The Peregrines

Chapter 7

"Went to the clinic with his son," - Kira

"Drats, I don't suppose you know where the key is, you do?" - Millard

"Nope,"

"Kira, the leader is coming this way," said Emma.

As I turned around, I caught sight of the leader approaching confidently towards me. Surprisingly, his face didn't show any signs of holding a grudge; it appeared completely neutral. "Bekhir, please stop, you can't hurt them, just let them go,"

"Kira, forget it, he won't listen," said Olive.

"Kira? But isn't your name Anita??" said Bekhir.

"Ah, not this again, Kira," I heard Jake sigh behind me.

I smiled at Bekhir, "Well, to the normals, Anita Wilde is my real name, but to the peculiars, it's my fake name," I made an effort to explain it in the simplest way I could. I glanced at him and then turned my attention back to the peculiars. "My name is Kira Peregrine, and I am a daughter to a Ymbryne," I said.

Bekhir flashed a kind smile, gave my shoulder a reassuring pat, and then glanced up at the group. "Are you all right?" he said. "I'm sorry if that frightened you."

"We're alive," Emma replied. "But where's this bear of yours?"

"You aren't the only ones with unusual talents," A young man near the crowd exclaimed, then proceeded to imitate a bear's growl and a cat's yowl, moving his voice around with subtle head movements. The children found it so entertaining that they burst into applause.

"Apologies if I failed to properly introduce myself," said Bekhir. "My name is Bekhir Bekhmanatov. And you are our honoured guests." He bowed deeply. "Why didn't you tell us you were syndrigasti?"

The children stared at him in astonishment. Indeed, he had just uttered the age-old term for peculiar individuals, the very one that Miss Peregrine had likely taught them. "Do we know you from somewhere?" Bronwyn asked.

"Where did you hear that word?" said Emma.

Bekhir smiled. "If you'll accept our hospitality, I promise to explain everything." He then bowed once more before confidently walking forward to open the cage.

The children poured out eagerly. Enoch, Emma, Jake, Hugh, Horace, Olive, Millard, and a stranger I couldn't identify, but it didn't bother me at that moment. As soon as everyone was out, I quickly realized that there were a couple of kids absent. "Where's Fiona?" I asked.

"We left her with Claire back at an animal's menagerie," Emma replied.

"Why did you leave the both of them there!?"

"Claire got really sick, she's unfit to travel and Fiona volunteered to stay behind with her,"

I nodded my head slowly, "Right, welp, make yourselves at home here," I grinned before heading over to Kezia's carriage to see what happened while we were away. What caused that loud crash from before?

"Kira, wait!" Jake's voice momentarily halted me, but I continued on despite it. "Kira, listen to me," Jake grabbed my arm and pulled me to a halt.

"Jake, not now, I need to check on someone since you and your group brought trouble here!" I snapped as I pulled my arm away from him and hurried over to the carriage.

I opened the door and saw that the room was in disarray, with drawers scattered in front of the bed. Near the entrance, I discovered Kezia lying unconscious, blood trickling from her mouth. "Kezia?" I said softly as I got down on my knees and shook her gently.

"Kira, we really need to- . . . Is she okay?" Jake's voice came from behind.

"Get Bekhir now," I informed him while turning to glance at him, only to find him leaning against the door frame. Jake caught sight of the wife and quickly dashed out of the room.

* * *

Bekhir entered the carriage, knelt down, and embraced his wife tightly, softly calling out her name, hoping to rouse her from her unconsciousness. "Someone get Timone!" Jake shouted as he looked behind him and at the others.

"Whose Timone?" I asked.

"Timone's a healer," said Jake.

I glanced over at Kezia and then Bekhir, the presence of a healer in his camp seemed to lift his spirits a little. Suddenly, a boy I didn't recognize appeared and I switched spots with him so he could reach Kezia faster. He gently placed his hands on Kezia's shoulders and leaned in close until their foreheads touched.

In no time, Timone emerged again and cast a glance at Bekhir. "Good news is that your wife isn't dead or dying," he smiled. "That man who came in here just punched her hard in the face and kicked her rib cage,"

Bekhir's relieved smile dropped. "How can you tell that?" he asked.

"I can somewhat look into people's past and tell how they got hurt in the first place, it also helps me track the exact location of every wound, it's part of my healing ability," Timone explained.

"We'll leave you guys to it, Kira, c'mon, I still need to talk to you," said Jake. I walked behind Jake as we exited the carriage. Letting out a deep sigh, I folded my arms and looked away.

"Are you okay?" he asked calmly, and it made me mad. "Did you come across any wights at all? Were you kidnapped? What happened? Why did you disappear? You got us all worried!" he whispered.

"I didn't disappear, I ran away because all I brought down on you guys was trouble you don't need!" I whispered back.

"You never brought trouble to anyone," said Jake. "But that shouldn't be the reason why you should ditch us like that!"

"Stop, you're starting to frustrate me," I informed him as I moved aside and continued on my way to the camp.

"Why? Cause you can't handle when someone confronts you about something?!" He said, causing me to halt in my steps and spin around to give him a stern look.

"In case you haven't noticed, I have done a lot for all of you guys! I went in the water to save Claire and Bronwyn from drowning, I hid us all in that fog, I tried suppressing my emotions to not give away our location or kill Emma when she was going up into the air," I snapped. "Do you have any idea how hard it gets when you have to suppress half of what you are? And I didn't get a single thanks from any of you guys, just your harsh criticism!" I spun around and marched back to the camp where the Gypsies and peculiars were gathered, leaving Jake in my wake.