In Your Dreams: An Enorace Fanfiction

Chapter 2

The light bulb flickered slightly as it hung from the basement ceiling, lighting up the shelves and shelves of pickled hearts and various clay soldiers that filled the walls. A single workbench sat in the center of the shelves with nothing but three lumps of clay, a bloody rag, and the red splatters the decorated the old wood. This was home to Enoch O'Connor.

He sat at the workbench with his hands under the desk lamp, working on a creature he had never thought to make until now; a wolf. He had thought about making different types of animals, but discarded the thought and continued to work on wild predators, even though they wouldn't be too effective considering how small they were. They were working out fine, and now two clay wolves who had yet to be animated stood in front of him.

Enoch got up from his chair and walked from shelf to shelf, trying to find the perfect hearts. He snatched two rat hearts from a single jar, and a putrid smell filled the room. Over the years, his nose had built an immunity to the wrench of animal organs, thankfully, but the other children still hadn't and flinched every time they opened his door.

He carried the rat hearts to his new creations and sat down in front of them, and began to focus in making a nice clean cut through both of the chests with a letter opener, since Miss Peregrine didn't let him have any tools but that and a pair of tweezers. He pinched the heart between his fingers, focusing on it until it began beating, and gently lowered it into the slit. After a few seconds, the clay wolf shook its head and stood up on its muscular legs. For the first time in a few days, Enoch smiled, proud of his creation. He set it down to the floor where it began running around, sniffing the jars on the bottom shelves, and yapping at nothing.

      "Enoch?" Came a voice from the top of the stairs. Horace stood politely in the doorway with his hands neatly down at his sides and a subtle smile playing on his lips, until he noticed the miniature creature running around on the floor and his eyes widened and so did his smile. It seemed to notice him, too, and raised its tail in caution and began to growl.

"Snap out of it," Enoch grumbled, and it whimpered but laid down and started licking its mini paws. He looked up at the older boy and motioned for him to come in.

"I've never seen you do anything like it," Horace complimented and pulled over a chair from the corner of the room, and sat down next to the younger boy. The wolf carefully approached him before sniffing his shoe and deciding he was safe, and sat down in front of him. He chuckled and looked over to his friend who was smiling subtly. Enoch just shrugged and turned back to his workbench while Horace sat for a minute just admiring the dog. It may have been a vicious predator, but it was adorable. Horace looked at the exhausted looking boy.

      "How was your morning? Besides....Millard," he asked him. Enoch scoffed and shook his head.

      "He's a total prat," he grumbled and started bringing the second wolf to life.
"Fine I guess. You?" Horace chuckled and watched as the heart began to pump. He still seemed to amaze the other children, if not disturbing them, with his peculiarity. It was one of the rarest in the world, and Enoch had never heard of another peculiar who could do what he did, which made him slightly proud of himself.

      "Good as always. Are you going to make them fight?" He asked him. Enoch smirked and stood the wolf up, now that it was alive.

      "Of course."  As soon as the first wolf saw it, it began to growl and show its messed up teeth, and the other did the same. The second wolf jumped onto Enoch's blood covered knee, where he had previously been wiping his filthy hands on, and on to the floor next to its enemy. They circled each other, taking turns nipping and barking until the first one pinned the other down and swiftly bit its neck. It whined but threw the wolf off itself and got back on its feet with a bite mark on its face. Horace always seemed to root for the underdog, but Enoch didn't care, as long as one of them was victorious.

      The injured creature took its turn and swiftly landed a deep scratch on its opponent's side. It growled and swiped back, but before it could, the other wolf was on top of it, with its teeth sunken into is neck. It stopped struggling after a few seconds. Horace knew he shouldn't feel bad for a clay wolf, but he couldn't help but cringe as the winner dragged its prize over to its master.

      "Good boy," Enoch pet its head and set both of the wolves back on the workbench. He extracted the lifeless rat heart and stuffed it into the pocket of his overalls.

      "That was intense," Horace commented, and Enoch nodded. He began to take tiny lumps of hard clay and fixing the victorious wolf's wound. "Now you have a pet."

      "Nah, I don't have a use for it. You can keep it, if you want, I can always make more." Enoch set the now domesticated predator on his friend's lap and he began to pet it.

      "Oh, thank you. He's quite cute," he admitted and scratched behind his ear while his hind leg was kicking the air. Horace chuckled and looked back up to Enoch, who seemed to be looking at him. He quickly looked away, and although Horace didn't notice it, his cheeks turned a bright pink. "I best be going, every one is about to play Raid the Village. Do you want to come along?" Horace suggested, and Enoch thought for a second. He was going to create different types of clay predators, but he could do that any other day. Raid the Village was loads of fun, especially with Horace.

      "Okay," he replied, and they both smiled and stood. Enoch grabbed two handfuls of his homunculi and stuffed them in his pockets, along with a few small bottles of mouse hearts. They walked up the stairs and out of the basement. Horace sat the wolf in the front pocket of his suit jacket. He usually never risked getting his suit dirty with anything, even dried clay, but this was an exception. He ran up the stairs, bumping into Millard who was now naked, and into his room. The wolf might come in handy, he thought, and he kept it safe in his pocket. He sat his monocle and top hat on his desk, not wanting to lose them during their game.

      "You might want to hurry, every one is leaving," Enoch said, leaning against the doorway. They both walked side by side down the stairs and out of the house, fast walking to catch up with Millard, Bronwyn, Victor, Olive, Hugh, and even Fiona. Hugh must have persuaded her to join in because she rarely ever did. This was going to be fun.

      When the children reached the end of the bog, they all gathered in a circle, ready to release hell on Cairnholm Island. Millard cleared his throat, and everyone could tell how excited he was, considering he claimed to be the best at the game, even though there was no scoreboard.

      "Alright, is everyone ready?"