Hello everybody out there! I cannot believe that this is already chapter 11. I had never intended for this story to be so long and it's still not over yet. Now business is about to get serious. What do you think?
Just a bit more than one hour to go. One hour! The children were sitting in the hallway with their packed belongings. Their eyes were full of fear of what the future had in store for them. Far away they could hear planes flying over the mainland. From time to time they could hear the explosion of bombs. They had heard those noises so often that they normally didn't even notice them. Not so today. Knowing that in one hour their house would burn to the ground caused them to listen to even the smallest noises. This was quite difficult though as the twins were constantly whimpering. They were pressing themselves against Olive who was sitting motionless on a suitcase.
Enoch just entered the hallway. He had tried to call Miss Avocet's loop again but no one had picked up the phone. Olive looked at him hopefully but he only shook his head in desperation.
"But-" Bronwyn started. "What are we going to do now? We cannot leave!"
Enoch bend down until he was eye to eye with the young girl. "I don't want to leave either, but maybe we don't have a choice" Bronwyn sighed heavily.
Suddenly the door to the parlor opened and Emma joined them. She was carrying Miss Peregrine in her arms.
"Miss P!" Claire squealed and ran to their ymbryne. Emma stopped her in the last moment.
"Careful, Claire! She's still hurt, but she wanted to see you all"
Claire carefully caressed the ymbryne's head with her index finger. "Please Miss P, can't you just turn back and save our house?"
The bird cooed quietly and rubbed her head against her youngest charge's hand in a comforting motion. Obviously she couldn't.
"Claire, if she could turn back she would have done so by now" Emma answered in their ymbryne's place. "But she needs more time to heal."
The following silence was interrupted by the clock that announced that it now was eight o' clock. This caused Miss Peregrine to flap her good wing furiously. But right now she was as powerless as her children. She was stuck.
Enoch quickly told the ymbryne that they had tried to call Miss Avocet's loop several times but no one had picked up the phone. This seemed to worry the bird even more. Normally there had to be several children that could pick up the phone.
Outside the first rain drops started to fall. Soon the sound of the detonating bombs mixed with the sound of the raindrops hitting the window. Apart from that the ticking of the clock was the only thing that could be heard.
Half an hour. 30 minutes. Enoch couldn't tear his eyes away from the clock. One minute after the other passed. Ten minutes later their two prisoners made another attempt to break out of their confinement. Miss Peregrine who of course had not yet been told about their visitors was so startled that she almost fell off Emma's lap. Emma was hardly able to catch the bird.
The younger children explained what had happened in turns with excitement in their voice. Miss P was obviously not happy about what had happened regarding that the police officer had carried a gun but she was also impressed with the children's wits.
"But don't worry if…if Miss Avocet won't be here on time we will of course let them out." Enoch sighed. The bird nodded.
Fifteen minutes. Reluctantly Enoch told the children to grab their things and leave the house. The last thing they did was getting the two men from the cellar. Bronwyn tied them up and gagged them.
Ten minutes. They were standing far away from their home but still in viewing distance. They couldn't believe what was happening. Their home! The two men were sitting in the wet grass looking from one child to the other not understanding why they had left the house. No one bothered to explain why.
Five Minutes. The young ones started to cry. They pleaded for Miss Peregrine to turn back. It was obvious how much her inability to protect her children hurt Miss Peregrine. She would give anything to be able to transform back and reset the loop.
Four minutes.
Three minutes.
Two minutes.
One minute.
30 seconds.