Thin Ice (MPHfPC Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Eight:

So now Horace knew. And he was okay with it. So maybe, just maybe, everyone else would be too.

Horace had promised not to tell anyone about it until I was ready. But he told everyone we were together now, I knew that. I was okay with that. Miss Peregrine seemed fine with it as well, in fact, she seemed relieved. Ever since Horace and I got together officially, I had been happier all the time. I think it made her happier when all her wards were feeling good.

The only sad thing was, we couldn't hold hands. Bentham's newest batch of gloves had lasted a bit longer than the ones before, but they still hadn't been successful. It sounds childish, but seeing Emma and Jake hold hands made me dislike my peculiarity (and a little bit jealous), even though I knew it was powerful and useful.

At least that one side of my life was going well. The only other sorta-good-news was that Bentham and Miss Peregrine had found another place for us to go to. The trouble was getting there.

We would travel in groups, two or three of us going at a time. Once again, I was in the first group to go. I was one of the most powerful peculiars in our group, and the less time someone had to come and get me, the better. Miss Peregrine was coming with me, so she could lay out the path, be extra sure it was safe for everyone else, and to make sure we went to the right place. You never know. The last member of our group was Horace, because, well, I insisted.

We were leaving today, so we wouldn't be leaving on the day the wights were coming. We had to be long gone. Bentham was too scared to face them when they came looking for us, so he was coming with us, as well as his bear. But they would be the last to leave and would take an even more complicated route to our safe house.

God, I hoped Bentham didn't turn on us now.

. . .

"August?"

I turned around. There stood Bentham. It was the first time I'd seen him since our conversation.

"What is it?" I asked, my tone more icy than I meant it to be.

Bentham pulled out a pair of gloves and handed them to me. I held them for a long moment. They didn't give out.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Bentham asked me. "Put them on."

I slid the thin gloves on and my heart stalled. They didn't go. In awe, I touched a chair and... nothing happened.

"I had a feeling these would work."

"Huh?" I looked up at him.

"Nevermind that. How do they feel?"

"Amazing." I said, and it was true. Not only were the gloves comfortable, but they allowed me to touch! It was too good to be true.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome," Bentham said. "And I do hope you'll excuse me for our conversation the other day. I got ahead of myself, you know how it is, when something out of the ordinary happens."

"It's all right," I said, even though my heart wasn't all into it. "And you made up for it." I flexed my hands inside my new gloves.

I excused myself then, not able to wait another moment to tell Horace (and everyone else, of course).

. . .

I clutched Horace's hand as we made our way through the streets. Miss Peregrine was in front of us. We each wore cloaks with our hoods up, which concealed our identity and made us look like ambrosia addicts.

But then my fingers tingled. I had my gloves on, but then they started to thrum, getting too much. I let go of Horace and stepped to the side, pulling off my gloves. Tendrils of purple spanned out. I was intrigued, I admit, but we were in a public area. I was lucky I was in an empty alley, anyway.