The Forest of Vanishing Stars(79)

Chaim nodded, and Yona smiled at Jakub and Adam, who looked uncertain, and at Sara, who met Yona’s gaze with a single nod.

Yona looked around and quickly evaluated the rest of the group. “I will also take Oscher and Bina, Leon, Moshe, Ruth and the children, as well as the Sokolowskis and the Gulniks, since they both have children with them.”

“Take Rosalia, too,” he said. “She will help you. I’ll take Aleksander and Leib, Leib’s mother, my cousins, and Bernard and Lazare. Sulia should come with me, too; she’s fast.”

“I’ll go, too,” Luba said. “I’m in no rush to have leeches sucking me dry.”

Yona and Zus exchanged looks. Luba was older, but she was healthy and could cover ground quickly. And an extra pair of capable hands could help the smaller group. Zus nodded.

“All right, it’s decided, then,” Yona said. “Now, we must move swiftly. Pack up your things, and fill your packs and your pockets with all the food you can.”

“Go, everyone,” Zus said, and then, putting his hand gently on Yona’s arm, he steered her toward the newcomers, the Sokolowski and Gulnik families, who were still standing in place, staring at her as if she were a visitor from another planet. In fact, she must have seemed like one—a woman they’d never seen, arriving from nowhere, and ordering the camp to disband.

“Yona,” Zus said as they stopped in front of the seven strangers: two men, two women, and three children. It was only then that Yona realized that one of the women was heavily pregnant. She sucked in a sharp gasp without meaning to at the sight of the woman’s swollen belly and felt terrible when the woman’s eyes filled with tears. Yona would protect her; she had to. But there was much danger in escorting a pregnant woman through the forest with the Germans on their tails. “This is Shimon Sokolowski and his wife, Elizaveta,” Zus said, nodding to the pregnant woman. “And their son, Nachum.” A wide-eyed boy of about six looked up at Yona and nodded. “And these are the Gulniks, Leonid and Masha, and their children, Sergei and Maia.” Sergei was a boy of about fifteen, and Maia a dark-haired girl of four or five, her cheeks hollow with hunger but her eyes alight with what looked like determination. Yona liked her immediately and smiled at the girl first before greeting the rest of the family. “I trust Yona with my life,” Zus added, “and you should, too.”

Leonid looked skeptical as he studied Yona. “But she’s only a girl.”

“She knows the forest better than all of us combined,” Zus said instantly. “I believe in her more than I believe in anyone else I know.”

Yona looked up at Zus and saw tears in his eyes. He looked quickly away. “Thank you, Zus,” she said softly. “I believe in you, too.”

He nodded and then strode away before she could say more. She turned back to the newcomers, all of whom were studying her curiously.

“How far along are you?” Yona asked Elizaveta, who was protectively cradling her pregnant belly.

The woman’s eyes were full of worry as she blinked at Yona. “I should deliver in about two months. I’m—I’m sorry. We did not mean for this to happen.”

Yona reached for the other woman’s hands, though her own throat was thick with concern. “Never apologize for bringing life into the world. We will make do.” She smiled once more at Maia, the little girl, and then she nodded at Leonid, Shimon, and their wives. “There is work to be done. I will see you soon.”



* * *



Two hours later, the camp had been packed up, and all the adults were loaded down with as many supplies as they could carry on their backs. They were leaving many things behind—fabric, extra clothing, pots, pans, cups—but the hope was that when the Germans left the forest, the group would be able to return for their things. They would leave everything in holes dug into the earth, making it harder to plunder if the Germans came upon this spot.

Shimon Sokolowski had drawn a detailed map to the location where he’d been told the Bielski group had made camp, but he had declined to join the group on the southern route; he wanted to stay with his son and his pregnant wife.

Zus approached from across the clearing and put a hand on Yona’s shoulder. “Would you take a walk with me?” he asked in her ear, and she nodded. She glanced once more around the camp, where everyone was milling around, anxious, in motion. There was a frisson of excitement, of anxiety, in the air. As she turned and walked toward the woods with Zus, she could feel eyes on them, and when she turned, she saw Aleksander standing still, watching. She looked away.

“Yona,” Zus began once they were alone, deep enough into the trees that no one could see them. “There is something I must say to you.”

His voice caught, and when she looked up at him, she was surprised to see that he looked uneasy. Did he have doubts about the plan? “What is it, Zus?”

“I—I regretted not saying something to you before you left last month.”

“Zus…” She opened her mouth to tell him that whatever it was could wait, that she knew she would see him again in a few days’ time, once they’d reunited on the island deep in the swamp, but there was something in his gaze that stopped her.

“Yona, you see yourself through a different looking glass than we see you, perhaps because you’ve been alone for so long.” His words fell quickly, as if he was trying to force them out before he could change his mind. “I just want you to know, in case we are separated, that I think you are extraordinary.”