Strange Worlds [Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children] Enoch O'Connor

twenty-seven

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
DON'T WANNA CRY

As Jacob and I made our way through the small cave and to the other side of the loop, we were instantly wrapped in two different peoples arms. Jacob was taken by Emma, who expressed how worried she was for the boy while I smiled and dug my face into the crook of Fiona's neck, smelling the flowers in her hair.

"I'm so glad you're safe. I couldn't bear to lose you too." She sighed. I looked to Enoch behind her shoulder, wondering why she was here.

"Too?" I questioned, pulling away and looking to the group of all the children realising that they were all not home. "Why aren't you guys at the house?"

"Miss peregrine's gone! Miss Avocet Too. He took them." Bronwyn explained as Fiona moved out of the way and turned towards Enoch with a slight nod before moving to Hugh and holding him in her arms. I noticed the wound on his head.

"Hugh, are you okay?" I asked, worried.

"He came in with a gun. I tried to fight, but he knocked me upside the skull with his gun." He started. "He locked everyone in the basement and said if headmistress and Miss Avocet didn't change into birds, he'd put an extra hole in my head. So they did, and he stuffed them both into a cage. Then he ran off with them."

"Where did he go?" I asked.

"Millard followed him. He took your rowboat out to the lighthouse." Enoch said, pointing towards him to the young boy who seemed to had been just putting on his shirt.

"Then we have to go," I said, walking away down to the shore, the others standing behind for a second before one by one they followed me down to the shore. When we got down, we hid behind a fallen tree and strained our eyes to look out at the lighthouse to see if we could see them out there, but we couldn't see much, though from here he was looking out to the shore with the birds in cages at his feet.

"What's he waiting for?" Jacob asked.

"Maybe waiting for someone to pick him up?" Millard voiced his suspicion.

"We'll have to swim out there," Emma informed.

"And what? Get shot to pieces." Millard shot back, and I turned to the freckled boy with a disapproving frown.

"Whose in?" Emma asked, following her eyes. Those who were in on the plan raised their hands which included Bronwyn, Jacob, Emma, Millard and I.

"I'm raising my hand." Millard voiced for those who couldn't see him.

"I hope you're good swimmers. We'll head for the shipwreck." Emma announced, and we all ran for it in opposite directions but still heading for the water and tried to make as little noise as possible.

We all swam as much as we could until we reached the shipwreck and sat on it to get a better look, though by then, he had heard us and started shooting out into the water, "Fall back!" Emma called, but it was too late as Millard was shot.

"Millard!" I called, eyes wide. I ran for the boy and grabbed him, checking where the bullet wound was. A rip in his clothes at his right shoulder, and blood-soaked garments, so I put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. "Are you okay? Say something, keep your eyes open."

"I apologise. It seems I've gone and gotten myself shot." He joked out, a small smile on his face, and I smiled too with tears in my eyes as I wasn't sure what a fatal shot was. "Maybe I wouldn't have if I wasn't wearing clothes."

"I'm sure you still would've. You were making quite a stir." I laughed.

As the shot's continued, Jacob and Emma joined me in the water, "We need to hide from the bullets." Emma said while Bronwyn went and used an old metal door of the wreckage to shield us from the raining fire. "Bronwyn, you're a genius!" She called.

"Millard can ride my back. You three fall in behind." She said, and as we were all linden up with Millard's taller body latched onto Bronwyn, she readied herself. "All right. Charge!" She called, and we all ran forward, smacking into the man.

Jacob and Emma ran after the man as he ran up the lighthouse while Bronwyn and I stayed down with Millard. I removed the top half of his clothes to rip his undershirt then and use it to wrap around his shoulder to keep pressure—the boy crying out in pain.

"You'll be fine. I've stopped the blood for now. Luckily the bullet wound isn't that big and only scraped the top of your shoulder." I said.

"Scraped! Can you not see the blood?" Bronwyn yelled out.

"Bronwyn, I can see him. And okay, I admit it's not a scrap, but it's not a deep wound. He'll be fine." I smile. The girl nods and Millard smiled up at me as he took a rest.

"I never thought I'd be happy that someone could see me. Thank you." Millard smiled up at me with tears in his eyes.

"Aww, don't act like you're going to die. You're fine." I laughed.

"I know, but it hurts so bad. I wish the sea weren't so salty." He cried, and this time Bronwyn joined in on the laughing.

Our laughing was stopped as we heard a cry, seeing something with a red flashing light be thrown into the ocean and then the flash of flames. Emma must be attacking the man. I looked out to the water and stood wondering what he had thrown out to the ocean but was startled by the ringing of a gun firing.

"Sophia!" I looked up to Emma, leaning over the ledge of the lighthouse and saw that she was pointing out to the ocean. "That red flashing light, it's Miss Peregrine!" I looked and noticed that the object was, in fact, a cage.

I was quick to dive within the water as it pushed me back. The current at this time of night was terrible. I swan through the winds to gather the cage, following the red blinking light. When I reached the cage, legs kicking under the surface to keep me up as I granted and lifted the pen, I noticed that there wasn't anything in it.

"It's empty!" I cried out, angered. "It's a decoy. They still have Miss Peregrine." I swam back to the lighthouse with the empty cage and threw it on the ground in a fury.

Back at the lighthouse, we watched the ocean start to swirl and become more choppy as a submarine emerged from the depths of the water. A wight left the top hatch, his silhouette barely visible before the night sky. Barron held up the cage with the birds in it. He let us take in the loss before turning away, the submarine heading for the mainland.