Book One: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children (My Remake)

Chapter 19~Story of Monsters

Outside, the children were huddled around the sitting-room door, some seeming to be on the verge of tears. Millard was right, these were thin walls. The children had heard almost everything.

"Poor Miss Avocet," Claire whimpered, her bottom lip trembling.

"Poor Miss Avocet's children," said Olive.

"Are they coming for us now, Miss?" asked Horace.

"We'll need weapons!" cried Millard. I elbowed his ribs and pointed to the younger children.

"Battle-axes!" said Enoch. I raised my hands in astonishment.

"Bombs!" said Hugh. I shot him a death stare.

"Stop that at once!" Miss Peregrine shouted, raising her hands for quiet. "We all must remain calm. Yes, what happened to Miss Avocet was tragic - profoundly so - but it was a tragedy that need not repeat here. However, we must be on watch. Henceforth, you will travel beyond the house only with my consent, and then only in pairs. Should you observe a person unknown to you, even if they appear to be peculiar, come immediately and inform me. We'll discuss these and other precautionary measures in the morning. Until then, to bed with you! This is no hour for a meeting."

"But Miss-" Enoch began.

"To bed!" she ordered.

The children scurried off to their rooms. "As for you two," she turned to Jacob and I. "I'm not terribly comfortable with you two travelling alone, even together. I think perhaps you should stay, at least until things calm a bit."

"I can't just disappear. My dad will flip," said Jacob.

"If my uncle finds that I'm missing, he'll send the whole island in search for me!" I explained.

Miss Peregrine frowned. "In that case, you must at least spend the night. I insist upon it."

I looked to Jacob who stared back at me, "Can you give us a minute, then?" I asked. Miss Peregrine gestured to the side. I led Jacob near the stairs. "Either we stay or we go. We can't one of us stay here and the other leave, otherwise people will begin to question when the other doesn't appear." Jacob nodded in agreement. "Okay, so should we stay or go?"

"We have to go. My dad and your uncle will freak out."

"I don't know . . . You heard Miss Avocet, something bad is going on. Can we at least stay for the night?"

Jacob thought. "Fine, but I think we should at least find out something." I looked at him confused. "The monsters that killed my grandfather."

"So you know."

"You know, too?"

"Millard told me, about an hour ago."

"Emma told me around that time as well." Jacob looked at me with worry. "Did you actually spy on us?"

"No," I stretched. "Yes," I continued. "Not really, we didn't mean too. We just saw you, wrestling in the sand, but after that we left. Don't worry."

He continued to look at me, clearly not believing in what I said.

I rolled my eyes then shook it off. "Let's talk about this another time. So, we stay, but in return, we get info?"

Jacob nodded. We came back to Miss Peregrine. "We'll stay, but only for the night. When the sun rises we leave." I looked back to Jacob for assurance and he nodded. "And we also want you to tell us everything you know about the monsters that killed Jacob's grandfather."

Miss Peregrine peered at us with amusement. "Very well, I won't argue with your need to know. Install yourselves on the divan for the evening and we'll discuss it first thing."