Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Miss Avocet’s Loop
Enoch woke up to a pounding headache. The red carpet of the circus ring was hard and scratchy under his back and he was feeling like he had been thrown around by a Hollow. Oh wait. That had happened earlier, when they were still on Cairnholm island. In the brief second of quiet, his brain was starting to register the various injuries he had ignored until now, hidden under his thick wool jumper. The Hollow had squeezed him tight in his tentacles and he had felt his ribs crack under the pressure. Enoch however had not had time to react to that particular bother as he had then been thrown into walls, windows and mirrors, adding bruises and cuts.
As Enoch's brain was quickly running through the rest of the adventure that had led him to be knocked unconscious on the floor of Blackpool Tower and taking stock of the probable concussion that resulted from it, the deafening silence of the theatre suddenly dawned on him. His eyes strained to open against the bright stage lights that surrounded the space. Sitting up with a frown, he scanned the area and arrested his gaze on Olive, kneeling on the floor with a Wight digging his fingers into her frail shoulders, keeping her still. He could see the girl's skin take a sick blue tinge and little crystals forming on her smooth face. Her fiery red hair looked dull.
Scrambling to his feet, Enoch ran to the elephant puppet that was lying in a corner and pulled a spare heart from his pocket. The last one he had, which he had carried in case. He knew animating the elephant would take an enormous effort and that the heart was too small for it. The marionette was not one of his little homunculi, which he had created and knew exactly how to direct. It was not a dead body, which he had successfully raised many a time before. This was a humongous monster made of metal.
There was no choice and no time to think. Each Peculiar used what they knew and this was what Enoch knew. It just had to work. The elephant blinked and stood up shakily, before raising its front paws above the Wight's head and projecting a shadow that distracted Olive's tormentor. The metallic legs fell against the Wight, pushing him away from Olive and crushing him dead into the floor. Olive's body crumpled and the dull headache behind Enoch's eyes exploded.
He ran towards Olive and fell to his knees in front of the girl, trying to shake her awake.
"Olive, Olive!"
Her skin felt icier than any corpse he had ever touched in his parents' funeral parlour. Panic was slowly seeping away from him, leaving only a black hole that was engulfing him.
"I'm so sorry Olive. All these years I never appreciated you. I didn't see how lucky I was. I got so used to having you there, I never realised..."
The dark-haired boy trailed off as the words got stuck in his throat, choked by the overwhelming realisation that he had failed and lost everything. He had been too slow. It was too late for words so he leaned forward and softly placed his warm lips on her frosted ones. He was aware that Bronwyn had broken free from the icy pool and that little Claire and the twins had padded down silently from the upper circle but it did not matter in that moment. Olive was gone.
***
"You never realised what?"
Olive's vocal chords felt raw and gritty in her throat and her lungs struggled to expand and contract under the thin layer of melting ice. She was desperate for sensations to return to her limbs, for the horrid compression to leave her chest. She had heard some of Enoch's speech and clung to his words, trying to fight her way back to consciousness, desperate to open her frosted eyelids.
Prying her eyes open against the warm stage lights, she could feel the water running on her skin. The crystals were disappearing and she could see Enoch's slightly blurry and disbelieving face above her. A small smile broke on his features and she felt her flames soar. The grumpy boy rarely smiled and even less so at people. She had previously caught his features light up slightly for little Claire or Miss Peregrine but this one was for her and seeing it relit the fire within her, melting the rest of the ice as her skin returned slowly to its porcelain colour.
Bronwyn ran towards her and Enoch to help her up and gave her a fierce hug, soon followed by the twins and Claire. Olive was always their favourite when it came to hugs. She was warm and soft and her quiet glow always comforting. Enoch shoved his hands in his pockets as he watched the children embrace the pyromancer and he wished to be them and to hold her. He was not sure what Olive had heard or felt and while he recognised he would eventually have to face that moment again, he was also keenly aware that Jake and Emma were still on Barron's trail and they were on a tight timeline. They all had to get back to the ghost train before Miss Avocet's loop closed.
"Olive, take the others back to the pier, I will find Jake and Emma. We need to leave."
Olive's head snapped up to meet the necromancer's dark eyes. She could still see the remnants of emotions in them even as he was locking them down again. The moment, their moment, was gone. They still did not have their Ymbryne back, Barron was still out there, Jake and Emma were missing in the bowels of the Tower and time was running out. The red-haired girl nodded firmly, against her heart's wishes. She did not want to leave Enoch behind, however much she knew that her duty was to get the younger ones back to 1943. What if he did not make it back in time? She shivered at the thought and pushed it to the back of her mind before grabbing the twins’ hands. Fiona, Hugh, Millard and Horace ushered Bronwyn and Claire towards the exit and Enoch ran to the cellar. Olive saw his silhouette disappear down the stairs and it felt like the ice was back in her chest, trying to crush her heart.
***
Jake stood at the entrance of the loop, and gave out hugs and pats, looking grave and sad. All their achievements of the day felt trampled under the weight of losing their newest family member. Olive hugged him tightly. It felt like the day Abe left, the emptiness that settled in the house after his departure. Back then she had not been able to fully understand the crushing pain Emma had experienced, although she herself had missed Abe. But now she could remember vividly how it felt to see Enoch leave her behind to go face Barron in the cellars and she realised how strong Emma really was. And now Jake was leaving too. Olive's heart broke for her friend as she waited for Enoch. She offered him a smile and her hand and hoped he would not ignore it. She needed to feel him next to her and his strong hand in her gloved one. She felt his fingers squeeze hers although he did not look at her as they walked along the 1943 pier.
Olive saw Emma following them, her shoes looking heavier than usual and her legs struggling to carry her despite the peace written on her face. She wanted to call out to her friend and tell her it was going to be fine but that was a lie and she did not have it in her heart. Instead she kept walking with Enoch, knowing that a lot of things needed to happen to make their temporary home liveable.
***
Extract from chapter 2: Jars of Hearts
… But now even as she was playing with her flames and Bronwyn's work was heating the ship, Olive could feel the tingle of ice in her veins. She wanted to shiver. She looked around, hoping to catch the necromancer, hoping the cold was an illusion created by her missing him but he was nowhere to be found. …