Thin Ice (MPHfPC Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Seven:

NOTE: From now on, there will be a few curse words here and there because that's how Ransom Rigg's writes. Nothing too big like the F-bomb, though. 

I was getting incredibly tired of having to not use my hands. Eating and dressing was a pain in the ass, and don't get me started on drinking. I can't tell you how many times I've spilled water. All I can say is that it was definitely more than 50.

Bentham had made a few adjustments to the gloves, but they had never worked. And I never saw him anyway. Our odd way of conversing was through other people. I wondered repeatedly if he knew, or atleast, suspected that he was my great-uncle. The way he had been looking at me during that fateful discussion made it seem like he did.

A couple days had passed since that day, leaving five days (at the most) until we had to go. That was a bit of a problem, but I felt awkward talking to Miss Peregrine now (even though she used to always be the one I would go to to talk), so we hadn't really addressed the problem all-together. I had overheard the other kids talking about it, though. Jake and Emma had attempted to bring everyone together, but they hadn't had success.

So I'd just have to suck it up and get back to being the leader I used to be.

Oh boy.

I asked Horace first.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked. "About how we can't stay here any longer, I mean."

"Run away?" Horace asked back. "We already tried to get into that place to rescue everyone."

"We're not just leaving them there!" I told him. He was a wimp. But it was still cute the way he was scared. "Think about when WE were there! Do YOU want to be stuck there?"

"Okay! Calm down," Horace said, holding his hands up. "But we can't stay in Devil's Acre forever."

"I know," I agreed. "But we're not leaving before we stop Caul."

"He's scary."

"You haven't even met him!"

"Yeah," Horace said. "But we've all read about him. It's his madness that gets me." He shivered. "And we're living in the same area as him! It's a little unnerving."

"I didn't think of it that way." I furrowed my brow, trying to estimate how far away we were.

"That's why you need me."

"Have you had any more dreams?"

"Some. But they were just about tiny things," Horace shrugged, crinkling his perfectly-tailored jacket. It was amazing how he found a way to look this good in a place like this. "But I normally don't remember all the big ones. You know that."

"I know," I said. We sat for a second, then I realized we had gotten off topic. "So, what should we do?"

"Well we're not allowed to leave. So getting a hollow for the panloopticon would be too risky. I don't see how else we could get in."

"Or," I said. I was about to suggest something I never had before. "We could sneak out."

"But Miss P's right," Horace insisted, with discomfort on his face. "It's too dangerous."

"Danger is my middle name."

"Really?"

"No," I laughed. "I don't have a middle name."

"But if you did, what do you think it would be?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think it would have to do with your family?" Horace asked. I tensed. Then I chide myself. Horace just meant my parents. Being one of the only ones who knew about that memory, he sure remembered it well.