Anna Peregrine--A Map of Days

Chapter Seven

    There we all were, in the car, driving through the U.S. I was in the front passenger seat whilst Jacob was driving. In the first row in the back was Emma, Bronwyn, and Millard and in the way back was Enoch.
    Jacob made me navigator, so I had multiple maps in my lap, looking them over as I watched the world go by outside the window.
    "From here to the ring on the map it's about three hundred miles," I said, looking at the map. "If we don't stop, we could be there in five hours."
    "We've got to stop sometime," Bronwyn said. "You haven't bought us modern clothes yet."
    Well, there was that. I was in the same vote as they were. My bag was in the master bedroom which was where my mother was. I was not going to get us caught because I had to grab clothes.
    "We'll stop soon. I just want to put some distance between us and Miss Peregrine first," Jacob said.
    "Where do you think Portal is? Very far?" Enoch asked.
    "Could be."
    "Will you be able to stand that much driving?",l Millard asked.
    "I'll have to," Jacob said.
    "Anna has her license," Emma said.
    "Yeah, and do you remember how the drive from the airport went?" Enoch asked. "She almost crashed into some of the cement blocks in the car park."
    "Okay, but I got a hold of it, and I was driving a huge van, what did you expect? Once we were on the interstate I was doing fine," I said.
    "Then why was Miss Peregrine hyperventilating the whole time?" Bronwyn asked.
    "She wasn't."
    "No, Anna, she was," Emma said.
    I threw up my hands, "Fine, whatever. I can drive though. I drove myself through a drive thru and to the mall."
    "Just keep me caffeinated," Jacob said.
    "I'll help. I'll get us there a lot faster than you could, too," Enoch said.
    "Forget it. You can take a driver's-ed class when we get back, this is no time to learn."
    "I don't need lessons. I already know everything about how cars work."
    "It's not the same."
    Enoch kicked Jacob's seat.
    "What was that for?" my boyfriend asked.
    "Driving like a granny."
    We came to a ramp to get on the interstate. Jacob swung the car into it and floored the gas, throwing me back in my seat. I liked it though, I had gone faster before when flying. The engine was screaming, and both me and Jacob were laughing. Once we merged, Enoch was screaming at Jacob to slow down. Jacob eased again and pushed a button, making all of our windows go down.
    "Oooooh, fancy!" Bronwyn said.
    "Music?" Jacob asked.
    "Yes, please," Emma said.
    The radio had a cassette tape in it already, so that was what we listened to. My dark black blue wavy hair flowed with the wind, the sun making my blue even brighter. It was nice being in the modern world instead of in 1940 Cairnholm, one because of the obvious reason, two my hair. I would always worry about people seeing the blue and questioning it.
    I looked back at my friends who were all smiling, looking out the window. I looked back at Jake before resting my hand on top of his on the gear stick. He looked over at me with a smile, which I returned.

*   *     *     *    *

    It was so freeing doing what we were doing without my mother. However, there was a constant worry that she would be in the skies searching for us. She could catch up to us anytime she wanted because of the peregrine speed. This was why Jacob didn't stop for the first three hours, not even to let us use the bathroom. However, after many complaints, and my insistence that we would be fine, he finally pulled off at a petrol station.
    Whilst Jacob filled up the car, the rest of us went into the store. My friends got looks from many people, me being able to pass because I was wearing modern clothes. While we were there I got some water. When I was in line, a young girl was staring at me.
    Oh no, what is it? She's not peculiar, my pull isn't going. My nails are long, but isn't that common for a normal nineteen year old woman? No wait, these are like talons, oh no. Do I have a feather in my hair?
    I ran my fingers through my hair casually.
    No, oh wait, duh. Blue.
    I knew people with different coloured hair were looked at sometimes, hopefully for me it was admiration.
    "Amelia, stop staring at her," I heard a man say.
    I turned around to see the girl's eyes flash at him, then me before quickly saying, "I like your hair."
    I smiled, "Thank you."
    "Sorry," the man with her said, most likely her father.
    "No worries!" I said as the cashier gestured for me to come forward.
    I looked back towards the bathrooms to see someone taking a picture of my friends as they came out of the bathroom. Crap their clothes!
    As soon as I joined them outside, I told them, "We've got to buy you modern clothes, now."
    Across the street was a Walmart, surely there would be clothes in there for my friends to get.
    We drove there, and as soon as we got to the automatic doors, Enoch freaked out.
    "What, what, WHAT!", he said, raising his fists, getting us some looks.
    Jacob quickly took all of us aside and explained the motion sensors on the doors that caused them to open.
    "What's wrong with using a handle to open a door?" Enoch asked.
    "It's hard if you have a lot of stuff. Like this guy," Jacob said, pointing to a man coming out of the store with a tram.
    "Why would anyone need so many things?" Emma asked.
    "Maybe he's stocking for an air raid," Enoch answered.
    "I think you'll understand once we're inside," Jacob said.
    We walked in, and I was shocked by how many things can be in one store.
    "Just a store, he says," Emma said. "This isn't like any store I've seen."
    "More like a blimp hangar," Enoch said.
    Jacob grabbed a tram and we started to walk through the store. Us who were in a loop for so long were amazed by all the displays. Jacob tried to get us to the clothes, but we were so entranced by it all.
    "What's this?" Enoch asked, grabbing some slippers with knobbles at the bottom.
    Jacob grabbed them from him and put them back, "It's so you can dust the floor with your feet? I think?"
    "And this?" I asked, pointing to a box that was labeled TALKING BIRD FEEDER–NOW WITH BLUETOOTH!
    "I'm not really sure, but we only have seventy-two hours to complete these tasks, so we shouldn't–"
    "Sixty-two now, or maybe less."
    We went down the aisle, which led to another aisle with books. Jacob had to run and stop Millard, who was completely invisible due to the lack of clothes. I took it upon myself to watch the boy, or watch where I thought he was at least.
    We moved to another aisle, where sporting goods were at. There were some knives in cases that me and Enoch looked at. Him, due to his peculiarity, me because of my new interest in them for combat after our fight in Devil's Acre against the wights.
    As we kept going, Emma kept on asking why. Why the need for all of these different things.
    "Who would need to many different kinds of skin cream?" she asked, picking up a box of a serum from a shelf. "Is everyone ill with skin diseases? Has there been a plague of skin-related deaths?"
    "Not that I know of.", Jacob said.
    "It's very strange!"
    "Easy for you to say, honey," a lady who was standing nearby said. "You've got skin like a baby!"
    Emma quickly put the box down and we kept on going.
    Millard didn't say much, due to Jacob asking him not to. However, I'm sure that he was making mental notes from the sighs and hmms he said. I thought back to how he was writing about a day in Cairnholm, and I wondered how many loop days it would take for him to examine what went on in this place.
    We finally made it to the clothing section, and I was quick to grab whatever due to the fear of Mum finding us started to come back to me. I grabbed a light blue shirt with light coloured shorts and a new pair of white sandals. I quickly threw them in the cart and waited for the others.
    We were all hungry, so we quickly grabbed snacks in the checkout lane. Once we checked out, we went into the bathrooms and changed.
    Me and Emma were the only ones that did a good job at grabbing clothes in my opinion. Emma was wearing tight black jeans, white shoes, and a dark brownish orange top. She turned to the mirror with a frown, "I look like a man."
    "You look great," I said smiling.
    "And modern," Jacob added.
    Emma sighed as she lifted the bag that held her dress, "I miss this already."
    "This fabric is so . . . itchless," Bronwyn said, pulling at her gray shirt. "I can't get used to it."
    Enoch came out of the bathroom wearing thick green shoes with a weird face on it, pajama pants with flaming skulls on the knee, and a shirt that read "NORMAL PEOPLE SCARE ME".
    I shook my head, "That's the last time you pick out your own clothes."
    We went to the doors and went to push the tram out only for a beep to start.
    "What's that?" Emma yelped.
    "We may not have, er, paid for everything," Millard said.
    "What! Why?" Jacob asked as two men in blue vests were walking to us.
    "Old habits die hard. Nevermind, run it!", he grabbed the cart from my boyfriend before starting to run.
    Now a whole bunch of people were watching a cart take off by itself, followed by weird looking kids and the two men.
    We jumped into the car, and Jacob jammed the key into the ignition. He floored the gas and soon we were off back onto the interstate.
   "If you're going to break the law, at least do it with a little panache, Millard," I said.
   "I knew about the cameras, no one told me about the alarms!"