Chapter 13
POV Millard
I had been woken up complaining, but when I was told something was the matter with Lori, I had to be awake. I rushed down to the bird's study and found her laying on the floor. Lori was covered in blood. It looked like a murderer scene. The only difference was that there wasn't a murderer on the loose. "What happened?" I asked. "...happened?" Echo repeated. She was tending to the little girl who's leg looked mauled. Charlotte. Lori was unconcious though. I knew that but by looking at her sister, I knew she might be dead in a few minutes. "We found them like this outside the door." Horace said. "...the door." Echo whispered while her face turned dark. She waved for us to come over and I saw what she meant. "Is she... dead?" I asked. "...dead" She confirmed. "What do we do now?" I asked Miss Peregrine. "There's nothing to do for the poor soul. Just how will we tell her." She said signaling to Lori.
There was a knock at the door and Echo went to open it. Cindy was there. "Echo I woke up and you weren't there. What's- oh god." She said as she saw the whole thing. "Who are they?" She asked kneeling down next to dead Charlotte. "Charlotte and Lori Crystalation." I awnsered. "Miss Peregrine, do you think a hollow got her?" Horace asked. There wasn't an awnser, so she must have thought it. My eyelids were closing, so I made my way towards one of the chairs and let myself slip away from the nightmare.
"Millard?" She asked. I woke up and moved closer to her. "She's alive." I whispered to myself. "Yeah, it's glad to be me." She said sarcastically. "What time is it?" She asked us. "Four in the morning, dear." Cindy awnsered. "And may I ask who this is?" She said."That's Cindy Preston." Horace said. "Oh, nice to meet you Cindy." She said cheerfully. "And that's Echo." Horace said, pointing to Echo in the corner of the room."They look similar." She said.I laughed and so did everyone else. "Now can someone tell me where my sister is?" All signs of laughter died down, and in its place was an eeire silence. "Lori... Charlotte's... she's gone." She looked shocked, like her word had just somehow burst into flames right in front of her. She was screaming hysterically now. I tried calming her down, before she woke everybody in the whole house. "Lori it's okay. We'll talk about this." I said. She was sobbing, tears coming out of her purple eyes. "No! She can't be dead." She yelled.
Miss Peregrine closed the door and had us all sit away from her. "She needs some space, this is a traumatic experience for her." We all nodded and when she relised that she was still having an epeisode, she had us wait outside the study. "We're gonna listen right?" Cindy asked. We all nodded and pressed our ears to the door. "It's no use, the door is too thick." I said. The only thing we could hear was her screams. We nodded and sat there, our backs pressed to the wall. "What do you think is going on, I can still hear her yelling and all I'm saying is that I want to sleep." Horace complained. "Then go to sleep." Cindy said. "But I want to know what happens." He said. "Then stick around." She said. "...stick around." Echo said blushing a little. We waited a while and we grew bored.
"What should we do while we wait?" Cindy asked. Echo beamed and her sister spoke for her. "Would you rather. Okay, you actually have to do this, would you rather... eat a rat or ten live spiders." We were silent for a while, Echo holding up one finger. "Why a rat?" Cindy asked. There was silence and she nodded. "Millard, Horace? Which one?" Horace looked disgusted and refused to awnser. I didn't want to awnser but then something occured to me. " I pick 'or' " Cindy sighed and Horace said," I pick 'or' as well." She shook her head and said, " We'll pass this one. Next." She said pointing to me. I thought for a while and said," Would you rather climb out of a window and fall or fall off a ladder?" We all picked climbing out a window, so we raced to the one at the end of the hall. "Who first?" Horace asked. "Millard should do it since he thought of it." Cindy said. "...thought of it." Echo said agreeing. I sighed and slowly made my way out the house. I lost grip of it and fell in a bush of flowers. "Cindy you go next since you said I should go first." I yelled to the second story window. "Do I have to fall as well?" She asked. "Yes." I awnsered as I wanted to take revenge. She sighed and in one swift movement she climed out and floated down. "That's not fair, you used your ability." I said annoyed. "There aren't any rules, are they?" She asked me with a smirk.
Horace whispered something to Echo and she nodded. They both climbed out the window and hugged as they fell in the bushes as well. "Okay, Horace you're next." Cindy said. He paused and stood up from the ground. "Would you rather jump into a big pool of mud, or have kitchen duty for a month. "Mud." I said. Cindy picked mud as well but Echo held up two fingers. "Then jump in the filthy mud." He said, pointing to a bucket of water. Cindy and I sighed and splashed the water in dirt. "Ready?" I asked. She nodded and grabbed my hand. We jumped into the mud, Cindy slipping and for that causing me to fall into the mud as well. "Eww.." She said while laughing. "You got something there." Cindy said, pointing to my sleeve with a fist full of the mud. "You have something there too." I told her while rubbing mud on her pale face. She gasped and pushed me into the dirt." What was that for?" I said, spitting mud out of my mouth. "You guys are animals." Horace told us. "Don't be such a wuss." Cindy said. "I am not one!" He yelled. She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Then why don't you join us." Cindy told him.
He seemed to consider this and took his coat off. He walked over to us, Cindy grabbing his hand and pulling him in. "Don't trust a blonde they said. And what do I do?" Horace said angrily. "Well, at least you proved you ain't a wuss. And ain't you blonde too?" Cindy said shrugging. "Sure." He said. Echo held a hand over her mouth and burst out laughing. "What's so funny, blonde?" Horace smirked at her. Echo pointed at the mud all over us and smiled. She took a few steps back and started to run. A running start, she was about to jump into the mud. "Echo n-" We tried saying but she had already dove in. We were now covered in a new coat of mud. "Echo." Horace grumbled. "Echo." She shrugged, an apoligizing gesture. "Wait... what about the screams? You think she stopped?" Cindy asked pointing to the window. "Well the bird's gonna be upset by us tracking mud in." Horace said. " So?" Cindy said. "It's just mud." Horace glared at her and said," It isn't just mud." He told her. "Oh... really?" Cindy said while grabbing a fist full of the mud. She smeared it all over his face while Echo and I laughed. "You're right blonde, it is just mud. Dirty and muddy." He said slowly.
"Children?" Miss Peregrine called. "Busted." I whispered. "Children?" Echo repeated without thinking. "We're going to be in trouble anyways. We may as well face her." I said admitting defeat. "It's not over yet Millard." Cindy said running off. She climbed up a tree and looked at us, signaling to do the same. And we did, not wanting to get caught. We all hid in the same big tree as Cindy, waiting until the cover was clear. "Millard?!" I heard Lori yell. "Lori!" I yelled back, earning many glares from the rest of us. And then I saw her, running to our tree. She looked fine, her hair brushed and the blood washed away. "What are you doing up a tree... matter of speaking what are all of you doing in a tree. And covered in mud, I might expect it for the rest of you but Horace? I never thought I'd live to see this." She was laughing, almost back to how she was. " The blonde called me a wuss." He responded embarressd. "Nice choice of words." She said nodding with an approval. "Back to my question, what up with the tree?" We looked at eachother until I retold everything.
"How dose a game get you all covered in mud again?" She asked. "It's a vicious game." I replied. "Any ways, Miss Peregrine is looking for the lot of you. Wanted to talk she did." And with that, Lori walked away. "She seems nice." Cindy said while hopping of the branch she had been perched on. "She is." I whispered dreamily. I tried climbing down the tree but instead fell on my back. "Ow." I said as the others laughed. "Ow." Echo whispered. We all made it down the tree and inside. "Well let's face it, we tracked mud in." Cindy said sighing. We walked inside the bird's study and stood there, while she looked at us. "Why are you all covered in mud?" She asked us. "...mud." Echo shyed away. "Headmisstress, if I may I'm not covered in mud." And it was true. Cindy had cleaned it off. We glared at Cindy and Miss Peregrine spoke. "Well I just wanted to thank you all for helping and I'm sure Miss Crystalation thanks you all as well. And as for the mud, have fun in kitchen duty for a week." She then stood up and whispered," Clean yourselves up." And she disappeared out the door. Lori sat there, twirling her hair with two fingers. "Thank you." She whispered and walked to her room.
After getting the mud off we all stayed awake. "It ain't as if we gonna sleep two more hours and then wake up." Cindy complained as she braided her sister's hair. "And we got to be at the kitchen early to help." I said discouraged. "...to help." Echo pointed to her sister. "Fine. I'll help as well." And we sat there, wanting to sleep and yet not wanting to at the same time. Minutes later we heard footsteps and saw Lori had come to join us. Her face was stained with tears. "Oh. I thought no body was here. I best be going." She was about to walk off when my voice stopped her. "Why don't you stay. We only got a little while left and then you can have it to yourself." She nodded and sat by me, her head resting on my shoulder.
"What did you all do without me?" She asked. "I was miserable." I said. "We wandered by." Cindy said. "And I tailored my clothes like always." Horace said. "And what did you do?" Cindy asked. I glared at her but of course she couldn't see it. " I- I did many stuff. I almost got killed, twice. And, I saw my sister for the last time. I also killed many things." She covered her face with her coat sleeves. "What do you mean by that?" I asked. "Tell us please." Cindy said. She shook her head at first, trying to ignore us. But we pryed to much.
"Fine! But I'll tell you all after breakfast at the beach." She said and we relised we had to leave for kitchen duty. We stood up and walked over to the kitchen.