Esmeralda had, since the very moment they stepped into Small Heath, been sneaking off to a distant land full of mischief and mayhem. Whilst a lovely story for her sisters to hear, she had actually been sneaking off to the Cut, to meet a man who she knew very little about. He was a gentleman, but when needed all of that blew away with the wind.

Well— that wasn't all she had been doing whilst on her late night escapades.

Esmeralda had actually been on three little adventures whilst away from the camp.

Firstly, she was collecting information that the girls could use to their advantage about places they could hide within plain sight. Places that had women of bored faces and plain clothes- like Communists Corner and the dockyards, or just south of Comptons Chemists. But she had spent extra time looking for somewhere that Milly could blend into, and after eight long weeks she had still come out empty handed. That girl, oh boy, that girl stuck out like a sore thumb amongst thimbled fingers.

The second adventure was a little more... selfish.

Every Sunday, at exactly nine PM, the bakery that sold the sweetest bread pudding the world had ever seen, offered it out for a lesser price and the girl loved nothing more than treating herself with her hard earned money. Sometimes, though, she would return with extra, but that just depended on how the other girls were to her in the week leading up to it.

But- also, the third and final thing wasn't for anyone else but herself. She didn't bring it home on the odd occasion, and she definitely didn't tell anyone about it. Her little love affair with a man she had first met during the meal after John Shelbys beacon had gone almost completely unnoticed.

And it would've gone completely unnoticed if Isaiah Jesus hadn't have left little markings across her back.

"Esmeralda- what in the ever loving fuck happened to your back?! Looks like an alleycat got at you!" Nicolette called out, walking over to her sister, who'd mistakenly took off her top without checking to see if anyone was around.

Nicolette had only seen the marks by chance, a perfectly poor timed walk past her opened tent, where the moon hit her alabaster skin and almost illuminated the markings.

Esmeralda silently thanked whatever godly being was behind that, she had been in her shared tent with Milly- who had her face pushed so far into the pillow it almost looked like she was trying to smother herself half to death. Had Aberama been there, or even in the camp, it would've been a whole new story. A story with guns blazing, deafening those who walked by.

"Will you keep it down?! Jesus Christ!" The eldest Golds voice cut through the murmurs between the youngest two.

Her eyes glanced between the them, narrowing in on Josette first. Had Milly been alert and not a zombified version of herself- she would've been the one receiving the dagger eyes instead. Actually, she would've received far worse, but luckily for everyone around, she wasn't exactly lucid.

"Or what? You've no top on and won't run after me." Nicolette taunted, knowing full well that a jumper was within inches of Esmeraldas grasp.

The paling faces of both Nicolette and Josette made Esmeralda let out an ungodly cackle, and that seemed to be the only thing to awaken the kraken in the bed beside her.

Milly, using all of the strength she could muster, propped her body up by one hand. Her head craned to the side, if venom could drip from the eyes, hers would be streaming. Her head pounded, something she had been dealing with since the moment they ended up in Small Heath, and none of the witches laughs helped.

"If you don't shut up, I'm going to shove my fingers so deep into your eyes, you'll feel it in your brain." Her voice rasped before her energy gave out, face planting back into her pillow.

Esmeralda looked, for a moment, like a concerned big sister- but Milly was one half of a bonded soul. Nothing could destroy her.

Before Nicolette could say anything else, she was roughly dragged out by the collar of her shirt by Josette. A moment or two later, Esmeralda emerged with Millys yellow jumper pulled over her once bare back.

Bonnie and Aberama had gone out to fetch something for their supper, and probably wouldn't be back for another hour- but neither three of these girls had gone through something like what Milly was about to go through, alone. So, to take their minds off of it- they went back to arguing their way through all of their unspent anxiety.

"Sex?! Esmeralda, really? That's why you're covered in bramble pricks and had those twigs in your hair that one time?" Josette accused, though she wasn't entirely wrong.

The bramble pricks were from a rough and tumble in a field on a surprisingly warm day, but the twigs were from spying on the Shelbys for information. Sadly, she came out empty handed, minus the twigs she stole from one of their trees. Had she not been caught by a very startled Finn, she probably would've come home with a mountain of news and a better understanding of the men they worked for.

"Like you haven't used one of Bonnies friends for a few nights of fun before! How is this any different from that?" Esmeralda retorted back, her tone hushed, unwilling to be the one to poke the beast.

Nicolette had a 'boyfriend' a few months back, before they both had to move to the opposite sides of the country. He was a circus boy, he helped tie up the tent and sometimes Esmeralda would find Nic watching him throw knives or axes. He wasn't a main attraction, and he also wasn't always within the circus- but they had formed this rather strange bond. She called it beneficially excellent for both parties, but not exclusive. Whatever that meant in reality, Esmeralda would never know.

"Cause—" Nicolette stuttered, knowing that what she had done was technically worse.

Isaiah Jesus wasn't friends with any of the siblings, nor did he really know anyone other than Esmeralda, either—

"Exactly, so shut your pie hole before you eat your words!"

"Oh- just shut up, both of you! At least until dad and Bonnie get back? Please." Josette broke the two blondes bicker fest with her calmer voice. "Plus, if Milly decides to throw up and choke on it, we need to be able to hear that." She added before taking her seat by the fire.

The other two took a moment before following suit, sitting next to each other, silently biding their time until the sun began to set.

It would be another hour of silence, just listening out for the crackling of the fire before they heard the loud voices of Aberama and Bonnie Gold. The first to their feet was Josette, waving to the duo excitedly, though the expression written across her face was something different.

It wasn't excitement, nor was it happy. It leaned more towards relief and exhaustion, fear and apprehension. Aberama knew straight away, but Bonnie didn't. Or rather, he didn't want to admit that his sister was about to ruin her own week by having a lifetime of dreams shoved into one night.

"How long?" Bonnie asked, the first one to speak in almost two hours.

Esmeralda shrugged, wiping her hands down the sides of her patterned skirt. "It started not long after you went. The fevers recent, but I don't think it'll take too long to break."

He nodded, before taking himself back to where he had just emerged from.

When the two twins were younger, it would only take a few hours before the other went through the same thing. So, they tried to distance themselves to prevent it from happening and it worked... for a little while, at least.

"You girls go on to sleep now, I'll keep watch. Nothing bad shall happen whilst I'm here, do you understand? Nothing at all." Aberama commanded, his tone unusually soft and light.

He hadn't used that tone in years, not since his late wife had been alive. Or- that was the last known time Esmeralda and Josette could vividly remember.

Perhaps that moment was the very first time Esmeralda had been taken off of her pedestal as the golden child, as had Bonnie- and it had finally been bestowed upon Milly.

But she wasn't and never did want to be the golden child. It didn't suit her, in fact, it was her polar opposite. Just like Bonnie was.

She was, in her mind- despite not knowing the title had changed, the golden child no more.