The month of May arrived. The girls often undertook many daring adventures, usually led by the fearless Anastasia.

One of them started with an idea that hatched one afternoon while under their beloved willow tree. Maria was sitting on a root while Anastasia was above in the tree, resting her head on a branch.

"I'm so bored," Maria complained, her chin resting in her palms.

"What could we do? Skip rocks in the pond?"

"No."

"Listen to the gramophone?"

"Nah."

"Go for a swim in one of the ponds?"

"We don't have swimsuits."

"Oh, faugh!"

Anastasia jumped off of the branch and hit the ground on her stomach. Maria rushed to her side as she stood up laughing.

"That tree is no match for the mighty Shvibzik!" Anastasia declared, striking a pose "Wait, Mashka! I have an idea!"

"What?"

"Let's go to town! We need swimming dresses! Right?"

"Yes." Maria uttered nervously.

"So let's go into town! We gotta buy some! We would only be gone for a few minutes."

"Anastasia, darling. We can't."

"Who says so!"

"No one Nastasia. But Grandmama would be furious."

"She won't be furious if she doesn't know!"

"We can't!"

Anastasia dropped to her knees.

"Please, Mashka. Just once! We can see everything! We can even buy chocolate!"

Maria's mind flashed to about a month ago. She had seen that one candy store on a street corner. She remembered she wanted chocolate so badly that day. Maria caved.

"Fine Shvibzik! For a few minutes."

The girls walked back to the house while planning their adventure. They made it inside and walked down the hallway.

"Where would we find money?" Maria stated.

"Grandmama and Alexandra don't have any spare money. We could ask Liesel!"

"Then we'll have to tell her!"

"We could find a way to ask her without her knowing. I'm sure she has money."

"Anastasia Nikolaevna! We can't ask for her money-"

Suddenly, the girls turned the corner to see Oliver standing in front of them.

"Going somewhere?" he asked playfully.

"Um, um-" Anastasia stammered.

"Yes! We are just going-" Maria started.

"To our rooms!" Anastasia glanced at Maria then back to Oliver.

"But miss. Isn't your room that way?" he said, pointing in the other direction.

"Oh, right!" the girls turned around.

"Ah, ah ah. Come back."

The girls turned back to Oliver. They knew he had heard their plan.

"Well, you can't go out without any money now, can't you. Here." Oliver took a small bag out of his suit pocket and placed it into Maria's hand.

"For you. Twenty-five pounds."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Buy yourselves something nice." Oliver smiled. "You remind me so much of my daughters."

"Is there any way you could take us there?" Maria asked.

"I'm afraid I can not. Perhaps Liesel can take you. Goodbye, girls." Oliver disappeared into a room.

"Let's just go by ourselves. Liesel is probably too busy to take us either."Anastasia groaned.

"Shvibzik-"

"Come on, Mashka!" Anastasia led Maria away.

The girls walked through the house to the saloon, praying no one would see them. They opened the front door quietly, ran through it, and closed it behind them. They were out. The girls ran out onto the pebble driveway and rejoiced, surprised they had made it this far.

"Come on! We're not quite out yet." Anastasia said as she sprinted toward the house's front gates. The gates were quite far away and took Maria and Anastasia about twenty minutes to reach them but they finally made it.

"Have the money? Anastasia asked.

Maria took the bag out of her pocket and showed it. Anastasia tugged at the gates but they didn't open.

"They must be rusted shut! Stupid gates!"

"Nastasia?"

"What Maria!" Anastasia spat, frustrated.

"There's a lock." Maria pointed to a lock embedded into the gates.

"Right, totally saw it."

Anastasia never liked to admit she was wrong, even when she was.

"We'll just have to climb it then!" Anastasia began to scale it, placing her feet in the tiny iron cracks. Maria figured it would be much easier to exit the house through the gates.

"I'm sure Liesel will take us! I don't want to climb it! It's unsafe! There are spikes on the top. How are you going to climb over those!"

"Oh, stop it, Maria Nikolaevna! Do you want chocolate or not?" Anastasia huffed.

Maria wanted it more than ever. "Yes."

"Then, start climbing!"

Once the girls had made it over, they ran up the side of the road leading to town, laughing and cheering.

They were free.

The walk into town was only about five minutes. When the sisters arrived, they were swept into the chaos of everyday life. Crowds of people. Young and old. Girls and boys. All going about their business. Tons of cars sped past on the roads.

"Wow!" Maria gasped, taking everything in.

"Now where is that candy store?"Anastasia asked.

"It's on a street corner!"

"What street corner?"

"I...don't know."

Anastasia scanned the area around them. As she did, she spotted a few young schoolboys dressed in uniforms sitting on a bench across the street.

"Maria, let's go ask those boys! I'm sure they'll know where it is." she called to Maria, who was busy looking at a shop window. As Maria walked to her, Anastasia stepped off the sidewalk onto the street.

"Anastasia!" Maria screamed when she stopped a car approaching her sister. Anastasia stood on the road, frozen in shock for a moment until she came back to life. She drove back onto the sidewalk just as the car zoomed by.

Onpassers watched the scene unfold and gasped as they watched the girl almost get hit by a car. Once they saw she was safe, they all walked away, continuing their day. Anastasia stood up, still in shock.

"I'm sorry, Maria. I'm sorry." she whispered as her sister attacked her in a hug.

"You could have been killed! You need to watch where you run!" Maria cradled her sister in her arms.

"I will, Mashka. I promise."

When it was safe to cross, the girls walked to the schoolboys. Since they had seen the girl almost get hit by a car, they snickered and tried to hide their laughter.

"Good day, gentleman." Anastasia addressed the boys. "Is something funny?"

The boys stifled their laughter, but one of them didn't laugh.

"Guys. Nothing's funny." he sat as he looked at his peers.

"Come on, Nastasia." Maria groaned.

"Wait!" one of the boys called as he grabbed his school bag and walked up to them. "Sorry about that. They're all idiots. They think that a near brush with death is funny."

"Then why are you with them?" Anastasia broke from Maria's grip.

"Cause one of them's my older brother. Kinda have to stay with them."

Anastasia nodded. "What's your name?"

"Hugo. What's yours?"

"I'm Anastasia. This is my older sister Maria."

"Like the duchesses?"

"That's us."

"Wow. What are you doing out here? Don't duchesses stay in their palaces?"

"Technically, we're not duchesses anymore. None of my family is royalty anymore. And we're not staying in a palace. It's a house."

"Palace."

"House."

"It's a palace." Hugo shot back.

"It's a house!" Anastasia bickered.

"Mansion." Hugo went on.

"Fair enough." Anastasia sighed.

"Wait. If you're from Russia, then how do you speak perfect English." Hugo questioned.

"Schooling."

"Duchesses go to school?"

"Don't all? Well, tutored. We also speak French."

"Bonjour Hugo. Je m'appelle Maria et moi aussi je parle couramment le français." Maria chimed in.

"Je ne suis pas trop douée pour parler français mais je connais un peu." Hugo answered.

(

"We can help you learn French if you'd like! We've been speaking it our whole lives!"

"Thank you very much." Hugo thanked her. Maria's mind then remembered why they had come to town in the first place.

"Oh, right! See if you can figure this out! Are there any chocolate shops around?" Maria asked in French.

"Yes! There is a chocolate shop right down the street! I was thinking about going there myself."

The girls crossed the street admiring the town as Hugo led them to the shop. As they walked, Anastasia asked -

"What is this town? I'm afraid we don't know it."

"This is King's Lynn!" Hugo replied happily.

The group passed many museums, libraries, shops, parks, and outside markets until they turned onto a street that Maria found was familiar from the drive. There was something else that caught her eye while walking. It was a long row of houses pressed together that laid in ruins.

"What's happened there?" Anastasia asked.

"Those houses were destroyed by a bomb about during the great war." Hugo answered sadly.

"Was everyone ok?"

"I'm pretty sure it killed two people but wounded more."

Maria hated war. War killed innocent people. She hoped another would never happen.

They walked down the block more and spotted their destination.

"That's it!" Maria pointed out the shop in front of them, its colorful stained glass windows shimmering in the sunlight. Above the doorway, painted out in gold letters, read:

Cadburys and Fry's Sweets and Chocolate Shop

Maria and Anastasia's hearts fluttered as they walked through the door, entranced by the warm smells of sugary sweets. Shelves stood packed with colorful jars of candy. The girls had forgotten what chocolate had tasted like, but now they could finally enjoy it once again.

The girls purchased three dairy milk chocolate bars, each with Hugo's help. Hugo led them to a nearby park where they enjoyed their sweets under a chestnut tree.

Hugo went to town with his chocolate while the girls ate slowly, wanting to save as much as possible. The Romanov sisters exploded with joy as they took their first bite in over five years. The chocolate was bitter while creamy. The sisters knew their family would have loved to have sweets again. Maria could even envision Olga and Tatiana fighting over who would have the last bite. She could also imagine Alexei's pale face covered with it from gobbling it up.

"You really like chocolate!" Hugo remarked as Anastasia opened her third bar.

"We haven't had chocolate in over five years."

"Since before the war?"

"Yes. It was very scarce in Russia."

The group soon finished, Maria leaving one more bar to eat later. As they walked out of the park, Anastasia remembered what else they had come for.

"Are there any shops with swimming dresses? We need a few."

"Oh, yes! It just so happens I live above one! My mother works there! We can go there!" Hugo replied. "It's only a few streets away!"