"Elise?" (Y/N) gasped in surprise, shoving the door open and creating a ball of light to blind her sister with. "What are you doing here!?!?"

"Ahhh!" Elise screamed.

    Before (Y/N) could say anything else, Elise threw a book onto the roof and turned into a cat. She teleported out of the window and tried dragging the book along with her tiny cat fangs, but to no avail.

(Y/N) stuck her head out the window, calling: "Why don't you just teleport away with it?"

Elise reformed into a person, crossing her arms and pouting. "I can't."

"How about when you're human?" (Y/N) suggested.

"Doesn't work," Elise muttered, most likely wishing she hadn't come at all.

"What about...um...what if you changed halfway, like into some sort of cat-human hybrid—oh, a werecat!—and then teleported away with it?" (Y/N) asked helpfully.

"Can't do that either," Elise huffed. "Didn't you hear me? I can't teleport with it."

"Whatever," (Y/N) shrugged. "Just trying to help." She began again brightly: "Now, how about you pick up the book and come back inside—I think everyone in this house heard you scream, and they're bound to think we've been attacked by wights."

"Sounds like your problem," Elise smirked, resembling the Cheshire Cat as she transformed back into a tabby, strutting away arrogantly.

"I can make it your problem back at the Priest Hole when I tell Mom and Dad what you've been doing this whole tiiime," (Y/N) sang deviously. She wasn't really a manipulator, but she didn't see another way to explain the issue without her sister there. "They might not believe you're a peculiar, but I can tell them about how you disappeared for the whole week they were gone," (Y/N) grinned, acting as if she'd won (when in fact she was completely desperate).

Thankfully, the tabby hissed at her, nudging the book back through the window. (Y/N) took it and stepped back, allowing her sister to slink back inside annoyedly.

(Y/N) looked down at the volume lying in her hands. "The Map of Days?" she blurted incredulously. "What were you doing with that?"

Before Elise could answer, the footsteps and frightened whispers in the hallway finally arrived at the doorway. "Is it a wight?" (Y/N) heard Claire ask fearfully. Miss Peregrine burst in, flicking the switch to the chandelier—the only electric lighting in the house.

The lights came on. Reacting quickly, Elise became a cat. Before the peculiars could do anything, she wrapped her tail around (Y/N)'s leg, who all of a sudden found herself in the mansion's moonlit backyard.

"I thought you said you couldn't teleport with things?" (Y/N) gasped exasperatedly.

"Yeah—not with things. But with people I can," Elise explained smugly.

(Y/N) rolled her eyes, and upon finishing, asked the first question that came to mind. "How long have you been around?"

"The whooole time. Literally. I even got to see you and your boyfriend kiss," she scrunched her face up and stuck her tongue out. "Well actually, I saw you making out with the air, which was wayyy more entertaining!"

(Y/N) blushed and stared at the ground to hide it. She hadn't had time to think about the kiss, but the reminder left her struggling not to smile...

    "What were you doing here in the middle of the night?" she interrogated her sister, trying to hide her reaction.

"Oh, just catching up on things, you know," Elise replied casually. "Hey, did you know that creepy birdwatcher guy is probably a wight? Who would've imagined!?"

"Elise!" (Y/N) replied sternly. She was extremely impatient to finish grilling her sister and to get back into her warm bed.

"Ohhh, in the library?" Elise shrugged as if she hadn't realized what (Y/N) was getting at. "Just looking for that book you had."

"What?! Why? Why did you think it was so important that you should steal it in the middle of the night?!" (Y/N) exclaimed.

"Um, you weren't the only one Grandpa Abe told about it, you know." Elise scoffed as sassily as she could.

"What?! He knew you were peculiar too?" (Y/N) whisper-shouted in surprise. The story was getting less believable by the second.

"Uh, duhhh." Elise sighed, boredly walking away until (Y/N) grabbed her arm.

"Well, when did you figure out you were?" she asked.

"Before you figured out that you were," Elise sneered. "I've been checking out this place since the first day we arrived."

(Y/N) thought. She wanted so many answers, but she knew without a doubt that the others were probably running around in terror and preparing to save her from a wight or something. So she chose the best question.

"So, what exactly were you planning to do? And why did you choose The Map of Days?"

"I didn't remember what the title was on the book you had," Elise shrugged. "That one looked important, so I took it. And anyway, he probably didn't tell you that—"

"Shh," (Y/N) interjected quickly, realized that anyone could be listening. Especially if Millard's theory was correct and there were peculiar animals around. "I think we should discuss this back in the hotel. I'm going to explain to the others what happened, and then I'm going home. You can come with me, but we can't talk about the book until later."

    "Whatever," said Elise before becoming a tabby and walking off.

    (Y/N) concentrated and threw up a flare so that the peculiars could see where she was, then walked up to the house to meet them. They rushed out and shouted a bunch of questions at her, but (Y/N) just said: "It's alright, there's no wight. It was just the cat—it teleported away with me."

    After a bit more explaining, Miss P. sent the other children back to bed and (Y/N) finished telling her what had happened (making sure to leave out anything about the book). She told Miss Peregrine that she was going back to the hotel to sleep. Although there were a few hours until dawn, (Y/N) felt she wouldn't be sleeping that much.

    Millard, who had probably been eavesdropping on them the entire time, began to talk excitedly to (Y/N) about the tabby, but she was too tired to pay attention. In the middle of a sentence, she had to stop him and tell him that she needed to go to bed, so they followed the tabby to the cairn and said goodbye.

    As (Y/N) crossed over into her own time, it felt so strange to her that she had been fascinatedly studying the cat for weeks—only to find out it was her sister the entire time.

    On the other side, Elise transformed back from a tabby and walked 'home' with (Y/N). They both shivered in the cold, damp air, and when Jacob ran up to meet them, they huddled together until they reached the Priest Hole. After quietly going up the stairs, they waved to each other and each went into their separate rooms.

<><><><><><>

    In the morning, (Y/N), Elise, and Jacob all sat down together at the largest table with their families. It was extraordinarily unusual—and in fact, completely new—for their parents to talk with one another. For some reason, they had never cared to start a conversation with each other unless they were at a funeral. However, that morning they were really enjoying whatever conversation they were having; (Y/N) even noticed that Jake's father had only gone through half a beer so far. It was as if they had always been great friends.

    Unfortunately, things weren't going that well for (Y/N) and the other two. They sat there without talking for most of the time, each wondering what they should do about the whole situation they were in. They had barely a week left in Cairnholm, and they needed to figure out what to do about it. While Jacob didn't know anything about the book, he seemed to be worrying about something just as difficult.

    Sensing (Y/N)'s confusion, Elise leaned over and whispered in her ear: "Miss Peregrine wants you guys to stay with her, and he's having a really hard time with the decision."

    (Y/N) raised an eyebrow before whispering back: "What, can you read minds too?"

    "Nah," Elise replied. "I was just eavesdropping when Miss Peregrine told him that."

    "Why didn't she tell me?" (Y/N) asked confusedly.

    "Why didn't she tell me?" Elise smirked. (Y/N) wondered what Ms. P. would want now that there were three peculiars to take in. "I think she's hoping that if Jacob stays, you'll—we'll come with him," Elise explained.

    After they had all finished eating, the parents were still talking, so they let the three wander outside for the time being. After they each put on a rain jacket, they walked around in search of the wight, but with no success. The rain had washed away his scent, so Elise couldn't even try to find his trail.

    After about an hour, they ambled back into the pub, where only Jacob's father was. He was halfway through his third beer, so Elise and (Y/N) said goodbye to Jake and went up the stairs. As they left, (Y/N) could've sworn that she heard Jakes father telling him: "I'm glad to see you hanging out with kids your age."

  Oh, you have no clue, she mentally laughed at him.

<><><><><><>

    After some time shopping and touring, the (Y/L/N) family sat back down in the Priest Hole to eat. The meal was the same—yet again—but since they'd been staying there so long, Kev cooked them up some bacon that he'd been hiding in a fridge in the back. Once they finished, (Y/N)'s parents went out to 'socialize' (whatever that meant), and so (Y/N) went up into her room with Elise to talk about the book.

After (Y/N) confirmed that her sister wasn't going to steal the book from her or do anything evil, she pulled it out from underneath her mattress and opened it up. She handed it to Elise and watched as she read it. After a minute, her sister gasped and closed her eyes, sitting back.

    Taking advantage of her silence, (Y/N) asked her: "So what did Grandpa Abe tell you about this?" (Y/N) told her about the one clue he had granted her: Give the story to the author or you will forfeit your future.

"Huh. Really dramatic, no?" Elise muttered just loud enough for (Y/N) to hear. "Well, I can't help you with much, but he did say something about twins."

"Which twins?!" (Y/N) asked earnestly.

"I dunno. Just said they were important to the story."

(Y/N) sighed. "Was there anything else?"

"Anything else?! He's literally asking you to find that Ransom guy and send him this giant manuscript so he can publish it or something. It's easy: look up his address, get some stamps, and send the book on the next flight out of Wales. What else do you want?"

"I dunno, a reason why we're supposed to do this in the first place?! Why does he need the book? What happens if we 'forfeit our future'? We'll still be here!"

"Really?" Elise questions. "We're in the book. Would you want to throw away all caution and assume that a self-writing book means nothing?"

"It just sounds so stupid!" (Y/N) protests. "And when will we lose our future? When I get water on the pages?!"

"No, probably when he publishes another version. Who knows, maybe he's writing this story right now. And if he decides he hates this version, he'll throw it out and...I don't know, but I don't want to find out."

(Y/N) lets out a twenty-minute sigh. "Alright...just give me some time and I'll figure out what to do."

"Yeah, no. I'm going to look for stamps in the museum gift shop, and if there aren't any there, I'll go to the post office, and if—"

"The story isn't done yet?! How can we send it?" (Y/N) shouts.

"Well it won't ever finish, by that logic! Grandpa Abe said to send it, so that's what we'll do. If there aren't post stamps on the island, I'll teleport to the mainland. See ya," Elise said as she walked out the door.

(Y/N) hung her head. Somehow, she knew that the story needed to play out before they could send it to the author, wherever he was. More importantly, she knew that she needed a backup plan for if they failed. So she started typing.

For the next few days, she visited Millard a couple of times, but they couldn't find much to talk about, especially as each day got more depressing. The mansion was on lockup, and the children were going insane. As much as (Y/N) missed Millard, coming into the loop more than once a day was practically forbidden, and since Jacob was the main messenger, (Y/N) wasn't really supposed to come around too much.

    Fortunately, Elise was more  interesting in snooping around the loop than in sending the book (for the time being). This meant that (Y/N) was alone most of the time to plan in case something happened.

    And on Wednesday, something did.

Kind of Spoilery A/N
Just wondering, who else is annoyed that Ransom went with the movie and had hollows sucking peculiar's eyes out in the second series? I get it that your eyes are the window to your soul or whatever, but in the third book wasn't peculiar's soul supposed to be in their foot?