Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children

think it might be a …” but then slipped on loose gravel, and her last word was lost as she scrambled and caught herself before she could fall.

“Be careful!” I shouted, my heart racing. “Wait, I’m coming, too!”

I splashed into the lake after her.

“It might be a what?” called Enoch.

“Only one way to find out!” Emma said excitedly, and climbed farther into the giant’s mouth.

“Oh, Lord,” said Horace. “There she goes …”

“Wait!” I shouted again—but she was gone already, disappeared down the giant’s throat.

*   *   *

The giant appeared even larger up close than it had from the shore, and peering down into its dark throat, I swore I could almost hear old Cuthbert breathing. I cupped my hands and called Emma’s name. My own voice came echoing back. The others were wading into the lake now, too, but I couldn’t wait for them—what if she was in trouble down there?—so I gritted my teeth, lowered my legs into the dark, and let go.

I fell for a long time. A full second. Then splash—a plunge into water so cold it made me gasp, all my muscles constricting at once. I had to remind myself to tread water or sink. I was in a dim, narrow chamber filled with water, with no way back up the giant’s long, smooth throat; no rope, no ladder, no footholds. I shouted for Emma, but she was nowhere around.

Oh God, I thought. She’s drowned!

But then something tickled my arms, and bubbles began breaking all around me, and a moment later Emma broke the surface, gasping for breath.

She looked okay by the pale light. “What are you waiting for?” she said slapping the water with her hand like she wanted me to dive down with her. “Come on!”

“Are you insane?” I said. “We’re trapped in here!”

“Of course we’re not!” she said.

Bronwyn’s voice called from above. “Hellooooo, I hear you down there! What have you found?”

“I think it’s a loop entrance!” Emma called back. “Tell everyone to jump in and don’t be afraid—Jacob and I will meet you on the other side!”

And then she took my hand, and though I didn’t quite understand what was going on, I drew a deep breath and let her pull me underwater. We flipped and scissor-kicked downward toward a person-sized hole in the rock through which a gleam of daylight was visible. She pushed me inside and then came after, and we swam through a shaft about ten feet long and then out into the lake. Above us I could see its rippling surface, and above that the blue, refracted sky, and as we rose toward it the water warmed dramatically. Then we broke into the air and