Travel Through Time // a MPHFPC fanfiction

A new encounter

The Academy was huge. It was by far larger than Ethel had thought. From Miss Buntings stories Ethel had imagined an old and quiet castle that no normal person would ever enter (because only then the peculiar children wouldn't be bothered by them). But the castle Ethel now looked at wasn't like that at all. It was full of life.

As soon as Ethel walked through the gates she was met with laughter. She looked around and saw a group of children, not older than twelve. They were sitting nearby a lake where they were playing a board game as it seemed, though Ethel couldn't see what game it was.

In the distance Ethel saw a plantation. As she and Miss Bunting neared it (the lands of the Academy were truly huge) Ethel realised that there were a massive variety of fruits that were cultivated there. There were apple and cherry trees, but Ethel also saw some palms with real coconuts, and was that even a banana tree? There were so many various and exotic trees that Ethel couldn't count them, some of those trees she had actually never seen before.
Beneath the trees there was a boy. He looked about Ethels age and was quite tall. He had his hands held up high in the air and seemed like he expected something to happen. A moment later it began raining over the trees. Strangely the area around the trees was still dry, the sun was even shining and it was quite warm.

Satisfied with his work the boy turned around and started to leave when he saw Miss Bunting.
"Hello Miss Bunting", he shouted across the area.
"Good day, Mister Whines. Would you like to meet our newest student?", Miss Bunting replied.

The boy jogged over to them and when he stopped in front of them, Miss Bunting began again: "Miss Barrinson meet Mister Samuel Whines, Mister Whines meet Miss Ethel Barrinson."
"Nice to meet you, Ethel", the boy, Samuel, said and bowed his head a little.
"The pleasure is all mine", Ethel replied and did a small curtsy though she knew how stupid she must look due to the fact that she hadn't been able to wash herself properly in god knows how long.

"Mister Whines, would you be so kind and show Miss Barrinson to her room, she's going to room together with Miss Bentham. Unfortunately I can't do it myself as I have a meeting with Miss Avocet that can't wait", Miss Bunting said. As soon as Samuel agreed she said her goodbye to the both of them and left leaving Ethel in the middle of the lands of the AYPCT with a boy she didn't know.
Ethel looked at Samuel. His hair had a rich brown colour, just like his eyes. His skin had a tan, though it wasn't unnatural. He had freckles. Some might call him handsome, but Ethel didn't know him and she had a untrusting nature though Samuel seemed nice.

"Alright then, Ethel, let me show you your way", he suddenly said and they began walking towards the castle.

After a bit of silence that Ethel found rather uncomfortable, she broke it and asked: "So your peculiarity is farming?"
Samuel laughed and replied: "Not quite, I can change the weather, which certainly helps when it comes to taking care of plants that need a different weather." After a short while he asked: "And what's your peculiarity?"
"I can turn into a cat as it seems", Ethel said hoping he wouldn't ask her to change her form. Wich he didn't.

After that they talked about various things: Where Ethel was from, how she liked the lands of the Academy so far, etc. etc.
On their way Samuel showed her some nice spots in the lands of the AYPCT. There were some beautiful gardens, the lake that Ethel had already seen, a small forest, even a maze.
He told Ethel a bit of himself, how his parents were indeed farmers and how he found out about peculiardom. Samuel had lived in the Academy for three years now and was actually 19 years old.
"So we both are rather young compared to the others", he had laughed.

Then, at some point, Samuel looked at the huge clock at the castle, wich looked a bit like a church now, and noticed that it was time to show Ethel her room as he should have already done.
He rushed through the castle and promised Ethel to show her around later. Then he suddenly stopped at a door in the west wing of the castle ("All girls live in the west wing, all boys in the east wing", as he had explained).

"That's it. That's your room. I must leave you here, though Alma might be here, but I don't know. I'll see you later, Ethel", Samuel said. And after Ethel said goodbye he left.

Ethel was a bit nervous. This would be her room, her home, and she would have a roommate, wich she didn't mind. She just hoped that this Alma would be nice to her.

Hello everyone, I hope you liked the new chapter. Soon we are going to meet our dearest Miss Peregrine, yay 😃
Feel free to leave some constructive feedback.
Have a wonderful day!