Saved by The Bird

Chapter three

"So I know your name. How do I know you're not going to take a shot at us."

"You do not, nor can you really know that I'm friendly. However, I did just stop that hollow from hurting either you or your sister and if I wanted to hurt you, do you not think I would have already."

Mackenzie moves from behind me and walks towards the lady. I try to grab her arm to keep her with me, to keep her safe but she looks back at me with a knowing look. Far to old a look for her age. She walks towards this Miss Peregrine and holds out her hands. The woman lets Mack take her hands and Mack stays still for a moment before skipping back to me with a smile on her face. I've not seen her smile in years. Whether because of the dark or because she couldn't. 

"I like her Aoife, she has a nice glow."

I purse my lips in frustration but I can't argue with her. The woman in blue smiles at me.

"I'm like you two. I am peculiar as well."

"Excuse me."

"People with the powers like you have are called peculiars."

"Oh."

"Please. Come with me, out of the cold."

I look at Mackenzie to see what she thinks. She knows better than I do what this woman is like. She smiles at me and nods her head excitedly.

"Fine."

"I have a friend that has a small house close by but isn't staying there at the moment herself. We will stay there tonight and I can explain everything else in the morning."

"Everything else?"

"Tomorrow dear. You look half starved and you sister only looks a little better."

I shake my wings and allow them to fold away and disappear. Miss Peregrine beckons with her head for us to follow before turning on the spot and smartly walking away. Mackenzie starts following her and after a little hesitation so do I.

After a while the trees start to thin out slightly and we get to a small cabin that has a watermill on the side of it. It stands next to a small burn and has old, moss covered stones steps leading to it. The woman... Miss Peregrine, walks gracefully up the steps, pulling out a set of old keys and unlocking the wooden door. She opens it and and holds the door open for us.  Miss Peregrine shows us up to a room she says that we can stay in. She shows us clothes that belong to her friend that we can wear and tells us to wash up while she makes us something small to eat. I help Mackenzie to wash and dress herself before I do the same.

I stand in the shower, letting the warm water run over me. It stings as it cleans the cuts and bruises that cover my body. The dirt and blood mingle together as the water washes it away. 

I finish in the bathroom and go through to the main bedroom to find Mackenzie has already left so I go back downstairs where I find her sitting on the counter of a kitchen island talking to Miss peregrine as the woman in question puts some pasta on plates.

 We eat in silence until I notice Mackenzie's almost falling asleep in her pasta. I pick her up a hold her close, walking up the stairs and tucking her into bed. I go back downstairs to find Miss Peregrine clearing the plates away. She hands me a Mug of hot chocolate and I sit on the sofa.

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

She turns around with a smile on her face.

"Why are you doing all of this? Helping us."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You're a stranger who doesn't know us, or at least I don't know you, and you've seen what we can do. Why would you help people like us?"

"What do you mean? People like you."

She takes her own mug and joins me on the sofa.

"Freaks. Or peculiars as you called us."

"Well it wouldn't make sense if I didn't help my own kind would it?"

"You're like us?"

"A little. In the peculiar world I am known as a ymbryne. Ymbryne are women who can turn into birds, though that isn't very helpful. We can also manipulate time. This is a little more helpful. We can create loops. A day in time which is preserved for as long as a ymbryne can reset it. This means that we are tasked with taking care of peculiar children such as yourself and your sister. Though you are not a child I would guess."

"Oh. Does this mean you'd keep my sister safe?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"What about you dear? Would you not be interested in joining your sister if I were to take her in?"

"You said you only take care of children."

"I could always use some help."

"Mm."

"Tell me, what is your name?"

"Aoife."

"How old are you?"

"Around 22. I could be older or younger though."

"Do you not know how old you are?"

"Not exactly. How old are you?"

"In one way I am 28, in another, I am centuries old."

"How?"

"The loops I mentioned."

We stay in a comfortable silence sipping from our mugs and staring into the fire.

Miss Peregrines p.o.v

I watch as Aoife falls asleep and I take her gently from her hands. She has been hurt worse than any of my other wards and judging by the state I found her and her sister in, she went through a lot of pain to help her sister. Mackenzie seems a sweet girl. She has been hurt too, but not enough to scar her. Her sister was not so lucky. I can see the imprint of a hand mark around her arms and neck, and numerous scars and bruises where any skin is showing. The woman who sits infront  of me has been broken down and hurt, not unlike all my other wards. Though I do not think that being hit is the worst she went through. I gently move a strand of her unusually coloured blonde and blue hair that has fallen onto her face and tuck it behind her ear. I take the quilt from the sofa and lay it over her before sitting myself in an armchair closer to the fire.

AN

So here's another chapter, I hope you liked it. I did kind of change Miss Peregrines age a bit, and I also went back and made Aoife 2 years older than I first did. I'm also thinking of putting up character profiles just so you can get a picture of what I think the characters look like...

Any way, hope you liked it 

😃