Chapter 2
"I wanted them to have this whenever they wanted, this uncomplicated place, and maybe there was a way I could." {Jacob Portman, pg 50 book 4}
Aurora woke the next day to sunlight gently streaming in through the thin sheers that covered the windows of the bedroom she and Millard were 'borrowing' for the time being. She wasn't sure how long they would be occupying Jacob's house, but twelve peculiars and an ymbryne in one house originally designed for a family of three was not a situation she foresaw as lasting too long. In the back of her mind she knew the reconstruction project would be underway soon enough and she tried to keep the stressful thoughts away as she felt Millard's arm tighten around her waist as he sighed into the curve of her neck.
"G'morning Darling." He said sleepily as she nestled into him. The sheet was tugged over her chest and tangled around one leg turning her into a cocoon with Millard.
"Good morning." She replied with a smile in her voice.
The rest of the house seemed quiet, there was no sound of feet through the halls or voices carrying up the stairs. Given how late they had all stayed up last night it was no wonder if they were the only ones awake this early.
"Are you feeling better?" she inquired tentatively, curious but also weary to bring up a possible sore subject.
Millard inhaled deeply before exhaling and humming as he nodded into her back. "I'm having suspicions that perhaps that 'pizza' has magical properties."
She laughed, a light tinkling sound as he joined in, "You don't believe in magic."
Their laughter gave way to another tender moment of quiet, cuddling and the occasional kiss to the back of her head she ran her hand back and forth along his arm and asked, "Did you ever imagine that we'd be able to live without a loop? With no wights in the world?"
He gave a chuckle and kissed her head again, "Never. The probability of such a thing seemed along the same lines of the moon being made of cheese."
"And now? We have so many possibilities. What now?"
She felt him readjust behind her so she rolled over and rested on her opposite side. She could see the indent in the pillow where Millard was now leaning back, sitting up instead of lying flat. There was another indentation from his arm which was bent so his hand rested under his head.
"How do you mean?"
She looked down and started playing with a piece of string from the hem of the sheet around her. "After what everyone said last night. . . about the Bird being too protective, too mothering. . . what if we. . . stopped living with her?"
Millard was silent and he didn't move. She couldn't see his face but if he'd been looking at her she would have felt his eyes boring into her, which she did not. Likely he was looking elsewhere, lost in thought. She looked back down and waited for Millard to finish contemplating, knowing how his mind worked and processed new information like a mathematics equation.
"Leave the Bird?" he asked with enough confusion that she could picture his brows pushed together quizzically.
"Not out of spite, or anger." She clarified, "More to, get on with our lives. We're married, shouldn't we live like a married couple?"
She felt the tension and confusion slip out of his muscles as his side of the bed shifted ever so slightly. "I hadn't thought of that, truthfully."
"Really?"
"Mm-hmm." She heard him nod as his hair brushed the pillow, "Like I said, I never even imagined we'd one day be free of loop-time. Therefore the concept of living, like normals do, always seemed like a dream."
She could hear the smile in his voice, and found a grin slowly spreading on her own lips. Readjusting, she rested her head on his shoulder and his arm wrapped around her again as she felt the pads of his fingers start to trace patterns against her hip.
"Our own place would be nice. I can foresee a few. . . uncomfortable situations, that might arise with all of us living under one roof."
"Enoch alone." She reminded him.
"And we don't have to live far from the others."
"A few blocks would be ideal."
It grew quiet again, and the peace lasted long enough that she began to drift off. Then Millard shifted and she slightly jostled to wake just enough to notice he was getting out of bed.
"Mill?"
"I'm going to go for a walk, think on it." His hand made a print in the mattress as he leaned in and kissed her forehead, "Go back to sleep. I'll be back before breakfast."
When Aurora woke again this time it was to the smell of cooking food and the sound of voices as someone walked past her door. Her stomach made a loud grumble refusing to let her sleep any longer without feeding it.
Sitting on the side of the bed she stretched her arms over her head before walking to her suitcase from the honeymoon and fishing around for something to wear. Most of her clothes were very dated, only a few things she thought were basic enough that she shouldn't draw too much attention in the present time.
She ended up pairing a beige skirt with a black short sleeved button up with a little collar and parted her hair, twisted both sides, then secured them together in the back like a low ponytail making a classic french twist.
When she made her way downstairs and into the open space that contained both the kitchen and the dining room she found a scene of peculiar domestic bliss.
Horace was moving busily around the kitchen while Emma and Millard were setting the table, Millard in his usual brown trousers and button up. Miss Peregrine was whistling to herself and opening windows to let in the morning breeze. Outside Claire, Bronwyn and the twins were chasing one another around the yard, Bronwyn often catching the others and tossing them twenty feet into the air and catching them when she did. In the living room Hugh and Enoch were glued to the television watching an advertisement for laundry detergent in rapt wonderment.
Aurora chuckled before getting to work. She passed Olive in the kitchen who had a bowl of steaming scrambled eggs in one hand and a bowl of sausages in the other. Both looked fresh out of the oven hot, but even with her gloves off the heat from the dishes didn't seem to be bothering her. Aurora took a basket of croissants and a pitcher of orange juice and followed Olive to the table. For the next few minutes they went back and forth carrying Horace's culinary creations that became more and more luxurious with each trip. Miss Peregrine collected the four children in the yard and peeled the boys from the television just as Jake was coming down the stairs. He still had this look of amazement like he was wondering when he was going to wake up and the dream would be over.
He took a seat beside Emma as Aurora sat to the blonde's right. As the chairs filled Horace began to make a show of what he'd prepared.
"This morning we've got pain perdu, potatoes à la royal, a viennoiserie of French pastries and porridge with caramelized fruits!"
"C'est manifique Horace." Aurora said eyeing the pain perdu, or in English, French toast.
"You've outdone yourself!" Bronwyn said excitedly bouncing in her chair.
They all tucked in with vigor, Aurora took a bit of everything, the smells and flavors reminding her of home.
"Where did all the food come from?" Jake asked scooping potatoes onto his plate.
"They may or may not have floated off the shelves of a market down the road." Millard answered instead of Horace.
Aurora brought her napkin to her mouth to hide her grin as she muttered, "After dodging bombs and wights and running for our lives I forgot what a troublemaker you are."
She recalled all the ruckus Millard had caused back on the island when Jake had shown up and gotten himself caught by the loop-trapped normal folk.
Jacob stopped mid chew. "You stole this?"
"Millard!" Miss Peregrine snapped from the head of the table, "What if you had gotten caught?"
"Impossible. I'm a master thief. It's my third most impressive skill, after my extreme intelligence and near perfect memory."
Aurora leaned over and rested her hand on his shoulder so she knew exactly where his ear was and whispered, "Fourth most impressive skill mon amour. You're forgetting one."
Even invisible Aurora could feel his face flush with red beside her.
"But they have cameras in stores now." Jacob continued. "If they get you on video, it could be a big problem."
"Oh." Millard replied sounding nonchalant, though he suddenly seemed very interested in the caramelized peach on the end of his fork.
" Very impressive thieving. What was your first impressive skill again?" Enoch snickered.
Miss Peregrine set down her silverware and folded her hands in front of her, "All right children, we're adding stealing from normals to the mustn't-ever list."
Everyone groaned.
"I'm quite serious. If the police were to pay us a visit, it would be no small inconvenience."
Enoch slumped, "The present is so tiresome. Remember how easy things were to sort out in the loop?" He drew a line across his throat with his butter knife covered in jam. " Ckkkkk! Goodbye troublesome normal!"
Aurora's appetite fell into a pit in her stomach.
"We're not on Cairnholm anymore." Miss Peregrine reminded them, "And this isn't a game of Raid the Village. The actions you take here have real and permanent consequences."
"I was only kidding." Enoch grumbled.
"No you weren't." Bronwyn hissed across the table.
Then, to change the subject she assumed, Jacob asked, "When should we start the normalling lessons?"
"How about today?" Emma replied, her eyes aglow.
"Right now!" Claire exclaimed.
"What should I start with? What do you want to know?"
"Why don't you fill in our knowledge of the past seventy-five years or so." Millard suggested, "History, politics, music, popular culture, recent breakthroughs in science and technology . . ."
"I was thinking more along the lines of learning to talk like you're not from 1940 and crossing the street without being killed."
"I suppose that's important too."
"I want to go outside." Bronwyn said longingly looking out the window.
"What about seeing a municipal airport?" Olive asked then lit up like an idea struck her, "Or a pencil factory! I read a fascinating book about pencil factories."
"Now, now." Miss Peregrine called order, "We're not going on any grand expeditions today. We've got to walk before we can run and given our limited transportation options a walk sounds just about right. Mr. Portman is there an underpopulated place we can perambulate that proximate to here? I don't want the children interacting with normals unnecessarily before they've had more practice."
"There's the beach. It's pretty dead in the summertime."
"Excellent!" then she turned her eyes to the rest of them, "But I want to see sun protection."
Jacob gave them permission to raid the closets for beachwear, since they had none, and Aurora was able to dig up something in a pretty pattern that caught her eye.
Back in their room Millard had already begun to strip out of his button up and uncap a bottle labelled sun screen. Aurora changed out of her clothes and slid into the swimsuit, though it didn't hug her body the right way and she kept trying to find a way to get the top to pinch itself together in the middle.
"My suit back home wasn't so low." She said as she looked in the mirror and noticed how the string did nothing to hide the space between her breasts. She turned and looked at her back in the reflection, immediately slapping her hands over her bottom. "And my arse is hanging out!"
"You look amazing Darling." Millard complimented, "And if it makes you feel any better, every other teenage girl will be dressed the same way. No one will notice, you'll be like a herd of zebras."
She pouted at her reflection and murmured, "But it's my body, I don't want to be mocked because I prefer to be a bit more covered."
She remembered her abusive father once calling her a whore, now she had to fear the opposite. What if normals called her a prude? She wasn't a prude – her honeymoon with Millard was proof enough of that. But was it really so wrong that she didn't want total strangers seeing so much of her intimate areas?
There was a knock on the door, just in time to break her from her dreary thoughts. Millard called that they were descent and Emma poked her head through. She stepped in and Aurora noticed something clutched to her chest. Emma had one of those smiles on her face that peaked your curiosity and Aurora couldn't stop herself before she asked, "What's that?"
Emma slid into the room and shrugged, "Well, you're both aware I've taken up a bit of photography, since finding that camera in Bentham's house. And, well. . . here. A little belated wedding present."
She passed the wide album to Aurora who took a seat on the bed and opened the cover. Inside were snaps of their wedding taken by Emma with delicate floral stickers and gold and silver designs in the white space. Any writing was done in beautiful calligraphy and some of the detailing in the corners looked like flowers that had been made out of thin string. It looked like it had taken weeks to make, yet Emma – and likely the others – had completed it in just seven days.
Aurora felt her heart clench in her chest and her eyes started to water as Millard scooted next to her and looked at the pictures of Miss Peregrine officiating the ceremony as she wrapped a ribbon around their hands, the twinkle lights in the willow tree, the pair of them dancing together.
"Oh Emma." Aurora sighed breathlessly as she slid the album toward Millard who held it in his lap as she stood and hugged her friend tightly. Emma returned the gesture rocking them side to side. "Thank you."
"Oh don't thank me, it was no bother. We love you two." Then Emma pulled back, "And, I found this in one of the closets and thought you might like it."
She held up a crocheted dress with capped sleeves that had a thin rope like belt that tied in the waist. When Aurora took it the fabric was soft like cotton and would be the perfect thing to keep her both covered and cool for a day at the beach.
"Emma what would I do without you?" she asked giving the blonde another hug.
Emma laughed as they parted then she shrugged looking down at herself. "All the girls needed to make adjustments. The fashion in the present is so strange."
Emma herself was in a full piece bathing suit which she had paired with a floral shawl tied around her waist. She had also changed her usual big metal shoes for a pair of lead ones that resembled black flats – no doubt something the headmistress had gotten her hands on back in Devil's Acre.
"I worry Horace is going to have the worst time adjusting." Millard added with a chuckle as he stood and grabbed the sunscreen again, "He seems to be quite appalled that Jacob only ever wears jeans."
The three of them chuckled and giggled behind their hands trying to stifle their laughing fit. Emma excused herself for them to finish getting ready and Aurora thanked her once more for the gift.
After they had profusely lathered in sunblock they joined the others downstairs. Nothing fit Claire or Bronwyn, so they added floppy sun hats and dark glasses to oversized tee shirts that went to their knees. Olive had found another one piece suit and had thrown an open button down over it to cover more of her as well. She hadn't put her rubber gloves back on and Aurora noted how after everything they had been through Olive had seemed to master an impressive amount of control over her gift then all her years in the loop had ever given her. Enoch had snagged some swim trunks and a tee shirt while Horace sported a blue polo and khaki chinos with the cuffs neatly rolled.
Hugh hadn't changed, neither had the twins. The look in Hugh's eyes told Aurora that his sour demeanor had returned and he said he would volunteer to stay behind and watch over Jacob's parents in case they woke up. The twins pointed from themselves to Hugh and Aurora got the impression that the little sweethearts were saying they would stay behind to watch Hugh. Jake gave Hugh a cell phone, most likely one of his parent's, and showed Hugh how to call him if anything happened.
Then Miss Peregrine came into the room and everyone oohed and ahhed. She wore a fringed top with scooped out shoulders, tropical print capri pants, aviator sunglasses and her perpetually upswept hair poked up through the middle of a sun visor.
"You look so modern!" Olive cooed clapping her hands together and intertwining her fingers.
Miss Peregrine smiled, "We must be masters of disguise, if we're to pass in different worlds."
"Careful Miss P. All the bachelors will be after you." Emma said with a smile that the Bird returned and shook her head at.
Jacob's house was in a neighborhood on an island that was mainly five miles of touristy bars and waterfront houses with a bridge at each end. Jacob said the rich people had the houses on the Gulf and everyone else's looked out at Lemon Bay which was actually very nice, with quiet mornings and herons that fished along the banks. He kept the group of them hidden behind a thicket of hedge at the end of the driveway until all the cars had passed, then they darted across the street to a footpath that Jacob said was intentionally overgrown to hide it from tourists. After a minute or two of fighting through the branches the path opened up onto Needle Key's long white sand beach and the emerald green gulf that seemed to spread out endlessly.
Aurora heard a few gasps from the others, but she and Millard had grown used to such a view while they'd honeymooned. And despite the others living on an island, this beach had a rare beauty that even Cairnholm lacked. The water was flat and calm as a lake, the sand was powdery white, and the leaves of the palm trees waved in the breeze.
"Goodness Jacob." Miss Peregrine sighed taking in a lungful of air. "What a little paradise you have here."
It didn't take long for their group to leave the footpath and go running around. The little ones started hunting for shells, while Enoch and Olive walked hand in hand down the beach.
"Last one in's a rotten egg!" Emma cried joyfully as she took off for the water. Jacob, Millard and Aurora were hot on her heels racing into the surf. It was colder then Aurora was expecting so the second her foot touched it she wanted to run back to the sand with an 'eek!'. But a pair of arms circled her waist and held her in place as a wave crashed and raced toward her. She laughed as Millard spun her so the water smashed into her hip soaking her from the waist down.
Back in the sand Miss Peregrine was looking down at her feet as a group of tiny sandpipers pecked near her ankles with their long beaks. "Shoo! I'm not your mother."
A splash drenched Millard as Emma came to the rescue. Her husband let go of her and retaliated against Emma. Jacob joined in their water fight and the four of them splashed around until Aurora backed up to the beach and flopped back on her bottom. Emma turned from Millard to splashing Jake. Millard joined her sitting in the sand, his bottom and hands making divots beside her, and the sun felt wonderful on her skin as it dried her off and warmed her up.
"It's just like our honeymoon." Millard commented.
Aurora hummed in reply and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. She became swept away in the fantasy in her head. The beautiful image of what her home with Millard might look like. Perhaps somewhere close to Jacob's house – assuming Miss Peregrine kept the rest of her wards in the area, which seemed likely. A quaint little house, they wouldn't need much space, near enough to the water that they could walk here in the late afternoons. Perhaps with their children. A smile spread on her lips without her realizing it as she thought about sitting in a rocking chair on a back porch, the salty and warm ocean breeze blowing around her, a baby in her arms she could hum lullaby's to. She wondered what their children would look like, hopefully they'd inherit some of Millard's genes. The gorgeous blue eyes she'd seen for a fleeting moment while he had been visible, his hair, any freckles, she hoped were passed on to their children. It would be a wonderfully poetic way of him regaining the physical attributes he thought he'd lost when he became invisible.
"What's gotten you smiling?" he asked and she craned her head to look up at him. It was a remarkable thing, to see nothing but the sky but feel his gaze on her. Her mind's eye always created this outline of him that she could focus on, but remembering his clear blue eyes and freckles made that mental picture more vivid.
"Us." She replied.
She could tell he was beaming, she couldn't explain how, "My favorite subject."
She giggled before she felt him peck her lips. It was short and sweet but as he pulled away they heard someone call to them.
"Oi! No snogging on the beach." Enoch scolded as he and Olive were returning, walking behind the pair.
"As if that's not what the two of you just strolled off to do." Millard called back teasingly. "Where have you been all this time?"
"None of your business." Enoch replied bending down and scooping up some wet sand he flicked at Millard. Aurora recoiled laughing as Millard stood and made a snowball out of more wet sand.
"Don't you dare." Enoch warned him with a smile and shake of his head as Olive let go of his hand and stepped away closer to Aurora where they'd be safer.
"Or what?" Millard asked, the sand ball rolling from one hand to another. When Enoch had no response Millard threw the sand at him which he tried to dodge, but the ball broke apart in the air so some of it still got him.
With a mischievous grin Enoch engaged Millard in his challenge, "Alright Nullings let's see what you've got."
The girls laughed and squealed as the boys started a sand fight. When it became clear the sand was still getting too close to hitting the girls, and the pair of them got close enough anyway, the whole thing turned into a wrestling match. Millard was good at bobbing and weaving and slipping out of Enoch's grip but when O'Connor got him in a headlock the headmistress put an end to it.
"Enoch, Millard, stop that roughhousing!" Miss Peregrine called to them before the tiny sandpipers caught up to her and she had to take hurried steps to put more distance between herself and them.
The pair broke apart and Olive rejoined Enoch, brushing sand off him, both smiling, while Aurora and Millard went back into the water to wash off.
"Poor Miss P." Aurora said holding onto Millard, her arms around his neck. They were so deep in the water that if a normal came along they wouldn't think she had her arms around nothing. "Back in Britain the birds respected her, here they don't seem to understand personal space."
"I have wondered what ymbryne customs are like on this side of the pond." Millard replied, "I haven't heard talk of any American ymbryne."
She thought on that for a moment, she hadn't heard anyone mention any loops or ymbrynes in America either. It hadn't really occurred to her, but if Millard hadn't heard of any - and Millard was educated in all things peculiar - that caused confusion to stir and her brows pulled together as it showed on her face.
"Maybe they've been in hiding." Aurora suggested, "There may not have been wights and hollows but if they knew about what was happening in Europe then maybe they went into hiding for their own protection."
"It's puzzling. For our ymbrynes to not mention their sisters. . . unless there are none."
"But surely there are peculiar children in America. They must have ymbrynes here, otherwise what would happen to those poor children?"
But Millard did not respond, he was too deep in thought.
"What could be worth the trouble?" they heard Horace ask and turned to see him approaching Jake and Miss Peregrine who seemed to have been conversing rather seriously. They hurried out of the water as the others drew their attention to Horace as well. Jake looked around and Aurora wondered if he'd wanted his discussion to remain private. Then he sighed and seemed to give in.
"I was thinking about telling my parents the truth about us. To see if they could handle it."
It made sense to Aurora and she started to smile before Horace exclaimed, "What? Why?" He asked, his nose crinkled like he just got a whiff of something terrible.
"I think they deserve to know."
"They tried to have you committed!" Enoch reminded him, though Aurora was sure Jacob didn't need the reminder.
"I know what they did, but they only did it because they were worried about me. If they had known the truth - and were okay with it - they never would have done that. And it would make things so much simpler any time you guys wanted to come visit, or when I want to visit you."
"You mean you aren't coming back with us?" Olive asked looking heartbroken.
"I want to finish high school first. But if I handle this right, we can see one another all the time over the next couple of years."
"That's a very big if." Millard said as he draped his arm across Aurora's shoulders.
"Just picture it. I could come help with the reconstruction efforts, on weekends maybe, and you guys could come here whenever you like. And learn about the normal world. You could even go to school with me if you wanted."
Aurora felt Millard tense. In no scenario could he ever do that.
"I think you'd end up teaching the instructors more mon amour." she whispered with a small giggle, "You might embarrass them."
He gave a small chuckle and she felt him relax against her.
"Go to school with normals?" Emma asked.
"We don't even answer the door when pizza arrives." Claire pointed out twisting the bottom of her long shirt.
"I'm going to teach you how to deal with them. You'll be experts in no time."
"This is sounding more far-fetched by the second." Horace complained.
"I just want to give my parents a chance. If it doesn't work. . . "
"If it doesn't work Miss P can wipe their memories." Emma said turning to the others, clearly trying to reassure them. Then she walked over to Jacob and took his hand. "Doesn't it seem tragic that Abe Portman's own son doesn't know who his father was?"
It was, Aurora agreed silently, Abe was a hero, so was Jacob. And they all thought so many people deserved to know everything they had done for peculiarkind, all the people they'd helped. Instead, Jacob's father thought Abe and Jake were both looney.
"Tragic but necessary." Horace urged, "His parents can't be trusted. No normal can. It makes me nervous just thinking about what they might do. They could expose us all!"
"They wouldn't." Jake urged, though now he sounded like his resolve was crumbling.
"Why don't we just pretend we're normal when they're around?" Bronwyn asked, "Then they won't be upset."
"I really don't think that would work."
"Some of us don't have the privilege of pretending we're normal." Millard muttered just loud enough for their group to still hear him.
"I hate pretending anyway." Horace groaned, "How about we just be ourselves and Miss Peregrine can wipe their memories at the end of every day?"
"Too many wipes and people go soft in the head." Millard explained, "Moaning, drooling, the whole bit."
"What if they were to go on holiday somewhere far away? Miss Peregrine could plant the idea in their heads after the wipe when they're suggestible." Claire suggested.
"And what about after they come back?"
"Then we lock them in the basement." Enoch shrugged.
"We should lock you in the basement." Emma snapped at him.
"Jacob has a right to want to be with his own family." Aurora spoke up seeing in Jake's face that he was ready to give up the idea, and that didn't sit right with her.
"Even if it puts all peculiarkind at risk?" Horace scoffed turning to her.
"You don't know that." she crossed her arms, then hesitated, "Do you?"
He scoffed again, "I don't need a prophetic dream to tell me how normals will react to peculiars. Witch hunts. Hangings. Asylums. Normals always react the same way when someone is too different. They're wicked and dangerous."
"Not all of them. You can't generalize an entire population of people like that."
"Ha! You name me one normal who wouldn't go running from a peculiar and come back with a mob!"
She took a deep breath feeling her throat get tight and her lungs shudder, "My brother."
Then she stormed away down the beach.
"Aurora!" Millard called after her but she just kept going.
"Nice one." Enoch glared at Horace.
"How was I supposed to remember the bloke?"
"Poor Aurora." Claire said watching her go.
"Who are we talking about?" Jacob asked.
As the others filled him in Aurora continued walking. She kicked at some of the sand and crossed her arms. It had been a long while since she had the time to think about her brother, or her mother. As much as living in Miss Peregrine's loop had been wonderful, and her friends were like a second family to her, she still couldn't help but miss her blood relatives. Had her mother believed Noah when he'd gone home and told her Aurora was alive? She'd sent letters, so she hoped her mother was able to die in peace knowing her daughter hadn't been kidnapped or killed in the middle of the night that fateful eve when she'd fled home with Millard and discovered her abilities. She tried her best to let that comfort her, but ultimately she hated that she'd never been able to see her mother again, never got to hug her again. She hadn't known her last memory with her mother was actually going to be the last time. And sadly she couldn't help but feel the same thing had happened with Noah. If Abe had been an old man then Noah must be too, but something in her gut told her he had passed. That he was no longer part of their world.
Tears began to fall down her face as she walked further from the ocean and toward the trees, sitting at the base of a palm and bringing her knees to her chest as she cried. She didn't even know where their graves might be, had no way to visit their resting place. How were you meant to cope with this grief? This hole that would always be there. Everyone knew loss, normals and peculiars, but the thing Aurora hated most was this was a type of pain she couldn't heal, no matter how much her abilities had grown.
As she cried she heard someone approach and by the time they were sitting beside her she looked over and saw it was Olive. She gave Aurora a small smile before opening her arms and Aurora collapsed into them.
"Oh Aurora." she said softly as she patted her head and let her cry. "I'm so sorry."
She couldn't form a response, her breathing was too erratic, but Olive didn't seem to mind. She just kept holding onto her.
"Horace can be an idiot sometimes. Enoch is chewing him out over it, if that makes you feel any better."
She pulled away slightly, "Enoch?"
Olive laughed, "I know."
"When did Enoch become so protective?" she asked wiping at her eyes as best as she could without getting sand in them.
Olive was quiet for a moment, "When he saw you crying over Millard."
Aurora paused mid-wipe to watch Olive who was playing with a button on her shirt as it blew gently over her swimsuit.
"It was so scary, even after we'd gotten Miss Peregrine back, I clung to him. . . and I noticed how much he watched you. The way you were falling apart over Millard when he was visible, while Enoch helped you put his second soul back. The situation was so dire. . . I think it stirred something in him. Something gentle. Brotherly. And he has a very soft spot for you now." she smiled.
Aurora sniffled, "I'll have to find a way to use that to my advantage." she gave a halfhearted laugh and Olive chuckled too.
"Do you want me to pinch a scorch mark into Horace's favorite suit?"
Aurora gave a real laugh, "No thank you."
Olive grinned, "Let me know if you change your mind."
She nodded.
"Darling?" they both turned and saw Millard, well, saw his footprints in the sand just a few feet from them. "Anything I can do?"
She sniffled again, but was feeling better, she shook her head, "Olive helped."
She squeezed her warm hand, "We're all here for you, remember that."
"Okay."
Olive got up and Millard took her place, Aurora leaned against his shoulder as he leaned on the tree trunk. They sat in silence and watched the ocean for a while before Millard spoke, "I would bring them back for you if I could."
"I know." she said softly, her voice almost lost in the slight wind. "I know you'd move heaven and earth for me if I asked you to."
He inhaled deeply and exhaled, her head rising and falling with the action. "I would. I really would."
She kissed his collarbone. "I love you."
"I love you too Aurora. With every fiber of my being."
She and Millard spent the next hour or so to themselves. She stopped leaning on him and crossed her legs as she used a stick to draw things into the sand. He sat across from her and they discussed the ocean. Millard, being a well of knowledge, provided an array of topics to take her mind off things, and she could not put into words just how helpful that was. They had gone from looking out at the ocean and the waves to hypothesizing what wonders could be out there. Millard was able to tell her about an assortment of fish species and described them all in beautiful detail, like the blue tang, angelfish, jewel cichlid and the danio margaritatus. They spoke of various peculiar tales that involved abilities associated with water and hypothesized some peculiarities of their own that might, so far, be undiscovered. Aurora was drawing a seahorse in the sand with a stick - while Millard tried to test himself by naming all fifty species of them - when Jacob and Emma ran by.
"Jacob's parents are awake." Emma told them as she passed. Millard made a move to get up, which was only seen from the shifting sand under him, but he paused when Aurora didn't budge.
"We'll stay here." he called back to her as Bronwyn ran past carrying Claire on her back and they saw Miss Peregrine, who could walk and fly but never ran, dive into the ocean and disappear. Her clothes floated up just seconds before she burst out of the water in bird form and took off.
Millard turned back to Aurora and saw a small smile grace her lips as she watched the Bird fly off. It pained him that she still mourned her family, and that pain grew worse when he realized there wasn't much he could do to help. He racked his brain for solutions, peculiars had so much access to time he knew there had to be a way. There had to be some loop in that blasted Panloopticon that could take them back, that could give Aurora an afternoon with her mother and brother – even if it was loop trapped versions of them that were doomed to repeat the same day over and over and forget her each time.
That might prove to be more painful, he thought. Yes she would be thrilled to see her mother, speak to her, hug her. But how much pain would it cause her the next time they visited? For that whole loving interaction to be wiped clean from their minds? There would only be so many cheerful reunions until the joy wore off, until Aurora would have to fake a smile and explain for the tenth time that yes she was alive, yes she was happy. The same questions over and over and the solution would become just another pale imitation of the real thing.
He sighed, no, that wouldn't do. But then what? What way could he take away her pain? Or was she doomed to live it forever?
He looked back at her as she doodled in the sand again, her face a neutral expression but her eyes deep and off in her own mind.
Perhaps the clean break was for the best. He himself knew how many times he'd wished his last moments with his parents had been like Aurora's with her mother. There one day, gone the next. It would have saved him so much pain, so much sadness. The fear in his mother's eyes when she saw parts of him missing. The way she'd screamed and ran for his father, her words a mish-mash of half started sentences as she tried in vain to explain what she'd seen. Then there was the horror on his father's face when he saw it himself. It was like their brains were so busy trying to process what they had seen and were seeing that they had no room left to hear him out, to even listen as he desperately tried to explain.
He watched Aurora, she didn't know, he never wanted her to know. It was the one thing he intended to always keep from her. She would hurt for him and she was in enough pain. She would want to make sure he was alright and he would have to reassure her that the wound had healed long ago. But that was a lie. Thinking back to it still hurt him, still made his chest ache and his heart sting. Perhaps this was the cost of being peculiar – aside from the persecution and hiding – but the loss of your family, the people you were meant to count on through thick and thin, that was the price that continued to always hurt.
Whatever Aurora's thoughts were dwelling in they were both interrupted when Jacob came storming back down the beach. His movement caught their attention when he emerged from the path but he sulked off in the opposite direction.
"It didn't go well." Aurora muttered and Millard knew she'd been hoping for the best for their friend.
He sighed and pushed himself off the sand, "Let me try talking to him. Will you be alright?"
She nodded her head and he figured she might want some time to think alone.
He took off after Jacob whose stiff shoulders and hands stuffed into his pockets conveyed both his anger and his hurt.
"Jacob!" Millard called knowing there was no other way for him to know the invisible was there. "Wait up."
Jake slowed his pace and turned but quickly looked down, trying to use the sand to find where Millard was so he knew where to look.
"Mind if I join you?"
He shrugged and continued walking, "I don't want to talk about it Millard."
"I assumed as much." He nodded despite Jake not seeing it. "I just. . . want you to know you're not alone."
"I know that." Jacob muttered and Millard caught an edge to his tone like the anger was taking over again. He understood, when you told people you didn't want to talk and instead they talked at you as if that might help. However, Millard knew that whatever Jacob could imagine the others had gone through with their own families, couldn't possibly be near the truth. Like World War II, he had studied it along with hundreds of other historical events in his seventy years in the loop. But none of it compared to actually running for his life through war torn London during a bombing raid.
"I don't think you do." He said as gently as he could and Jake turned to him skeptically. "It's not something any of us talk about. . . It's something I've never even told Aurora about."
That seemed to shock the anger right out of Jacob. His pace slowed to almost a grinding halt and they moved like snails as they walked. "But you two are closer then anyone I've ever seen. I thought you would know everything about each other."
Millard bit his lip and faced forward as Jake looked at where he thought he was. "Knowing would only hurt her. But I feel it could help you. But if you wish to not talk about it I will respect that."
They walked in silence for the next five minutes, seagulls calling, the palm leaves brushing one another in the breeze. Then curiosity seemed to take hold of Jake.
"I don't want to make you talk about it."
"I appreciate that. But it might also be good to let it out."
There was no response, it seemed Jacob was waiting for him to begin. Bracing himself he took a deep breath. "You remember Radi?"
"Yeah."
"My invisibility took over slowly in a similar way. Radi, however, was fortunate enough to have parents who knew what syndrigasti were and because they were already outcasts themselves did not negatively judge their son." He exhaled deeply.
"And you didn't have – sorry, stupid question." Jacob shook his head.
Millard gave a small lackluster chuckle before the pain began to burn in his chest as he recalled his long buried memories. "I was born on February 12, 1924 to very common parents. My father was a banker, even my mother came from a family that did financially quite well for themselves. Our home wasn't big but we had enough room. I. . . I don't know if they had any other children after I. . . left."
"Why did you phrase it like that?"
He took another deep breath. "I didn't so much leave as I was. . . thrown out."
Jacob was silent for a few seconds, "Where did you go after?"
"You don't understand." Millard shook his head and stopped walking, Jacob halted too. "My father put me in the back seat of his automobile that night, drove, and dumped me on the side of the road like trash."
Jacob's face paled and his eyes grew bigger as realization took over.
He cleared his throat, "I should have just run away that night. After they found out. But I wanted to give them a chance, I hoped. . . I hoped for the same thing you did."
Silence filled the air between them again. Jake started looking at the sand under their feet, or the ocean, or the trees as he processed what Millard had just confessed to him. It was nice, it gave Millard some time to pluck up his courage again, enough to continue instead of just leaving it at that.
"I think I hid my peculiarity really well, for quite a long time for a nine year old."
"Nine?" Jacob asked like now he was picturing an even younger Millard being left on his own.
"Mm-hmm. I started bathing myself, made sure I was alone when I dressed myself, wore gloves and long sleeves constantly. My parents thought I was going through a phase, and back then that was enough to make you weird, enough to make parents worry. When my mother did walk into my room and found me, missing an arm, part of my leg, the side of my neck and one ear but not bleeding. . . I'll never forget the pitch of her scream. Or the way she bolted when I took a step toward her."
"Did she grab a carving knife like mine just did?"
Millard chuckled dryly again, "No. She ran to my father who was reading the paper in the sitting room. She tried to explain what she saw but the words all mushed together each time she stopped to rephrase."
. . . like he's been mutilated. . . they're just missing. . . there but not really there. . . It's not. . . I don't. . .
"I had rushed after her, trying to explain myself, trying to calm her down. I wasn't a threat, I would never have hurt them. . . but the way they looked at me, like something that just stepped out of a horror novel, an experiment loose after it escaped the lab." He had to stop as it replayed in his head. How he had ran down the stairs and into the sitting room, how after one glance at him his father pulled his mother behind him to shield her. She had started crying, hunched over, hands to her face like she wanted to cover her eyes but couldn't look away.
"Father please, just let me expla-"
"Get back! Or so help me –"
"Please!" he fell to his knees. "I'm your son, please just listen, it's still me!"
"Knowing what I know now, how fragile the mind can be when presented with what it believes is impossible, I understand how while trying to come to grips with what their eyes were seeing that they were in no state to hear a word I said. However, that still doesn't take away the pain of them ignoring my pleading."
"Mother. Mama, please, please."
Her response was still something his mind had censored out for the sake of his own sanity. Only when that wight had tortured him had Millard heard his mother's unspeakable reply. The words that shattered his heart, the phrase that had made him feel unlovable. The reason Aurora had such a difficult time convincing him she loved him back when they lived in the loop, and why Victor had been able to so easily convince Millard he wasn't good enough to be loved by her. Because his own mother had been so afraid she had even stopped loving him.
"Did they get mind wiped?"
"Not that I know of."
"Do you think. . . it would have hurt you more if they had wanted to be?"
"Why do you ask?"
This time Jacob took the steadying breath, "Because my dad just asked Miss Peregrine to plunge his mind into oblivion rather then know the real me."
He thought about it, if he could have wiped that horrid evening from his parent's minds, had Miss Peregrine convince them Millard had been accepted into some elite scholars program in another country and he'd write them occasionally to tell them how it was going. It was beautiful, it would have all been living a lie of course, but he could have kept in touch with his parents, pretended that they would love him no matter what. Know that in their normal lives they would have bragged about him to their friends, instead of ridding themselves of him and coming up with whatever excuse they had devised.
"It would have been the much better option, if I'd had the choice you have."
Jacob looked shocked and Millard understood why. When your problem was someone else's solution, well, it made you reconsider things.
"I should get back to Aurora." He said kicking some sand, "We'll see you back at the house Jacob."
He nodded and continued walking, in the distance Millard caught a glimpse of Miss Peregrine standing there waiting for Jacob to reach her. She no doubt had her own words of wisdom to share and Millard wanted to leave them to it. Besides, he needed the walk back to clear his own head, and bury his pain back in the pit he'd contently left it in all these decades.
A/N: honestly, if they caught Millard stealing on video it wouldn't be a problem, it would end up on the next episode of Ghost Hunters lol