The Aftermath: MPHFPC (editing)

E I G H T

J A C O B

"Millard, get off me!" I wheezed. Milliard had landed right on top of me.

"Oh, right." Said Millard, standing up and looking around.

"Where are we?" Said Emma, examining the alleyway we had landed in.

Luna blinked, looking at the sky that had just morphed into dawn. "My mind tells me somewhere in Boston, I believe." She replied.

"Where?" Asked Emma cluelessly.

"Boston. You have seriously never heard of Boston before?" She asked, her eyes wide.

Emma stared at Luna blankly.

"Go easy on them. They lived in September 3rd, 1940 for literally a lifetime." I said to Luna.

"Oh yeah." She replied. "Jacob, is this Miss Wren's loop?"

I couldn't help but laugh, thinking back to the dense forest and tall mountains that surrounded Miss Wren's loop. "No, definitely not."

Emma looked confused, "Jacob how did you land us so far off course? Are we still in America?"

"Yeah, just farther up north," I replied.

Emma started walking up out of the alleyway.

"Hey!" I called. "Where're you going?"

"I have always wanted to explore the great city of Boston!" She called, already way up ahead.

I gestured for the others to follow as I tried to hold back a laugh. "Emma, you just said you had never been to Boston... or heard of it for that matter."

She just flashed a grin over her shoulder as she kept on walking.

"Emma, we need to get out of here already!" Called Millard from behind me, but Emma had already turned around the corner.

"Come on," I told the others as I casually walked up the alleyway to get Emma.

"This is ridiculous." I heard Millard mutter from behind me.

"I don't really think it matters," said Luna in her usual dreamy voice, "We really don't have a time limit. Horace has probably already told Miss Peregrine, if not, she will find out soon. Besides," She continued, "Boston's a big city with a lot to see for somebody who has never seen it or heard of anything like it."

"I've been to London. London's a lot like Boston, isn't it?" Said Milliard, not yet seeing the huge skyscrapers that lined the dawning sky.

"Yes, if you've been to modern London. You've been to 1940 London." I said gesturing to the sky.

Millard's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "My Birds..." He muttered, looking up at the skyscrapers all around us. He turned to me, "I feel as if I have been living under a rock my whole life."

"Practically," I mumbled, but he couldn't hear me because we were weaving through a crowd of noisy people, trying to reach Emma, who was headed towards a closed ice skating rink.

When we finally caught up to her and we stopped by an empty bench, I said, "Emma, you can't just walk off like that you know? This city has a lot of people in it. You could have easily gotten lost."

"I know, but this city is just fascinating. I mean, I have never seen anything like it." She said, looking around her.

Luna's phone rang. Her face froze immediately.

Her mom must be calling, I thought.

"Luna," Said Emma cautiously, who seemed to be thinking along the same lines as I was, "If it's your mother, then don't answer it." But it was too late, Luna had already brought the phone up to her ear.