Elise sat next to her sister. They hadn’t even changed into their nightclothes yet, still sitting on the bed with a blanket draped between them, fretting over the situation downstairs. They’d made up the spare bed in the attic for Jack, but it had been impossible to carry him up the narrow staircase while he was still drifting in and out of consciousness, so they’d ended up leaving him downstairs. They’d given their parents’ larger bed to Cate, and Harry had insisted he was fine on the floor of the attic with an old mattress that had been propped against the wall. The attic had been her brother’s space; hot and stuffy as could be in summer, with barely enough air to breathe, but it had been his and he’d loved it ever since he’d moved up there as a teenager. It had been strange seeing another man in there, and stranger still making up the room that still smelt of her mother for Cate. They’d left it exactly as it had been when she’d died; perfume on the dresser, lipstick discarded beside it, and her purse and favorite shoes on the chair that faced the bed. It had seemed like an impossible job to move anything, although Elise often walked by the room and paused to drop some of the perfume to her wrist, so it would waft up to her and make her feel as if her mother were walking a step behind her all day.

Elise sighed, finally answering her sister’s question. “I don’t know. Honestly, for the first time in my life, I don’t know what to say.”

“What will happen if we’re caught? If our home is searched?” Addy asked. “What would they do to us? And do they even have the right to do that? It’s still our country, isn’t it?”

Elise took her hand, holding it gently as she listened to the rising hysteria in her sister’s voice. It was always this way; by the time Addy started to worry about something, Elise had already done her fair share of fretting and had come out the other side of it. Her sister acted impulsively and worried later, making them polar opposites in that respect, although she knew that it had been harder for Addy. Elise and Louis had had a different experience at her age; they’d been able to have fun and meet people, whereas Adelaide had been forced to stay largely at home with only her family for company.

“If anyone comes here, we keep them in the attic,” she said calmly. “We’re going to be absolutely fine, so long as we can find enough food for us all and keep Jack alive.” She cringed, wishing she hadn’t said that last part as Adelaide’s eyes widened.

“You think he might die? Did Cate say something to you?”