A rustle of leaves catches me by the neck, and I stop moving, not sure if I should be silent or call out to what I pray to be Halina.
“Hali?” I whisper.
Nothing. Not a rustle of leaves.
Then, a squeal as something swoops over my head. A bat. It must be a bat. “It’s all right. Just a little creature playing in the woods. Let’s keep moving,” I whisper to Flora. I think I might need to listen to my words of reassurance more than she does.
FORTY-SIX
HALINA
“Where is he taking her?” Isla screams. She’s been screaming for five minutes. I’ve been trying to get her to stop, praying no one from outside hears. I’ve considered just leaving her here screaming but she will absolutely go out back and find her parents, as well as the rest of the officers here. I have to find a way to reason with her so I can leave.
“Listen to me, please just listen to me for a moment. I know you don’t like me. I understand. I do.”
“I hoped you would stay with us,” Marlene utters, her eyes filling with tears. “But now you’re going to leave us like all the others, right?”
“All the others have been killed by Papa,” Isla says, begrudgingly, to her.
“Is he going to kill Hali too?” Marlene asks, holding her small hands to her lips.
“Girls,” I say, interrupting them. “Listen to me. Try to remember what I’m about to say because it’s important…” Isla isn’t shouting at least, and Marlene is staring at me, waiting to know what I have to say. “War does something to people, and I know neither of you probably know much about the world beforethe war, but people are different now, and when the war is over, people will change again.”
“But Papa will always have to know he killed people,” Isla says. “He wants to be like Hitler. I don’t like Hitler. I don’t like school or saluting to him. I don’t like hating people.” A tear falls from her eye and she swallows hard, trying to regain her strength and composure—something a ten-year-old shouldn’t have to maintain.
“You both have your entire lives ahead of you and you get to be whoever you want to be. Hitler doesn’t need to say that. The war won’t last forever.” I hope and pray. “The world wants it to be over. We all do.”
“What about Flora? That Jew—” Isla says, stopping herself for a moment. “The man, Gavriel, took Flora.”
“Why do you think that is?” I ask, taking her hand in mine.
Isla drops her gaze to the ground. “She’s not really our sister, is she?”
I let my eyes do the talking because I think this answer would be better off coming from Ada. “Why would you think such a thing?”
Isla shrugs. “Mama never loved her the way she loves us. Flora doesn’t look like us. And, she’s been sick, as Mama says, but she never took her to a doctor. She always takes us to a doctor if we’re sick.”
Isla is too smart for her own good. I watch the thoughts spinning through her eyes, trying to make sense of something that will likely never make any sense to her. “There are reasons for all things in life, some of which we may never understand. But you’re right, Flora does need to see a doctor. It’s important that she does, right?”
Isla gawks at me. “Yes, yes, it’s important. Is Gavriel bringing her to the hospital now? Is that where he’s taking her?” Isla asks.
“Yes. I’m going with him to take her to the hospital to see a doctor so she can get better. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Will you bring her back after she’s better?” Marlene asks.
“She’s not our sister,” Isla adds. “Did Mama steal her from someone?”
My throat becomes too dry to continue this conversation. “I don’t have that answer, but what I do know…it’s important to be a good person and make decisions that help others. Never hurt them. That’s all I want to do.”
“You helped me,” Marlene says, a lopsided grin curving into her dimpled cheek.
“I did? How so?”
She shrugs but steps forward and wraps her arms around me. “I don’t know, but I’ll miss you a lot.”
Isla wraps an arm around me, a half embrace, but I’ll take it. “I’ll miss you too, Hali. I hope you stay safe. I hope Flora gets better, so she isn’t?—”
“Isn’t what, sweetheart?” I ask gently.
