Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke Read Online Free PDF Page A

grin, and her heart ached. Daniel wasn’t who she had thought she wanted, when they had met. But he was who she needed. Now and always, he was who she needed.
    The door opened, but Gretchen just pressed her wet cheek to the bedspread, rounding her shoulders, as if she could pull herself into her own private grief. The mattress dipped as someone sat down next to her.
    “What’s happened?” It was Julia’s voice. She smoothed Gretchen’s hair from her face, just as Gretchen used to wish her own mother would do. Gretchen closed her eyes, clinging to the sensation of Julia’s fingers, light and cool on her scalp, and the whole story streamed out.
    When she had finished, there was silence for a moment. Then Julia sighed. “He’ll return as quickly as he can. Daniel loves you with his whole heart. Alfred and I knew that from the moment you two showed up on our doorstep.” She laughed a little. “I’ll never forget the sight of you—so pale and skinny and exhausted. It was obvious Daniel was in terrible pain, but he wouldn’t let Alfred inspect his arm until he saw that I’d gotten you something to eat.”
    She hesitated. “You’re lucky, Gretchen, to have a young man who places his duty to his family above his own safety and happiness. There aren’t many who would be so brave. He’ll be back before you’ve had time to miss him.”
    Shaking her head, Gretchen said nothing. Julia didn’t understand. How could she, when she had never attended a Party rally in the Circus Krone where the hundreds of people in the audience roared, “Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil!” or lingered over coffee at Café Heck, listening to Hitler go on and on about his future plans? I shall do the thing the rest of the world would like to do , he’d muttered to one of his comrades while she’d traced the wet circle left by her glass on the table, sixteen and bored. They don’t know how to get rid of the Jews. I will teach them .
    If Hitler found Daniel, he would show him no mercy.
    “Rest,” Julia said. “Everything will seem better in the morning.”
    But nothing would be different tomorrow; Daniel would still be gone. Gretchen opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. Beside her, Julia murmured reassuringly and smoothed her hair. They stayed that way for a long time.

    Six days dragged past. At breakfast, Gretchen half listened to the wireless and scoured the morning newspapers, reading every article about Germany, searching the tiny print for Daniel’s name without finding it. During the day, she lost herself in her lessons and could almost forget Daniel had left. But then the memory of Daniel’s leaving would crash over her like a wave, pinning her to the ocean floor.
    After school, she slumped on the parlor sofa, staring at the same geometry problem, willing her frozen brain to work. Alfred and Julia were listening to the wireless. From the kitchen, Gretchen heard Cook humming as she prepared supper, and thumps and shrieks of laughter drifted downstairs from the nursery. It should have felt like an ordinary afternoon, but everything seemed unfamiliar, the mundane routine transformed by Daniel’s absence.
    The tinny voice from the wireless sliced into her thoughts. “Germans are in a state of shock today,” he was saying.
    Gretchen bolted upright. “What did he say?”
    Julia set down her knitting, concern etched on her face. “Gretchen, are you all right—”
    “Shh!” Alfred leaned forward. “We need to hear this.”
    The announcer continued in a smooth voice, “At nine o’clock last night, February the twenty-seventh, Berlin was the target of a terrorist attack heard around the world. Person or persons unknown set fire to the Reichstag, the building where the German legislative assembly convene. According to some sources, the fire may be the work of either the Nazis or the Communists, Germany’s two most powerful political parties. For our listeners who don’t follow German politics, the parties are bitter rivals and