Chapter 10

Two more days passed. Every day felt the same. Grantaire woke up, fled from that cabin and hid the entire day in the kitchen with Joly as his company. Jehan and Courfeyrac always found time to join them as well. Occasionally the others would join them too for a short moment. Cosette who seemed more made for a life in luxury, Bahorel who seemed able to lift a cannon on his own, Bossuet, Musichetta, Feuilly and even Combeferre. Grantaire got to know them a little more every day. Every day they seemed more different from the stories he had heard about them. Every day they were more human. Every day it was a bit more difficult not to call them friends, despite it all.

The only one not joining them in the kitchen was captain Enjolras. Grantaire was glad. He didn’t hide in the kitchen for nothing. He didn’t want to see the captain or speak to him. It was Enjolras who had caused this all.

But after two days it was Enjolras who approached Grantaire during dinner. “Come,” he said.

“Still not your pet,” Grantaire mumbled. But he got up and followed the captain. What choice did he really have? He was still on Enjolras’ ship. Still a prisoner, even when it was every day easier to forget that fact.

Enjolras led him to a part of the ship unknown for Grantaire. “I wanted to talk to you about your ship,” he said.

Grantaire laughed. There was no humor in it. “What part of it, Apollo?” he asked? “The fact that it was a slave ship, that you’ve killed my entire crew or the fact that you claim to free slaves, yet keep me around as yours?”

“I don’t kill the crew,” Enjolras said. Oh wait, no, letting them drown was ‘dying of natural causes’ right? Grantaire was already done with this conversation before it had even started. It was something in Enjolras that made him so intolerable to be around. To talk to. To understand him.

“Every time we conquer a ship, I give the crew a choice. Join me and walk away from those slave drivers, or stay there, knowing what kind of captain and cargo you have.”

Grantaire raised an eyebrow.

“And you’re not a prisoner, Grantaire. You’re just as free as every other person on this ship. You’re free to leave once we come ashore, or to stay if you want to.”

“You speak of choice, of the good in people. And yet you kept me in chains. You gave me no choice.”

Enjolras sighed. “Just a safety precaution. Because you’re right. You had no choice in boarding this ship. Your captain made that choice for you. I’m sorry I have to tell you this way but… but when you got unconscious, he tried to kill you. Tried to blame your death on us. I had no choice but to take you, to save your life.”

It sounded so unreal. Why would Claquesous want to kill him? Why would the mythical captain Enjolras be a good man, saving slaves (saving Grantaire?). It was nothing like the tales he knew about Enjolras’ cruelty.

“I know you don’t trust me, and you have every reason to. But I didn’t just bring you to this part of the ship to talk to you. I wanted to show you something.”

The captain took a key out of his pocket and opened another door. Slowly Grantaire entered the room. It was a cell, with bars across the room. Inside the cell were three people Grantaire recognised. Marius, one of the crewmates, first mate Montparnasse and… “Éponine!” Because sitting there, alive and well, was his best friend. She got up the moment she heard his voice. Grantaire leaped forwards. They were just separated by some bars. “Ép,” he repeated her name. “You’re alive.”

“R!”

Enjolras opened the cell, letting Éponine out. She wrapped her arms around him. "A slave ship, R! They wanted us to ship slaves!"

Grantaire hugged her tightly. "I know," he answered. "I know." God, it felt so good to hug her, even when both he and Éponine had never been the hugging kind of people. But she was here, she was okay, she was alive.

After all this time, all these days of just knowing he would never see her again, it almost felt weird to have her standing in front of him.

He turned to the captain. “I thought you just said people could choose to join you, not be your prisoner?” This time it wasn’t Enjolras who answered, but a voice from inside the cell.

“Just making sure we’re not here to murder everyone, right? It would be a pity if everyone died. Especially you, our special little snowflake.” It was Montparnasse who stepped forwards. He was like, the last person Grantaire had expected here. The first mate of the Patron-Minette, who had had so much to lose there. And yet here he stood.

“You’re all free to roam the ship,” Enjolras said. He sounded distant, pragmatic. He left the four people on their own.

“Can you believe it, R? Us being together? Have you met the crew yet? Where have you been held?” Éponine had never been one for a lot of chatter, but who could blame her in a situation like this? Grantaire had no words, she had too many.

“Yeah, I’ve met them,” he said.

Éponine whispered in his ear. “I think our first mate here fancies that Jehan.” Ah, Ép had met Jehan. That explained Jehan’s sudden use of ‘R’. But it also made Grantaire wonder. Had they talked about him? What had they said? Had Éponine known he had been alive?