A Peculiar Time in 1944 - A Millard Fanfic (Miss Peregrine's Home) #wattys2020

Chapter 51

"Once upon a time, this world was full of peculiar animals. In the Aldinn days, there were more peculiar animals on Earth than there were peculiar folk. We came in every shape and size you could imagine: whales that could fly like birds, worms as big as houses, dogs twice as intelligent as I am, if you can believe it." {Addison MacHenry, pg 92 book 2}

Millard listened to Addison explain the history of the menagerie when he felt Aurora stirring by his side. He'd rested her head on his right shoulder and heard her groan when she tried to open her eyes and was greeted by the bright sunshine.

"Aurora?"

"What happened?" she murmured.

"You passed out. You pushed yourself too far, you've been out for a good few hours." He told her as he helped her sit up but she wobbled again and he pulled her against his chest so she could continue to rest. "Relax, darling. We're safe here, we have food, let your body get the rest it needs."

"Is that a talking dog?" she asked sounding like she was questioning her own sanity.

"Yes." Millard chuckled, "The menagerie is full of peculiar animals." He began to explain but caught a glimpse of Aurora's confused expression and stopped.

"Millard does that kitten look familiar to you?" she asked, and he looked up to see a small white kitten with bright blue eyes staring at them from across the field. It did look bizarrely familiar and Millard racked his brain trying to place where he'd seen it before. Then it struck him like lightning – France. When he'd been passing through Aurora's small town a soot covered kitten had approached him in the woods, the same kitten Aurora had followed from her home.

"It can't be." He said bewildered, "Can it?"

"Splendid to see you awake miss." Addison called as he trotted over to the pair. He quickly realized what Aurora was staring in shock at and adjusted his pipe before speaking. "Oh, that's Mira, glad to see she's come out of Miss Wren's house for a bit, she's practically locked herself in since our ymbryne left. Quite the peculiar thing, even among peculiars! Her name is a shortened version of mirai, meaning future which I do believe fits her perfectly!"

"The cat can see the future?" Horace asked, his interest obvious given his own aptitude for premonitions.

"Not quite." Addison explained. "She can see connections. See how any two, three, or hundred people can interact and know the outcome of their interactions. She's always meowing about a pair of peculiars she introduced decades ago. Went on for weeks about how she couldn't stand to sit idly by, their connection was simply too strong. Said it often kept her up at night, like she could feel them connected by a rubber band that was ready to snap and pull the two together. So one day she did it herself, pushed the two together like magnets, she's been quite proud of herself ever since. Deirdre said it must have been the highlight of the decade for her – as I said, wouldn't stop talking about it for weeks!"

Aurora looked at Millard and he looked back at her, the same astonishment he felt he could see reflected in her eyes. Their meeting hadn't been coincidence? The kitten had purposely led them to one another? Addison then continued to talk about the menagerie's graveyard, after Bronwyn had asked where the other animals from the story were. Millard and Aurora tuned them out as they watched the kitten approach them. She rubbed herself in the small space between Aurora's waist and elbow then looked up at her and gave a small meow. Aurora brought her hand to Mira's head and began to scratch behind her ears, which she seemed to enjoy.

"Thank you Mira." Aurora whispered and the kitten began to purr.

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