Leatherbound Lives

Chapter Nine

Oh, look - it's been three-and-a-half months since I updated this book... *Nervously laughs*

Um, here's the ninth chapter.

Recap: Lynn met Claire and Horace, discovered Enoch's peculiarity, had her first dinner in the home, freaked out at the changeover... All that good stuff.

Millard explained everything to me afterwards. That the changeover happened every night at the same exact time; that was when the loop reset to twenty-four hours earlier.

"Over seventy years ago, before the loop, all of us - Miss Peregrine and the rest of the children - had left the island to visit another ymbryne and her loop. When we came back, we discovered the house had been destroyed, the island attacked. So Miss Peregrine created the loop right then and there.

"The capabilities of loop-making allow an ymbryne to create a loop in any time she may want, so long as it's recent enough. The bombing had happened several days ago at the time, the Nazis having moved on to London. Luckily, Miss Peregrine was still able to make a loop that began exactly twenty-four hours before the house had been bombed. Even though the war has been over for decades, the loop saves us from death every night, taking us back in time just seconds before the bomb hits."

"So, all of those people on the other side of the island-"

"They are reset every day as well. Mere simulations of people, really. They can't retain memories in loops like we peculiars can, and they continue performing the same tasks every single day, so long as one of us doesn't interfere. In fact," he said, "I am writing a book, compiling the accounts of a day in the life of a single town, as experienced by everyone in it."

"Really?"

"Yes. I've spent thirty-two years on it so far, compiling first-person accounts of every citizen on the island, human and animal. It's the first of it's kind - I call it The Book of Days."

"Oi, nobody cares about your book, mate!" Hugh called from across the yard.

"I think it's interesting," I said.

"That's because you've never read any of it," Hugh said, "It's just boring notes. Mrs. Wellington sneezed at precisely 3:55 PM. Mr. Fletcher left his store for a fourteen-minute smoke at ten o'clock."

Millard scoffed. "It is an impressive feat, not that I would expect your small mind to appreciate its magnitude."

"I'd like to read it someday," I told Millard. He didn't need to be visible for me to know he was puffing his chest out like a peacock. "I like to write, too," I said, "Maybe I could offer some input."

"I would appreciate that," he said courteously, and when we noticed all of the other children were already inside the house, we decided to join them.

"Alright, everyone, finish your dinner," Miss Peregrine said, fretfully herding the children back to the table. The food was cooler now, but still delicious. It was just before seven o'clock now, and I estimated I could probably stay another hour without my parents getting worried.

I was supposed to be leaving the island tomorrow morning, and I still had no idea what I was going to do. I absolutely loved this home, these children, but what if I chose to stay in the home and came to regret it years later, after I couldn't leave? I needed more time to get to know the children, to think it through. But I can't get more time, I thought. However, I could get more information, if I talked to the right person.

Everyone seemed to want me to stay in the home, and if I asked them about anything - the physics of the loop, what life in the home was really like - I'm sure they would only tell me the good things. But Enoch seemed to be trying to steer me away, for reasons I still didn't completely understand. Nonetheless, his antagony might be useful, at least in this situation.