#peregrinetask

blaine had not slept at all, having stayed up to watch a deep sea expedition live stream that went on for hours and hours. he’s not even sure what time it was, as he was so deeply ensconced on his laptop screen, curtains blocking the window, and with him all huddled up in his comforter. so, when his phone buzzed just as he was in the middle of another show, blaine’s half-tempted to not check it. it was probably just jett. or rai. no one else texts him, not that he bothers reaching out to others, in the first place. still, the possibility of it being jett or rai makes him reach blindly for his phone. a soft sound of triumph slips past his lips as he takes hold of his phone, his momentary joy quickly disappearing once he sees the message. blaine doesn’t know if he should take the whole 911 thing seriously-- after all, teenagers were usually so dramatic. 

still, he decides he can’t risk it, and the message did say jett and rai would be there, along with the other coven members. while he wasn’t really that stoked about meeting with so much people, he decides that this must be important. hopefully. 

i. 

the loud vibrato of her phone startled isla from her much needed nap and with a quick glance at its contents made the girl into a flurry of movements. 

dreamboat striker says, 911!! we don’t have much time, hugo is in the hospital and the coven has to meet like now forward to jett, blaine, poppy, rai, and dawn. we are going to meet at the ravine in an hour.

iyabella says, 👍🏼 👌🏼

[ message — forest: 911!! we don’t have much time, hugo is in the hospital and the coven has to meet like now forward to jett, blaine, poppy, rai, and dawn. we are going to meet at the ravine in an hour. ] FWD to grumpy cat 🌚, tim drake, pirena,  ☕☕☕, and golden retriever. 

isla was dressed in thick clothes, out of the house, and in her jeep in less than five minutes — it was like she was forced back to rely on childhood conditioning; just seeing the words hospital and meet and hour it was like she was eight again and grabbing an overnight pack to stay over at the chosen babysitters’ house because her parents were too busy with work yet still hovering with worry about their daughters. speaking of— 

iyabella says, meeting up w/ blaine for matheletes prep. be back before curfew. love you, mama!

ii.

magic. disease. traiteur. 

the old lady was right — she thought it was a mere coincidence, an instance of the baader-meinhof phenomenon. it began with an offhanded comment she heard in corner coffee, about calling in faith healers to help with the nigh incurable virus. then she thought it during that conversation with jett in the waiting room. then aaron mentioned it during the editorial meeting for this week’s issue of the falcon. and now.

it was basically confirmation of that old crone’s words: “ah, you will be a mighty traiteuse, mon cher. your coven though, de’pouille, the lot of you.” 

it’s another expectation of her. another weight added onto her shoulders. it wasn’t enough that she was tasked to be the next doctor in the family, as mia chose law and pia chose engineering. it wasn’t enough that she had to go to yale or it’s equivalent to please her mother. it wasn’t enough—

goddammit! nothing is ever enough! nothing is ever fucking enough for goddamn fucking iya margarita! senior year, honours classes, ivy league applications, and now the well being of an entire fucking town— diosmio, i just want to fucking graduate high school in peace, why the fuck am i even here? 

iii.

the secrets were coming out of the woodwork and isla couldn’t even bother to care. she shut down   — she doesn’t want to know that the best friend she could ever have is an arsonist or that the boy she had a crush on since forever was emotionally and psychologically abused as a child. she doesn’t want to know the man that taught her how to use a shotgun was a pedophile, even if that does explain why her mother is extremely uncomfortable in visiting the edwards house nowadays. she doesn’t want to know about jett basically confirming that he’s a juvenile delinquent and that rai is whatever— she just doesn’t want to know, okay!

“i just don’t want to know, okay!” she suddenly burst out. “i don’t want to know about your secrets and your faults and what the fucking hell you get into your spare time— i just want to finish high school without any entanglements and get into harvard. is that too much to ask!?”

all eyes were staring at her; varying emotions danced amongst them. she had her hands entangled in her hair and was pacing over her chosen four feet of dirt. she was at war within herself, keep in denial or go with the flow.

“we’re the coven right, we gotta stick together.”

and as she heard that statement, she laughed. loud, derisive, and very much unlike the quiet girl they know her as — it was like a wolf howling at the moon, madness personified. she was losing her tether at reality ( denial is not just a river in egypt, darling ) and the cloying humidity thickening around them. 

“this is madness.” she snidely remarked, teeth bared at the lot. she flicked her wrist and a sudden whip of corded water hit a bark of the tree, cleanly slicing off a part of it’s trunk. “but we’re all mad here, aren’t we?”

iv.

“i don’t know what you want me to say,” she trilled, a watery giggle at the edge of her words “i’m not like you lot! i’m boring— i don’t have secrets!” 

someone snorted, she didn’t know who nor did she particularly care, but the cord of water that was wrapped around her arm since her earlier outburst flew towards that direction and stopped a quarter of an inch from blaine’s jugular. his eyes widened at the near miss and isla just smirked, feral and unhinged. 

( there is a reason why isla was a non-entity in peregrine. why she was considered meek as a mouse and quiet as a lamb. a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a madness undisturbed — the meek do not qualify in national championships and win state finals. the meek do not get elected year after year after year. the meek—  

the meek shall inherit the earth: biblically, being meek meant power within control. to dominate while being subjugated. to be like water: soft enough to slip through your fingers, but powerful enough to drown your enemies. 

isla is meek, just not the kind that you think. )

“huh.” she pulled it back, the cord wrapping itself around her arm. “i guess i have better control over my magic than most of you think.” 

v.

secret. noun. defined as something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others. 

"machiavelli.” she uttered after a beat. breathe, one two. “okay, uhm, geez. secrets, what have i done that none of yous know?” 

isla ran a hand through her hair, musing up the already messed up chignon her hair was in. the wedge sneakers crumpling the fallen leaves as she paced to and fro. she was wracking her brain for something — anything — to say, because she was literally an open book.

“vinko? no, sky and viv already know about that— pretest rituals? no, that was already exposed during sophomore year— blaine already made a fucking joke about it back then. uhm, freshman year?” she looked at their expressions, judging if they actually know what caused her to quit varsity swim midway spring semester. 

the coven had hues of obliviousness painted on their faces and for the life of her, she couldn’t help but cackle. sharp and chilling, like the sudden winter frost that peregrine oft suffers from. the bell chimes echoing howls of thin air and maelstroms of snow — “teenagers.” she scoffed. “if there was one thing you could count on this town, it’s that teenagers would look the other way when it comes to other people suffering life changing events.”

( here’s the thing: isla was never supposed to study in peregrine high school. she was supposed to go to one of those elite boarding schools in the east coast like her older sisters, continue on her skyrocketing academic career, and head on to university without any hardships — but that didn’t happen. instead, she attended miss porter’s for a term and then transferred to peregrine due to reasons undisclosed. )

“it was february — smack dab in the middle of state championships. i did varsity swim, yeah?” there was a longing in her voice, like a distant shore calming a wave. “i specialised in medleys— sprints. i mean, i wasn’t as good as pia— she’s a whole other level— but i was good. i qualified and i clock in at 2:17.05. that’s just ten seconds slower than the current WR and five seconds faster than the 4A regs, you know? i was good.” a sigh. “i was good — but then, well, you know how jealousy strikes.” 

( quick and deadly, the green eyed monster knows no bounds. children with egos unfit for their bodies and unflinching with the consequences — all they know is they need to be the best and with isla in the way, they couldn’t achieve that..) 

“i just finished training with coach morrison — just an easy eight laps, because i was already on taper. then i was attacked— they were senior varsity, their last year to win state and all that. mama said to always be on alert. always. but i didn’t know any better and well, the club had always been safe.” she laughed and it sent shivers down her own spine, it was a mix deranged and disparaging. at the precipice of insanity. “they drowned me. grabbed me by the hair and the legs and shoved me into the pool. i was breathing in chlorine and pool water and they just held me down. they kept shoving and shoving and shoving, until... they stopped.” 

per utterance of the word shoving, the waves in west beach grew larger and larger and larger until they crashed against the gorge. the sea was under her control, whether she knew it or not, and her emotions are overwhelming her control. madness— this is madness. ( but we’re all mad here. )

“i think i died that day,” she bit her bottom lip and for the first time in the entire night, she looked unsure. afraid. weak. “i don’t really know, because it all faded to black— the next thing i knew i was at home. i was still in my suit and i had no idea where my stuff where, but i was at home.” i was safe.

breathe in. one. ( ring-a-ring o’ roses, a pocketful of posies; ashes! ashes! we’re all tumbling down. ) two. breathe out. 

“anyway, i got gold in both 200m i.m. and 100m back and a silver in 100m fly. then i quit right after  — i ran on spite and xiào. just one last push to make mamá proud.”

a beat. one, two. then she smiled, in that picturesque replica of a stepfordian facade that the topacio berenguer blanchard girls have perfected over the years. she looks a bit disturbed, eyes shining bright and empty, hair looking like a hornet’s nest, and make up smeared ever so slightly. she looks like she just got out of a college pub in port angeles, right before she gets into an alley to do the dirty with a questionable stranger. it’s alarming.

family is the only thing we have

What is your brutally honest opinion of POPPY? 

“no.” she scowled, slinking onto herself. “poppy is fire and brimstone, a building collapse in half past two 一 she is as her element is; frightening and uncontrollable. i don’t like that and i don’t like her.”

Do you think that FOREST is a valuable member of the coven? 

“define valuable.” ( according to merriam webster: valuable means having desirable or esteemed characteristics or qualities ) “as a person, he is. very. forest is… quite special.” she cleared her throat. “as a member of the coven, i think he is too. he controls the earth and everything therein一 or so i’ve heard. the coven could use that in whatever bad spirits come their way一 and he seems to like his newfound powers, which is more than what i can say for myself.”

What would you do if you have to switch powers with VIVIAN? 

“can’t she just keep mine?” she offered. “viv can keep mine, and hers, if she wishes. she can have both, really.”

If it came down to a duel between you and BLAINE, who would win? 

“i know self defence 一 i can send blaine to the a&e if needed.” she answered candidly, as if she were bored with the questions and was just waiting to be dismissed. “but, that’s not really the question you’re asking, isn’t it?” she rolled her eyes, typical 一 “if one has an understanding on how the laws of physics work, then one would know the outcome of such duel 一 he is energy personified, his strength and power come from within. blaine needs to generate lightning or plasma or lord knows what to actually participate in such hypothetical fight 一 i, however, would not need to. the body is made of sixty percent of water; the blood that flows in your veins and the cerebrospinal fluid that controls your nervous system are highly similar to my element 一 i would not need to summon lightning or magnetise garbage bin lids to gain the upperhand. i would just… drain them.” a beat. “also, water is a conduit 一 any attack he might make, i could deflect.”

she smiles, her teeth bared and eyes dark. “know thy enemy; blaine kwon is a science prodigy who frequently uses the grading curve as an intellectual skipping rope 一 if i wanted to be the valedictorian of the class of 2017, i needed to know how he operates. he fancies himself an underdog and a showman 一 and that, would be his downfall.”  

Would you ever do a large favor for JETT, even if it meant risking your own life? 

the answer was an unflinching ‘yes’ with eyes narrowed and claws drawn. “we protect our own; i may not like jett 一 and i may like to pretend this ‘coven’ business is nonexistent, but we protect our own.”  

What do you most want to know about HUGO? 

“mit.” she said, a little bit derisive and a whole lot of puzzled. “why mit? out of all the colleges in northern america, why pick mit? is it because it’s thirty two hundred miles away? is it because it has the best tech-transfer program in the world? is it because of the grant opportunities and possible lab internships and partnerships? why?” a beat. “also, can he explain why i can’t seem to leave town for longer than a fortnight without dying-ish? because i could’ve gone to miss porter’s but i kept having phantom pains and narcoleptic attacks during the term i attended there, and if this… thing is the reason, how the hell will college work, because there is no way in hell i’m going to attend evergreen state or university of washington or god forbid, peregrine community college 一 i did not spend fifteen years of my life in a perpetual panic to get the best grades possible to be able to qualify at an ivy league institution to just not attend because of goddamn bleedin’ magic!”

How do you think SKYLAR sees you? 

a pawn, was the immediate thought. a means to an end, was another.  a cautionary tale. a loyal disciple. someone to further his socio-political machinations in this one horse town of peregrine, washington. 

“i sold my soul to a three-piece and he told me i was holy,” the raven haired beauty sang, lopsided in tune and smiling. “skylar, i think, embodies the psychosis of the white man’s burden 一 justifying what is expected of him with his actions without taking into account the consequences involved.” she bit her lip in a glee that devolved into a fit of snorting giggles that she hid behind her hands 一 an inside joke that she just realised. “sorry, sorry. it’s just… funny, because kipling wrote that poem in regards the fil-american revolution in the turn of the twentieth century, and i know i shouldn’t find it amusing but一 sky is a friend, truly, but i don’t think he understands the power he has over people.” a beat. “so i think, sky sees me as his tom hagen: i would do what needs to be done, no matter what the costs; and his platonic pepper potts: a tether to normality 一 and i am quite happy about that.”

If you were trapped on a secluded island, would you rather be with character DAWN or RAI?

What is your brutally honest opinion of [Blaine]?

“Blaine? Um -- he’s... nice. Well, he’s not just nice -- he’s really nice. And... nice. No, wait -- i meant to say supportive. He’s one of the only members of the coven that hasn’t made me feel like a poor choice for leader. He’s also funny, creative and really, really smart; I wish I could make half of the things that he can. And... he’s... warm. I mean he makes me feel warm. ... Why are you asking?”

Do you think that [Jett] is a valuable member of the coven?

"I do. I don’t know much about his power, but as a person, I would say he’s important. We haven’t really had any... coven meetings, but I feel like his presence there is... necessary, in a way. He plays just as big of a part in this as anyone else does.”

What would you do if you have to switch powers with [Forest]?

"I don’t know... Try and figure out how to reverse it? There isn’t much else I could do, since we all have our... gifts for a reason. I guess it’d be nice not to hear ‘have you heard from our dead predecessors?’ every five seconds though.”

If it came down to a duel between you and [Rai], who would win?

"I would say that Rai would win -- their power is probably a lot more suited for dueling than mine is. Besides, I don’t think I’d fair up well in any form of fight, with or without powers. Rai strikes me as someone that probably knows how to fight, too, so... I would really rather not duel them, but if I had to, they would win.”

Would you ever do a large favor for [Dawn], even if it meant risking your own life?

"I -- I want to say yes, but Dawn and I aren’t actually that close. She’s more my mom’s friend than mine... My mom would say yes -- maybe you should ask her.”

What do you most want to know about [Isla]?

"I’d really like to know how she manages -- well... everything, I guess. She’s a member of almost every reputable club or extracurricular at school, and she works at Peregrine Library. She even finds time to volunteer at Harborview Medical Center! If I could know anything about Isla, it would definitely be how she makes time to do everything; that’s always been something I’ve admired about her.”

How do you think [Poppy] sees you?

"I... don’t think she really sees me at all. Poppy and I don’t really talk or spend time together -- and I’d probably prefer that it stayed that way. I don’t expect her to see me as anything more than a bad leader.”

If you were trapped on a secluded island, would you rather be with [Skylar] or [Vivian]?

What is your brutally honest opinion of [Poppy]?

“Poppy is a stone-cold bitch who doesn’t the meaning of devotion, hard-work or loyalty. She just -uGH! She gets me so fucking angry because she tries to force her opinion on other people when obviously they don’t want to hear them and god, like she just needs to shut up sometimes. She just needs to just like get out of this coven because I doubt she’s doing anything important.” 

Do you think that [Rai] is a valuable member of the coven?

“No to be honest, anyone that isn’t Forest or I is kinda just lose ends trying to find their place. Isla is pretty cool too, I guess, so I guess she can say because she does some cool stuff, but besides that I don’t think they’re really valued.” 

What would you do if you have to switch powers with [Blaine]?

“Energy? Energy?!? You think I want to try manipulating energy or some shit? Whatever the fuck Blaine does with his free time? Hell no. Air manipulation is pretty awesome, why would I want to do anything else?”

If it came down to a duel between you and [Dawn], who would win?

“Me because I always win.”

Would you ever do a large favor for [Vivian], even if it meant risking your own life?

“No, of course not. My life is never more important than anyone elses except Forest and my siblings.” Honestly though, if I bullet was in her path, I would take it for her. I know she wouldn’t do the same because... well, you guys don’t need to know that sad shit. She’s great, but I’m not going to tell her that. 

What do you most want to know about [Forest]?

“That’s funny. You think Forest and I don’t share everything.”

How do you think [Jett] sees you?

“Ha. HA. Ha. He hates me and I hate him. Though, I love just pushing his button because they’re just so easy to push.”

If you were trapped on a secluded island, would you rather be with character [Hugo] or [Isla]?

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