Ballet Shoes, Angel's Hair and Revolution (A Les Misérables fanfiction)

Chapter 33

The Rights of Man Society held meetings each month, and was the ultimate secret society of Paris. Everyone in the upper classes whispered about it, lately it has become the favorite subject of the conversations at evening parties: ladies giggled about it with excitement while sipping champagne and dreaming of young handsome revolutionaries, men exchanged their opinions while smoking cigars and drinking brandy. Everyone talked about it, but no one actually believed that any citizens of Paris would be reckless enough to actually prepare a revolution. Yet, the society did exist, and it was even larger in numbers than anyone could suspect. So many Parisians were involved in overthrowing the monarchy, that one could say that the whole Paris was in unrest, and was waiting tentatively to strike when the correct time came.

The society changed the locations of secret meetings each month. The date and venue were unknown until the very last minute, so that there was no time for the royalists to gain the information and interrupt in an unpleasant way. When the meeting time was to be announced, it was usually passed down among the member on little scrap notes, wrapping paper, or old newspapers. Everything had to cause as little suspicion as possible and had to be as flammable as possible. When delivered, the information from the note was to be memorized, and the note destroyed in a way that prevented the recovery of details. Usually it meant burning.

Only the most trusted inner circle of the Rights of Man Society knew about the meetings, and nobody from outside could ever know anything. Each meeting had a different cover story, just in case of being discovered. Although no one ever said it aloud, everyone knew that if discovered, no cover story about poetry lovers or wine tasting would ever convince the authorities. Discovery would be like a slippery slope; arrest, accusation of treason, death and the end of the rebellion. The last part was in their minds the worst one. They did not seem to care about their own wellbeing, the only thing that mattered was the revolution. These men lived and breathed on it, they saw it as the only possible way for the future to go.

The members who did attend the meeting were sworn to highest secrecy, nothing said or heard in the meeting could ever be passed on to the members of lower rank, apart from the direct orders for the local chapters. Breaking of the oath meant treason, and treason was not treated lightly these days. If you spilled the information, you died. It was a simple system that kept everyone's mouths shut and disabled the possible traitors who were now too scared to even try and speak about the secrets of the society.

If I were to say that I was not nervous before attending the Rights of Man Society meeting that night, I would have been crazy. On the outside I was keeping my perfect marble like composure that I have learned from Enjolras. On the inside though, I was shaking like a little frightened baby. The members were set to mistrust me because of the fact of me being knew to their group, but the fact of me being a woman only made the matter worse. They would not take me seriously. Or they would hate me. I was shaking.

I shouldn't be surprised when upon arriving at Corinth, Enjolras lead us to a secret back door leading to the basements and we were let in only after he had given the guard the secret word. To this day, after such a long time I still have no idea what was the word that he had spoken that day. After the man let us in we were searched. It was a standees procedure, as I was told. I almost slapped the man that was checking if I hadn't brought anything dangerous in because... let's say he had no sense of boundaries. I saw, however that Enjolras and Courfeyrac almost killed him with their looks. I haven't the faintest idea what was going on with the two of them.

We were walking down a dark cold corridor, entering deeper and further into the basements of Paris and only then I realized how secret was the society. It was almost impossible to be found, and yet if found, it would leave us with no routes of escape, at least none that I knew of. It was terrifying and strangely exciting to be honest. Courf and Ferre were walking first, right behind the man that searched us upon arrival, and then there was me, walking side by side with Enjolras himself. He seemed so engrossed in the idea of revolution that his facial expression in the dark corridor almost terrified me.