It was requested that I provide you with a list of Minnette's ymbryne classmates. Below I've posted their names, their Ymbryne name, their race and their bird species.
So, we have:
Mary: 'Miss Magpie". British. Magpie.
Floretta: "Miss Jacana." Mexican. Northern Jacana.
Gretta. "Miss Mocking." American. Mockingbird.
Annabelle. "Miss Crane." British. Crane.
Lovely. "Miss Dove." Native American. Mourning Dove.
The phone conversation that took place between Miss Avocet, Miss Peregrine and I played over-and-over in my mind for the remainder of that Friday. Even during dinner it echoed through my mind. I could still hear it as I drifted to sleep.
My first Saturday was spent powing around the mansion with Mary. Come to find out that the mansion provided many different forms of entertainment. On the fourth floor was a massive library of both peculiar and normal world books, all of which we were allowed to borrow at any given time. There was a small theater on the first floor, where Miss Avocet showed vintage projector movies by request. A tennis court was on the right of the house. Concealed behind a wall of fifteen-foot-tall hedges was a swimming pool with a diving board.
Saturdays were the days we were permitted to receive phone calls from our families. I asked Miss Avocet to inform Miss Peregrine that a call that Saturday was unnecessary- we had spoken the previous evening.
Most of that Saturday Mary and I spent floating in the swimming pool on huge blocks of foam and having girlish conversations.
"Miss Avocet says that this year we are going to begin going out on outings," Mary said to me from her foam block. "In fact, she informed me this morning that we are taking one tomorrow."
An outing sounded good to distract my mind for a while. Throughout the day all the girls were summoned to Miss Avocet's office for their phone calls. Each ward was allowed an hour time limit to speak with their loved ones. When Mary was called I went to my room and slept a couple hours of the afternoon away.
Miss Avocet announced at dinner that night that we would be going on an outing the next morning. She requested that we be bathed and dressed to go by ten a.m. News of the outing excited the lot beyond belief. She explained very little yet the mood improved drastically.
As requested, I washed myself and put on a black blouse over a ruffled black skirt before the clock struck ten the next morning. The girls were gathered in the front lobby chatting away. Toddy stood guard at the door, ensuring that no one tried to leave early. I decided to bring along the small black messenger bag that I had to carry my wallet and stuff in. Luckily my father gave me a good chunk of money to bring to 'university' and had it exchanged into euros. By 'outing' I took it that Miss Avocet would be taking us outside of the loop.
When Miss Avocet came in I noticed right away that she was wearing a black trench coat. We must have been going somewhere decently chilly.
"Follow me, ladies, we will discuss when we reach our destination."
So out the mansion, down the graveled path, and through the tightly-squeezed hedges we went. Miss Avocet exited into the botanical garden and peeped around for onlookers. The garden was closed on Sundays, so there was not a soul in sight. She waved us on and we all took turns squeezing through the small space into the garden. Once all out, we followed Miss Avocet to a big iron gate, which she unlocked by sticking her hands through it to the lock on the opposite side, and dug into it with a small hairpin. The lock popped open and she wriggled it so it fell to the cobblestone.
As a group we quickly bounded from the garden, and Miss Avocet locked the gate back in place.
We had once again entered the normal world.
The sounds of cars, chattering people and light rain filled the air. My nostrils found the scent of wet pavement. Much to my surprise none of the girls were overly surprised about exiting the loop. They were probably used to it.
We made our way down the busy street and stopped in a small park. The normal world was such a dark contrast compared to any loop I had ever been in. The energy was depressing and I could slowly feel it dragging my mood down. I wondered what people thought of us as we toddled down the street. I imagined us looking somewhat like the girls from Madeline, minus the hats and matching blue dresses.
"Ladies," began Miss Avocet. "Welcome to our first normal-world outing. Today you have a quest to complete, if you will. Considering that Miss Stonington is the only one with loop experience, she is likely to know what I mean. As you all know, a loop is created through the manipulation of time used to preserve a twenty-four- hour period. Although the power to manipulate time lies within the ymbryne, a tool is required for the ymbryne to properly pinpoint the beginning and ending of the loop time period." She turned her back to us and faced down the street. Many little shops lined both sides of the cobblestone street, and by the looks of things, even for a Sunday, most of them were open for business. "I am going to gift you each twenty pounds. Use it to find yourself a time piece of your pleasing, and meet me back here in precisely two hours." She then gave each of us a bill of twenty pounds and wandered off.
I was standing next to Mary and Lovely Dove when Annabelle pushed between us. "Little does Miss Avocet know that my father has an endless line of credit. He gave me a credit card to use for whatever I desire. I plan on finding the biggest gold wristwatch I can find." She, too, wandered off.
Gretta and Floretta joined our little congregation.
"What does your ymbryne use to reset her loop, Minnette?" Gretta asked me.
Memories of all the times I had witnessed Miss Peregrine use her pocket watch flooded me. "She uses a pocket watch," I informed the other girls. "She keeps it on her person at all time."
"We've never witnessed the council reset our loop," Mary said. "I have a feeling they do it late at night when we're all asleep."
I knew so very little of the ymbryne council- Miss Peregrine didn't mention them much. The council seemed a lot like parliament, you hardly heard much of it, but you knew it was there. All the time I thought Peculiardom had no type of government there had been a council all along. It wasn't until Emma mentioned to me back in Cairnholm that the council was responsible for selecting which ymbryne to place the children under.
"Well, girls, we only have two hours, so if we all need to find a timepiece, I suggest we hustle," Gretta said.
I counted five little thrift shops on the main drag. My history of thrifting would come in handy during this outing, and I bet I could find a really good deal. I just had to figure out what manner of timepiece I wanted. A wristwatch? A pocketwatch? Maybe a small handclock like Miss Peregrine had. Whatever was meant to be mine would call out to me.
The first shop we entered had a middle-aged man siting at a glass counter. He was nose-deep into a newspaper. He said nothing when he saw us enter, just nodded in acknowledgment. He was probably unhappy that he got stuck working on a Sunday.
The shop was divided into four parts, apparel, household, toys and miscellaneous. I went straight for the clothes. Two hours was plenty of time to find a timepiece and perhaps find something new to wear. Mary and Lovely joined me at the clothing rack and soon they were holding up ugly clothes to one another and laughing. I laughed hysterically when Lovely held up a bright yellow jacket with green polka-dots on it.
Next came a huge purple sunhat that Mary placed on her head and puckered up her lips. She then began to prance around the racks making a clucking noise.
"Esta loca!" Floretta cheered between laughs.
I countered the silliness by putting on a pair of sunglasses that were so big it was ridiculous. Next I found an old parasol and I opened it. There was music playing quietly in the shop and I began to stomp-out a funky dance to it while making cooing noises. My actions caused Floretta and and Lovely to burst out laughing. I then found a mink and began to rub it back-and-forth between my legs like an old drunken Hollywood movie star. Even the man minding the counter started to laugh.
Lovely and Floretta joined Mary with her chicken dance and I wandered over to a big glass case that had jewelery in it. There was a handful of wristwatches and a couple of pocket watches. One of the pocket watches was black, but for some reason, it didn't quite appeal to me. When the girls saw me browsing they gathered around me.
Lovely pointed at a rose gold wrist watch. "Look at that!" she said.
"I like the black pocket watch," Gretta said.
"I honestly hope we all end up with something different," I pointed out. "I would hate to feel like I was a copycat."
I liked the idea of a pocket watch, it was old fashioned. I watched as Gretta's eyes moved over the sleek surface of the black pocket watch with admiration. After a few minutes she turned to the man at the counter.
"Excuse me, sir," she said. "I'd like to buy this pocket watch."
We watched as the man pulled a pair of keys from under the desk. Whistling, he strode over, unlocked the case. Reaching in, he grabbed the pocket watch, and handed it to Gretta. Her eyes lit up and her fingers sailed around the smooth surface of the watch. She fondled it gently for a minute, then found the clasp button on the top. The watch popped open to reveal delicate, black numbers inside.
"I'll take it," Gretta said to the man, handing him her twenty. She collected her change then wrapped the chain to the pocket watch around her fist. She held it tightly and looked at Lovely. "Aren't you going to get that wristwatch, Lovely?" she asked her.
Lovely shook her head. "I want to see what else there is. I don't want to go and spend my money and then find something I like better and not have anything to buy it with."
"Good thinking," said Floretta.
The man said nothing and went back to the desk.
The group of us continued to the next shop, and to the next, and the next after that. By the time we reached the fifth and final shop, I was the only one without a timepiece. Gretta had her black pocket watch, Floretta found a small clock that was in the shape of a sombrero.
"It reminds me of my home in Mexico!" she claimed with such pride.
Lovely found a wristwatch that didn't have a band on it. She said she was a skilled weaver and would weave a band for it with a Navajo pattern on it.
Annabelle rejoined us after a while. She had a sparking brand new watch on her left wrist. She explained to us that there was a jewelery shop on the next street over and that her watch was six-hundred pounds. She waved it around like it was a penny-toy and she basically rubbed it in all our faces. She was honestly nothing but a spoiled brat.
Mary found herself a pocket watch much like Gretta's only it was gold and it had an eagle on it. "The eagle is fitting," she chimed.
I was starting to worry that I wouldn't find a timepiece that suited me, and all the others tried their best to help me find something I liked. Since I would be using said timepiece for all future time manipulation, I wanted it to be something I connected with.
The very last shop had a huge bin of watches of all sorts. Cheap ones you'd find in the Dollar Tree, old Rollex wrist watches, even just small clock faces. I spent the last forty-five minutes of our time digging through the bin but came to no avail. I was ready to give up when I noticed Mary over by the glass counter. She waved me over and pressed her pointer to the glass.
On a long, sterling silver necklace chain, was a small silver pocket watch. The outside surfaces were etched with designs. Two recognizable flowers were etched into the center of the designs. The watch itself was small enough to fit just into the palm of my hand. It was so shiny that when the light hit it it shone.
"Exquisite," I mumbled under my breath. I had to have it.
It was fifty pounds, so I added thirty from my wallet in with Miss Avocet's money. The woman working seemed happy to sell it to me. She grinned when she handed it to me from the case.
Immediately I clasped the chain around my neck. The length of the chain was long enough to where it hung just above my cleavage. It was without a doubt the most beautiful pocket watch I had ever seen and I couldn't stop touching it.
Miss Avocet was sitting on a bench near the park when we all went to find her. She had a bag of bread in her hand, and she was ripping it into small pieces and throwing them to a nearby flock of crows. The gallant black birds gave me a sense of comfort and familiarity.
She asked to see our timepieces and we showed them off excitedly.
"Well done, today, ladies," she cooed. "Now remember that once you develop your time manipulation skills, it is vital that your timepiece remain on your person at all times."
Looking at the crows peck at the bread, I touched my watch on my chest. Even if it wasn't required to keep it on me at all times, I knew I would anyway. It was just that beautiful.