Millard Nullings: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Part 8

With those words, the wards melted into absolute chaos. They were screaming and crying and shouting 'How?!'

"We know who took them. We do not know where they are." Miss Peregrine shouted over the noise of the screaming kids, which resulted in more screaming kids.

Millard was crying. Not because he was visible now, but because Fabian was crying and that made him sad. Fabian crying also made Alice and Gideon cry, so the four of them were just hugging Fabian in a big ball of tears. Jamie wasn't crying, but he hugged Fabian too. It was a one armed hug, though, as he was carrying a large box that had his spiders in it.

Everyone was sent back to their rooms to let the ymbrynes try to figure out what happened. Alice and Jamie joined Millard and the twins in their room. No one said anything for a while, but Fabian was still crying. He had loved his peculiarity and wanted it back.

"Who in the shit took them?!" he spat suddenly.

Jamie smacked him lightly in the back of the head. "Don't say that word."

Gideon held up a swear jar to him and Fabian put in a quarter.

Alice jumped up "I'll be right back."

She ran out of the room. Millard wanted to follow her, but didnt have any shoes on. He looked at his feet. He hadnt seen them in awhile, and had forgotten he had 6 toes on his left foot. The other boys started making small talk to pass the time. The subject eventually turned to Millard, and the questions flowed forth. How old was he? What's his middle name? What's his shoe size? Millard couldn't answer the last one as the only shoes he ever wore were borrowed, and too large for his feet.

Alice barreled back into the room. "Follow me." She said bluntly.

The group followed her as she lead them back to the ymbrynes. Millard could tell they had shed some tears as well.

"Oh, my apologies. Would the Luxtenebris brothers please step back upstairs?" Miss Bluefoot asked.

Fabian, Gideon and Jamie didnt protest and headed back upstairs glumly.

"Now then, Millard. Your wonderful Alice has figured out where the peculiarity theif is. Alice, would you like to continue?" Miss Bluefoot cheerfully explained.

"Uh, sure." she paused. "Does the name Atticus Luxtenebris mean anything to you?"

"No."

"Well, he's a grown man who lives in Ireland. Do you know why Miss B had Jamie Fabian and Gideon leave before I told you the name?"

"No."

"Because Atticus Luxtenebris is their father." Alice said grimly.

"So, good news is we know the whereabouts of the theif, bad news is that it's their father?" Millard recapped.

"Yeah, pretty much. But other good news is that the Misses here will let the five of us go and get the peculiarities back." Alice said.

"But how did he do it?" Millard wondered aloud.

"Don't know. Let's go find out!" She said.

They called the brothers back downstairs and explained the mission, leaving out the name of the theif. They all agreed to go. The five young-ish peculiars packed their things for the trip ahead. Millard noticed Gideon had packed a small cactus in his bag with the name Carl written on the pot it was in. Millard didnt have much to pack besides clothes and toiletries. He found the Dont Panic shirt Alice had given him to wear that first day. Feeling slightly nostalgic about it, he packed it, but didnt plan to wear it.

After everyone had packed and ate, they explained their plan to the rest of the wards. They seemed happy with it, and bid them farewell as they stepped outside. They got onto the dreaded horse and cart that would take them to the loop exit. Millard remembered what day this loop was, November 27th, 2002.

"It's the year 2002 here! Why are we taking a horse and cart?" He asked.

"Because it's more fun than driving a car!" Fabian shouted over the noise of the cart bumping along.

Millard did throw up this time, but he stuck his head out of the cart. They arrived at the loop exit and Millard was the first out of the cart. Fabian handed him a tin of breath mints from his front pocket. Millard didnt like the taste of them (it was a cinnamon flavored mint) but was glad to have it.

They walked out of the safety of their loop, and into the modern world.