Page 10 of The World That We Knew

As they walked along the platform, Lea had a vision of her mother weeping behind the apartment door, and of Bobeshi, in her bed, blaming herself for splitting the family apart because she could not walk. It was possible that she would never see them again. A wave of panic set in. She didn’t think she could contain herself and keep going, pretending nothing was wrong. If she turned and ran right now, perhaps she could find her way home through the unfamiliar streets around the station.

“Don’t think about that.” Ava could read her thoughts now that they were linked together. One breathed in, the other breathed out, like it or not. “Everything your mother has done is to ensure your escape. We will do as she says.”

Lea glared at her companion. You are nothing to me and everything I care about is here. “You don’t know what I’m thinking,” she said in a bleak bitter voice.

“You’re thinking I am nothing to you.” Ava gave the girl a sidelong glance, finding herself pleased that she had been able to shock her. It was strange to have such a feeling when she was made to be clay.

“You’re not my cousin,” Lea said.

“If your mother says I am, it must be so.”

They stared at each other with cold eyes. Both must do as Hanni had instructed.

The conductor checked their tickets, then allowed them to board. Those who had not managed to get onto the train soon began to shout and strike their fists against the doors, but it did them no good. Soldiers were called in, and the riot was stopped as quickly as it had begun. The last people to board were the rabbi’s daughters. Marta’s dress was torn when a man grabbed for her ticket.

“Keep your ticket hidden,” Ettie told her. “Everyone wants to steal.”

The sisters had nearly missed the train. There had been so much to do before their departure. First they bought packets of hair dye to turn Marta’s dark hair blond so she would appear more Aryan. Both girls had rid themselves of their head scarves and cut their waist-length hair, which had never before been shorn. It was shoulder-length, with a fringe of bangs, so they might look like ordinary Germans. They had fled through the window above the sink, landing in a patch of their mother’s herbs. Now they both smelled like rosemary, the scent of remembrance.

They’d found themselves lost in the narrow cobbled streets near the station for more than an hour as they searched for the shuttered storefront where they were to purchase their visas. Before this night they’d barely been out of their house, and Berlin was a mystery. Despite Ettie’s harsh manner, she was innocent in the ways of the world, and now realized they had been taken in by a charlatan. Hanni had given her an address where they could buy their visas, but that man charged too much and instead they’d gone to what people called the Street of Forgers. In her haste she’d chosen an amateur, a painter from the art school who was new to the task and not terribly adept. Once she’d handed over the second emerald, Ettie had no choice but to go forward with his flawed work and hope for the best. They were now sisters called Karin and Margrit Beck, although it was difficult to make out the forger’s messy print. Marta’s fingers had turned blue from the running ink.

As the sisters approached their compartment, Ettie was dismayed to discover they would not be traveling alone. When they slid the door open, Marta gasped. “What is she doing here?”

“It’s not a problem,” Ettie assured her sister. “It’s safer this way.” Ettie seemed confident, but in truth she was nervous to come face-to-face with the golem, although quite amazed by how utterly human her creation appeared to be. Ettie’s first thought was that the monster might take the opportunity of their meeting to harm her, for it was well known that golems often destroyed their makers.

Ava had seen the girls through the glass and had immediately risen to her feet, her face rapt, her shining dark hair flowing down her back like a river. She fell to her knees in gratitude, for her maker was right in front of her, the giver of life, whom she’d believed she would never see again. Ava bowed her head, praying that Ettie would see fit to grant her the continuation of breath and life.

“Stand up!” Mortified, Ettie peered over her shoulder to make sure no one had noticed Ava’s behavior. “You mustn’t call attention to yourself,” she told the creature. “You’re a woman like any other.”

Lea watched this encounter with great interest. What would make Ava get on her knees to a girl not many years older than Lea herself was? Something was amiss, she knew that much. She had the shivery feeling she’d had right before the incident with the soldier. A warning bell inside her that told her this meeting was not what it seemed.

Ava did as she was told, but she took Ettie’s hand and kissed it before Ettie could pull away and throw the creature a dark, irritated look. They hadn’t thought to teach her what it meant to be a woman. Now, if they weren’t careful, she would give them all away. “That’s not necessary. Just sit down. Follow what everyone else does and don’t make a scene.”

“Of course.” Ava was learning human behavior by the minute, although as far as she could tell there was no logic involved.

Ettie glanced at Lea. “I assume this is the daughter.” When Ava nodded, Ettie said, “Make sure she behaves.”

Lea took an instant dislike to the red-haired girl, whose face was pale with anxiety despite her domineering manner. As for Ettie, she ignored Lea completely. All she could think about were the shoddy visas she and Marta carried. Marta, on the other hand, was more than ready to befriend Lea. There were only a few years between them, and Marta was so unworldly and childlike that she seemed younger than the angry twelve-year-old who shared their compartment. Ever since they’d left home, Marta had been crying on and off as she thought of how their mother would react when she discovered they had climbed out the kitchen window. It was a relief to talk to someone else who had left her home behind.

“We know your mother,” she told Lea.

Lea narrowed her eyes. What was this?

“We hardly know her at all,” Ettie interrupted. She wished she’d thought to tell Hanni to get them tickets in different compartments. There was no need for Lea to know the truth of her situation.

“You seem to know Ava.” Lea did her best to figure out what was being hidden from her. There was a secret, one that everyone, including her mother, had been privy to, except for her. “She certainly knows you.”

“She’s my maker,” Ava said simply.

Ettie gave the creature a scathing look. She hadn’t thought the golem would come to life as an idiot. “Stop talking,” she told Ava.

“Does she answer to you?” Lea asked Ettie. “Because she told me she answered to my mother and no one else.”

“We all answer to God, don’t we?” Ettie said.

It was a difficult statement to dispute. Ettie was tricky that way. She knew how to answer a question with a question. Still, Lea knew something was amiss. When the train began to move, she took hold of her suitcase. She should not be here. She should be with her mother. They’d held hands, they’d run with blood on their shoes, they’d slept in the same bed when there were thunderstorms, they’d celebrated Passover with a single apple and no matzoh, reading from a Haggadah, though to own such a book was a crime. Everything was a crime in their world, but she must return to where she belonged. If her mother and Bobeshi were arrested, she would go with them. She could save them; she knew that she could if only she had the chance. The train was still going slowly. It had to be now. Lea could leap onto the platform and then find her way home. She stood up, suitcase in hand, but the train was moving faster than she’d initially thought, and she stumbled. Ava reached out to stop her fall.

“We must do as we’re told,” Ava reminded her. “We will honor your mother and follow her instructions.”