I looked at Krys, half lying beside me, and suddenly what had taken place between us seemed altogether something else. “Is that why you asked me to come here, because you needed help?” I reached for my dress.

“No, it isn’t like that. I wanted to be with you, Ella, just like I always have. But this is a critical moment in our fight against the Germans and we must strike with everything we have. The hiding place you have in the sewer, it’s too perfect.”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry.” Even for Krys and the important work he was doing, there were some things that were too much to ask.

“Why does Sadie mean so much to you?” Krys asked.

I hesitated. Krys had a point. I had met Sadie only a little while ago. She was no one to me. I should not care about her so much. But somehow in the short time since I had known her, we had become friends and I wanted to help and protect her. I felt certain that she would do the same for me.

But Krys understood none of this. All he saw was some strange girl in the sewer whom I barely knew—and that I was putting her before him.

“I can’t explain it,” I said at last. “There’s just a connection between us. I care for her. She’s my friend.”

“And what does that make me?”

“You know what you mean to me,” I replied quickly, unwilling to let him make my feelings for him a point in his favor. “But you have other options for hiding the munitions.”

“No,” he said sharply. “I don’t.” I had no idea if that was true. “If I did, I wouldn’t be asking.”

“The sewer is Sadie’s last hope,” I explained, desperate to make him understand. “If she’s caught, she’ll be arrested or killed.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Krys exploded. His voice was so loud that I was sure that whoever was in the apartment below could hear. “That’s why we are doing all of this.”

“That’s not true,” I countered. “The Home Army is fighting to liberate Poland. Most Poles care nothing for the Jews.” I understood that for Krys, it was about the bigger fight, not a lone Jewish girl and her family. But to me, Sadie mattered.

“So you won’t help?” he asked.

“Not in this way. I’m sorry.” I looked away, unable to meet his eyes. The one thing he asked of me was the very thing I could not give.

“Me, too.” He slid away from me and stood up. “I thought you understood,” he said.

“I could say the same thing.”

“This is war,” he said tersely as he tucked in his shirt. “Every one of us has to make compromises.” I realized then that Krys had come back from the war changed. He belonged to the cause now, to his work. Not to me.

I wanted to tell him I would help him hide the munitions. But I couldn’t betray Sadie’s safety. “I want to help you,” I said. “I’ll carry packages or whatever you need me to do. We can place the munitions in Ana Lucia’s house, if need be.” I knew even as I said it how ridiculous the suggestion was. “But don’t ask me to compromise Sadie’s safety again,” I said, pleading now. “I can help you find another place.”