must be free of sin, then surely Hanni would fail whatever test the Almighty might place before her. “I’m a woman who has done as I must.”
All at once Ettie noticed the blood under Hanni’s fingernails, which she could not wash away. “I don’t care what you’ve done. In this situation, we both have to share the burden.”
Ettie was prettier than she’d first appeared, or perhaps it was the strength of her inner spirit that was reflected outward. Many young men had fallen in love with her and discussed marriage with her father, but he always told them, You would be happier with someone else, and after a while no one asked anymore. They saw that she wanted things no woman should want.
“If we go forward,” Ettie went on, “I would be putting myself at great personal risk. If I recite anything incorrectly I will immediately die. And if I make my father’s mistake, the thing could be strong enough to kill me. I will be its maker, responsible for what it does in the world. You must wonder what would make me take this chance?” The girl met Hanni’s gaze. “There is something I must have as surely as you must have your golem. I don’t plan to stay here because my father is too filled with pride to run away. I will do what anyone with any sense is doing and leave Berlin. And I’ll take my sister.” Her plan was forming as she spoke. They would go first to France, then to New York, where they had cousins. “Identity papers are expensive, and so is the passage.”
It was now clear to Hanni. The girl didn’t care about any sins Hanni might have committed. She wanted the jewels.
The moon had come from behind the clouds and shone through the window. In that illuminated moment they understood their fates were intertwined, and that one was impossible without the other.
“So we have a bargain?” Ettie said.
“You’re sure? You’re not too afraid?” Hanni asked. The rabbi’s daughter was only a few years older than her own child.
“Do I appear to be afraid? Look closely. You’ll see exactly who I am.”
Hanni saw a girl who was willing to do anything to save herself and her sister. “Fine,” she agreed. “We go forward.”
Ettie put out her hand for payment, but Hanni shook her head. Bobeshi had always told her to wait and see what is revealed before you walk through a door. There might be demons waiting on the other side. As always, she followed her mother’s advice.
“You’ll have it when I get what I want.” Hanni was sure of herself. And why not? This was a forbidden bargain they were making, one sinner to another.
Though Ettie was still a girl, and had rarely ventured from this house, she had the confidence of an experienced woman. “Fine. Those are reasonable terms. But if I die doing your business, then the jewels go to my sister. Someone should profit from what is attempted here whether or not it succeeds. And I want two tickets on the night train to Paris.”
As the eldest of the children, Ettie hadn’t felt young in some time. She had a special bond with her sister, and had cared for Marta when she was little more than a baby herself and her mother was too busy with the children that followed. She had decided upon Paris because even though France had surrendered, no one believed that the city would fall for long. From there, the world would be open to them. Ettie had already resolved that she and her sister would leave together, for what good is it to rescue yourself if you leave behind the person you love most?
“How can I get the tickets?” Hanni couldn’t simply pick them up. Jews were not allowed in the streets, much less the Pulitzerstrasse Station.
“Pay a Christian to do it for you. Someone willing to take a risk for a price. Use one of the emeralds.” When Hanni seemed as if she might argue this point, Ettie gave her a good reason to find such a fool. “And be sure he buys two tickets for your daughter and her companion.”
Hanni would send Thomas, the janitor, a drunkard who slept in the cellar of their building, to the Pulitzerstrasse Station. For a bit of cash, he could obtain the tickets to Paris from a porter who was willing to exchange four seats on the night train for an emerald.