Author Note: Hello, my dear peculiar readers.

I try to update this every week but sometimes, it takes me so long to finish a chapter cuz I don't want to rush it. And I'm so sorry for the cliffhanger in the previous chapter. :-) But I think it's good for you to have some, I borrowed this word form Yuna McHill, delicious nervous.

First of all, thank you for every review and every kind word and every suggestion. I won't go this far without your support.

For riso, I'm so honored that this is the first fanfic you've commented and reread. Thank you so much.

For Miss P, I'm sorry that it almost caused you a heart attack ;-). I'm glad that finally what you're waiting for has come true! Thanks a lot.

For some guests including I Ship It who wanna see Enolive moment, I give you some in this chapter. Hope you'll like it.

And yeah, as always, please talk to me after finishing this chapter. We, authors, get nothing from writing this but all we want is to share our happiness with others and that's more than enough. Everything you say means so much to us and it's like the reward that we're waiting for. I love to hear from you and I mean it. You all are such amazing readers!

Oh, before you begin, I just want to mention first that I knows nothing about blood loss or any medical treatment here. I tried to search for some information but again, I've never had firsthand experience, so it might not be totally correct. Just so you know.

And another thing, I'm sorry if sometimes, I add some details or background stories of some characters here. I know it might be a bit off-topic since this is about Claire, but I think it's can strengthen some feelings or some bonds between the characters more or less. Besides, I think those stories are more powerful and meaningful here than being just a one-shot.

Okay, I'll let you go now and hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I do!

Chapter IX

They all are quite certain that Miss Peregrine doesn't stop the clock since she definitely can't do that right now. Still, time just stops ticking itself. Then, as if the clock's hands have moved again but very slowly, everything around them just continues but in the very strange way like they're looking into the zoetrope.

They see Little Claire's eyes gradually widen, that sweet big blue eyes which were once filled with joy, not sadness and fear like this. They see tears welling up in her eyes and then, dripping silently down her cheeks. They see her dolls slipping out of her hands and lying there on the floor beside her, but the girl doesn't care.

The only thing the little girl cares now, the only person she's staring at, is Miss Peregrine, the woman who always gives her a tender smile, the woman who always wipes away her tears in her bad days, the woman who has given her the best things in her life, the woman who is now lying there, on Enoch's arms, because of her. This is all because of me!

'Claire..,' Emma is the first one who can talk, her voice is so hoarse that it sounds unfamiliar even to her own ears. 'Listen, Miss P is-'

Claire's face twists and like someone has fast-forwarded the time, the little girl runs pass them to her room and closes the door even before every child blinks their eyes.

'Claire!' Hugh calls the little girl, trying to open the door but he can't. 'She locked it.'

'Claire!' Fiona tries but there's no answer.

'Move away!' Bronwyn says and lifts one of her legs up, ready to kick the door open.

'Don't!' Horace stops the girl. 'You will frighten her.'

Bronwyn bites her lip. Giving it a thought, yes, the last thing Claire wants now might be her door flying across the room. Besides, it could hit her, who knows?

'You two bring Miss P to her room. I'll deal with this.' Emma tells Enoch and Olive before turning to the invisible boy. 'You, too, Millard. Take care of her! Bring her back to us!'

Millard nods.

'Don't worry, Emma. She'll be fine.'

Tears sting Emma's eyes but the girl tries to hold it back. The last words she said to Miss Peregrine echo in her heart, you should ask yourself that. Her voice was so cold but at that time, she didn't care. She didn't even give a damn what Miss Peregrine would feel or think. She knows it's just a cut, and Miss Peregrine is very strong. Her headmistress will be just fine like Millard said. Still, she can't help thinking about the worst case scenario. What if something wrong happens, what if she has lost too much blood, what if she can't...make it?

Emma knows she is panicking too much but she can't help herself. Miss Peregrine is everything to her. Her ymbryne is her life, her world. The girl comes to understand at last why Miss P has to worry too much all the time, because if it's someone you love most, 'what if' can bring so many frightful possibilities up. It doesn't matter how impossible those possibilities seem to be. As long as they can happen, you can't put your mind at rest. She can't and that's why she has no right to force the woman who has given all of her life for her children for almost a century to do so. She should have understood Miss P. She shouldn't say that. She shouldn't hurt who taught her what mother's love is.

Millard tabs the teenage girl shoulder as if he knows what she's thinking and then, the invisible boy follows Enoch into Miss P's bedroom.

Enoch doesn't know what to do or, actually, what he's doing. He hates admitting that but it's true. He just enters the room and stands there, in the middle of it, his eyes lock on Miss Peregrine's pale face.

'Enoch, lay her down oh the bed!' Millard who has just closed the door yells at him. The boy knows that he should not yell but this is not a proper time Enoch can go blank. He needs him. Miss P needs him. Everyone needs him.

Enoch nods, still confused, but at least, he can finally find Miss P's bed and lays her down there. He still doesn't really know what he's doing. Everything is blurry like he's looking at a soaked photograph. The only thing he knows is, in his hand, he's holding something very cold, a stone, maybe. No. It's so soft. Definitely not a stone. Then what?

Snow?

Snow in his hand?

'Go away!' Younger Enoch shouted at his new headmistress. He had just moved to her loop and he didn't like her at all.

'Then, get inside,' Miss Peregrine told him. 'Isn't it freezing out here?'

He frowned and looked away. How stubborn she is! He didn't want to go inside that stupid house and no one, even her, could change his mind.

Several hours passed and it was snowing heavily. He wore a very thick coat, still he was freezing and his limbs were so numb that he could barely move them. He thought she had been gone already since it was so cold and she wore no coat.

They all are the same. Everyone hates me. Everyone will leave me sooner or later. They all will leave me. They all.

But she was there, when he turned to see her. She still stood there calmly though her lips turned blue. She was waiting for him. She didn't leave him despite snow and coldness. She was really there!

'Take your time. If you're ready to get inside, just let me know. I can wait.' She winked. He swore he could see snow falling from her eyelashes. It was everywhere on her raven hair as well.

'Enoch.'

He hears someone calling him from somewhere far away. Who? Who is calling him?

'Enoch!'

The voice is so sweet and sounds so familiar. He has heard it for so long. But who? And where is she?

Olive gently tabs his cheek. Looking into his eyes, she knows that her Enoch has gone somewhere, somewhere faraway from here. Dream, perhaps. Or, the past. She can't let him do that now. Enoch has to come back to her.

'Enoch,' she whispers in his ear and looks at him again.

The girl is so relieved when his brown eyes see her.

'Are you okay?' She asks, worrying he will be gone again.

'I'm...' Enoch stutters. 'I'm...okay.'

The boy looks down to see what is in his hand. It's not snow. It's Miss P's hand. Her very cold hand. As cold as snow. Her blood is upon his palm. Her very red blood is on his hands.

'I said go away,' He told her again, but deep in his heart, a little light of hope that maybe, he could be loved again had been lit. He tried to put it out but her presence kept lighting it up.

'I won't, if you don't get inside first.' She told him, rubbing her arms to get warmer.

'Huh! So that one day I will be kicked out again?' Enoch barked back and that got her attention. He thought this time she was going to leave him for good, but she knelt down and looked into his eyes with her piercing green ones.

'I won't let anyone do that and I'll never abandon you,' she gave him a smile that was warmer than any fire in the fireplace. It warmed his whole heart. 'You have my word.'

He stared at her, chewing on what she had said.

'You won't leave me?'

She nodded.

'Even if I misbehave?'

She chuckled and said,

'Well, no, I won't, but I'm afraid you might have to be punished for that. Like grounding, perhaps.'

'I love playing with dead things. Those ymbrynes are afraid of it. They hate what I can do. Will you?'

'I'm sure they can be a bit overreactive sometimes, but I don't think they really hate what you can do. We, ymbrynes, celebrate every peculiarity of our children no matter how peculiar it is. If yours has something to do with dead things, so be it. I'll love to see what you can do.'

'You won't.'

'Let me prove it then, will you?' She reached out her hand to him, waiting patiently for him to give her a chance.

And he took her hand. He took her hand and that changed everything. From that day, he has never been alone again. He has his own family. Brilliant sisters and brothers and one super cool mother.

'Enoch!'

That voice again. Her voice. Not Miss Peregrine's. Hers.

'Enoch! Come back!'

And he feels her warm hug. Her arms are so warm. Her chin is on his head. She's rocking him gently.

'Come back, Enoch.'

And he blinks. Miss P's hand is still in his and Millard is looking at him, waiting for him.

'He's back!' Millard says.

Olive lowers herself and cups his face. She's so glad when his eyes can see her again. She knows that outside her boy may appear so tough and even, mean, but inside, he is just a boy who loves his family with all his heart. Now, with his mother, and hers and others', in this condition, she isn't surprised at all why her boy is off the track. But he can't. And if there's anything she can do best, it is calling him back.

'Enoch,' she says softly as if she's afraid she will frighten him, 'we need you. You must be on your toes now. She needs you Enoch. Miss Peregrine needs you!'

And as if the ymbryne's name has some magical power, Enoch can feel his whole body again. It's like that day when he took Miss Peregrine's hand and his frozen heart was melted. Her smile gives him the strength to move on, to keep going, to be ready for anything he has to face because he knows that she will always be there. For him. And for everyone here.

'I'm okay, Olive.' He takes a very deep breath. His brain begins to function again. 'Thank you. I'm okay.'

Olive gives him a smile and much to her surprise, he smiles back. Not a broad and cheerful smile, of course, since he's Enoch. But just seeing his thin lips turn upward is everything to her already. She brushes his soft cheek and then, rises up.

'Good.' The girl turns to prepare equipment for Enoch.

'I think that cut needs to be stitched. Should we call a doctor?' Millard suggests.

'Yes, it needs to be stitched but no, for the latter question. I will not let any ordinary bastards touch my ymbryne. Besides,' Enoch grins while getting a needle from Olive, 'I'm afraid right now you're talking to the best doctor you can find on this island, brother.'

'Claire,' Emma feels like she has been knocking this door forever. She dies to be there with Miss P but it seems like Little Claire is her first priority now.

'Claire.' So does Horace. The boy tries to peek under the door but sees nothing.

'Should we tell her to move away and kick the door?' Bronwyn suggests. Claire's dolls are in her strong arms. The girl doesn't want to destroy her friend's bedroom, of course, but since her friend doesn't say anything, she begins to worry.

'I still think we shouldn't do that, Bron,' Horace insists.

The twins speak something in their tongue. It sounds like they also agree with Horace. They screech 'Claire!' again and again and knock the door simultaneously.

'Claire, it's not your fault.' Fiona is knocking at Claire's window outside. She has grown some thick vines, so tall that Miss P might be shocked if she saw Fiona standing at the top of them. But they are quite no use for Claire has pulled her curtain shut.

'MY BEES CAN'T FIND THE WAY IN!' Hugh shouts from the garden down there and Fiona gives him a nod.

'Claire, please, just come out.' The girl begs her little sister. 'Miss P will be okay.'

'YES! MISS P WILL BE OKAY.' Hugh cups his hands around his mouth and shouts at the top of his lungs. 'SHE IS VERY STRONG. SHE WILL BE FINE!'

In the bedroom, Little Claire can hear her friends calling her. But she doesn't want to answer them. Yes, Miss Peregrine has taught her that polite persons do not ignore other people's calls, but Claire just wants to be alone in this moment. She buries her face in her arms, pulling her knees to her chest. Tears continue to flow and rob her of the ability to speak or even, to breathe properly.

Fiona said it was not her fault, but it is. She knows it is her fault. Miss Peregrine fell because of her. If she had not tried to get that cup, nothing like this would have happened. Miss P wouldn't have to be worried. Miss P wouldn't get cut and Miss P wouldn't pass out. It is all her fault.

Hugh said Miss P would be okay. Yes, Miss P is very strong, Claire knows that, but her face when Enoch carried her is so pale and her hand, her wounded hand, blood is dripping from it. That picture haunts Little Claire. Even when the girl shuts her eyes, she can still see Miss P's blood. She has hurt the woman she loves most. And there's nothing she can do to atone for what she has done. There's no way out of this.

No, actually, there is something she can do. Something she deserves since she has done a very terrible thing to the owner of the house. Some punishment that a bad girl like her should get.

I'm sorry, Miss P. I'm sorry.

Miss Peregrine is going to kill him for sure when she wakes up. That's is what Enoch thinks when he washes his hand after wrapping a bandage around her stitched cut. He is satisfied with his work, thanks to those dolls in his bedroom and his peculiarity. The boy is quite happy since now, his headmistress's cut has stopped bleeding. He touches her forehead to check the temperature. It seems like her fever hasn't gone yet, but he has just given her a spoonful of medicine. It may take some time. The boy frowns and stands up.

'I'll go get Emma so you both can change her dress. Find something more comfortable than what she's wearing, will you?' He tells Olive and she nods. 'Let's go Millard. The ladies need some privacy.'

'Alright,' Millard answers and turns to see Miss Peregrine for the last time. She looks a bit better, perhaps, although her face is still quite pale. He brushes a strand of dark hair from her cheek. His ymbryne is always beautiful no matter how messy her hair is. He knows if he doesn't do this now, he may not have a chance to do it again, so he leans forward and gives Miss P a kiss on her cheek.

'Please, wake up soon, Miss P. We miss you.'

'You will change your mind when she wakes up and see what we have done.' Enoch assures him.

'You did it. I didn't.' Millard gets up and follows the older boy out.

'It's your idea. Olive heard that as well, I'm sure.' Enoch grins.

'But you did it!'

No cliffhanger this time, right? I don't want to hurt you every time I update so, yeah, please, say something. Your review can really drive me to continue this beautiful journey.