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

Chapter 43

"And yet my old life was as impossible to return to as the children's bombed house. The doors had been blown off our cages. . . We rowed faster." {Jacob Portman, pg 348 book 1}

Aurora rushed into the nearest room and shut the door behind her. She pressed her back to the barnacle covered door and took a deep breath. Her hands shook as she raised them from her sides. The shaking increased as she stared at her blood soaked palms and fingers. She'd seen blood before, but this time was different, this was Millard's blood. He'd lost so much that even with the bullet out he might still die.

Worse, was his blood wasn't only on her hands but it had dried in the ends of her hair and soaked into her sweater causing the once white fabric to now stick to her skin. Without thinking she ran to the nearest sink, but of course, it wasn't working. She grabbed an old ripped towel and tried to wipe as much blood off her skin as she could but she only succeeded in smearing it around. Finally, she couldn't take looking at it anymore and she grabbed the sides of the rusted sink as she slowly slid to the floor. She sat with her head between her knees as nausea overcame her, the room spun, her body felt like it was on fire as she started to sweat and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

THIRD PERSON P.O.V.

"Bird! Bird! Bird! Bird! Emma and Jake saved the Bird!" Claire sang as she hopped around the deck.

"What do we do now?" Jake asked looking out to the front of the ship that was steadily submerging beneath the waves.

"Ask Miss Peregrine!" Bronwyn said. But even after giving their headmistress plenty of time to change back she still remained a bird.

"Maybe she's too tired and cold." Olive suggested.

"Please turn back!" Claire begged kneeling before her.

"Something's wrong." Emma said, "If she could turn human, she would've done it by now."

"Well human or not we've got to abandon ship." Hugh said staring out the grimy window at the sinking bow, Fiona nodded beside him in agreement.

"And go where?" Olive asked nervously. Everyone looked at each other seeking an answer, they had no loop, no home and their ymbryne was stuck as a bird.

"I know." Horace spoke up.

"What do you mean, you know?" Enoch asked skeptically.

"Nevermind how he knows, he knows." Emma said defensively.

"I don't know the name, but I've seen it." Horace added as he neared a wall covered in algae. He pulled out his pocket hanky and wrapped his finger in it before drawing an image in the green slime on the wall. He made a row of bold vertical stripes topped with thin loops, like bars and razor wire. To one side was a dark forest and snow on the ground, which he'd left green.

"Horace, what more do you know about this place?" Emma asked.

"It's somewhere cold." He replied with a dull distant look in his eyes.

"Looks like a jail to me." Hugh said.

"Well, when do we go?" Fiona asked.

"Go where?" Enoch scoffed, "That's just a lot of squiggles!"

"It's somewhere." Emma said, "And we can't very well stay here." There was a pause before Enoch took a deep breath.

"We should start collecting everything we brought and hauling it into the lifeboats. If there's any extra room salvage what we can from the ship then row for the closet shore." Enoch instructed as heads nodded.

oOo oOo oOo

It had taken awhile, the sun now starting to peek over the horizon, but eventually they had everything packed and ready to go. Millard had woken up to a bandaged shoulder and was feeling well enough to walk on his own, though he kept close to walls and rails for support when he got winded. The water level was now up to the floor of the main deck and the ship had started to tilt. The main dining room was starting to take on water making the children move faster in their task.

"It took the Titanic approximately two hours and forty minutes after hitting the iceberg before the rate of sinking increased to a panic worthy level. But it was a much larger ship. Judging by the size of the Augusta and considering she spent a fair bit of time rusting away at the bottom of the sea, I'd wager we have somewhere between twenty to thirty minutes before we find ourselves in a dire situation." He lectured when some of the peculiars began to worry about how fast the water would overtake the ship. Olive was watching over Miss Peregrine while the other children scurried about.

"Where's Aurora?" Millard asked shortly after. The twins stopped in their tracks and pointed down a hallway. Millard thanked them and continued his search. He finally found Aurora in an old stateroom on the floor shaking and covered in blood.

AURORA P.O.V.

Thankfully for Aurora her exhaustion had greatly shortened her panic attack. Soon her body and mind became limp and she felt like she'd become stone like Miss Edwards. Every now and then her body would give a violent shake, or her fingers would twitch. She barely heard the old metal door squeak open as someone walked in.

"Oh, my love." She heard Millard's voice and suddenly she was wide awake. He was standing in the doorway wearing his usual brown trousers, his light blue shirt only had one arm in it, the other sleeve draped over his left side with his bandaged arm beneath it. His suspenders were hanging from the waist of his pants since they'd irritate his wound and his cap was partially stuffed in one pocket. He rushed over to her side making sure she was alright.

"You should be resting." She scolded.

"Hard to do on a sinking ship, darling." He reminded her sweetly. She nodded still in a daze, she really didn't know how much more this day could throw at her without putting her in the nuthouse.

"Are you alright?"

"I should be asking you that." She said eying his bandaged shoulder.

"I'm fine. . . thanks to you."

Finally, she broke down, "I was so scared you were going to die." She said as tears ran down her cheeks and she leaned into him, careful of his injury, and placing her head against his chest. His heartbeat was strong, that was a good sign, and it reassured Aurora that he'd really be alright. He brought his right hand up and started running his fingers through her hair, avoiding the strands that were matted with his dry blood. He kissed her temple and started rocking them as he hummed "Run Rabbit".

oOo oOo oOo

Hand in hand they made their way through the tilting halls and out to the lifeboats. The others were already waiting there; Jake, Emma, Hugh and Fiona were in one lifeboat that was already touching the water due to the angle the ship had turned. They were using an old kitchen knife to cut the ropes that held it to the ship and Aurora saw Fiona tuck Miss Peregrine – still a bird – into her jacket to keep her warm and dry.

In the next boat was Enoch, Olive, Horace and the twins, poor Horace already was looking sea sick. Millard led her to the third boat where Bronwyn waited with Claire. When they had gotten their boat into the water Bronwyn took the oars and begun rowing the boat all by herself. Aurora and Millard leaned against each other as they all rowed away from the sinking Augusta, the sun rising on September the fifth and hopefully on a brighter future.