I should say no, I thought. It wasn’t proper, meeting Krys at his apartment. I didn’t know whether he meant to talk or something more. Things were too far gone between us for all of that now.

But something stopped me from refusing. “I’ll try,” I said, unwilling to promise more.

Seemingly satisfied, he started away.

“Krys!” I called, and he turned back. “Everything you did...for me...for Sadie... I really appreciate it.” There was so much more I wanted to say to him, but now wasn’t the time. He tipped his hat and was gone.

I handed the sack of potatoes to Sadie. “He doesn’t like you at all,” Sadie said. Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

I decided to ignore her teasing. “You have everything you need?”

“Yes.” She ran her hand over the sack of potatoes. The potatoes were a temporary solution, and might buy Sadie and the others a few weeks at most, not save them from starving. But they seemed to give her hope. “Because of you.”

“And Krys,” I added.

“Yes, of course,” she replied. “I’m very grateful for what he did, too. It’s just that trusting others, it doesn’t come easily now.”

“I understand.” We reached the sewer grate. “Wait,” I said. She looked at me expectantly. “You know, if you don’t want to go back, there are ways.”

She shook her head. “The others need me. I could never leave them.”

“I know,” I said, admiring her loyalty. “I guess I’m just not ready for you to leave yet.” I tried to make my words light but failed. Sadie was my friend now, and I hated sending her back into the sewer.

“It’s all right,” she said, comforting me when it should have been the other way around. “I’ll see you next week.”

“Yes, of course.” It felt, though, like something was irrevocably changing. “Sunday morning, though, if that’s all right, so I don’t have to break curfew.”

“I’ll be here,” she replied. In the distance, I could see more workers headed to the riverbank. It was not safe for Sadie to be here anymore. I opened the sewer grate. “You have to go now.”

“Thank you,” she said, then hesitated. “I really don’t want to go back under.”

“I’ll get you out again, I swear it,” I vowed.

Sadie paused, then pulled the chai necklace from her pocket.

“You should wait until you are below ground to put that back on,” I said. Instead, she held it out to me. “I don’t understand.”

“This belonged to my father. It is the only piece of our family left, and if I don’t make it out...”

“Don’t say that,” I interrupted. I knew, of course, that Sadie’s life in the sewer was dangerous, and that at any moment she might be caught. We were friends now, and I couldn’t stand the thought that something might happen to her.

She shook her head, unwilling to deny the likely truth. “If I don’t make it out, it needs to be kept safe.”