Chapter 1
The train rushed through rolling German hills; past old barns and burning Synagogues into French fields and farms. Lizel looked at them absentmindedly, in a haze. A few weeks earlier his parents had heard from their friends of a young man who was willing to take Lizel in. He lived on a small island outside France. Lizel’s parents were sure he would be safe there. So when it was announced that indeed, their Fuher would invade Poland, Lizel was whisked onto a train headed for southern France. He had all the valuables, treasures and precious things he could manage, a kiss from his mother, and a pat on the back from his father and they were out of sight. Lizel brushed his brown hair back in thought, he wasn’t quite sure why the Jewish were to blame, but Hitler seemed to think so, so Lizel trusted his parents’ wishes.
When Lizel got off at his stop, a young, tall, blond woman in blue approached him.
“I am Elyse. I am Mr. Amund’s secretary. You speak English, don’t you?”
She looked like any boys dream, but talked like a teacher who thinks too high of herself.
“Yes mam’”
Lizel answered recognizing the need for him to be as obedient as possible.
“Good. Follow me.”
The woman led him to a small boat. Lizel quickly loaded his trunks and boarded. The boat was relatively quiet and skipped on the surface like a rock.
“You are to only speak English while in front of others, don’t speak unless spoken to and don’t mess with anything.”
Lizel listened halfheartedly.
“Mr.Amund is a very busy man and does not have time to spend with little children; you are not to go in his study or his private library, understood?”
“Yes mam’”
Lizel was amazed at the size of the house. It was, in all, a forgotten chateau. It was three stories, grand in all aspects. His room was the size of a small apartment it had a king size canopy bed, a large desk and sitting area. Lizel was quite pleased with his settings. As he waltzed around his room inspecting everything he was especially intrigued by the vast amount of books. As he went through them, he noticed the majority weren’t in English. They were written in Latin, French, German, Italian, Greek and even Japanese. The books could be categorized into one of three subjects, Chocolate, History and Art. The majority was the first, which made sense, Mr.Amund was a chocolatier. History was second, leaving Art. Lizel already knew German, French, English and some Chinese, so he was sure he could figure some out. Lizel smiled, he was a recluse by nature so he was fine on his own, and either way, he did love books.
Within two weeks Lizel had developed a schedule of sorts. He woke up about 9 and had breakfast in the kitchen, then worked on translating till 11, then had lunch in the study, then went to the barn and road the horses, sometimes going for a dip in a nearby stream. He then had supper on his own private patio at 7 and then read till 9 when he took a bath. His bathroom was huge. The tub was sunk into the floor like a pool and all white marble. There were a million different soaps in all different scents. It was any girl’s paradise and now Lizel’s. It was near 11 when Lizel finally went to bed. Saturday wasn’t much different. Lizel had decided in the first 2 days that he would stop doing "religious things" he decided praying and reading a section of the old testament would suffice and there was no need for a full service. His parents sent him a letter the first week and had told him to expect a letter at least once a month. It was his assurance of his parent’s safety.
The mysteriousness of Lizel’s new guardian only came up to question when there was either a party or a dark car parked in front of the entrance. But after a few weeks Lizel started to get annoyed. Who was this “Mr.Amund” and what had popped into his head to make him take Lizel in without even knowing him, the answer, which was the first to come to Lizel, was that he was just being kind, but if this man was so kind then why hadn’t he introduced himself yet. Was the stuck up Secretary Elyse all Lizel would ever hear of his guardian? This was really starting to get on Lizel’s nerves.
One day Lizel was reclining on his porch when Elyse, without knocking, came in.
“Mr.Amund will be out today, you may explore the house if you wish, just don’t break anything, understood?”
“Yes mam”
“Good.”
Elyse briskly exited leaving Lizel to his thoughts. Lizel started thinking, deviously, as most boys do when told not to do something. If no one was home, how could anyone stop him from taking a look into the library? Lizel knew all the most interesting books had to be in the main library, where else would they be kept? So he grabbed a pencil and some paper and went in search of the library. Lizel soon realized the house was bigger than he thought so he took three sheets of paper and began to make a map. The room on the first floor that got the most attention from Lizel was the grand ballroom. He quickly invited an invisible partner to dance the waltz, which turned into an off kilter ballet, then a traditional German jig which resulted in Lizel almost falling into a potted plant.
When Lizel arrived in the great dining hall on the second floor he was astounded. The hall had seating, probably for more than 500 people. As Lizel approached the head of the table something caught his eye, a small open box sitting on the table. Lizel walked over for closer inspection. The box was filled with chocolates, all except one. They were infusions, small round balls of chocolate, filled with different flavors. Lizel liked chocolate, hell; there probably wasn’t one German who didn’t, so he picked one up, sniffed it, and popped it into his mouth. As soon as the chocolate hit his tongue Lizel knew something was wrong. A shiver went up his spine as he tasted the bitterness of rotten citrus, then a strong coffee came to make him gag, lastly his mouth felt as if it had just ate a cup of cinnamon. Lizel gagged and spat the disgusting chocolate into a nearby plant, only to realize the taste was still in his mouth, making him gag once more. While Lizel was trying to make himself puke (because surely puke would taste better) he heard the click of the doors opening. He spun around to see two burly men standing in the doorway. Then Elyse’s enraged voice bounced off the walls.
“Get Him!!!”
Lizel ran. Running had become an instinctive thing for him and now was no exception. Lizel completely forgot to where he was running, where his room was and what floor he was on, his only thought being “Don’t stop! Don’t stop!” Lizel skidded down an unknown hallway, there was a door at the end, and if Lizel could just manage to get inside and lock the door he could buy some time. Within a few feet of the door, it opened and Lizel screeched to a halt, falling backwards, barely catching himself. In the doorway stood a young man with the brightest green eyes he had ever seen.
Chapter 2
The man looked about 25. He was probably only eight or so inches above Lisel, he had neatly trimmed, short, black hair with bangs that only just touched his eyelashes. His eyes were a wine bottle green with long eyelashes. He was wearing the pants and button up of a day suit with a loosened tie around his neck. His shoes were off, showing grey socks. This man was looking down at Lizel with a mixture of curiosity and affection, as if he wanted to help him but didn’t know if it was alright.
Soon Elyse rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks as well, but didn’t fall “Ah! S-sir!” Elyse stuttered both caught off guard and horribly embarrassed at the same time. Lizel had to stop himself from chuckling at the sight. “S-sir! This boy! I- I was just! The new chocolates sir! He-“ “stop your prattle Elyse and tell me who this boy is!” came a warm voice from the man “he-he is Lizel sir, Lizel Blitzkrieg, the refugee, sir. But he-“ Lizel shuddered at the word “how long has he been here?” “Sir, I don’t think it’s-“ “how long has he been here Elyse? Answer me that, then I will decide what we discuss next.”
Lizel glanced between Elyse and the man, he couldn’t quite understand why, but it seemed as if Elyse was in trouble “two-two months sir. “ “And why haven’t I been introduced?” “I- I didn’t think-“ “That’s right, you didn’t think did you? This young man probably thought I didn’t care about him, that he was unimportant” then it clicked, this was Mr. Amund, this was the man who invited Lizel to stay! “You really screwed up this time Elyse, good god. And what could he have done to upset you? Whispered too loud? You’re such a picky person.” “The chocolates, sir, the ones on the table, he ate one, sir.” Mr. Amund’s face changed from angry to surprised “oh. Ohhh.” Mr. Amund looked down at Lizel “It’s alright, stand up, you’re not in any trouble.” Lizel moved briskly to his feet, dusting off his pants “Elyse, go make yourself busy with something, this boy’s fine.” Elyse disappeared and Lizel was left alone with Mr.Amund “Lizel, am I saying it right? Well, anyway, I am Mr. Amund. Nichlas Amund. You can call me Nichlas or Mr.Amund, Sir or Nico, but not Nick, I hate that”
Nichlas ushered Lizel into the room he had just come from, which turned out to be the large and gigantic main library. Nichlas instructed Lizel to sit on a nearby couch and then settled in a chair. “So, Lizel how was the chocolate?” Lizel didn’t know whether to lie or tell the truth “It was delicious, sir” Nichlas chuckled “now I know your lying Lizel, because I had the other chocolate myself. When it comes to food such as chocolate, honesty is key. Now, what do you really think?” Lizel decided to be blunt “Puke would taste better, sir.” Nichlas sat up with a jolt “Aha! See! That’s the kind of honesty I want from people! They think that because I am an Amund, because I am rich, they have to always say good things about my chocolate! But, in all reality, they’re thinking too much. Please don’t feel intimidated by me Lizel, I don’t mean it. And I apologize for Elyse’s bitchiness, I swear I am the least organized person on this earth, but she is the most, so I just have to bear with it. I’m sorry I didn’t meet you on the first day, I was busy, this job is busy, and this life is busy. I’m sorry, am I talking too much?”
Lizel laughed and relaxed “No! Your fine. I was just looking at your books.” Nichlas smiled “What languages do you speak?” “German, English, French, some Chinese and Latin.” Nichlas stood up and grabbed an open book off a nearby desk “this” he handed the book to Lizel “is the recipe for those chocolates. It’s in German, as you can see. I don’t know much German, or any language other than English or Spanish. Tell you what,” Nichlas sat down on the coffee table in front Lizel, his hands clasped “there are about 4 other German recipe books on my desk, I have a meeting this afternoon, if you translate every infusions recipe in those books by the time I get back, I’ll let you have free reign of this library. Have we got a deal?” Lizel smiled “you bet!”
Nichlas’s meeting lasted two hours, while Lizel was done translating in forty-five minutes. For the rest of the time, Lizel plucked a few French history books off the shelves and began reading those. When Nichlas finally got back, he looked exhausted, frustrated and like he wanted to kick something. But when he saw Lizel’s translations, his face lit up in an incandescent smile. “Lovely, absolutely lovely. These will be delicious.” Nichlas threw off his coat and tie, unbuttoning a few buttons, and sat on the couch next to Lizel. “Now, Lizel. Which one is your favorite?” Lizel smiled “Lemon Meringue truffles. I love them.” Nichlas smiled “then we’ll make them first.”
Every once and a while Nichlas would go riding with Lizel, or have a meal with him. But even though Nichlas tried very hard to make time for Lizel each day, something would usually get in the way. So Lizel was very surprised when Nichlas, unexpectedly, walked through his door one afternoon. “Lizel? Do you like parties?” were the first words from Nichlas’s mouth. “Um. I guess so” Lizel wasn’t quite sure. “It’s just, I am holding a party later this week, and I wondered if you would come. We would tell everyone I rescued you from an orphanage or something and that you’re now my heir. There will be business partners and there family’s, there daughters I’m sure. So, what do you say?” Lizel smiled “sure.”
The party was a grand affair. Lizel didn’t quite get why it was so important, but he was getting new clothes out of it, so he didn’t really care. Nichlas was right, there were quite a lot of girls there, and Lizel did dance with a few, but mostly he was an active translator for Nichlas. Lizel had to admit, he had never seen this many nationalities in one room before. There were Italians, Frenchman, American, English, Japanese and about thirty others. There was also a German. A fat, bald, proud man, as was heard throughout the evening, as he was very loud. Lizel desperately tried to avoid this man as much as he could. The new story of Lizel was that he lost his parents in the first battles of the war, and had been living in an old orphanage until Nichlas stumbled upon him walking through Berlin and saw a spark in him, that he had an eye for chocolate, and adopted him immediately. This was very beneficial for Nichlas, as it seemed his father had not been the kindest person, and everyone was very glad Nichlas wasn’t the same.
Then, a loud voice silenced the ballroom. It was the fat German. He was now spouting his love of Hitler and the Third Reich. “I believe, he is doing the right thing. Those Jewish rats didn’t do a good damn thing” Lizel froze. It had been three months, for three months he hadn’t had to think of Germany. Now it was starting to break through “he is the greatest thing to happen to Germany. Aren’t I right boy?” he was talking to Lizel. Everyone could see that. Lizel didn’t know what to say. His world had been shattered with a single sentence. So Lizel ran. He tore straight out of the room, up the stairs and into the library, crying and shaking and choking all at once.
Down in the ballroom Nichlas confronted the man “this, sir, is a party, not a political discussion. And furthermore, I did not invite you to terrorize and belittle my guests, or remind them of the war. Leave now, or I will get someone to escort you.” Nichlas exited swiftly, heading to the library, he knew Lizel would be there. Nichlas sat down on the couch and pulled the sobbing Lizel into his lap, trying to calm him down “shush” he cooed “it’s all right” Lizel sobbed even harder “it’s not my fault.” “Hmm?” “It’s not my fault!” Lizel fully rose, looking deep into Nichlas’s eyes “it’s not my fault. I worshiped Hitler too! I wanted him to look at me as his son; I wanted to be in the youth! But. What did we do? What the hell did I do wrong? Why are they punishing us? It’s not my fault!!!” Lizel fell back into Nichlas’s chest “it’s alright” Nichlas whispered “it’s not your fault. No one’s punishing you. Your safe here. I will never let anything happen to you. I promise. There’s no danger here. Would you like to sleep with me, in my bed tonight? Would that make you feel better?” Lizel nodded “then we’ll do that.” Lizel slowly calmed down, aided by Nichlas’s warmth and the silence. Then he drifted off, to a dreamless sleep.
