I jumped when Ebner’s chair scraped across the floor, harsh and chilling, as he pushed away from the table. “We’re finished.”

Checkmate.

With a parting shove, Irena released me, so I reacted with a sharp intake of breath. I remained curled into myself, afraid to lift my head and risk looking at her or Hania. We couldn’t ruin it now. I focused on the cigarette I’d dropped during the scuffle, now on the floor, soggy and saturated with urine. The sight was oddly satisfying.

“Frau Aufseherin, escort the prisoners back to Birkenau,” Ebner said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Irena asked while I looked up.

He nodded and tapped his cigarette, watching the ashes fall to the floor. “We’re conducting final interrogations today, but otherwise, we’ve caught the women responsible for smuggling the gunpowder from the munitions factory. Tomorrow the entire women’s camp is going to watch them hang.”

* * *

“I knew you had a lot of chutzpah, Maria, but not that much,” Hania said, shaking her head as we traveled back to Birkenau. “I don’t understand how you came out of an interrogation unscathed. That was a risky scheme.” She’d spent the beginning of our walk carrying on in various languages to calm her nerves, so I considered this a step in the right direction.

Irena said nothing. Deep lines traveled across her forehead, a sign she had pushed Frieda away and was left with only lingering hatred toward her.

Shivering and silent, I wrapped my arms around my midsection as snowflakes descended around us. Of course I was relieved that I hadn’t been implicated, but it didn’t alleviate the familiar chill of guilt. While working in the munitions factory, I’d corresponded with the Jewish women who had been caught. They could have named me, Hania, or countless others, but they hadn’t betrayed anyone. Tomorrow they would pay with their lives.

Hania must have sensed my thoughts, because she wrapped a comforting arm around me. “Even though the uprising failed, it gave hope to so many. Those women will die as heroes.”

She was right, but I couldn’t erase them from my mind. In this terrible place, so many heroic people had met death with unmatched courage. I would always admire their bravery.

Even though I’d emerged unharmed from my Gestapo interrogation, it rekindled memories I’d suppressed for so long. All day, I waited for Ebner to summon me, saying my role in the smuggling ring had been uncovered, that I’d be joining the condemned women. Whether or not he believed my lies was irrelevant. Lies hadn’t saved me last time.

Last time, I thought I had protected my family. Last time, my false confession had spared them an interrogation but put us on a train. This time, I had no reason to believe I had protected myself or my friends any more than I had protected my family.