Some Strange Type of Peculiar Love

The Mistake

Hugh's POV
Caul.
I remember the whispers I heard around Cairnholm about him. One day Miss Peregrine gathered us to talk about him.

"Children, come down here please."
Miss Peregrine was in the main room. I came down the stairs and grumbled to Millard about starting our game late. Abe chuckled "it's not like you're not going to be here forever." I shrugged.
That was the first time I really thought about forever. Sure, I had Fiona and Millard, but sometimes I missed the cloudy rainy days where we could stomp in the muck or unpredictable temperatures. I know it's not exactly a real problem, but I do miss it.
Fiona came back from outside with dirt all over, she looked pleased with herself. I smiled at her and my eyes melted.
"You might as well shag her in-front of  all of us." I scowled at Enoch as I sat on the couch. Fiona sat next to me and I held her hand, which was gritty with dirt.
"As you may know, I have two brothers. One of my siblings, Caul, is very dangerous. I understand you guys have heard rumbling about him leaked from a secret Ymbryne meeting." Miss Peregrine shot Millard a glare, he was always the worst gossip.
"Why did you never tell us?" Claire asked.
"Because it was never important—it still isn't, but I believe you all should know before the rumors start to snowball." Now she glanced at Horace, who over exaggerated everything. Millard and him were the reporters from hell.
"Now...."
She started to speak but I drifted off next to Fiona. Wow she was so beautiful, she still is of course, but that day the sun hit her just right and her brown eyes turned almost golden.
I really wished I payed attention.

Caul was here and in-front of us now, completely naked.
Jake murmured something about him lacking heat, but I couldn't see a weapon. Emma scowled at him but I was too afraid to even register his sentence.
"Where's Miss Peregrine!" Horace shouted.
"Still with my men."
"You led him right to us!" The clown shouted. "Well, now we're just going to kill you and get back the real Miss Peregrine."
"I wouldn't recommend that if I were you."
Emma scoffed, "and why is that?"
"Because I have around 25 of my men surrounding this building."
Emma's face drained of color but she quickly regained her composure.
"You're bluffing! Lie again and I'll burn your face off!" Her hands were white hot now. I ran to the nearest window to see if he was telling the truth. There were 25 men and women surrounding the building, only a few of them had white eyes; damn those contacts.
"He's telling the truth." I said. Horace nearly fainted and landed into Enoch.
"Oh man up, would you?" But he still had a hand on his shoulder.
"Althea, get this man some trousers at once!" Miss Wren ordered. Althea scurried away as Simren walked into the room.
"Hey I was going to give you guys some privacy it I heard—" Simren stopped talking as soon as she saw the tall naked man.
"That's your Ymbryne? But he's a man." She paused, "and naked."
"He's the bloody leader of the wights! They led him here!" I didn't notice Sergei's thick Russian accent until now. Simren stepped back and pet her snake soothingly.
"Children, quiet down!" Miss Wren boomed, "and where the hell are those pants!" Just as she finished talking, Althea returned with a pair of small brown pants.
"Ah yes thank you, it was getting quite drafty in here. Speaking of, who did this." He said stepping into his trousers. His trousers were brown tweed and looked like they could belong to the brothers.
The brothers and Melina!
"Now, who is responsible for this miraculous ice?"
Althea stepped forward, "I am." She talked impossibly slow, even now.
"If you pledge your allegiance to me, we'll spare your lives, unlike your friends here."
"I'll...never...do...that...you...sick...FREAK!" She answered, again, impossibly slow.
"You are all so suckled onto your Ymbryne's that you can't even see what I'm offering."
"Why can you change into a bird then if you're not an Ymbryne." I asked.
"Ah yes, well unfortunately I got one of Alma's most useless traits, the changing into a bird. It rarely ever comes in handy but as you can see," Caul started to laugh sinisterly. "It does now." He bent down to little Olive and lifted up her chin with his finger.
"My oh my, you are a pretty little thing, aren't you?"
"You bastard!" Shouted Enoch. Him and Bronwyn tackled him and threw him against the wall. Althea made a sharp jagged icicle and ran towards Caul. They collided and the force knocked both Bronwyn and Enoch to the ground. Caul grabbed Althea by her neck and slammed her onto Miss Wren's deck and she dropped her weapon. I tried to run and help her but Horace held my arm back. Althea tried to wriggle free, but couldn't. Miss Wren assumed bird form and flew towards Caul and bit at his ears and clawed at his eyes. He grabbed Miss Wren with one hand and threw her against the wall. Althea managed to grab her icicle but Caul took and and plugged it into her chest.
Miss Wren screamed, now clothed and in human form. All around us the ice started to melt and someone was banging against the door. I heard one loud bang and the running up the stairs. Miss Wren clutched Althea's dead body. I heard Melina scream and the boys let a low growl. Jake ran to the door and pressed all of his weight onto it in an attempt to keep it shut but a split second later it was flung open and 4 men and one woman burst in and started to tie our hands together with some plastic band.
"What are you going to do to us you pig!" I spat.
"That's funny, you almost sounded just like your friends from the menagerie." He smiled.
My heart dropped and I couldn't breathe. I wanted to punch him but I couldn't.
"Oh my bird, Fiona and Claire!"
"So you're gonna zip tie us and then what?" Jake asked.
"We're going on a little trip."
"To where?"

An hour later we were at the underground station we were at yesterday. The brought us into the dressing room.
"You idiots didn't even look behind this drawer?" Two of them moved the drawer and behind there was a door. Caul snickered at Emma, "Ladies first."
I followed her next and my ears popped, we were in a loop.
We walked down the tunnel and I started to feel weak and tired. I heard a voice in the air and jumped.
"The L train will be leaving for London in 15 minutes."
I heard Jake curse. I walked towards the bright light and walked up a staircase. When I got to the top I saw people staring intently at bright hand sized boxes.
We were in the present. We were going to age forward and die, all except Jake.
"Help!" Enoch yelled at two policemen but was punched in the stomach. The policemen lowered the glasses to show bright white eyes.
Shit.
I heard a commotion and before I even could turn around there were gunshots flying around. The normals were screaming and running. A new subway car arrived. One of the wights shot a gun into the air.
"Everyone out!" He yelled.
More normals ran and little ones cried. They shoved us all into the train car. Then I saw something I thought I'd never see.
Bronwyn broke free and grabbed the two brothers (there were only 5 guards now as a bunch of them went to go look for stragglers, like the clown and Simren who seemed to have escaped.) Bronwyn slapped the two brothers and ripped them apart. They made an ear shattering screech and glass shards flew everywhere.  Me ears started bleeding and I fell to the ground. Someone yanked me up and I felt the end of the gun jab into my back. I stumbled into the now empty train car. Next was Horace, Enoch, Olive, Bronwyn, Melina, Joel-and-Peter, and 3 other wights entered the train car just as the doors slammed shut.
"Where's Kramer?"  One of the wights asked.
"Dead, the first one got to him."
"Well where is she?" He asked nervously.
"Bertha, Adam, quiet please." Caul said. "It doesn't matter, she'll age forward and turn into dust."
"And Abe Portman's grandson?"
"I sent a hollow after him."
All three wights chuckled.
"What about us?" I asked.
Bertha took a bag out of her pocket and handed it to Caul. He took a pinch of what looked like sand and blew it towards us.
"Nighty night."

3/14/21