A Peculiar Time in 1944 - A Millard Fanfic (Miss Peregrine's Home) #wattys2020

Chapter 37

"Goodbye, old loop. You've been such a good loop, and we'll miss you ever so much." {Olive Elephanta, pg 346 book 1}

"Miss Avocet!" Jake called as he passed the ymbryne the crossbow. She caught it with ease before addressing the wards.

"Now, children. Now that you're all here there's a few rules. Your primary job is to stay safe. Leave the hollow to me, I don't want to see any heroics. Now those of you with garden tools, I must insist that you –"

There was a loud crash as something pulled Miss Avocet through the wall of the house. The younger children screamed as everyone jumped back, except for Jake. He dove for the crossbow Miss Avocet had dropped and crouched under the table. There was more damage done when the hole in the wall was torn open further and Aurora could only guess that the hollow had entered the room. Jake stood up and joined the group as Enoch moved forward with a pitchfork in his hand.

"No, Enoch, get back!" Jake warned, but before Enoch could do anything the table was flung aside and Enoch rose in the air shouting. There was another scream as Enoch struggled and they saw the shadow of tongues flailing around him. Jake tried to aim the crossbow but Enoch flew from one side of the room to the other, crashing into windows and mirrors. There was a deep growling as Enoch was tossed around.

"Go, get to the attic!" Jake yelled as Bronwyn pushed the doors off their hinges. They climbed over the couch and ran for the top floor. There was a high pitched, inhuman shriek and Aurora looked back and saw Enoch fall to the floor and saw multiple things crash and break in the corner of the room. Then Millard pulled her by the arm and they fled up the stairs. There was more crashing and banging behind them as she heard Jacob yelling to get out.

Once they were all in the attic Jake locked the door and looked around. "Alright, uh....." he seemed lost as to what their next move should be, then they heard the planes, "Crap! It's almost reset!" Jake swore as he ran to a window and looked out to see bombs going off in the distance. There was a banging against the door as the hollow tried to get in.

"Fiona." Jake called, "Is there anything you can do with that tree?" he asked as Fi poked her head out the window as well.

"Yes."

"Be careful." Jake said as Fiona sat on the ledge and slid down the roof. "We're going through the windows. Let's go, quickly!" Jake instructed as he opened the second window so they could get out faster. The banging on the door increased as they began sliding down the roof. When it was Aurora's turn she hesitated, then turned to Millard who put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm right behind you, darling." He said and she turned and slid down the shingles. The sky kept flashing white with lightning and orange with explosions as bombs rained down on Cairnholm. As she shuffled her feet along the edge of the roof she noticed Fiona making a tree branch grow in their direction. Millard then landed next to her and grabbed her hand. Together they made their way toward the tree with the others. Carefully putting one foot in front of the other they climbed along the thick branch trying not to slip on the wet bark. When they reached the trunk they all helped each other climb down. Aurora's feet had just splashed in a mud puddle as she saw the last plane approach their house just as the hollow burst through the window and rained glass down on Jake and Emma, who were still on the roof.

"Go, Fiona!" she heard Emma cry and in the next second Fiona was at the base of the tree with the rest of them.

"Let's go!" she cried as they all ran away from the house. Aurora heard the familiar high-pitched whistle of the falling bomb. She felt weight hit her back and push her to the ground. The air was knocked out of her as she felt a body on top of hers. She closed her eyes and hugged the wet grass as the bomb made contact and the house blew to pieces. She heard an 'oomph' from the weight on top of her as debris rained down on them. She recognized the voice as Millard's and realized he must have shielded her with his own body to protect her from getting hurt.

As they got up they saw the house in shambles before the clouds reversed and the sky became blue then darkened again as the house went up in flames, the top half of it blown off. The loop had closed, their home was gone. Aurora felt a great sadness swell in her chest as she felt Millard take her hand again. She turned to him and realized that while she was fine, the others were in worse shape. Millard had several small cuts on his face and a few singed patches on his jacket, the others all looked relatively the same, thankfully no one had gotten seriously hurt.

Aurora took her hands and cupped Millard's face and watched the small red lines fade to nothing. He lifted his own hand and placed it over hers against his cheek.

"Thank you, my love."

"My pleasure." She replied smiling.

oOo oOo oOo

They met up with Jake and Emma on the beach, no one said much as the sadness settled in. They may have survived a bombing and defeated a hollow but they'd lost Miss Peregrine and Miss Avocet. Peculiar children without an ymbryne were like a box of puppies left in a dumpster and those situations never ended well for the puppies. They weren't the only ones who had lost something dear to them, with the loop closed Jake was forever severed from his time, his home, and his family.

"I'm sorry Jake." Fiona said when they'd all gathered together in the damp sand. "What do we do now?"

"Is there any sign of Barron and Miss Peregrine?" he asked.

"Gone." Olive said sadly, "Barron must have had a boat."

"Well, we have to go after them. We know he's taking her to Blackpool."

"But Blackpool is miles away. The next ferry doesn't go for hours, we'll never make it in time." Millard spoke up.

"Not unless we go by boat too." Jake said and the others all looked to him with confusion. All except Emma, who looked like she'd just struck gold.