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

the alley. I neared the market square and looked in the direction of the café. Part of me wanted to go see if Krys was there, but after how poorly we had parted the last time, I could not. Instead, I started back toward the bridge. It was going to take a while to get through the checkpoint and I debated whether I should take the time to walk to another bridge. As I skirted the edge of the Rynek De˛bnicki, I spied a familiar figure.

Sadie.

I blinked twice, not quite believing what I was seeing. Sadie was on the street.

I raced toward her. What was she doing here? I had gotten here not a moment too soon. She was standing in the middle of a crowd of ordinary people in broad daylight, looking around, as if to get her bearings. The dress I had given her when we last met was now soiled and wet from the sewer. She sorely stood out with her gaunt frame and dirty clothes. People steered wide around her, giving her odd looks, and any moment now someone was going to realize what was going on—and possibly alert the police. I raced toward her.

“There you are!” I said, forcing normalcy into my voice. I kissed her cheek as though nothing was amiss, trying not to cringe at the sewer smell. “We’re late for your doctor’s appointment. Come.” Before she could protest, I led her away from the square and onto a side street.

“Doctor’s appointment?” she asked when we were far enough away that no one else could hear.

“I was just trying to think of an excuse why you were standing on the street in such a state. What on earth are you doing here?” I was torn between happiness at seeing her and concern at the same time.

“The grate by the river was stuck and I had to get out. I need to find my mother.”

“Find her?” I stopped walking and turned to Sadie. An uneasy feeling rose in me. “What do you mean?”

“Right after I last saw you, my mother went into early labor. She had the baby, a girl. But we couldn’t keep her in the sewer because she was crying too loudly. So my mother brought her up to a hospital, the Bonifratrów Hospital in Kazimierz, because Pawel said someone there might shelter a child. Or at least that is what she was trying to do. It’s been over a week and she hasn’t come back yet.”

“Oh, Sadie...” My mind whirled, trying to process all that had happened to Sadie in the short time since I had last seen her.

She continued, “So I came looking for you to see if you would help me. Only you weren’t there.”

“I’m so sorry. There were children playing near the grate and I had to wait until they left.” I omitted the part about the checkpoint, not wanting to alarm her needlessly. “But, Sadie, you can’t do this. It isn’t safe for you to be up here.”

“I came out of the sewer before.”

“That was different.” Sneaking around at night to find food was one thing. Walking the streets in broad daylight, though, and asking questions was quite another. If she spoke to the wrong person, she would be arrested and it would all be over. But she didn’t care anymore. With her mother and sister gone, there was simply nothing left to lose. “Sadie, think. You won’t be able to help them at all if you are caught.” She remained silent, unwilling to acknowledge the truth of my words. Her jaw set stubbornly.

“Last time you helped me come up,” she said finally.

“We planned it. It was nighttime. And things are more dangerous now,” I added.

“How?” she demanded. There was a hardness to her. She was less trusting—even of me.

I hesitated. “There are more police on the street, even SS, stopping people and questioning them. There was even a checkpoint on my way here today where I had to show papers,” I added, telling her the truth now in my attempt to make her understand. Sadie’s eyes widened. “So you see, it is not entirely safe for even me to be out, much less you.” Sadie, in her wild, despairing grief, looked even more out of place than she had before. No amount of clothes or makeup would help her fit in. No, there was no way for Sadie to walk the streets safely now. “I don’t know if I can protect you.”

Sadie’s face turned to a mixture of anger and disappointment. “Then don’t.” She did not mean it rudely, I knew. She was just determined to find her mother at any cost. “If things are more dangerous, then it is even more important that I find my mother quickly and bring her back to the sewer safely.”

“If you get arrested, there are others who will pay as well.” I was not thinking only of myself, but of Krys, who had helped me. “Coming up in the middle of the day is dangerous and foolish.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, sounding genuinely contrite. “I had to look for my mother. I couldn’t wait any longer.”

“If you had asked me, we could have made a plan. I would have helped you. And I will now.” I wrapped my arms around her, caught between wanting to help her and protect her at the same time. I didn’t think I could do both. Helping her was risky for me as well. I had intended to be gone on my errand to see her for only a few hours. This would surely take much longer, causing Ana Lucia to ask questions about my absence and whereabouts. Despite the danger, though, I could not turn my back on Sadie. “I will go ask at the hospital for you. But you have to stay hidden while I do.”

“I won’t go back without her,” she said, her eyes resolute.

“Come.” I didn’t know where to take her. I did not dare hide her in Ana Lucia’s house