What they’d meant to me.
When I had first come into this room, I had been a girl with no knowledge of books, other than understanding that they existed. And now, books had become my life. I couldn’t imagine going a day without them, without the worlds they opened up to me.
The books were gone now, and this town had been taught a lesson it would never forget.
From there, I wandered into the secret school, which was even more empty. No chalk tablets, no displays on the walls. No books. Their absence felt like ghosts wandering around me, almost real, almost here.
But not. Suddenly I froze.
Footsteps creaked on the floorboards overhead. They weren’t loud and even, like a soldier’s might have been. These were softer, and more cautious. If only that were enough to tell me whether the person upstairs was a friend.
I crept back toward the ladder, and when I was almost there, the staircase lifted and a voice called down, “Audra?”
I squinted. “Roze?”
“Yes! I was watching for you to return. Milda said there was a plan to help you escape, and as soon as I heard what happened to Officer Rusakov, I knew the plan had worked.”
My eyes narrowed. “What happened to Rusakov?”
“You don’t know? Yesterday he came through the town and gathered his things, and I overheard him tell the other officers here that he had been reassigned. But then I also noticed he’d been stripped of his badges, so we think that maybe he wasn’t reassigned, maybe he was released, and maybe it’s because of the fires here in town, that he’d gone too far.” She finished by taking a deep breath.
I tilted my head. It couldn’t be true. “You’re sure that he’s gone? He won’t be back?”
“We think he’s not a soldier anymore. No, he won’t be back, Audra.”
I still couldn’t believe Rusakov was gone. Not just gone from this town, but no longer a threat to us. Obviously, any of the soldiers could put us in danger, but Rusakov was especially cruel. I wanted to dance with happiness, and perhaps felt a little satisfaction that I might have played a role in getting rid of him.
Roze sighed deeply. “I’m glad you came back here. Milda said you would.”
“Milda’s still alive?” My heart leapt with excitement and I couldn’t get my questions out fast enough. “Where is she? Is she safe? What happened to the books?”
Roze paused. “Will you come up? I’ll tell you everything else that happened that night.”
I climbed back up the ladder and saw Roze sitting on the floor beside the open staircase, her hands folded in her lap.
After shutting the secret entrance, I said, “Let’s start with the books. If the Cossacks didn’t take them, then where are they?”
Roze said, “Isn’t it obvious? Lukas got the books out. I don’t know how he did it so fast, but he did it. Then the next morning, the people whose books had been burned found Milda and begged her for more books. We gave out every single book that Lukas had saved.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “They wanted more? After all that happened to them, they wanted more books?”
“They needed the books and would have taken more if we’d had them. So that’s what we’re doing.”
My ears perked up. “Getting more books? Where is Milda? And Lukas and Ben?”
Roze got to her feet and motioned for me to follow her. “Lukas has been hiding, hoping to find you before you came into town. But since you somehow made it past him, I’ll take you to him and he can answer the rest of your questions.”
“Definitely.” I started to go with her, then said, “But first, is there anything to eat?”
Roze grinned. “Anything left here is a little overcooked, but I’ve been bringing food to Lukas from my home since the fire. I’m sure he’ll have some to share.”
He’d better have. I was excited to see Lukas again, though I’d never admit it to him. Nor would I ever admit that, just this once, I was a hundred times more excited to get something to eat.
Lukas had created a shelter for himself in an old hunter’s cabin deep in the woods, though he explained that he only went there to sleep. Even then, I could tell from the dark circles beneath his eyes that he wasn’t sleeping well. How could he? If the cabin were ever searched, he’d surely be trapped.
Still, he looked as happy and relieved to see me as I was him, and better yet, Roze added to his small stash of food with some bread she had brought from home. My mouth was already full when she hugged me goodbye and wished us luck on our next adventure. Whatever it would be, I didn’t care. I only wanted to eat and was halfway through my third piece of bread before I remembered to ask about Ben and Milda.
“Are they far away?” I asked. “Are they safe?”