do something like that again. Alma who has had enough time to calm down, accepts their apologies and tells them that she's happy that they've learned their lesson. She says that she's ok with them stopping working for Ethan but that they're still grounded for 2 more weeks.
Knowing that it's only two more weeks and noticing that it's much less, than Miss Peregrine first announced, all of them hug their ymbryne who gladly hugs them back. Deciding that no one of them is angry anymore, they spend a lovely evening together. And for the first time in 3 weeks it's all normal between them again.