She's dead kept playing in (Y/N)'s mind on repeat. No matter how cold the wind and rain had made her before, it couldn't compare to the bone-chilling truth—Elise had died to save their cousin.

    The peculiars headed for the tree line, walking quickly despite the fact that (Y/N)'s parents had already run away in terror. Whatever they had seen was enough, and (Y/N) had not a single clue how to fix it. And bringing her sister back wasn't an option. Whatever happened, (Y/N) had to get that wight, and since he couldn't escape through this storm, he must be inside the loop.

    They made their way across the bog, stepping cautiously on the invisible path to safety. They kept their hands linked, allowing them to pull each other up if someone misstepped. (Y/N) tried to say something to Millard once, but she couldn't get out more than half a sentence. Millard didn't respond. (Y/N) had exhausted her peculiarity so much that she couldn't even muster enough power to see him. His hand was freezing cold in her grip. Everything was cold. After that, nobody tried speaking.

    As they reached the edge of the bog, (Y/N) caught her foot on a rock, almost falling into the sinking mud if not for Emma pulling her up. "Thank you," (Y/N) gasped as the rain assaulted her face, streaming into her ears and mouth. Her voice came out in a whisper, for she realized that Millard should have been able to catch her too.

    He wasn't there.

    "Emma! Jake! Millard's not here! The wight must've gotten him. I thought I was holding his hand but—" she looked down at the crumpled piece of paper in her hand and unfolded it. In the flash of a new bolt of lightning, she could see it was a scrap piece of paper from when they were taking notes on the tabby together.

    Emma took one look at the paper and realized "He must have gone ahead, for whatever reason. Maybe he's gone to tell Miss P. we killed the hollow. In any case, a wight wouldn't have left a paper," she shouted over the thunder. "Let's hurry!" she nodded to Jacob and (Y/N).

    (Y/N) shoved the note page in her pocket and they took off running for the loop. The water had soaked the paper and nearly frozen it, and paired with (Y/N)'s misery, she hadn't been able to notice that Millard was gone. Stupid, she told herself internally. I lost my sister and now I might lose my boyfriend. Could anything else go wrong?

    Inside the loop, planes screamed overhead, the bog now filled with craters, the trees in the distance dancing with flames. Further away, more bombs exploded, and (Y/N) locked eyes with Jacob.

    "How do we know we won't get blasted to pieces if we stay here any longer?" she asked Emma over the cacophony. "We might have to wait on the other side!"

    Just then, Bronwyn jumped out and hugged Jacob, Enoch and Hugh trailing behind her. "You're alive!" she cried.

    Enoch and Hugh shook (Y/N)'s and Jacob's hands, and while Emma and Jake explained how the hollowgast was killed, Bronwyn's expression fell. When Emma finished off on Elise getting killed, Bronwyn looked at (Y/N).

    "I'm very sorry, Miss," she said, grabbing one of (Y/N)'s hands. "After this is over, we'll help you have a proper funeral for her."

    "Thanks," (Y/N) replied, sniffing. Looking at the others, she could see they looked just as forlorn as her. "But Millard's gone too. We don't know were he went. Have you seen him? He might've gone after the wight, because—"

    "Sorry to add to it all, Miss," Bronwyn interrupted, nearly sobbing. "But Miss Peregrine is gone too. And Miss Avocet. He took them. The wight, that is."

    "Oh God," Emma said. Of course. (Y/N) thought. One more thing did go wrong. And now we're too late.

    "He come in with a gun," Hugh confessed to the ground, unable to look up. "Tried to take Claire hostage, but she chomped him with her backmouth, so he grabbed me instead." His words began coming out quieter. "I tried to fight, but he knocked me upside the skull with his gun." He pulled his fingers away from behind his ear, and (Y/N) could see them glistening with blood—his head was still bleeding. "Locked everyone in the basement and said if Headmistress and Miss Avocet didn't change into birds he'd put an extra hole in my head. So they did, and he stuffed 'em both into a cage."

    "He had a cage?" Emma asked.

    Hugh nodded miserably. "Little one too, so they didn't have room to do nothing, like change back or fly off. I reckoned I was good as shot, but then he pushed me down the basement with the others and run off with the birds."

    "That's how we found 'em when we come in," Enoch spat. "Hiding down there like a lot of cowards."

    "We wasn't hiding!" Hugh protested desperately. "He locked us in! He would've shot us!"

    "Yes, Hugh" (Y/N) interjected. "It was very brave of you to try fighting the wight in the first place," she gave Enoch her most menacing death glare. "But do you know where—"

    "Forget that," snapped Emma. "Where'd he run off to? Why didn't you go after him?!"

    "We don't know where he went," replied Bronwyn. "We was hoping you'd seen him."

    "No, we haven't seen him!" Emma sent a cairn stone flying with a harsh kick.

    Hugh pulled a photograph out of his shirt. "He stuffed this in my pocket before he went. Said if we tried to come after him, this is what would happen."

    A black bird lay stretched out underneath a rifle, with a caption that said "CAW CAW CAW." From the tail shape, it looked like a raven, but from the wingspan, it seemed to be a crow.

    While the other peculiars argued over which ymbryne it was, bombs continued to fall, one of them landing in the bog nearby, spraying mud through the air. (Y/N) stopped listening after Emma pointed out that Millard was right—they should never have left the house. If Millard were there, (Y/N) was sure he would agree wholeheartedly. If she had listened to them, her sister would still be alive, but if not, there would still be a hollowgast hunting for them. Jacob pointed this out, and they all fell once again into arguing.

    After another minute, Hugh yelled at everyone to focus on the ymbrynes, so they did. Since the wight hadn't killed the birds already, he probably needed them alive, so they would have to be transported off the island. This, Emma pointed out, would need to be done on a ship. And since anyone who'd recently been out of the loop could verify that the storm made sailing impossible, there was only one place he could be.

    "So what are we larking around here for?" Emma asked. "Let's get to the docks!"

    But even then, Enoch pointed out that the wight might already be gone, and there was no way to know whether they'd get blown up by a bomb on the way to the shore. Hugh shouted back that giving up would only being selfish considering everything Miss P. had done for them. But before the argument could go any further, a disembodied voice called to them from the path in the woods.

    After a moment, Hugh was able to locate the source, telling everyone surprisedly: "It's Fiona."

    Fiona continued shouting, but as more bombs exploded and planes shrieked by, it was impossible to hear her, so everyone ran down to the path. Nobody could understand her, but she kept pulling them towards town until Hugh calmed her down and she explained more slowly. She pointed behind her. "Millard followed him!" she said, and (Y/N) was flooded with a sense of relief. "He caught up to the man after he shut us all in the basement, and now he's down at the lighthouse in Emma's boat!"

    "He's not at the docks?" (Y/N) asked.

    "No, he tried circling around in the water, like he was waiting for something, but then the tide got too rough, and now he's at the lighthouse. Hurry!"

    Everyone sprinted to the cliffs, where they found the other children looking down at the lighthouse. All of the others except the twins.

    (Y/N) blanched. "Where are the twins?!" she exclaimed in horror.

    (Y/N)'s peculiarity was still out of commission, which seemed like a good thing when Millard told everyone to get down and she realized there were no clothes in the space where he should be. After everyone had dropped down into the grass where they'd be hidden, Millard answered.

    "The wight took them while everyone else was in the basement," he answered once (Y/N) had crawled next to him. "Nobody noticed until we got here. Look!" He pointed down to the lighthouse, where Emma's canoe was tied up to the rocks. Golan and the ymbrynes weren't anywhere to be seen, but the twins sat huddled in the boat, their hands tied together with rope.

    "What are they doing there?" (Y/N) asked, her voice shaking. She really wanted to ask Millard why he had left them, but it made sense—the wight would've gone to the mansion, and Millard was the only one of them who was invisible. If he told them he was leaving, they would've insisted on coming, only endangering themselves more than was necessary. Still, (Y/N) wasn't happy.

    Millard answered that he could be waiting for someone to pick him up or for the tide to settle, but really, nobody had any clue. Emma asked him something, but then three more bombs fell, turning the sky orange as everyone ducked further into the grass. The whole island should be on fire at this point, (Y/N) thought.

    "Do any bombs fall 'round here, Millard?" Emma asked.

    "My research concerns only the behavior of humans and animals," Millard replied flatly. "Not bombs."

    "Fat lot of good that does us now," Enoch retorted.

    Before they could get into an argument, (Y/N) pointed upward. "Enoch, what kind of planes are those, and how many bombs do they carry?" Even in the brief time she had spent at Miss Peregrine's, Enoch's extensive military knowledge had already become evident to her.

    After a glance up at the sky, he responded. "They're Bf 109G-6s. All of them. 2 rockets and a bomb apiece. Not to mention—"

    "That's 24 explosions that we have to worry about," (Y/N) interrupted, thinking back to the "Cairnholm Under Siege" display at Martin's museum. 8 planes had flown over the island. "When we came out, there were already six cavities in the bog, five spaces where the woods were on fire, four explosions while we were at the cairn,  five on the way here, and three just now. That leaves one more to drop on the mansion before the loop resets. So we've got to go get Miss P. and the others now," (Y/N) finished.

    Since there were no other boats to use, the peculiars eventually agreed to swim over to the island. Emma, Jacob, (Y/N), and Bronwyn instantly volunteered, and Millard grudgingly admitted that his invisibility would be vital to the operation, and that he should probably come along too. He also refused to let (Y/N) go without him.

    After saying quick goodbyes to the others, those still wearing raincoats took them off before running together until they reached the path to the beach, where they had to slide down into the sand, little particles pouring into their shoes and clothing. A plane chopped the air overhead of them, and despite (Y/N)'s math, everyone dove to the ground. No more bombs, no more bombs, she thought to herself, still needing reassurance. The wind whipped at the peculiars, dumping sand on them until the plane was far enough away.

    When they reached the beach, Emma explained that they would need to swim to a shipwreck on the way to the lighthouse. It would allow them to see what was going on and to come up with a plan from there.

    "Let's get our ymbrynes back," Bronwyn said. And with that, the children slid into the water and began swimming toward the lighthouse. The tide pulled against them and another plane swept overhead, but after a few minutes, they all reached the sunken ship in one piece.

    In the light of the full moon—when it wasn't being hidden by bomb smoke—the children could see the lighthouse when the lamp wasn't facing them. However, Golan the psychiatrist/wight and the ymbrynes were still hidden from view. Only the twins could be seen in the canoe, rocking back and forth in the high tide.

    Emma started outlining a plan: distract Golan from Bronwyn until she could knock him out, and somewhere in there, Millard would grab the birdcage and (Y/N) would untie the twins and the boat so that they could all row back to safety. There was just enough room in the canoe, but this didn't matter because gunshots rang out from the lighthouse. These shots were quieter than the ones occasionally coming from the fighter planes, but dangerous nevertheless. A bullet splashed into the water nearby them and it was clear that they had lost the advantage of surprise. Everyone ran across the ship and dove underwater until they couldn't hold their breath anymore.

    The peculiars had hardly started to come up with a new plan before Millard jumped back onto the shipwreck. "He can't shoot want he can't see. I'll go."

    "No!" (Y/N) objected. "He can still see where you are in the water. It's not going to work."

    In spite of the arguments against him going, they couldn't avoid the truth—the only other option was to give up and leave their ymbrynes to the wights. And the twins.

    "I'll try disguising the space that shows up in the water," (Y/N) decided. "But I don't have the energy to last more than half a minute, and you can't cover all fifty yards in that time," she paused, reaching up to hug him. "After that, you'll be on your own. Good luck," she finished.

    "Someone's got to be the hero," he replied semi-jokingly, walking across the ship's hull.

    He didn't even make it off the ship before (Y/N)'s peculiarity fizzled out. In the flash from the lighthouse, she could see Golan standing in the doorway, bracing his arm against a railing and aiming. (Y/N) jumped onto the ship, racing towards Millard, but she barely made two steps before she slipped forward in the water. She heard her cousin shouting, and a gunshot, and Millard was screaming in pain before she had even hit the water.

    "No!" she screamed for the second time that night. She dragged herself toward her boyfriend, trying to stay low to avoid getting shot. Her friends were only seconds behind her, reaching Millard in a space of time that was mercifully free of bullets. The wight was reloading, and they had to act fast unless they wanted to end up shot too.

    Millard knelt in the water, blood running from his shoulder and down his torso. (Y/N) waved in front of his face, and for a moment his gaze remained unfocused.

    Emma grabbed his other arm, begging him to say something, and finally, he answered: "I apologize. It seems I've gone and gotten myself shot."

    Only a moment of arguing existed between them before Golan started shooting again. Jacob and Bronwyn lifted Millard and followed Emma into a hole in the ship, while (Y/N) mustered the last of her energy, throwing a blinding beam of light at Golan's face, stunning him momentarily. She took a few wobbly steps, took a breath, and practically fell into the water. Millard had said that they must still try to overtake Golan, but it seemed impossible when they were in this position.

    Emma passed around a breathing tube, but the peculiars couldn't stay underwater for long, so they passed the tube to Millard and climbed back above the water. At first, they couldn't agree on whether or not to head back, but then Bronwyn had an idea and dropped back into the ship.

    At that moment, (Y/N) caught sight of a dozen or so glowing fish surrounding Millard as he sat beneath them. They reminded her of the stars sprinkling the sky the night they had kissed. Before she could begin to panic again, Bronwyn returned from underwater with the metal door of the cargo hold in her hand. After showing off her new shield, she offered to carry Millard on her back while (Y/N), Jake, and Emma followed behind her.

    When Emma brought Millard out of the water and hung his arms around Bronwyn's neck, he hissed a little at the stinging saltwater, but proceeded to say: "It's magnificent down there. Emma, why did you never tell me about the angels?"

    "What angels?"

    "The lovely green angels who live just below." He shivered." They kindly offered to take me to heaven."

    "Hey, Invisiboy," (Y/N)'s voice caught. "You're going to be alright. The angels—they're just fish. Peculiar animals like the--the tabby. You have to hold on to Bronwyn and then maybe we can try to help you."

    "Very well."

    After that, everyone lined up behind Bronwyn and walked into the water toward the wight, fully protected from the bullets by Bronwyn's makeshift shield. Emma held Millard onto Bronwyn's back and took turns asking him questions with (Y/N).

    "Millard! Who's the prime minister?" Emma demanded.

    "Winston Churchill," he said. "Have you gone daft?"

    "What's the capital of Burma?" (Y/N) asked.

    "Lord, I've no idea. Rangoon."

    "Good!" (Y/N) replied. "Try this fact: in the future, it's called Myanmar and the capital's Yangon."

    "That's...that's...wo—"

    "When's your birthday?" Emma said, trying to keep him conscious. (Y/N) held her breath because Millard had always refused to tell her, even when she bribed him.

    "Will you quit shouting and let me bleed in peace!" (Y/N) sighed and everyone remained quiet until they reached the beach. As they struggled over the rocks, Golan continued shooting at them, eventually threatening to shoot the ymbrynes. At this point, Bronwyn decided to rush forward and hurl the metal door at Golan while the others ran and took cover behind the lighthouse. Golan screamed and Bronwyn ran back, shortly arguing with Emma about considering the safety of the birds.

    Golan began retreating to the top of the lighthouse, and Millard told Emma and Jacob to go after him. Bronwyn began attending to him, ripping off the hem of her pants to use as a tourniquet. (Y/N) took the opportunity to untie the twins, assuring them that they would be okay. She led them over to Bronwyn so she could talk to Millard.

    "I'm sorry," she told him. "I didn't have enough energy to—"

    "It's fine...you...angel."

    "Millard, there aren't any angels, I told—"

    "No, no," he breathed. "You. You're the—" he coughed violently before he was able to finish the sentence, and his voice came back weaker than before. "Sorry," he gasped wryly. "I meant to say—"

    "Millard," (Y/N) wished more than anything that her powers would work at that moment so she could see him. "I love you."

    Millard said nothing, and for a moment (Y/N) thought he had passed out. "Invisiboy, hey! Don't you dare—"

    "No." he interjected. "I'm not dead yet. You really mean it?"

    "Yes, of course," (Y/N) laughed.

    "Well then," he replied, and (Y/N) felt his lips as well. "I love you too."

    Naturally, at this opportune moment, frantic squawks interrupted them as the birdcage fell from the top of the lighthouse, splashing down somewhere in the ocean.

    "Go. GO!" Millard commanded. "Get Miss Peregrine!"

    (Y/N) sprinted directly into the ocean, only stopping when a body splashed down into the water somewhere in the darkness. "You dropped something!" she yelled back up to the lighthouse, trying to make sure it was the wight and not her cousin.

    "Yeah!" Jacob replied, emerging from the lighthouse with Emma and following (Y/N) into the water. A glowing red LED on top of the cage beckoned them closer, but they kept losing it in the waves.

    Just as (Y/N) reached out to finally grab it, the birds started squawking again as the cage began rising above the children. Soon, the water began sucking them underneath the smooth exterior of what (Y/N) realized was a U-boat beginning to surface. Unable to grasp anything, the peculiars were pushed forcibly away from the boat, getting sent backward until their backs grated against the island's sandy shore.

    They watched as the submarine slowly came to a stop and floated on the open water. A hatch opened in the top and a woman wearing all black emerged from the ship. She picked up the birdcage and  looked at the peculiars, grinning wickedly. When the lighthouse lamp came to face them again, (Y/N) noticed the burn marks on her face.

    "You know what I'm here for," she said. "So why don't you just give me what I want and it'll all be over so much quicker."

   Ransom was right, (Y/N) realized, horrified. The Nazis are here.