Magpie

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Alexander took my bag and sat down in the grass behind a large tree. I closed my eyes and concentrated, I felt myself shrink and collapse into the pile of my clothing. I let out a chirp and hopped over to my brother. "Go fly up to the window. See who lives there." He said. I flapped my wings and flew to a window near the side of the house. I landed on the planter and looked in, I saw a woman sitting in a rocking chair reading a book. She looked up at me. I tried to act like a regular bird but she still got out of her chair and walked towards me. I jumped back, about to fly away when She opened the window and stuck out her finger. I gave her a strange look...well what I can imagine was a strange look. In reality I just tilted my head. "It's okay," She said with a kind smile. "Come on." I perched on her finger and she brought me in. "What's your name?." She asked. I chirped, it's not like she could understand me anyway. She nodded and placed me on the floor. I sat down. She grabbed a towel from the back of her chair and plopped it on top of me. "Go ahead and change back," She said. "I won't look."

I wrapped the towel around me and the woman turned around. "You could've knocked on the door." She chuckled. "I was trying to see who lived here." I explained. She nodded, her smile turning into a frown. "Are you aware with the term peculiar?" She asks me. I think for a moment before answering. "Peculiar, meaning strange or unusual." I said, remembering the definition from my textbooks at boarding school. She sighs. "We have a lot to discuss Magnolia." ...She could understand me in my bird form?

She gave me a spare dress and we went to get my brother. He introduced himself to her. "Alexander Williams, nice to meet you." He said sticking out his hand. She shook it and lead us back inside.

The woman, who's named Miss Peregrine, brought us to our room. There was a bed on each side, a dresser, and two night stands. "I'll give you time to unpack and change," Miss Peregrine told us. "Supper will be in 10 minutes." She turned back to the door and walked out. "Put on your best outfit!" I said, scrambling through the dresses I had packed. "We want to make ourselves presentable." I pulled out a lace, black dress. My favorite color. Alexander pulled out a nice pair of pants and a collared shirt. "Perfect." He said.
We got changed and headed down.

As we walked into the dining room Some children glared, while others smiled. We smiled and sat down. Miss Peregrine stood up. "Everyone, please give a warm welcome to Magnolia and Alexander Williams." The children waved, smiled, said hello, etc. Soon, everyone begins to eat. We grabbed some salad. "So what's so peculiar about the two of you?" Asked a kid with dark circles under his eyes. He didn't seem to like new people. "Well, we both turn into birds." I said.
"What type of birds?" Asked a girl in a tiara. "Magpies." My brother said. Questions kept coming. "Why do you have a white strip in the front of your hair?" Someone asked. "Why are the both of you wearing black?" Another asked. We answered then left and right. Someone else was about to ask a question but before they could, Miss Peregrine said something. "Stop bombarding them, you can get to know them by having conversations with them later." She looked at us apologetically. I smiled and turned back to my food.

When we were done, the children rushed outside to the back yard while putting on gas masks. I looked at Miss Peregrine with a confused expression but she motioned us to join the others.

We gathered near the side of the house. Then we heard it, a loud boom happened and another and another. Black smoke floated up in the distance. I started shaking. The sky lit up and we saw plains fly over. The Bombers. We started to move to another part of the garden. The children cheered as if someone had just won a game of catch or something. Then we heard a whistle and everyone got silent. We looked up to see a bomb heading right towards us. I flinched as it was about to hit the ground. But nothing happened, I opened my eyes to see the rain, trees, and bomb frozen in place. Then a huge flash of light appeared and everything was back to normal, like nothing happened. "Sorry if that startled you." Came a Voice, it was Miss Peregrine. "That was the reset."
Everyone removed their mask and headed back inside.

I was still trying to process the whole event when we climbed into bed. This place was strange but at least people here embraced their peculiarities. "Goodnight." I said to my brother. When I looked over he was already asleep. I sighed and closed my eyes.