Untouchable (A Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Story)

Chapter 6 🦔

Thankfully, everyone was okay. "Mister Schaeffer," Miss Peregrine said. "Would you kindly get off the table?" Lance returned to his seat, muttering "Sorry" as he went. Horace started rambling about how one of the quills narrowly missed his suit.

"...And if there were any serious rips, I would be faced with the possibility of throwing it out! Of course, it might fix itself when the loop resets, but it pains me to have to throw out a perfectly good suit..."

"Shu' up, 'orace!" Enoch shouted.

Suddenly, a large boom could be heard from outside. Obviously, I was freaking out, but everyone else assured me that it was nothing to worry about.

They all grabbed gas masks and headed outside. Once all of her wards had left the house, Miss Peregrine asked if we wanted to join them. "No," I insisted. "Lance is afraid of nearly everything. He couldn't handle it." The headmistress looked very disappointed. "Still, I want you to come back tomorrow," she said.

"Why?"

"I understand that you have trouble controlling your peculiarity. If you want, I can teach you how to control it."

At this point, I was frightened of what I could do, but if I ever wanted to be at peace with my abilities, I had to do this. So, I said yes.

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"Roxanne, where are you going?" My father asked me the next day. What would I tell him? Whatever it was, I had to come up with it fast and keep my face straight so that he wouldn't suspect a thing. "I'm... going to a new friend's place."

"That's great," he said. "Where do they live?"

"On the other side of the island... I promise I'll be back by dinner."

"Alright. You can go, if you take Lance with you."

"I understand."

"Wait." I was already at the door when he stopped me. "A letter arrived at the bar today addressed to you. When you have time, please look at it."

I nodded my head as I called for Lance, who almost fell down the stairs as he ran up to me. The two of us left the hotel together and were on our way to the loop. That felt awful. I've never lied to my parents before, but I couldn't tell him the truth. He would never understand; he's not peculiar.

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Miss Peregrine explained that each of her wards used to have trouble controlling their peculiar abilities, so she set up a special class devoted to helping each of them. Some of them are rather simple, but I believe that I have the simplest training of all: I have to hit a target.

"For your peculiar training, Miss Schaeffer, I want you to hit that target with your quills." I shook my head. "You know that saying that porcupines can shoot their quills is just a myth, right?" Of course, she knew, but she hypothesized that if I fling my arms, quills would go everywhere. The logic behind it was solid, the reasoning was well thought out, so I gave it a try.

I tried to clear my mind; focus on the feel of my quills, but I didn't feel the tingly sensation that tells me my quills are out. Closing my eyes, I flung out my arms, but the target was completely bare when I opened them. "Focus, Miss Schaeffer," said the headmistress. I tried it again, but no quills on the target.

"Oh, I can't do it!" I groaned.

"Of course, you can," said Miss Peregrine. "One more time."

For one last time, I tried to hit the target, but still no quills. I admit I got a little frustrated and I may have asked to take a walk to clear my head. Thank goodness, she agreed. I strolled the grounds, trying to clear my mind of troubling thoughts. Believe me, it's a lot harder than it looks to relax. In response, I decided to gaze around at my surroundings.