The Aftermath: MPHFPC (editing)

E I G H T E E N

J A C O B

"I was a stranger in the city." Millard started to sing quietly, the effects of the remedy he had drunk still hadn't worn off and it was bringing out the worst of all of us.

"Shut up." Enoch hissed from across the table.

"Out of town were the people knew. I had that feeling of self-pity, what to do, what to do, what to do..."

"A foggy day, in London town, had me low, had me down." Joined in Horace with a grin. "I viewed the morning with much alarm..."

"The British Museum it had lost its charm..." Both of them sang loudly, causing a ymbryne nearby to shush them angrily.

We were all finally in the Dining Hall. A ymbryne I wasn't familiar with named Miss Cormorant was addressing the crowd at this time. Miss Peregrine sat tensely beside me. I could hear her quietly muttering indistinguishable things to herself, seeming unaware of Horace and Millard's singing, despite the fact that Millard had a reason to act ridiculous, Horace, on the other hand, did not.

"If you don't quit," Enoch threatened, jabbing a finger at Millard from across the table,  "I will kill you, then revive you, then I will kill you again." He whispered harshly.

"Now, now Mr.O'Connor." Miss Peregrine murmured, her eyes not leaving Miss Cormorant, "There is no need to be threatening lives."

Millard grinned happily at Enoch and started to hum. Enoch's nose twitched and I wasn't sure if he was going to punch him or laugh- or both. Enoch was definitely the kind of person who would punch someone and laugh.

"-why deny the inevitable?" Continued Miss Cormorant. "As they say, a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link- and I daresay that there are many weak links in our chain. Believing in the outrageous and unreal is the very thing that brands us as peculiar. Why be the one that makes our chain weaker? We must either join to together and fight against the evil that is threatening us as a whole, or die as cowards that broke apart the moment things got difficult." Miss Cormorant looked at Miss Peregrine and gave a small smile. "Now I will turn the attention to, Miss Alma Peregrine."

Miss Peregrine stood and walked to the front of the Dining Hall with the usual air of confidence she carried herself with. When she reached the front, she laced her hands in front of her and gave a grim smile to the audience. "Assuming that we are all on the same page here, I must ask what we plan for our next step to be."

"Since you were the one who claimed it was absolutely dire to have the meeting now, at almost one in the morning, I figured you had answers, Alma." Said Miss Gannet from a table at the front of the room.

"If Alma says that our worst nightmares are back, I believe that they are. Why would one lie about such thing?" Said Wendell from somewhere in the crowd. Horace, who was starting to fall asleep, raised his head at the sound of his idol's voice.

"This is why we are going to die!" Yelled Enoch, standing up abruptly, scaring everyone and causing me to nearly fall out of my seat in surprise. All ymbrynes gaped at him due to his sudden outburst. "Because we can't even trust each other. So when the time comes to join together, they are going to kill us all!"

"Now Mr.O'Connor," Said Miss Peregrine calmly, "I don't think that that is the appropriate way of going about fixing our problems."

"Then what is the appropriate way, Miss Peregrine?" Enoch countered, his voice no calmer.

"We need proof." Said Miss Treecreeper quietly from near the front.