In the Harry Potter books that I read in my previous life there was a potion known as "Felix Felicis" or something like that, and its effect was precisely the same as my peculiarity only that it lasted much longer. The disadvantage was that it was an extremely difficult potion to make and that it could not be taken many times in life or it would cause the person to be overconfident so great, that it could lead him to perform impossible feats and possibly death. Why do I mention this? Easy, because as I recall, while you were under the influence of the potion, anyone who had lived it would feel a sense of absolute confidence, a feeling that I do not possess at all, which leads me to wonder: Has the effect of the peculiarity really been activated?
[Yes]
But I don't feel anything at all.
[Obviously: Did you think that activating the peculiarity would give you overconfidence or something? The peculiarity helps you achieve your goal, without further ado, therefore, you will not feel anything at all]
… I hope it at least works.
[It will]
"Guys, didn't Miss Peregrine have some sort of map of the different loops?" – I asked curiously.
"A map? Not that I remember... although she did mention the existence of other loops, however, I only remember two and they are not even found in this country" – said Olive.
"Too bad" – I sighed.
"You're actually wrong, Olive" - Horace said.
"What do you mean?" - asked Olive curiously.
We all looked curiously at Horace, waiting for the answer we longed to know.
"Miss Peregrine had a map that indicated the exact location of many of the loops in this country. In fact, she kept it in her desk drawer" - Horace said.
"How do you know about that?" – Emma asked.
"Once I got her to show it to me. It wasn't for too long, but I managed to know where she kept it in case we ever needed it" - Horace said.
"And didn't you think of taking it before our house was completely destroyed?" - asked Enoch with a frown.
The truth is that Enoch is usually irritating, but in this case, he is right: Why didn't Horace take that map when he had the chance?
"Do you think I didn't try? But there was a problem, Miss Peregrine kept that map under lock and she always carried the key with her, so the drawer was locked when I tried to open it" – Horace replied.
"And why didn't you try to hit it or something? Maybe it would have opened" - I said.
Maybe if I had hit him hard with something, he could have opened up. In any case he could have tried at least.
"I tried that too, but the drawer seemed to be made of diamond, I didn't even manage to dent it and since I was running out of time, I decided to take as much food as I could save" - Horace said.
"Food, which, by the way, we don't have" – Enoch said.
"Better not talk about food... I'm hungry..." – Hugh said.
Everyone seemed to agree with him, including me, because we hadn't eaten anything since yesterday and we were completely hungry. The good thing is that, thanks to me, we were not in danger to die because of dehydration because the water I could create was drinking water, so we could all drink water if we needed it, however, I could not say the same about food.
"We're certainly not exactly in the best situation, but we have to be optimistic" - said Bronwyn.
"Optimistic? I think it is impossible to be optimistic in this situation. The wights are chasing us, we have no food, a place to take refuge and much less know where there is a loop. How can we be optimistic in this situation?" – Enoch said.
The truth is that he is right, but it did not need to be said that way.
"At least thanks to Jacob, at least we won't die of dehydration" - Bronwyn said.
"Perfect, but, even if we don't die of dehydration, we will die anyway because of what I just mentioned" – Enoch said.
Claire and the twins trembled slightly and clung to me tightly.
"Enoch, don't you see that you're scaring Claire and the twins? Be a little more restrained when speaking, please" – I said.
Poor things, they are also suffering a lot and they don't have as much mental strength as we could have, I think it's not fair for him to talk like that.
The others also nodded at my words, indicating that they agreed.
"Okay, then tell me: What do you expect us to do?" – Enoch asked.
"We must find a loop" - I said.
"How? We don't have the map and we don't even know if there's a loop nearby; we don't even have a small clue" – Enoch said.
"You're wrong about that, we do have a clue" – Horace said suddenly.
"What do you mean, Horace?" – Emma asked.
"You see, yesterday, while Jacob was reading a story to Claire, I was awake trying to think of something that could get us out of this damn situation" - Horace said.
"Have you managed to come up with a solution?" – Fiona asked.
"No, not at all" – he denied.
"Then, why did you say you had a clue?" - asked Bronwyn.
"I don't have the solution to our problem, but I do have a clue as to the possible whereabouts of a loop" - Horace said.
"What's that clue?" – I asked curiously.
Obviously I think I already know what it is, but I must pretend to be surprised and curious, otherwise, it would be quite strange if I didn't show any of those expressions.
"The clue is in the story you read to Claire yesterday" - Horace said.
"In the story that the brother read to me?" – Claire asked.
"That's right, in the story" – Horace nodded.
"Seriously? You found a clue in a children's story? From a made-up tale in an old book?" - asked Millard.
"Put like that, I seem I'm crazy" – Horace said.
None of them said anything, they only stared at Horace; as if they believed that Millard's words had some truth.
"Anyway I'm not saying that the story is real or anything like that, but... I think it contains a clue as to the location of the loop" – Horace said.
"What makes you think about that?" – Olive asked.
"Think about it, the giant Cuthbert helps a handful of peculiar animals by keeping them safe from the clutches of humans, but... what if he doesn't put them on top of the mountain as the story says, but hides them in a loop?" – Horace said.
"Are you implying that the giant was real? I think a night out in the open made you ill, Horace" - Hugh said.
"I'm not saying that the giant existed, I'm simply saying that the giant could have been an Ymbryne who discovered how unfair the life of peculiar animals was and took them under her wings, hiding them all in a loop so that they would live in peace, maybe the "giant", it's simply a way of telling us the location of the loop, maybe the loop is in a tree that looks like a giant's head or something" - Horace said.
Everyone thought about it for a moment.
"Well, what you said doesn't seem entirely crazy, but, even if that were true... where exactly is the loop located?" – I asked curiously.
"That... according to the story, the loop was surrounded by mountainous areas, so I thought it might be here" - Horace said.
We looked around, but we could only see forest and more forest, nothing else.
"Here? There is nothing here but a lush forest: How can you be so sure that the loop is in this area?" – said Enoch.
"How can you be so sure of that if we're in the middle of a forest and you can't see anything but trees?" – Horace said.
It's true and it's also true that the loop is located around here, but Horace's explanations, while making sense, can't confirm the fact that this is where he finds the loop, in fact, it's entirely impossible to confirm that.
"Hmph, I just know" – Horace said.
"Anyway I think we should keep walking and get out of this forest, then we'll think about what to do" – I said.
Since even I didn't know the exact location of the loop, it was best to get out of this forest as soon as possible and then think carefully about our next step.
"Jacob is right..." – Fiona said.
"That's right, we should get out of the forest first before thinking about a possible solution" – Emma nodded.
Bronwyn, Olive, Claire, and the twins also nodded.
"Okay, let's get out of this damn forest first" – Millard nodded.
"I support Jacob's decision, I don't like this forest" – Hugh nodded.
"I agree, my suit is stained with this disgusting mud and I don't want to keep staining it even more" – Horace nodded.
"Okay, let's get out" – Enoch nodded.
That said, we started walking in one direction, if I had had the possibility to use a GPS, we could have left the forest without problems, but since it is impossible, we could simply walk in a specific direction in the hope of getting out of this damn place.
We kept walking until, at last, we came out of the forest... or so we thought, but the reality is that we found a small lake with a small island in the center.
"A lake in the middle of this forest? A bit weird really" – Olive said looking around.
But no one had time to look around carefully, because...
"Look at the island in the center of the lake!" – Claire exclaimed.
We all looked at the island in the center of the lake at once, and surprisingly, the island was shaped like a head, even what appeared to be the mouth seemed to give way to a small cave.
"The giant's head, I can't believe it..." – Fiona said.
"The story... it was true" – Emma said surprised.