Adina had taken her seat next to Isolde, keeping her nerves pushed deep down to the bottom of her stomach. Being surrounded by Nazi’s felt like an immensely stupid decision by this point and images of the crowd, spurred on by Hitler and baying for her blood had burned onto her retinas. As Hitler took the stand, she rose with the rest of the crowd, saluting and uttering the right words. Being in the same room as the man who wanted her and her entire race wiped out sent chills through her but she couldn’t show it. If she was to make it through the evening, she had to keep her emotions under control, keep a mask of calmness on her face. And so she listened to him speak, silently aghast at his words and his promises. She felt unwarranted colour rising to her cheeks and hoped it would seem a sign of her passionate belief in the cause rather than angry frustration.<br/><br/>When he’d finished speaking, Hitler introduced a stunning blond woman who had been sat to the right of him. Her platinum blond hair was cut in a fashionable bob and she was a perfect vision of the Aryan nation. As she spoke, it seemed to Adina that the entire room slipped into a spell, became enthralled by her words, the entire room shouting the same answers to her questions, agreeing with her every word. Adina glanced furtively around her. It seemed that eveybody was fixated on this blond bombshell. Everybody except her. What did this mean? Why did the spell not seem to touch her mind? She gathered her coat and satchel and slipped unnoticed out of the row of seats and towards the back exit. Whatever was happening wasn’t good and she didn’t want to stick around and see what else was about to happen. As much as she wanted to speak to Erlind and Isolde, she couldn’t risk being exposed as a Jew.<br/><br/>The check-in desk was un-manned, the hotel staff were lingering at the back of the auditorium, enthralled as the rest of the audience by Darcy’s words. Her heart pounding in her chest at her own audacity, Adina slipped behind the desk and lifted the key to room 113 off its hook. She slipped it into the pocket of her dress and hurried up the stairs to find her newly acquired room. She half ran along the first floor corridor and fumbled with the key in the lock of the right door. Once inside the room, she closed the door and slid the bolt firmly home before collapsing on the large bed. She was too exhausted to appreciate the grandeur of the room. It had been a long and stressful day and if she was going to have any chance of figuring out what to do next, she needed to get a good night’s sleep. She kicked off her shoes and climbed under the heavy duvet fully clothed. Her eyes had barely closed when she began to dream.