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

“We made it,” Emma gasped. “I can’t believe we made it.”

“I can’t believe I drove stick,” I said.

The conductor appeared. “You’re back,” he said with a beleaguered sigh. “I trust you still have your tickets?”

Horace fished them from his pocket in a wad.

“This way to your cabin,” said the conductor.

“Our trunk!” Bronwyn said, clutching at the conductor’s elbow. “Is it still there?”

The conductor pried his arm away. “I tried taking it to lost and found. Couldn’t move the blessed thing an inch.”

We ran from car to car until we reached the first-class cabin, where we found Bronwyn’s trunk sitting just where she’d left it. She rushed to it and threw open the latches, then the lid.

Miss Peregrine wasn’t inside. I had a mini heart attack.

“My bird!” Bronwyn cried. “Where’s my bird?!”

“Calm down, it’s right here,” said the conductor, and he pointed above our heads. Miss Peregrine was perched on a luggage rack, fast asleep.

Bronwyn stumbled back against the wall, so relieved she nearly fainted. “How did she get up there?”

The conductor raised an eyebrow. “It’s a very lifelike toy.” He turned and went to the door, then stopped and said, “By the way, where can I get one? My daughter would just love it.”

“I’m afraid she’s one of a kind,” Bronwyn said, and she took Miss Peregrine down and hugged her to her chest.

*   *   *

After all we’d been through over the past few days—not to mention the past few hours—the luxury of the first-class cabin came as a shock. Our car had plush leather couches, a dining table, and wide picture windows. It looked like a rich man’s living room, and we had it all to ourselves.

We took turns washing up in the wood-paneled bathroom, then availed ourselves of the dining menu. “Order anything you like,” Enoch said, picking up a telephone that was attached to the arm of a reclining chair. “Hello, do you have goose liver pate? I should like all of it. Yes, all that you have. And toast triangles.”

No one said anything about what had happened. It was too much, too awful, and for now we just wanted to recover and forget. There was so much else to be done, so many more dangers left to reckon with.

We settled in for the journey. Outside, Porthmadog’s squat houses shrank away and Miss Wren’s mountain