I Should Die

moment. I was the luckiest girl on earth.
    “Feel free to use my bedroom,” offered Theo.
    “Too exhausted to walk, too. Couch is fine,” responded Vincent. And then he turned over on his side facing the couch back and closed his eyes. I covered him with a blanket Theo had brought in, then left my chair next to the couch to join the others at a table near the window.
    “Tell me what happened with Violette,” Theo was asking Jules, who launched into the story starting at the moment Violette and Arthur had moved into La Maison and continuing until I discovered that she had been betraying the bardia all along and was now the leader of the Paris numa.
    “She told Kate, here,” Jules said, nodding at me, “that her plan was to overthrow Jean-Baptiste and his kindred using the force of the numa and the stolen strength of the Champion, who she believed was Vincent. She had been priming him for destruction—had convinced him that following the Dark Way would help ease the pain of resisting death, when it was actually weakening him to the point that she could easily defeat him.”
    “And you are sure that Vincent is not the Champion?” Theo asked Bran.
    “One hundred percent,” Bran affirmed, holding up a dill pickle and studying it carefully before nibbling off one end. He grimaced and placed it as far away from him as possible on his plate.
    “How can you be so sure?” Papy asked, but then looked abashed at having barged in on a supernatural discussion.
    Theo shook his head. “You now bear our signum , Antoine. You participated in the most mystical revenant ceremony I’ve ever witnessed. And your daughter is the beloved of a bardia. You have a right to ask questions.”
    “Thank you,” said Papy.
    “It’s because of his aura,” Bran answered. “He has the revenant aura, which the flame-fingers describe as ‘an aura like a forest fire.’ But our prophecy says that the Victor’s aura ‘blazes like a star on fire . ’ Vincent’s aura is no different from that of Jules. Or your own,” he said, nodding to Theo.
    “So how do we know that the Victor is even here?” Theo asked.
    “He is not here. He is yet to come,” Bran said, pushing his plate away with a curt gesture.
    “But weren’t you going to let Jean-Baptiste parade all of Paris’s bardia in front of you to check?” I asked. “Why would you do that if you were sure the Victor wasn’t yet here?”
    Bran shrugged. “That was his suggestion, not mine. And he seemed very determined.”
    “But how do you know the Victor is coming?” Theo insisted.
    “Because I’m the VictorSeer. I wouldn’t have become so if there wouldn’t soon be a victor to see ,” Bran replied testily.
    A silence settled on the room as everyone stared at Bran. He fidgeted uncomfortably.
    “How do you know you’re the VictorSeer?” Jules asked, leaning forward on his elbows and clasping his hands together.
    “I felt it happen when I touched your leader’s hand. At that point, I received the gift. I know I have it just as clearly as my mother knew she didn’t have it,” he said simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
    “So that’s how you know the Champion is coming during your lifetime,” I said. “But why was Violette so sure he was coming soon?”
    “The revenants’ prophecy is the same as that of the flame-fingers,” Bran responded. “It’s the revenant calendar’s Third Age, and has been since the Industrial Revolution. So she’s obviously been waiting since then. She must have thought she saw the Champion’s characteristics displayed by Vincent.”
    “My ears are burning,” called Vincent from across the room. “As is my throat. Could I have some more water, please?” I leapt up and pulled the coffee table with the refreshments on it closer to Vincent’s couch so it was within reaching distance.
    The men stood and Theo began clearing the table. “We should really leave Vincent to rest in peace so that he will heal as quickly as possible,” he said.
    “I want to stay with him,” I insisted.
    “Of course, my dear,” reassured Theo. “But would the rest of you like to join me for a more expansive tour of the revenant collection at the museum?”
    Papy and Bran quickly agreed, but Jules walked back to his couch and flopped down on it. “Now that my bloodletting responsibilities are over, I think I’ll stay here too,” he said, closing his eyes.
    Once the other men were gone, I sat watching Vincent for a while.