“And that’s Moshe with them,” Aleksander concluded. The man beside the older women nodded at Yona, his arms full of clothing. He appeared to be in his sixties and was nearly bald, with a pair of thick spectacles perched on the tip of his nose. He was the tailor, Yona recalled. She nodded back.
“Rosalia is still out on patrol?” Aleksander asked Leib, who nodded. “Can you go find her and bring her back?”
Leib’s eyes flicked to Yona. “Why?”
Aleksander hesitated, his eyes roaming the small encampment. Everyone remained still, watching. It felt to Yona as if they were all holding one long, collective breath. “Because we need to move,” Aleksander said at last, and there was a chorus of exhales, punctuated by a few soft gasps. “At once. We aren’t safe here.”
Leib tensed. “You’ve seen Germans? Where? How close?”
“No. Nothing like that. Still, we need to be on our way as soon as we can.”
Frowning, Leib glanced at Yona, then nodded and slipped off into the woods without another word.
“What are you saying, Aleksander?” one of the old men asked, the one Aleksander had introduced as Oscher, using the tree he’d been leaning on for support as he stood. The white-haired woman, Oscher’s wife, Bina, moved to his side, taking his hand and squeezing, as he added, “We need to move? From this spot that is comfortable and safe? Why?”
Aleksander hesitated and glanced at Yona. “Because we are too obvious here.”
“But you said the Germans aren’t coming,” murmured Ruth, her eyes round with fear as she rocked Daniel. The little boy’s eyelids were drooping, almost closed, his mouth slightly open, and Yona felt a pang of sudden fury at the thought that there were people out there hunting this defenseless child.
“Perhaps not today.” Aleksander’s voice was heavy with grief and exhaustion, and before Yona could stop herself, she reached out and touched his arm. The gesture of comfort seemed to surprise him; he blinked at her a few times before nodding and giving her a small smile. “But they will come.” His tone was resolute now. “They will come, and we cannot be here waiting for them.”
“You are being too cautious. We are fine here,” Sulia said. She glanced at Yona and added, “Aleksander is too worried sometimes, too careful.”
The words felt proprietary somehow, but that hardly mattered, because they were so incorrect. “There is no such thing as being too careful in the forest,” Yona said. “There is always danger.”
“Ah.” Sulia crossed her arms and glanced around at a few of the others in the group, her gaze resting on Aleksander for a few seconds before settling on Yona. “So this is your doing, yes? You have told Aleksander that we need to move our camp? And he believes you because you helped him catch a few fish?”
“Sulia,” one of the other women murmured in warning, but no one else spoke.
Yona could feel her cheeks heating again. Her palms were sweaty. She wanted to run, but if she did that, she’d be abandoning these people to the same sort of future Chana’s family had met. So she drew a deep breath. “Right now, you have been here too long. If your enemies come close enough by chance, they will find you.”
“Our enemies?” Sulia repeated. “Do you hear that, Aleksander? We must consider what she’s saying. She is telling us what to do, but she does not believe she is one of us.”
“Of course she is, Sulia.” It was Ruth who spoke. She had stopped rocking the baby and was rounding up the girls. “She is trying to help, which makes her a friend. We are all just trying to survive. Why not take the guidance of someone who can help us?”
“But who is she, anyhow?” one of the old men asked. “None of us know her from the ghetto, from our villages.”
“Who cares?” another man shot back. “She knows the forest.”
“Well, so do we!” the first man replied.
“Oh yes, Leon, you are going to lead us through the woods now, are you?” the second man retorted. “Feed us all? What’s for dinner tonight, then?”
“Enough!” Aleksander cut off the bickering by raising his hand. “Yona, what should we do?”
“You must—” Yona hesitated, suddenly uncertain—not of the need to move, but of her right to dole out instructions to people she’d just met. But Aleksander nodded encouragingly, and she drew a deep breath before continuing. “We must destroy the shelters, pack up your belongings.” She glanced at Ruth. “Do your girls know how to gather berries?”