The Peregrines

Chapter 34

We had barely stepped into the room when the intern slipped out of Emma's hold and disappeared into the shadows. Emma immediately went after him, but I stopped her—he wasn't our concern. What really mattered was our predicament.

Jake requested Emma to brighten the area. She did her best to intensify the flames in her hands, but it only seemed to stretch the shadows further. True to his nature, Jake advised Emma, Bryce, and me to keep our distance, effectively telling us to remain by the door. Emma wasn't having it. "We stick together," She declared, giving a nod to both me and Bryce.

"Stick together behind me, then. Way behind me."

As Jake stepped around the motionless Miss Glassbill and ventured further into the room, the rest of the crew stayed a few steps behind. I came to a halt right before the Ymbryne, feeling a twinge of guilt and anxiety. The last time I laid eyes on her, she was so much more lively and engaged than she appears at this moment.

Emma raised one hand high to illuminate our path, while Bryce and I prepared ourselves to defend against any sudden threats. The room resembled a hospital-turned  battlefield, with disassembled human figures strewn about.

I accidentally kicked an arm, and it made a dull sound as it spun away, revealing it was made of plaster. On a nearby table lay a torso, while over there, a head floated in a jar filled with liquid, its eyes and mouth wide open—definitely real, but it looked like it had been there for quite some time.

It looked like Caul's space was a mix of a lab, a torture chamber, and a storage room all rolled into one. He was a collector of bizarre and creepy items, much like his brother. However, while Bentham had everything neatly arranged, Caul could really use some help with the mess.

"Welcome to the hollows' play space," Caul said, his voice, now amplified, resonated throughout the room. "We conduct experiments on them here, feed them, watch them disassemble their food. I wonder what part of you they'll eat first? Some hollows start with the eyes... a little amuse-bouche..."

"I'm curious if they'll take a bite out of your family jewels the next time you accidentally cross their path," I remarked.

"Kira, shut it," Bryce whispered sharply.

"Oh, wait a minute! You're fresh out of those, aren't you, ma'am? Because if you had any, you'd be down here dealing with us yourself, you pus-" Suddenly, a hand was pressed over my mouth. I glanced at Bryce, knowing it was his hand, that was shooting me an intense glare. 

The room was calm and silent. With a gentle nudge from Bryce's free hand, he signalled me to continue following the others before he removed his hand from my mouth. I stumbled over something and heard a startled yelp as my foot made contact. 

When I looked down, I was met with the terrified expression of a middle-aged woman, her wide eyes filled with fear—an ymbryne I knew all too well... It was Miss Crow. Without a moment's hesitation, I crouched down and softly whispered. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of here,"

I sensed a movement coming from the depths of the room, and we all realized it was right there with us. Jake focused on it and took off running—he stumbled but managed to regain his balance, with Emma sprinting alongside him, exclaiming something. 

It was as if my brain was malfunctioning, unable to comprehend the scene before me while I saw Jake and Emma dash off. "Jake, hurry!" I started to consider the worst-case scenario, and as I went along, I realized they would require more than just Emma's flames; my bolts would be essential too.

"Kira, no!" Bryce called out behind me.

Caul, over the PA, mocking us: "Kira, no!"

He cranked up the music: energetic, lively, almost chaotic. We encountered three or four more ymbrynes, all bound and fighting against their restraints. I glanced back to check on Bryce, who was trailing behind, but the moment he spotted the ymbrynes, he veered off to help them.

Emma and I had wandered a few steps ahead of Jake, and we extended our hands, gesturing towards something while illuminating it at the same moment.

"There! Look!" She yelled as she pointed with her free hand. 

I quickly rushed over to where she was indicating a shadow that was approaching: a woman, suspended upside down and twisting, like a side of beef, her dark skirts fanning out around her head. Even in the dim light, I recognized her—it was Miss Wren.

"What the hell?" I whispered to myself.

Addison was right beside her, both of them fighting against an unseen force that was gradually pulling them sideways as if trying to swallow them whole. Without a second thought, I dashed toward them and began shooting bolts, despite the pain in my hands feeling like they had been pierced by a sharp knife.

"STOP!" Jake screamed. 

I swiftly stopped what I was working on and turned to glance at Jake. "Not you, Ki-KIRA DUCK AND CRAWL!" Jake shouted out of nowhere. Just as I was getting ready to follow his instructions, I felt something grip my waist firmly and lift me up into the sky.

"YOUR TIMING IS SHIT!" I snapped.

"MY TIMING?! WHAT ABOUT YOUR TIMING!" Jake snapped at me.

"NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE SNARKY AT ONE ANOTHER!" Bryce shouted as I began launching bolts toward where I believed the Hollow was, but Jake quickly corrected me. When I finally hit it with one of my bolts in a spot I couldn't quite identify, the Hollow let out a painful scream and sent me flying. I prepared myself for a hard landing, but instead, it felt like someone either caught me or I bumped into them unexpectedly.

"KIRA, BRYCE, RUN, GODDAMMIT, RUN!" I saw Jake shouting as he sprinted toward us, grabbing our wrists and encouraging us to stand up and run alongside him. "Emma, cut down Miss Wren while I draw the hollow away!" He shouted as we all stepped back from Miss Wren. A moment later, Jake began to sing a jumble of words that popped into his mind, almost as if he was trying to coax the hollow to join us from the start.

"The idiot thinks he's the Hollow whisperer!" I whispered to Bryce as my eyes never leave Jake. "He's gonna kill us al-"

"DUCK!" Jake shouted, and we quickly ducked behind the mannequin we were sprinting by. However, the mannequin was suddenly lifted into the air and forcefully thrown against the wall, where it shattered into countless fragments. "DIVE!" We all dropped to the ground and swiftly sprang back up to keep running.

Just as we sprinted past, a few pieces of furniture crumbled into tiny shards. "SLIDE!" We all crawled under the table, but this time, we stayed perfectly still.

"Why'd we stopped?" said Bryce in a panicked state.

Jake remained silent, his gaze fixed on the black vial as his hands trembled while trying to uncork it. Suddenly, the table we were hiding under was yanked away, leaving the three of us completely exposed.

"Ah, shit," I muttered.

Jake jumped to his feet and shouted at the Hollow to halt or freeze, but sadly, he shouted in English while backing away. Meanwhile, Bryce and I were too exhausted to get up again, so we just crawled back to the spot where our backs had met the wall, realizing there was nowhere else to go.