I took to the skies!
Flying wasn't that difficult, I got the hang of it quite easily. It was turning in mid-flight that I had issues with. As I went to turn, I must have been leaning onto my wing too hard, for my body would scoop toward the ground. I would quickly balance myself and let the turbulence carry me swiftly over the welsh countryside. I had no idea where to begin looking for Miss Peregrine. The gun had sounded a few times to my northwest, so, leaning slightly onto my left wing, I headed in that general direction.
As I flew, I let out many screeches and caws. Miss Peregrine had to hear me!
I kept decently low, but not so low that I couldn't pull up and ascend quickly if need be. The sun was almost directly above me; it was around eleven am. The treetops began to open into small fields, I was on the complete opposite side of the island as Miss Peregrine's house. I took it to be at least twenty miles away. It was a distance that could be taken by car easily in under forty-five minutes, but it would take two days to walk, and an hour and a half by flight, considering there was no issues such as low clouds or planes to avoid.
I counted many little fields. In a few of them I saw farmers plowing with steel horse-drawn plows. I would have been having the time of my life I wasn't so worried for my headmistress' life.
I circled the groups of fields quite a few times with no leads. I was practically about to give up before my wings got too tired. I swooped lower so I could get a better look.
I began to hear a bunch of human voices. It was followed by a falcons call.
Miss Peregrine!
I stuck close to one of the bigger fields. I noticed a group of humans- or Wights, have you- begin to march across the unplowed soil. The falcons scream was coming from this group of particular people. Deciding to risk things, I swooped as low as I could without getting noticed. It was then I saw her.
Miss Peregrine was in her human form. She was surrounded by I would say twenty or more men. She had her hands bound behind her by a piece of rope and two men each had an arm of hers, leading her way. Keeping her air about her, she obediently followed. She sounded her falcon call again.
I answered her.
When she heard me answer, she wriggled free enough so she could look up and see me. Happily she answered me again.
No one bothered to look up at me. They probably thought that Miss Peregrine was crazy. But she indeed was not. Swooping a little lower, I felt my stomach drop when I saw one of the men jerk on her in a cruel fashion. I wasn't close enough to hear what he said to her, but I heard Miss Peregrine cry out when he did it. She then began to fight. I swooped even closer.
A man raised his hand and it ripped across Miss Peregrine's face. She cried out again and fell on the ground. He had hit her so hard that her hairpins fell out and her hair was down.
"Get up, wench," hissed the man.
She couldn't struggle to her feet because of the rope that bound her wrists. "How dare you!" she cried. She was in a mixture of fright and anger.
The man raised his hand to strike her again.
Angrily, I flung my body downwards and into a perfect falcon-dive, although I was a raven, I had talons and I was determined to use them. Screaming as loud as my beak would open, when I neared the man, I flung myself backwards and bore my talons. In one swift move, I latched onto the back of the man's neck with them. He shouted in pain.
"You leave my Headmistress alone, you monster!"
I put my beak to good use, as well. As hard as I could, I began to jab him on top of his skull. He raised his arms to grab me. He got his hands around me and grasped me. Before he had time to throw me off him, I pecked his ear so hard that my beak went straight through the cartilage.
With all of his might, he flung me upwards.
No problem.
I opened my wings and ascended up for whoever in the bunch was deserving of my second dive-attack. I wasn't nearly as stalky as Miss Peregrine was in falcon form, but I was quick on my wings.
"I will rescue you, Miss Peregrine," I said, hoping that somehow she could hear me.
Next came the gunshots. The man at the front of the group was the only one with a gun. He raised it and sent rifle ammo hurdling towards me. One almost hit me and I swooped so hard to avoid it that I tumbled right over myself. Miss Peregrine screamed in terror when that happened.
It was too risky. I had to hide until I could get them in the woods, I then would have the home advantage. Trees to perch in. Sadly, I left the pack of humans and flew ahead of them, only to drop down into a tree somewhere.
I didn't know if birds could cry, but I sure was.
I perched in a tree and fooled with my tail feathers for a while until I could figure out just how to go about this. I looked around wearily, I was safe, under the cover of a pine tree branch. When I heard the group approaching, I flew up to a high branch.
By this time it was well after two in the afternoon.
I began to fly from tree-to-tree as I wove through the forest after them.
I followed the humans until well after dark, when they decided to camp.
They were Wight's, all of them. And the leader, the one with the gun, whose name I learned was Caul, was Miss Peregrine's own brother!
They made a decent sized fire pit and made Miss Peregrine sit on a hard log.
Caul was seated on the ground next to a younger Wight. Caul was drinking a flask of wine and he passed it between his men. They laughed at cruel jokes that he made against Miss Peregrine, his own sister! One joke absolutely disgusted me.
"Tell me, Alma," Caul cooed at his sister. "How long did you have to sit on your children before they hatched?" His ignorance was followed by the laughing of his men.
Miss Peregrine refused to speak one single word. She did however ask him a question. "What do you plan on doing with me, Caul?" she hissed.
"I'm taking you to a place where they'll stick sharp pins in you," he replied drunkly. "A place where birds are on the menu every night of the week!" he laughed.
Miss Peregrine sighed. "You've been led astray, brother," she said. "And I pity you."
"YOU pity ME?" he laughed again and took a swig of wine. "It is I who pity you. You were born with such great abilities. And you do what with them? You use them to babysit a bunch of snot-nosed brats who don't like you, anyway."
Miss Peregrine was highly offended. "I'll have you know that my wards value me highly," she replied.
Caul got up from his seat and began slowly walking toward her. "You're a liar!" he snapped. "What about Abraham Portman? He valued you so highly that he left your loop and refused to return. No wonder he was so easy to find. I enjoyed listening to Golan brag about killing him."
"You leave Abe out of this!" hissed Miss Peregrine.
He froze. "Tell me, Alma," he said. He reached a finger into her face and poked her in the nose. "How would you fancy if I were to go back for those peculiar brats of yours? Then bring them hear before you, and snap each one of their necks." He made his point to her by jabbing her in the face as he spoke.
"I...I-," Miss Peregrine was at a loss for words.
I scanned the camp quickly. Most of the men had left to the tents they had pitched. On a stump sat a kerosene lamp. I noticed that it sat quite close to the fire pit. Those ignorant bastards! All it would take was someone to bump it and it'd explode with the fire.
That gave me quite the idea.
"I love them," Miss Peregrine whispered.
"You what?"
"I LOVE THEM!" she snapped. I saw tears stream down her face in the light of the fire.
I was, again, on the verge of tears. Miss Peregrine not only took care of us because of duty, but because of her emotions as well. I had never seen Miss Peregrine cry and it stirred something vicious inside me. I tensed my wings.
Caul got in her face. She drew back at his bad breath. "You may love them, Alma. But you cannot protect them. Not for long. Not from us. In fact, I think that once I hand you over to the elders, I shall go back and round up those little buggars."
"No!" Miss Peregrine cried.
"Why are you being so stubborn, Alma? Your children could rule the world someday. Don't you want what's best for them?" he asked mockingly. This man was starting to bust my rump and cause me to get heated. I was waiting for the opportune moment to swoop in and save Miss Peregrine.
"Their place in this world is with me," she replied. "With someone who will always love and care for them."
Caul laughed lowly. He tossed his flask into the darkness and drew his pistol. He cocked it. "Well, you can't love if I simply remove you from existence," he joked. He put it to her face, his finger on the trigger. Miss Peregrine was so terrified that she closed her eyes tight and bit her lips. Her brother would kill her, I took it.
His finger began to tense more on the trigger.
I panicked. I spread my wings and screeched as loud as I possibly could. I dove from the tree and flew right into the kerosene lamp. It rocked on the stump a few times, then balanced on a corner, then fell into the fire pit. The reaction sent Caul down on his face and Miss Peregrine fell backwards, her feet in the air. I landed beside her.
"Minnette!" she cried.
I hopped to her, and lashed at the rope with my talons. They weren't quite sharp enough to unbind her with one swing, so I kept at it. Finally the rope snapped and she wriggled free. Behind us, all of the men exited their tents. As Miss Peregrine regained herself, I turn to make sure that no one dared get too close to her, my talons ready. But before long, I heard a falcon scream.
Miss Peregrine shrunk down out of her dress and began to fly toward the west.
I followed her, but before I took off, I swooped down and clutched her dress in between my talons and began to ascend behind her. Behind us, the Wights camp caught aflame and began to burn to the ground.