Three Sisters (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #3)(44)

When Cibi returns to the block that evening for dinner, Rita explains that Livi has been sent to the hole.

‘I need to see her,’ Cibi pleads. ‘Please, Rita. She can’t do it alone.’

‘She has to. You go anywhere near her and you’ll end up in there too, or worse.’

‘But she’s my little sister, I have to look out for her.’

‘She’s a lot stronger than you think. She’ll be back at work in the morning, you can see her then. But tomorrow night, she will return to the hole.’

*

Livi isn’t cold, she is numb. She can no longer sense her hands and fingers and it feels like her chest is caving in with each breath she takes. She and the girl she is pressed up against exchanged names after Rita left, but then there was nothing else to say, and it hurt to talk. She senses Agatha feels the same, because the girl remains silent. During the night, Livi nods off but then starts awake. This happens a hundred times, maybe two hundred.

In the morning, Rita hoists the girls out of the hole.

When Cibi sees her, she is afraid for a moment. Livi’s blouse is torn and filthy, the curls which have started to grow back are caked in mud. Livi holds her shirt closed, having lost all the buttons in the tunnel.

‘Aren’t you happy to see me?’ Livi asks, forcing a grin, and Cibi runs to her, crushing her against her chest, brushing the dirt out of her hair, repeating over and over, ‘Are you all right? Are you OK?’

Vanoushka finds Livi a new blouse.

As she puts it on, she notices the number stitched onto the lapel. ‘I have a new number. Look, Cibi – now I have two,’ Livi tries to joke.

‘That means I can sleep in and you can answer for me at rollcall.’ Vanoushka laughs.

That evening, Livi reports to the hole for another sleepless night on her feet. A very tall female SS officer in a spotless uniform is watching Agatha climb out. She turns to Livi. ‘Your sister told me it was The Beast who sent you here,’ she says.

‘It was,’ says Livi, wondering if this is a trap. Agatha scurries away into the dark.

‘You see this?’ The officer points to the insignia on her uniform. ‘I outrank the bitch. She can’t throw her weight around here like she used to, and I’m enjoying undoing every single order she gives. Go back to your block, little girl.’

Without having to be told twice, Livi races back to the arms of her sister.





CHAPTER 18

Vranov nad Topl’ou

April 1944

‘M

agda? Magda Meller? Is that you?’

Magda pulls her scarf around her face. She dips her head to her chest and picks up speed.

‘Magda Meller! Stop where you are!’

Magda stops, berating herself. Why did she believe she was invincible when everything around her had gone to hell? She turns round to see the familiar smirk on Visik’s face. Her old school ‘friend’.

‘Visik, what do you want?’ Magda is trying to hide the tremble in her voice.

‘You. We’ve been trying to speak to you for months, and don’t pretend you don’t know.’

‘And who is “we”?’

‘Me and my colleagues in the Hlinka Guards, that’s who.’

‘My colleagues and I,’ Magda corrects him. She hates his smug face, his stupid uniform. He is a little boy pretending to be a man, and he won’t get the better of her.

‘Don’t get smart with me. We’ve come to your house every Friday – tell me where you’ve been hiding.’

‘Hiding? Why should I hide? I’ve probably just been out with my friends. Oh, but that’s right, isn’t it, Visik – you wouldn’t know what a friend is.’ Despite herself, a tiny bit of Magda is enjoying this exchange. It may be her only chance to show him her contempt.

‘You can’t talk to me like that anymore, Magda. I could have you shot, and maybe if I shot you myself I’d even get a medal.’

Magda has had enough. ‘What do you want, Visik? I have shopping to do.’

‘We’ll be at your house on Friday, as usual, and you had better be there. It’s time for you to join your sisters, don’t you know?’ he teases, an infuriating grin on his mouth.

Magda is alert now, the sniping forgotten. She takes a step towards this man-boy. ‘Do you know where they are?’

‘Of course I do, I .?.?. I know everything.’ But Magda hears the hesitation in his voice.

‘You know nothing,’ she hisses. ‘Because you are nothing but a little boy playing with a big gun. Why don’t you go home, Visik, to your mummy?’

Magda turns her back on him and strides off, but she is less sure of herself now. Why hadn’t she done as her mother had asked and gone straight home after the shopping? Why had she had to stop by the little boutique on the main street to admire the dresses? She doesn’t have any money for a new dress, even if she had somewhere to wear it. Now Visik knows she is still in Vranov, and that is bad.

While she is slamming the few tins of fish she managed to find in the grocery store onto the kitchen counter, Chaya comes into the room, and watches her for a moment. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

Magda ignores her. She doesn’t need her mother berating her too, all for the sake of a dress she will never own.