Emma burst into the house through the front door and caught her breath as she walked slowly down the hall to the kitchen. Miss Peregrine was always in the kitchen at this pre-supper time of day... and sure enough, when Emma reached the doorway, there she was, sitting at the kitchen table and smoking her tabacco pipe. Emma paused in the doorway for a moment, still breathing hard from running, and watched her. Miss Peregrine looked just the same as always. She didn't look as if one of her children was about to leave her forever.
Emma gripped the doorframe to steady herself, then stepped into the room. The kitchen just looked the same as always, too. A chicken was roasting in a pan inside the oven, and the bread basket on the counter was already full of hot rolls, with a dishcloth tucked over them to keep them warm until supper. Soon Fiona would be bringing in fresh vegetables from her garden. From the parlor in the front of the house came the squeals and shouts of the younger children as they played some game. After supper, Miss Peregrine might let them eat dessert in the consevatory, to watch the stars and the fireflies come out through the big glass windows, and then it would be movie time in front of the fireplace.
Emma had been burning to ask Miss Peregrine whether Abe was really leaving them, but now, suddenly, she couldn't find the words. She could only stand there in the kitchen, soaking up its pleasant, familiar smells and sounds. She forgot her anger at Abe as it occurred to her that if he really did leave them, then he would be leaving all this. He would be leaving the squat tea kettle and the flowers in the blue glass jar on the counter and the checkered curtains in the window. Every ordinary little detail of the kitchen suddenly seemed important and precious to Emma. Miss Peregrine's house couldn't have been homier or more pleasant. Abe couldn't be leaving this place. He just couldn't.
It was so impossible to believe that when Emma spoke, her voice was uncertain. "Miss P, Abe just told me he's leaving the loop?" She sounded more like one of the younger children than herself. "To join the army? But... I mean, he isn't really, is he?"
Emma knew the answer when Miss Peregrine didn't say anything right away, but still, she couldn't believe it. Miss Peregrine slowly put her pipe down on the table and looked up at her. Her black eyes were calm and very steady. When she was in her falcon form, her eyes were like curved glass, and Emma could see herself in them. She had never once, in all the years that she'd lived with Miss Peregrine, looked into her eyes and felt betrayed before.
"I didn't make this decision lightly, Emma," Miss Peregrine said slowly. "Neither did Abe."
"But-but how..." And suddenly, all of Emma's confusion was gone, and her anger came rushing back to her. "But you always said it's too dangerous for peculiars to live outside of loops," she said hotly, with more accusation in her voice than anyone had ever dared to show Miss Peregrine. "You've always said that!"
But Miss Peregrine, as unflappable as ever, just folded her hands on the table. "Yes, it is dangerous, Emma," she said calmly. "For some of us, it's extremely dangerous. But Abe and I talked about it, and he understands that there's going to be some danger involved in leaving, but he feels that his peculiarity would be more useful outside of a loop."
His peculiarity. The words rung like a shout in Emma's ears, even though Miss Peregrine hadn't raised her voice. His peculiarity — so that why Abe was leaving, and Emma supposed that she should've known it all along. Abe was leaving for the simple reason tht his peculiarity meant that he could.
Miss Peregrine religiously didn't allow her children to compare peculiarities, so you were never allowed to say that yours was better or worse than anyone else's. But there was no denying that Abe's peculiarity was very easy to live with. It was invisible. It was even useful — something that Emma's could never be. It would allow him to live among normal people without ever being branded a weirdo or a freak or worse. Before Emma had come to Miss Peregrine's house, the only way that she could live among normal people was by being in a circus.
Emma balled her hands into fists in frustration, and she was tempted to stomp her foot, but she didn't. Stomping your foot was much too childish, and besides, with her peculiarity, she would probably stomp a hole right through the kitchen floor. That's all your peculiarity is good for, Emma, said a spiteful little voice in her head. No wonder Abe is leaving you.
"I know you're going to miss Abe very much, Emma," Miss Peregrine said softly. "We all are." She stood up from the table then and moved towards Emma, raising one hand as if to comfort her, and that motion filled Emma with a sudden panic. Yes, of course she was going to miss Abe, but she wouldn't think about that, not yet. Feeling angry was better than feeling sad.
"But you can't let him leave! You're our ymbryne!" she yelled, waving her arms a bit. Miss Peregrine's black eyes narrowed, but Emma went on recklessly, "You're supposed to protect us! You're supposed t—"
"Miss Bloom," Miss Peregrine interrupted, raising her voice. There was an anger in her tone that Emma had never heard before as she went on slowly, "Do not tell me about the duties of an ymbryne."
Emma knew that she should stop, but she was too far gone to care. She was about to yell something else at Miss Peregrine, but before she could, the kitchen door swung open and Fiona came skipping in with a basket of vegetables in one hand, her braids bouncing out behind her.
"I picked those vegetables you wanted for supper, Miss P," she said brightly, setting her basket down on the table. But then she looked up and saw how Miss Peregrine and Emma were practically facing off against each other. Their posture and expressions made Fiona's smile wobble and slide off her face, like a sunbeam who'd accidentally skipped right into a thunderstorm.
"Wh-what's wrong?" she asked uncertainly, looking up at Miss Peregrine.
Fiona was still so young, so trusting, so sure that there was no question that Miss Peregrine couldn't answer or problem she couldn't solve. Emma could remember when she had been that way, too — of course, it had been just a short while ago — and she turned and stormed away before she could hear Miss Pererine's answer.