Peculiar ♡ Alma Peregrine

Chapter Twenty One - A Letter

She stares in shock as she watches Juliette dive off the cliff after Fiona. Alma always knows the right thing to do in every situation with the children, so why is it that she's forgotten it all when it's most important—when the first person she's ever felt this way about, the love of her life, has just thrown herself off a cliff to save the child she was supposed to protect? 

The moment of shock lasts less than a second before she's dashing right towards the cliff edge and looking over. She can't even see Juliette anymore—only Fiona falling through the air, crying and screaming a string of unintelligible words. Alma jumps off the edge and takes bird form without a second thought, flying in a downwards spiral to the pig-tailed child. 

Of course she knows there's nothing she can do to help, but she at least wants to be near the girl she's spent so long protecting, shielding from the world. But apparently it's not needed.

Fiona isn't falling alone, Alma quickly realises, only when she sees the mop of tangled brown hair whipping and flailing through the wind and the arms wrapped around the girl, one around her chest and the other around her middle. There is Juliette, holding Fiona close to her body—prepared to take the full force of the impact. Her eyes are screwed shut, but her mouth continues to move as she whispers quiet words into Fiona's ear.

Alma closes her own eyes as she flies down next to Juliette's head, just for the second before impact is made. There's a sickening crunch and the wet sound of a thick liquid spatting all over the surrounding area—blood. However, through the nauseating ringing of death, there are also laboured sobs and a rapidly beating heart in the background—just one beating heart. 

Either way she's going to lose. No matter what's happened, who she's lost this time, what she sees will break her into a million pieces—but there is a tiny selfish part of her, one that she didn't even know existed before now, that hopes more for one of the two outcomes. Alma takes human form once again and slowly turns her head to the side, her stomach lurching and her heart dropping to her feet.

Fiona is wriggling around and trying to sit up, tears streaming like a waterfall from her eyes. Juliette is laying motionless under her, back bent in half over a stone and her head slightly split on another sharp rock. Her neck is broken—actually a lot of her bones are broken. Her legs and her arms snapped almost in half, it's such a horrifying sight.

Fiona was trying to sit up, tears streaming from her eyes like a waterfall. Juliette was laying under her, her back bent in half over a stone and her head was slightly split on another sharp rock. Her neck was broken - actually, a lot of her bones were broken. Her legs, her arms... It was such a horrifying sight. I sob broke from my chest, and I gripped my arms for a second before jumping forwards and grabbing Fiona, covering her eyes so she wouldn't look at Juliette. I held my hands over her eyes as I pulled her back up the cliff a safer way, which was quick. A two minute walk.

At the top, all the children were huddled against the huge tree, scared and crying. A few of them shot up and ran over when they saw Fiona, but paused when they saw the blood splattered on her clothes and skin. Still, they hugged her like she had already been killed and came back.
"Where... Where's Juliette?" Emma asked, stepping forward slowly. Her voice was shaky like she already knew the answer. I subtly shook my head and sent Fiona away with the children back to the tree.

"Would you take everyone home? There's something I have to... There's something I have to take care of," I said, fighting back tears. Emma nodded and rounded everyone up, leaving just in time for them to not see the tears fall from my eyes. It felt like I had been punched in the gut and hit over the head with a brick - everything hurt, this was much worse than any physical pain I'd ever experienced from being stabbed. I felt sick when I actually saw Juliette again, she somehow looked even worse than she did before.