After my conversation with Father Kolbe, I’d stayed up most of the night sewing a small pocket with a button flap onto the underside of my uniform skirt. The next evening, as I marched back to camp from the workday, his rosary was tucked inside.

When I passed through the gate, Fritzsch stood by Block 24, where he usually waited for me if he wanted to end his day with a chess game. After a nod from Fritzsch, the guards waved me away, so I went to him.

“The same old chess game is getting tiresome.”

At his abrupt greeting, I didn’t know what he expected me to say. He could have been testing me. If entertaining him with chess was all I was good for, maybe he wanted to know if I’d welcome the implication of my death or beg for my life. I wasn’t certain either would alter his decision when the time came. As long as Fritzsch was in control, my time in this place remained in his hands.

But only as long as Fritzsch was in control. If I survived this place, perhaps I would feel as if I had granted my family a small form of justice. And if I was going to survive this place, I had to survive Fritzsch.

“We could have a tournament.”

His expression didn’t change at my suggestion. Silence hovered between us for a moment, then he turned and walked away.

As I watched him go, something rose up inside me, a feeling I recognized from my days working for the resistance. My strategy had changed. Maybe I could win this game after all.

Chapter 10

Auschwitz, 26 July 1941

WHEN I HEARD the distant hum of voices outside, I collected the twigs and pebbles from the floor in Block 14, where Father Kolbe and I, among others, had recently moved. “We’ll play again tonight,” I whispered while he swept his hand over the filthy floor to erase our chessboard. “Next time, you can play with white and I’ll play with black. You need the first-move advantage.”

While I stifled a giggle, Father Kolbe raised a teasing eyebrow. “You do recall I won the game we just played, don’t you?”

“And I won the game before that. You’re a worthy opponent, Father Kolbe, but I hope you won’t be too disappointed when I reclaim my title as victor.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“A direct one.”

“Accepted,” he said, flashing a competitive grin as he helped me to my feet. “But if you win, I demand a rematch.”

I clambered to my bunk, a welcome upgrade from the pallets of my last block. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Father Kolbe chuckled as he returned to his bunk, and I settled beneath my thin blanket. The moment I closed my eyes to feign slumber, the door swung open, followed by a guard’s voice calling my number.