34

Éponine pulled herself through the water, feeling her limbs grow tired with every movement. Despite how loose the water felt around her, the fact she wasn't sure how to swim was putting a lot of strain on her body. She paused halfway there, risking a glance over her shoulder. Enjolras was kneeling on the very edge of the river, but in the dim light she couldn't make out his face properly.

She spat, trying to get the sweet taste of the water out of her mouth. Her head was spinning a little bit. She began to wonder whether she was swimming through water at all, or whether she was swimming through a river full of Bliss. She supposed that anything was possible here.

She set off again. Her dress was heavy, she decided; it was making it harder to swim. Still, it would be improper of her to remover her dress, and she wasn't sure whether Enjolras would be able to cope with seeing her in her undergarments (the man still couldn't look her in the eye). Besides, it would be too much effort to swim back to take her dress off...

As that thought entered her head, she reached the other side. She paused at the edge of the river, unsure of what to do. Making sure that her mouth was above the surface of the water, she shouted out, "I'm in the river!"

A few seconds passed and she got a response, from a woman. Her voice was distorted, but it sounded very close by, like someone was whispering in her ear. "Are you close by?" the woman asked.

Éponine spat more water out of her mouth and then stuck her hands out of the water. She stretched forwards, reaching out for the shoreline. She wanted to feel grass beneath her hands, damp from the water she was dripping, but instead it felt like she was dipping her hand into warm water. She heard a shriek and she wasn't sure if it came from her own mouth or from beyond the river, but she was very aware of the fact that her hand had disappeared.

A heartbeat passed and suddenly, another hand wrapped around hers. She could feel that their palm was smooth but not necessarily soft; she recognised the touch as one belonging to someone whose hands had been worn shiny by years of hard work.

"Pull!" Éponine shouted as the woman who had spoken before shouted the same word.

Éponine realised that the hand that was holding her was beginning to put force on her. She felt her body moving backwards through the water but she desperately clung onto the hand that had taken hers. They held on to each other so hard that she was sure it would have hurt if they were alive and not dead.

All of a sudden, a figure appeared. The air seemed to shiver, ripple and shimmer around the figure until they splashed into the water, hitting Éponine. Éponine was plunged beneath the water.

She panicked, letting go of them. She swallowed, the water entering her lungs. She forced herself upwards, her head coming into the fresh air. She began to cough and splutter, the water making its way back up her throat and out of her mouth.

A woman was nearby, her body stiff and still in the water. On the pavement, Enjolras was on his feet, his hands clenched into fists.

"I can't move," the woman said, her voice panicky.

Éponine blinked water out of her eyes. It was too dark to make out the woman's features properly, but when she reached out to take hold of the woman, she felt soft flesh beneath her hands. "Don't panic," she said, in the most soothing voice she could manage. "Come on…"

Like she had done with Enjolras, she began to tow the woman through the water until they reached the other side. Enjolras helped her heft the woman onto the side.

"Please, my children are still over there," the woman said. It was lighter on the edge of the river and the woman's features were clearer. She had a doughy face, dark eyes, and hair the colour of dirty silver. There was something tired about her face, in its lines and around her eyes.

"How many?" Éponine asked, her legs turning beneath the water.

"Five," the woman said.

Éponine sighed, and began to swim back across the river.

By the time Éponine had successfully pulled five more people through the barrier, she was exhausted. Her entire body felt weak. She couldn't remember feeling like this since she had died; it was not as bad as she had felt when she was alive, but it had been a long time since she felt tired and it was a complete and utter shock to her system.

It was Enjolras who helped her out of the water, his hands warm and strong around her thin arms. "Are you all right?" he asked, and she realised with a jolt in her stomach that he was looking her in the eye. She swallowed, not sure what to do now he was finally doing what she'd wanted him to for days.

His eyes searched her face, and eventually, she nodded. "Yes, I'm fine," she said, before pulling away from his grip to look at the six people she had managed to retrieve from beyond the wall.

Aside from the elderly woman she had helped through first, the rest were all young. The smallest was a girl, with curling fair hair and small eyes, barefooted and wearing a blue dress. She was tiny, with thin legs and skinny wrists and not even reaching Éponine's shoulder; there were bruises around her skeletal arms. Then there was a boy, a little taller than the girl, and possibly slightly older; his hair was darker than the girl's, but his eyes were the same and he was just as scrawny.

The next two were boys as well, one possibly about the same age as Éponine by the looks of him and the other somewhat younger. Whilst they were thin, there was something stockier about their frames, and they were tall. The younger was definitely lankier, like he had yet to grow into his height. The older had a clean knife slash across his throat.

The final person was a woman. She looked young and old at the same time; Éponine would have guessed she was probably older than Enjolras. She would once have been pretty, Éponine imagined, but there was something tired about her face, and when she smiled, her front tooth was missing. Her hair was as black as a raven's wing, coming loose from a knot on top of her head. She reminded her of Éléonore, in the sense that she wore a great deal of jewellery, numerous glittering necklaces around her thin throat and even more diamonds on her fingers. There was something haughty on the woman's face that looked familiar to Éponine.

The oldest of the boys shuffled his feet. "What do we do now, then?" he demanded.

"Oh, hush, Arnaud," the black-haired woman scolded.

Enjolras cleared his throat. "I do not know the correct procedure for events such as this," he began, "But I would suggest we go to the Guardian's building."

"This is it, then?" the youngest girl asked, wandering a few feet away and staring around. "This is Paris?"

"Yes," the elderly woman said. "It looks a bit different to when I was here last – these houses weren't by the river – but it definitely looks like it."

"And this is where you want to be?" Éponine asked, feeling a little breathless.

"Oh, yes," the elderly woman said, managing a smile. "I've waited so long to get back here, we all have."

Enjolras cleared his throat once more. "So the Guardian's building?" he prompted.

"I think that would be for the best," the elderly woman agreed. "We plan on staying here for a while and we'll need somewhere to stay for the time being. I don't think I can remember my way anymore…"

"That won't be an issue," Enjolras muttered, turning on his heel. "Between us Éponine and I have spent half our time here with the Guardians."