I have absolutely no excuse for not updating this in forever. With NaNoWriMo and studies and the school musical, I was soooo busy. But now that it's summer, I'm planning on updating weekly! Without further ado, I present the fourth installment of my little story.

"Jacob," Olive squeaked, after nearly an hour of walking and another hour receiving piggy-back rides from nearly everyone in the group, with no sign as to an end of the tunnel, "I'm tired and I want to get out of this stupid cave."

Jacob sighed and lifted the little girl onto his shoulders. "I'm positive it's this way. Just a little further."

"And how exactly do you know that, Mr. I-Know-Everything?" Millard, who was becoming more and more irritable the longer we walked, asked sullenly.

"Because I could smell it,"Jacob replied shortly. "This tunnel smelled a lot less musty than the other one, so I figured there must be an opening."

"Never doubt a man and his nose." Fiona said, echoing one of Miss Peregrine's well known phrases. We all fell silent, and I was certain everyone else was thinking about how much we missed our adopted mother, like I was.

We tramped on for another quarter hour before Claire squealed and yanked on my hand, which she handed let go of in over two hours. "Look, look!" she said, excitedly, as she pointed ahead with her free hand. "It's getting lighter! We must be towards the end!"

Sure enough, the tunnel was gradually becoming brighter, and in a matter of minutes the tunnel opened up to a great cavern, lit by a bright hole in the rock at the top.

"We did it," Horace breathed, and Enoch spinned around with his arms spread around him, basking in the bright glow.

"Nice job," Millard said, awkwardly patting Jacob on the arm in a congratulatory manner. "I'm sorry didn't have more faith in you."

Jacob nodded and grinned. Hugh cocked his head and dropped his jaw into an O. "What is this?" He said, his tone light and teasing. "A Millard apology! Well I'll be-"

I covered Claire's ears tightly and scowled at Hugh. The little girl looked up at me and gave me a crooked smile. And because today just wasn't a normal day at all, I smiled back.

"Oh, look at you, smiling!" Millard said, sauntering over to Claire and I. "Now that's as much of a rare occurrence as my apologies are."

I gave him a playful swat on the arm, but I couldn't help the blush rising to me cheeks. "Watch it, Mister. Now that you're visible, I can aim my punches much more accurately."

"Hey, you've lost your superhuman strength, though." He still took a few steps back, though, just for safety. I was quite sure that I could still maim him quite greatly with my legendary left hook, peculiar power or no.

"Alrighty, enough of the chit-chat." Horace said, cracking his knuckles and adjusting his monocle. "I think it's time to flow this hoint and continue on our search for our dear Miss Peregrine."

"Firstly, It's blow this joint," Enoch corrected, "And secondly, I volunteer to climb up first and report on the surroundings.

"As that's all good and dandy," Emma said, patting both of the boys on the arms. "I'll be going first."

Enoch looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. "Why you?"

"Because I'm sure everyone's curious as to how, and if, our powers will return. I'm hoping the second we leave this blasted cave our powers return to us. We'll be able to immediately tell if I go up first."

Millard made a small cough. We all turned to look at him: he was shuffling his feet and trying his best not to look any of us in the eye.

"What?" Fiona said, her right eyebrow raised.

"It's just..." He trailed off and fought over his next words until he finally said, "Hugh, what about you? Isn't it nice to not have bees flying out of your mouth, for once?"

Hugh shrugged. "Not really. I kinda miss it, actually."

Emma shook her head. "Come off it, Mill. Why would you like to be all boring and normal? Miss Peregrine would be ashamed of you."

He looked her in the eye, a long and icy stare, but he didn't utter a word.

"Alrighty." Horace said, trying to break the tension. "Emma, why don't you scurry up first, and we'll follow,"

Emma nodded curtly and scaled the cavern walls in a matter of minutes before she disappeared through the break in the top.

"Emma?" Jacob called up after a few moments, "Are you okay?"

Emma's blonde head popped back down, her loose curls bobbing. "Certainly. And my fire is back! Look!"

She grasped onto the ridge of the hole with one hand and dangled her free hand down as we all watched expectantly for flames to leap off of her palm like we were so accustomed to seeing. Instead, Emma's open hand stayed perfectly un-peculiar.

"Hey Emma?" Olive called up, her little foot tapping up and down. "It's not working!"

"I know!" She replied, exasperated, with just a touch of panic laced in her voice. "It was working just a minute ago!"

"I have a theory!" Horace said, yelling to Emma's form above him, "Remove your hands from the stone and then try it again."

Emma pulled herself back up so she was sitting on the grassy ledge near the hole and she removed her grasp from the stony ridge before she tried testing her flames again: sure enough, this time, a bright flash of yellow, red, and orange leapt from her fingers.

"It works!" She yelled down, excitedly. We all looked up at her smiling face before Horace hollered up his next command.

"Touch the cave again and try."

She did, and her palms stayed flame-free. Horace polished his monacle and rubbed his hands together, resembling a mad scientist. "It is just as I suspected all along. It's not the cave that hold the anti-peculiar powers, it's the stone. As long as we're in contact with the stone, our powers are repressed."

"So, once we leave the cave behind, we should be all fixed?" Jacob asked, eyes clouded with worry.

"Certainly," Horace said confidently, and he moved to the side of the cave with the most footholds. "And I don't wish to be deprived of my gift any longer, so I will see you all at the top."

With some difficulty, Horace reached the opening, followed by Claire, Enoch, and Jacob (with Olive clinging tightly to his back).

Hugh started the ascent next, and Fiona was just about to follow when Millard grabbed her arm. She whirled around and scowled at him.

"Please," He pleaded, a tone of voice entirely new to him. "Please let me use your locket."

Fiona lurched away and tucked her locket (notably her only piece of jewelry) into her dress. "Whatever scheme you're hatching up, I'll have no part in it. And plus, it was a gift." With that, she began to mount the rocks without a look back.

The look on Millard's face left me completely...heartbroken, if that's the right word. He was watching her move higher and higher, his demeanor becoming more and more forsaken and forlorn. Whether it be a moment of compassion or his crystal clear blue eyes or his fluffy brown curls, or likely a mixture off all, in a split second I decided to help him. I pulled from one of the pockets in my ratty dress an old and rusty locket: though worthless to anyone else, it was the only thing of my mum's I had.

"Here, Millard," I said, handing it out to him. "Will this work?"

He tore his eyes from Fiona and shifted his gaze to my hand. He broke out into a grin and took it, but not before bending down in a flourishing, gentlemanly bow and pressing a kiss to my knuckles. "Miss Bronwyn, you are my savior."

I prayed the dim light of the cavern wouldn't betray the color I was sure was rising to my cheeks. "What do you need it for, anyway?"

He winked at me. "It's a secret. Now you head up and I'll follow you in a moment."

I sighed, acknowledging my defeat at deciphering his mysterious ways, and started my ascent to freedom.

Next update should be next Saturday! Stay tuned! Thanks for reading! Leave a review... they make my day! :D