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

Chapter 48

"I think we're being punished." {Horace Somnusson, pg 57 book 2}

At dawn they all woke with their stomachs begging for food. Their muscles ached and looking around the forest was no easier to navigate than in the pitch black darkness. But they did have a few things going in their favor, the day was warming and the rain had stopped, the sound of men and their dogs had ceased meaning they'd either evaded them or they were too far to be heard. Claire had run a fever in the night and was now curled with Olive who was trying to help her chills.

All of the eldest peculiars Jake, Emma, Enoch, Millard and Aurora, Olive excluded as she sat with Claire, had gathered apart from the younger ones to discuss their next move.

"Aurora, can you do anything for her?" Jake asked her referring to Claire and her worsening condition.

"I – I'm not sure. I've only ever healed wounds, I don't know if I can heal an illness. But I can do my best." She shrugged.

"Our first priority is finding our way out of this accursed forest." Millard said.

"First we should eat." Enoch countered and their stomachs all rumbled in perfect synchronization. "Let's eat and discuss our options."

"What options?" Emma asked, "Pick a direction and we'll walk in it. Any one's as good as another."

As they started searching through what little they had for food Aurora approached Olive and Claire.

"How is she doing?" she asked the red head.

"She's feverish. She needs medicine."

Aurora nodded, "The others are working on breakfast, I'll take it from here."

As she took over watch of Claire the others passed around breakfast, rusted tins of congealed meat fat was the only thing they had salvaged.

"I packed five salted game hens and three tins of foie gras with cornichons and this is what survives our shipwreck?" Horace said bitterly as he scooped up meat fat with his fingers. Aurora couldn't bear to watch the others eat, much less eat herself, instead she got Claire to wake up enough to feed cubes of fat to her backmouth. Secretly she always thought the backmouth looked a bit beasty, with the sharp teeth and all, but now Aurora envied Claire's peculiarity. The backmouth certainly had the appetite of a beast and munched the gelatinous blobs with pleasure, Claire also had the advantage of not having to look at the disgusting excuse for food. Millard, sitting beside her, noticed that Aurora wasn't eating.

"Darling, you need to eat." He said.

"Claire needs it more than I do." She replied.

"Here, have some of mine." He said tilting his can in her direction. She only shook her head not even looking at the food. "Aurora, you need something -"

"Millard, if I try to eat that I'll only end up yacking it up again. And with what little we have I'm not going to waste it like that, you eat it. I'm fine."

"Darling – "

"I can go a bit longer, don't worry about me."

"I'll always worry about you." He said reluctantly finishing what was left in his tin.

When they had finished they buried the empty tins and prepared to go. Then Hugh burst through the bushes and into their makeshift camp, he was out of breath and had bees circling his head.

"I found water, through the trees, this way!"

"We're trying to get away from the sea, not back to it." Olive said.