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

Chapter 69

"I don't care for this loop. We've been here all of ten seconds and already it's trying to kill us." {Hugh Apiston, pg 294 book 2}

"Come on Winnie. There's a good pigeon. Show us the way." Melina encouraged the bird.

"If you don't find Miss Wren, I will personally roast you on a spit." Enoch threatened. The pigeon leapt up and pulled harder on the string leash.

"You're an ass." Melina said with a death glare.

"I get results." He shrugged as they followed the bird into a subway. They ended up following the bird into the pit where the tracks ran. They wove between oily puddles and clusters of rats. The tunnel was dark and led deeper into the underground lit only by a few red bulbs glinting feebly.

After a long walk and several Y-shaped tunnel splits the pigeon led them to a disused section of track where the ties had warped and rotted and pools of stagnant water spanned the floor. Then, way down ahead of them, a pinpoint of light winked into being, small but growing fast.

"Train!" Emma shouted and the group jumped apart pressing their backs to the walls. Aurora felt the cold from the wall seep into her clothes as she broke out into goosebumps and shivered. Just as the light was filling the tunnel, its white glow illuminating them, Aurora felt a pressure in her ears and the light vanished. They all stumbled away from the walls in a daze, the tracks under their feet were now new as if they'd just been laid. The bulbs along the walls were brighter and when Aurora squinted she realized they weren't electric bulbs but gaslamps.

"What just happened?" Jake asked.

"We crossed into a loop." Emma said, "But what was that light? I've never seen anything like that."

"Every loop entrance has its quirks." Millard explained.

"Anyone know when we are?" Jacob continued.

"I'd guess the latter half of the nineteenth century." Millard said examining the gaslamps and new tracks. "Prior to 1863 there wasn't an underground system in London at all."

oOo oOo oOo

The pigeon continued to lead them down the tracks. After ten minutes or so it stopped, pulling toward what looked like a blank wall. Then the bird looked up and they saw a partially camouflaged door where the wall met the ceiling twenty feet overhead. Emma took off her shoes and floated up to get a closer look.

"There's a lock on it." She called, "We need a combination."

"It's not going to be something easy to guess, like a date." Said Millard, "That would defeat the purpose of having a lock."

Miss Peregrine slipped from Bronwyn's coat and hopped over to the pigeon who was waddling around at the end of its lead, pecking at the ground. When it saw Miss Peregrine it tried to hop away, but the headmistress followed, making a low, vaguely threatening warble in her throat. The pigeon flapped its wings and flew up to Melina's shoulder, out of Miss Peregrine's reach. Miss Peregrine stood by Melina's feet, squawking at it. This seemed to make the pigeon extremely nervous.

"Miss P, what are you up to?" Bronwyn asked.

"I think she wants something from your bird." Jake told Melina.

"If the pigeon knows the way perhaps it knows the combination too." Millard thought aloud. Miss Peregrine turned toward him and squawked again then looked back at the pigeon and squawked louder. The pigeon tried to hide behind Melina's neck.

"Perhaps the pigeon knows the combination but doesn't know how to tell us." Olive said, "But it could tell Miss Peregrine because both of them speak bird language, and then Miss Peregrine could tell us."