Jake's POV
"Okay Millard, Emma follow me" I say as we begin walking down the ramp and onto the pier. They follow me and we begin walking to the ghost train.
"Miss Avocet's loop entrance is certainly not what I expected it to be" I say honestly, taking in the view of the old fashioned carnival ride.
"Well...loop entrances can be anywhere, the one in London is in a subway tunnel" Emma explains to me.
"Wow" I say amazed. When all of this is over I'll have to remember to ask her about other loop entrances and their locations. We begin walking into the ghost train and I can't help feeling a little nervous.
'Now is not the time to get cold feet, they need you...Emma needs you' I think to myself.
"Are you sure this is it?" I ask Emma as we stop in front of two doors decorated with skeleton heads. She pushes the door open slightly and peeks her head out a little.
"I think so" she says before turning around to face me and Millard.
"Okay. Millard there's something I need you to do first" I start to say while turning to the invisible boy.
"Alright. I know" he sighs as he begins undoing his tie and taking off his hat. After he's finished undressing the three of us exit the ghost train, now in 2016.
"Look there's the tower! It's not far" I say, spotting the building on the other side of the pier.
"Easy for you to say, I'm freezing" Millard grumbles.
"Sorry Millard" I apologize. I really do feel bad, but this is necessary. Millard is one of our advantages. We continue to walk through the carnival set up on the pier and I can't help noticing the way Emma's eyes are lit up as she looks around in wonder. I smile to myself and look around a bit too, taking in the fun scenery.
'I definitely have to teach her more about my time' I think to myself.
"Ready?" I ask them as we're close to the tracks that separate us from the tower. Emma nods and we begin crossing the tracks, eager to get your ymbrynes back.
"All of the doors to the cellar are locked" I whisper to them. The three of us are currently crouched down, hiding behind some furniture.
"The only way to the ymbrynes is through there, it's backstage" I continue, looking straight ahead where Barron, a few of his friends, and four hollows are.
"How many hollows can you see?" Millard asks quietly.
"Four, that's good news" I answer. I watch as one of the hollows walks around a little.
"I think you and I have a very different definition of good news" Emma whispers nervously. I put my hand on her knee and give it a reassuring squeeze. She looks at me and I can see the fear in her eyes, even though she's trying so hard to be brave.
"It means Barron's other friends haven't arrived yet, so they haven't started the experiment. We're not too late" I explain quietly as I slowly remove my hand.
"Okay Emma, you ready? You know what to say" I say softly. She lets out a shaky breath and reaches down for hr shoes, but I stop her by grabbing her hand.
"You can do this, I believe in you" I say reassuringly as I gently rub the back of her hand. She blushes slightly and gives me a small smile, and I give her a smile of my own as I let go of her hand. She begins to undo her shoes and leaves the last ones buckled.
"Here Jake" Millard says as he hands me a long rope. I quickly wrap one end around Emma's waist twice and tie it. As Emma undoes the last few buckles I catch a little bit of what Barron is saying.
"Our brethren should be joining us momentarily" Barron says. Emma begins floating upwards and I hold onto the rope tightly, making sure she doesn't go too high.
"This is a day to-" he begins to say.
"Hey you down there!" Emma cuts him off confidently. Barron and the other wights turn to look up at her.
"We killed your hollow friend Mr. Barron, and now we've come for miss Peregrine. Bring her and all of the other ymbrynes to the end of the pier in five minutes or face the consequences" Emma finishes confidently and I begin to pull her down.
"These children must be as insane as their head mistress" Barron chuckles as he turns back to his friends.
"Still the hollows will be glad of a feed" he continues amusedly as he claps his hands once.
"Millard you know what to do?" I whisper to him. Instead of giving me a verbal response I hear him begin to quietly walk away. Emma and I stay in our hiding spot, hoping to gather more information.
"Where are you? I know you're in here somewhere" Barron calls out. In response Millard knocks over one of the decorative trash cans behind where the wights are sitting, causing the wights to look behind them in shock.
"Ah! good, listen to me. I want you to follow Mr. Archer and Mr. Clark They're going to take you down to the pier...for a little afternoon tea" Barron says.
"Mr. Archer and Mr. Clark gather the hollows and bring them down to the pier" Barron says to two of his friends.
"Those children killed Malthus?" one of the wights asks, and I can hear a little bit of nervousness in his voice.
"Barron's had it in for Malthus ever since he killed Abe Portman" one of the other wights answers his friend. I bite back a growl and make a fist with my right hand. Emma grabs it and starts rubbing it, trying to calm me.
'Now isn't the time to get angry, Emma and the others need you to have a clear head' I think to myself. I manage to calm down a bit and give Emma a small smile, she gives me one of her own before letting go of my hand.
"I tracked Abe Portman for months, all I needed was a few minutes to get the location of Miss Peregrine's loop from him. But no! Malthus couldn't wait" Barron says as he walks towards the wight that had just spoken.
"And instead I had to masquerade as a psychiatrist, for three weeks!" Barron exclaims at the end, holding up three fingers in front of him.
"In Florida! Have you ever been to Florida?" he asks the wight as he lowers his fingers, the wight nods 'no'. Barron looks around and seems to notice that his two friends haven't left yet.
"Did I not tell you to gather the hollows?" he says as he turns to them.
"What if it's a trap?" the female wight interjects.
"Of course it is Ms. Edwards, but what of it? A couple of children against four hollows, lets get this over with" he says to her.
"That's our cue" I say to Emma as I begin to pull her away. She didn't have time to put on her shoes so I'm carrying them in my free hand as we exit the building. I look behind me as I begin to cross the street, holding onto the rope and pulling it along as if Emma was a balloon. The two wights Barron had sent exit the building and I see the four hallows trailing behind them closely, breaking the glass on the door as they exit. Suddenly I feel resistance on the rope and see Emma caught on telephone wires.
"Jake I'm stuck" she says nervously as she frantically tries to free herself. A black car slams into one of the hollows as our enemies begin to get closer to us. Suddenly we hear a train begin to move towards us as I begin to try to pull her free.
"Hurry up" she says afraid. With a sudden rush of determination, I yank her down and pull her down a lot closer to me and begin to quickly move towards the end of the pier. The train begins to cross, preventing the wights and the hollows from following us.
"Don't worry I've got you" I say reassuringly as I lead her through the crowd, ignoring the gasps and murmurs coming from everyone that's watching us. Out of the corner of my eye I see her looking around at the carnival in wonder again, and grin at the amazement I see in her eyes.
'Hopefully one day I'll be able to show her more things like this, when we're not in danger' I think to myself.
"They're coming!" I call out to the children as I stop front of the ghost train. I quickly pull Emma down to the ground and hand over her shoes before beginning to untie her.
"Go to Olive" I tell her before I kiss her cheek quickly. She nods and we go into the ghost train. She separates from me as I go to the side that goes into 1940.
"Enoch now!" I call out from the doorway. He looks up at me and nods quickly. I quickly rush back into the side for 2016, grabbing the crossbow
"Snow now" I says quickly as I rush out of the ghost train. The younger ones and Victor immediately begin to throw snowballs from their spot on the roof of the ghost train, hitting the wight and the hollows. Now that they know where to aim they continue to pelt them with snow. Then they begin to throw beads and candy, which sticks to the targets.
"Great job guys" I call out to them proudly.
"Emma go" I say, gesturing to the hollows with my head. Olive removes the lid and Emma begins letting out a big puff of air, forcing the cotton candy to blow onto the hollows, which also sticks to them.
"Don't just stand there, get them!" the wight orders. The hollows begin to move forward when suddenly skeletons begin to run out of the ghost train. I turn and see Enoch cone out after them and see him watching in amazement as the skeletons he's controlling begin to fight the hollows. I watch as the whole scene plays out, the skeletons killing the hollows and the wight. Enoch and I move forward a bit and give each other a look as we watch the series of events. Bronwyn rushes onto the carousel and pushes one of the horses so it shoots into the hollow's chest and pushes it into the water.
"Great job sis" Victor says proudly. She smiles at him and rushes into his arms. We all quickly move away from the ghost train and stop once we're on the other side of the carousel.
"Great job guys, time for step two" I begin to say.
"Save miss Peregrine" Bronwyn says excitedly.
"Um that's sort of step three, first we've got to deal with Barron" I explain as I begin to move forward.
"C'mon" I hear Enoch say to the others, and hear their footsteps behind me. After quickly telling them the next part of the plan, we all quickly get into our places. As Barron finishes ranting to the female wight, Ms. Edwards if I remember correctly, Emma lets out a big breath and pushes Barron back into a board that is ironically shaped like a target. I shoot and the arrow lands inches away from the side of Barron's head.
'Damn it' I internally growl. I glance at Emma and see her gasping to catch her breath.
'My poor baby' I think to myself sadly. Wait baby, where did that come from? In my heart I know I love her, but with everything that's happened today I haven't had a chance to hear her side. And if she wants me when this is all over, she can have me, she already does. I snap out of these thoughts and refocus on the situation at hand.
"Hugh do it now!" I shout. Hugh opens his mouth and releases his bees, which begin to sting the wights. The male falls into the pool in the middle of the room and the female winds up on top of the trapeze set up.
"Get them!" Barron shouts at her. The female swings down with a bucket of knives and begins throwing them at us.
"Get down" I shout as I push Emma down as one of the knives fly towards us.
"You think you can stand in my way? You Jake, content to age and die as if you had not the gift of peculiarity at all?" Barron asks as he begins to move forward. Enoch rushes at him and Barron hits him upside the head, knocking him to the ground unconscious. Barron chuckles at this.
"I am a higher being" Barron says as he holds his arms out grandly.
"I hold the secret to eternal life" he continues, moving his hands so their against his chest.
"Sorry to interrupt" Olive says from behind Barron, putting her hand on his shoulder for a few seconds. This causes his jacket to catch on fire. Barron lets out a startled yelp and begins to take of his jacket. He swings the burning material at Olive and she ducks.
"Bronwyn, Victor" I call out softly as I begin to reload the crossbow. They both nod at me from their spot in front of the seats and begin picking up one chair each. I shoot the crossbow and once again I miss. Barron looks back as the arrow sails past him. This time I do let out a growl and begin to consider just pulling my grandfather's pistol out of my backpack, but I know that's too risky right now.
"Huh. You've missed me again Jake, I take it accuracy is not your peculiarity" Barron jokes as he looks back at me, that's when Bronwyn and Victor throw their chairs at Barron, knocking him to the ground. I give them a quick smile before refocusing on Barron. Barron snarles angrily as he gets back up. I try to aim the crossbow again but he stretches his arm and knocks it away from me. I rush at him and he punches me in the chest, knocking me to the ground. I hear Emma gasp from her hiding spot and Barron chuckles as he looks down at me.
"Abe was a much worthier adversary" he says before walking past me and moves towards the door leading to the basement. My chest is still in pain from earlier and the blow just made it worse.
"Don't let him get to the birds!" I groan out as I roll onto my stomach and push myself up slightly with my arms. Horace steps in front of him and holds up his monocle, shooting a bright light at Barron. Barron lets out a few agonizing cries of pain which quickly turn into chuckles. Horace puts down his monocle as Barron continues to chuckle as he moves towards him. Barron puts his hands on Horace's shoulder and I see Horace get a little nervous.
"Ohh hmmm you must get me in contact with your tailor" Barron says before moving past Horace and continues to move through the doorway.
"Ymbrynes, ymbrynes here I come!" Barron says as he begins moving through the hall. I groan in pain and force myself to get up and grab the crossbow before moving towards Emma, who immediately rushes to me and follows me into the hallway. We quickly move down the stairs and I shoot at Barron's back, and wouldn't you know it? I miss.
"I'll hold him off as long as I can" Emma says, putting her hand on my shoulder and gives it a soft squeeze as she moves forward.
"Jake when are you going to realize you're a terrible shot with that thing?" Barron taunts as he turns around to look at us. Emma blows and pushes Barron back against the wall.
'That's my girl!' I think to myself proudly.
"Get the others. I'll meet you at the loop entrance" I promise her as I move towards the door Barron had been standing by. I quickly enter the room and lock the door behind me. In the center of the room there are two cages, hooked up to some sort of machine. The bigger of the two cages holds about six or seven different birds captive, the smaller cage only holds one bird, miss Peregrine.
"Don't worry I'll get you all out of here" I say as I quickly rush over to the cages. After trying a few times to figure out how to unlock the door I begin to become very impatient. I hear wood being chopped from the door and hear Barron growl.
'Oh what the hell' I think to myself before shifting my arm so it looks like a hollow's arm. I hide it behind my back so he can't see it.
"Find your children, create new loops" I say quickly, swiping at the door of the large cage a few times, creating a large hole in the cage. The birds all fly out just as Barron gets the door open. They all fly through the windows on the ceiling, off in search of their children.
"So Jake I see you've inherited your grandfather's peculiarity. You're just as annoying as he was" Barron growls as he moves towards me.
"Speaking of Abe. If you should see him in the afterlife, give him my regards" Barron continues. I quickly move to the smaller cage and rip it open.
"Please we can't risk him taking you again" I say pleadingly. Miss Peregrine flies out of the cage and swipes at Barron's face before exiting the same way her fellow ymbrynes had. I shift my arm back to normal.
"You've lost miss Peregrine, you've lost everything. It's over" I say firmly, trying one last time to get him to see reason. Barron snarles and moves forward, grabs me by the shoulder and shapes his arm into an axe.
"Jake?" Emma's sweet voice emits from the hallway. Barron gives me an evil grin and shifts so he looks just like me.
"Jake?" I hear Enoch call out.
"Jake?" I hear Emma call out nervously, right outside the door. I see her push the door slightly so it opens and her and Enoch look at the two of us in shock.
"Emma! No wait look, that's not me that's barron" I say, taking a few small steps towards her.
"Don't listen to him! That's Barron" Barron says, taking a few steps forward.
"No I'm Jake, that's Barron" I argue. Enoch gets annoyed and grabs the forgotten crossbow, I guess I had set it down when I locked myself in here.
"Well I'm a better shot than Jake so neither of you move until we sort this" he says, aimng the crossbow.
"Listen to me I'm Jake, that's Barron. I grew up in Florida and I wanted to be an explorer. I thought nothing would ever change because I was ordinary" Barron says.
"That's Jake. Get Barron" Emma says, and Enoch aims the crossbow at me.
"No wait! I told him this, he was my psychiatrist for three weeks" I say alarmed, holding my hands up in front of me in a non threatening way. I gulp and that's when an idea pops into my head.
"Emma do you remember the last thing I said to you before I lost consciousness after saving Victor?" I ask her, causing her eyes to widen. There's no way Barron knows this.
"I said 'dying doesn't seem so bad, as long as your face is the last thing I see' and I still mean that Emma" I say sweetly, looking right into her eyes.
"Jake" Emma chokes out, tears pooling in her eyes.
"It's me" I say soothingly, flashing her a small smile. Suddenly Barron lets out an angry snarl and shifts back before he begins to charge at Emma. I stop him by turning into the one thing that peculiars and wights are afraid of, I turn into a hollow