"Wow! That is too amazing! I really can't even see you!" Tess had, upon Miss Peregrine's request, acquainted herself with the rest of the peculiar household. However, the one who she was most amazed with was Millard, the invisible boy. Although She found Hugh impressive, with his ability to shelter bees inside his body, she found Millar most impressive by far. However, she had to admit that all of the peculiar's talents were unique in their own ways. Secretly, she envied them, and wished that there was some special talent that she possessed.
However, that was impossible. She was just Tess, nothing more. Or so the young girl thought. As the circus of peculiar children continued to flash about their talents to Tess, she noticed the doctor wander over to them cautiously. Tess, sensing something was wrong, eased over to him, trying as hard as she could to not make her movements seem obvious to the rest of the party. She didn't want to alarm them for no reason.
"Doctor, what is it?" Tess asked him, looking at his face, unusually gleamed with sweat. It was very unnatural to see the doctor in a state of panic, which Tess, in her short time knowing the doctor, had become aware. The doctor let out a shaky breath before gently rapping his arms around Tess, slightly sobbing to himself.
"I can't do it again. Not again," He cried into her shoulder. Tess, befuddled as she was, attempted to shrug the man off of her, giving him a strange look. With one eye brow cocked, she asked what he was talking about. Then, just as she did, she wished she hadn't. His face grew hard and dark as stone, and he looked angrier than she had ever seen him.
Tess, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. We have to leave." And with that, he turned on his heal, leaving Tess with a thousand questions muddling through her brain, desperate to all get out at once.
"What on Earth do you mean we have to leave? Why? Why now? You take me to this wonderful place filled with magical children and now you're saying let's go?"
"Um, I resent being called a child," Millard, the invisible boy chimed in. Tess muttered her apologies to him and raced after the doctor.
"You know, everyone thinks you're so wonderful, but you're really not. All you do is kidnap people and give them false hope. What if I don't wanna leave, huh?" With a sudden fury that neither Tess nor the doctor had expected, he burst into a rage, terrifying Tess, Miss Peregrine, and all the peculiar children.
"YOU HAVE TO!" Tears fell down the doctor's cheeks; droplets of pure sorrow splashing the floor as he spoke. "Tess, I'm sorry, but there's—there's something not quite right with you." She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"What's that supposed to mean? What, I'm like weird or something? I know, I get that all the—"
"No." His now raspy voice silenced her reply. "You're just—"
"You're just not supposed to be alive is what he means, darling." Miss Peregrine, seeing how painful it was for the doctor to tell Tess this, took it upon herself to say what needed to be said. Although she hadn't known the doctor very long, she knew of his disposition, and how saddening it was to see him about to lose yet another companion. Would the suffering ever end for him?
This, however, was big news for Tess. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How was she 'not supposed to be alive,' she wondered. Her eyes grew wide at what she was told next.
"Are you familiar with the Romanov Dynasty of Russia?" Miss Peregrine asked her; the doctor was too distraught at the moment to speak. Tess nodded her head, however she fail to see what a dead Russian family had to do with the fact that she was supposed to be dead.
"What does that have to do with me?" She asked.
"Well, dear, think about your name." Tess thought for a moment, realizing that Miss Peregrine had meant her last name.
"Romanov." Tess whispered aloud. Her skin then felt icy and sweaty at the same time, and she felt her heart stop for a split second. Sucking in a deep breath, she dared to ask what this coincidence meant.
"It—it doesn't mean, I mean it can't mean…"
"I'm sorry, Tess." Everything that was holding her together, every ounce of courage she had left melted off of her like snow once the sun had shown through the clouds, and she wept. The once fearless Tess had become so easily broken. Miss Peregrine, being a woman of compassion despite what one may think, allowed Tess her brief moments of grief before continuing on with her dark cloud of bad news.
"Miss Romanov, I am sure you know what this will mean for you?" Tess shook her head, whether it was an act of disbelief or of a misunderstanding, Miss Peregrine could not tell. "You'll have to leave, Tess. I am sorry. I cannot risk the life of my children to protect you." Miss Peregrine's face was solemn with grief. Because of this, Tess knew that she was truly just trying to protect the peculiars. Choking back the rest of her tears, Tess asked bravely, "So what do I do?" The doctor then chimed in regretfully.
"I have to take you away from here, before it's too late. If the wights haven't been able to break through the walls of the loop yet, I may be able to bring you safely back to your home." At this, Miss Peregrine's eyes widened with shock, and her hand went up to the doctor's tie, pulling him vastly towards her, their eyes locking in mutual disgust.
"Doctor, do not make promises that you cannot keep! You can't attempt to save this young girl's life when you know the whole of the space time continuum is at stake!" The doctor, however, could not be dissuaded, and pulled out of the elderly woman's grasp.
"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do. You don't know what it's like, being alone all the time. If I can save one human life, whether it costs me dearly or not, then I think it's worth it. Wouldn't you try everything in your power to save your peculiar children?" This evidently struck a chord with Miss Peregrine, for she knew he was right. She would indeed do whatever possible to ensure the safety of Emma, Millard, Hugh, and all the others in the house.
"Do what you must then" Miss Peregrine said to him, before narrowing her eyes in a threatening fashion. "Just don't do anything too extreme, for all of time and space may pay for it." With that, she strode away from the eccentric man, muttering, "I hope you choose wisely, doctor."
"Come with me, Miss Romanov." He turned to Tess, taking her arm in his and attempting to pull her away from the rest of the children.
"Doctor, am I going to die?" Although she was trying so hard to stay sane, the doctor could see Tess's hands shaking, her breathing coming increasingly faster and faster. He bent down next to her, taking both of her hands in his.
"Sometimes, Tess, we have to make sacrifices for others, for the good of the human race. And I'm used to it, I do it almost every day. But I know you're not. So, I'm leaving it up to you. It is your life, and I'll not take it from you by force."
Tess hadn't remembered much about her life before she met the doctor. She could barely remember her name when he had first found her in an alley way in London. In the short time she'd known him, she had wondered what really meant to him, and what he truly cared about. And now she knew. He cared about humanity. He cared about how valuable each and every human life he came across was, and how he nearly put himself in danger every day to try and save someone. Tess knew that she was supposed to be executed by the Bolsheviks nearly a century before her time. She now realized that she had been studying about herself in her Russian History class in school, and that she was none other than one of the grand duchesses, Tatiana Romanov. But how did this happen, she wondered?
With a sharp breath, Tess wondered aloud, "How on Earth is this possible, doctor?"
"Well," he answered, I've not had much experience with cases like this before." Tess could see that the doctor was desperately trying to keep a serene state of mind in the midst of her presence, but it exhausted him terribly. The doctor sat slightly for a few moments, pondering how he could save both Tess and the entire universe.
"I simply don't understand this, Tess," he said after a long while. He began pacing the circumference of the room as he continued his speech, much as one does when they are in deep thought. "You, Tess Romanov are found in the depths of a London alleyway, with no recollection of family or any past memories of any sort. One would assume amnesia, but no, it's much more complex than that. Someone is behind this, someone thought this plan through very very cleverly, but as to who it was, I can't think." The doctor sat there in silence, while the concerned faces of Tess and Miss Peregrine stared him down. Not coincidently, the silence of the party drew in some of the peculiar children, such as Emma, Millard and Jacob.
"Oh my gosh. No. NO NO NO!" Suddenly, as if without warning, the doctor leapt from his stupor, screaming in a rage. Not knowing what else to do, Tess reached up her hand and slapped him across the face. "Ahhh! Why would you do that?!"
"Sorry, but you were act like a crazy nutcase." Gathering her wits, she then proceeded to ask what he had been squabbling about. "So, what's wrong?"
"Right, yes. Tess, as I was saying, this didn't just randomly happen to you, this was planned. Someone that has the ability to meddle with time found a way to go to your original time period, picked you up, and brought you to the twenty-first century."
"But doctor, why London specifically? I mean, I'm not even from there?"
"It must mean that, whoever is behind this wanted me to find you." He then narrowed his eyes in thought. "But it still doesn't make sense that the TARDIS took us here?"
"It's the wights!" Emma chimed in, as if in a state of horror.
"I was getting to that, Emma, but—"
"No, look!" The party whirled around to spot monsters with black tentacles protruding from various parts of their bodies breaking through the windows of the house which was once solidly protected by the loop. However, with Tess's presence, the loop's protection had vanished, allowing the monstrous wights to break through. They slithered closer and closer to them all, cackling and hissing as they made their way across the wooden floorboards of the house.
"Doctor, help us! What do we do?" One of the smaller children screamed, clearly frightened by the sight of the wights.
"Well, what do you think we do? We run. Allons-y!" And they were off. The doctor, followed by Tess, Emma, Millard, Jacob, Miss Peregrine and the rest of the children all made a mad dash for an exit from the house, trying to find anyway they could to escape the wights. But they were trapped, they soon realized. Wights piled into the room from every potential exit, crashing through the vortex of windows that surrounded them. They were the most terrifying creatures that Tess had ever seen. Clothed in black, they had both the appearance of a man and monster meshed together. While their bodies looked as if they were human, their face did not suggest the same, with various tentacles coming from their faces.
For a few moments, there was an awkward silence, with the wights merely staring at the lot of them. Then, with their voices sounding like a sharp knife cutting through the still air, they spoke.
"We are here to collect the peculiar children. And her." The one who appeared to be the leader spoke, and as he did, pointed a long black finger at Tess. Instantly, both Miss Peregrine put out her hands to protect the children; at the same time, the doctor did the same to Tess.
"What do you want with her? Who sent you?" The leader of the wights smiled maliciously.
"Why would you think someone sent us? Can we not act from our own conscious?"
"You could, no doubt, but considering this loop was created to keep you lot out specifically, and because you don't look like the sharpest of creatures, I'd assume that you'd need assistance from some higher power to break through." The wight, although clearly offended by the doctor's words, hid behind a grin and answered.
"You are quite clever, doctor. I'll admit, we have had some assistance in your capture, but why would it matter to you?"
"It matters," the doctor answered angrily, "because, whoever was behind this whole scheme has meddled with an important event in time. And that is not forgivable."
"Ah." The wight laughed at the doctor, mocking his serious tone. "You truly think you're the only time lord left in the world? We aren't scared of you. We can meddle with time all we want, as we've got our own time lord on our side."
A mixture of shock, fear, and confusion went through the doctor's head, clustering his brain. It simply wasn't possible, what they were saying. The last other time lord he had met was the master, and he had watched him die in his arms before regeneration could take place. Surely they couldn't be talking about him?
"What other time lord? I'm the only one left. There's no one else." The wight leader ignored him, however, instead turning his comrades.
"Bring her in, guys." The doctor, Tess and the others turned their heads as they heard the clunking of boots bang against the hard wooded floor. A female then materialized before them from around the corner of a room. She had long blonde hair which she wore down, spilling over her green T-shirt. With two hands she held a large black revolver, which she seemed to be aiming at the captured party.
Looking specifically at the doctor, she gave him a grin, and with a hit of smugness, she uttered, "hello, dad." Just then, a sick feeling crept through the doctor's gut. His daughter was working with them. The daughter he held in his arms as she died from a gunshot. Or so he had thought.
"J-Jenny. How is this possible?"
"Jenny? Did she just call you dad? Doctor, you never said you had a daughter?" At the moment, Tess was just as confused as the doctor. However, Jenny seemed to be taking amusement in their confused stupor, as she sported a smug grin on her face before she began to explain how she could possibly be alive—and more importantly, why she was collaborating with the enemy. She strode over to them, clicking the heels of her boots in such a way that she seemed to be almost skipping.
"Oh, well, dad, you would have known just how 'possible' it was that I'm alive, but you didn't care to stick around much after my death now, did you? No. You didn't even care to stay and bury me, just left. So when you did, I became conscious again, and flew off. Not knowing what I was at first, I was frightened. But when my ship crash landed in modern day Florida, I met this strange crowd." Jenny's face suddenly became hard and grave as she continued her story.
"I remember crashing in the forest, the dark and cold engulfing me. Then, as if out of nowhere, I heard an old man scream, followed by the screams of a younger boy. I was frightened out of my wits, but then they found me. They asked me what I was, and I told them that my father had told me I was a time lord. They then took me in, showing me how I could manipulate my powers of time travel. I then realized all the good I could do."
The doctor then interjected. "Good? Jenny, this isn't good, this is evil. You're putting innocent children in danger!"
"If I remember correctly, dear father, sometimes you just can't save everyone. And I think I've saved enough people for now." She then cocked her head back, as if pondering past events. "Let's see, I've saved Joan of Arc, several witches from the Salem witch trials, Mary Stuart, and"—Jenny cut herself off as she peered over at Tess. "Well, well, if it isn't Miss Anastasia Romanov herself. I rescued you not long ago. Sorry I had to drop you in London like that, it must have been frightening."
At these words, Tess was speechless. She had finally met the person who had supposedly saved her from execution, and who had also single handedly ruptured the space time continuum by doing it. "This-this was you?" she asked exasperatedly, feeling slightly dizzy. "Why? Why would you do something like that if you knew it would ruin the whole of time and space?"
Jenny's eyes, once filled with amusement, suddenly turned an icy dark blue. "Well, if you're not going to thank me for saving your life, I could just send you back. But no, I'm too nice for that. But if you must know, it was because they asked me to." She pointed at the wights as she made her statement.
"Well, then it all makes sense now," the doctor said next. "Jenny, these monsters, once they knew what you were and what you could do, used you to take people out of their time periods, hoping that the space time continuum would rupture, which would allow the loop to fade. So they could kill all these innocent children."
"No. You're wrong!" Jenny retorted sharply. "You don't know anything about them. Or me, dad." At this, the doctor looked taken aback. He remembered watching Jenny die as he held her in his arms, feeling ashamed that he had not been able to save her. But now, he felt even worse. It was one thing watching your child die, but quite another finding out they were alive, and involved in such an evil conspiracy.
And it was with a heavy heart that he realized what he would have to do next for the good of humanity. The doctor, hoping not to be detected by the wights or Jenny, leaned in towards Miss Peregrine, as if attempting to whisper into her ear. "Now, I want you to do exactly as I say," he said to her. "Take the children and Tess and run as fast as you can to my TARDIS." At this, however, Miss Peregrine looked puzzled.
"What on Earth are you talking about? Those blasted wights have got every entrance to the house blocked. We'd never all get out alive." However, as she attempted to dissuade him, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver pressing a button near the top of the device. Miss Peregrine watched as the device made a clicking sound and flashed a pale blue light.
"Isn't my sonic lovely," the doctor exclaimed with a smile, "It's also a car alarm!" His demeanor grew more serious, knowing that they didn't have long. "Now, I've parked the TARDIS in the next room. I want you all to get inside and go somewhere safe. Don't worry, I'll be ok. Once I dispose of these creatures, I'll be able to find you." He gave a strong, encouraging smile to the old lady, hoping to boost her spirits. Then, acting as a distraction, he ran up to a few of the wights, bouncing up and down like a madman.
"What are you doing, dad?" Jenny asked with narrowed eyes.
"Oh, nothing, dear. Just exercising my legs. Don't you know that exercise is very important? In fact, I think we should all be able to get some exercise, don't you think?" Before Jenny or any of the wights could have even a second to think about what he had meant, the doctor then screamed "Now!," which then signaled for Miss Peregrine and the others to bolt as fast as they could, dodging flying bullets from the wight's guns.
"Stop them!" shouted the leader of the wights. But the fleeing party was too fast for them, pushing various articles of furnisher over to keep them at bay. Tess was at the back, making sure all the children and Miss Peregrine got to the other room safely so they could board the TARDIS and get out of there. After all, if she had died, would it really be such a bad thing?
After much running, with many of them panting heavily, they finally made it into the room where the TARDIS stood. Feeling relived, they ran into to the spaceship, single filed, as Tess ushered them all in. She counted each child as they ran through the doors of the blue box hurriedly.
"One," she called as Emma passed, "Two," as Jacob passed through behind her. As the rest of the children and Miss Peregrine boarded, Tess called out all their names. Everyone appeared to be present, from Emma, to Jacob, to Hugh, to Fiona, and even Claire. However, as she finished the roll call, Tess had realized there was one name that had not been called out.
"Millard?" She called out into the depths of the TARDIS, which she forgot was so much bigger on the inside than on the outside. All the children looked about, checking to see if Millard was with them. But of course, they could not see him!
"Tess, I think he may have stayed behind," Emma offered with a look of panic spreading across her face. If this was true, then he could be caught and, even worse killed by the wights. They had to act fast. Without a moment to spare, Tess made her decision.
"I'm going to go back out and find Millard and the doctor. Go on without me."