Chapter 14: In the Darkness
"Get in there, you scum!" And the door to the garret burst open.
Éponine sprinted from the bed, dragging Azelma behind her, as a six and a half-foot tall thing fell with a thud on the garret floor. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw that it was a man. Standing over him, like a pair of vultures, was Papa and Montparnasse. Thenardier smelled like spirits and foul brandy, and Parnasse was reaching into his coat pocket, where he kept his favorite knife.
"This is for stealing!" Thenardier shouted, and kicked the man hard. "And this is for lying!" A second kick. The second blow sent the man flying to Éponine's side. She got a look at his face, and gasped. His eyes were darker, and his nose was bloody, but she recognized him.
It was Monsieur Cambriol.
Montparnasse came up to the wounded man, completely ignoring Éponine and her sister as he passed. He drew Cambriol up to his feet, shoved him against the wall, and held his knife dangerously close to Cambriol's throat. "It's a shame you never acquired your cousin's skills at business, Alexandre." He said smugly. "Otherwise, you might have avoided being caught in this unpleasant situation."
"Brûler en enfer, sale fils de putain!" Cambriol spat.
Gritting his teeth, Montparnasse smacked Cambriol across the face, which sent the older man crumbling to the floor.
Recovering her wits at last, Maman, who'd awoken as well, shouted at her husband "What in God's name are you two doing?"
Thenardier pointed a shaky finger at Cambriol. "This swine," he began in a slurred voice. "Has withheld at least thirty francs from my partners, taken from the last heist pulled by both Patron-Minette and Les Frères Souriant. Montparnasse and I are exacting the proper toll."
"You just want a good excuse to punch someone, you mean." Éponine said angrily.
Thenardier rounded on her. "One more word out of you, fille, and you can join him in his punishment." He hissed.
"Count me in!" Éponine goaded. "At least I can hit back this time. You're barely sober enough to stand on your feet, let alone give me a good thrashing. I wonder; if I sock you hard enough in the stomach, Papa, could I make you vomit out the wine? I bet I could."
"'Ponine!" Azelma said fearfully. "What are you doing?"
Papa's eyes dilated to little red points. He gave a roar of fury, and charged Éponine like a mad bull. She easily sidestepped his blow-which probably would have knocked out at least two of her teeth-and he went tumbling behind her, crashing into the broken chair and falling down in a heap. He attempted to stand, but failed.
Montparnasse rolled his eyes, dissatisfied. "If you don't mind helping us, 'Ponine, then why don't you go check and make that sure no one's around to see this?"
"Why the hell should I?" Éponine demanded.
"Because you like me enough to do it."
"I also like Monsieur Cambriol enough to not to."
Montparnasse reconsidered his answer. "Because if you don't, I'll hit you."
She snorted. "Please, Parnasse. I know you well enough to know that you won't-"
She was interrupted by Montparnasse's hand striking her cheek. The force of the blow was so strong, her eyes went fuzzy for a few moments, and there was a loud ringing in her ears. She gaped at the young assassin. Not once, in all the times they'd been together, had Parnasse ever hit her. Not once.
"Go outside, and check the hallway." Montparnasse said dangerously. "Knock on the door of that annoying student boy, and see if he's at home. If he is, then knock his lights out. If you even try to refuse, I will hit you again. Try it twice, and the knife comes next."
Éponine walked slowly to the doorway. She was just about to leave, when she turned her head towards Montparnasse, hate burning in her eyes. "Je te déteste."
"The feeling is mutual." Montparnasse said coolly. "Now go and check on the student, before your father regains consciousness."
Trying not to run out the garret, Éponine hurried across the hall to Monsieur Marius's door. She collected her thoughts, took a deep breath, and knocked, just once, on the wooden door.
Marius had hidden under the bed for almost five minutes.
He'd awoken when he heard the loud crash in the Jondrette garret. Taking advantage of the peephole he'd discovered several days ago, he saw a sight he did not want to see. There was Jondrette, clearly drunk, and an accomplice pummeling some poor devil of a man into pulp. Éponine was there as well, trying to stop her inebriated father from doing any more harm to the man. Jondrette had raved something about a toll, and before Marius knew what was happening, he was trying to attack Éponine as well. She avoided his punches, thank God, and he sent himself hurtling into a table. That was when Marius crept underneath the bed, resolving not to come out until all the strange events going on next door had stopped.
Cowardly? Yes. Survivable? Also yes.
He was just about to consider coming out, when there was soft little rap-tap-tap on his door. A hushed voice whispered "Monsieur Marius!"
It was Éponine's voice. He didn't answer.
She knocked again, and called again. Still he did not answer.
Silence came. Marius had almost thought she'd left, when suddenly there was a small clicking sound, and the door swung open.
Had Éponine just broken into his room?
From his hiding place, he saw her dirty feet walk inside and head straight towards the back of the room. For a terrifying moment, Marius thought she'd seen him, and was coming to bring him and do...well, he wasn't sure what she'd do, but he was in no mood to find out.
But she was only heading towards the mirror. He gazed up at her. She didn't seem very different from the last time they'd met, three days ago in the Cafe Musain. Only now, her features looked eerie and haunting in the moonlight, and she was smiling strangely as she checked her reflection in the mirror. She started to sing as she straightened her hair:
"Notre amour était rien mais une évasion dans le passé
Mais que du bonheur les instants sont courts!
Un amour qui faute n'est pas mesure de durer
Maintenant, le temps de notre amour s'est pris fin!
En est venu à une fin! En est venu à une fin!"*
She sighed discontentedly when she had finished her ballad. "Come on out, Monsieur Marius." She called. "I know you're in here."
Marius's heart skipped a beat, but he made no reply.
Above him, Éponine made what sounded like an amused snort. "This isn't hide and seek, you know. For one thing, I know where you are. You're hiding underneath your bed. Now, do you really want me to pull you out of there, or do you want to come out yourself?"
Ashamedly, Marius crawled, on his hands and knees, out from under the bed. He stood up and stared fixedly at Éponine. "How did you know I was there?" He asked, amazed.
She shrugged. "I heard your breathing." Was her only response. "But how did you know to hide?"
She noticed his eyes flicker towards the wall-only for an instant, and she caught it-and she smiled happily. "Ah, yes. I learned about your convenient little peephole the day Monsieur and Mademoiselle Fauchelevent came. Funny, I never took you for a spy."
"And I never took you for a burglar." He shot back, his frustration and confusion momentarily flaring. "Who are you, Éponine, that you can break into a man's room and locate where he's hiding in less than a minute?"
She just laughed enigmatically. "You learn a lot from living on the street every day, Marius. At this age, I know a good deal of things that I bet you don't."
"You did mention getting a better education that most gamines." Marius said dryly. "But I don't think education is the reason that a man is being attacked in your garret tonight, is it?"
"Your powers of observation are truly a wonder of France." She said sarcastically.
"Could you just be direct with me for once, 'Ponine? What is going on in there, and who are those two men?"
Éponine bit her lip, not answering. In a few seconds, however, she began to say "Papa was out drinking with some friends tonight. They must have gotten into some sort of fight in the tavern, and they've continued it right into the garret. Maybe someone thought someone cheated at cards. Anyway, Papa and the younger man, Jacques, are trying to goad the older man, Gaspard, into a duel-why, I don't know-and it's only a matter of time before someone falls down dead drunk and wakes up ten hours later with a hangover. So, really, we have nothing to worry about."
As if on cue, something heavy slammed to the floor in the other room, and there was the truly awful sound of metal piercing something soft. There was a groan of pain, and then silence.
Éponine's eyes widened. "I have to go." She said breathlessly. She ran as fast as she could out of the room, and shouted back to Marius: "Please, if you value your life, don't follow me."
She was about to cross the threshold when he grabbed her arm, stopping her. He looked at her seriously, her dark brown eyes wide with surprise. "We go in together." Marius said firmly. "Or not at all."
Éponine's song:
Our love was naught but an escape from the past
How briefly the moments of joy descend!
A love that foul is not able to last
Now the time of our love has come to an end!
Has come to an end! Has come to an end!