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

Chapter 44

                                                                                        Hollow City

"This world I had chosen, and everything I had in it, and all our precious peculiar lives, contained in three splinters of wood adrift upon the vast, unblinking eye of the sea." {Jacob Portman, pg 17 book 2}

Everyone rowed in shifts except in their boat. Bronwyn insisted, Claire was too small, Millard was still on the mend and Aurora was exhausted from healing him. In the boat next to them Jake and Hugh were maneuvering the oars while Emma kept her head bent looking at the map across her knees. Every so often she'd look up at the horizon then back to the map. Horace, in the third boat, yelled across the water asking how much distance there was between their boats and the mainland.

"Eight and a half kilometers." Emma shouted back and Aurora felt like the air had been deflated out of her like a balloon. It wasn't just her, she felt everyone else wilt a little. Not only did they have to worry about crossing that much ocean in their small boats they also had to worry about their enemies. The wights submarine could be right below them, ready to strike again at any moment. Aurora prayed that they assumed the children had fled back to their island, at least that would buy them some time. And luckily with British planes flying overhead the submarine wouldn't be able to surface in the daylight, but when night fell they'd become easy prey. Aurora looked to Miss Peregrine, who Olive had nestled in her arms, they couldn't lose her again, they just had to make it.

It didn't take long for the chilly morning breeze to become the blazing heat of midday. Bronwyn's brown curls stuck to her forehead as she sweated in the heat.

"Bronwyn are you sure you don't want a break?" Aurora asked, worrying about her getting heat stroke between the sun's harsh rays and the constant rowing.

She shook her head, "Victor would have been able to do it. And if he could I can." She said with more determination Aurora could ever imagine a girl of her age having. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she concentrated on her task.

oOo oOo oOo

What was the phrase? The grass is always greener? Truer words were never spoken, as sweat poured down their faces all they wanted was some relief from the blinding sun. When relief came the joy was short lived and they all wished for the sun back. A thick, heavy fog had rolled in and swallowed them up like a fish does a worm. They were blinded by it and soon lost all sense of direction, eventually the decision was made to put down the oars and wait it out. But if they waited too long and night fell before they reached the mainland they'd have worse problems then bad weather. But they'd yet to see truly bad weather and fate decided to show them.

The wind picked up and the waves became rougher. Seawater slapped the sides of the boats and spilled in around their ankles. Not long after a cold rain followed soaking them all to the bone. They all grabbed the sides of their tiny boats and held on for dear life. Millard wrapped his good arm around Aurora and held her tightly to his chest. The large waves pushed their boats apart and they could hear the others calling their names beneath the roar of the sea. They were unable to respond because at that same moment a particularly large wave slammed into them and flipped their boat. Aurora screamed as the tide pulled her and Millard apart as the freezing water pulled her under. The salty water stung her eyes and filled her lungs, when her head broke the surface she coughed and sputtered trying to get air but another wave submerged her before she could even determine which way was up.

MILLARD P.O.V.

Millard had been able to find the overturned boat and clung to it with what little energy he had left. Then the adrenaline kicked in when he realized Aurora was missing. He turned his head frantically searching but the sea was too rough and the fog too thick, he could barely see the cuff of his shirt in front of his face.

"Aurora!" he called and got no reply. His heart fell into his stomach as his logical side started calculating the odds of her survival. He shook his head telling it to shut up, logic or not she'd be okay.

"Aurora!" he called again desperately.

"Millard!" he heard in reply, but it wasn't Aurora's voice, it was Horace's. Through the fog he saw a small light and as the wind blew the fog around he was able to make out Olive holding a ball of fire in one hand and Miss Peregrine cradled in her opposite arm.

"Millard she's here!" he heard Enoch shout as he and Horace helped pull a smaller figure into their boat – Aurora. He silently thanked bird above as another figure – a boat – came into view. Jake, Emma, Hugh and Fiona were aboard and paddling toward him. When they had pulled next to the overturned boat Jake took one of the oars and banged it against the rusty bottom.

"If you're in there, swim out! We'll rescue you!" he called and it dawned on Millard that Bronwyn and Claire hadn't been seen either. For a terrible moment there was no response, then there was a knocking and a small fist punched through the bottom of the boat.

"It's Bronwyn!" Emma cried, "They're alive!"

With a few more punches Bronwyn was able to make a hole big enough for her and Claire to climb out of. Jake pulled both girls into his boat while Enoch helped Millard into theirs with Aurora. She was leaning over the side of the boat and barely acknowledged his presence. Horace pulled him aside and explained her behavior.

"Got sick right when we rescued her, was mostly sea water. But I think that took out the last of her energy."

oOo oOo oOo

AURORA P.O.V.

You know how tired you get after being sick? Well imagine how exhausted you'd be after fleeing from a hollow, surviving a bombing, raising a sunken ship, rescuing your ymbryne from more wights and hollows, then sailing into a U-boat, saving your ymbryne again, healing your fatally wounded boyfriend, having a panic attack, then spending a whole day in a tiny rowboat without any food or water during that whole time. At this point Aurora was surprised she was even still conscious enough to understand what the others were saying as Millard seated himself next to her and started rubbing her back in slow circles.

"We should rest." Fiona was saying, "Bail out the boats while we wait for the fog to clear."

"Fog like this has a mind of its own." Enoch spoke up, "it can go days without breaking. It'll be dark in a few hours, and then we'll have to hope we can last until morning without the wights finding us. We'll be utterly defenseless."

"And without water." Hugh added.

"And food." Millard said from beside her.

"I've got it!" Emma said snapping her fingers. She grabbed a watered down rope that had somehow survived the rocking sea and tied it around her waist.

"What are you doing?" Jake asked concerned for her.

"Reel me up." She said as she began unsnapping her lead shoes.

"Emma are you sure?" Olive asked. "What if the rope snaps?"

"Reel me up." She replied her voice more determined. So they did, in her soaked blue dress she floated up to the sky until all they could see was a rope leading to the heavens.

"I can see land!" she called down to them, "Straight ahead!"