“ Jo…where did you come from?” Phillipe asked flatly, the beginnings of tears shining in his eyes. Jo looked at the others, they knew too that there was no choice. Jo looked back at Phillipe, took a deep breath and prepared to speak.
Jo’s heart was pounding loudly in her ears, and judging by the faces of her friends it didn’t seem like she was the only one who was very, very nervous.
“ I…I…really don’t know how to tell you…you see it’s not as straight forward as you might think.” Jo started. “ But first things first…where did I come from…” Jo glanced at the others and was relieved to see Lucy nod for her to continue, the time had come to tell Marius and Phillipe the truth, although they doubted whether they would believe them.
“ Tell us where you all came from…” Marius added quietly, and Rosie squeezed his hand reassuringly.
“ She will do…” she whispered as Jo continued..
“ Well…I…I mean we have come from England…well not exactly but…” Jo struggled to put it into words.
“ Take your time…say it however you can or want to…” Phillipe reached out for Jo’s hand over the table and smiled gently at her. He knew that whatever the reason had been for keeping their past such a secret, it wasn’t going to be easy to tell.
“ We’re all old friends…we were at school together and then college…we’re from a town in the North of England called York…it’s really nice, you’d like it there!” Jo smiled weakly. “ Anyway…that’s where we came from…but that’s only the start of it…” Jo sighed and rubbed her forehead, something she always did when she had problems explaining something. “ How we got here…now that is a story and a half…!” Jo giggled slightly when she thought about what exactly had happened. She glanced up to see smiles appearing on the faces of Rosie, Lucy, Jenny and Mark. “ I doubt you’ll believe me…you’ll think I’m mad! But I have to…no…I want to tell you…” Jo took a quick mouthful of water before starting again, “ Are we sitting comfortably…then I’ll begin…” Rosie smothered a giggle and Jo continued, “ One day we all went for a picnic in the woods just outside York, we’d done it before, loads of times and we didn’t expect anything to happen. Let alone what actually did. So went for a picnic and were having a lovely time when we heard some odd noises. So, being curious, or stupid depending on your interpretation…we followed the noise…” Jo paused to glance at Marius and Phillipe. “ And this is where things start to get a little…bizarre…to put it mildly! We found this clearing with…well…this red swirly cloud type thing in the middle of it…” Jo looked at Phillipe, expecting to see a looks of concern and confusion but he was just sat there with an interested expression and was nodding in agreement. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Marius was doing the same, “ Don’t tell me you know what I’m talking about?!” Marius and Phillipe glanced at each other and gave each other a wry smile.
“ Of course we do…” Marius smiled.
“ Seen them before…many a time.” Phillipe said matter of factly. “ Admittedly never a red one…but I’ve seen green and yellows before…”
“ Same here…saw a purple one too once…” Marius added.
“ What?!” Lucy shouted in disbelief.
“ Please tell me you’re joking!” Rosie groaned, her face in her hands.
“ Although we call them Gyratories…” Marius started and saw Rosie’s bemused face, “ Because they seem to spin…” Marius rotated his hand in the air to illustrate.
“ We know…” Mark said matter of factly, “ We saw it up close…didn’t we Jo?!” Jo blushed as Marius and Phillipe looked at her with wide eyes.
“ You mean you went near it!” Phillipe sounded amazed.
“ Wow…” was all Marius could manage.
“ Er…why? Haven’ t you?” Jenny wondered.
“ No!” Exclaimed Phillipe and Marius together.
“ Why ever not…we did…” Jo paused, “ That’s…that’s how we got here…” Marius and Javert gasped audibly.
“ We were always told they were dangerous and that we weren’t to go near them as people vanished and were never seen again.” Marius spoke in a tone that reminded Rosie of a frightened child.
“ You mean you came through a Gyratory and….survived…” Phillipe was astounded.
“ Well of course we survived!!” laughed Jo.
“ So…the gyratories are a means of transport between countries…” pondered Phillipe.
“ Well not exactly countries…” Mark added.
“ No…more like…well..” Rosie started to explain. “…between worlds I suppose…” It was at this point that the friends suspected that Marius and Javert no longer believed them, as they looked at each other briefly before bursting out loudly.
“ Oh…that is the most absurd idea I’ve ever heard…” Marius laughed.
“ As if there are other worlds….” Phillipe scoffed. Jo’s brow furrowed as her anger rose. She leapt to her feet.
“ How do you know?! You’ve never been through one of those…grya…grya…those bloody spyra-gyra things! Plus I think we know a little bit more about where we came from than you do!” Jo snapped, showed her temper for the first time since they had arrived on the streets of Paris and Marius and Phillipe stopped laughing instantly. “ You want to know what a musical is…I’ll tell you…it’s a kind of play with songs and music telling the story as well as acting. We have them in our world…” Jo stopped ranting and took a deep breath. She hadn’t meant to shout like that and both Marius and Phillipe looked worried. “ I’m sorry…” Jo sank back down into her seat, rubbing her forehead again. “ I just…just knew you wouldn’t understand…” Phillipe stood up and walked around to her seat and knelt next to her.
“ We’re trying Jo…” he said gently, brushing her hair from her face. “ It’s just…a little hard to believe…you must understand that…” Jo sighed and looked into his eyes,
“ I know…but it’s hard for us too…you see…you and Marius…and Enjolras…and Feuilly…well all of you…including Martin…you’re all…well…” Jo stammered and couldn’t get the words out. “ You’re all…”
“ You’re all characters…from musicals…” Rosie said quietly. Marius and Phillipe thought for a moment, digesting what they had been told.
“ That’s how I knew your name…when I met you…remember…?” Jo asked Phillipe, “ I called you Inspector Javert…without you telling me…” Phillipe frowned a little.
“ So you’re saying…that to you…we’re like characters from a book…we’re not real…”
“ Well, obviously you’re real…” Jo squeezed Phillipe’s shoulder to prove her point, “ But either it’s awfully coincidental that there was a Marius, Javert, Enjolras, Gavroche and a load of students in a show we know as Les Misérables and that there were real ones here…or that here…our shows and stories have some how…come to life…”
“ Like the bandit in the woods…we know a story of one such bandit called Robin Hood…it’s English folklore…” Jenny added. Marius groaned and rubbed his head,
“ This is all too much for me!”
“ We’ve wanted to tell you…well…since we met you…but now do you see why… well, why we didn’t?!” Rosie looked hopefully into Marius’ face. Jo glanced at Phillipe, this wasn’t how she had planned to tell him but now he knew…kind of. She thought better of mentioning the whole time difference thing too.
“ Yes…” Phillipe said quietly, “ Yes we do…” He smiled at them all before returning to his seat and sighing. “ My…what an adventure you’ve had!”
“ You’re telling us!” laughed Lucy.
“ Anyway…now you know…that’s why I fainted…sometimes…I can’t believe we’re here…” Jo explained, “ I guess it still amazes me that our favourite characters and heroes are just wandering around and that we can meet them!” she smiled gesturing to Marius and Phillipe, who both blushed slightly.
“ Look…let’s leave it for now…shall we…?” suggested Jenny, “ Let’s go and have nice morning walk around Artigat and get some fresh air…it’ll do Jo good if nothing else!” They all laughed and headed for the door. Marius held Rosie back for a minute and opened his mouth to speak but she stopped him.
“ I know you probably have hundreds of questions…but please…not now…ok?” Rosie looked up at him and he smiled gently and kissed the back of her hand.
“ Of course. I understand…well…sort of!” He laughed as he held the door open and they followed the others outside.
The group of friends spent the morning wandering around Artigat, chatting to locals and enjoying the fresh country air. Then suddenly, they could hear the sounds of trouble coming from between some houses. They dashed over to see a gang of young men stood surrounding Martin and another young man, with a crutch. Jo gasped,
“ It’s Benoit!” Phillipe looked at her and she frowned as if to say ‘I tried to explain this one to you once and I’m not doing it again now!’. The young men glanced at them and one pushed his way to the front, he had dark eyes that flashed around at them and long dark hair. His eyes fell on Jo and her’s opened wide.
“ Please stay out of this…we’re fine…honest” Martin shouted. Jo muttered something under her breath, unable to think or move,
“ Guillaume!” she gasped.
PART TWELVE
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