Hi humans…
It's been quite a while since I posted a new chapter on this story and I bet some people will be wondering what Fiona's secret is, so now I will tell you! Please review, and enjoy!
Everyone's afraid of something:
It was about a week after the thunderstorm, and Miss Peregrine had decided to take the children on an outing as a reward for how good they'd all been recently. A little while ago, Miss P had done a big favour for someone in the village who happened to own a reasonably nice small yacht, and had said that she and her kids were welcome to take it out on the sea for a trip one day. So, Miss Peregrine asked her, and she said that it was fine to take her children on a day trip on it. Everyone was ecstatic, except Fiona, who seemed a bit apprehensive.
The day of the trip, everyone woke up at 8 am, got dressed, packed a picnic, and trooped off to go to the harbour where the boat was docked. It was a glorious day (much like the day of the thunderstorm, except Miss Peregrine assured everyone that there wasn't going to be a storm), and the boat matched the weather perfectly. It was gleamingly clean and white , and the glass in the portholes was spotless. There was a roof over the bit with the steering wheel (I know nothing about boats, sorry), and the top deck had shiny wooden planks for the floor and comfy looking beanbags to sit on. Underneath, there was a cabin with squishy sofas and chairs, a bookcase, and lots of board games.
The kids excitedly boarded the boat, set it off into the sea surrounding Cairnholm, and spent the morning relaxing on the top deck or playing board games in the cabin (this was mostly Enoch, although Olive did manage to persuade him to come outside for a bit). The older ones took turns steering the boat. Fiona was still on edge, and Hugh kept asking if she was okay over and over, but other than that, the morning went off without a hitch. It was after they had lunch, however, when things got interesting.
They were just packing things back into the picnic basket, when the boat rocked into a patch of sea that was a bit rocky. It wasn't dangerous, but just to be safe, Miss Peregrine made everyone go and wait in the cabin for her to steer them out of the waves. The kids obediently trooped down to the cabin and settled down on the chairs and sofas. Well, almost everyone.
When Fiona got into the cabin, she backed into a corner of the room, as far away from the portholes as she could get. Her eyes were wide with terror, and she was whimpering and shaking and pulling the ends of her plaits. She was so scared that the pot plants that adorned the table in the middle of the room began to droop and go slightly brown. Everyone was bound to be a bit nervous, but Fiona was getting dangerously close to a full-blown panic attack. The boat rocked again, and Fiona gave a muffled scream and sank down on to the floor, pushing herself back further into the corner of the room.
Everyone stopped talking and looked at Fiona with worried expressions on their faces. The flower child was normally so brave and confident, it was particularly worrying to see her this scared. Hugh suddenly remembered what she had told her when he was scared of the thunderstorm: she was scared of boats! Well, most boats, she was fine on the Augusta when they went to rescue Miss Peregrine from the wights because with a boat that big, you can't really feel the waves. Hugh slowly went over and sat next to Fiona. Some of his bees landed on her hair, and one landed on her nose. They loved her because she smelled like flowers. Fiona looked up at Hugh and gave him a small smile.
"Why didn't you just tell Miss P that you're afraid of going on boats?" Hugh asked her gently
"It's like you with the storms, I thought it was stupid. Anyway, I thought it might not be so bad once I was actually on the boat." Fiona replied sadly
"Hey, if I'm allowed to be scared of storms, you can be scared of boats. A fear of boats is way more rational than a fear of storms anyway."
Fiona giggled. "Storms can be pretty dangerous too, ya know."
"But only if you're moist or standing under something tall. Boats are way more dangerous."
"You know, if we keep arguing, we're going to end up both being scared of boats and storms."
"Hmm, you're right. C'mon, let's go and sit on the sofa instead of getting sore butts here on the floor." Hugh led Fiona back over to the sofa and they snuggled close to each other. The plants on the table had resumed their normal glorious state, and there were a few more blossoms on the red rose cutting that weren't there before.