Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - BOOCarz

topic behind us as quickly as possible. “It may appear
to you that we’ve found a way to cheat death, but it’s
an illusion. If the children loiter too long on your side of
the loop, all the many years from which they have
abstained will descend upon them at once, in a matter
of hours.”
I pictured a person shriveling up and crumbling to
dust like the apple on my nightstand. “That’s awful,” I
said with a shudder.
“The few instances of it that I’ve had the misfortune
to witness are among the worst memories of my life.
And let me assure you, I’ve lived long enough to see
some truly dreadful things.”
“Then it’s happened before.”
“To a young girl under my own care, regrettably, a
number of years ago. Her name was Charlotte. It was
the first and last time I ever took a trip to visit one of
my sister ymbrynes. In that brief time Charlotte
managed to evade the older children who were
minding her and wander out of the loop. It was 1985
or ’86 at that time, I believe. Charlotte was roving
blithely about the village by herself when she was
discovered by a constable. When she couldn’t explain
who she was or where she’d come from—not to his
liking, anyhow—the poor girl was shipped off to a
child welfare agency on the mainland. It was two days
before I could reach her, and by that time she’d aged
thirty-five years.”
“I think I’ve seen her picture,” I said. “A grown
woman in little girl’s clothes.”
Miss Peregrine nodded somberly. “She never was
the same after that. Not right in the head.”
“What happened to her?”
“She lives with Miss Nightjar now. Miss Nightjar and
Miss Thrush take all the hard cases.”