Until I Die

a bit far to get her to talk, and after that there was a little accident.”
“You killed her!” I choked, the air leaving my lungs like a balloon stuck with an iron spike.
“As I said, it wasn’t me. My men just got carried away. And, although I hadn’t planned things to happen quite like this, because of what she told us I am even happier to see you here, Vincent.”
“What did she tell you?” Vincent asked, his eyes narrowed to slits.
“Why, that you are the Champion.”
“She can’t know that. She never laid eyes on me.”
Violette shrugged as if that wasn’t important. “The information she gave us as good as verified it.” She shifted the balance of Georgia’s body on the guardrail to lighten her load. Don’t. Drop. Her . My body thrummed with alarm every time Violette so much as breathed.
“After Kate’s visit, the guérisseur woman did her research. As I suspected, the timing is right. The place is right.” She smirked at me. “I know, Kate, I told you the contrary. But you’re so gullible, it was just too tempting.”
“And …,” prompted Vincent.
“And when she told my men this morning that the Champion was the revenant who killed the last numa leader—that would be you killing Lucien, my dear Vincent—well, that clinched it for me. Congratulations. You are the chosen one.”
Vincent raised his hand to his heart. “It just doesn’t make sense.” The dark blotches under his eyes stood out against his unnaturally pale skin, and he stumbled a little as he took a step backward. He would be dormant in a couple of days and was looking even worse for being at the end of this month’s grueling experiment.
“Look at you,” Violette stated, wrinkling her nose. “Even though your impressive display with the marble sword back there seems to have tired you out a bit, you should in actual fact be dead. Only someone with the strength of the Champion could follow the Dark Way for more than a few weeks. Absorbing all that numa energy should have killed you by now. You’ve had two forces battling within you: good and evil waging war inside your reanimated body.
“Gaspard was stupid to believe me when I told him it would make you stronger. Now you’re weak enough for me to take you on myself. You know the prophecy. If I destroy the Champion, his power will be mine.”
“You’re crazy,” I whispered.
Vincent put a slight pressure on my arm and pulled me slowly backward, behind him. “If anyone knows their dark prophecy, it’s you, Violette. But even I know that if the Champion offers himself freely to his captor, his full powers will be transferred. I’ll trade myself for the life of the girl, Violette.”
Violette hesitated, her grip on Georgia loosening.
She let him take one step toward her, allowing him to come an arm’s length away. “It is written that if the Champion offers himself up to death by his own volition, his power will not be diluted by murder,” she said, greed flaring in her eyes. “You would be willing to face death for these humans?”
“I would,” said Vincent without hesitation.
“No, Vincent!” I cried. “What are you saying?”
Vincent wouldn’t look at me. “You’re right, Violette. I’m weak enough for you and your men to take. And I’ll go with you. Just put the girl down and you have yourself a deal.”
Violette stared at him, weighing his offer.
And before I knew what was happening, a figure raced up on Violette’s left. Arthur took advantage of Violette’s focus on Vincent to wrench my sister’s body from her grasp and pull her away to safety.
“Sorry, Vi. Deal’s off,” Vincent said softly, as if consoling a small child.
She screamed and threw herself on Vincent, using her fingernails to scrape long, red lines down either side of his face.
And it was because I was staring at the crimson blood flowing down Vincent’s cheek that I didn’t see the numa coming.
As the giant man lunged toward me, Vincent turned from Violette and threw himself forward, grabbing the numa in a crippling embrace as the two of them smashed hard against the guardrail. I screamed as the force of the impact bent the rail backward, and locked in each other’s arms, they toppled over the leaning barrier and out of sight.
My heart fell with them. It felt like my entire chest had been ripped out, lungs and all. I couldn’t breathe as I ran to the guardrail and peered over, desperate for a miracle. Desperate for something from the movies—a branch sticking out that