Jacob has been going to the Peregrine home to visit the peculiar children for almost a year now and Ms. Peregrine believes he can be trusted with an important secret: There is one extra resident at the home and a very unusual one at that. His name i...
The soccer ball zoomed between his legs and out of sight into the grove of trees serving as a makeshift boundary behind them.
"Go get it," Hugh frowned.
"No thanks," Millard crossed his arms. "You go."
"But you kicked it!"
"So?"
Hugh felt a pull at his arm and looked down to see little Claire in her pink dress smiling up at him.
"Hullo, Claire. What is it?" Hugh knelt, slightly.
Claire pointed to the forest and looked back at him, quizzically.
"Oh, Millard kicked the ball into the rough but he won't get it back." Hugh sighed.
Claire grinned. She turned on her heel and promptly marched into the forest.
Millard walked next to Hugh. "She alright?"
"She's getting the ball, I think." Hugh shrugged.
Millard scratched his head. "Will she be safe?"
At that moment, Claire's curls lifted, showing her grinning back mouth with its many fangs.
Hugh and Millard shuddered.
"She'll take care of herself."
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Claire pushed aside a large branch, slightly wishing she'd called Bronwyn for the task.
Her back mouth gibbered behind her, spitting out hair whenever she tilted her head back too far (which was often).
She wandered into a glade, marveling at how many trees really did grow in this part of the loop. As far as she knew, nobody had any business here whatsoever, peculiar or not.
A rustling sound to her left made her pause. Was it an animal?
The sun came out from behind a cloud, forming a circle of light around the girl in the glade while the rest of the trees were casted in shadow.
The rustling was heard again and this time, Claire spun around to make sense of it.
There, she saw the dirty ball half caked with leaves and muck.
But she didn't go over to fetch it. Because the ball was hovering a good five feet in midair.
"Millard?" She asked, uncertainly.
No response. Just the ball hovering, still.
She took a step closer. Nothing happened.
She tiptoed forward, her back mouth unusually quiet for a change.
She reached up and the ball slid into her hands.
Careful not to stain her dress, she wiped the muck off with her hands. When she pulled away, the substance on her fingers was sticky and see-through, filmy.
It looked like saliva.
She looked up in surprise and backed away. A twig snapped, a foot away.
Claire dropped the ball and ran, sprinting across the glade to the safety of the other trees.
She paused and looked back. The ball lay where it was, on the ground.
She chewed her front lip. If she didn't return with the ball, the boys would be cross with her seeing as it was their favorite (and only) plaything.
Claire went back into the glade, only to find that the ball had rolled away.
She wanted to cry. She could feel her face scrunching up, ready to shed tears when the ball rose in the air again.
It hovered, then it made an arc in the air, rolling until it settled gently at her feet.
Trembling, Claire picked up the slimy ball, peering at the trees. There was nothing there, as far as she could see.
Feeling rather bold all of a sudden, she threw the ball back.
It sailed through the air for a moment, then bounced as if it hit something solid. It dropped back to the ground.
It lay there for a moment, until it started hovering again. The ball made another arc as it was tossed gently back to her feet.
Both of Claire's mouths--her front and her back--smiled.
...
"Okay, she should be back by now," Hugh frowned.
"Maybe she got lost," Millard suggested.
"That's not helpful!" Hugh snapped.
Suddenly, a muddy soccer ball launched into the air from the forest. It zoomed overhead, almost concussing Millard except he'd ducked in time.
The ball bounced and rolled, stopping a distance away.
The two peculiar boys stared at it.
"Well, looks like she found it," Millard shrugged.
Author's note: Three guesses for what Claire found in the woods! Please vote and share; the Peculiar fandom is small enough as it is! And don't forget to comment about your oc's!
