Beyond The Barricade | les misérables

three

"Thank you. I like your hair."

I laughed and pulled some of it over my shoulder.

"Thank you," I said.

Soon Marius walked in and looked at me. He made his way to me and crouched next to the table, his elbows on his knees.

"What's happened?"

"She's walking this part of town. Sit away from the window," he said.

"Okay so where should I sit?"

He looked around. There was a chair in between Enjolras and I. As Marius noticed this, he stood.

"Sit between Enjolras and I. I'll block you in the window so if she were to look, she wouldn't see you."

Enjolras looked at Marius at the sound of his name, watching as I moved seats and Marius sat where I was. I shifted as he sat down, passing me a paper.

When I looked he was reading my papers. He was deeply concentrated on it and I prayed that it all made sense to someone other than me. I sighed and looked forward.

"This is a lot, you wrote all this?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Yeah. Couldn't sleep last night."

His eyes darted over to me for a split second. I felt my body tense when he did and I looked away from him.

"Okay boys. Let's start."

Enjolras talked to the boys passionately. They listened closely to him, focused on the words falling from his lips.

"We need to gain their support. We need them to know we're fighting for them. Cinth, over here, had an idea," he said, nodding toward me. I glared at him at the sound of what he called me. All he did was smile smugly and motion for me to speak.

I cleared my throat and sat upright.

"We go out, different groups taking parts of town. Guide them to a decided place and we will speak to them all at once. Get them there. Tell them what's going on, how they'll want to hear what we have to say. Speak to the people specifically."

"We get them riled up. Inflict emotion," Enjolras continued my thought. I looked over at him and for some reason this time I couldn't look away. He looked at me and met my eyes. We both just stared for a second before Marius nudged me. I snapped out of it and looked at him. He pointed to the window.

There was my mother looking low and high. Marius put an arm on my chest and pushed me back. I slouched in my chair and held my breath.

"She'll still be able to see you," Enjolras mumbled. "Go on the ground." He pushed my chair back and watched me as I sunk to the ground. The boys in the room watched, puzzled as I hid in between Marius and Enjolras.

Marius had a hand on my shoulder to let me know when she was gone. I couldn't see out the window anymore, but I had a feeling she wouldn't leave anytime soon. He looked down slightly.

"She saw me. Where did you tell her you wanted to go?"

I froze, my eyes widening.

"Hyacinth, what did you tell her?" he asked, more urgent this time. Enjolras looked now, too. Watching.

"I told her I was meeting you," I said quietly. Just as the words fell from my lips, the door downstairs flew open. I jumped and stood up, not knowing where to go. Marius stood too and gathered the boys, talking to them.

"Get behind me," Enjolras said, joining the others. He looked at me, raising his eyebrows. "Do you want to be caught or not?"

I hurried behind him and some people surrounded us. My chest was pressed against his back and I tried to ignore it.

"You. Pontmercy. Where is my daughter?" my mother scolded as she came up the stairs.

"I don't know," he lied.

"Oh but you do. She told me she was meeting you."

"Madame, I'm just here with my friends. I assure you your daughter is not here."

I could hear her make her way around the group. I looked at Marius as she rounded to the back where a few people stood behind me. He moved his hand secretly to my back and moved it to Enjolras' shoulder. He spun him around and now I faced him, my body pushed against his. Marius came behind me and started a conversation with Enjolras, keeping my mother from seeing me or catching on.

I heard her huff and peeked around Enjolras. She walked around to the stairs, starting to walk down. She spun around quickly and I hid myself behind him again, looking up at him.

"If you see her, send her to me."

Marius nodded. I looked over Enjolras' shoulder and watched her disappear.

"You're making things a lot more complicated, Cinth."