Scorched Earth: The Prequel to Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children (editing)

Chapter Twenty Four

North Yorkshire August 27, 1940

Loop Date June 1, 1891

There was a blanket of sadness that followed us into Miss Kestrel's loop that Wednesday evening.

Meredith held my cold, scared hand, and Miss Sparrow accompanied us as a courtesy to the other Ymbryne.

I didn't want to do this, because it could go one of two ways. The first being that Miss Kestrel would break down and sob over her son's death, locking herself away in the house for days and seeking comfort in the children she still had which were hers of course, but never by blood. The second being that she would get angry with me, and perhaps shun me, try and get the Ymbryne Council to exile me, if that was even a thing. They could send me to a punishment loop. Of course, telling the Council meant outing the fact that she broke Ymbryne code and had a son of her own by blood. I wondered which it would be.

We hobbled along the path leading to Ripon, and I felt sicker as we approached the little village. As we entered, a looming depression followed us, and many steered clear of our path. It was almost like the inhabitants of the loop felt death on our shoulders, and they didn't want to be any part of it.

The one exception to this phenomenon was a little girl with curly brown hair and chestnut brown eyes, that skipped delightedly up to us. She reminded me very much of Olive, and I wondered what her Peculiarity was.

"Hello!" she sang. I kneeled down so I was eye level with her, and gave her the best smile that I could muster, hiding the tears that threatened to spill from my eyes and cascade down my cheeks.

"Good evening," I told her. "We're looking for Miss Kestrel. Would you 'appen to know where she is?"

The small child nodded and turned to lead us through the village square and to the house in which the Peculiar children of the loop resided.

She brought us inside and directed the three of us to a room at the end of a narrow hallway, where a desk sat inside. It looked like an office of sorts from where I was standing, and I could see someone moving about inside it.

"Thank you," I mouthed to the little girl and she skipped away to go join a few others that had come out to watch us curiously.

We entered Miss Kestrel's office silently and closed the door.

The Ymbryne herself had been rearranging what looked like wine bottles in the closet, and she turned abruptly upon noticing she had visitors.

At first, delight spread across her face at the sight of us, and shock when she saw Miss Sparrow, who according to the Ymbryne Council, was dead. Then her face changed when she noticed our grim faces and missing group member. She took a steady breath and walked a few steps closer.

"Estelle, you're alive. I can't believe you're alive! Does the Council know? Have you been to the Archives?" Miss Kestrel asked in disbelief, hugging her American sister.

"No, the Council does not know. You're the first of them I've seen, and it's not under good circumstances, I'm afraid. I'm so sorry, Isobel," Miss Sparrow whispered with anguish.

Miss Kestrel looked at the three of us with our mournful faces, and it didn't take long to put two and two together.

"Where is he? What happened?" she asked me directly. I felt my cheeks burn and I couldn't stop the hot tears from spilling out of my eyes and dropping to the floor like they were made of glass.

At this point, Miss Kestrel's eyes were watering, and I knew that she had already figured out what was going on, she just wanted me to say it.

But I couldn't bring myself to do it, I couldn't say it. Instead I fell forward into the Ymbryne's arms and began sobbing miserably like the pathetic friend that I was.