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

Chapter 97

"Thank you for everything. I'm really going to miss you Miss Peregrine." {Jacob Portman, pg 433 book 3}

The time without Jacob was hard but luckily there was plenty to do to distract them from their missing friend. Bentham had several antiques and collectables in his house and the ymbrynes needed help retrieving, documenting and labeling everything, so the peculiar children went to work. They searched the whole house, every room top to bottom and gathered what they found in the library. Small index cards about each item were drawn up and everything packed safely away. It was a long tedious task but Aurora was grateful for it and Millard even more so that she'd found something to do to help that didn't require her healing abilities.

After everything had been cataloged there was discussion of what to do with it all. It couldn't stay in Bentham's house, they needed that space for the rescued peculiars and several ymbrynes opposed storing it in the archive building where it would only collect dust. In the end Miss Bobolink and Miss Loon decided they would take the artifacts loop to loop in a sort of peculiar exhibition. There were so few peculiars that knew their own history and now that the wights were gone it would be safe for them to travel once again. It was a splendid idea and they began moving the antiques out immediately. Bronwyn was the biggest help there being able to carry three times as much as anyone else. Aurora stuck to the smaller collectables, the vases and such. As she was returning to the library she found Emma among the labyrinth of glass cases housing Bentham's wax figures.

"A bit odd how lifelike they are isn't it?" she asked bringing the blonde out of her daze.

"Oh, yes I suppose they are." She said looking at the one of three ymbrynes and their pet grimbear, "Bentham was an odd man wasn't he?"

"Well, like Miss Peregrine said he was an opportunist, I suppose growing up with one brother who wanted to take over the world and a sister who was deeply engrossed in her own education he had to become such a person if he was ever to get anything out of life."

"I've never thought about that." Emma admitted still looking from display to display. Then someone cleared their throat behind them and they turned to see Reynaldo with Mother Dust following behind. The older woman seemed to be avoiding meeting their eyes at all costs which Aurora thought was odd especially after she believed she'd formed a bond with the other healer. Reynaldo was no different, twisting his bandana in his hands as he stepped forward.

"I must apologize Miss Abbott, Miss Bloom, we are so so sorry for the part we played in all this."

"It's okay Reynaldo." Aurora replied with a soft gentle voice, "Bentham had us all fooled. And you've been helping everyone since they arrived here it's alright –"

"No, no." Reynaldo said shaking his head looking even more grief stricken, "We knew, we knew what Mister Bentham was doing, we helped him do it. We've been afraid to say anything miss, because those ymbrynes of yours look so ready for revenge on anyone who was on the wrong side, but miss we must say something. Those, those –" Reynaldo pointed a shaky finger at the glass case beside them as tears filled his eyes.

"It's okay Reynaldo, what is it? You can tell us." Aurora said walking over to him and resting her hands on his shoulders comfortingly.

"Those people, they aren't figures. Mr. Bentham kidnapped them and forced Mother Dust to put them in a suspended animation." Emma jumped back away from the cases in horror as Aurora's eyes widened at Reynaldo's confession, "We know it was wrong, but Mr. Bentham, he was an ambitious man like his siblings. He- he tried to use different peculiars to power the Panloopticon machine. We did not want to help in this miss but he, but he, he –"