Echolocation (Enoch O'Connor / mphfpc fanfic)

Chapter 14 - The Sleepless Night

Enoch left me in my room for about five minutes, saying that he had to grab something. When he finally came back, in one hand, he held a crossbow, and in the other, he held a rope.

"Let's go," he said with stiffness in his voice.

"What are those for," I asked.

"In case we run into trouble," he said, slinging the rope over his shoulder.

He and I exited my room and went into Emma's room. When we entered, she nearly screamed, because the lights were off, leaving only the moon to light our silhouettes.

"Where the bloody hell do you two think you are going?" She asked, somewhat angry.

"To breakfast," Enoch said snarkily.

Emma turned to me, "where are you actually going?"

"We're gonna go investigate," I said, leaving out much of our plan.

"I'm coming," she said.

"No, you're not," Enoch and I said in unison.

"Why not?" She hissed.

"We don't have much time, and we need to be fast," Enoch said, walking over to the window, he opened it and began his descent down the trellis.

Emma looked at me, "Be careful," she said.

"We will. Can you stay up and watch for us? If we're not back by 4 a.m., get Miss Peregrine." I said.

"Okay," She defeatedly said.

I climbed out of the window and descended the trellis to the bottom, where Enoch was waiting.

Off we went.

•//////•

We swiftly walked through the forest, jumping at every sound we heard that wasn't our own. Enoch held my hand tightly, as if not to lose me. We didn't speak. If it found us, we were goners.

We found our way to the cliffside and found a large patch of disturbed dirt, that appeared to have claw marks. Like something had come from below. We quietly peered over the cliffside.

At the bottom, we could make out the faintest light. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, we inched closer to the edge. At the bottom, three men were sitting around a fire, laughing and talking.

I turned my head to face Enoch, he looked at me and silently placed his finger to his lips.

As if I didn't know to stay quiet.

We laid on the grass, looking down and listening to their conversation. They just seemed like campers, people who stayed the night on the beach every night. But from Enoch's reaction to their presence, this was not the case.

We stayed there, laying on our stomachs for what felt like hours until all three men eventually fell asleep. Then we decided to check it out. I could sense the error of our ways before we even descended the cliff face.

•//////•

We had safely and quietly descended the cliff and were about 100 yards from where the group slept.

From afar, we could tell that they had three hollowgasts with them. Three large, metal stakes and chains that appeared to be moving up and down—from the breathing of the hollowgasts—were dug into the dirt.

We got dangerously close to the group and began moving around their makeshift camp. I looked around and found a pistol, grabbing it, just in case. Enoch found a satchel containing books and other documents that appeared official. He slung it over his shoulder, and we carried on searching. When we were done, as not to tempt fate, we left, just as quietly as we had come. Or so we thought.

•//////•

On our way back, we began whispering about what we had found. We needed to give the books and documents to Miss Peregrine as soon as possible. The walk home seemed agonizingly long, and just as we were within viewing distance of the house, we heard something.

*snap*

Enoch and I turned to face the origin of the noise. We saw nothing. Which alerted us that there was something. Enoch drew the crossbow and slowly turned in a circle. Then it happened. Something grabbed my leg and dragged me towards it. A hollowgast.

I was lying on my back and was getting dragged for hundreds of feet, my back felt as if it was being ripped apart by the rocks and sticks that littered the ground. I heard Enoch yell something, but it was incoherent. Enoch kept a steady pace behind the hollowgast, and I could tell that we were getting dragged back in the direction of the cliff.

I thought quickly and wrapped my hands around the invisible force that had attached itself to my leg. I began to release an echo of calmness on the being, and the dragging stopped. I had it in a trance of sorts. I removed one hand to gesture to Enoch not to come closer, for I wasn't done manipulating the beast.

I felt the beast calm down. It's breathing synced with my own, and as soon as I knew I had it under control, I motioned for Enoch to come closer.

He did, bow still drawn, and he just looked. My hand had traveled from what I discovered to be the tongue of the beast to its forehead. The tongue slowly released my ankle, and I was free of its grasp.

I looked to Enoch and slowly nodded my head, signaling for him to fire the bow. He swiftly did so, a small click revealing the arrow had discharged. I ducked and heard the beast howl out in pain before I heard it drop to the ground. We ran.

•//////•

The entire house had been awoken by the sounds of the howling beast. Enoch and I were in deep trouble. We burst through the front door and saw Miss Peregrine standing at the foot of the staircase, the other children standing on the stairs behind her. She looked at us, disappointment, and anger evident in her facial expression.

Wordlessly Enoch handed her the satchel we had stolen, she opened it hastily and looked over the documents inside. Her expression went from angry to concerned in a matter of seconds.

She quickly pointed up the staircase, "Grab your bags. Now!" She yelled. We all ran up the stairs grabbing our bags and closing our doors and windows behind us.

We all met at the bottom of the stairs, and Miss Peregrine did one final headcount before we exited the house, disappearing into the night.

(Hello All! I'm so sorry for the extremely late update, I've had a busy past two weeks, and everything has been so hectic. I also experienced some writer's block, which was also not fun, sooooooo I'm back, and thank you all for sticking around!!!! I love you all so much XOXO - IlliterateIguana)