Invisible • Millard Nullings • MPHFPC

t w e l v e

t w e l v e - anna's pov

it has been a couple of weeks since i arrived at miss peregrine's home. my favorite room quickly became the library and i spent most of my time in there, reading all the different books stacked high up the walls. in the early part of the noon, when the sun is at its highest, and the breeze from under the tree is the best, i like to sit outside and watch the others play ball. i join in a lot of the time as well, playing hide and seek with claire and olive or catch or football with some of the boys. i'd become quite close to bronwyn in the short time i'd been staying here, talking about anything and everything. i also became quite close to hugh and fiona, working on her garden with them.

 i had become the closest to millard though, talking for hours and hours about books and his research. millard still walked around naked quite a lot, but i looked past that (well tried to the best i can) and joined in when he was trying to get information around the house. we made quite a spying team, the invisible boy and the bird. we worked together to find out all the things miss peregrine would rather us not know. like what we found out one day around a month after i had arrived. 

 i was perched on a tall book shelve in miss peregrine's office listening to horace talk to the headmistress about his prophetic dreams. millard and i had been intrigued when horace had woken up and rushed getting dressed to speak to miss peregrine. horace usually cares deeply about his presentation and how his clothes looked, but that morning he rushed to her office with his waistcoat half on and his tie haphazardly thrown over his shoulders. so, naturally, millard and i had sneaked into the room to listen into horace's dream.

horace started rattling on and on about his dreams. they started off as his usual dreams, where he is getting measured and trying on many different expensive suits. they carried on for ages being horace's fantasies, and millard and i nearly left. maybe he wasn't dressed up properly that day because he was so excited about the prospect of a new seven piece suit? nothing exciting seemed to happen. 

"and then... my dreams started to get darker. the first one were just eyes. wight eyes. it was pitch black, and those eyes were the only thing i could see. and then i could see this place. kind of like a prison, but not really. there were wights there, and ymbrines. i could see one that looked like anna... or was it her grandmother? i couldn't really tell... it was all really blurry..."

miss peregrine seemed to look right were i was perched as horace said it. i shrunk behind a pile of books even more than i was already and hid my head in my feathers. i felt millard pick me up and slowly and discreetly walk towards the door. i thanked millard in my head and ducked through the small gap we left. i didn't want to hear anymore.

~

i sat in a seat in the window, staring out the window. millard was pacing behind me. i hadn't said anything since we left miss peregrine's office, which was over two hours ago. i could feel millard become more and more worried about me, but i didn't know what to say; what to think. my grandmother could be imprisoned by the wights right now. it could have already happened. and i was powerless to help. i was sat in a goddamn library years away, safe and sound. she knew something like this would happen, but she didn't save herself. she saved me. and now she could be gone.

"horace's dreams don't happen straight away. they usually take months to happen."

millard stopped what he was saying, noticing it wasn't helping.

"his prophetic dreams aren't set in stone. something could happen to change it..."

his voice faded into silence as he saw a tear fall down my face. i heard the pitter patter of feet walking towards me, and his arms drape around me in a tight hug. i buried my face into his jacket and sobbed.

~

the next day i decided to forget about it. my grandmother was strong. she would be fine. i kept on telling myself that. it circled around my head throughout breakfast, like a mantra.       

she was strong. she would be fine. she was strong. she would be fine. she was strong. she would be fine.

that feeling in my gut never did truly leave.

the kids were talking about horace's dream at the table. not the one about my grandmother, but one about this boy. this boy that was coming to the island. this boy that apparently affected everything.

this boy we knew nothing about.

but he apparently knew the kids.

~

the boy had shown up on the island a few days ago, and was found snooping in the old house outside of the loop. he saw some photos of the kids and everything went downhill from there. millard and emma had brought him back. and i had no idea he was here until dinner.

i had been sat in the library with millard when he was called to go somewhere. i was originally called as well, but i didn't feel up to going anywhere, so he went alone. i stayed in the library, lost in the world of yet another book. i didn't notice the sun slowly going down outside the window, or the passage of time while i read. millard got back hours later, and reminded me of the outside world, and the food i was yet to consume that day.

when i reached the dining room, nothing seemed out the ordinary. all the children were talking to each other around the table, waiting for the food. everyone was in their normal seats. oh, and millard was naked again.

nothing out of the ordinary.

everything seemed to change though, as a boy in too big clothes came into the room and tried to sit on millard.

not as normal as i thought.

~~

author's note-

i'm ill. i don't feel too good. and i haven't for almost a week.

but, i'm on my half term break now, so at least i don't have to work. i decided to devote my time instead to writing this.

i know this is not exactly what happens in the book, but horace's prophecies in this chapter help to develop anna's character/the plot. horace's prophecy about anna's grandmother will drive her to do things in the future of the book.

anyways, hope everyone is well,

maisie&kirsty

p.s. i just came back to this a day after i first published this part and noticed i called this part 13 instead of 12 so i just changed it. i didn't post chapter 13 accidentally!