She Loved Her Brother
Chapter Ten:
"Has anyone seen Miss P?" Bronwyn asked the others. They all shook their head, but Jake and Enoch shared a look after what happened last night. "What's wrong, Bronwyn?" Emma asked, looking up from the book she was reading. "Nothing, I was just wondering if we were going to see the town today," she said, gesturing towards the Welsh town they'd stopped at. "Well, Miss P did say she wanted to buy some more clothes and get some groceries, so I would think so," Emma replied thoughtfully, but now that it had been mentioned, she realised she hadn't seen or heard from Miss Peregrine since yesterday. Bronwyn nodded and sat down next to Emma, curious as to what she was reading.
Enoch grabbed Jake's sleeve and pulled him roughly over to a corner without the others. Millard, noticing this, headed over to them. "What's going on?" Millard questioned. Having been there last night, he had also noticed their headmistress' absence. Using his logic, though, he knew she couldn't be too far and just wanted alone time. "Where's Miss P? I noticed Caul's gone, too. What do you think she did with him?" Enoch asked, looking between Jake and Millard, worry noticeable in his voice. "Hopefully she tossed him in the sea and let him sink," Millard said bitterly, his hatred for Caul getting the better of him. Enoch smirked and Jake rolled his eyes. "I doubt it, he was her brother, no matter what he did to her," Jake said.
"Are you listening to yourself?" Enoch hissed, "'what he did to her'. She has every right to hate him, and if she did toss him in the sea, then good on her."
"Toss who in the sea?" A voice asked. The three looked up and behind them to see the topic of their conversation- Miss Peregrine. She wore a dress they'd never seen her wear before, and they could only assume it was new. It was form fitting with long sleeves, and the skirt reached down to the floor. It had a 'V' neck that rested just above her cleavage. Unlike before, she had brushed her hair and it now flowed freely, the blue streak more noticeable as it blew with the wind.
"Miss P!" Millard exclaimed, "you look great!" He complimented. Miss Peregrine laughed, secretly touched. "Thank you, Millard, dear," she thanked, smiling. "Now, who were you talking about?" She asked, returning to her previous question.
"No one."
"Caul." Jake and Enoch said at the same time. They looked at each other, Jake frowning and Enoch glaring at the American. Miss Peregrine sighed, not only at Enoch's obvious dislike for Jake, but also at the topic. "You needn't worry about him anymore. But I can assure you, I didn't throw him in the sea," she said, a hint of amusement in her voice. The three nodded, trusting her. "I think it's time to go shopping, isn't it?" She asked, grinning.
"Yes!" Millard agreed, already running off to tell the others. Miss Peregrine gave Jake and Enoch a strange look that they couldn't quite place, before heading over to the other children.
oOoOoOo
Five hours later, the peculiar family had finished clothes and grocery shopping. They'd all returned to their ship and changed into new clothes whilst Miss Peregrine set the food in the cockpit. They'd avoided buying food that needed to be refrigerated as the ship didn't have anywhere to put it.
Now that the children had changed into fresh clothes, they decided they'd spend some time on the beach. It was a lovely beach, but the sand was mostly wet and the wind was cold, so they wore clothes suitable for the weather. Emma was afraid she would sink with her lead shoes, so the family stayed near the start of the beach to let Emma walk alongside them, but on the concrete path.
Emma's lead shoes made noises with each step she took, and Miss Peregrine found herself focusing on that rather than the hushed conversation she and Jake were having. With her improved hearing, it was sometimes hard to block out people's conversations (especially if they were nearby), but with a lot of practice, she mastered it.
The younger children, along with Enoch and Olive, were some ways up ahead, kicking the wet sand around and making a mess of their new outfits. Miss Peregrine couldn't find it in herself to care. After everything they'd been through recently, they deserved to be children again. Even if it meant kicking wet sand at each other on the beach at six pm.
"Can we, Miss P?" She heard. Turning her attention to Jake and Emma, she noticed the expectant looks. "I'm sorry, I fear I zoned out for a second," she apoligised, giving them a small smile. "It's okay. I was just asking if we could explore the town for a bit before we set off again," Emma repeated.
"Actually, I was thinking maybe we could live here. It's not that far from where we used to live and it's only a small town," Miss Peregrine trailed off, her eyes drifting back to the children that played up ahead. From the corner of her eye, she saw Emma and Jake share a look. "Are you sure, Miss? I mean, what about the normals?" Emma asked.
"Well, I'd start a new loop, that in itself would make things easier. And there's a nice little area up there," she pointed to the upper part of the town, "we could live up there." Emma and Jake looked towards where she'd pointed. "I guess it could be nice here," Jake reluctantly said. As someone who had grown up and lived in Florida all his life up until that point, the thought of living in Wales was odd to him. And in a loop, at that.
"I'm glad you agree," Miss Peregrine smiled. Signalling the end of the conversation, Miss Peregrine sped up and headed over to the other children. "That was... odd," Emma finally spoke after a few seconds of silence. "Yeah..." Jake slowly agreed, furrowing his brows.
oOoOoOo
Miss Peregrine walked through the small town in Wales, the full moon projecting a soft white light down upon her. Her barefeet, covered by her dress, padded softly on the grass as she made her way towards the cave at the edge of the beach.
When she reached it, she crouched down and placed the rusty lantern just outside the cave. The light from the lantern lit up the start of the cave, giving her a better view of inside.
She slowly made her way in, walking and walking until she'd almost reached the back of the small cavern. She stopped when she met with something. Something she'd put there the night before. With a shaky hand, she reached up and stroked it, running her hand across its features. Her bare feet were aching so she took a sat on the cave floor, focusing on that rather than the large thing in front of her.
Five minutes later, she finally looked back up. "I'm sorry," she said, "I'm terribly sorry this had to happen to you, Caul." She wiped a stray tear from her pale cheek. "My wards seemed to think I'd thrown you in the sea," she laughed, "but I could never do that to you. Despite what you may have said and done, you are my brother..." Miss Peregrine trailed off and turned to look at the cave ceiling.
"Do you remember," she started, "when we were younger and I first turned into a bird?" She turned to look at him again. "Of course you do," she laughed, "that's when you started to hate me, I think. I can never be sure because you always hurt me before that, but I think that's when you truly started to hate me."
"Sometimes I wonder why you wanted to be immortal. You hated living in Miss Avocet's loop. So why would you want to be become immortal?" Miss Peregrine sighed and lay down on her back, staring at the ceiling once again. She chuckled, "remember the first event we went to? With mother and father before they kicked us out? It was a disaster. I think maybe if I had stayed away from you, the event would have gone splendidly and father wouldn't have been mad at us. I'm glad Miss Avocet came for us soon after that. I don't think I could have survived another day in that dreadful house."
With a glance outside the cave at the full moon, Miss Peregrine sighed and closed her eyes.