Page 50 of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

Elle sat up straight and adopted a forthright tone. ‘Look at me. I am your Elle and I love you more than I have ever loved anyone or anything. I promise that whatever you tell me tonight, I will keep secret until the day I die. This I swear to you, beneath the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades.’

In truth, I longed to share every detail with her. But it was my duty to make her aware of the consequences. ‘Elle,’ I began, ‘since you have arrived in my life, I feelaliveagain. I can take pleasure from the smell of Monsieur Landowski’s strong coffee, the warmth of blankets, and the sound of the flowing Seine. All because I have met you.’

‘I feel the same way,’ she replied tenderly.

‘You must understand that by telling you my story, I may put your life in danger, too. If anything happened to you, I would never forgive myself.’ I looked away from her. ‘Indeed, I could see no more point in existence.’

Elle turned my face towards her again. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I should not like to live without you either. But perhapsyoucan understand, Bo, that I acceptallof you.’

How could I ever deny those blue eyes? ‘Very well. I will tell you the story of my life,’ I replied.

I told her everything, from the moment of my birth in a railway carriage in 1918 to the present day. I told her of my father, of brutal winters, of stargazing and violins, of divided families and hungry bellies. I told her of the invention of ‘Bo’, and of my real name, and that she was never to use it.

Elle sat in stunned silence as I recounted my tale to her. When I had finished, I noticed she was crying. ‘Why the tears, Elle?’

‘Because you are such a kind person, and the universe has treated you so poorly.’

‘I feel the same way about you. But now we have each other. Always...’

‘And forever,’ Elle replied.

We held each other under the gaze of the Seven Sisters. In that moment, we were not children, but two old souls, world-wearied before their time.

‘Does anything change now?’ I asked.

‘Oh, yes,’ said Elle. My heart sank. ‘My love for you has only grown, and my desire to keep you safe become stronger.’

‘That is good news,’ I replied. ‘In all honesty, I thought you might be put off by my voice, which now seems to squeak at inopportune moments.’

She giggled. ‘I think it’s sweet. And don’t worry, I have seen other boys at the orphanage go through this phase before their vocal cords settle. It will pass.’

‘Well, thatisa relief.’

‘Bo...’

‘Yes, Elle?’

‘There is one detail you have omitted. The boy who has sworn to kill you – what is his name?’

I stared up at the stars, knowing that on the other side of the world, he was inevitably doing the same.

‘Kreeg Eszu.’

June 2008

Bear’s cries dragged Ally back into the present, and she shakily placed the heavy pages of the diary on the dresser in her cabin.

‘There, there, sweetheart.’ Ally lifted Bear out of his cot, where he had been happily slumbering until moments ago. The enormous roar of theTitan’s engines had just quietened, and ironically it seemed to be the change in tone which had woken him. ‘Captain Hans must have found a place to anchor for the night, Bear, that’s all.’

She sat back down on the bed and, operating on autopilot, bounced her child on her knee. Ally blinked heavily, realising that she had been so absorbed in the diary for the last few hours that afternoon had turned into evening. She switched on her bedside light, and then put Bear to her breast as her mind whirled. She imagined that the others were similarly reeling from the concrete revelation that Pahadknown Kreeg Eszu, and moreover, that he seemed to be running from him. Ally thought especially of Maia, for whom the truth must be particularly difficult to accept. She was grateful that Floriano was close by.

But for Ally, there was more to take in. Pa’s alias, Bo, and his love, Elle... Ally knew the names. They had been close friends of her grandparents, Pip and Karine Halvorsen, andwere mentioned frequently in the manuscript ofGrieg, Solveig og Jeg, the primary document through which Ally had learnt of her heritage. Bo was Pa all along. Tears formed in Ally’s eyes as she recalled that he didn’t say much, but was the most talented musician at the Leipzig Conservatory. She desperately tried to remember any more information about her grandparents’ friends, but beyond the fact they fled to Norway – because Elle and Karine were Jewish – there was little she could recall. What had become of the pair? Did she remember something about them travelling to Scotland? Her thoughts were broken by a knock on her door.

‘Come in,’ she said automatically.

The door opened, and the tall, handsome figure of Jack entered the room. ‘Hiya, Ally, I...’ He spotted her feeding Bear. ‘Oops, so sorry, I can come back later. I didn’t mean to...’

Ally’s cheeks reddened. ‘No, sorry, Jack, I was in my own world... It’s fine, please come in. He’ll be finished in a moment.’