I felt like I had been sleeping forever. I could feel Miss Peregrine breathe as I held to her, so I knew that I could rest easily. It wasn't very long before I felt someone tug on my dress. Quickly I snapped awake to find Emma standing over me.

"Minnette," she said.

"Yeah?" I asked, pulling my head up. I was careful not to wake the Headmistress.

"Miss Avocet has arrived. I suggest you straighten yourself." Emma took the blanket off me and threw it on the chair. I slowly arose from my spot. I held Miss Peregrine to me lightly, so as to not wake her.

Emma led a very prestigious-looking woman into the room. She was tall, with snow-white hair that was bound up in a hairstyle I did not recognize; not a hair out of place. Like Miss Peregrine, she was clad in black. She held her head high and walked in a fashion that read class and demanded that anyone under her power stand down. This was Miss Avocet, Miss Peregrine's former mentor- and would one day be mine. She was much older than Miss Peregrine, but looked rather healthy for her age.

She walked right up to me.

"You must be Miss Stonington," she said.

I nodded. "Yes, ma'am, that is I."

She looked me head-to-toe. I was so out of place at that very moment. I was in Miss Peregrine's dress, my hair matted and my face dirt-streaked. Had Emma told her I was an ymbryne? I was not in my most fetching state for a first impression. I could read her disappointment all over her face. She then noticed the falcon I coddled close to me.

"This is Alma?" she asked, pointing.

As much as I hated to give her up, I took Miss Peregrine from my chest and held her out. Her wings dropped out of my palms.

Miss Avocet took one good look at the bloody piece of dress I had tied around her. She gently took her from my hands and coddled her in her own. Placing one hand around her neck, and one underneath her tail, she held up to her face so she could examine her. Miss Peregrine remained asleep.

"Alma," she said.

Miss Peregrine's eyes came over and she squawked loudly; Miss Avocet had startled her. Once she recognized who was holding her, she began to coo.

Just as I had, Miss Avocet began to coo at Miss Peregrine. Emma stood by, amazed. I could understand the conversation that took place.

"Esmeralda?"' asked Miss Peregrine. "Is it really you?"

"Oh, Alma! What catastrophe has been afflicted upon you! It was a good thing your ward summoned me." With one finger Miss Avocet began to peel off Miss Peregrine's wrapping. Underneath was a matted mess of dried-bloody feathers. "My, my, my have you taken quite the injury. How do you feel, Alma?"

Miss Peregrine attempted to raise her wings, but to no success. They just dropped right back down. "I'm weak, Esmeralda."

Miss Avocet had no idea I was an ymbryne, I took it. She turned to me. "You've done an excellent job caring for your ymbryne, Miss Stonington, but she is in my care now. You may go."

Staying silent, I nodded my head and turned for the door. Emma looked at me worriedly. She mouthed the words "I didn't tell," to me. Miss Avocet truly didn't know what I was. I knew we could trust her but I felt awful leaving Miss Peregrine.

Miss Peregrine squawked and began to speak again.

"I would like her present, Esmeralda, if you do not mind."

I looked at Emma.

""What'd she say?" she whispered to me.

"She wants me to stay," I whispered back.

Miss Avocet looked at Miss Peregrine puzzled. "Alma, are you certain?"

"I am certain."

Emma nodded at me approvingly, then headed out of the room. I stood beside Miss Avocet.

"Your Miss Peregrine must find you special," said Miss Avocet. "She has requested that you stay on."

Then she handed Miss Peregrine to me as she began to remove her cloak and roll up her blouse sleeves. I held Miss Peregrine to me again and this time, knowing that help had arrived and that she'd be back to normal soon enough to badger me about it, I kissed the top of her head. She shook it like I had placed germs on her. She then reached up to my cheek, opened her beak a tad, and began to nibble me. Why, she was giving me bird kisses. I smiled. Truthfully, I didn't know that Miss Peregrine enjoyed embraces, kisses on the head or being held at all. As nice as she was, she hardly ever laid hands on any of us.

"Tell me, child," said Miss Avocet as she felt her hair to make sure that every strand was in place. "Where does Alma keep her elixirs and such?"

"The closet in the kitchen," replied Miss Peregrine.

I didn't have to say anything. Miss Avocet began to head for the kitchen. "Keep her warm for a while. And, I beg you, do not drop her! I shall only be a few minutes."

"Is it any better, Headmistress?" I asked her when Miss Avocet was well out of hearing range.

She tried to flap her wings. " A tad."

I lowered my head. "I'm beginning to wonder if this is all my fault."

"Nonsense! I must say that you are the best thing that has been contributed to this loop in a long, long time." She stopped to catch her breath. Seeing Miss Avocet was enough to make her speak again. "In fact, I am reconsidering sending you with Esmeralda."

I thought of her albums of photos she had taken at the academy. I was more than sure that I'd be in the photo of the next young ymbrynes that learned under Miss Avocet.

"But how am I to learn time-manipulation?"

"From me, of course." She paused again and took many deep breaths. "Although, with my own wards underhand the council might deem me unworthy of mentoring you."

Suddenly, Miss Peregrine became very lethargic and she began to huff many deep breaths. She had spoken too much and it had weakened her. I ordered her to stay quiet. To my surprise, she obeyed and just began to relax in my embrace. I slowly began to rock her and I softly recited a verse from Evanescence's My Immortal.

Soon Miss Avocet returned with a platter of different elixirs. She also had scrounged up a sewing needle, thread and a pot of boiling water.

"I am going to treat that wound before I set to do anything else," she informed me. She set the platter down and fed the thread through the needle. She then soaked it into the pot of water to sterilize it. "We've got to get that bullet out of you, Alma," she told Miss Peregrine.

Miss Peregrine squawked.

"Miss Stonington, I need you to hold her still."

Gingerly I wrapped my fingers around Miss Peregrine. She began to tremble. I cooed to her, telling her that I would not drop her. I was careful to make sure that Miss Avocet did not hear me speaking ymbryne. I set her on the settee but kept my hands over her wings. Miss Avocet knelt before her, needle in hand.

"Try not to peck me, Alma," she asked. "That beak of yours is mighty sharp."

She squawked again.

I held to my headmistress as Miss Avocet presumed to dig inside her wound with the needle. Once she got the needle under the bullet, she forced it out. Miss Peregrine tensed but made not a sound. She nestled her head against the back of my hand as I held her. It took Miss Avocet a few minutes to successfully remove the bullet from Miss Peregrine's body. Miss Avocet began then to go at her with the needle and thread. It was mighty painful because whenever Miss Avocet touched her with the needle she squirmed. She fought hard for such a weak bird but the result was quite impressive. Although she had wriggled so much, Miss Avocet's stitches were very neat.

Miss Avocet was pleased with herself. "I'm afraid that she is still too weak to change back, now." She wiped sweat off her forehead on her apron. "We must keep a close watch over her."

I tucked Miss Peregrine under the blanket once more and kissed her head again.

"Get some rest, Headmistress."

"You ought to wash yourself, dear," said Miss Avocet. She looked at my dress. "And take off Alma's dress."

"Yes, ma'am," I replied.

I soaked in the tub for a while. Knowing that Miss Peregrine was watching over someone of her own kind, I could relax. I was so filth-encrusted that by the time I exited the tub the water was brown. I slipped into a simple black dress and scrubbed the tub clean. I then picked up Miss Peregrine's dress and carried it into my room; I'd sew it. Afterward I checked on the children by silently pressing my ear on each and every one of their bedroom doors. All of them were fast asleep, even Emma. What an impact all of this must have had on them. If only there was a way to assure that the Wights had given up; they hadn't arrived yet.

Once back on the first floor, I made Miss Avocet and I each a cup of tea. She was very pleased when I gave it to her. She sipped it happily. I joined her in an empty seat and crossed my legs. Within thirty minutes, I began to see an improvement in Miss Peregrine. In fact, she picked up her head and squawked.

Miss Avocet studied her from her seat. "Alma, you must rest yourself." She sipped her tea again.

"Is she readying to change back, Miss Avocet?" I asked quietly.

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Although she appears to be strengthening, she is nowhere near ready."

I listened to her words carefully, Just the thought that Miss Peregrine would be ready to be human once again was exciting. And in such short time, too.

Miss Avocet looked at me with deep concern in her eyes. "It was Caul who did this, wasn't it?" she asked me.

I slowly nodded. It was true, Miss Peregrine's own brother- who was a Wight- had shot her. I remembered his crude, drunken demeanor and the way he had treated Miss Peregrine. The very thought of his cruelty towards her made my stomach twist. I was angry enough to kill him the next time I saw him.

Miss Avocet sighed. "Yes, he always was a troubled boy. He was constantly ranting on about how 'unfair' it was that Alma was produced with the talents she has." She sipped her tea again. "I always knew he'd grow to be trouble."

"He surrounded himself with at least twenty men," I informed her. "They were not hollows, though."

"Yes," she said knowingly. "Wights, no doubt."

All I could do was nod.