Strange Beginnings// j.p.

Chapter 9- Questions Answered

    We woke very early the next morning and dressed for the day as quietly as we could, hoping to escape to the loop with no confrontation from Franklin or the townspeople from yesterday. After slipping a note under his door, we headed down the stairs and slipped out of the pub into a drizzling, gray morning.

      The air on the other side of the loop was warm and sunny, but there was no one there to greet us as we ducked through the low doorway. We made our way to the house at a rather lazy pace, swinging our entwined hands and enjoying the warmth on our skin. As soon as we arrived at the house, we let ourselves in the unlocked front door and made to look for the children, but we were stopped by Miss Peregrine before we could even make it out of the foyer.

"I'd like a word with you two, if you please," she said curtly, and led us into the kitchen, still full of the rich fragrance of the breakfast we'd missed. It made my stomach growl as we stood there by the table, feeling as though we'd been called into the principal's office.

Miss Peregrine propped herself up against the giant cooking range, fixing her stern gaze on us. "Are you enjoying your time with us?"

We both parroted that we were, very much.

"That's good, we'd like you to enjoy our company," she said, and then her slight smile vanished. "I understand you had a pleasant afternoon with some of my wards yesterday. And a lively discussion to accompany it."

"It was great. They're all really nice." Jake was clearly trying to keep things light, because the mood radiating from her was one of thinly veiled irritation.

"Tell me," she said, "how would you describe the nature of this discussion? The contents?"

    I shrugged, trying to remember everything that was said. "I don't know... We talked a lot, about a lot of things. Their lives, how things are here. How they are from where we're from."

"Where you're from."

I just shrugged with a slight nod, not knowing what else to say.

"And do you think it's really wise to discuss events in the future with children of the past?"

"Children?" Jake blurted suddenly, "Is that really how you think of them?" I saw the regret in his eyes as soon as he finished his sentence, and I could've strangled him for saying that to Miss Peregrine of all people.

"It is how they regard themselves as well, Mr. Portman," she said testily, "What would you call them?"

Jacob clearly read her mood and decided not to argue. "Children, I guess."

"Indeed. Now, as I was saying," she said, "do you think it a wise decision to discuss the future with children from the past?"

"Um, no?"

"Ah, but apparently the two of you do! I know this because last night at dinner, Hugh treated us to a fascinating explanation of the wonders of twenty-first-century telecommunications technology." Her voice dripped sarcasm as she stared us down. "Did you know that when you send a letter in the twenty-first century, it can be received almost instantaneously?"

"I think you're talking about email."

"Well, Hugh knew all about it."

"I don't understand," he said, but I was beginning to see the point she was trying to make. "Is that a problem?"

She stood up from the range and took a limping step forward. Despite being a foot shorter than Jacob and a couple of inches shorter than me, she was still extremely intimidating.