"It's not what you think, Kaylin!" Clara insisted, as the said girl had a smirk plastered on her face. 

    "Oh really? So what were you and my dear brother doing all alone in a library?" Kaylin asked innocently.

    "We were both running away from suitors. And then she was going to tell me about her necklace before you lot showed up," Enjolras explained calmly, leaning back and draping an arm over the top of the lounger he was on. 

     "Oh! She was going to tell you? Can we hear it too?" AJ was suddenly interest. She knew that the necklace meant something special to Clara, but she didn't know exactly what or why.

    Clara sighed, "Fine, I'll tell you all. But you better all have a seat," She said, taking a seat on the other side of the lounger from Enjolras. 

    Courfeyrac and AJ sat next to each other on the couch, secretly holding hands under the folds of her skirt as they hadn't told the others yet. 

   Combeferre and Kaylin sat with them, and the other boys, including Gavroche, all found their own seats. 

    "It was a gift from two boys who I owe my life to," Clara started, looking into the fire next to her, "It was twenty years ago. I got lost in the streets of Paris because I had run off. It was raining and dark. I ran into a lady and she immediately knew I was of an upper class and tried to take me with her so that she could get money for finding me. When I tried to get away, she hit me across the cheek."

    "What?!" Sébastien exclaimed, "You never told us this!" 

 "That's not important right now," Clara looked at him, "Anyway, before she could do anything else, two boys came to my rescue. They scared the woman off and then took me to the nearest police station. Their names were Felix and Hugo. They're parents came for them soon after, and then I was taken back to the palace. A couple or so days later, the police came to the palace with a parcel. It was from the boys. A necklace with a note. That was the last I ever heard from them." She looked at her clasped hands, placed on her lap. 

    "Oh wow, I didn't know..." AJ looked shocked. 

  "That is some story," Kaylin agreed. 

     "Why didn't you tell us?" Sébastien asked. 

   "What was there to tell? I was never going to see them again, I didn't know where they lived, who they were except for their names and that they rescued me," Clara sighed, "I wish I did though, then I could thank them properly."

    Silence fell over the room. 

  Kaylin looked at her brother, who looked as if he wasn't really paying much attention to what was being said. 

    "It's a very pretty necklace, though, I must say!" Nikki spoke up, "It's a nice shade of pink. It suits you."

   "Thank you," Clara smiled at her, fingering the necklace. 

  "Yeah well," Enjolras hesitated before looking down at another book he had picked up, "You look pretty in pink."

     Clara froze. 

  She had heard that line before. In fact, she could remember it clearly in her mind. It was a memory she cherished along side the necklace. 

   Clara's hands shook slightly. 

  "Clara? Are you alright?" Kaylin and AJ looked alarmed. 

   Clara ignored the question and slowly turned to look at Enjolras. 

 "You look pretty in pink... you look pretty in pink." Those words circled around her head, almost making her dizzy. 

   "You're Hugo?" Clara breathed out.

  Enjolras lifted his head and looked at her, no emotions on his face. 

    "You're Hugo?" Clara repeated, not quite believing it, a look of disbelief and happiness spreading across her face. 

  Enjolras just looked at her, than at the necklace that hung around her neck. He looked back up at her face and a small smile appeared. 

    "How long have you known that it was me?" Clara asked, unable to grasp the truth she had just uncovered. 

    "I had my suspicions when I heard you're name was Clara. They were confirmed when I saw you this evening, obviously, when you walked into the ballroom wearing the necklace, I recognised it immediately," Enjolras explained. He reached over and gently touched the pink stone, before drawing his hand back. 

   Tear began filling Clara's eyes. Before she could grasp what she was doing, she launched herself into his arms. 

    Enjolras was startled, but slowly and hesitantly hugged her back. 

  Kaylin, AJ and everyone else, just sat, stunned as they stared at the scene unfolding before them. What on earth was going on?

    "Um, you mean to tell me, that my brother was one of the boys who rescued you that night all those years ago?!" Kaylin exclaimed, "How come I never knew of this?"

    "I honestly can't believe it," Courfeyrac shook his head in disbelief. 

    Enjolras opened his mouth to speak when suddenly, there was two large bangs.   

"What was that?" Nikki asked, eyes wide.   

       "I'm not sure," AJ whispered.   

    They all rose to their feet and stepped out into the hallway.   

  People were running off towards the left.   

      Enjolras stopped a lady on her way by. "Excuse me, ma'am, what's going on?" He asked.  

   "Explosion in the kitchen! The west wing is going up in flames!" She said, panic in her voice.

         "Are there any left back there?" Combeferre asked, gesturing towards the ballroom.   

   "Quite a few, and then there's the servants too, oh have mercy on us!" The lady wailed before running off.   

      Enjolras jumped into action. He stopped a few guards. "Take these girls and get them out of here now! And no matter what they say, you can't let them go, just get them out of here," He instructed, shoving his sister and Clara towards them, while Courfeyrac handed AJ, Nikki and Gavroche over.     

     "Wait what? No, you can't! Enjolras!" Kaylin screamed, struggling in the grip of one of the guards.    

     "I can and I will," Enjolras scowled, "get them out of here." He looked at the guards before he and the others ran headlong into all the chaos and smoke.   

      "No! No let us go!" AJ screamed, as the guards dragged them down and outside into the gardens.   

     "I'm sorry ma'am but it's Lord Enjolras' orders," One of the guards said, "plus, it's our duty to protect you." 

    The girls eventually gave up fighting and instead, tried to keep themselves occupied by checking through the crowd for anyone injured or in need of help.    

     "AJ! Where's mum?" Nikki shouted over to her sister. 

 AJ stood up from where she was helping a lady calm down from her panic. 

     "I don't see her anywhere! Mum? Mum!" AJ began to search frantically through the crowds. 

  Nearer the edge of the crowd, Clara stood watching the building as Kaylin helped the new people that were being led out. 

    By now, the flames had completely consumed the west wing, bright red, orange and yellow lit up the sky. 

     "AJ! There's your mum!" Clara suddenly spotted the lady being helped out of the building by one of the guards. 

      "Mother!" AJ and Nikki ran over, engulfing her in a huge hug. 

   Clara turned her attention back to the building. Time seemed to be moving so slowly. How long she stood there, she didn't know. How long the boys had been in there, she didn't know that either, but what she did know, was that her brother was one of them, and that they had all been in there way to long. 

     "Ma'emoiselle Clara, they's goin' to be 'lright, right?" A voice spoke up, timidly. 

  Clara turned to see Gavroche standing behind her. 

      She bent down to reach his height. "I'm sure they'll be alright," She assured him. 

  Suddenly there was a loud exclamation from Kaylin and both Clara and Gavroche turned to see their friends running towards them, helping a few more people. 

     The Clara realised something. They weren't all there. Enjolras, Combeferre and Courfeyrac were missing. 

     "Where's my brother?" Kaylin screamed at Grantaire, in order to be heard over the loud crackling of the fire. 

     "He, Ferre and Courf went back for something else," Grantaire yelled back.

   Seconds turned to minutes, minutes, seemed as if they were turning into hours, yet there was still no sign of the other three. 

      "Wait, look! Someone's coming," Nikki pointed towards the building. 

  "It's Courfeyrac and Combeferre!" Clara called out, her eyesight managing to recognise them through the smoke. 

     "They've got three kids with them," Kaylin added, running towards them. 

  "Enjolras, he's still inside!" Courfeyrac coughed, "He stopped and told us to take the kids with us and to get them out. We had to leave him, Kay, he ordered us to leave him."

     "I'm sure he'll be fine," Combeferre added, "we passed two guards on the way out and sent them to find him."

       "Who are the kids?" AJ asked, looking at them. Two boys and a girl. The oldest of the three looked around eight, while the girl must be five. 

     "We don't know," Courfeyrac shrugged before going into a coughing fit. 

  "Enjolras heard crying and found them huddled together underneath a table in the ballroom," Combeferre said, his voice cracking. 

     "You two have been in there way too long, you've breathed in a lot of smoke," Clara said, leading them both away from the building. 

       "If this is the state they're in, what about Enjolras?!" Kaylin turned to look at Clara in terror. 

   "Hey, hey Kaylin, he'll be fine," Clara reassured her friend. 

       "Help! Courfeyrac's having a bad coughing fit!" Nikki screamed. 

   "Oh, please no!" Kaylin and AJ ran over, Clara at their heels. 

        "Gavroche, Nikki, do me a favour and look after the three kids, try and find their parents too," Clara turned to the two youngest before rushing to help. 

     "Check his breathing," Clara instructed. 

  "It's not that bad," AJ said after a couple of minutes. 

      "They've got Enjolras!" Nikki suddenly yelled. 

  Kaylin and Clara snapped their heads up to see Enjolras walking towards them being supported by a guard. 

     "Enjolras!" Kaylin cried, launching herself into his arms. 

 "Hey Kaylin," Enjolras croaked out, coughing. 

      "Could you be any more stupid?" Kaylin whispered, hugging him tightly. 

  "Love you too," Enjolras chuckled before throwing himself into a coughing fit, which seemed to be getting worse and worse. 

     "Enjolras? Enjolras? Talk to me, Enjolras!" Kaylin pulled away as Enjolras bent over double.

  "He breathed in way to much smoke," Clara said, "Let's get him as far away from the building as possible."

     They managed to get him by a fountain before he collapsed. 

   "Enjolras!" Kaylin screamed. 

        Joly checked his pulse and breathing before beginning CPR.

   "His breathing has slowed down, and his pulse is weak," Joly said.

        Courfeyrac and Combeferre were looking at each other with an unreadable expression on their faces. 

     Clara noticed but didn't draw attention to them as she was about to take over doing CPR.

 "He's going to be fine, right?" Kaylin asked. 

       "Since it's his first time breathing this much quantity of smoke, he should be fine," Joly said. 

   "Actually, Enjolras has been in a fire before," Courfeyrac sighed. 

       "What?! When?" Kaylin turned to him in shock. 

   "We can't tell you the details, but Enjolras had breathed in a lot of smoke, and he was kept in bed for the next two weeks. It was that bad," Combeferre said. 

      "He's conscious!" Clara suddenly announced. 

  Kaylin turned to see her brother struggling against Joly and Clara in order to sit up, he was breathing in heavily and he was still coughing. 

      "Enjolras!" Kaylin dove and engulfed him into another hug. 

  "Take it easy, Kaylin, we only just revived him, no need to have him collapsing again," Clara smiled at the interaction. 

     "You have some explaining to do," Kaylin suddenly pulled away and frowned at her brother. 

     "What are you talking about?" Enjolras looked confused. 

  "Courfeyrac and Combeferre just said you had been in a fire before," Kaylin said, "What are they talking about?"

      Enjolras looked up at his two friends. 

  "You told?" He looked pointedly at them.

       "The only thing we said was that you had been in a fire in the past and that you had been bed-ridden for two weeks afterwards," Courfeyrac looked guilty. 

      Enjolras sighed. 

  "Tell me the truth, and there is no way of getting out of it," Kaylin looked at her brother with a mix of anger, frustration and fear. 

     Enjolras sighed once again. "Fine," He eventually agreed. 

  Clara looked between the two. Something didn't feel quite right. 

~|~*~|~⚜~|~*~|~

     Here is chapter 14!!!! Chapter 15 will be the long-awaited secret!!!

 WifeOfEnjolras WifeofCourfeyrac yes, that mini story we did in the comments section was a spoiler for this chapter, the building on fire and Enjolras collapsing because of the smoke... hehehe...

    I'll see you all in the next chapter!!!

 Claire xxx