Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum Read Free Book Online Page A

inhaling, for a moment, the smell of his hair.
    I’m glad you came to me, she says. So glad. Now come, time for bed.
    Anna, are you mad? I can’t stay here!
    You’d rather go back to the bushes?
    Max frowns, but he allows Anna to help him stand. He is shaking with fatigue.
    In the morning, he says, as soon as things settle down, I’ll find a safer place.
    He follows Anna to her bedroom, where she bustles about, folding back the eiderdown and plumping the pillows. She turns to see him looking at the shelves of Dresden figurines and trophies from the League of German Girls, the embroidered samplers, the canopied bed in which Anna has slept since girlhood.
    No, he says. It’s too risky.
    You couldn’t be safer in heaven. My father never comes in here. I’ll bring you some food.
    Max glances at the doorway as if considering flight, and then at the high lace-curtained window, through which even he, skinny as he is, couldn’t fit.
    All right, he says. For one night, since there’s no feasible alternative. But Anna, please don’t trouble yourself with food. I’m so tired I can barely see.
    As Anna starts to object, Max climbs into her bed without removing Gerhard’s trousers.
    Shhh, he says. He settles into the pillow.
    Anna closes the door and moves about the room, shedding her clothes. She exchanges her slip for her shortest nightgown and eases in beside Max, who is lying with his back to her.
    I forgot to give you socks, Anna whispers. Your feet are cold.
    She rubs them with her toes. Max shifts his legs away.
    Anna presses against him and rests her lips on the nape of his neck.
    Max rolls over. No, Anna, he says.
    Why not?
    Anna senses that he is smiling.
    I’ve already told you, you’re far too young for me, Max says, and they both start to laugh, shaking with it and trying to muffle the noise against each other’s shoulders.
    It is then that Anna hears her father’s unsteady progress up the stairs, the risers complaining under his weight. There is a soft thud as part of Gerhard, a shoulder or knee, hits the wall in the hallway. His labored breathing stops outside her room.
    The door swings open. A slice of light falls across the bed.
    Anna, Gerhard says.
    Anna forces herself up on one elbow, though every instinct screams that she curl into a fetal position.
    Yes, Vati, she says, mimicking a voice soft with sleep.
    Gerhard braces himself against the doorframe. The medicinal odor of schnapps wafts to the bed.
    Is there any bicarbonate of soda? he asks.
    Yes, Vati.
    I’d like some right away. And perhaps a digestive biscuit or two.
    Of course, Vati.
    They serve such rich food at the officers’ club, Gerhard complains. Never a simple hearty meal. Tonight it was goose. You know how goose affects me. I had to leave early.
    I’m sorry, Anna says.
    Gerhard belches, releasing vapors of drink.
    I’m feeling rather liverish, he confesses.
    He turns with great care, then pokes his head back into the room.
    What are you doing asleep at nine o’clock? he asks.
    I’m not feeling myself either, Vati. A touch of influenza, don’t you remember?
    Ah, yes. Poor Anchen.
    Gerhard sways, then waves a hand.
    Bicarbonate, and quickly, he says.
    Right away, Vati.
    Gerhard shuts the door and lurches off down the hall.
    When she hears Die Walküre from his study, Anna climbs from the bed and gropes for her wrapper. Her father will have to wait a bit longer for his medicine. She desperately needs to visit the bathroom. Before she leaves, however, she pats the quilt to determine where Max is and finds his arm. His muscles are so rigid that even through the goosedown they feel like bunched wire.
    Impossible, Max breathes. This is impossible—
    Anna bends to put her lips against his ear.
    No, it’s not, she whispers. I know where to hide you. I have the perfect place.

5
    A WEEK LATER, HAVING FINISHED HER ERRANDS, ANNA IS standing in her coat in the upstairs hallway, before a small door. Behind it is what Anna has always thought of as