Echolocation (Enoch O'Connor / mphfpc fanfic)

Chapter 3 - High time for Tea

I arrived down the stairs to find ten peculiars, all sitting around a large dining room table. The table was set with fine china and glasses of water everywhere. There were two open seats. One at the head of the table, and one between Enoch and a boy wearing a beekeeper's hat. Miss Peregrine entered the room just in time to see me in the doorway. She cleared her throat and then took her seat at the head of the table.

Silence fell upon the room. Everyone looked directly at me.

Emma got up and introduced me, saying, "Everyone, meet Rosemary." I nodded at her. She gestured for me to sit down between Enoch and the Beekeeper. Enoch glared at me as I sat down. When I finally sat down, he scooted his chair as far as possible away from me.

Great. If I even look at the miserable boy, he hates me.

The little girl sitting to the left of him stood up, her golden curls bouncing at her shoulders as she walked over to me. She hugged me and said, "Hi! I'm Claire! We're having a tea party at 1 o'clock today. Don't be late."

The last three words she used her pointer finger, bossily pointing at me, I giggled, saluted her, and then watched as she giddily hopped back into her chair. After that, everyone at the table began laughing, and we finally began breakfast.

Enoch eventually settled down. Kind of. To be honest, it was like he was afraid of me or something. He hardly knew me, but he was already holding a grudge against me. Nevertheless, the other peculiars welcomed me and took great interest in what exactly it was that I did.

Around halfway through breakfast, the Miss Peregrine looked over to Claire and asked, "Claire, why aren't you eating?"

Claire looked down at her hands, ignoring Miss Peregrine.

Enoch chimed in, "Rosemary makes her uncomfortable, can she leave now?"

I looked down at my feet, feeling embarrassed when suddenly Claire burst out saying, "Enoch! No, she doesn't! What a terrible thing to say!"

Enoch looked at me, glared, and began glaring at his toast.

I looked at Claire, "You don't have to be embarrassed to eat around me," I smiled at her.

With that, Claire grabbed a piece of toast, lifted up her golden curls, and revealed her second mouth, I looked in awe as the mouth devoured the small piece of toast. Claire looked directly at me and smiled, then continued babbling to the girl on her left.

•//////•

Once breakfast was over, everyone was dismissed to play. It was 10:00 a.m. I walked out into the great garden, on the backside of the house, just as I began descending the stairs, Emma slipped her arm into the crook of my arm and walked with me.

We walked the entire property before finding a tall, branchy tree. With Emma's help, I slowly ascended the tree to a branch 15 feet above the ground, we sat there, our legs dangling, and talked for hours, and watched as the younger children played games of soccer and tag. Occasionally one child would trip or fall over, and we'd giggle to ourselves about it once the child was up and running again.

It appeared that everyone was enjoying the beautiful day, everyone that is, except Enoch. Enoch was nowhere to be seen, I looked to Emma and asked:

"Where is Enoch? Today is such a beautiful day, I'm surprised he isn't enjoying the lovely weather."

"He doesn't like being outside, he enjoys sulking in the dark shadows of his room on most days."

I pondered this for a minute,

"Does he treat everyone as rudely as he treats me? Or am I just special?"

"He's just Enoch, he's always been grumpy, for as long as I've known him..." she trailed off. It was almost as if she didn't want to tell me something. I shrugged it off and soon began descending the tree. She followed.

We made our way across the great lawn, to where a picnic had been set, lunch had quickly crept upon us. Emma and I sat down on a blanket, as we were soon accompanied by Fiona and the beekeeper. Finally, introductions began.

The beekeeper stood up and proudly began, "My name is Hugh Apiston, and I am a living beehive." The others giggled as he smiled and then sat down. Claire followed suit, introducing herself, and as she sat down, the small girl crawled into my lap. She was indeed a darling.

All of the other children followed, there was an invisible boy, who's name was Millard. After Millard, the young girl I saw Claire was with at breakfast, stood up, and I noticed the steel boots she wore. The girl explained that without her steel boots, she would simply fly away, never to be seen again, her name was Olive. When Olive finished introducing herself, she sat down in Emma's lap, and Emma hugged her tightly.

After Olive sat down, two children stood up, obviously brother and sister, their names Victor and Bronwyn. They demonstrated their incredible abilities regarding their strength. Victor swiftly picked up a rather large boulder and tossed it to Bronwyn with great ease. They passed it back and forth a few times, and then they too sat down.

Following Bronwyn and Victor's performance was a finely dressed boy, who's name was Horace. Horace explained that his dreams could predict the future. He promised us all that after dinner tonight, we could have a "movie night," which he explained was him projecting his dreams for all of us to see.

With both introductions and lunch finished, I realized that Claire's tea party was 15 minutes away. Claire told me to go with her, up to her room for the tea party, since I was a special guest.

Claire grabbed my hand and walked me up the stairs and down the hallway to her room. We sat on the floor in her room for 10 minutes before Emma arrived with the tea she had freshly boiled. Emma sat with us, and we all discussed the important matters at hand. Which appeared to be more about tomorrow's plans above anything else.

Claire was such a darling, she appeared to be no more than 6 years old, and was sweeter than candy itself. Although she seemed to be a rather precocious 6-year-old at that.

When we had finally finished our tea, there came a knock at Claire's door. In walked Enoch, and the look on his face when he saw me was indeed something else. His face shifted from gentle and soft to stone cold in a matter of seconds.

"Dinner is in an hour," he mumbled. He quickly left after that taking the empty teapot and cups.

Claire looked at me, stood up with her hands on her hips, and chased after him. He was in for it; and from what I heard in the hallway, he didn't expect it either.

"Ow! Claire, what was that for?" He exclaimed.

"Grow some manners, you idiot!" She exclaimed. She then giggled, and I could hear the tapping of her shoes on the hardwood floor as she raced back to her room.

I'm not quite sure, but I swear I could hear him mutter, "bloody hell." As he continued down the hallway. I smiled to myself.

(Hello again! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And if you did, it would be incredible if you sent a vote in my direction! I love you all so much! XOXO - IlliterateIguana)