Now You See Me | Thomas Shelby

seven; expect the unexpected

"No, the first thing we've learned is we unhook the coat from the hook before we try and get into it." Polly-Anna's motherly tone seemed to calm the flailing Amber, just enough for her to be able to squeeze her arm out of the viperous grip of the coat, yet her fingers still gripping tightly onto the string of pearls.

Ambers eyes seemed to widen when she saw how her sister was trying to remove the pearls from her clutch and only gripped onto them harder than before. Neither were ones to argue, especially over something as frivolous as chained pearls.

Silently thanking God, Amber pulled her big sister into a hug, her head resting on her as she did so.

"Can we go on an adventure today?" A small pause followed before she unburied herself from her sister, adding onto her question with another, "Just the two of us?"

With her big, bug like eyes staring up at her, there was no way that Polly-Anna could say no. It was such a harmless request, and spending a day, a full day- with her little sister sounded like a dream. Sure, they spent every day together, but never truly spent their time with one another, uninterrupted. School, work, John, Thomas- they all got in the way of quality Wallace time...

Not that either of them truly minded, of course. The boys were if anything, refreshing and slightly annoying from times- but boys were.

"I'll grab my coat—"
"And a jam jar!!"

After finally letting go of the pearls, Amber ran into their shared room and vanished for a good five minutes. Nothing but mumbles and an occasional clatter could be heard, but Polly-Anna just left her to it. Whatever it was, was a secret and even though she hated surprises and secrets, this one must've been important for her to be going to any lengths to keep it that way.

Whilst the eldest was in the kitchen, placing a jam jar into one coat pocket and an apple into the other, she leaned against the kitchen counter- for a moment, just staring blankly out of the window.

One year closer to becoming something more than a teenager, a year closer to becoming greater than what she was now. One year closer to the inevitable, but so many years away from it too. Without Amber running into John Shelby, she wouldn't have been able to become an independent tailor on the side of her normal sewing girl job. That added sense of freedom and originality made her happier than she had been in a long time.

"We're going to be late if you keep staring at the— whatever's out there." Amber called out, giving Polly-Anna a wake up call from hell.

Had Amber been able to see out of the window, she'd see a whole lot of widows facing one another, but the horizon in the distance. The horizon was what Polly-Anna always fixated on, until it made her blue in the face.

"Late? How can we be late when we've no plans?"

Not only did the eight year old refrain from replying to an incredibly simple question, but she grabbed hold of her sisters hand and began to drag her out of the house- giving her barely enough time to lock the door behind them.

Amber had Polly-Anna practically running with how quickly she had began to walk.

Wherever the duo were going must be of some importance for her to get them both in a speed walk.

"Do you want the watch too, so you can have us running here, there and everywhere within your apparent time crunch?" Though her statement was a mere joke, Amber stopped them both in their tracks to hold out her hand.

Had she have been paying attention to anything other than the blonde haired gremlin that was in front of her, she very well could've gone arse-over-tit. Thankfully, having known Amber-Jacks actions weren't always thought through before being executed, she knew to expect something along the lines of abrupt halts and harshly rounding corners.