The Hidden Masterpiece Collection by Kristy Cambron

Author:Kristy Cambron
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2015-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWO

March 15, 1939

Prague

Menacing clouds painted the sky over the Charles Bridge.

Daylight was weak and unable to cut its usual path through low-hanging clouds that had forced an eerie blanket of snow over the city. Kája noticed the lack of light as they walked along the Vltava River and how the old town square was shrouded in a pitiful gray.

Good, she thought. How could we leave if the sun were shining?

It was March and yet there was no promise of spring.

No flowers adorned shop window boxes. Stoves still burned throughout the day, warming Prague’s citizens as during the worst chill of winter. It should have been gray on a day like this. Any other color would have convinced Kája she was dreaming. That the lovely old streets weren’t full of motorcars and scores of soldiers with loaded guns. The Czech people couldn’t be standing in the cold, some sobbing out clouds of frozen breath and others watching in stunned disbelief as a regime moved in to infect their city with red swastikas. She had to trick herself into believing that the snow mounded on the street corners was because the children had been at play and piled it into forts, not because it had been cleared so the Nazi army could move through unobstructed.

She sniffed against the bitter cold. A punishing rush of air burned her nostrils.

“Kája?”

Her attention was pulled from the activity in the streets back to Hannah, her older sister, who had come from behind and hooked an arm around her elbow.

“Come. We must hurry,” she chastened, pulling her along.

Hannah’s voice was tinged with alarm. Though her whisper was audibly soft, an unmistakable firmness chided in Kája’s ear. The hand that tightened round her elbow was fused with caution, and Hannah’s lovely golden eyes that had so often smiled back at her were, on this day, quite void of anything but fear. They stared back now with a layer of rebuke at her distraction.

“You ought not look back.”

“I’m sorry. Yes,” Kája said with a nod, and pulled the funnel collar of her evergreen wool coat up tighter round her neck. “I am coming.”

It took courage to divert her eyes from the flurry of activity around them, but still Kája obeyed.

It was the first time in years they’d stepped out on the streets without the Star of David sewn on their garments. They’d never been so bold before; surely they’d be spotted. Found out. Detained and then—

Kája’s gloved hands shook, for the realization of what they were trying to do had become overwhelming. If they were caught without the proper identification on their person, the penalty would be severe. She tried not to think on it, even as they continued their weave through the crowd. She was grateful for the thickness of her auburn hair; the chignon at her nape kept the chill of the wind from sneaking down the full length of her neck. To greet that, too, would have only added to her trembling.

She lowered her head against the wind and followed with quickened steps behind Hannah’s husband, Jakob.

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