The Colour of Your Aura (Enoch O'Connor)

Chapter 9

We continued our way back to the house in utter silence, neither of us daring to say a word. The cross bow dangled loosely from my left hand and the small quiver was slung over my back. Enoch said it had been hanging beside the crossbow so he grabbed it too.

I was thankful that he had went into the house to retrieve them for me but I was angry that he risked his life like that. He had no idea how much I needed him but there was no point in telling him. There was no way that the feelings would be returned.

I'm just a girl from twenty sixteen who can read auras and trouble follows her wherever I walk. I had caused him so much trouble already, he had good reason to hate me.

But he didn't.

"Do you want me to carry that for you?" Enoch asked and he leant forward to take it from my hand, whispering in my ear; "People were starting to stare. It's improper for a lady to carry weapons."

I frowned at the medieval like way of thinking but didn't say anything. I loosened my hand and he took the crossbow, slinging the quiver over his shoulder like he had done it many times before. He noticed me looking at him strangely and he answered my unspoken question.

"I have to get all my hearts somehow. I have to go shooting about once a month and since Miss Peregrine refuses to have a gun present in a house full of children, I have to take a cross bow," He explained and I nodded in understanding.

He needed the hearts for his peculiarity, he couldn't not get them just because someone considered it immoral. He couldn't repress a part of himself.

He dropped his arm from around my waist as the stares still didn't go away until we were a respectable two feet from one another. I inwardly cursed at the customs of nineteen forty-three.

Once we were out of the village and were walking towards the beach, I took his hand again and closed the distance that we had to put between the two of us. He smiled at me and gripped my hand tighter.

The Enoch I knew then was so much different from the Enoch I had met when I first arrived in the loop. He would not have hesitated to push me away and comment something cruel but now his smiles were frequent.

We walked down the little path towards the children's home but I stopped in my path when I sensed something different outside. There were no children playing with their dolls on the lawn or playing football. The twins weren't on the see saw and Horace wasn't under the tree reading.

The house gave off a weird vibe of panic and sadness and I knew that something was wrong. Was it possible that that day could get any worse?

Enoch stepped back beside me and looked down at me, worry in his eyes. He asked me if I was alright and I nodded, letting him drag me into the house.

It was as if it was turned upside down. Suitcases stood open everywhere and children flurried around, throwing random objects into them. Almost every cupboard stood open, their contents disappearing into the bottoms of the cases.

"What's going on?" Enoch asked Olive as she rushed past with a few spare pairs of black gloves in her hands.

"We're leaving. A hollow is on the island," Olive croaked, fresh tears in her eyes. I brushed the few stray ones that tumbled down her face and she smiled at me, leaving with the excuse that we had to continue packing.

I felt as if I had just arrived at the house and we already had to leave.

Enoch pulled me after him up the stairs and I followed him into his room. He pulled a large suitcase out from below his bed and opened it. He started to line it with a few of his jars that he 'absolutely couldn't leave behind'.