A/N: hey guys im here just saying that i missed out a few canon stuff while writing this fic but idk how to change it to make it align with the canon things so just imagine canon things dont extst
"So you're invisible, yeah?" he asked me as he led me to his room, "And you forgot who you are?" I nodded before realizing that he couldn't see me. "Yes," I said in response. The boy spoke with a strong cockney accent, which I paid quite a bit of attention to. "I'm Enoch." He introduced, "You're pretty young for a peculiar kid. Just 16? I just turned 48 last month." I was shocked. How could he be 48? He still seemed quite young. "D'you know anything about peculiardom?" he asked. So were the peculiars mentioned in the books actually a species? "N-not that I know of," I replied, "I mean, that boy said that I'm suffering from amnesia, I might have known, but I don't remember." Enoch tutted. "If that's the case we've got to explain later," he sighed, "for now you've gotta rest. Miss P's gonna be mad if she finds out you're not all rested amd comfy."
He led me down a corridor and down the staircase that I previously went up, and into a room right next to the stairs. His bedroom was quite dark, the curtains drawn and the lights off. When I took a closer look, the lights were actually broken, the glass of the bulb smashed to bits. A wooden table sat next to a messy bed. A pile of clothes were dumped at one corner, next to a worn-down wardrobe. "It isn't exactly perfect," he said, shutting the door behind us, "sorry 'bout that. By the way, if you're invisible and I can't see you at all, does that mean…"
"I'm not wearing anything." I replied truthfully. Enoch pulled a slightly disgusted expression as he nodded slowly. "I used my clothes to sneak onto the cruise to Wales," I said, "got lost in the ocean." He nodded and held out a hand. I stared for a few seconds before I realized that he wanted my hand. I held it and he pulled me to the bed. "Now you've gotta sleep, or at least pretend to," he said, "or Miss P's gonna get me." I got in the bed, surprised at how soft it was despite the unwelcoming appearance. I pulled the covers over me and immediately went to sleep.
I had a dream. I was in a cave. There was a lake of black, murky water in front of me. I had no idea why, but I wanted to dive into it. It looked terrible and disgusting and all I wanted to do was walk away, but something inside me was pulling me closer and closer to the lake. Stuck between to choices, I stood frozen on my two feet in the middle of the lake and the entrance of the cave. I stared at the lake, letting myself be pulled towards it. Then I shook my head and turned around to face the entrance. How I longed to get out of this terrifying place. I took a few steps out of the cave then felt a pounding ache in my chest. I cringed and swiveled around, diving into the muddy waters. But instead of being met with the same dark water that I dived into, the water that I saw when I bobbed out of it was crystal clear. There were bright blue flowers all around, as well as diamond blue stalactites hanging from the top. It was beautiful and bright, unlike the world where I came from. As I reached out for one of the flowers floating next to me, I saw something that I had not seen in such a long time. It was my hand. I could see my hand. I gasped and cleared away some flowers, staring at my reflection in the water. I could see all of it, my dark brown hair covering my entire forehead, my green eyes staring back at me, and the freckles that dotted my cheeks. "Millard!" I heard someone shout. I knew that name. That was my name. I looked up to the cave entrance. There, Enoch was standing, calling my name. "Millard, get up!" He shouted, "Millard! Millard, wake up!"
"Millard!" I jolted out of the bed. "Millard, thank bird you're awake!" Enoch sighed next to me. I held my hands out in front of me. I couldn't see them and frowned. I wanted to stay in that dream, in a beautiful heaven. "Mister Nullings," I looked up to see the lady—Miss Peregrine—looking at me. At least attempting to look at me. She was actually looking a bit too high. "Lower, Miss Peregrine." I said. She chuckled as she correctly looked at me. "I'm terribly sorry, Mister Nullings," she said, "now, I believe we haven't had a proper introduction yet. As you already know, I am Alma LeFay Peregrine, the headmistress of this home. This young boy is Enoch O'Connor, as you might already have known. This other young boy—" she pointed to the top hat boy who was next to her, "—is Horace Somnusson. He has prepared some clothes for you, so after you have changed, please follow him down to the dining room."
"Yes, Miss Peregrine," I said before she and Enoch walked away. "Ugh, I keep on telling him to clean this place up," Horace groaned as he passed me a set of clothes, "and you can change right here. I won't be able to see you anyways." I thanked him as I pulled on the clothes that he gave me. It has been a few days since I could get some clothing on me. It felt great not to be dressed in rags, or nothing, in fact. I was given a button-up shirt and brown trousers, as well as a red tie and brown jacket. I also had a pair of reddish-brown socks with black leather shoes. I felt like a gentleman, but Horace definitely acted much more like a gentleman than I did. "Perfect!" He grinned, "Now off to the dining room! Everyone's going to be really excited to have you here. Well, everyone except Enoch. He's the really weird one who doesn't talk to anyone." I was surprised by how Horace described him. "Is that so?" I asked, "He seemed quite worried about me when I talked to him just now."
Horace looked straight at me and blinked in confusion. "Huh," he commented, "must think pretty highly of you then. The only other person he acts like that around is Victor. Anyways, everybody's waiting right now." I nodded. "Let's go," I said, following him downstairs and through a corridor to a room where everyone was sat, chatting animatedly with each other. "Ah, you're here," Miss Peregrine's eyes lit up at the sight of me and Horace, "everyone, please introduce yourselves to Millard Nullings." Horace took a seat next to Enoch, and I took the seat on the other side of Enoch where there was a cup of tea waiting to get drunk. "Good day, Millard," greeted a boy with sleek, black hair and black goggles, "I'm Hugh Apiston." I noticed that everytime he spoke, a couple of bees swarmed in and out of his mouth. It was a good thing he couldn't see the fear on my face. "This is Fiona, she doesn't talk much," Hugh wrapped his arm around a frizzy-haired girl next to her. She smiled and leaned against Hugh.
"I'm Victor Bruntley," said a tall boy, slightly older than Hugh. "Nice to meet you!" Said a young girl no older than six, "I'm Olive Abroholos Elepha—" I gaped as she began to float towards the ceiling. Luckily, an older girl next to her caught her by the leg before she strayed too far off. "I'm Bronwyn, Victor's sister," the girl introduced as she pulled Olive back to the ground, "Now where are your shoes?" Olive pouted at Bronwyn. "Claire took them!" She pointed across the table to an even younger girl, possibly five years old. "Claire, give Olive her shoes back, please," said another girl next to her. Claire frowned and turned around, facing away from her. The girl winced in pain and lifted her arm to reveal some fresh bite marks on it. "Miss Densmore, please!" Miss Peregrine scolded, "Miss Bloom, are you alright?" The girl nodded as she got up and left. "Emma, d'you need help with handling that?" Bronwyn stood up. "No, Wyn, I'm fine," Emma grinned before leaving the room.
"I doubt she's gonna get any water on that wound," Enoch commented, "she's just gonna fill the bathroom with smoke." Miss Peregrine sighed in disappointment. "I am terribly sorry about that," she apologized, "now while you have your tea, let me explain to you where you are, what you are and when you are." I didn't exactly understand but I nodded anyways. "Do you understand?" She asked after a few seconds, when I realized that she couldn't see me. I had to get the hang of this. "Y-yes," I stuttered, beginning to sip the cup of tea. Miss Peregrine smiled and began her explanation.
"You might not know this, but there are certain people with peculiar powers, or peculiarities. We call these people "Peculiars". And this does not only apply to humans. Animals can also be peculiar. All of us here are peculiar, myself included. Now, back in the day, normals had believed peculiars to be witches—" Fiona hugged Hugh tightly at this point "—and they chased peculiars out of their homes. This is why a certain type of peculiar, an ymbryne, takes care of places called loops, which is an area where a day is repeated endlessly thanks to the ymbryne maintaining it. Normals cannot enter loops, so here we are safe from those who threaten us. Take this loop that we are currently in for example. September 3rd 1940. It should be the January of 1941 by now if I am not mistaken. But here, the day September 3rd 1940 shall repeat forever, as long as I, as the ymbryne of this loop, takes care of it. Now, let's say you stay here until 50 years in the future. Once you leave the loop, and if you stay out for long enough, you will age rapidly in just a few days. Enoch here used to live in another loop, but it got destroyed and he managed flee here quickly enough to maintain his young form." I remembered when Enoch told me that he was 48. Now it made more sense.
"Now, an experiment in 1908 was conducted, and in the experiment, a large number of peculiars got turned into these creatures called Hollowgast. And if a hollowgast eats enough peculiar souls, they will evolve into their previous peculiar form, but they are no longer peculiars. They are wights, and they are terrible, terrible creatures. Hollowgast are unable to enter loops, but wights are able to, and you can differentiate them and peculiars by their eyes. Wights have blank, white eyes with no pupils. And what exactly is terrible about wights is that they want to rule peculiardom, but they try to kill every single one of us, by consuming us. They especially love peculiar children. That is why I created this loop to protect all of you from danger." I thought about that for a while. Blank, white eyes. I could picture it very clearly in my mind, an entire scenario, even. A man staring at me with blank eyes, holding up a gun and aiming it at my face. I felt like I was time travelling to the past when I thought of this. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, a cold winter's breeze blowing my hair out of my eyes. I wanted to run, to flee. I wanted to hide from the eyes of this man, if he could even see me without his pupils.
I felt a pounding in my head as the cup of tea nearly fell in my trembling hands. I placed the cup on the table and rubbed my head with my hands. "I…" I mumbled, "I remember…" Enoch placed his hands on mine. "Don't force yourself," he said. I was sweating, the heat in my forehead burning intensely. "A wight…" I managed to whisper, "nearly… killed…"