MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN.

CHAPTER 3

Jake's POV.

The next day, I made my way back to the house, half-hoping and half-terrified that I'd see that mysterious girl again. I couldn't shake her words from my mind: Find the bird. It didn't make any sense, but if Grandpa's stories had been real, then maybe so was this "bird"—whoever, or whatever, it might be.

I followed the same path up the cliffs, through the overgrown brush, and back to the old house, still crumbling and silent under the gray sky. I stepped inside, the silence almost thicker this time, and tried to keep my breathing steady as I moved down the hallways, checking every doorway and corner. But no matter how long I searched, there was no sign of the girl.

Just as I was about to give up, I felt a sudden, strange sensation—a shiver, like a gust of wind had passed through me. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, suddenly aware that everything around me had... changed. The broken glass in the windows was gone, and the dust that had layered the floors and walls had disappeared. The walls, once cracked and peeling, looked fresh and brightly painted. It was like I'd walked straight back into the past, the house looking as though it had never been abandoned at all.

I heard footsteps—quick and light—and then laughter, that same eerie, musical laughter from the day before. This time, I turned to see a group of children running through the hallways, dressed in strange, old-fashioned clothes. They were talking to each other in excited voices, so focused on their game that they didn't even notice me standing there.

I followed them, my heart pounding, until I reached a large, sunny room where more children were gathered. They were all peculiar in ways that were impossible to ignore. A girl was floating inches off the ground, her feet never touching the floor as she moved with graceful ease. A boy stood in the corner, invisible except for his clothes. Another child, a boy around my age, seemed to have bees crawling out of his mouth, which didn't seem to bother him one bit.

And in the center of it all was the girl I'd seen the day before, standing with her arms crossed, looking at me like she'd known I would come.

"Hello again, Jake," she said, smiling.

"You're... real," I stammered, still processing everything around me. "All of you... you're really here."

The girl nodded. "Of course we're real. We've been waiting for you. I'm Emma," she said, her voice soft and oddly familiar. "And this—" she gestured around the room— "is our home."

Before I could ask what she meant, a tall woman entered the room, dressed in a dark coat and gloves, her hair pulled back in a severe bun. She had an air of quiet authority, and the children instantly quieted as she walked in. She looked at me with a knowing smile, as if she, too, had been expecting me.

"You must be Abe's grandson," she said, her eyes piercing. "He always spoke of you. I'm Miss Peregrine."

My throat felt tight as I tried to understand what was happening. "My grandfather... he used to tell me stories about you. About all of you," I said, glancing at the children around me. "But I thought they were just that—stories."

Miss Peregrine nodded thoughtfully. "Many people would think so. But your grandfather was special. He saw things others couldn't... just as you can."

"What do you mean?" I asked, feeling a chill as she looked at me with that same knowing smile.

"You have the sight, Jake," Miss Peregrine said calmly. "You can see the Hollowgast—those monsters your grandfather warned you about. Not everyone can, but Abe could, and so can you."

It hit me all at once—the shadows my grandfather had been so afraid of, the "monsters" he'd always mentioned in hushed tones. It hadn't just been his imagination. They were real, just like everything else in this house, in this strange world that I'd somehow stumbled into.

As if sensing my thoughts, Miss Peregrine continued, "This place is a loop, a pocket of time we repeat over and over to keep the children safe. Every day, we relive the same twenty-four hours, right before a bomb falls on this house. It's been like this for years—our little sanctuary from the dangers of the outside world."

I stared at her, struggling to take it all in. A time loop. A place that repeated the same day over and over, trapping them in an endless cycle. It was impossible, yet here I was, living it. "And the Hollowgast?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"They're hunting us," she replied, her expression darkening. "They feed on peculiars, draining our souls to keep themselves alive. Abe fought them for years, and it seems they're now turning their attention to you, Jake."

I swallowed hard, feeling the weight of her words settle over me. This wasn't a story I could close the book on and walk away from. The monsters my grandfather had spent his life fighting were real, and now they were coming for me.

As I looked around at the children, their faces both frightened and determined, I realized that they weren't just peculiar—they were survivors. Each one of them had their own abilities, their own strange gifts, and they relied on each other to stay safe from the horrors lurking outside the loop.

"Will you stay with us, Jake?" Miss Peregrine asked, her voice soft but full of urgency. "You could be a great protector, just as Abe was. There's a place for you here, if you choose to stay."

I hesitated, my mind spinning with questions, fears, and the strange pull I felt toward this place, this family of peculiar children who lived outside the bounds of time. But as I looked at Emma and the others, at their hopeful faces and the glimmer of trust they offered me, I knew that leaving wasn't an option.

I nodded, a strange sense of purpose settling over me. "Yes," I said quietly. "I'll stay."

And with that, I became part of their world, stepping fully into the life my grandfather had once led—one of danger, courage, and peculiar wonders I was only just beginning to understand.