Peculiar ♡ Alma Peregrine

Chapter Fourteen - Magic

Alma stuck her head out of the door, and when she knew the coast was clear, pulled me out of the room, across the hallway, and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her just before the person who was walking up the stairs saw us. She locked the door and started the water, adjusting the temperature until it was right, it wouldn't burn me or freeze me. She poured some kind of yellow soap under the running water. I sat on the edge of the bathtub, the blood so dried that it didn't transfer from me to the porcelain.

I slipped into the almost too hot water, ignoring how the water around me was colored a slightly reddish color. For a start, I rubbed my arms and legs to try and wipe some of the blood off, but all I got was a darker red in the water. None of my skin was being showed under the blood. Alma handed me a towel and held one herself, dunking it under the water and gently scrubbing my shoulder with it. I was very embarrassed having someone else help bathe me, but if I was going to get all this blood off...

I scrubbed and scrubbed at my arm until there was a small red patch of skin showing - I hadn't realized how hard I was really scrubbing until a little dribble of blood dripped from a tiny scratch I'd made with the soft fabric. Alma gently wiped my arm, it seemed to work better than whatever I was doing. I didn't stop, though, continuing to aggressively scrub at my arm. Only this time, not rough enough to make myself bleed. Finally, after what was probably hours, both of my arms were free of blood and Alma left to go and reset.

When she came back, she was holding two small plates, explaining that Emma, Enoch and Olive had taken the liberty to make supper for everyone. She placed her own plate on a stool next to the sink and placed mine on a stable edge of the bathtub. I took and ate a small piece of cheese before continuing my mission to clean myself, working on my face, now. It hurt, but eventually my face was clear of blood - I would say the worst of it was under my eyes. I was lucky to not have gotten it on my eyelids.

We worked for hours and hours, until finally, I was completely blood free. I finished off the little bit of food on my plate, as did Alma, and I stood up, stepping out of the red water. Darkened flakes swam around the surface of the water, I pulled the plug so we wouldn't have to look at it any longer. Alma once again stuck head head out of the door before pulling me across the hallway, again narrowly escaping the person who was coming upstairs. We were in my room, I rummaged through my drawers until I found some suitable clothes. 

I pulled my shirt over my head and pulled on some shorts before sitting on the bed. Alma sat next to me, picking up her pipe that she had left on my nightstand and sticking it in her mouth, lighting it. White smoke fell from her mouth for a few seconds before she took it out of her mouth again to begin questioning me. She asked everything I expected her to. Where was I? Why was I covered in blood? Am I hurt? I answered every one of her million questions truthfully, explaining that we needn't worry too much anymore.

"You killed them?" she asked, looking both relieved to be reasonably safe, and upset that I had risked myself. Then she asked a question that I hadn't even really thought about too much. Why did my clothes not turn with me like they usually did? I thought and thought and thought for what was probably more than ten minutes before I shrugged, giving up on trying to figure it out. She placed her pipe down - it had gone out as I was thinking, she was watching me so intently that she hadn't even thought to stop it from going out.

In the end, we agreed that it didn't matter and we went downstairs - Enoch glanced up at me from the sofa and looked back down quickly, he had to have told everyone what happened because they were all trying to hold back laughter. Except for Claire, she was giggling quietly. Enoch should have known better than to tell a little girl about something so traumatizing. I sat down far away from Enoch, shifting so Alma could sit next to me. There were still little flecks of blood all over me, but I just scratched them away as I saw them.