After a long day at the beach, Riya was surprisingly, still pale. The two siblings walked arm in arm back to the Priest Hole. Riya was actually smiling and daydreaming about how it felt to be held by the Ymbryne. Her head was on her brother's shoulder. Their father caught up with them from behind again. Riya immediately righted herself, on the defensive. She

"Hey!" he called. "Lose track of time again?"

Jake nodded.

"Might become a regular thing," Riya proposed. She'd obviously been spending too much time around these accented folk. She was shortening her sentences like they did.

"Well, not too regular because you know we have to go back." She

Why did that give Riya just a painful feeling in her chest. It got all tight, making it hard for her to breathe.

The trio walked a little ways in silence.

They eventually came across a sort of driveway and were flagged down, "Hey, you American. Get over here." It was an old farmer.

"Look, there they are, there's D-bag and worm-man," Franklin commented as the three of then approached the fence.

Riya shot Jake a nervous look. The boys didn't know the cover story and, even if they did, they probably wouldn't help the siblings. Jake ignored the look.

"Did you do this?" the farmer asked, pointing behind him.

Riya stepped up to the fence, her eyes raking over the dead cows across the field. A soft cry left her lips and she turned around, not being able to bear looking anymore.

"Of course not!" Jake exclaimed.

"It wasn' us," the 'rappers' said.

"Listen, sir, I don't know what happened here but my son and his friends have been together all day. And Jake would never do anything like this," Franklin explained, forgetting all about his first born.

"Bollocks! We haven' seen 'im!" Worm yelped.

"You paid us 'e ot'er day. Why would we hang out with him today fer free?" Dirty D asked.

Franklin turned to his only son. "Jake, were you with them or not?"

"No," Jake replied honestly. "Sorry! But you don't seriously think I could do this?" Jake demanded.

"I think we're done here, sir." Franklin lead Jake away by his shoulder, gesturing for Riya to follow.

Riya turned to the boys, the farmer had left. "You couldn't have just gone with it? We would have been each other's alibis," she exclaimed.

"We're no' covering fer two barmy liars!" Worm yelled. "'specially one who belongs in a nu' house!"

Riya paused. "You've been talking to my father." It wasn't a question.

"Aye," Dirty D confirmed. "Last night, we went into the Priest Hole. Yer father thanked us fer showin' ye two around. Said ye both were messed up in 'e head. You mor' 'an 'im." His accent got thicker the more he talked. Like he'd thought he was American when she spoke, but remembered he wasn't the longer he was around them.

*

Back at the Hole, Franklin shuffled both siblings into the his and Jake's room. He didn't even yell at them. He just got on a landline and called a number. "Well, can you pass on a message for me? ... Can you tell Dr. Golan that if she hadn't encouraged this cockamamie trip maybe my kids wouldn't be mopping around all day in a derelict house HAVING A GODDAMN BREAKDOWN? Hello?" he called.

"You yelled, Dad. They hung up on you," Riya explained.

"Oh, like you know how people work so well!" Franklin snapped at her.

"Dad, we're weren't... I'm fine. We're fine," Jake insisted from his spot on in a chair.

"You're not. You are not fine, Jake. Coming here was a terrible... terrible idea," Franklin walked over to his bed, grabbing his jacket.

Riya stood up from her position on the bed. "Actually, I think it was the best idea you've ever had." She marched from the room, to her own.

*

Riya was humming, brushing her hair. She filed her nails, having taken her pills already. Her cat looked up at her when she heard the filing and started purring, mimicking the sound of the file. Riya smiled and rolled over to meet her kitty. She scratched the soft fur with her freshly filed nails and let the kitty move her head wherever she wanted her owner's hand to scratch. After 5 minutes, Nefarion grew bored and stood. She walked all over the edge of the bed then jumped off, crawling under the furniture. Riya leaned over to watch. "You're almost too fat to fit," she informed the cat.

It let it an indignant mrowl in response.

A few minutes later, Riya pulled her hair into a braid and got the hair tie around the end. She looked out the window distractedly. She saw a glob of white hurling toward her window and jumped to open it. The bird fell right into Riya's hands. It had a familiar looking light around it. Cradling the obviously injured bird to her person, Riya carefully put her coat on. She went to her bedroom door and slipped into her boots without putting any socks on.

Dressed to her liking, Riya bolted from the Hole. She ran to the loop entrance, watching her back carefully. She slid inside the cavern, careful to avoid the rocks, and ran to a familiar house. She ran up the steps. Once on the porch, Riya pulled the rope which was the doorbell. She cringed when the noise it made was louder than usual, or was that her paranoia? Miss Peregrine opened the door a few minutes later, obviously having told the children to go back to bed. "You as well, Mr. Nullings!" she called over her shoulder. She turned to Riya, shocked to see the girl soaking wet despite the fair weather in the loop. "Riya," was all she could manage.

The brunette slowly peeled her jacket away from the still-dry bird in her arms. "This beautiful creature nearly ran into my window. It's... Well, I believe it is an Ymbryne."

Miss Peregrine's eyes were glued to the small avocet. She opened the door wider, pulling Riya inside by the front of her unzipped her coat. "Shoes," she instructed.

With a balance she'd never before possessed, Riya held the bird to her chest, pulling her feet from the boots with the opposite foot pinning it down.

Alma walked behind her, wordlessly taking the sides of the coat's hood.

Riya cradled the bird with her right arm as her left was removed from her coat. She barely moved the avian as she wiggled her left arm under it. She slid her right arm from her sleeve. She let the Ymbryne take the coat and hang it up, focusing on the bird.

Alma touched her elbow to get her attention back. Their eyes connected for a long moment.

*

An invisible boy ran to Emma's room, letting himself in. "You'll never guess what I just saw."

*

Alma led Riya into the kitchen. She examined the bird as much as she could as it refused to leave Riya's arms even for her former protege's.

"Is it an Ymbryne?" Riya asked.

"Yes, she is," Alma confirmed. "Ymbrynes are always female."

"Due to the maternal gene?" Riya asked, her eyes glued to the tiny, damaged bird.

Alma smiled at Riya. "I don't know the why of that question," she informed. "How did you know she was?"

Riya glanced up from the bird and shrugged. "The color I see around you, I also see around her." She went to hand the bird over to the other of her kind, but received a squeal, same as last time.

"You should stay the night," Alma proposed. "To help me take care of her."

Riya obviously wanted to if the look on her face was anything to go by.  "Franklin found out we were lying to him about where we were spending our days. He'll want to keep an eye on us anytime he can."

Alma brushed her hand through Riya's bangs. "I won't let you oversleep," she promised.

The young woman was obviously tired and was very tempted to fall asleep in the little rocking chair she currently inhabited. She nodded and Alma helped her to stand, guiding her up the stairs.