Three Perculiars Sitting in a Tree

Prologue

I remember the day I met my new family was the one thing I will never forget. I remember how cold it was. How the rain had soaked me terribly and was chilling me to the bone. Soon the rain turned to snow, blanketing the earth. I remember sitting in my little box house in the alley that was my home and wishing dreadfully that the hypothermia would come and kill me so that this pain would be over.

Then the shadows fell over me. One woman and 12 children stood above me. The woman wore all blue and her blue hair was pulled back sleekly so it was out of her face. I nudge a little metal cup forward, my teeth chattering. A pretty girl with red hair, green eyes, a pink flowy dress, and black leather gloves walked towards me. She squatted down to my height and placed a hand on my cheek. I lean into the hand because the leather was warm.

It was the warmest thing I had felt since my mother had died 10 years ago. I was now 16 and had been living out here since I ran away from the orphanage. I was done being a freak and no families wanted me. I was six when I started living out here in my little box house. I whimper as the girl took her hand away from my cheek. "She's got hypothermia, Ms. Peregrine." The girl says. I scoot out of my box slightly to get a better look at this peculiar group of people.

"How long have you been here in the snow?" The blue-haired woman asks me and I shrug, my eyes drooping. Finally, the hypothermia was severe enough. "Enoch, can you please carry her? I'd get Bronwyn to do it but it might go awfully if she does." The blue-haired woman tells one of the children. A boy who is about as old as I was tucks one of his arms under my knees and wraps one arm about my back.

I feel almost weightless as he lifts me. I snuggle into his warmth. "Thank you." I whisper to the boy as blackness begins to consume my vision. "Enoch, keep her awake." The blue-haired woman shouts to him. I give a slight inhale as I hear him speak finally. "Can you tell me your name?" He asks me. I frown slightly. No one had asked for my name in a long time. I had forgotten it. What was the name my mother had given me?

I fiddled with the necklace about my neck. "(y/n). My name is (y/n)." I say squinting at my necklace. He frowns as I slide one of my bitten nails into the seam. With a click, it opens to reveal a photo of my five-year-old self and my now-dead mother. "I ran away. No one wanted me." I whisper. I hear one of the others complain about the snow and I frown. "What are they talking about? I'm not cold." I say to the boy.

"That's fine, uh... my name's Enoch." The boy says, rushing ahead to the head of the group. He mentions my lack of cold and the woman, Ms. Peregrine I think, tells him to rush ahead with me. Soon, I can feel him running. "Why did no one want you?" Enoch asks me as he enters a cave. He stares down at me in utter shock as he leaves on the other side. It was warmer here and brighter too.

After a little while longer, we arrive at a house. I started to shake again, the cold catching up to me again. Enoch sits down on the grass and rubs my arms slightly. "They called me a freak because of what I can do." I chatter out. He frowns as Ms. Peregrine and the rest of the children join us. We enter the house and I feel my eyes start to close again. "Hey, you need to stay awake." Ms. Peregrine says to me. But I couldn't.

My eyes flutter shut as my head drops to Enoch's shoulder. When I awoke again it was hot. I was in bed and I feel a hand touch my forehead. My eyes flutter open to see Enoch. His hand moved and was replaced with a cold towel. It took a full week for me to recover from my fever. Enoch, Ms. Peregrine, or a girl whose name was Emma cared for me. The first real meal I was going to have since I arrived was dinner.

Ms. Peregrine had left me a knee-length baby blue dress with a bow on the back and some baby blue flats. As I changed into my undergarments and my dress, I noticed how skinny I was. I quickly dress so I didn't have to look at my body any longer. As I notice halfway to the dining room, there was a piano. I walk over to it and begin to play some notes. It reminded me of the songs that my mother used to play for me.

I pull my hand away from the piano as if it had burned me. I needed to not think of 1948. "Dinner is ready. Are you coming?" Enoch asks me. I nod and follow him. As I go and sit in a chair by Ms. Peregrine I hear a voice shout at me. I squeal and jump out of the chair. "Millard, polite people do not take their dinner in the nude." She tells the invisible boy. I swallow and Olive points to a chair next to her. I nod and quickly walk over to that chair.

As soon as Millard returns to the table dressed we all begin to eat. I sat between Enoch and Olive. I ate slowly before I look at the little blonde girl by Ms. Peregrine. She wasn't eating anything. With encouragement from Ms. Peregrine, the girl, Claire, lifted the back of her hair and put the chicken leg by the back of her head. When she brought back the chicken leg the meat was all gone.

I smile at her. And from that dinner on, it was a silent agreement that I was part of this family. I would never admit it but I did have a little crush on Enoch. Ok, maybe it was a really big crush. My peculiarity is the ability to copy other peculiarities, however, I could only get rid of a peculiarity if I had another to replace it. So, I became an Ymbryne, my bird appearance also being a peregrine.

So I became (y/n) Peregrine.