Danger in the Darkest Hour

by Mary Pope Osborne

  “Hey,” said Annie, stopping. “I hear a plane.”

  “Teddy’s back!” said Jack. “He remembered that he forgot to give us the magic wand and spell!”

  “Yay!” said Annie.

  “Wait,” said Jack, squinting at the sky. Not just one plane—but three planes droned overhead!

  “It’s not Teddy,” said Annie.

  “Run!” said Jack.

  As the planes dipped down over the field, Jack and Annie ran toward the road, lugging the bundles of their parachutes.

  “Get down!” Jack shouted. He pushed Annie into a ditch at the edge of the road. Clutching their gear, they lay in a thick bed of wet and rotting leaves.

  The planes roared off into the distance. After a long silence, Jack and Annie stood up. “They’re gone,” Jack said.

  “So what do we do now?” Annie asked.

  “We have to find that town,” said Jack. He looked around at the moonlit dark. “But we might have to wait for daylight to figure out how to get there.”

  Jack saw the glare of car headlights coming up the road. “Hide!” cried Annie.

  They threw themselves facedown again in the ditch. Jack held his breath as the car rumbled by. Soon all was quiet again, except for the distant barking of dogs.

  Jack and Annie lifted their heads. “We have to get away from this road,” said Jack, “and find a place where we can stay hidden for a while. Remember, we’re behind enemy lines. Nazis could be anywhere. Come on.”

  Annie didn’t say anything. She didn’t move.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Jack asked her.

  “No. I’m scared,” Annie said in a whisper.

  “You are?” said Jack. He knelt beside her. Annie was never scared. He was always the scared one.

  “This seems so dangerous,” she said. “Hiding from Nazis.”

  Jack was frightened, too. She was right. Hiding from Nazis seemed much scarier than anything they’d done before. But if Annie was scared, he had to act brave. “It’s okay,” he said. “Think about what you told me earlier—we don’t have magic, but we’ve got skills. And we’ve used our skills again and again on our missions. Right?”

  “Right …,” said Annie.

  “Well, we’ll use them this time,” said Jack.

  “You think we can?” asked Annie.

  “I know we can,” said Jack. “First, we need to get to a safe spot.” He pulled out his flashlight and pointed it toward the road. The light lit up a sign that said Biéville. Not far down the road was the white church. “Okay. Biéville. This is where Teddy will pick us up with Kathleen.”

  “Right,” said Annie. “The field near the sign that says Biéville, near the white church.”

  “See, we solved that. With our observation skill,” said Jack. “So now we’ll head into the woods across the road and hide there until daylight. Okay? That’s the skill of, um—”

  “Being smart,” said Annie. She stood up. “Let’s bury our stuff here.”

  “Good idea, I’d forgotten that,” said Jack. “See? Skills! We got ’em!”

  They buried their parachute gear under piles of leaves and brush. “Don’t forget these,” said Jack. He pulled off his helmet and goggles and shoved them under the heap. Annie did the same. “And my notes!” Jack ripped his notes out of his notebook, tore them up, and hid the pieces with everything else.

  “Okay!” he said. “Onward! Let’s go!” With Annie close behind, Jack led the way across the road and into the woods.

  Tramping through tangled undergrowth, Jack and Annie made their way deeper into the moonlit forest. They didn’t stop until they came to a wooden fence. When Jack pointed their flashlight toward the area beyond the fence, it shone on neat rows of vine-covered trellises.

  “Looks like a vineyard,” he said.

  “What’s that?” asked Annie.

  “You know, where they grow grapes to make wine,” said Jack. “We shouldn’t trespass—”

  Before he could finish, Annie grabbed his arm. “Listen!”

  Jack listened. From the woods behind them came the sound of a dog barking. Then he heard men’s voices.

  “They’re searching for us!” said Annie.

  “Trespass!” said Jack. He turned off his flashlight, and they scrambled over the wooden fence and took off running through the moonlit vineyard. They ran between long rows of grapevines until they saw a small farmhouse ahead. Smoke was rising from the chimney. Not far from the house was a barn.

  The barking behind them was getting louder. It sounded as if the searchers had entered the vineyard and were heading their way.

  “There!” said Jack. He grabbed Annie’s hand and pulled her toward the barn. Jack yanked open a wooden door, and the two of them ran inside.

  Jack switched his flashlight back on and shined it around the barn. Horses stood in stalls, swishing their tails and munching hay.

  “There!” Annie pointed to a stack of hay bales in the back. They crouched together behind the bales. Jack turned off the flashlight and put it in his field pack. He and Annie waited motionless, huddled on the floor, inhaling hay dust and animal smells and trying to breathe as quietly as they could.

  The barking grew louder and closer. The horses moved restlessly. Jack heard men shouting above the barking, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying.

  Then the door to the barn banged open. “Fritz! Check inside!” a man said.

  Jack heard two sharp barks and the sound of a dog sniffing and scratching. The next thing he knew, a German shepherd bounded over to the hay bales! With a low growl, it bared its teeth.

  “It’s okay!” Annie whispered to the dog. “It’s okay.”

  The dog snorted and sniffed their faces. Jack didn’t move a muscle as Annie gently stroked the dog’s head and whispered in its ear.

  The dog grew calm. Annie whispered again. The shepherd licked her face. Then it barked once and loped out of the barn.

  “Nothing in there, Fritz?” the man said to the dog. “Good boy.” Then the door slammed shut. The men’s voices faded away. Everything grew quiet.

  Jack and Annie waited a long moment. Then Jack let out his breath. “What did you say to that police dog?” he asked.

  Annie shrugged. “I said, ‘Good dog, everything’s okay. We’re friends.’ I just didn’t tell him whose friends we were.”

  Jack shook his head in amazement.

  “Let’s escape while we can,” said Annie.

  Jack was relieved. Annie sounded like her old self again. Calming the dog calmed her, too, he thought. “Okay, but let’s go slowly.”

  Just as Jack and Annie stood up, the door to the barn creaked open again. Jack’s heart pounded as they dropped back behind the hay bales.

  The barn was lit with flickering lantern light. Jack heard footsteps on the wooden floor. The steps grew closer and closer. Then a man with a black beard peered over the hay bales. He wore a black beret slanted over one eye.

  “Aha! We found you!” he said in a deep, growly whisper.

  Jack was too terrified to speak.

  Annie slowly held up two fingers in a V Is for Victory sign.

  What is she doing? Jack thought wildly. We don’t know who this guy is!

  The man glared at Annie for a moment; then his craggy face broke into a smile, and he held up his fingers in a matching V.

  Oh, man, thought Jack. Did we really just find a member of the French Resistance?

  “Who are they, Gaston?” a woman called from the barn doorway.

  “Who are you?” Gaston asked in a raspy voice.

  “J-J …,” Jack stuttered, terrified.

  “Jean and Aimée,” Annie said quickly.

  Annie’s a good spy, Jack thought. He’d completely forgotten their French names.

  “Really?” said the man. “Are those your real names?”

  Annie laughed. “No, our real names are Jack and Annie.”

  Oh, brother, Jack thought. She’s a terrible spy!

  “
And what are Jack and Annie doing in our barn?” asked Gaston.

  “We’re hiding from the Nazis,” Annie said.

  “Well, then,” said Gaston, “you are in the right place.”

  “For the moment, you are safe, children,” said the woman, stepping forward. She wore a shawl around her shoulders and a kerchief over her dark hair. “Hello, my dears. My name is Suzette, and this is my husband, Gaston.”

  “Nice to meet you,” said Annie.

  “Come with us, back to our house,” said Suzette.

  Jack and Annie climbed out from behind the hay bales and followed the French couple to the door of the barn. Before they left, Gaston blew out his lantern light. “Silence,” he ordered, “until we get into the house.”

  Gaston and Suzette led Jack and Annie through the dark to the front door of the small stone farmhouse. Once they were inside, Jack and Annie looked around the room. It had a low ceiling. Candles burned on a heavy wooden table. A fire flickered in a large fireplace.

  Suzette placed an iron bar over the front door, while Gaston closed the window shutters.

  “Sit, children,” said Suzette. “We will have apple cider, and you will share our dinner.”

  Jack and Annie sat at the table near the hearth. A pot hung over the fire. Jack relaxed a little as he smelled roasting potatoes, onions, and carrots.

  Gaston poured cider into mugs, and Suzette prepared four bowls of stew. Then the couple joined Jack and Annie at the table. The fire crackled as they all quietly sipped cider and ate their dinner.

  When they were finished, Gaston leaned back in his chair and lit a pipe. “You know,” he said, “when the Nazis were here earlier, they were not looking for you.”

  “They weren’t?” said Annie.

  “No, they were looking for two paratroopers who’d been spotted dropping into a field near here,” said Gaston.

  “Oh. Then they were looking for us,” said Jack.

  “No, no—” Gaston stopped and gave Jack a funny look. “Unless you two could be those paratroopers?”

  “Yes, we could be,” said Annie.

  “But no!” said Gaston. “How could two children parachute into Normandy? And why?”

  “We’re working with agents of the SOE,” said Annie.

  “But no!” Gaston said again.

  “Oh, my,” said Suzette. “Are things so bad that children are being recruited as spies now?”

  “Well, not just any children,” said Annie. “We were asked because one of our best friends is an SOE agent. We have information that she is three miles east of Caen. We’re supposed to find her and get her out of France.”

  “Then you do not have far to go,” said Gaston. “We are only four miles northwest of Caen.”

  “There is great danger, though,” said Suzette. “The city is surrounded by Nazi patrols. You will need the right papers.”

  “We have identity cards,” said Annie.

  “Good,” said Gaston, standing up. “Come with me. We will hide you here tonight and help you get on your way in the morning.”

  “Thank you,” said Jack, standing up with Annie.

  “Thanks for the dinner,” Annie said to Suzette.

  “It is my pleasure to feed two brave children again,” Suzette said.

  Why did she say “again”? Jack wondered.

  “Come along,” Gaston said, waving his arm. Jack and Annie followed him to a room off the kitchen.

  Gaston pulled aside a floor rug, revealing a trapdoor. He lifted the door, and then, carrying a lantern, he led Jack and Annie down a staircase to a cellar. Hundreds of wine bottles sat in racks along the walls of the dank, musty room.

  “Suzette will bring bedding,” said Gaston. “And you can keep the light with you.” He placed the lantern on a long table and then started back up the steps. Without looking back, he raised his hand. “Good night!” he said.

  “Thank you!” called Jack and Annie.

  When Gaston was gone, Annie sat down at the table. “Wow, they saved us,” she said.

  “For now,” said Jack.

  “I wonder what these little rubber blocks are for,” said Annie. She picked up a small block from the table and held it to the lantern light. “Look—it has the letter H on it.”

  Jack walked over to her. On the table were dozens of small rubber blocks and several stacks of paper.

  “And this one has the letter S,” said Annie, holding up another block.

  “Here’s a D,” said Jack. “S and U. They’re all letters. It must be a printing set.”

  “Check this out,” said Annie. She picked up a piece of paper from one of the stacks on the table. She showed it to Jack.

  He read the print on the page aloud:

  HOPE AND COURAGE!

  FREEDOM SOON!

  Annie thumbed through more papers in the stack. “They all say the same thing,” she said. “It’s a bunch of flyers. Do you think Gaston and Suzette secretly pass them out?”

  “Here is your bedding, children,” said Suzette, coming down the steps to the cellar. When she saw Annie holding one of the flyers, she stopped.

  “Did you and Gaston print these?” Annie asked.

  Suzette crossed the room and stood in the lantern light. “No, we didn’t,” she said softly. “Our sons did.”

  “Your sons?” asked Annie.

  “Our brave twins, Tom and Theo,” said Suzette. “They are couriers for the French Resistance.”

  “What are couriers?” asked Jack.

  “Couriers travel on bicycles, delivering messages from one resistance group to another,” said Suzette. “Tom and Theo also printed flyers to give people hope. On their courier routes, they sometimes posted them when no one was looking. Only … one day someone was looking.”

  “What happened?” asked Annie.

  “Three months ago we received word that Tom and Theo were picked up in Paris by the Nazis,” said Suzette.

  “So … they’re in prison now?” asked Annie.

  Suzette took a deep breath. “We do not know what has happened to them,” she said.

  “I’m sorry,” said Annie. “Are Tom and Theo children?”

  “They are young men. Twenty-two years old,” said Suzette. “But they will always be our children.”

  “Are you and Gaston in the French Resistance, too?” asked Jack.

  Suzette nodded. “Our job is to gather and send information.” She turned away from them. “But now my job is to make your beds.”

  “We’ll help,” said Annie. She and Jack helped Suzette spread the threadbare blankets on the floor.

  “I fear you will not be so comfortable,” said Suzette. “But at least you will be safe.”

  “That’s all that matters,” said Jack.

  “Thank you, Suzette!” said Annie, and she hugged the kind Frenchwoman.

  “Try to sleep now, children,” said Suzette. “You will need all your strength tomorrow to find your friend.” Then she climbed the stairs and closed the door to the cellar.

  “That’s so sad about their boys,” said Annie.

  “Yeah,” said Jack. He didn’t know what else to say. He was amazed by the courage of Gaston and Suzette. Even after their sons were caught, the couple was willing to risk their lives to help others.

  “So tomorrow we head to Caen,” said Annie.

  Jack nodded. “Do you have Kathleen’s message?”

  Annie pulled the piece of paper from her pocket and read aloud:

  Come to me in the darkest time.

  A wand I need, and a magic rhyme.

  Three miles east of Sir Kay’s grave,

  Cross a river to find a cave.

  Look for knights, and small, round cows—

  A crack in a rock beneath the boughs.

  “So we’ve figured out the first four lines,” said Annie. “We know Kathleen needs magic—which Teddy forgot to give us.”

  “Right,” said Jack. “And we know we have to go three miles east of a town named Caen—and then cr
oss a river to find a cave.”

  “Right,” said Annie. “And then the weird part.” She reread:

  Look for knights, and small, round cows—

  A crack in a rock beneath the boughs.

  Jack shook his head. His brain was getting foggy. “Let’s ask Gaston and Suzette in the morning if they have any ideas,” he said.

  “Good plan,” said Annie.

  They pulled off their boots and lay down on the ragged blankets.

  “We’ll figure it all out tomorrow,” Annie murmured.

  “Yeah, right now, I’m way too tired,” said Jack, closing his eyes. He was exhausted from traveling through time to Glastonbury, flying over the English Channel, parachuting into Normandy, running from planes, lying in a ditch, hiding in a barn, escaping Nazis, and making friends with people in the French Resistance—all between twilight and bedtime.

  “Jack! Annie! Wake up!” said Suzette. She stood at the bottom of the cellar stairs. “It is morning. There is news!”

  Jack opened his eyes. Where were they? He squinted at the racks of wine bottles against the wall and the table with the flyers and the printing set. Then he remembered: a cellar in Normandy, France. He sat up.

  “What news?” Annie asked.

  “We just received a message from the London BBC,” said Suzette. “It was the message we have been waiting for. The hour of the great battle is coming! Tomorrow, June sixth.”

  “What battle?” asked Jack.

  “The invasion of France,” said Suzette. “The invasion by the Allies. The English, Scots, Americans, Canadians, and others will all invade France and drive out the Nazis, starting tomorrow!”

  “Really?” said Jack.

  “Yes!” said Suzette. “Excuse me, I must get back to Gaston. He is getting more news from the BBC over the wireless.” She hurried up the steps.

  “Oh, wow!” said Annie. “Did you hear what she said?”

  “Yes, the Allies—” said Jack.

  “No, the wireless—” interrupted Annie. “They have a wireless! Once we find Kathleen, we can come back here and send Teddy a message.”