‘Don’t struggle, you’re safe now.’ A voice in my ear. Walter’s voice. ‘I’m swimming you back to the shore.’ He wraps his hand around my chin and tugs.

I try to lie still, but water laps in my ears and I wobble as he jerkily swims on his back, huffing with the effort of keeping me up until we reach shallow water. Dimly, I hear cries and shouts from nearby. Walter’s body is solid and safe. He begins to wriggle out from under me, but I cling desperately to him, our tangle of legs sinking to the lake floor.

‘It’s all right, you can stand now,’ he says, propping me upright. The mud squishes between my toes as I try to stand but I’m shaking, and my legs collapse beneath me. Walter holds me, and I lean against him. My throat stings from the coughing. Water trickles from my nose.

Mutti runs through the shallows, soaking her skirt, but she doesn’t seem to care. She lifts me up, hugging me tight against her body, and we stagger back to shore. She wraps me in a warm towel.

‘Hetty! Are you okay?’ Karl is here too, patting me on the back, peering at my face. ‘I told you to be careful!’

‘Oh my poor darling.’ Mutti sinks down with me still in her arms. She rocks me back and forth as though I were a baby, not a big seven-year-old. My ear is pressed to her chest and I can hear her breath, ragged and fast, in her throat.

Walter stands close by, watching us, silent and dripping. Mutti turns to him.

‘You saved her life, Walter. Thank heavens you’re such a strong swimmer. If you hadn’t been there so fast…’ She begins to cry.

‘It was no problem,’ Walter says, quickly looking away.

‘I’m going to tell your mother how brave you’ve been.’

‘There’s no need. Honestly.’ He grabs his towel and begins to dry himself.

Mutti wipes her eyes and helps me to dress. The back of my nose and throat are rough-raw, as if I have swallowed concrete.

‘Perhaps Hetty should have swimming lessons,’ Karl says into the silence.

Mutti sniffs and nods.

She bustles around, laying out the blanket and picnic things. I’ve managed to stop shaking and try some raspberry pfannkuchen and milk from her flask.

I finally gather the courage to look directly at Walter. His wavy blond hair is half dry, half wet. He’s saying something to Karl, but then he turns and looks at me and his face breaks into a smile.

His eyes are the warmest, kindest blue.

*

Later that night, Mutti tucks me into my narrow bed, pushed against the wall in the bedroom I share with Karl.

‘Good night, my darling.’ Mutti kisses my forehead. ‘You are all right, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, Mutti.’

‘Good.’ She smiles and strokes my hair.

She turns out the light and closes the door gently behind her.

I keep my eyes open. Through the gloom, I make out the lumpy shape of the wardrobe against the wall and Karl’s empty bed below the windowsill. With him in the room, the menacing shadows can’t harm me. Each time my eyelids droop I’m back in the lake and the water is sucking me into its murky depths, choking and clogging my lungs. My heart thrums and my eyes ping open. Stay awake. Stay awake. Stay awake.