The Woman with the Blue Star, Pam Jenoff [highly recommended books txt] 📗

will see if there is a way out.” Leaving went against everything Saul wanted and believed in, but he was willing to look for a way for me. “But only to check in case we need somewhere to go in an emergency. We are not leaving.” His voice was firm.

The next night he met me outside the tunnel. “What about the grate above the annex where we read?” I asked.

He shook his head. “It’s welded shut.”

“You tried to open it? I’m surprised.”

He smiled. “There are a great many things about me that might surprise you, Sadie Gault.” Then his expression grew serious again. “But I did pass another tunnel once when I went past the annex.” He started in that direction and I followed him, our arms bumping into one another occasionally as we navigated the narrow tunnel side by side. “I think there may be a path here.” He led me down a pipe, but it was a dead end, walled off.

“We have to follow the water,” I said.

We tried a different tunnel, but it was a circular route and led us back to the chamber. Another failure. Finally, we followed the tunnel to where it grew wider, the water rushing more fiercely. I saw for the first time since we had come the slatted boards across the water where Papa had fallen and drowned. I stopped, tears filling my eyes.

Saul walked up beside me and put his hand on my shoulder, seeming to sense my pain. “Your father, he would have been very proud of you,” he offered. “The way you have managed in the sewer and taken care of your mother.” I did not answer. We stood for several seconds, neither speaking. “Come,” he said at last. “I think the river is this way.” I thought for a second that he meant the sewer river, which made no sense—we were already standing on its banks. But as he led me in an unfamiliar direction and the water began to flow harder and faster, I realized he meant the Wisła River and the outside world.

As I continued on, the path became more familiar. We were retracing the steps we had taken the night Pawel had led us here, only in reverse. I saw the low, capped pipe we’d had to shimmy through and hoped we would not have to do that again now. Thankfully, Saul led me away from the narrow pipe. “Look, there’s another way over here.” He pointed to a path almost too narrow to fit through, more of a crack in the wall than an actual tunnel. We had to go through single file and I went first, wedging myself into the tight space. It sloped upward as though reaching the street. At last we could see a wide opening where the sewer pipe dumped into a branch of the river, the vast sky beyond. The sight of so much open space, more than I had seen since we had gone into the sewer, was tantalizing. I took a step forward, eager to see the stars that dotted the now-clear sky. We could go, I realized. Saul and I could just keep walking and reach freedom.

Suddenly there was a loud clattering noise ahead. Saul caught me in his arms and pulled me back away from the opening. We heard the barking of German shepherds on the riverbank, followed by voices giving them stern commands to search. I froze. Had the Germans detected us? Saul pulled me into a crevice in the tunnel wall, pressing me so tightly to him I could feel his heart beating through our clothes. We did not move, barely breathed.

A few minutes later, the barking subsided. Still, Saul continued to hold me close. A wave of warmth shot through me. I liked him, I realized more fully than I had before, in a way I had never felt before about a boy. For a second, feeling his heartbeat against mine, I wondered if he might feel the same. Even as I thought this, I was more certain than ever that it was impossible. He could not possibly be drawn to me like this, amidst all of the dirt and filth and fear. I could not help but feel, though, that something had changed between us, with the flood and now this, bringing us closer. He released me and we started back to the chamber in silence.

“So you see,” he said when we were well away from the opening, “there is no way out but the river, and we cannot possibly...”

I raised my hand, silencing him. I heard an echo ahead, coming from a small tunnel off to the right that I had not noticed before. “This way.” I motioned for him to follow me. It led to a deep chamber, more of a concrete basin really, the bottom a good six feet down. The basin was empty now, but I could tell from the dampness it was a reservoir that would fill when the water in the pipes overflowed. On the far wall, there was a high opening to another pipe. “Come on,” I said, scampering down into the basin.

“Sadie, wait. What are you doing? You’ll never get back up.”

But I continued across the basin, not listening. “I have to try.”

“Of course you do.” There was a note of fondness in his voice as he followed me.

“I need you to boost me to that pipe on the far wall to see if there is a place for us to hide or escape.” He looked at me as if I was out of my mind and I thought that he would protest, but he followed me across the basin. “Help me,” I said. But he hesitated. Then reluctantly, he put his hands on my waist just enough to lift me to the high pipe on the far side. He pulled away quickly, but the warmth where his hands had been lingered.

I peered down the pipe. There was a narrow crawl space and