Birds of a Feather - a MPHFPC fanfiction

#2 - Museum of Wonders

"Dusha Nex LeFay!"

The first thing my mom did when I arrived home was full name me. No "hi" or "how was school today?". The message couldn't be clearer if she yelled "you're in trouble" in my face.

"What'd I do?" I asked, trying not to sound too exasperated. As far as I know, I didn't do anything bad in the past week. Except for being late today, but she can't know about that, Miss RD definitely didn't notify her... right?

"You left your lunch at home! This is the third time this week!" My mom stormed out of the kitchen.

"It's Monday." I reminded her. In response she stared daggers at me.

"Let me guess, you bought that unhealthy pre-made sandwich again."

"I did." I admitted.

"It's not gonna happen again tomorrow." My mom crossed her arms.

"Of course not." I nodded as politely as I could.

"That's what I thought. Now go, do your homework."

I nodded again and closed myself into my room, but when I pulled my textbooks out of my school bag, that book called Museum of Wonders fell out, piquing my curiosity once again.

I would have turned it in to lost and found, but our school had nothing of the sort, so I had to find the owner myself. Taking a peek into the book while I keep it safe wouldn't hurt anyone, right?

I read the full title this time: Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders and Indespensable Guide to the Dangers and Delights of the Peculiar World for the Instruction of New Arrivals. Which sociopath gave it such a long title? No wonder I never heard of this before, people are probably just too lazy to talk about it because saying the name takes half a day.

I opened it carefully so as not to damage the spine. The first page had a beautiful drawing of a bird stepping on a snake and holding a pocket watch in its beak. Underneath it it said: ex libris Ms Cardinal.

Great, I just have to find who this Cardinal is, and return the book to her. Must be a teacher if she wrote "Miss" in front of her name.

I took my phone out, opened the school website and looked through the list of the teachers. No "Cardinal". She must be a student then. Or other type of staff member. Since the website doesn't have a list of either, I couldn't look into that, but I made a mental note to ask my teachers about it the next day.

I went back to reading the book and turned the page. It had the title printed on it the same way as on the cover, and below that tiny letters informed the reader that it was published by Syndrigast Publications, a company I never heard of before. A no name book with a no name publisher behind it.

Unlike other books it didn't have a bunch of names in it, like illustrators, stuff about the publishers, proofreaders, nor the usual "this book is a work of fiction, any references to real events, people, blah blah blah, are entirely coincidental". Only this mysterious publisher and the author, Miss Peregrine.

On the next page was a quote. "To peculiar children everywhere. You are not alone."

I don't know why, but it made a shiver run down my spine. I'm usually not so affected by books that break the fourth wall, like that Fantastic Beasts Harry Potter book which starts off by saying that this is meant for wizards only, and other things of the sort -- it only made me roll my eyes, even though I was just eleven when I read it. But this had something different about it.

It wasn't that usual "if you read this you're magical/a witch/a wizard/the Chosen One/etc., proceed with caution". It didn't overexplain anything for fantasy readers who want to pretend to be part of the story. It was simple, as if the author assumed the reader would know what she was talking about.

With my feathers and talons I was quite weird... or if I wanted to use the mysterious Miss Peregrine's words, peculiar. "You are not alone." This both felt like reassurance and a threat. Like this book knew me and my secret.

"Yeah, what's next, am I gonna believe I'm a jedi?" I thought and rolled my eyes. "This is probably a no-name fantasy book. I'm weird, it's not the first time I relate to one. Like, there was that one trilogy with the griffins who had a human form and also grew talons and feathers... Sounds like me but, surprise, I'm not a griffin."

I took a few deep breaths and turned the page. There was a picture of the author, with her full name written underneath.

Miss Alma LeFay Peregrine.

My whole body went numb, including my fingers, and the book slipped from my hand. It landed on the carpet with a soft thud. My palms, now empty, were covered in sweat, and I think I was shaking, but I was too dizzy and shocked to tell.

LeFay.

Just like me.

"You are not alone."

At this point I was pretty sure I wasn't.