Thank you for your overwhelming feedback to the last chapter! Here's what happens next. Did you expect that turn of events?
That was it. The house was burning. The flames were leaking out of the remaining windows destroying everything that had survived the impact of the bomb. For a moment Miss Peregrine was glad that animals were not able to cry because she knew that if she possessed her human form right now she would be falling apart right here. Not that it hurt any less to lose all of their physical possessions in her bird form but to her children it was less obvious. On the other hand she would do everything to be able to turn back and comfort her children. Especially the young ones were beyond confused and shell-shocked. Their home they had lived in for decades was destroyed! Burned down to ashes, beyond repair. The harsh truth was that they were homeless now. They had no place to go. And she was stuck in her bird form. In her mind Miss Peregrine cursed in the most unladylike manner.
She was far from feeling well. It felt as if her whole body hurt. She couldn't even distinguish where the pain was coming from. But she couldn't be weak now. She had failed her children. She had let herself be hurt and now her children had to endure the consequences.
She flapped her good wing to get all of her children's attention. 'Go!' She cooed but they didn't seem to understand. Most of the children had tear stains on their cheeks and red and puffy eyes. On top they were soaked. No one had thought to bring an umbrella. They had to find a dry place otherwise they would freeze to death. Miss Peregrine screeched again to get the attention of her children. She tried not to look at their now burning home but instead focused on her beloved children. As much as it hurt her to lose everything she had worked so hard for it would have been more horrible to lose another one of her children.
The children seemed like they were in a trance. This needed to stop! This was not the place nor time for them to grieve the life they had just lost. Miss Peregrine was still being held closely by Enoch. In her mind she already apologized to her oldest son. Then she picked at his hand. Hard.
"Ouch" Enoch exclaimed. "Miss P!"
With her head she nudged him. At first Enoch thought that she wanted to apologize and he was just about to tell her that it was alright when he realized what she truly wanted. They needed to get away!
"We have to go!" Enoch said and the bird nodded approvingly.
"But where?" Claire asked and suddenly it became all too obvious that she was only five years old. It was often forgot how small most of her children actually were in a loop where the same day repeated itself continuously.
"Claire, we will find another lovely home, I promise. But now we need to leave and find a place to stay for tonight." Enoch explained as calmly as he could. He was just as frightened as his siblings were but they were looking at him for comfort in this times of need and he was ready to fulfill this role no matter what. They needed him!
Olive grabbed the hands of the twins and Enoch took Claire in his arms. Quickly Claire snatched Miss Peregrine from his other arm and pressed her against her chest as if she was one of Claire's stuffed animals. Normally Miss P would have not liked being manhandled like that but right now if that was what Claire needed she would play along.
Slowly, way too slowly they walked down towards the other side of the island. They had no real destination in mind yet. Far away they could hear people marching through the forest towards their home. They had left the police officer and the pub owner behind. They would be found by the other inhabitants. Normally it would have been convenient if Miss Peregrine would have been able to manipulate their minds but in her current position she was of course unable to. Right now they knew that the children were somewhere on the island without any caregiver (that was of course what they thought). They would try to find them and ship them off to the mainland. The only good thing was that they were not aging forward rapidly because they were still in 1943. They marched towards the coast where huge caves could be found along the beach. They would hide there. Olive could warm them with her fire and could dry their clothes. They had packed several warm blankets and they would wait for the morning and then they would take the first ferry to the mainland. It was only a matter of time until Miss Peregrine would be fine again. Then she would find them another home and create another loop. That was at least what Enoch told himself. In reality everything would be a lot more difficult. They had a lot of challenges to overcome.