I woke up screaming as I had dreamed that Mercy was being tortured while I couldn't stop the attacker and could only watch as she kept calling me to help her. A second later Bronwyn, Emma, Horace, and Miss Peregrine rushed in. "Are you ok?" asked Miss Peregrine with worry in her eye.

"What was it about?" Horace asked.

"Mercy was being tortured," I said expressionlessly.

"You saw it too," he breathed under his breath but I still heard it.

"What did you see?" I said as calmly as possible.

"I saw her being attacked by a man."

"Who was the man?"

"I'm not sure but I can project it if Miss Peregrine allows me?" he said, asking Miss Peregrine.

"Hmmm… it may just be a nightmare for Horace and you might just be having nightmares too as a result of the separation, but I will allow him to show you tomorrow if she isn't here by then." Miss Peregrine told me.

"And if I can get her back?"

"Then I may allow you too. However, if it is too dangerous, I will not let you go but I will get her myself."

"Ok."

Between Breakfast and Lunch, nothing happened. No Mercy and I was growing restless. "Miss Peregrine, I think she would be here by now!" I explained to her.

"She might be coming later or at night." she calmly said. I was worried for her safety. 'What did she have to deal with that would take her this long?' I thought, remembering the text messages we traded.

Supper came and left and she still wasn't here. I had persuaded Horace to show me the man. I was waiting for him in my room. I heard someone knock. "Come in!"

Horace entered with a glass lens in his hand. He quickly put it on his eye and projected his dream. He skipped past the clothes shopping and it wasn't until the end that the attacker's face was revealed. I gasped as no vision could prepare me for who I saw. I went to bed and formulated a plan.

I got up at 12 am sharp. I quickly put some clothes on. I jumped out the window and cushioned my fall with shadows and quickly shifted into shadow form which had been boosted by the surrounding darkness to allow me to carry a lot more energy and therefore stay as a shadow much longer. I quickly exited the loop and used the darkness to move quickly as I could shadow surf as I called it. It still took an hour and a half though. I had expected her house to be asleep but the lights were still on and I could see her parents in their living room. Without Mercy, which confirmed my suspicions. I had planned to get in stealthily but I dismissed that idea as both parents were up and I didn't know exactly where she was being kept. I did the most obvious thing do, which was knock. Her mother quickly looked through the window. "It's that boy, get the gun," she whispered to him though I could still hear through the shadows in the house. He opened the door, obviously hiding the gun behind his back. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Can I see Mercy?"

"Do you know what time it is?"

"I need to tell her something."

"Get away from us you demon!" I heard her mother exclaim from behind her father.

"What do you want?" He repeated his first question.

"I would like to see Mercy,"

"Well, she can't, she's sleeping."

"I would like to see Mercy," I said as intimidatingly as I could.

"Well she can't come out," he said. I could tell he was getting annoyed, "So GO AWAY!" he said as he pulled out the gun. Just then I let Corrow take over. He could kill without remorse. I didn't need to kill but I did need to lack remorse so I let him out with his word that he would try not to kill. He quickly drew out a shadow and used it to stab her father's arm, making him release the gun. He quickly used the shadows to pull it towards him and into his hand. He then used the shadow to knock them both out. I took over from there.

I went up to her room. I checked but no one was there. I checked their attic. No one. Kitchen. No one. I went to the basement and heard sounds coming from inside. The sounds of struggling. I tried to get in but the door was locked. I used the shadows to slide into the lock and unlock it.

What I saw there made me hate her family even more. I saw Mercy tied up and gagged with scars on her naked back. I tried to ignore the thoughts that would inevitably come. I needed to save her right now. I quickly untied her. And helped her get up while she used light to cover her modesty and of course we still both blushed. She quickly put some clothes on and I helped her out of the basement. Apparently, part of her peculiarity was mild healing as she seemed barely affected by her wounds. "Are you ok?" I asked for no reason.

"Oh, I'm doing just fine, how about you?" she replied sarcastically.

"I'll take that as a 'No, I am not ok'."

"I feel a bit dizzy but other than that, I seem fine. You know, except for the scars."

We then took some money from her parents so we could buy a bus then a ferry because as far as I was aware, she couldn't shadow surf. We arrived 3 hours later with me carrying her bridal style and before we could even knock, Miss Peregrine was there scolding me for leaving at night with no one knowing where I was going and other things until she suddenly stopped when she saw the state of Mercy who had passed out earlier from wounds. She quickly stepped aside so I could take her to my room to inspect the wounds. When we both confirmed that she just had the slash wound on her back, she called the Enoch boy for some reason. "He can deal and dress wounds effectively as he is around dead people a lot," she explained. I then remembered his peculiarity.

He quickly came to the room, mumbling something about being woken up and should be allowed to sleep later, until he saw the girl. He then left quickly and came back with some bandages and walked up to her to inspect the wound. "It's deep but will probably heal in a few days. How long has she had them?"

"A day I think."

"Well, she has healed exceptionally quickly, must have something to do with her peculiarity, So I think she'll just need a few hours but there will be a scar," he said solemnly then began to bandage the wound. "She may sleep in your room until she heals, however, I do not tolerate anything inappropriate happening, ok?" Miss Peregrine told me.

I heard Enoch snigger as I turned red. "Oh, shut up, you. I bet you do stuff with Olive." I snapped and I began to snigger as he turned red.

"Both of you be quiet, we don't want to wake her, now do we?"

"No, Miss Peregrine." we both said.