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

Chapter 100

"Don't worry about it darling." Then he turned back to Jacob, "Anyway, it's all thanks to Perplexus. We were keeping a close eye on him expecting him to age out before we could find his loop in Bentham's convoluted machine but with each day that passed he started to look younger and that's when it hit me. He was aging backward! While he had been in Abaton with us his true age had been reset. When the ymbrynes collapsed the loop it wound back his clock so his body was exactly as old as it looked rather than his actual age of five hundred and seventy one."

"And it wasn't just Perplexus, it was all of us! Everyone who had been in Abaton." Aurora said winding her arm with Millard's.

"Apparently it's a side effect of loop collapse." Miss Peregrine added. "An extremely dangerous Fountain of Youth."

"So this means you won't age forward? Ever?"

"Well, no faster than you!" Emma said cheerfully, "One day at a time."

"That's amazing!" Jacob said overjoyed.

"Can we stay here with you Jacob?" Claire asked tugging on his jacket. "You said we could stay anytime."

"I figured we'd make a holiday out of it." Miss Peregrine said, "the children know almost nothing of the twenty first century and besides this house looks much more comfortable than Bentham's drafty old rat trap. How many bedrooms?"

"Uh, we have five I think."

"Yes, that'll do. That'll do just fine."

"But what about my parents?"

"Well I believe the cat's out of the bag as they say. They'll have to be watched closely for a time and kept on a short leash. But if any two normals can be brought 'round to our way of seeing things it's the parents of the great Jacob Portman."

"And the son and daughter in law of the great Abraham Portman." Olive added.

"You. . . you knew my father?" Frank asked timidly peeking out of the car window.

"I loved him like a son." Miss Peregrine said, "As I do Jacob."

Frank blinked slowly not seeming to understand.

"They're going to stay with us for a while, okay?" Jake said, though Aurora got the impression that it wasn't a real question.

"You, uh, better ask your mother."

"Mom?"

"Go away. Just go away all of you!"

"Mrs. Portman." Miss Peregrine said leaning down to look through the car window, "Look at me please."

"You aren't really there. I had too much wine at dinner that's all."

"We're quite real I assure you. And this may be hard to believe now but we're all going to be friends."

"Frank change the channel. I don't like this show."

"Are you sure this isn't going to melt their brains?" Jacob asked.

"They'll come around." The Bird replied, "Some take longer than others."

oOo oOo oOo

Jacob explained everything that had happened in the past several months as they all settled in. Bronwyn had moved the wrecked car back into the garage and Miss Peregrine was keeping an eye on the normals to make sure they wouldn't run off screaming. The first few months back Jake said had been fine, he wrote back and forth to Emma regularly and while his parents had been keeping a watchful eye on him things were pretty much the same as before he'd left for Cairnholm. Abe – who had been saved from his hollow attack after they'd killed Barron and changed the timeline of events – had passed away peacefully in his sleep a few weeks after Jacob had told him about their defeat of the wights. As much as they missed their old friend they were glad he didn't suffer and died knowing they'd be okay.