But something was happening, and by the time Yona had turned twenty, the world around the forest had grown angry. The earth growled, and airplanes rumbled overhead with increasing frequency, breaking the stillness of the sky. There were sometimes explosions far away, and sounds Jerusza explained were shots from soldiers’ guns, and though Yona begged Jerusza to tell her what was happening, the old woman’s answers were obfuscating. “God is angry,” she would say, fear glimmering in her eyes. Or, “We are being tested.” Whenever Yona asked more, Jerusza grabbed her by the shoulders and hissed warnings such as, “As long as you are here, Yona, you are safe. Do not forget that,” or, “The forest will protect you.” But how could Yona find protection from something she didn’t know, didn’t understand?
There were more people in the forest now, too, and that seemed to frighten the normally unflappable Jerusza. “These men, they will hurt us if they find us,” she whispered one night as they cowered in the darkness of a three-hundred-year-old hollowed oak, each of them clutching a knife, listening to heavy footsteps nearby.
“Who are they?” Yona asked.
“Bad men. The horror has just begun.” But Jerusza would explain no more. Later that night, long after the footsteps had faded, they began moving again, this time to the east.
“Where are we going?” Yona asked, her voice low, as she struggled to keep up with Jerusza, who was traipsing through the darkness with purpose.
“East, of course,” the old woman said without breaking her stride, without turning to look at Yona. “When there is trouble, you must always move toward the beginning of the day, not the end. You know this, child. Have I taught you nothing?”
In the summer of 1941, bloated black logs fell from the sky one bright afternoon, shaking the solid earth, frightening the birds from the trees, scaring the rabbits underground as the ground quaked and rolled.
“Bombs,” Jerusza said, her voice as hollow as a dead oak. “They are bombing Poland.”
Yona knew about bombs, of course, for they’d fallen two years before, too. But she had never seen them like this, clouding a bright blue sky. “Who?” Yona felt cold, despite the heat of the sun. In the distance, there were more explosions. “Who is bombing Poland?”
“The Germans.” Jerusza did not look at Yona as she replied. “Come. There’s no time to lose, or we’ll be directly in the path of Russian deserters.”
“What?” Yona asked, completely confused, but Jerusza didn’t answer. Instead, she gathered their things, thrust a few knapsacks into Yona’s arms, and started off into the woods as quickly as Yona had ever seen her move.
It took them two days and nights of walking, stopping only to sleep for a few hours when their feet couldn’t carry them anymore, before they reached the edge of a seemingly endless swamp, just to the west of the forest’s heart.
“Where are we?” Yona asked.
“Somewhere safe. Now take off your packs and be prepared to carry them above your head. Your knife, too.”
Stunned into silence, Yona scanned the horizon. The swamp stretched farther than the eye could see and seemed to Yona to be an optical illusion; it was dotted with islands, but it was impossible to tell from the edge which parts of the swamp were solid ground and which were swirling with deep, murky water. Was it Yona’s imagination, or could she hear the water hissing the word Jerusza had just spoken? Safe, it seemed to be saying. Saaaaaaafe.
“But won’t you get sick?” Yona asked as Jerusza began to lead the way into the deepening swamp, the water already up to their hips. After all, the old woman was a century old, and just the week before, she had begun to cough and shake at night.
Jerusza choked out a mirthless laugh. “Have I not taught you by now that the forest takes care of its own?”
“But why are we doing this, Jerusza?” Yona had asked an hour later as the water reached their necks. Around them, the swamp continued to hiss. They carried their packs on their heads so the turbid muck wouldn’t soak their things.
“Because you must know this forest inside and out, her heart, her soul. Now you are in her belly, and her belly will keep you safe.”
It took them two days to reach an island in the center of the swamp, where they found mushrooms, bilberries, and startled hedgehogs that were easy to catch. They remained there for a month, until they had picked the island clean of its sustenance, until they could no longer hear explosions or the rat-tat-tat of gunfire in the distance.