Bending Light

13~A Certain Cousin

   (Y/N) was about to fall asleep. She knew it wasn't advisable to read while nursing a concussion, but she really wanted to know about this cat. The reading was just becoming...so...boring.

  She never thought she could say that about books, but it had been an hour since she had started reading about cats and she still hadn't found anything. The warm sun on her back wasn't helping either. Her eyes closed and she drifted into unconsciousness, waking only because her head landed on the table.

   "Ugh, can we work somewhere else please? It's becoming very difficult to concentrate," she said sleepily.

   "I was just about to suggest that we go outside. It is always warm in this room, especially during daytime. Had Miss Peregrine more time to prepare the loop, I'm sure she would've picked a better day. But, as it is, she had to create it spontaneously—unless she desired to preserve our ashes." Millard chuckled. (A/N: why was I so morbid in 7th grade 😂?!)

As they packed up their books, (Y/N) noticed the stack of books Millard had already finished. Either she had fallen asleep, or he read at the speed of light, because she was only through her second book.

"Have you found anything out yet?" she asked.

"Not anything that I haven't already read before," he replied, holding the door open. "Peculiar animals do exist, but I still don't know why the cat was traveling through the loop."

   "And I still don't know why you were stalking me," (Y/N) pointed out as she walked down the hall and out the door.

   "It really isn't an interesting story," he sighed. "Horace had a dream that you and your cousin would come here and that was it. We saw you here, but when you didn't come to us at first, we watched you to see why."

"You make stalking sound so simple," (Y/N) said, sitting down next to a large oak tree.

"It wasn't stalking you!" Millard protested.

"That's what you say," (Y/N) said, trying to hide a laugh.

"Ugh," he huffed as he sat down nearby. "It was only for the safety of us all! And besides, technically the only reason you're still living is because we were watching you."

"Fine, we can continue reading now if this topic is too vexing for you," (Y/N) told him nonchalantly.

"No, you don't understand, I'm the only reason you're alive—"

"Nooo," (Y/N) continued bantering. "You said you wanted to research, so that's what we'll do."

"Ugh!" Millardthrew his arms up into the air. "Why do you have to be so irritating?"

"I'm just trying to help you figure out this cat anomaly." (Y/N) said innocently.

The cat in question suddenly jumped out of the tree and landed in her lap. It meowed and rubbed against her furiously.

"Hey, what's up?" (Y/N) asked it.

It sat down in front of her as she opened her book and licked her fingers as she turned the pages.

   "Wait," Millard said. "Keep it there so I can study it."

   "Fine by me," (Y/N) responded as the cat rolled over to get its belly rubbed. All of the sudden, it looked up, sniffed the air, and vanished.

"What?" (Y/N) jumped. "How did it do that? Where did it go?"

   "It looked like it was stalking prey before it left," Millard mused.

   "Sounds like someone I know," (Y/N) cackled.

   "That's it. I'm done with you. I'm leaving," Millard huffed as he gathered his books and walked toward the house.

  A meow sounded, and (Y/N) looked around, at first missing the tabby since it was right in front of her.

   "Hey, wait! It came back." The car purred and wound itself around (Y/N)'s legs.

  It walked forward a few yards, then paused and tilted its head, beckoning for her to follow it. She walked forward and the cat bounded ahead, its tail swishing through the grass. "Wait up!" (Y/N) yelled, holding up her dress as she pursued it. Footsteps behind her confirmed that Millard was coming too.

They chased it through the yard and up to the back door, which it stopped at and nudged its head against before disappearing again. (Y/N) sighed annoyedly and was about to walk back to the tree and pick up her books when she heard voices inside. She stopped.

One of the voices inside was different and didn't belong there. (Y/N) opened the door and tiptoed silently down the hall.

"What're you doing?" Millard demanded.

"Shh, someone's here."

"That's obvious enough, but you shouldn't be intruding on Miss Peregrine's conversation."

"Since when do you listen to her rules, Mr. I-don't-want-to-wear-clothes-while-attending-dinner?" (This is a separate occasion from the one in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children)

  "One, I obey Miss Peregrine's rules often, except when I don't feel like it. Two my last name is Nullings. Three, you shouldn't be talking because you were supposed to be upstairs during that dinner, weren't you?"

   "One, I don't find the picking and choosing of which rules to follow and not follow to be so obedient. Two, you introduced yourself to me an entire day later than everyone else, so I remember your last name, and Three, I was upstairs, but the walls are thin, and I also maybe was searching this floor for a library that night," she mimicked him. "My ankle probably would've healed faster if it hadn't been for that," she grudgingly admitted to herself.

"That's how you knew where the library was? What were you doing there?"

  "Mr. Nullings, Miss (Y/L/N), if you wish to join a conversation, it would be proper manners to make your presence known," Miss Peregrine's voice pierced through the air.

Millard's look of surprise quickly turned into a glare that (Y/N) mockingly returned. As (Y/N) walked into the room, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Jacob?"

"(Y/N)?"