Chapter Text
“You’re a little quiet, Y/N.”
“It’s hard to plan a murder outloud,” you deadpan as the ground beneath you lets out a squelch, your sneaker slightly sinking into the mud.
“Noted,” there was a slight pause before he offered, “It shouldn’t be too far now.”
“You said that 30 minutes ago, Jake,” you complain, feet aching far too much for you to care if you sound like a petulant child.
You and Jake were practically family; although you were older than him by four years, your families constantly joke that the two of you had been separated at birth. That being said, Abe’s death had affected the both of you, Jake moreso. When you were younger, Abe had always filled your nights spent at Jake’s house (which happened often) with stories of his adventures of growing up in a home for peculiar children, of some of the most wonderful people with the strangest abilities; occasionally, his stories would be accompanied by pictures, a handful of worn and faded polaroids, of the children and their peculiarities. You would be lying to yourself if you said that you didn’t experiment as a kid to see if you had any peculiar abilities of your own. Spoiler alert: you didn’t, or at least, not that you were aware of.
But all of that brings you to where you are now: two young adults, on a random island off the coast of Wales, thousands of miles from home, searching for proof of bedtime stories. If you were being completely honest, however, neither one of you even knew where you were going or what you were looking for. All you had to go off of was a vague description of the loop's entrance and general direction (thanks to a kind enough couple on the island) of where the house had been.
“The house, or what’s left of it at least, isn’t far; the loop’s entrance should be around here,” Jake reassured, his eyes searching around. Had you taken a moment to really look around. you would have noticed how picturesque the island was with it’s massive hills and greenery.
But, you didn’t. The sticky feeling from the sweat and the aching of your feet was really beginning to make you feel miserable. If you were being honest, you were beginning to believe that maybe, just maybe, this place truly no longer existed, destroyed by the bomb and became another casualty of the war. You refused to voice your doubts and, instead, kept your focus on where you were stepping; between the mud, the slope of the hill, and the rocks, you may or may not have tripped...on more than one occasion.
“What exactly are we looking for, again?” you asked.
“Not entirely sure,” -you had to restrain yourself from rolling your eyes- “In his stories, Grandpa always described it as a cave opening, not far from the house.”
You glanced around, eyes slightly squinted, when you spotted something in the distance. You playfully wack Jake on the back of the head before motioning in that direction.
“Uh, like that?” you smile at him, almost cheekily.
Jake looked up to where you were pointing. The only response you got before he picked up his pace was a quick glance at you, but you still managed to catch the wide-eyed, excited look that had come across his face.
You both came to a stop just outside the cave entrance and peered into the shadows. Had the day been less overcast, you would have been able to see farther into the opening, but the fog that blanketed the rest of the island blocked out most of the sun’s light.
“Flashlight?” you asked, glancing towards Jake. You already knew the answer, though. At Jake’s lack of response, you sighed, “Thought so.”
A few more moments pass as the two of you continue to silently gaze into the cave opening.
“We could always come back tomorrow,” Jake suggested, almost sheepishly.
You scoffed. “Jake. I did not walk all this way and ruin a good pair of shoes” -because let’s be honest, there was no way these shoes were ever going to be white again- “to simply turn back.”
“You want me ...to go in there ?” he asked incredulously. His eyes flicked between you and the darkness.
“Aw,” you poke out your bottom lip, “is whittle bitty Jake still afraid of the dark?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No . ”
“A little.”
“ No. ”
“Actions speak louder than words, sweetheart.” You crossed your arms and fixed him with a smug look.
“Alright, y’know what, I-” Jake suddenly stilled, eyes going wide. He brought his voice down to a whisper, “Y/N...did you hear that?”
You scanned around only to see nothing, but whispered back nonetheless, “...hear what?”
“Shhh!” he let out sharply. His arms flailed, motioning you to be quiet. He continued to wordlessly look around.
You looked taken aback. “ You asked me.”
That was only met with another, if not more forceful, shush. You glared at him as you strained your ears to try and hear whatever had gotten him so spooked. After a few seconds of the two of you just silently standing there, listening, you let out a breath you hadn’t realized you had been holding. It was nothing.
You let out a quiet chuckle and were about to make fun of Jake for being so jumpy when, as you looked up, you made eye contact with something , someone , standing in the cave.
You swore you felt your heart stop beating. You frantically searched for Jake beside you, refusing to take your eyes off whatever, whoever , you were looking at. That's when you notice the multiple pairs of eyes in the darkness, all of them watching you and Jake intently. Neither one of you dared to move.
“Hello?” You hesitantly called out. None of the pairs of eyes responded, so you tried again, “I’m, um, I’m Y/N. And this, this is-”
“We know,” a feminine voice states, though not unkindly.
“Uh...right?” you gave Jake a confused look. At this point, you were unsure of what to do. “And...you are?”
The eyes glanced at each other as if for approval, before, ever so slowly, moving closer into the light. Dark blobs morphed into the silhouettes of 6 people- 6 children . It wasn’t long before they were completely out of the cave, no longer concealed within the dark. A quiet gasp escaped your mouth.
There, standing in front of you, living and breathing, were the people from Abe’s pictures, his stories. Real . They were real.
“You- I-” Jake sputtered, at a loss for words. You couldn’t blame him. “You- you’re Emma! And Olive! And Millard! Claire! The Twins!”
Your gaze jumped between each of them with each name Jake said, trying to take in every detail. You were afraid they would vanish at any moment, that you would suddenly wake up and this would have all been a dream.
Emma seemed to be amused by the poorly contained astonishment. She took each of the twin’s hands and began to turn back towards the cave- towards the loop’s entrance . “Come. Miss Peregrine is waiting.”