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

direction of the alleyway behind the church. She had not been to the sewer grate with us before, I realized. Krys must have told her where it was. “Did something happen to Sadie?” My stomach tightened.

“She’s fine, as far as I know.”

As we neared the alleyway, I could see someone standing by the sewer grate. For a second, I panicked. But it was Krys, I quickly realized. I started toward him. Kara, who had led me to him, hurried off, leaving us alone.

Beside him on the ground were two rectangular wooden crates. “What are those?” I asked, hoping for a second that he had somehow managed to find more food and was delivering it to Sadie for me. The crates were industrial, though, stamped with large black Cyrillic letters that screamed some kind of warning. “Krys, are those the munitions?” He did not answer right away. “We already talked about this.”

“Your note said you wanted to help.”

“It said that I wanted to help. Not Sadie. Not like this.”

“Ella, we have to hide these munitions. We’ve been expecting them for weeks and we will be able to get them where we need to go by tomorrow, the next day latest. It should not be more than one night.”

“Absolutely not,” I said, furious now. “I already told you, I won’t endanger Sadie for your cause.”

“My cause?” It was his turn to be angry now. “It isn’t a cause. We’re fighting for our very lives, Ella. Yours and mine, and Sadie’s, too.” Krys lowered his voice. “These munitions, ammunitions and explosives, are hard to come by and they are critical for an upcoming operation in Warsaw, part of the larger battle that is to come. You must understand, the sewer, it’s the perfect place,” he pressed. “Out of sight, impossible to find. I need to do this.” This time he was not asking—the stakes were too high. “It’s only for one night.”

“But it’s so dangerous. If the munitions are discovered or if they somehow detonate, Sadie and her friends will be found.”

“That won’t happen.” To Krys, the notion that his plan would fail was unthinkable. Still, I knew that anything could happen.

“You can’t be sure,” I protested. There were so many things that could go wrong.

“I promise, no harm will come to Sadie. I will lay down my own life before I let that happen.” His eyes were steely and resolute. “You said in your note that you were ready to help,” he added.

“Yes, but...” I had imagined delivering a package or aiding in some way myself. If I thought he meant risking Sadie’s safety, I never would have offered.

“You said you’d do anything. Now is your chance to prove it.” I did not reply. “There is no halfway with this work, Ella,” he said sternly. “You are either all in or you are not.” Krys’ eyes burned and I saw then that he was willing to sacrifice everything for the cause in which he believed.

But I was not. I squared my shoulders, prepared to tell him no and face the repercussions.

There was a rustling below the grate then and I looked down to see Sadie, who must have been drawn there by the noise. She looked up, blinking with surprise to see so many people standing over the sewer.

Fear clouded her eyes. Then, seeing me, she smiled. “Oh, hello,” she said trustingly. My heart twisted. She noticed Krys behind me. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes,” I replied quickly, then faltered. How could I explain to her what Krys was asking her to do?

Before I could speak further, Krys knelt close to the sewer, describing the situation to Sadie in a voice too low for me to hear. She nodded as she listened, eyes wide, taking in his words gravely.

Sadie motioned me over. “It’s all right,” she said meekly, accepting the reality of the situation in a way that I could not. “I can do this.” Her lip quivered.

“Sadie, no...”

“I’ll do it,” she insisted.

“It’s too dangerous. I can’t let you.”

“It isn’t your choice,” Sadie snapped. “I’m not a child, Ella,” she said, her voice softer now, but still wounded. “I can decide for myself and I want to do this.”

“But why?”

“Because I want to help. Once I didn’t even know there were still good people like you out there. So many people have helped me, you and Krys and Kara, Pawel, the worker who brought us to the sewer. And after everything you’ve all risked for me, if I can help in some small way, well, I want to do it.” She lifted her chin. “Since the war started, all I have done is run and hide. This is a chance for me to do something, instead of feeling helpless. I want to do my part. I can do this,” she repeated, sounding more certain now.

“You don’t have to do this,” I persisted.

“I know, but I want to.”

“We’ll need help getting these below,” Krys said, patting one of the crates. They looked heavy and I wondered how he had managed this far by himself. Sadie nodded solemnly. She disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a young, bearded man. Saul, I knew instantly, the boy in the sewer she’d talked about. The one on whom she had a crush. He was just a few years older than us, with the clothing of a religious Jew and thoughtful dark eyes. I could tell from the way he stood close and stepped in front of her, as if to shield her from what was going on, that her feelings were not at all one-sided.

Sadie turned to him. “This is Ella, my friend who I told you about. She’s the one who has been helping us. Ella, this is Saul.” I could hear the warmth in her voice as she said his name.

“Hello,” I ventured. Saul did not answer or smile. To him, I was the enemy who was endangering their safety, not to be trusted. His gentle eyes hardened as he took in the situation.

“You