In opstand

by Marieke Veringa

  “That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed out of your room.”

  Emma didn’t react. She heard Lorelei sigh deeply before her cousin settled down cross-legged on the foot end of the bed.

  “I talked to Dad. He knows you didn’t mean to set the chapel on fire, Em.”

  “I wouldn’t have done anything at all if Loki hadn’t falsely accused me.”

  “Okay, so he was provoking you. His mom probably spoils him rotten and he’s got too much time on his hands. But honestly, Emma, you know Dad had to do something – Gracia Woutersen has taken this up with his superiors. It’s…”

  “Not fair! It’s mean and petty!”

  “But it is what it is,” Lorelei calmly stated. “Everyone needs a boss, Em.”

  Emma felt an unpleasant tingle down her spine. “Yeah, like the people we fence in, you mean? The people in the Ghettos.”

  “You sound upset.”

  Emma shrugged and kept quiet.

  “Take a look outside. It’s not like you can go anywhere anyway.” Lorelei gestured at the window. “We’re all just as locked up as you are in this terrible downpour.”

  “You don’t understand! I need to do something. It can’t wait...” Quickly, Emma shut her mouth.

  “Like what?”

  “I – I can’t tell,” Emma muttered, feeling herself flush red. “It’s dangerous.”

  “Dangerous?” The gentle expression on Lorelei’s face was replaced by suspicion, a hawk-like look narrowing her eyes. “Emma, if this has something to do with Sophia…”

  “With – with Sophia?” Why did Lorelei mention her sister? Emma sat up straight, her heart speeding up. “What do you know…”

  “Emma, I’m not blind.” Lorelei pressed her lips together for a second. “I’d been suspecting for a while that something was – going on, so to speak. I had no idea you were involved too, but…”

  “I had no idea,” Emma stammered. A mixture of relief and confusion flooded her. “Not until I found that note.”

  And she told Lorelei everything. About the strange message in Sophia’s coat pocket, Frieda Groonewald’s house, Uriah, the tunnel running underneath the Fence. Lorelei patiently listened without interrupting her a single time. Her gaze was steady – she didn’t seem to be shocked, or even angry, when Emma hesitantly told her about the dilapidated hovel in the Ghetto where Uriah and Elizabeth had shown her the photos taken at the SIDR.

  “It was so horrible, Lili! Children and babies and – snow. There was snow everywhere, but the people didn’t have any warm clothes to wear. How can they – how is it possible that we don’t know about these things..?”

  “Ssh, Emma, keep your voice down.” Lorelei captured Emma’s hands in hers. Her cousin’s fingers were cold as ice. Was Lili perhaps more affected than she cared to show her? “You should never mention these things to other people, you hear me? Do you have any idea how dangerous it would be if everybody knew what really happened at the SIDR?”

  “But if everyone knew, wouldn’t people get angry and demand justice?”

  Lorelei sighed and let go of her hands. “So what is it that you need to do?”

  Emma paused. It felt good to finally confide in Lili. In fact, she felt so incredibly relieved that she felt the urge to hug her cousin on the spot. And yet… “It’s really dangerous, Lili.”

  “That’s why you shouldn’t be doing this all by yourself.”

  Sophia had been alone. And Sophia was dead.

  Emma dug up the ring from her pocket. Lorelei turned it around between two fingers as Emma quickly explained to her what it contained and where the secret weapon needed to end up. “And now I’ve got it and there’s nothing I can do!” She punched the mattress with her fist in frustration. “I need to get out! Somehow, I need to…”

  “I can do it.”

  “Lili – no.”

  “Yes.” Lorelei closed her fingers around the ring and looked Emma straight in the eye. “I’ll take the car, that’s much faster than that slow bus of yours. There’s a dug-out passage running underneath the Fence, you said?”

  “Yes, it’s a crawling space – but Lili, if you take the car…”

  “I trust Rutger.” Lorelei pressed a kiss to her cheek, got to her feet, and smiled down at her. “And you should trust me.”

  Of course she did. Emma nodded and relaxed her hands a bit. She hadn’t realized they’d been balled into fists. “Please be careful.”

  “I will. And, Emma? I’m glad you told me about this.”

  7

  Someone

  Uria

  “SHE really said she’d do it?” Rachel asked the question, sitting next to Steven and Guido on the worn-out sofa in the upstairs room that belonged to The Star.

  Uriah couldn’t keep his hands still. He bent and stretched his fingers in a restless gesture. “I know what she’s promised.”

  “So why isn’t she here yet?”

  Silence. He couldn’t answer that question any more than she could. Emma should have met them at the designated spot – the hole in the ground near the Fence, behind the rusty truck. Uriah had waited there for a full hour before Elizabeth had come to take his place. Emma hadn’t been there.

  “She must have gotten scared,” Elizabeth muttered at present, picking at the cigarette butt in her mouth. God only knew how she managed to get anything to smoke around here. Yesterday, she’d made her usual rounds on the other side of the Fence to pick up some food stamps and other goods. Most likely she’d swapped one of those precious food stamps for a bag of tobacco that she didn’t want to share with anyone else. “Or worse. Maybe Emma Petrova isn’t the sweet, helpless girl you believe her to be.”

  Uriah cleared his throat. “I think…”

  “… with that thing between your legs.”

  Guido and Steven balked with laughter.

  “Ha ha, Elizabeth. Very funny. What are you saying?”

  The smile slipped off her face as quickly as it had appeared there. “Someone betrayed Sophia.”

  He ground his teeth. “And when was the last time you set foot out of the Ghetto?”

  “You know exactly when. Chamoole! If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.”

  “Who’s the chamoole here, Elizabeth? You think we don’t know you keep half of the food stamps for yourself? Rachel and I can’t pop in and out of this damned neighborhood that easily, but you…”

  ‘A brochtzu dir!’ Elizabeth cursed, jumping up from the couch and clenching her fist close to his jaw. “I’m in it just as deep as you are! What do you think you’re…”

  Her angry tirade was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Elizabeth immediately shut her mouth. The others looked as shaken as Uriah.

  Again, someone knocked, more urgently this time. It wasn’t the Freedom Fighter signal they’d agreed on. Uriah walked down the stairs, followed by Rachel and Guido. He peered through the tiny hole next to the lock.

  A girl.

  She was blonde, neatly dressed.

  Emma?

  No, it wasn’t her. Uriah exchanged another look with his friends before opening the door to a crack.

  “You must be Uriah,” the girl said in a clear voice. “Emma couldn’t make it, unfortunately.”

  She put her foot down on the threshold and pushed the door open with her shoulder. The smile didn’t leave her face as she stepped into the hallway of the Star’s headquarters.

  When Uriah woke up, his memories of what had followed seemed to have disappeared into a black hole in his head. All he was aware of was the pain in his arms and legs, and the oppressing air around him.

  Where was he? And how had he ended up there?

  It was a dark place. Everything around him was shaking.

  He wasn’t alone – to his left and right, bodies of other people thudded against him
. A stray elbow poked in his back. Someone was crying.

  Help! No sound came out of his mouth.

  8

  Betrayal

  Emma

  “EMMA, come downstairs!” Lorelei called up from the bottom of the stairs.

  Emma’s heart jumped up. She rushed down the steps and came to a stop in front of her cousin while trying to catch her breath. “Did it work? You’ve been gone for hours! Did anyone see you? Tell me...”

  “Easy.” Lorelei held up her hand. “Grab a coat and come with me. We can’t talk here.”

  “Come with you? Where?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Lorelei tossed Emma the red coat. Nervously, Emma followed Lorelei outside. There was a car in front of the house with black, tinted windows. The chauffeur getting out of the driver’s seat wasn’t Rutger.

  “Where’s Uncle Peter?”

  “He’s attending a meeting on Yssel Island.”

  “And the car..?”

  “Not now, Em.” Lorelei turned around and looked at her intently. “You’ll have to save your questions for later.”

  Emma shrugged, then lowered herself into the back seat. Lorelei sat down in the passenger’s seat and the car drove off. She lost all sense of time as they sped down endless roads. The tinted windows were blinded on both sides, so the landscape of vague shadows and silhouettes passed her by largely unseen. Her stomach growled. She should have grabbed a snack before leaving the house.

  What had Lili done? How had she managed to get another driver? Oh well, Lorelei had some friends in high places. Maybe Uriah and Elizabeth were waiting for her somewhere out there…

  The car jerked to a halt. Lorelei turned around in her seat to face Emma.

  “This is where it ends.”

  “What?”

  “I’m getting out here. Rutger will drive me back home, and you…”

  “Rutger?” Emma stammered in confusion. “But...”

  Lorelei opened the passenger door and slipped out of the car. Emma caught a glimpse of a second car waiting there, a shock running through her when she recognized Rutger standing next to it.

  “Lili, I don’t understand! What am I supposed to do here?”

  Lorelei sighed. “I’m really sorry, Em. I tried to warn you, but...”

  Her heart went cold. She pushed against her door, but it stayed locked. It prompted her to fold back the passenger’s seat and jump out through the door Lili had opened.

  Two arms circled her waist and pushed her against the car. The driver. But of course he’s not a simple driver at all… She couldn’t believe she’d been so blind.

  He wrenched her arms behind her back and the next moment Emma felt two cold, steel handcuffs click around her wrists.

  “Emma Petrova, you are under arrest for high treason and conspiring against the Realm.”

  His words had the same effect as a full-on blow to her head – her world spun out of control and wouldn’t stop whirling. “Lili!” she screamed, but Lorelei didn’t even glance back as she got into Uncle Peter’s familiar state car. Emma started to struggle against the iron grip of the cuffs and the driver. “Let me go! I haven’t done anything wrong! Let go!”

  “Hold still!” The man pulled something out of his pocket, grabbed her hair and pulled at it to expose her neck. For one immeasurably long second, Emma was aware of everything around her at once – the car engine starting, Lorelei driving away from her, leaving her alone, betraying her… Oh, God, and Sophia - she’d betrayed Sophia too. And then she felt a stinging jab in her neck and her legs buckled beneath her.

  The world turned dark.

  9

  Northward

  Emma

  AFTER a long car drive, a train was waiting for her. It was a rattling boxcar without any windows, awash with the pungent smell of urine. As the train trundled on, its movement beat Emma into numbness as she drifted in and out of the shadows of sleep. It took her hours, maybe even days, to clear her head. The rhythm of the wheels on the tracks shook her up. She heard the mumbling of voices around her. She sensed the presence of dozens of other people, squeezed against each other like cattle.

  Her arms were no longer cuffed. After a few failed attempts, she managed to scramble to her feet. Her entire body seemed to burn.

  “She’s awake,” a woman’s voice piped up.

  Emma looked over her shoulder and saw a young woman sitting beside her, her knees drawn up. She was cradling a sleeping baby against her chest, wrapped in the dirtiest rags Emma had ever seen.

  “Don’t rush yourself. You’ve been unconscious for a long time.”

  Emma opened her mouth. Her voice sounded strange – so raspy. “Lorelei…”

  “I’m Esmeralda.” The woman smiled sadly. “Is Lorelei with you?”

  Emma shook her head. She touched her forehead, caked in blood and scabs. How many injuries do I have…? How long was I… The car, the train. Lili, Rutger.

  “Uriah!” Emma made a wild gesture, which immediately sent her head reeling again. Esmeralda held out a hand to steady her. Emma’s eyes scanned the passengers in the boxcar. There was hardly any light in the train. “Uriah,” she mumbled again. “If Lili found him…”

  “Uriah the Jew?” Esmeralda inquired to her surprise. “He’s in the second boxcar. Over there.”

  Emma didn’t quite trust her own body, so she didn’t try to stand upright. Instead, she crawled on her hands and knees toward the spot Esmeralda had pointed out. People were trying to let her pass. Between the first and the second car were a thin, wooden barrier and a gigantic metal coupler. Shoving the wooden barrier aside wasn’t difficult, but Emma struggled to safely get herself into the next boxcar without trapping her hands in the moving gap between the buffer plates. She threw herself across the coupling mechanism, felt another sharp jab of pain in her forehead when she smacked against the floor, but forced herself to move away from the metal coupler before doing anything else.

  As soon as she looked up, she spotted him. He was sitting cross-legged, his dark curls jet black in the dimness of the boxcar. A bloody cut ran from his forehead to his chin. Elizabeth was sitting next to him, looking like a ghost with dark rings under her eyes.

  And next to her was… Emma’s heart skipped a beat. Franz Gabriel.

  Elizabeth caught sight of her first. “You!” she hissed. “You betrayed us!”

  “I didn’t,” Emma whispered. “It was Lorelei…”

  “Lorelei,” Franz Gabriel growled. Nothing was left of his flamboyant appearance. His suit was torn and stained. He was covered in bruises and scabs, just like the others. “That bitch!”

  “It’s no use calling her names,” Uriah softly said. “We’ll never see her again.”

  Emma wanted to hide her fear, but her voice shook uncontrollably when she uttered her next question. “We’re going north, aren’t we?”

  10

  The frozen land

  Uria

  AFTER the endless train journey, it was a relief to be able to stretch his legs and breathe in some fresh air. But then, the cold hit him like a sledgehammer. Uriah’s breath seemed to freeze even on its way out.

  He was standing among the other prisoners on the platform of the small station, waiting in front of a large, electric fence. Behind it, barracks stretched out for miles on end. Some buildings were illuminated by oil lamps. Despite those few hesitant lights, he’d never seen such an overwhelming darkness in his life. Even the Ghettos hadn’t been this dark, what with the spying searchlights mounted on the Fence in regular intervals. By the looks of it, the sun had long since set behind the treetops of the surrounding forest. Uriah remembered something he’d heard about daylight in the far north – in wintertime, it only lasted a few hours. Sometimes, the sun didn’t rise at all, even.

  The station was smack in the middle of a desolate wa
steland, the SIDR camp stretching out around it like a gloomy town. A town he was now forced to enter with his fellow prisoners, spurred on by a few guards wearing gray uniforms. They were carrying flashlights in one hand and firearms in the other.

  The young woman with her baby was in front of him. She tripped. One of the guards saw her going down, barked an unintelligible command, and approached her threateningly. He roughly yanked her to her feet and pushed her forward, making her stumble yet again. The guard growled something else, knocked her on the head, then strutted away.

  As they passed the electric gates, Uriah could hear the familiar humming and ticking of the fence. No way back… He shivered with fear and because of the cold, but not as badly as Emma, who was walking next to him with her head ducked under the hood of her red coat as she trembled from head to toe.

  He put his arm around her narrow shoulders. We’ll be all right, he wanted to say, but the words didn’t come.

  Emma softly mumbled something to herself. He leaned into her to catch it. “What was that?”

  “This is all my fault! Lili, her betrayal...”

  “The only one to blame is Lorelei,” he said through gritted teeth. It was true – Emma should never have confided in her cousin. The fact that Lorelei was family wasn’t any kind of guarantee. Even Sophia had known that, but what good had it done her? “That cousin of yours is a snake.”

  “What do you care?” Elizabeth muttered, walking to his left. She gestured at the bleak surroundings. “We’re done for.”

  “We’re still The Star,” Uriah replied quietly.

  “The Star? Without some kind of plan we’re just as useless as everybody else in here. Everything’s gone – our connections, our weapons, our plans… Our only hope was the damned ring, and that tattletale bitch made sure we’d…”

  “Ssh,” Franz Gabriel hissed unexpectedly. He’d been quiet all this time with his collar upturned and his head low, as though he was afraid to be recognized by any of the guards. “Hold your tongue, Elizabeth. It’s true we no longer have the ring, but you’re forgetting one important fact.” He winked at Emma and Uriah. “An Angel is walking with you.”