Elise, acting quickly and without anyone's permission, changed forms, teleporting herself in front of the ornithologist and suspected wight. In an instant, she had returned to her human state and forced the wight's pistol towards the ceiling, effectively rendering him defenseless. Well, mostly. Millard, picking himself off the floor, had to rush at an inhuman speed to prevent the ornithologist from smashing her over the temple with the flashlight in his other hand.

Emma lit a flame in her hand and Bronwyn picked up an entire trough filled with ice and fish, and for a fleeting moment, it seemed to (Y/N) as if the peculiars might have gained the advantage over the man. However, their small victory ended when Millard was yet again flung across the room, this time by an invisible force—the same one that held Elise off the floor by her neck. The man shot his pistol upwards once, the silencer having little effect on the dramatic gesture. The room went silent and was filled by a singular, awful scent which in (Y/N)'s experience, could only mean one thing: a hollowgast was blocking their exit.

"If you only knew the great lengths I've gone to, just to get to this point," the man sneered viciously. "Perhaps then you would have pity on me and make this all a bit easier," he ended, pausing wryly. He lowered his flashlight so the peculiars had a better view of him. Besides the layers of coats he was wearing, his eyes were shielded from view by rain-drenched sunglasses.

"But I'm no fool," he began again, voice changing. "I've done my research, and I've been very patient about it. Here we have Emma Bloom..." the wight continued gloating, but (Y/N) stopped paying attention. He knew about everyone, even what they feared the most. (Y/N) noticed the effect it had on Jacob whenever the man changed his voice, taking on another personality entirely. It was clear her cousin had known these people, that this "Dr. Golan" he whispered about had been watching them their whole lives, which begged the question: was he working alone or had the Nazis sent him?

If Ransom was right, then the time had gone by for the children to keep hiding in their loop. It was only a matter of when and how the wights got them. As she arrived at this horrifying conclusion, (Y/N) stiffened; the wight had finally walked up to her.

"You have a choice," he declared bluntly. "The three of you. You'll be allowed to live—allowed to live pleasantly, I might add—in safety and with peace of mind—so long as you agree to work with us. That is, Malthus and I," he gestured behind him to what (Y/N) assumed to be the hollowgast. It had dropped Elise to the ground, but kept an invisible grip on her, a shadow falling across the ground as one of its tentacles pushed her forward alongside her sister and cousin.

"And if we accept," (Y/N) paused, trying to stall. "Wh—"

"What will happen to our friends?" Jacob finished shakily despite his defiant look.

"They're not part of the bargain," "Dr. Golan" replied coldly. "They made their choice long ago. But you three are different. Because of who you are and who your grandfather was, you can become part of a greater plan."

"A greater plan that involves harming the twins?" (Y/N) asked, but the wight's face revealed nothing.

"A greater plan that will finally give peculiars the power they deserve. A plan that will unite peculiars and the so-called monsters, finally pushing back at the coerlfolc—the pitiful normals who dared push us down. I for one will enjoy the expressions on their faces when they realize they've been playing with power that's never been theirs. "

"I'm going to speak for myself," (Y/N) responded, "when I say that I think you were a power-crazed monster even before you created your experiment. I'd rather take my chances with the hollowgast." To her short-lived relief, her sister and cousin nodded their heads in agreement.

"What a shame," Golan sighed emotionlessly. "However, I have more important matters to attend to. I thank you for your gracious gift of life, for the seven of you will surely be enough to return Malthus to his former self."

"Why don't you become hollow food yourself?" Elise shouted petulantly, shifting in her cat form and biting the tentacle before leaping off in Golan's direction. He grabbed the scruff of her neck and tossed her aside, advancing backward out the door, keeping his pistol aimed at the peculiars.

"You're a murderer!" (Y/N) spat angrily behind him as he walked out.

"Me?" Dr. Golan remarked, voice flat. "I haven't killed anyone." And with that, he marched briskly away, leaving his hollowgast behind to finish off the children.

After only a moment of silence, everyone scrambled for the back wall, rushing away from the stench of the hollowgast. Once everyone was able to control themselves better, Jacob prompted Emma to light a flame, and she did.

    "Are you happy now?" whispered Millard angrily to the others. The smell grew stronger, indicating that the hollow must be advancing towards them. "Your 'bravery' is going to get us all killed! If we had just listened to Miss P—"

"Shhhh!" (Y/N) hissed, watching her cousin. As usual, the hollow remained invisible to her, to the point that she got a headache from overworking her peculiarity. Jacob, on the other hand, regarded the hollowgast intently and horrifiedly, reminding (Y/N) of the dream she'd had so long ago. The one where her grandfather died fighting that which had become invisible to him—the first time Jacob had seen a hollow.

Its shadow was thrown across the wall by Emma's burning flame, and (Y/N) realized than its tentacles had actually been tongues, which were presently unfurling in preparation for attack. The hollow seemed to sit there mockingly for a moment, to which Emma whispered: "What's it doing? Why hasn't it come at us?"

"I don't know," Elise answered. "But I'm about to knock its teeth out!"

"Agreed!" said Bronwyn. But they were stopped when the hollow's tongues branched out, attacking Jacob, Enoch, and Emma. Although Enoch usually acted older and tougher than he looked, he shrieked as one of the tongues reached his face, leaving a trail of viscous black slime. Emma tried fighting it off, but only succeeded in gaining a brief moment of retreat.

"We need to do something and get off the defensive!" (Y/N) exclaimed.

"Agreed," Millard declared firmly. "We need to get into contact with Miss Peregrine. She'll know what to do. We should split up, and—" he was interrupted as Bronwyn let out a wild screech, throwing herself at the hollowgast with Elise not long after her. As Elise distracted the hollow, teleporting around it and biting it like a nasty fly, Bronwyn ran back up to the ice trough and hurled it at the hollowgast, causing an enormous crashing sound.

At her command, everyone scattered from the wall, jumping through the fresh hole she created, Jacob directing them to keep the hollow from grasping anyone and pulling them back in. As the others ran off, Bronwyn stayed back to force the whole building on top of the monster. Upon her success, everyone cheered and hugged her, but the happy atmosphere didn't last long.

While Enoch and Emma argued about whether or not Jacob was a traitor for giving information to the wight as his psychiatrist, (Y/N), Elise, and Millard attempted to come up with a plan. They didn't get further than split up to kill the hollow and then pursue the wight when Enoch noted that Golan had to know how to get in the loop already considering that he'd never asked them. Additionally, Bronwyn added that the hollow was breaking free and that it would be a good idea to run, so they did.

Through the rain and mud, the peculiars ran at top speed, helping each other up as they fell and each with their mind on the loop. For by locking the hollow outside, they would be locking themselves inside with the wight. At the bottom of the cliffs, the hollow had almost caught up with them and it was clear that the time for splitting up had come. It was decided that Enoch and Bronwyn would go to the loop to notify Miss Peregrine while (Y/N) (who refused to leave her cousin behind), Millard (who refused to leave (Y/N) behind), and Elise (who refused to leave an adventure behind), created a diversion so that Emma and Jacob could kill the hollowgast more easily.

They began by running in the direction of the bog, unable to see much of anything through the rain and fog. (Y/N) was briefly reminded of her first week at Cairnholm in almost this exact situation. After reaching the bog, Emma initiatied the first phase of the plan by pulling out the leftover cheese cloth that was used to hold Enoch's hearts. She lit a rock on fire and used the cheese cloth to sling it far away from her. She and Jacob then fled into a small wooden shack where they would hide until the hollow was fully distracted. (Y/N), Millard, and Elise ran in the direction of the flaming rock, hoping that the hollowgast would follow.

After they reached the side of the bog, they gathered on the lookout they had built earlier that day. They waited until they could smell the hollow before (Y/N) gathered all of her energy and created a beacon of light, shining it where they had last seen it during a lightning flash. (Y/N) jumped for a second in surprise, having seen a faint shimmer in front of them. It recoiled in the light, blinded for the moment. Elise took some leftover nails from building and hammered them into a loose board which she then handed to Millard to use as a weapon. (Y/N) mentally appreciated that fact that nobody had remembered to bring the materials back to the mansion after that morning's fiasco.

The light she created not only blinded the hollowgast, but made its shadow visible as well. From the mud splashed halfway up its legs to the raindrops bouncing off its head and shoulders, the hollow was much easier to track than before; however, if they were going to attack it, they would need a better idea on how to dodge it. Giving quick directions, (Y/N) continued to blind the hollow, though she was losing energy quickly. Elise and Millard descended the ladder, Millard doing his best to sneak up on the hollow while Elise scrambled about, using a tool bucket to drench the invisible monster in muddy bog water.

At that point, (Y/N) stopped blinding the hollow and picked up the hammer Elise had left behind for her. She and Millard did their best to swipe at the monster while avoiding its tongues, and Elise spent most of her time as a cat teleporting and biting the hollow, making disgusted faces every time she drew its horrid-tasting blood. As the hollow was sufficiently distracted, Emma and Jacob were able to attack it from behind, using fire and sheep shears respectively. Unfortunately, whenever they seemed to be getting the upper hand, the hollowgast would catch one or two of them with its tongues, hesitating as if deciding between crushing them to death or flinging them away to make fighting easier. Always, it would take a few hits before it would screech and drop its victims.

(Y/N) was furiously smashing a tongue with a hammer when she heard Millard cry "Look out!" She was too late, however, and the monster grabbed hold of the hammer with another tongue, lifting her up in the air. After a second or two, the rain-slickened handle slipped from her hands and she dropped to the ground. The hollow tossed her hammer aside, rendering her defenseless. She had begun resorting to blinding it again with blasts of light when it disarmed Millard in a similar fashion. At that point, the rain had washed off most of the mud and the hollow was nearly impossible to see. Millard and Elise retreated, trying their best to attack the beast with any available rocks and tree branches.

Injured and impatient, the hollow began launching the peculiars away whenever it caught them. Eventually, the rain thickened and Emma found that she could no longer create flames. Jacob, the only one of them left with any sort of a real weapon, began hacking at the hollow's tongues with the shears, hoping to rid it of its primary defense system. (Y/N)'s bursts of light got fainter and fainter, and as the battle slowed down, she heard voices shouting in the woods.

"It must be Miss Peregrine!" Emma shouted. "Thank the Bird! Enoch and Bronwyn made it!"

As everyone had forgotten about the wight for the moment, it seemed the most plausible explanation until the voices got closer. "(Y/N)!" (Y/N)'s parents shouted. "Elise! Where are you? You need to get back inside! The storm's getting worse! You could get killed!"

The peculiars looked at each other in fear, realizing that if they didn't kill the hollow quickly, their problem would get a whole lot worse. When (Y/N) looked back at the monster, she realized that Jacob was thinking the same thing as her: someone needed to use themselves as bait if the others could even hope to kill the hollowgast.

"I'll do it," (Y/N) declared, waiting to make sure Jacob wouldn't follow.

"No!" he cried back. "I'm going. I'm older."

"By one month!" (Y/N) retorted, but she felt herself being pushed back into the mud. Millard helped her up, but it was too late to stop her cousin.

"Come get me, you ugly bastard!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, jabbing the hollow with his shears before bolting into the bog like a madman.

The monster promptly gave chase. As much as everyone screamed at Jake, he kept running, for there was no way back except through the hollow. They watched as the hollow tripped in the mud over and over, each time just as it was about to reach Jacob with one of its tongues. Then, at last, Jacob managed to throw himself into the cairn. But the relief lasted less than a second, for the hollow dragged him back out by the ankle, writhing and brandishing his shears.

At that point, the mud-covered hollow covered the entrance with its body, trapping Jake inside. Everyone gasped, unable to do anything. In that moment, (Y/N)'s parents came out of the woods and into the clearing, looking completely horrified at the bewildering sight of the muddy creature and the children. Almost without thinking it, (Y/N) summoned her last vestiges of energy, creating a glowing image—somewhat like a Patronus—of an animal, a person...she wasn't sure what it was, but she just needed it to draw the hollow away. Despite all her work, the monster gave but a slight pause before continuing its attempts to devour her cousin.

Next to her, (Y/N) heard her sister give a resigned sigh—then she disappeared.

"Elise?" (Y/N) asked, confused and nearly too tired to stand. It was almost as if she'd imagined it, the suddenness of her disappearance. As Emma's palms lit up, almost an empathetic reflex, (Y/N)'s suspicions were confirmed. To her horror, she saw her sister as a tabby, perched atop the hollow's head, slashing at its face and driving her claws into its eyes.

It stumbled backward, howling and squealing in pain. It was the closest anyone had gotten to hurting it, but it wasn't enough. The hollow retracted its tongues, pulling Jacob nearer, though he held the shears in front of them, ready to bury them in its eye. Elise succeeded in slicing off one of the beast's tongues before it grabbed her with another, smashing her into the ground and tossing her tiny human body in between its teeth. (Y/N) couldn't hear the crunch because she was already shrieking at the top of her lungs. "ELISE! ELISE!! NO! NOOO!"

She was in too much shock to cry, or even breathe; the only thing she could do was to cover her mouth with her hand in the event that she started breathing enough to sob. Her parents, having seen enough to understand what had happened, ran back in terror. Jacob emerged from the cairn, shocked and covered in mud, his shears buried to the hilt in one of the hollow's eyes, having used Elise's sacrifice as a distraction to save his life. The hollowgast writhed and wailed before finally going still. Its death was completely ignored as the peculiars walked to meet Jacob, all traumatized and put in a dreamlike state.

The monster was dead. It was killable—no longer a giant, invincible force in the minds of the children. But it came with loss—such an extrordinary, devastating loss, that the children could or would do nothing. But the rest of the peculiars were still in danger. So they grabbed hands and made their way back to the mansion in silence.