Judging from your comments most of you didn't expect that turn of events. See what happens next! I'm dying to read what you think about this chapter or the story in general.
The night was as dark as a night could be. Not even the moon light was able to get through the thick dark clouds at the sky. The twelve children were stumbling towards a dark hole in the wall. By now they could hardly keep themselves from simply falling over. The happenings of the day were finally catching up with them. In merely one day they had lost everything-except of course each other. Miss Peregrine was still cradled in now sleeping Claire's arms. Carefully so no one would see them they entered the cave. Someone had even thought of bringing dry wood from their shed behind the house so Olive could light a fire. Quickly everyone gathered around the warming flames. They changed out of their wet clothes into dry ones they had brought along but they were still feeling cold. Slowly that warm fire warmed them. But the warmth could not reach their souls. No one of them could understand how their lives could change from peaceful and near-perfect to horrible so quickly.
Enoch cleared his voice. "Well, I just want you to know…that, you know…you don't have to be afraid"
He was himself at a loss of words and he was very frightened as well. He did not feel in the position to comfort others. Olive was hugging Bronwyn and Emma pulled the twins closer towards her.
'Wow, what a great comfort speech' He thought to himself.
"What are we going to do now?" Hugh asked. His bees were quietly flying around them. "Horace, did you dream about anything useful?"
Horace shook his head. Great.
"Well, then" Enoch said thinking about what to do next. "Then we will stay here for tonight and tomorrow we are going to take the first ferry off the island."
"You think they will simply let us leave like that? Won't they be asking questions?" Hugh asked skeptically.
"We will find a way" Enoch said more convinced than he actually was. "Now, you should all sleep. I'll stay up as a night watch"
The others nodded and started to look for a comfortable place near the fire. Those children who could overcome their pride or had no problem with that in the first place snuggled closely together.
Enoch leaned against the cold stone wall. His eye lid felt heavy beyond believe. But he had promised to stay awake. He needed to stay awake. He needed…
He was woken up by a bright light shining directly into his eyes. For a brief moment he thought it was the rising sun entering the cave and announcing the new day. But in fact it was not. It was a lamp that was held only inches before his face. A rough hand grabbed his collar and pulled him to his feet.
"Come now, boy, stand up. We've got you" A man with a thick accent said. It took a moment before Enoch realized what had happened merely hours before and what was happening right now. There were about six or seven men in the cave around them waking the children one after the other.
"What are you doing?" Enoch asked alarmed. Suddenly he heard Miss Peregrine screech in both fear and fury.
"Bloody bird!" One of the men cursed and slashed at the bird.
"No!" Claire screamed. "You are going to hurt her!"
"What are you talking about girl? You can be happy I'm here now because otherwise this bird would have hurt you. Look at those talons and that beak!" The man said unfriendly. He managed to hit the bird and she slammed against the wall and fell down like a stone. She lay motionlessly in the sand. He grabbed screaming Claire's hand and pulled her towards the entrance of the cave.
"What are you doing?" Enoch asked again this time louder and more fierce in his voice. The man who had pulled him up turned towards him.
"We searched the whole island for you after your home was hit by the bomb. Your headmistress is not with you? Sorry to tell you, we did not find her anywhere. She probably was still in the house when the bomb struck." He didn't sound sorry at all. The peculiar family had always had problems with the normal people from the island.
One after the other the children were pulled out of the cave. Not many of them were struggling, they were still drowsy and were not realizing what was happening.
The man next to Enoch grabbed the boy's shoulder and dragged him out of the cave. "Let us go!" He roared sounding incredibly frightening. The men were completely unimpressed.
"Don't worry. We already called the mainland. They will find a new home for you with someone who has actually the capabilities of raising children like you"