"Jake, it's time to wake up…" Miss. Peregrine cooed over the teen.
"…mhhmh..." Jake muffled into his pillow. "mh…really sick…" he whispered. His face went a sickly pale as he shot out from his bed, bumping the headmistress and ran down the hall into the bathroom slamming the door behind him. Miss. Peregrine followed and knocked on the door as Jake began to spew everything from the night before.
"Jake, are you alright?" she inquired. Her response was a gut wrenching gargle as the contents of the boy's stomach emptied. When Jake knew there was nothing left, he flushed the toilet, after washing his hands and face, he rinsed his mouth.
After Jake was finished, he unlocked the door to the Bird. Her face was stricken with worry. She led him back to bed and tucked him in. She felt his forehead with her hand and took note that he was sweating and warm.
"Are you feeling any better?" she asked concerned. Jake shook his head and turned away from her, unable to look her in the eye due to guilt over what had happened. "What hurts?"
"Everything…" Jake was hung over, a feeling he'd never experienced, sore because of the events that transpired during his and Emma's encounter, and severely dehydrated.
"Alright," she responded. "I'll just get you some medicine." The Bird told as she got up from her seat and went downstairs and into the kitchen where the rest of the children, occupying themselves with random things, were awaiting the few that still remained upstairs.
"Where's Jakey?" Olive asked as she held a doll, stopping Miss. Peregrine in her tracks.
"He's sick, I need to get him some medicine." She told the child that was just barely reached Miss. Peregrine's midsection, the child used to be smaller but since their days in the Loop in Cairnholm, she'd gotten bigger and was growing more each passing day, too quickly for Alma's liking.
Damn time all to hell…
"Oh, I don't like medicine or being sick." The child told her 'mother' honestly.
"Okay, I'll make you a deal, if you can be quiet, as Jake is really sick, you won't have to take medicine. How's that sound?" Miss. Peregrine asked shooting the child a wicked grin.
"Does Claire have to be quiet too?"
"Yes, she does, the same goes for the Twins." She explained as she brushed her finger on the bridge of the child's nose and walked away. Alma rummaged the cabinet and found what she was looking for.
When she gave Jake the medicine and a glass of cool water, she went to Emma. It was the same story, too sick to get out of bed minus the vomiting. To which she administered the same dose of medication with a fresh cup of water and the same concern over the child under her care.
Oh Bird, maybe the children are coming down with a bug…
Miss. Alma LeFay Peregrine was the master of time. She was able to bend it to her will, able to live in the same day forever even when there was no more Earth in which to walk, no more sun to shine and no more time to tell. She harnessed the power that drew from her fingers and bend the space around and reverse. It was quite a sight to watch a Loop reset.
Dependent on the surroundings, sometimes rain seemed to lift right off the ground, puddles once there no longer, birds that passed hours ago passed again in reverse, the wind sipped itself back putting fallen leaves in their place. In which the inhabitants would see again, all this and nothing else, the day never changed and tomorrow would never come.
They were condemned to live in a hell disguised as a safe haven.
Miss. Peregrine was the master of the universe's greatest enemy. However, she could not make it pass quicker, she was only able to reverse the day gone by. She could not forget her mother, who Alma found was in no way Peculiar. She could not forget the father, whom she never really knew but whose noble blood ran though her own veins. She would never be able to forget her brothers, whom left scars both emotional and physical. She was never able to forget the sister she might have had if there weren't complications with mother's health at the time but the person who she never wanted to forget was Olly, her Olly.
When he died, as all of her family had done, save for her children, he was placed in a waiting mortuary. When she received word of her grandfather's death, she left Miss. Avocet's academy and went back home despite the fact that she might age. She would have only aged a few years and she was fine with that, it made her appearance older than that of her brothers but she didn't care.
"Grandmama, where is he?" she asked storming through the door of the house she once lived in as a child. She looked around, the drapes were drawn, making her eyes adjust to the darkness and dust cluttered the furniture as well as Alma's nose.
"He's gone Alma; he's gone…" Philomena told her from the darkness.
"Your lying…" she cried in nothing more than a whisper. "show me…" she pleaded.
When they arrived at their destination, the pair stepped out onto the cobblestone pavement, Philomena requesting assistance from her granddaughter, Alma looked to the building that towered over her. The building was nothing compared to modern standards but nevertheless was larger even for the century in which she walked.
When they entered, Philly asked to see her husband.
"What is his name?" the man asked sitting behind a desk and when he looked up was swept with the enigmatic beauty of the young woman standing behind the elder. Alma looked around at the room, the walls were painted a blue cement with a grungy white border and a poor excuse for a man.
She continued to look and upon further inspection found the floor the be somewhat filthy as well.
"Absalom Peregrine." Philomena answered not receiving the full attention from the attendant. Alma noticed the man's stare but could not care anymore than was necessary.
"Of course…"
They reached their destination in an uncomfortable silence, just a perk to having a stranger stare at a mourning granddaughter and a wife who knew nothing of what to do as she'd spent the entirety of her life with Absalom. He died and she felt nothing, not a hint of remorse, not joy, no pain…it was simply nothing. She was not happy that he had died and she did not feel grief.