It Started As A Game

Chapter 4-Control

It'd been three days since the start of the game. You'd fully expected Alma to give up by now. Knowing her she'd never let something like this go on very long. So it was a surprise when she didn't show an sign of wanting to end the game.

And now you sat in a tree relaxing. You'd been reading a book when you heard someone yell your name from the ground below. "Y/n!" Olive yelled again. "Where are you? We're going on our daily walk soon!" When she was met with silence she screamed. "Y/N!" You didn't respond but chuckled to yourself and claimed higher. Until you were well above the hight of the house. Now it was much harder to make out the screams far below you. Multiple other children had joined in.

And then you heard Alma's voice, loud and clear, as though she were right next to you. Because she was. "Y/n." You nearly fell out of the tree when you noticed her on a nearby branch. But she grabbed you by the arm to keep you upright. "Have you not heard the children's calls?"

"I have." You pulled your arm out of her grasp. "It's just a shame I'm not in the mood to answer them."

"Do you not want to join us on the daily walk? You're normally happy to get away from the house for a while." She gave you a strange look you couldn't quite place.

"I'm perfectly content in staying here and reading without all of you shouting."

"We wouldn't be shouting have you come down from the tree or responded." You didn't acknowledge this comment and instead opened your book back up. "Are you even listening to me?" You only offered a small nod in response, grinning as you imagined her flipping over and hanging from the branch by her legs. To your delight she screamed and flipped over just as you'd imagined. "Y/n!" She screamed when she could speak again. You helped her back up and she held onto the branch under her with a terrifying grip. "What have I said about using your peculiarity like that. Or at all."

"To do whatever I like?" You didn't look at her, now smiling at your book.

Alma reached one arm forward and grabbed you by the collar of your shirt, pulling you closer and making you look at her. Your breath hitched and you dropped your book when you noticed how close her face was to yours. And she was glaring at you with such intensity. "My rules were simple but apparently you need a refresher." You had to stop your mind from wondering as she paused. "You're to never use your peculiarity to control me or the children. Unless you have permission from the one you're controlling. It's rather easy to remember, yes?"

"It is. Sorry, Alma." She smiled and let you go. You were sure your face was red as she gave you a smug look.

"Right. Now it's time to go." She stood up on her branch, one hand holding the trunk of the tree for support. The other hand extended to you. You took it and allowed her to help you pull yourself up.

"See you soon." You smiled and let yourself fall back from the branch. She smiled at your antics, shanking her head. You grabbed onto the branch below yours and quickly began climbing down. The first time you'd done that Alma had been terrified you'd fall. But she'd quickly grown used to it. She sighed and jumped out of the tree. You watched in awe as she fell towards the ground, only changing into a bird when she was almost at the grass. The then swooped up and hovered in the air for a moment before landing and changing back. You stopped watching her and began descending the tree again.

When you reached the ground she greeted you with a smile and slightly mussed hair. "It seems the children have taken their search for you inside. Come along." She held her arm out to you and you looped your own through it before she began walking with you back to the house talking about noting in particular.

"There they are!" Claire yelled when she opened the door and found you both walking back.

"Tell me they weren't together and we just wasted our time searching." Fiona said exasperated.

"They weren't, no. Not the entire duration of our search anyway. Though I'd be willing to bet Y/n climbed up somewhere hard to reach again." Horace chimed in.

"What we're you doing with Miss P, Y/n?" Emma said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Wouldn't you like to know, airhead." You said smiling and pulling Alma closer to you for show.

"I scolded her." Miss Peregrine answered the girls question, pulling further away from you. "It's nearly time for our walk. Emma, gather the rest of the children." Emma nodded and rushed off. Alma led you back into the house, wrapping her arm around your waist when she found there were no children around.

"Thanks for not letting me be mysterious." You said with an undertone of sarcasm.

"You weren't at all being mysterious, darling. Emma knows very well we wouldn't do anything." She paused for a moment and then added. "And if we were to, it certainly wouldn't be somewhere as public as outside." She smiled, not glancing at you as you get a familiar heat in your face. What made it worse was you realizing she'd been leading you to her bedroom.

But of course she hadn't planned to do anything with you. No, she just entered her room to grab a pack of matches. She removed one from the pack and pulled out her pipe. She struck the match against the bottom of her shoe and used it to light said pipe. She threw out the match and took a draw from the pipe before walking back over to you.

She offered you the pipe as her arm snaked back around your waist. Instead of being a normal person you bend forward a bit and took a small draw from the pipe without taking it from her hand, exhaling the smoke through your mouth. You didn't catch the slight pink on Alma's cheeks as she brought the pipe back up to her own lips.

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If you didn't connect the dots Y/n's peculiarity is mind control. She can control others by imagining them doing something